“Thank you,” I said, looking at him steadily. “Thank you for saving my life, again. But I don’t want to sleep anymore. I feel like I want to get out and run a few laps, actually.”
He frowned at that. “My healing should not have restored you so quickly. You have only been sleeping a few hours.”
I held my hands up in an I-don’t-know gesture. “And I feel a little nauseous.”
“That is a common side effect of overuse of magic. You have thrown your body out of balance and you may feel a little sick until the balance is restored. But you should not feel so energetic.”
I stirred the milk on the stove, watching the heat carefully so that the milk didn’t curdle or boil. I voiced a concern that had been troubling me for some time. “Gabriel, I don’t understand the magic that’s inside me. When I have tried to use it in the past as an Agent, I felt like my magic came only reluctantly and with great exertion on my part. But now it seems like it wants to leap out of me. Earlier today, with Ramuell, it came pouring out of me and I couldn’t control it. I don’t understand what happened at the end at all.”
“At the end?”
I tested the milk with my finger. It was hot enough for cocoa but not so hot that it would scald. I poured two packets of instant mix into the cups and added the milk. I opened a cabinet and began rooting around for the mini-marshmallows.
“After you were knocked out, Ramuell got ahold of me. My magic was pretty tapped out at that point, and he was doing his evil villain thing, telling me horrible things to make me even more upset before he ate me.” I found the bag of marshmallows and added generous amounts to both cups.
“One does not generally refer to the threats of a nephilim as an ‘evil villain thing,’ ” Gabriel said dryly as I handed him one of the cups.
I waved my hand at him to indicate that he should follow as I went into the living room, turning on more lights. I curled up in my favorite chair and pulled a crocheted blanket over my legs. I wasn’t tired, but I was very cold, cold in my core, like I’d been out running in freezing rain.
“Anyway,” I said, dismissing his commentary, “Ramuell was threatening me, and I thought I was going to die. And then all of a sudden, some kind of force came out of me.”
“A . . . force? What kind of force?”
It sounded really goofy when Gabriel repeated it in that dry-as-dust tone. “I had no magic, and then all of a sudden I felt something enormous surge out of me, like a bomb going off. There was this burst of white light that sort of burned through me and out through my skin. Ramuell dropped me, and when I looked up at him I saw that whatever had come out of me had melted away his skin.”
The look of astonishment on Gabriel’s face would have been hilarious if it wasn’t so terrifying. Whatever I had done, it was clearly something Gabriel had never seen before, and that frightened me. I did not want to be any freakier than I already was.
“This is not good, is it?” I asked. My hands trembled and a little cocoa spilled from my cup onto the blanket.
“It is unexpected,” Gabriel said.
“A very careful answer.”
“I am not sure what to say to you. From the beginning, there have been events surrounding you that I did not expect.”
“Such as my vision of Evangeline?”
“Yes. And now this power that can harm the nephilim. As I have told you before, it took the power of every one of the fallen to bind the nephilim. The strength and invulnerability of these creatures is legendary. For you to manifest a power that can do such damage to them is unheard of, especially since you are part human. I wonder ...” Gabriel trailed off, looking thoughtful.
“You wonder what?” I asked.
“Perhaps your mother was not simply an Agent,” Gabriel said. “Perhaps she had some other supernatural lineage in her blood that she passed to you, and that mixed with your father’s power in a way that we have not seen before.”
The idea disturbed me, not least because it would mean that my mother had kept yet another secret from me. But there was one creature living who would know the truth. I pushed the blanket off my lap and went to the front window. Sure enough, Beezle was crouched just below the sill, listening to my conversation with Gabriel. He gave a guilty little start when I appeared at the window. I lifted the screen and crooked my finger at him. He flew into the room, scowling at both of us, and perched on the arm of my chair.
“I didn’t know of any magic in Katherine’s blood other than her powers as an Agent,” he said immediately. Then his face took on a hangdog expression. “You made hot chocolate without me?”
Wordlessly I passed my cup to him and he downed the remains in one long gulp.
“Can I get back to my job now, please?” he said.
“Only if you promise not to lurk under the sill like a creepy stalker. Otherwise you may as well stay in here where you can contribute something useful,” I said.
In response he settled more comfortably on the chair.
“I thought so,” I said dryly. “Do you have any theories about this strange power of mine?”
“Perhaps it is simply Azazel’s power and Katherine’s mixing inside you. I do not know of any other Agents who are also the children of fallen angels,” Beezle said, and he looked questioningly at Gabriel.
“No, I do not believe that there are any others,” Gabriel said. “But I would have to confirm this with Lord Azazel. Additionally, this power is significantly greater than that of a mere Agent, or even Lord Azazel’s. I have never heard of this . . . What would you call it?”
“It was almost like a star bursting inside me, like a sun,” I said slowly. “A tremendous buildup of heat that happened all at once, and then exploded out of me without focus.”
Beezle looked disturbed. “We have to start teaching you how to control your powers. This starburst didn’t harm you—this time. But who knows what may happen next time? The power may be so great that the force of it could hurt you, or even kill you.”
“I’m all for the controlling of the powers,” I said. “I’m getting more than a little tired of feeling like my magic is jerking me around on a chain.”
“Tomorrow, when you are more rested ...” Gabriel said.
He wasn’t able to finish his thought. The doorbell rang, and we all looked at one another in confusion.
“Who could that be?” I asked, as I glanced at the clock and stood up. Gabriel followed suit, coming to stand at my side. “It’s nearly four in the morning.”
“I’m going to see,” Beezle said, alighting from his perch.
“Be careful,” I hissed after him. “Remember what happened when Antares came by for a visit.”
He flapped his claws at me in a don’t-remind-me-I’vegot-it-covered gesture.
The few moments that Beezle was gone seemed interminable. Gabriel quietly took my hand and I laced his fingers tightly in mine. We said nothing and waited for Beezle’s return.
Beezle fluttered back in the window and grimaced at the handholding. I gave him a look that warned him not to bring it up right now.
“It’s J.B.,” he announced.
I let go of Gabriel’s hand and let out an exasperated breath. “Does that idiot Antares think that I’ll fall for this a second time?”
“I think it really is J.B.,” Beezle said. “If he is using magic to disguise himself, then it is a very powerful spell. I looked at him through all five layers of reality and it appears to be J.B. down to the bone.”
“Well, swell,” I said. “It’s not my demon half brother, but if J.B.’s here at this hour, then that means that I’m in trouble for something.”
I hurried down the stairs as the bell rang again a few more times. Swinging open the door at the bottom of the stairs, I saw that J.B. stood inside the foyer, and that reminded me that both Gabriel and Antares had been unable to cross inside from the porch without my permission. The last bit of tension in my gut unknotted. I didn’t really want to see J.B. right now, but at least he wasn’t some ho
rror show coming to take me back to his master in pieces.
“I need to talk to you—now,” he said grimly as soon as he saw me. His face was drawn, his cheeks were stubbled and his hair stuck up all over his head like he’d been pulling on it for several hours—or maybe it was just bedhead. Either way, J.B. looked a mess.
“You look a mess,” I said tactfully. “And it’s a bit early—or a bit late, depending on your point of view—for a social call, don’t you think?”
“I’ve been up all night and I don’t need any of your crap right now, Black,” he said, pushing past me onto the stairs.
“Not bedhead, then,” I mumbled, and closed the door. As I turned to follow him I bumped into his back. “Get going if you have to be here, Jake. Otherwise, I can think of things I would rather be doing right now than standing on the stairs looking at your ass.”No matter how fine it is, I added mentally.
“Who are you?” J.B. demanded.
I peeked around him and saw Gabriel standing at the top of the stairs. He gave J.B. a menacing look.
“That’s my neighbor,” I said, squeezing around J.B. and marching up the stairs. “Stop intimidating J.B., Gabriel.”
Gabriel nodded. “As you wish.”
He disappeared into my apartment. I sighed and beckoned for J.B. to follow.
“What’s he doing here in the middle of the night?” J.B. asked crossly.
“That’s a question that I could ask you,” I said, leading the way into my living room. Beezle had disappeared, although he was probably eavesdropping under the windowsill again. Gabriel had resumed his position in the chair opposite mine.
I didn’t offer J.B. a chair or a drink, but he dropped onto the couch anyway. I closed the front door. Before I could make it to my chair, J.B. launched into his usual speaking mode—attack, attack, attack.
“Just what in the hell happened at Clark and Belmont tonight, Black? Twenty-six souls disappear without a trace or a record of their choice, and you’re the only Agent on scene. The whole intersection looks like it’s been destroyed by flamethrowers. I want some answers and I want them now.”
As usual, J.B.’s presence made my back teeth grind and brought all my worst instincts to the fore. “Well, J.B., I’m sure you’re distressed over the lack of properly filed reports, but I was very busy in that intersection fighting for my life. You see, this completely horrific creature called a nephilim showed up, munched on a few souls, melted a few people into taffy, and tried to take me out, too. And oh, by the way, it’s the same creature that I warned you about yesterday when I was in your office, and you ignored me completely. So, as far as I’m concerned, this mess is on your head, not mine.”
“What the fuck is a nephilim?” J.B. exploded, his face red. “Is this another one of your fairy tales about soul-eating monsters?”
“It’s not a fairy tale,” I said, rising to my feet. “It’s a nightmare the likes of which you have never known. We are on the verge of a real biblical-style apocalypse here. I don’t need you giving me crap about paperwork right now. I have to find this thing before it finds me, or else I’m going to end up just like my mother, my soul trapped inside its body forever.”
J.B. stared at me. “You’ve cracked. You’ve finally lost it. I always wondered if your mother’s death would do it, and it finally has. You’re imagining some nonexistent monster ate her up, and now you’ve killed twenty-six people in an effort to prove your wacko theories.”
“What?” I said, unreasonably hurt by his assumption. He’d known me for years. We didn’t always like each other—okay, we didn’t like each other at all—but how could J.B. think I was a murderer? “You think that I killed those people? How the hell would I be able to do that?”
“I don’t know, and the truth is, I don’t want to know. Those people died horrible deaths,” J.B. said grimly.
“I was trying to help them!”
“Right. Help them by melting their faces off.”
“If I am a murderer,” I said through gritted teeth, “don’t you think that you should be running out the door right now instead of standing in my living room making ridiculous accusations?”
From the look on J.B.’s face, I would say that the thought hadn’t occurred to him. Gabriel coughed into his fist. The cough sounded suspiciously like laughter.
J.B. visibly tried to pull himself together. “You are suspended until further notice. Any pending collections will be reassigned to other Agents.”
“You can’t suspend me solely on the merit of your asinine conclusions,” I shouted.
“I can and I will,” he said, standing up and approaching me so that we were nearly nose to nose.
“I don’t have time for this. Why can’t I make you understand that there is something horrible out there that is going to eat its way through the city until it’s stopped?”
“The only ‘something horrible’ that needs to be stopped is you,” he said.
I had actually pulled my fist back to deck him right in that smug mouth, but Gabriel’s hand closed over mine.
“Why not?” I said to him through gritted teeth.
“Because it will cause unnecessary complications,” Gabriel said softly.
I breathed hard through my nose and glared at J.B., who watched this little interchange with widened eyes.
“You have no sense of self-preservation whatsoever, do you?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” J.B. said, his eyes darting from me to Gabriel and back again.
“I don’t think you fully grasp how angry I am at you right now, and you’re standing very, very close to me.”
12
I SMILED, AND I KNEW THAT IT WAS NOT A PLEASANT smile. Somewhere deep inside, I felt a little flicker of magic, as faint as a match flame.
He finally seemed to understand, and he stepped back a few inches. As he did, I saw his expression change. He stared at me like he’d never seen me before.
“What now?” I asked.
“Your eyes,” he said, his voice half-strangled. “What happened to your eyes?”
Worried that I had manifested some new freakiness since my altercation with Ramuell, I looked at Gabriel, who said, “You have starshine in your eyes.”
“Oh, that,” I said, waving my hand in a dismissive motion.
J.B. backed away slowly, his hands up in the air like he was surrendering to the cops. “I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but you stay away from me, Black. You’re some kind of freak.”
I watched him, content to let him go and deal with the suspension later. He continued his careful path backward out of the room until something behind me made his face turn paler and he let out a yelp of surprise.
“What the hell is that thing?” he shouted, pointing at Beezle.
“Great timing, Beezle,” I said as he landed on my shoulder.
“Umm, you might not want to let J.B. leave right now,” he said in an undertone close to my ear.
“And why is that?”
“Antares and a few of his buddies are hanging out on the front lawn. They asked for, and I quote, ‘Azazel’s half-breed bitch to come forth and engage in mortal combat.’ Then they mentioned taking your entrails back to Focalor or something else of that nature.”
“You didn’t think the details were important enough to remember?” I asked. I was a little concerned for my entrails even if Beezle wasn’t.
“Frankly, demonic threats get a little boring after a while. It’s always ‘I’ll pull your beating heart out of your chest’ or ‘I’ll suck your eyeballs out of your skull.’ They haven’t had any new material in a couple of millennia,” Beezle said.
“He is absolutely right. Demons do have an unfortunate tendency of repeating themselves,” Gabriel added, straight-faced.
“I gather from your jocular attitudes that neither of you are taking Antares very seriously?” Even though I was loaded with enough energy to clean the house five times over, I could feel that the strength of my magic was still very low. I didn
’t think I was up to taking on Antares right now, especially since our last meeting had involved a lot of punching and kicking of my vulnerable human parts.
“The devil here can manage your measly half brother,” Beezle said, jerking a claw in Gabriel’s direction. “The other two will run once Antares has learned his lesson.”
I frowned. “Doesn’t that make it look like I can’t fight my own battles?”
“No,” Gabriel said. “It shows Antares—and, more important, Focalor—that you are not a weak link to be exploited. It shows that Lord Azazel cares enough for you to come to your aid. After tonight, they will think twice about attempting to threaten you simply because you are Azazel’s human daughter.”
“What are you going to do?” I asked as Gabriel strode past me toward the door.
“As the gargoyle says.” Gabriel nodded at Beezle briefly. “Teach Antares a lesson he will not soon forget.”
“I love it when you talk sexy like that,” I said, and then my heart dropped into my stomach. “Wait a second—where the hell is J.B.?”
“Gods above and below,” Beezle swore, launching from my shoulder to fly out the window.
I raced to the door. Gabriel had already disappeared down the stairs ahead of me. I took the stairs two at a time, almost tumbling down in my haste. J.B. drove me crazy, and yes, he thought I was a murderer, but I did not want his death on my conscience. I wanted him alive so I could kick his ass tomorrow for suspending me.
“Please, please, please let him be all right,” I said as I rushed out the open door and onto the front porch. I crashed into Gabriel, who stood stock-still on the peeling red boards, his hands fisted beside him.
I stepped around him and saw Antares in all of his black-horned, red-skinned glory. He held J.B. loosely around the shoulders, almost as if he was showing us that the two of them were pals. But the black sickle claws of Antares’s right hand hovered dangerously close to J.B.’s jugular.
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