by May Dawson
"I resent that," Nimshi said, without rancor.
I took the cards, which felt oversized compared to normal playing cards. They were slick and heavy and awkward in my fingers. I shuffled them and then tried to hand them back to her.
She took a seat at the table, indicating the other side. Nim and I sat down beside each other. She passed Nim a second deck and said, "You know what to do."
"I do," he said. "And I know it's nonsense."
She tapped her fingernails at a spot on the black tablecloth. "Put the first card here."
I turned a card over.
Even I could tell the enormous black-and-gilt skull was a bad sign.
"Well, we're going into Death itself once we get my soul back," he said. "Maybe it's a good sign."
"You can take your own turn interpreting," she shushed him. "We'll see if you were paying attention when I taught you as a kid."
"What does it mean?" I asked.
"It means you'll face a death," she said. "You'll lose someone you love. Soon. This card looms in your future."
I nodded.
"You don't seem surprised."
I wasn't surprised, but my heart still hammered in my chest with dread. "My sister. She's on the edge between life and death."
"If you tell her stuff," Nimshi said, "You make it much easier for her to sound smart."
"Oh, turn over your own card," Maria snapped at Nimshi.
Nimshi turned over a card and set it down near mine. A lady in an elaborate dress, rendered in rose and gold foil, clutched an enormous heart in one hand and a dagger in the other. A drop of gilt blood fell from the blade of her dagger.
"The queen of dark hearts," Maria said. "Nimshi is falling in love."
Nimshi rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I come in here, calling her my girlfriend, you really have to make a big jump to falling."
"Don't be embarrassed," I chided. "It's cute."
"Nimshi?" Maria sounded genuinely lost. "How can you fall in love without a soul?"
"I don't know. She makes me feel things, and I don't much care for it." He was already turning over the next card, as if eager to move on from this conversation. "I would already be gone. But I need their help to get back my soul."
"That's not true." She tapped her fingers on the card he'd just turned up, which showed a long, empty table set with food. "Your longing."
"Lunch?" He asked cheekily.
"Family," she said. "With a soul or without one, you long for a family."
"I've been through two now," he said. "I don't think I want to gamble for a third."
"A true family who will love you as you are," she said. "A family you would be willing to die for, instead of simply kill for."
I quirked an eyebrow at him, curious about what killing for he had already done.
"Turn over your longing card," he said. "I'm dying to find out what it is you want. Please be a bad boy in the sack, please be..."
I turned over my next card. It was of a deep blue ocean. The sun, on the horizon, seemed to flash golden rays that blinded me for a second. It felt like a flash of magic, and then it was just a card that I lay down on the tabletop. I glanced up at Nimshi and Maria, wondering if they had seen the same thing, but their eyes were on the card and their faces betrayed nothing.
"Peace," she said.
"Well, that's bad news," I said. "Living with four guys, I can't imagine I'm going to find much peace."
"Ellis." Nim seemed to find me amusing, but there was a false note to it. "We're never all going to live as one happy family."
"You might be surprised," Maria said, as Nimshi turned over his next card. Her eyes caught on it and she froze, then swallowed hard. "Though to have that happy ending will cost you dearly."
36
Before we left the fortune-teller's house, Nimshi borrowed her phone to text his sister, Dani.
"She's going to be so happy to see you," Maria said.
"Let's hope," Nimshi said, typing into her phone. "We need her."
He flipped the cell around in his hand to show it to me, without me asking, as if he knew we didn't quite trust him. It's T. Meet me in the parking lot at 10:45.
We hoped that she would be our inside man for the heist, since his family had kept his soul in their mansion, hidden behind layers of security. "Good luck." Maria ruffled his hair, which made the demon raise an eyebrow at her. "I'm here if there's anything you ever need, Nim."
"I know." He held his arms out, making a come-here gesture, and she hugged him. He closed one leanly muscled arm around her, patting her back. "I'm glad I didn't kill you."
"Ditto." She squeezed him again and took a step back. Nim headed for the door, and she grabbed my arm. "He's a good guy."
"For a demon?" I asked lightly.
Nim turned around with his hand on the door. "Woman. Don't fuck up my rep."
"For anyone," Maria told me. She released my arm, but her eyes were troubled. "Take care of him."
"I try to take care of all of them," I told her. "Even though it's a hell of a job."
Still, the way she'd looked at me, like she knew she couldn't convince me of the truth, stayed with me as we headed out of the house. Nimshi touched the small of my back, the movement fond and possessive, as we headed down the porch stairs. "Don't mind her. She's a bleeding heart."
"I don't mind," I said. "I've always known you weren't all bad."
"You're a bleeding heart, too," he said. "One day, it's going to get you in trouble."
He said it with his usual light-hearted charm, but I was sure he meant it. He swung open the passenger door for me and then climbed into the backseat himself.
Nimshi leaned back in his seat, like he was already exhausted. "Next stop, Dani."
Jacob nodded curtly and backed the car up onto the road.
Nimshi told Jacob, "When we get there, you're up. You need to talk her into the car. If anyone sees me, it could wreck our op tonight."
"Why don't you just talk her into the car?" Jacob asked. "You're her brother."
"I just want to get her in the car fast. I don't want to risk tipping my parents off," Nimshi said. "If they know I'm in town, they'll know to expect something."
"I'm not kidnapping some innocent high school student," Jacob said.
Nim's lips quirked up. "I think you have the wrong idea about my sister."
"Jacob doesn't like to use his powers on anyone if he can help it," I explained.
I thought about what Zuriel had said, about how no human could truly consent to an angel, because of their magnetism and power to persuade. No wonder Jacob did his best to avoid manipulating humans, no matter how much easier it might be.
I glanced at Jacob. His golden eyes were fixed on the road, his broad, scarred hands sure on the steering wheel. I asked, "Could you have just strolled into the asylum and convinced Parrish and everyone to let us go?"
"Maybe," he said. "Just like with the dogs, if people are all hyped up on adrenaline, it's really hard to talk them down. But I did try to get Ryker and Levi to let me come in and rescue them. I probably could have charmed them all since they wouldn't have seen me coming."
"They wanted to wait for me," I said. The thought still burned when I imagined Ryker and Levi being beaten by the guards, while they waited to protect me.
"They did enjoy being martyrs," Jacob said.
I smacked his arm, although his rock-hard bicep stung my palm.
Jacob pulled into the parking lot of the local high school. "Well, this feels weird," he muttered as he parked in an Admin parking space.
"Did you go to school in England?" I asked.
"No," he said. "We had to work all the time. No school for us."
"You're the only one who wasn't homeschooled!" I said to Nimshi.
"And look how all that socialization turned out," Jacob said.
"I went here," Nimshi said. "Same as Dani. She's two years younger than I am." He clapped Jacob on the shoulder. "Speaking of."
A girl with long, dark ha
ir blowing back from her face in the wind walked toward us. She looked furious.
Nimshi stopped with his hand on the car door handle. "Be ready."
"Ready for what?" Jacob asked.
Nimshi opened the door and started to climb out, but before his foot could reach the pavement, she dove toward him. She shoved him back into the car, her arm cocking back, and punched him hard across the jaw.
Jacob scrambled to catch up, grabbing her wrist. She turned to look at him, her eyes blazing, and Jacob said. "Easy. Sleep."
She stared back at him for a horrified second and then slumped into sleep, sprawling into Nimshi. Nimshi staggered slightly before he caught her weight.
"Oh," Nimshi said, trying to struggle out from beneath her without dropping her onto the pavement. "Ew. Get her off me."
Jacob gathered her up in his arms. Her head lolled against his shoulder. He glanced back across the parking lot, making sure we hadn't been seen, and then settled her into a seat.
"She doesn't seem that excited to see you," I said.
"Like I said. Maria is a terrible fortune teller."
"I don't know. Seems to me like she was probably right about a few things." I said lightly.
Nim gave me a grim look. I had a funny feeling he wouldn't want me bringing up that table card in front of his brothers. But I had every intention of telling them about it, once the heist was over and we had time to talk about feelings. If Nimshi longed for his family, for his brothers, then I was sure he was redeemable.
"Why's she so pissed at you?" Jacob asked. He yanked her seatbelt out, clipping her in, as I slid into the driver's seat. The car was still running, and I put it into reverse. Time to get back to the house.
"We were always going to get out of here together," he said. He pulled a face. "The whole having-my-soul-stolen thing moved my timeline up, though."
"And you didn't tell your own sister what you were doing when you ran away from home?" Jacob swayed between the seats for a second before sitting down in an empty seat.
"I didn't want her mixed up with demons," Nimshi said.
"Good call," Jacob said.
A few minutes later, we pulled back under the twisting branches that intertwined over the driveway to the haunted house.
"This place is so creepy," I said.
"Homey, you mean," Nimshi jumped out of the car behind me. "Anyplace hell hounds won't follow seems downright comfy to me right now."
Nimshi swung open the door nearest Dani and pulled her out, draping her over his shoulder. He was lean, smaller than the other brothers—probably because he was the youngest and hadn't grown into their full, ropey man-muscled bodies yet—but his frame was obviously still powerful.
The three of us walked up to the porch. Levi swung the door open before we could reach it.
The living room in here smelled of damp and rot, and the air was uncomfortably humid.
"Great safe house," Ryker groused before I could even say it.
Jacob held a hand out to Dani. "Wake up."
"Let's not be in a rush," Nimshi said, his voice full of alarm.
His sister came to furious life in his arms. She sat up abruptly, her hands braced on his shoulders for a second, and then she began fighting him like a wildcat. Nimshi dropped her on the ground, and she landed on her feet. She grabbed his shoulders and slammed him into the wall.
He raised his hands to the side as if in surrender. She punched him hard across the jaw.
"Dani," Nimshi started to say, but she punched him again across the face.
"Why is she doing this?" I asked.
"Who cares?" Ryker asked. "It's great."
"Dani."
She grabbed Nimshi's shoulders and dragged him toward her, kneeing him hard in the stomach.
Nimshi doubled over with a groan. "Dani. Come on. Listen to me."
"You left me," she said. "We were supposed to get out of here together."
She punched him again, and he staggered back, slamming into a boarded-up window. But he still held his hands out to the side, not hitting her back.
"Stop," Levi said firmly, grabbing her from behind.
She was clearly ready to kill him, too, but Nimshi jumped forward. "Come on. Listen. I didn't want to just leave you. But I didn't know if I could trust anyone."
"I'm your sister!"
"And our mom and dad ripped my soul out of my body!" he said. "I wasn't in the best place."
She stopped for a second. A strand of her dark hair was stuck in her hot pink lip gloss, a strange contrast with her homicidal tendencies.
"You know I'm not like them," she said. "I never would have hurt you."
"I know." He swiped the hair out of her face. The gesture was tender, even with blood trickling from his split lip. "I'm sorry. I should have trusted you."
"Yeah. You should have."
"But I didn't trust myself, either. I didn't know who I'd be without a soul. How dangerous I was to you."
She grinned. "Nimshi. You've never been a danger to me."
He rubbed his jaw. "Your uppercut has gotten better."
"It was pretty good to begin with," she promised him.
"Yeah, it was," he admitted. "Dani, I need your help."
"Of course," she said.
37
Dani had to go back to school in time to drive home like normal at the end of the school day. While Ryker and Levi went over the weapons, incanting a spell on each of them, I followed Jacob, Dani and Nimshi out onto the rotting front porch.
Jacob tossed the car keys in his hand, ready to drive Dani back. Dani reached the dusty driveway before she turned and ran back up the porch steps. She threw her arms around Nimshi's neck.
"It's going to be okay," Dani promised Nimshi. "We'll get your soul back."
Nim nodded, but his eyes were troubled.
"And then you're going to take me with you," she said.
"Of course," he said. "I never should have left you. I just didn't know what to do."
"I love you anyway," she told him.
"Love you, too." He pulled her arms from around his neck, squeezing her shoulders affectionately before he let go. "Enough with the hugs. We're supposed to be evil."
That love you was the only thing that he'd said in the whole conversation that wasn't a lie. I could read Nimshi well enough to know that. He had no intention of bringing Dani along when he was being hunted.
When the Lexus had pulled out of the driveway, I said, "You lied to her."
"Yeah," he said. "I don't know where the hell I'm going after this. I can't bring her along just to put her in danger."
Then, as if he'd caught himself, he shrugged. "Plus, she'd slow me down."
"Come here." I caught Nimshi's wrist and tugged him to me.
His lips parted slightly in surprise as he glanced around. "What is it?"
I touched the swollen bruise of his cheekbone, and he winced. "I just want to heal you."
"You can do that?"
"It's part of the deal between Lilith and the Four."
"I wouldn't know. Demons don't do a lot of healing. We usually have to find a human magician if we need to heal one of you up again after taking you apart."
I flashed back to Jacob struggling in his own blood in the demon's case, and I suppressed a shudder.
Those green eyes were intent on mine, so bright they were eerie, specked with silver and with gold. His eyes reminded me of both Ryker’s and Jacob’s, but they were entirely his own. My gaze must have made him uncomfortable, because he slipped a hand through his wild dark curls, pushing them back, as he looked out after the disappearing car.
“My dream,” I said. “I know now that you didn’t make it up.”
“What convinced you?” His lips twisted ruefully. “I know it wasn’t my word about it.”
My heart ached for him. But I said, “It doesn’t matter. I had an awful vision in the Far.”
I couldn’t tell him about what I’d seen, what Levi had done to Hedron. That was another
conversation. One that should be between brothers, once they understood each other as brothers.
His eyes returned to me quickly, widening. “What was it?”
“I saw all of us fighting,” I said. “Fighting Zuriel and the Company at once. There were men with guns laying in the grass, ready to mow down anyone who survived Zuriel.”
“It’s just a vision,” he murmured, but his eyes were worried. It seemed like he wanted to comfort me.
“I don’t believe that,” I said flatly. “And I don’t think you do either. I saw Zuriel kill you. And Levi. And Ryker was—”
“Shh.” He passed his thumb over my lips as my voice broke. “I’m not going to let any of that happen, sweetheart.”
I sniffed, half tearfully and half angrily. “I’m not going to let it happen either.”
“There’s our girl,” Nim said, smiling down at me.
I brushed my fingertips over the bruise on his cheek again, the dark bruise that marred that ridiculously beautiful face. His eyes drifted shut at my touch, on that his lashes rested on chiseled cheekbones.
I asked softly, "Why didn't you defend yourself when Dani hit you?"
"I wouldn't hurt her," he said. For once, he wasn't watching my face, gauging what I wanted to hear. "I loved her when I still had a soul. It still feels like a habit."
"I see." I ran my fingertips over the bruise, hearing the soft give of his breath at the pain. "There's something I haven't told you about how the healing works."
"Is that what you did the night that I'd been hurt?"
Before he could finish speaking, while his lips were still parted, I pressed my lips to his.
He exhaled softly into my mouth. His arms wrapped around my waist, sure and confident.
His mouth was warm and carried the faintest spicy-sweetness, the same way he smelled to me.
I pulled away slightly. "We don't heal each other with spells."
"I feel better already," he said fervently, making me smile.
We kissed over and over again, my hands roaming his body. His hands wrapped around my hips, and he shoved me hard against the wall. His lips were as soft as his body was insistent. I wrapped my leg around his waist, holding myself against him, as he kissed me passionately against the cracked wall of that old house.
