Niki Slobodian 03 - Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

by J. L. Murray

  “You're thinking about the problem,” I said. “What's the solution?”

  I sensed someone behind me. “Your solution is right here,” said a deep, accented voice. I turned and saw Alexei Slobodian. His smile faded when he saw my eyes. “Nikita,” he said, his voice low. He raised his hand as if to touch my face, but stopped short and ran his hand through his steely-gray hair instead. “What has he done to you?” He looked over my shoulder at Sam. “What have you done to my daughter?” he screamed.

  Sasha moved toward Sam. I reached out with my power and wrapped it easily around Sasha's body, holding him back. He looked down, then looked back at me. “What is this, Nikita?” he said. His voice was filled with confusion and sadness. “What has happened?”

  “I died,” I said. “Sam brought me back. There were some side effects.”

  “You...” He frowned and I pulled my power back in. It got easier to use every time. I didn't know if that pleased me or terrified me. Maybe a bit of both. “She died?” Sasha demanded of Sam.

  “She did,” said Sam. The two men's eyes locked for a moment. Sasha nodded.

  “How?” said Sasha. The bartender had come back out and was leaning against the wall, watching the events like a tennis match.

  “Maybe we should get a table,” I said. The bartender snorted derisively.

  We settled in a dark little corner, far from the bar.

  “I was looking into the disappearance of a politician,” I said. “Frank Bradley.” I watched Sasha's face for recognition.

  “Bradley?” said Sasha. He swallowed. “What do you know?”

  “Everything,” I said. “The Blood, Natalie, everything.”

  Sasha looked up at the ceiling for a moment, then back at me. He smiled. “I had my reasons, Nikita. For working for The Blood. For keeping your sister's existence a secret. I didn't expect to end up here.”

  “I died trying to save Natalie,” I said. “And you.”

  “Me?” he said.

  “The Blood's Summoner,” I said. “They were going to bring you up out of Hell. For your blood.”

  “Why would you put yourself in danger for me?” said Sasha. His voice had gone cold. “I am an old man. I never want you to do that. Is no reason for you to die, Nikita. That was stupid.”

  “I didn't want them to kill anyone else,” I said. I was surprised how level my voice was. It still felt raw, but after talking about it I just felt tired.

  Sasha was quiet. “Who else?” he said finally.

  “They killed Naz,” I said.

  “Are you sure?” said Sasha.

  “I saw it,” I said. “He was saving me. The guys that killed him are dead. They're all dead.”

  Sasha slumped in his chair. He looked at me for a long time. His cold, pale eyes looked tired. He nodded, breathing in deeply through his nostrils. “Good,” he said. “Naz was like family to me.”

  “And to me,” I said.

  “You would have been proud,” Sam said to Sasha. I had almost forgotten he was there.

  “I am always proud of Nikita,” said Sasha. “Always.”

  “She sacrificed herself,” said Sam.

  “What?” said Sasha.

  “I drank angelwine,” I said. “I burned up. And that is all I want to say about it.”

  “And Natalie?” said Sasha.

  I looked at Sam, unsure how to say it. Sam looked as clueless as I felt.

  “Natalie is alive,” I said. “In Briah.”

  “Briah?” said Sasha. “Kidnapped?”

  “No,” I said. “That's what I thought, too.” Sasha looked at me uncomprehending. “She played us all, Sasha. You, me, The Blood. She played everyone.”

  “She is only a child,” said Sasha. “What are you talking about?”

  “She works for Michael,” I said. “She always has. At least since before you broke Abaddon loose.”

  “No,” said Sasha. He laughed. “How could this be?” He shook his head. “No,” he said again. “Is not possible.” His smile turned to a grimace as he thought about it.

  “She helped Michael start his war,” I said. “She used us. She used Sam. And she doesn't even know it was wrong. She's...she's not right, Sasha.”

  Sasha looked old suddenly. He raised his hand to the bartender. She came over with a tray of the horrid clear drinks. It went down easier this time. Sasha drained his glass without even making a face. He was probably a regular here, used to it.

  “She told me something,” I said, looking into my empty glass.

  “Niki, maybe this isn't the right time,” said Sam.

  “What did she say?” said Sasha.

  “She said you're not my father.”

  “Angel,” said Sasha gently. “Can you give us a moment?”

  “Of course,” said Sam. He strode over to the bar. I looked at Sasha.

  “It's true, isn't it?” I said.

  Sasha just looked at me for a minute. He looked hollow, the husk of the man he had been before prison, before Natalie, before Abaddon. “I loved your mother,” he said.

  “What the hell, Sasha?” I said. “Everything you've ever told me was a lie.”

  “I had to tell you lies,” said Sasha. “You do not understand, Nikita. I had to say I was your father. If I told you the truth, you would be killed.”

  “Killed?” I said. “Why?”

  “Because you would go looking for your real father. And that is a very dangerous thing.”

  “Who is he?” I said. I felt like my heart was breaking but I didn't know why. I never wanted Sasha as a father. I had resented him since I was a child. His violence, his erratic behavior, then later his incarceration made my life hell. But hearing that I really had no connection to him changed all that. I was just coming to understand him, and now I was losing him. He was the only father I had ever known. He had been a royally shitty father, but he had been my father.

  Sasha frowned and looked at his hands. “I only know that the angels look for him. And that he is powerful. More powerful than me. More powerful than him maybe,” he gestured over his shoulder at Sam. “I don't know for sure, but I do not think he is human.”

  “My father is on the run from the angels?” I said. “That sounds a little farfetched.”

  “What does not these days?” he said. “Look, Nikita, I have always thought of you as my daughter. I know it has brought you pain sometimes, but I will never leave you.” He smiled. “This changes nothing.”

  “My mother,” I said. “You killed her. I remember.”

  Sasha grew solemn. “Yes,” he said quietly.

  “You never told me why,” I said. “I've been asking you my whole life why you did it. You always say I'll understand someday. Sasha, why did you kill her?”

  Sasha hesitated. He clenched his jaw, avoiding looking at me. “I did it because she asked me to.”

  “You expect me to believe that?” I said.

  “She begged me to do it,” he said. “I wake up sweating every night with your mother's name on my lips. I have regretted it more than anything I've done in my life. And I have done some very foul things.”

  “Why would my mother ask you to shoot her in the head?” I said.

  Sasha finally met my eyes and I knew he was telling the truth. “To save your life, Nikita.”

  I was taken aback. I tried to form words but there were too many questions.

  “It was a bad time,” said Sasha. “You were so small. Sweet little Nikita. Your mother was pregnant with you when I met her. I loved her in an instant. I would have done anything for her. For you, too. We were a family for a time. But your mother had a connection to your father. Something they could sense. It was a trail that led to her. If they found her, your mother told me, they would kill her.”

  “They?” I said.

  “Very powerful killers,” he said. “They work for the angels. That is all I know about them.”

  “You never saw them?”

  “Never,” he said. “But they were there, many ti
mes. Your mother, she felt them. She knew where they were at all times. She was that way. She could find people. She found me.”

  “She was looking for you?”

  “I think,” said Sasha, “that at first she wanted me as a protector. I do not need to remind you, I was not the model citizen. At first it was this way. I protected her and she pretended to like me. Later, we grew very close. And I think, in the end, she came to love me in her own way.”

  “Did she know where he was?” I said. “My father.” Sasha flinched, but tried to hide it. He rubbed his forehead with his hand.

  “She swore she did not,” he said after a moment. “I asked her many times. Always she said no. But this connection, it was forbidden by the angels. I do not know why.”

  “Why didn't you just leave?” I said. “If you were supposed to be protecting her, why didn't you just get her out?”

  “It was not so simple in those days,” he said. “I tried always to find a way out, but these things take time, yeah? Papers had to be forged, passports, birth certificates. Finally I was able to buy our way onto a boat. It was a done thing. But they found us. The night we were leaving, your mother had a fit. She could sense them. The mercenaries were coming, she said. She wanted to save you.” Sasha turned his face away. I could see the grief, the tears. I had never seen Sasha cry. Not ever. But he was racked with sobs now, talking about my mother. “She loved you more than any person has ever loved a child,” he said thickly. “She begged me to save you. To break the connection. She said if they found her, they would kill you too. All those of the blood.”

  “The blood?”

  “That is what she called it. It seemed only a coincidence that I worked for The Blood. I thought it was not related, that we were so far away there could not be a connection. I know now I was wrong.”

  “Michael had control of The Blood the whole time,” I said. “And later, he had control of Natalie.”

  “Yes,” he said, sounding tired. “I was foolish to think I could escape. But they never knew who you were. Not until you killed them, I'm guessing.”

  “I had help,” I said. “Yuri Polzin.”

  “Yuri?” he said, thoughtfully. “That is a name I have not heard for some time.”

  “So you killed her,” I said.

  “Yes.”

  “She asked to die,” I said.

  “Yes. She asked to die.”

  “To save me.”

  “I cried, I yelled, I begged her not to ask me,” he said. “There had to be another way. But there was no time. We argued all night about it. Until even I could feel them coming for us. I knew she was right. I wish I had spent all that night holding her close to me instead of arguing. It is another regret.” He sighed heavily and closed his eyes. “In the end, I picked you up and brought you to America, land of the free.” He snorted. He opened his eyes and looked at me. “So now you know. I killed your mother. Now you will leave and never see me again. You can hate me if you want, I would understand. I miss your mother every day. But you, Nikita,” he shook his head and smiled through his tears, “you will change the world. I know this. You can fix this.”

  “I don't hate you,” I said. My voice was hard, I realized. I shook my head and tried to smile. “I don't hate you, Sasha. I would have done the same.” I got out of my chair and for the first time I could remember, I willingly leaned over and hugged Sasha, being careful to only touch clothes. I didn't want to see the things that Sasha had seen. When I pulled back, he was wiping his eyes. I could feel the burning sensation in my chest. I wasn't angry with Sasha, but I was angry. My mother had been hunted. For years they had hunted her. She had been forced to stay with Sasha because she was afraid for me. She had done whatever she had to do to keep her child safe.

  We sat in silence for a while. Sasha looked over at me from toying with his empty, greasy glass. I heard the bartender laugh at something Sam said. “So you have come to tell me about Naz?” Sasha said. “Or Natalie?” There was pain in his eyes when he said his daughter's name.

  “No, something else,” I said, brought out of my thoughts. “We had to talk to Eli's father.”

  “Ah, Grazial,” said Sasha. “He pays me for protection, you know.”

  “You?” I said. “What can you protect a demon from in Hell?”

  Sasha shrugged. “Everything. I have many connections.”

  “Of course you do,” I said. “I heard you had an army.”

  “Something like that,” he said.

  “Why aren't you above?” I said. “That's where all the action is.”

  “I do not get involved with wars,” he said. “Much more lucrative down here. Money to be made.”

  “Sasha,” I said, suddenly realizing something. “Why aren't you dying?” His skin was rosy and he had even bulked up his big frame. The last time I'd seen him he had looked like a pallid skeleton, his skin hanging from the bones. He'd been wasting away.

  There was a glimmer in his eye. “What makes you think I'm not?”

  “I just know,” I said. “When I last saw you you were practically dead. How are you walking around healthy?”

  “Well, Nikita,” he said, “you can meet the most interesting people in Erebos. People that know things. People that practice certain kinds of magic. And everyone can be bought here. Doesn't matter who they are.”

  “Must be paradise for you.”

  “It is not a bad life,” he said. “But the food, it is terrible.”

  “The booze is not so good either,” I said.

  “No,” he said smiling. “It is not. Who are you looking for?”

  “What makes you think we're looking for someone?” I said.

  “Please, Nikita. You are with the dark angel. You just came for a friendly visit with Grazial? He is horrible demon. And he smells.”

  “We're looking for Sam's brother,” I said.

  “Which brother?” said Sasha without missing a beat. His face had gone serious.

  “Lucifer,” I said.

  “Always you should come to me first, Nikita,” Sasha said. “I can take you to the Morning Star.”

  “You can?” I said, shocked.

  “There is a lot of gossip in Erebos,” he said. “People like to talk. There is a nugget of truth in every gossip, every myth, every lie. And I make friends with all sorts. Even people everyone else hates.”

  “Like?”

  “The Outsiders,” said Sasha. “They see things that city people do not. Strange things that happen out of bounds. And they talk about something strange outside the city. I can take you to Lucifer, Nikita. I know where he is.”

  Eleven

  It took a little while to convince Sam to follow Alexei Slobodian outside the gates of Erebos, but he finally relented. There really wasn't anything to lose. Sasha wanted to bring some of his guard for protection.

  “I don't think that will be necessary,” I said.

  “Why?” said Sasha.

  “No one wants to go near Death,” I said.

  “And if he leaves you out there?” Sasha said to me. “What then?”

  “He won't leave me,” I said. “And even if he does, that won't be a problem either.”

  “She holds the essence of Death,” said Sam. “They find her far more terrifying than they find me.”

  Sasha frowned. “You do not know what you ask me, Nikita,” he said.

  “Trust us,” said Sam.

  Sasha barked a laugh. “Trust an angel?”

  “I'm no ordinary angel,” said Sam.

  “No,” Sasha agreed. “You're Samael. They say you are mad. Been living in the human world too long.”

  “Then trust Niki,” said Sam. “No demons.”

  Sasha stared at me hard. “Fine,” he said. “I trust you. But not him.” He pointed at Sam.

  “Fair enough,” said Sam. “Where do you suspect my brother is hiding?”

  “Where no one would ever look for him,” said Sasha. “He is in the Unsung.”

  Sam's eyes widened in
surprise. “Where?” he said.

  “In Sheol,” said Sasha meaningfully.

  “Are you sure?” said Sam.

  “Almost positive,” said Sasha.

  “What's Sheol?” I said. “Another in-between place?”

  “Something like that,” said Sam. “It's where the worldly souls rest. Before Judgment Day. A living being would go mad there.”

  “Peachy,” I said. “Another crazy angel. Are you the only sane one in your family?”

  “Most say it's the other way round,” said Sam, looking at Sasha. “All right. Let's go to Sheol. We have nothing to lose.”

  “You have everything to gain,” said Sasha.

  We made our way out of the city. Sasha had slipped some money to the bartender, and now sipped out of a small bottle he kept in his pocket. I didn't ever want to taste the disgusting Hellion alcohol ever again, so when he offered me a sip it was easy to refuse. Sasha threw me a look when all the demons backed out of our way again as we went out the way we'd come in. We crossed under the roughened-wood arch, and back to our starting point, but instead of returning to our world, we kept walking.

  The light dimmed as we walked further from the city. We didn't speak, and as the sounds of Erebos receded in the distance, soon the only sound was that of our footsteps echoing against the steep stone cliffs. I looked up once and noticed movement high on the cliffs, like small figures scaling them. As I looked hard I could see indentations in the side of the cliffs caves or burrows set into the stone. Occasionally I could see a shining set of eyes watching us.

  “What do you see, Nikita?” said Sasha, squinting into the darkness. I realized that I could see what the other two couldn't. It must be very dark for them here.

  “People, I think,” I said. “There are caves up there?”

  “Yes,” said Sasha. “They are Outsiders. They usually keep to the other side of the city, but no one bothers them here. No one looks for them here.”

  “What do they eat?” I said.

  “Whatever they find,” said Sasha. “Is tragic. But nothing to be done.”

  Sam didn't seem to be aware of us. He walked with his head down, deep in thought. I thought it best not to bother him. I would need time to collect my thoughts too if I were about to see a long-lost brother, missing for hundreds of years. And if Sam couldn't convince Lucifer to stop the war, I couldn't even fathom the consequences. The end of the world, at least as anyone knew it. I didn't like the way the world had been going for the past few years, but I had the feeling I'd like the change even less.