Her Black Heart (The Dark Amulet Series Book 2)

by A. J. Norris

  Tomas visually relaxed, even took a deep breath.

  “See, I can’t have you calling the police and I’m not interested in killing anyone today,” Maurice continued. “I have an associate of mine paying a visit to your wife this afternoon.”

  “Ha, I talked to my wife right before you came into my office. She’s at her friend’s house right n—”

  “Sylvia’s. Yes, I know.”

  Tomas paled. “You wouldn’t.”

  “If you’d like, I could tell him to kill her and her friend right now. Or would you rather I leave with my amulet and never set foot near you or your wife again? Oh, and did I mention that your daughter has company as well?”

  “You’re bluffing.”

  “Am I?” Maurice grinned. “Once I’m clear, I’ll call off my men. But you’re going to stay put in your little office here. You wouldn’t want my associates to get nervous, would you? Return and finish the job?” He smiled. The last part he’d added for extra insurance and time to get out of Chicago. He turned to leave. “Oh, one last thing, I had no idea, you were into that sort of thing. Your wife might be interested to hear about your extracurricular activities.”

  “What are you talk—never mind.”

  CHAPTER

  FIFTY-SEVEN

  Julia

  “Dammit, Joelle,” Julia said. The angel she’d never seen before stood inside the suite in the frame of the door-wall. “You know him, huh? I take it he always does that.”

  “Yep, pretty much. In his defense, though, he’s not supposed to be here.”

  “Why not?” Julia asked.

  “He’s a higher upper.”

  And that means?

  Why did everyone always assume she knew anything about angels? “Thanks, you’re so helpful.”

  “You’re welcome,” the angel said and took a test tube of purple liquid out of his pocket. Another angel with dark gray wings wheeled a yellow mop bucket up to the angel with the vial.

  “You must be Soapers?”

  “Right you are.”

  The gray-winged angel stuck his palm up in a quick greeting. “Hey, I’m Jeremiah.” His smile caused her to do a double-take.

  Jesus.

  Her whole outlook on the future changed for a moment as she stared at his face. “You really like your job, don’t you?”

  “No, not particularly. I love Earth.”

  “Oh.” She bit her bottom lip. The other angel dunked a sponge into the bucket and swabbed up the drops of blood left from the dead guy. Jeremiah followed behind with a white rag. If she understood things correctly, Soapers ensured no evidence of angel activities, including biological, was left for police to find.

  Julia took the one flight of stairs down to their floor. A scent tickled her nose when she entered the hallway from the stairwell. She waved her fingers over her crinkled nose. “Achoo! Achoo!” Who the hell bathed in their cologne?

  Oh. Shit.

  She cringed, her heart beating faster. “Not good. Not good.” The only person she’d ever known to wear that strong expensive crap was Maurice.

  The smell became more pungent as she tiptoed down the corridor, past the narrow table with a golden vase full of fresh flowers. Her eyes watered and her nose threatened to explode again. She pressed her index finger under her nostrils trying to force her sneeze to wait until she reached her room.

  Outside the door where the scent lingered, she held her breath. She wasn’t sure which side of the hallway was the correct room. The sound of metal clicking inside a suite sent her running. Julia shot down the hall. Raz stepped out of their room several doors down.

  “Go back inside!” she whisper-yelled and clawed at the air in front of her. “Get back in there!”

  Once they were back inside, she slammed the door and slid down to the floor. She gasped and swallowed hard several times. She stood up after a second or two and looked out the peephole.

  Raz situated himself directly behind her. “What’s the matter?”

  She flinched, her hand covering her chest. “Don’t sneak up on me like that? What are you doing?”

  “What are you doing?” He shooed her away from the door. “Let me see. Hmm…”

  “Do you see him?”

  He peeked at her over his shoulder. “See who? There’s no one out there.”

  “Maurice. He’s here, I know it.”

  “Did you see him?”

  Julia dropped her gaze to the floor. “Well, no.”

  ***

  Maurice

  Finally.

  Maurice set the velvet pouch down on the hotel suite’s coffee table and parked his butt on the sofa in the sitting room. The amulet’s power already flowed through his veins. Heatwaves seeped through the fabric. A wide smile spread across his face.

  He fished his phone out of his breast pocket and dialed Shane and another of his associates to let them know they were free to leave their babysitting duties behind and join him at the hotel. However, he knew only one of them would return, the other liked his anonymity. Who could blame him? Maurice sent him a text:

  Free 2 go.

  Shane answered on the second ring. “All set.”

  “Do you need me to take care of things?”

  Maurice held the cell between his ear and shoulder. “That won’t be necessary.” He shook the contents of the black bag into his hand. “Join me at the—Nooo!” The phone slipped and bounced onto the carpet off the low table. He bounded from the couch, shouting, “Incompetent ingrates. Those bloody wankers!” The square, not round, pendant he whipped through the air made a three-inch hole in the drywall.

  Sonofabitch!

  He paced around the room. His phone lay on the floor, Shane still squawking on the other end. Maurice put the cell back up to his ear and cleared his throat before speaking. “As I was say—”

  “Is everything all right, sir?”

  “Yes, now will you listen to me? Please. Join me at the hotel for a meeting at once.” They needed a new strategy.

  “Is there a probl—” Maurice hung up, uninterested in continuing the conversation.

  CHAPTER

  FIFTY-EIGHT

  Ra’zael

  “So you didn’t see Maurice,” Raz said. “Did you imagine—”

  “No. I didn’t imagine him. I smelled him,” Julia said.

  “Oh, I see. It’s weird when I smell someone, but it’s okay for you, is that it?”

  “Shut. Up. I’ve had a bad day.”

  “What’s he smell like?”

  “I don’t know. Stand out in the hallway and take a whiff.”

  He looked at the ceiling. “You just said you smelled him and now you don’t know.” The angel slumped his shoulders like her.

  “Like cologne you and I can’t afford even an ounce of and wouldn’t want to.”

  “Could you be any more vague please? I dare you.” He mumbled, “Females,” under his breath. Raz peered around the door jamb. To the left, the hallway was empty. On the right, a man rounded the corner. Their eyes locked. Shit. The human whose ass he’d kicked in Detroit was headed for him. “Julia, you’ll want to hide.”

  The white feathered angel flapped his wings as he sprinted toward the burly man. Raz’s feet left the floor as he twisted into a torpedo, spinning head and fists first into the human’s torso. The guy yelped and went down. He tried to roll away but Raz was right there with a chokehold. He beat his wings to lift him and his opponent off the carpet. Being no match for Raz, the man was easily dragged back to the room.

  He deposited the weak human at the foot of the bed. The angel made his wings visible and the man’s eyes went saucer wide. The dude scooted backward on his ass until he trapped himself between Raz and the corner next to the desk.

  The man’s eyes left the angel to gape at Julia and his face paled. “Wha-wha-what is this?” he gasped. “You’re? Am I? Who?”

  “You’re the latest puppet, huh?” The Frankenstein monster blinked and his eyes returned to their impossibly wide stare.
“What’s your name, anyway?”

  “You’re…”

  “Yeah, I know, Bryant killed me,” Julia said testily. “What’s your name?”

  He swallowed and looked back and forth between her and Raz.

  “Hey, focus, she asked you a question.” Raz poked the guy’s forehead a couple of times then snapped his fingers in front of his face.

  “S-Shane. My name’s Shane.”

  Julia cocked her head. “Maurice is here.”

  “No-no.” Shane shook his head.

  “That wasn’t a question,” Julia said. “What room’s he in?”

  “Like I’m going to tell—”

  Raz punched him in the center of his face. Blood spewed, and Shane’s head knocked against the wall.

  He grunted and clutched his nose. “Fuck.”

  “What room?” Julia asked again. Raz smiled. He was going to remind her they could teleport to Maurice but he enjoyed messing with the idiot too much. Besides you never knew what you might run into and it was best to have all the information you could before an ambush.

  Shane chuckled without humor. Raz slammed his head back. “All right. All right.” He splayed his hands up. “Twelve oh eight.”

  “You lying to me, Shane?”

  “No.”

  Julia narrowed her eyes at him. “You’ve been very helpful, but you haven’t been nice to me.”

  Raz grinned. “Yes. So how would you like to die?”

  Shane gulped loudly.

  “You know what? I think he’s probably earned his ticket into Hell. What do you think?” Julia said.

  Raz shrugged. “Most likely.”

  She put an index finger up to her lips. “Hmm, I don’t want to be accused of being vindictive.”

  “So-so don’t,” Shane sputtered.

  “What do you have in mind, female?”

  “Quick death, and let those shadow demons take him.”

  “Shadow demons?” Shane trembled.

  “Quick death it is.” Raz grabbed Shane by his neck, lifted him up, and got ready to body-slam Shane on the floor.

  “Wait!” Julia yelled.

  Raz paused mid-slam. “What’s wrong?” He tried not to look like he sagged in relief. Thank, Deus, she didn’t want him to go through with it. He would have, but Julia was supposed to learn from her past and make better choices.

  “Is this a good idea? What about all that crap in the woods about my soul? I was supposed to learn something from all this.”

  “Like what?”

  Come on, Julia. You got this.

  “Maybe I should learn to let things go. Killing him won’t change anything, I’m still dead. I’ve made so many mistakes in life. God. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but let him go.”

  “You sure?” New feathers sprouted on her wings—growing and lengthening before his eyes.

  She scrunched up her face and shimmied her shoulders. “Yes.” She reached behind her and scratched a wing. “If he’s destined for Hell then anything we do couldn’t possibly be any worse than that.”

  “You’re probably right. I really want to kill him though.” He sent his fist flying into Shane’s face again. Lights out for the bastard. “Probably shouldn’t use your nails to scratch like that.”

  Julia shook her head. “Why did you do that? I have more questions.” Raz’s eyelids lowered and a grin spread across his face. “And why are you looking at me like—my feathers are coming in, aren’t they?”

  He nodded, sitting back on his heels to watch.

  “I have more questions. Are you listening to me?” Julia snapped her fingers in Raz’s face.

  “Uh huh,” he blinked when she waved a hand in front of him. “Oh sorry, like what?”

  “Like what is Maurice doing here and more importantly, does he have m—the amulet?”

  Raz smiled. “You almost said ‘my’ didn’t you?”

  “Be quiet. I caught myself. Old habits die hard. Sheesh. Wake him up.” She backed into the wall and rubbed her wings. A purr left her throat. “What?” she said at Raz’s odd look. “It’s itchy.”

  “Wake him up? Oh, okay. I have a magic wand,” Raz said.

  “Then use it,” she said. He stood and stared cross-eyed at her. “Oh, you were trying to be funny.”

  He smirked. “Did you think I was serious?”

  “Well, no. I don’t know. This whole angel thing is weird.” Shane groaned and they glanced down. “I think he’s waking up. Hey, asshole?”

  “Wha-what?”

  “Why’s your boss still here?” Julia asked. Shane shrugged but looked like he knew more than he was letting on.

  “I still want to kill you though, so don’t make it easy for me,” Raz said.

  Julia held a hand up so he backed off. She paced a bit before speaking. “Now, here’s your chance at a little redemption. I’d take it if I were you. I hear Hell is something to fear. Why is Maurice still here? And answer truthfully. I wouldn’t want to summon the Demon Ruler.”

  Raz hid a snort in his hand. Scary part was, she could conjure the asshat. “Oh, I’d believe her if I were you,” he said to Shane. “See, my wings are white, but hers?” He tsked and sucked air in between his teeth. “Hers are black, which can’t be good.”

  It was a total bluff. Black feathers didn’t make her any worse than him. She’d simply obtained her wings a different way. Shane wouldn’t know that though.

  “There’s a problem. That’s all I know,” Shane said.

  Julia rubbed her jawline. “Uh huh, right. I’m not an idiot. Redemption here. Focus. What happened?”

  Shane sat mutely.

  Raz tipped his head back. “Arghh! I don’t have time for this!” He cupped his hand and a set of handcuffs appeared. He placed one on Shane’s wrist and dragged him by the arm toward the bathroom. He met with some resistance. The man grabbed onto the leg of the bed with his free hand. Julia pried his fingers off and followed them into the bathroom.

  CHAPTER

  FIFTY-NINE

  Julia

  “What are you doing? Thought you weren’t going to kill him,” Julia asked while Raz turned on the tub faucet.

  “I’m not,” he snapped.

  Shane thrashed his legs and loose arm around, sweeping Julia’s feet out from underneath her. Her shoulder and hip slammed onto the tile. “Ow!”

  “Help me with this asshole,” Raz said. “You’re stronger than you know. Come on.”

  “I’m trying.” She scrambled away from Shane’s reach, kicking at him. Raz wrapped his bicep around the guy’s neck and yanked his cuffed wrist behind his back. Julia sat on his legs. He tried throwing her off balance. “Quit struggling, will you? You’re only making this harder.” She squeezed her thighs around him.

  Raz folded the guy in half with his upper body, then wrenched Shane’s other hand behind his back, clicking the handcuffs closed.

  “Fuck! You!” Shane barked. He resisted several more times before finally settling.

  Julia took a deep breath but didn’t relax, even though there wasn’t whole lot of movement the asshole was capable of now.

  The water from the tub overflowed, spilling onto the tile. Julia twisted her torso and reached over to shut off the water. She gasped when some splashed on her, it was cold!

  Raz met her eyes for a moment. He mouthed, one…two…three. In one smooth motion, like they’d practiced the move a hundred times, they lifted Shane off the floor and shoved him under the water.

  “No—” His scream was cut short.

  “How long are we going to leave him under for?”

  “As long as it takes.”

  “Takes for what?”

  “Until he starts confessing.”

  Shane pushed up, dislodging her hands. Icy water soaked the front of her shirt. “Cold!” Julia gasped and shoved his legs back down.

  “Hang on, just a bit longer.” Raz jerked Shane out of the water by the shirt.

  The asshole’s gasp was long and drawn out. “Uhhhhhh.�
�

  “Tell us what we want to know,” Raz demanded.

  Shane grinned and let spit fly. Raz ducked. Julia didn’t. “Ewwwww.” She wiped at her cheek. “Disgusting. Put him under. Sick.”

  Shane managed to take a deep breath before being forced under the surface again. Now they’d have to wait longer. However, she knew a way he’d give up sooner. Julia had witnessed Maurice’s thugs using this tactic to torture people. She braced herself for the frigid water and hopped into the tub. With his hands cuffed and her sitting on him, his mind would feel the absolute terror of drowning. They had to do something more drastic, because he already knew they weren’t going to kill him. Before long, Shane was shaking his head wildly. Bubble streams shot to the surface, garbling his underwater yell.

  “I think that’s enough,” she said after thirty seconds. Raz allowed her to pull him up.

  Water fell from his mouth and Shane gasped. “Ready, now?” He shook his head. Julia pushed on his chest.

  “Wait! Wait! Okay. Okay.” Julia and Raz waited for his breathing to slow. “Maurice went to the museum and then he called and told me to leave the curator’s daughter alone and then started to tell me to come back to the hotel, only then he yelled ‘No’. I can only figure that there’s a problem with the amulet. That’s all I know. I swear.”

  “He doesn’t have it.” Julia laughed. “He went to the museum and they gave him the wrong piece. Maybe on purpose or they’re—”

  “Idiots,” Raz offered.

  “Who cares? He doesn’t have it.” She still had a chance to get the amulet back. “Oh, my God.”

  Julia couldn’t believe her luck. Raz’s eyes widened. A black feather floated to the floor.

  CHAPTER

  SIXTY

  Amalya

  Amalya lay on the couch in her living room. She rubbed her belly and smoothed the fabric of her dress. Yep, her stomach was still flat, but she felt pressure on one side of her lower abdomen. Perhaps this was her uterus expanding. She had so many questions. Were there prenatal vitamins for angels? Would childbirth hurt? What was she thinking? Of course it would. What was the equivalent of an angel doctor? Max the Healer?