"Rose, I know it's a bit of a shock, and that I'm going to sound like a total jerk here, but you've already helped me kill an archangel. It's a little late not to desecrate God. I told you when we met what knowing me meant."
"There's a difference between killing an angel and drinking their blood," she said. "Drinking something's blood is like being a demon. It's like being Gervais."
I softened my voice. "I know, Rose. And I'm sorry. I wish we could power you up another way. I used to be able to give over some of my power. I can't do that anymore. If you're against it, I respect that. It will increase your chances of dying young."
"I'd rather die young." She wiped her tears again. There was a half-eaten plate of sashimi in front of her. "Do you want it? I lost my appetite."
I passed. Alyx didn't. She grabbed the plate and starting eating.
"So, where are you going?" Rose asked.
"I already said-"
"That we probably don't want to know. I do want to know. I don't think anything you tell me could be worse than what I've already heard today."
"We're going to Hell."
Rose's face turned white. "What?"
"Hell," I repeated.
"The Hell?"
"It's the only one I know of. Yes. Elyse, I need you to keep tabs on Gervais for me. I know that can be hard to do, but I suspect he'll hang around and wait for me to come back. Rose, Dante is going to be trying to find an alternate means to assist with the Abaddon problem. I told him to contact you if he finds anything. Also, if you want to do some digging of your own, I'm sure it would help."
They both stared at me, dumbstruck.
"Okay," I said, breaking the silence. I reached into my pocket and grabbed the stone, holding it out toward Elyse.
"No," she said. "Keep it. You're going to need it."
"Elyse, the sword is yours."
"And I want you to keep it for now. Landon. Hell?"
"I know it sounds bad, but I'll have Alyx with me, and my power will work there. It's not like I'm going to be a defenseless soul. Besides, Abaddon is here, and that's a lot scarier than some fire and brimstone."
"Which is another good point. What if Hearst decides to set Abaddon free? Or what if he uses the demon's power against people instead of other demons?"
"Do you have your cell?"
Elyse dug it out of her pants pocket and handed it to me. I pulled out mine. "I'm putting Obi and Sarah's numbers in, along with Alichino's. If you need extra help, call Obi first and fill him in. If you're really desperate, call Sarah."
I didn't want to involve Sarah in anything having to do with fighting the Divine, but if it were a choice between that and Armageddon, it was worth the risk.
"I don't like this," Elyse said as I handed her phone back.
"I'm not in love with it either," I said. "It has to be done."
We all sat in the booth and stared at one another for an awkward moment. Elyse started sliding out of the seat at the same time I did.
"Be careful," she said, hugging me.
"Are you kidding? I have the easy part compared to you."
She forced the laugh for me.
Rose took Elyse's place a moment later. "Landon, I want you to know. I'm not giving up. I still want to be part of the fight. I just-"
"I understand," I said, interrupting. "To be honest, I wouldn't do it either."
She seemed surprised by that. "You wouldn't? Not even to save humankind from extinction?"
I was about to say I wouldn't. The extinction part gave me pause. "I cried the first time I killed an angel. If you were asking the same question to that version of me, I would say no without hesitation. Now? I've seen too much, done too much to rule out anything."
She smiled, offering a hug. I held her tight for a moment.
"Thank you, Landon."
"You said that like you aren't going to see me again."
"No. I know I will. Hell can't hold someone like you."
I broke the embrace, turning to Alyx.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes, darling."
"Let's go."
"Give 'em hell," Elyse said, her smile more honest this time.
"Funny," I replied, my smile equally sincere.
Ten
We were at the airport an hour later, waiting for a flight to Denver, Colorado. While I was as inconspicuous as they came, Alyx's power stood out like a sore thumb to any Divine that happened to be in the area.
There were always Divine stationed at airports, especially one as busy as JFK. We had barely made it through security when we picked up a tail in the form of a pair of angels. They were pretty good at following us, too, managing to stay behind without notice until we had reached the terminal.
That was when they got too close.
"There are two angels watching us," Alyx said, leaning in close and rubbing her face against my ear. "I can smell them."
"Where?" I asked.
"Behind us and to the left. In the food court."
"Are they moving in, or just sitting?"
"Sitting right now. Do you want me to kill them?"
I patted her hand. "Let's not be so quick to go for the throat. Wait here, I'm going to talk to them."
She growled softly, leaning back in her seat and pouting. I stood up, stretched, and began heading back toward the food court, scanning the people at the tables. I spotted them a moment later, a male and female, middle-aged. The male had a large stomach and a sour expression. The woman was as plain as plain could be.
They didn't notice me noticing them. Their eyes were tight on Alyx. Two angels wouldn't dare go after a Great Were on their own, and even if they did I wasn't worried about Alyx's safety. I was more interested in finding out if they knew about Abaddon.
At least, I was until I noticed that the terminal was beginning to clear out.
For no good reason.
I looked back at Alyx. Humans had a subconscious, uncanny ability always to clear out of areas where Divine were about to clash before the clash happened. If anyone was going to start a riot, I expected it would be her.
Except she was still sitting calmly in her chair, twirling a strand of hair and yawning.
I scanned the hallway further down toward the entrance. Ninety-nine point nine percent of the people were headed away from us.
Ten others were coming the wrong way.
Shit.
I reached into my pocket, finding the stone. I hadn't expected I would need the weapon so soon after leaving Rose and Elyse. By the show of force, I could only guess that the Heavenly Host had heard about Abaddon and had put their army on high alert.
Any time a Great Were showed up anywhere was a cause for high alert, and with things turning sour out there, I had a bad feeling they were going to turn sour in here.
I turned back to the first two angels. They were on their feet now, and they had noticed I wasn't abandoning ship like the rest of the rats.
"Call off the brute squad," I said to them. "She's with me."
"With you?" Plain Jane asked. She eyed me curiously. "You don't have an aura. Are you her plaything?"
"Not exactly," I replied. "We don't want any trouble."
I glanced back toward the oncoming squadron of angels. I was certain Alyx had noticed them though she continued to play with her hair like it was no big thing.
"A Great Were in an airport is always trouble," Sourpuss said.
It might have had to do with the fact that a demon like Alyx could board a plane, tear it to shreds at thirty-thousand feet, and survive the fall. Or it might have been tense nerves over Abaddon. There was only one way to find out.
"Don't you have bigger problems to deal with?" I asked.
"What do you know about it?" Jane replied.
"More than you, I would guess."
"So you're in league with Hearst?"
"I didn't say that."
The larger group had reached Alyx. They positioned themselves around her. The funny thing about angels was
that they couldn't attack first. It was against their rules to be the instigator, and would cause whoever started it to fall.
"Who are you?" Sourpuss asked.
"You know who I am," I replied. "And I can tell you that now is not a good time for you to lose any more karma."
The two angels looked at one another, and then back at me, finally getting the hint.
"Diuscrucis," they said together.
I felt a wave of heat behind me. By the time I turned around the petite, adorable, sexy girl Alyx had been replaced with the massive, furry, massive were Alyx.
"Alyx, no," I said, trying to stop her before things got out of hand.
I was too late. With a snarl, she leaped onto one of the angels, using her claws to tear his sword arm off before he could draw his blade.
The other angels responded quickly, getting their swords in hand. It would only take one blessed blade breaking her skin to kill her. It was a good thing she had a tough hide.
The two angels blew past me, rushing to aid their brethren. I took hold of my power, reaching out and yanking them back. They fell on the ground ahead of me, confused by the sudden loss of momentum. I pushed off against the ground, leaping forward while summoning the spatha, landing next to Alyx just in time to parry a particularly violent thrust.
"Alyx, what the hell?" I asked.
She had already downed the first angel and was reaching out for another.
"You didn't hear what that one said to me," she growled, wrapping her massive claw around the angel.
I sidestepped a lunge, bringing the spatha up and around, knocking the angel's blade away and slicing him with the scripted side. The wound would hurt, but it would heal.
"Don't kill any more of them," I said, pushing another back with my power.
"But, Landon-"
"No. Please, Alyx. I need you to help me, not hinder me."
The words cut into her more deeply than a blessed sword could. She shifted back into girl form, the action confusing the angels and breaking the flow of the fight.
"I'm sorry," she said, only slightly louder than a whisper. She had tears in her eyes.
"Hold up," I said to the assembly of seraphim. "Everybody just calm down."
"Who are you?" one of them asked. He was kneeling next to Alyx's initial victim and pouring holy water on the wound. He would be fine in a day or two.
"Diuscrucis," Plain Jane said. "Step aside. She attacked us. We have a right."
"She said that one was taunting her."
"It is allowed," Sourpuss said.
The statement reminded me of Adam. "Is that what this is coming to? Since when does Heaven care more about starting a fight than taking the higher ground? Since when is it acceptable to bend the rules to make them what you want them to be? She wasn't threatening you or anybody in this airport. If you were concerned about the flight, you could have bought a ticket."
"The demons have summoned one of their most powerful souls back to this world, diuscrucis," Jane said. "Surely, you of all people understand what that means for us."
"That's not an excuse for overreacting. What did you expect to happen here? You kill one Great Were and lose ten of your own in the process? How is that going to help your cause?"
None of the angels said anything.
"Besides that, you should know something like this would get me involved. I'm on the case, and I appreciate you not trying to kill my friends."
"We didn't know she was with you," Sourpuss said. "We didn't know you were you."
"If you had given me a minute, instead of insulting-"
"She's a demon," the instigator said, back on his feet. His lost arm was already beginning to heal. "A powerful one. It doesn't matter who she is with. She needs to die."
"Saul, be quiet," Jane said. "I'll speak to you about this later."
The angel glowered at Alyx. "I meant what I said."
She bared her teeth, taking a step toward him. I put my hand on her shoulder, and she stopped.
"Enough," I said. "You know Abaddon is back in this world. You can help me stop him from destroying the balance, or you can start fights with my people and force me to kill you."
Jane nodded, still glaring at Saul. "I'm not prepared to help you, diuscrucis. However, we won't stand in your way. Let's go."
She led the angels away, leaving us alone as the mortals began to return to the area as if nothing had ever happened.
"I'm sorry," Alyx said again, looking at me with big eyes.
"Forget about it," I replied. "They shouldn't have been pushing you. What did he say, anyway?"
"It doesn't matter now. I'll do better next time, I promise."
I smiled and gave her a hug. "I know you will."
Eleven
The rest of the trip to Denver was relatively uneventful. Alyx slept most of the way, her head resting on my chest while she snored in a cute mini-growl. I spent the entire time awake, trying to get my mind right for the bigger and more important trip. It took a lot of effort to pep-talk myself into not freaking out about the idea of Hell. I had been trapped in the Box with the Beast, who was a bigger, badder version of Lucifer, and I had come out victorious. I shouldn't have been as nervous as I was.
It was the history, the fear ingrained since I was a child by my somewhat religious mother, that was psyching me out. Sure, the Box had been a scary place, but it had also been ever-changing, control of it usurped by the power of the Beast. Hell was static in comparison. Charis had been my first true love, but she had never been as well-suited to the environment of the Box as Alyx was to Hell. Great Weres were uncommon on any plane.
After we had landed, I rented a car and drove us downtown. The sleep had lifted Alyx's spirits, dampened somewhat after the altercation with the angels. She pointed at the buildings, made comments about the people she saw, and acted more like an enthusiastic tourist than a powerful demon.
"Where do we find Damien?" I asked as we cruised along Speer Boulevard.
"His master owns a gentleman's club up in Westminster."
A gentleman's club. Of course. Demons tended to go for vice to fuel their own.
"His master? I thought he was his own fiend."
"No. He's a dealer for another fiend named Cabal. Cabal is about two steps below archfiend. Damien's two steps lower than that."
"So, do we talk to Damien directly or do I need to go through Cabal."
"We'll go to Damien. If he hasn't heard from Espanto, he won't know that I've left him. I can convince him I'm on a job."
"Did Espanto send you on a lot of jobs alone?"
"He was always nearby when he did. He never wanted to risk me being able to break his bond. He'd stay in a hotel and send me out on his errands."
"I'm surprised he didn't handle Damien himself."
"Because of the club? Espanto didn't want women who would sell their bodies like that. It was the power that turned him on. He loved having control over it."
"I don't need any more details," I said. She had already told me some of the things the demon had forced her to do. "What if Damien knows you left?"
"Since you didn't like my idea of payment, he'll probably make us go to Cabal. We'll negotiate with Cabal, and he'll send us on our way. Then he'll tell Espanto where I am and get paid again."
It was predictable demon behavior. "Which is why we'll find an alternate Rift to travel through and come out somewhere else," I said.
"Damien won't like that."
"I think you can convince him."
"I thought-"
"With your claws."
She laughed.
We made the trip up to Westminster. It was nine in the evening, and whatever action took place in the club would be in full swing. I was surprised to find a line outside the place, a decent sized building with no windows and a simple sign. A pair of large, human bouncers was controlling the crowd.
"I'm not used to seeing lines for a nudie bar," I said.
"Cabal gets some of the best talent from the
industry," Alyx said. "He's got a lot of connections."
I parked the car, looking back at the assembled crowd and then at the two of us. The business casual would have to go. I reached out and put my hand on the Alyx's miniskirt at the top of her thigh. She put her hand on top of mine and held it while I morphed the tweed to something a little more slinky and moved on to her blouse and jacket.
I changed my clothes into a sharper, more expensive looking suit.
"You're up," I said as we climbed from the car.
She took my hand, leading me through the crowd to the front of the line. The bouncers wouldn't see her as Divine. To them, she was as human as anyone else in the cue, except that she was important.
"Is Damien here?" she asked. I could hear people on the line bitching about me getting to cut in because I had a "hot chick" with me.
"Alyx. It's been a while. Who's your friend?"
"This is Baylor. One of Espanto's newest acquisitions. He's just here to help me carry."
"Sure. Sure." The bouncer stepped aside. "Damien is backstage. If you'd come a couple of hours later, you would have missed him."
"Thanks, Ronnie," Alyx said, guiding me past the heavies. The other guests were still complaining, and I could hear Ronnie tell them to stuff it as we moved through a foyer and out into the club.
I wanted to ignore the fact that I was in a strip joint. I wanted to pretend I was somewhere a little more clandestine, like a library. It was tough to do when the girls were everywhere. Cleaning tables, carrying trays, tending the bar. They were all dressed in something slinky, and most of it was either topless or transparent. I could feel my face burning, embarrassed for being here.
Then there was the stage. There were three girls up on it, not even a thong to share between them. They were undulating and grinding against one another. I only spared them a two-second glance before I looked away.
Sometimes I really hated dealing with demons.
"How do we get backstage from here?" I asked, having to raise my voice over the din of dance music.
Execution (The Divine Book 6) Page 4
