by Jill Myles
“Probably.” Zane lit another cigarette.
Caleb stepped out of the shadows, all smiling young face and tattooed monocle. His hand looped around my shoulder. “Symbol’s done, I think. Want to come admire my handiwork? Your big Nephilim friend went to scout the perimeter. He barely glanced at my symbol. I’m wounded.”
“I guess so.” I glanced over at Zane. My vampire lover looked as if he was about to chew the cigarette between his lips if he ground his teeth any harder.
But Zane said, “I’ll find Ethan.” He quickly exited out the front door, leaving me with the overly handsy vampire. Not ideal.
Without waiting to see if Caleb was going to follow me, I ducked through the door behind the bar and into the antechamber. I descended into the downstairs room and ignored the booths that lined the walls, moving toward the pool tables instead. The first time I’d walked into this room, it had been full of vampires, and Zane had been playing pool. I’d been so angry at him—he’d felt up my breasts moments before.
What I wouldn’t give to have that be my biggest problem at the moment. I ran a hand along the big, heavy furniture. Could I flip one of the tables over and use it as a barricade? I pushed on the edge of the table, testing the weight. Maybe not. The queen might be protective of her interior decorating, and I didn’t want to be on her bad side.
Caleb loped down the stairs after me as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “Like my symbol? I think I missed my calling as an artist.”
“Indeed.” I glanced over at the massive design on the center of the floor. Chalk outer circle, a ring of coffee grounds, and my blood painted all over the center. “Lovely work.”
“The symbol should bring Remy here to us. The angel inside her should be able to feel it for miles.”
“Joachim’s not really an angel anymore, is he?”
Caleb’s smile was boyishly charming … and cold. “No matter what form we wear now, precious, we all started as the same thing. Joachim’s essence is a halo, the same as any other angel’s.”
I ignored his condescending tone and put on Remy’s nullify charm, just in case. “And when she gets here? What then?”
He grinned at me and gestured at the gold shenu wrapped around his neck. “Like I told you earlier, we use this to pull him from her.”
“That’s great and all, but you didn’t say how.”
Caleb unhooked the torque and held it out to me. “The halo needs a vessel—it cannot be destroyed. So the shenu will transfer Joachim’s powers into the collar. It’s like an exorcism.”
My fingers trailed on the green felt of the pool table and I circled around it, walking away from Caleb and the collar. I didn’t like the thought of taking it from him, feeling that warm metal against my flesh when it had just been against his own. That was too … intimate. I was openly skeptical that any sort of exorcism would work on Remy, anyhow. “I think he’s too powerful for that at this point, Caleb.”
He patted the collar. “Not when we get this on her. Trust me. I’ve performed this sort of thing before.”
Yeah, well, a similar plan had gotten about twelve of his colleagues killed. I opened my mouth to protest, when a loud boom came from upstairs. The floor shook and a light fixture crashed to the floor.
“He’s here,” Caleb whispered, moving to the far side of me. “Fast work. He must have been in the area.”
I resisted the urge to crawl under a pool table and hide. “What should we do? And where are the others?”
Where was Zane? The loud crash from upstairs worried me. Was he safe?
Ethan flew through the heavy wooden doors and down the stairs, his large body smashing into a pool table. Caleb and I jumped backward to get out of the way. Shattered to remnants, one of the wooden pieces of the door wobbled, then crashed to the ground after him.
Ethan got to his elbows and shook his head, his long hair flying. “She’s here.”
My poor Boy Scout. I raced to his side, helping him to his feet. A moment later, a solitary figure moved into the shadowy doorway. The figure was too slim to be Zane, the hair too long and the figure too graceful. I knew the moment the figure turned its head and red eyes focused on me.
“Hello, Remy,” I said in a soft voice. “If you’re still in there.”
The figure that used to be my friend slunk down the stairs, one slow, predatory step at a time. The eyes flared even redder. “She’s in here. Somewhere.” Remy’s voice had taken on a deep, masculine edge.
Her body was a mess. Her nose had shifted to one side as if recently broken, and still-healing cuts lacerated her beautiful brown skin. Her silky black hair was a snarl of knots, and her torn clothing was covered in dark stains. Wet blood coated her mouth and cheeks, as if we’d caught her mid-meal. At some point, she’d lost a shoe and broken the heel off the other one. Joachim obviously didn’t care.
“What do you want?” I said, taking a step backward. I immediately cursed myself. The last thing I should do was to show weakness in front of the monster.
A smile curved his mouth. He’d noticed, too. Joachim-Remy stepped forward daintily, menacingly. She gave a scathing glance to the symbol on the floor. “Old tricks. You must have learned that from the demon bitch you follow.”
Caleb quickly moved a few feet away. Being near me made him too much of a target, and I didn’t blame him.
Zane was nowhere to be seen. That sent fear skittering through me, and I clutched at Ethan. Had she hurt him? Killed him?
Joachim-Remy began to slink toward me, and I took a few more careful steps backward. I’d backed up so much that I’d moved past the pool tables and ended up on the far side of the bar. A bar stool smacked into my backside and I grabbed it, bracing it in front of me to put some distance between me and the creature stalking in my direction. “Now, Joachim,” I began, my voice calm and reasonable, “let’s talk about this. I think you’re getting a little carried away with this whole ‘revenge’ thing.”
“What else do I have left?” she hissed, leaping forward a foot or two. “What do I live for, if not for your misery?”
“Happy hour?” I said, then yelped as a long-nailed hand swiped at my arm. I darted around the bar stool, keeping it between us. It was light enough that I could pick it up and hold it in front of me like a lion tamer.
Joachim-Remy snarled at me, foam flecking the corners of her mouth as she crouched to leap again. Where were my protectors? I stole a quick peek around. In the corner of the room I caught a glimpse of Caleb, the shenu held out in front of him. He was chanting, his eyes closed, his face grave.
Okay, so he was doing something that would help us trap Remy. I just needed to do my part and keep her occupied.
Piece of cake.
She snarled and leapt for me again, brushing aside the bar stool like cardboard. She pounced on me, knocking me to the floor.
I yelped, taken by surprise. Before I could recover and get back on my feet, she crawled over me like a spider monkey and straddled me, wild eyes gleaming. Her long, unkempt fingernails scratched at my face. “You didn’t put up much of a fight,” Joachim said low in his throat, and there was no ignoring the evil smile that curved his face. He stared down at the acorn-sized diamond around my neck. “Resorting to magic to protect yourself?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I said in a light voice, but the words died when Remy’s small hand curled into a fist and smashed into my jaw. Pain exploded, and I screamed, trying to buck her off of me.
Joachim-Remy only laughed, raising her fist again.
But I had other tricks up my succubus sleeves. I clamped my hand on hers, noting that her skin was overly warm to the touch. Not as hot as a demon, but close. She was doing the odd little panting thing that I’d seen her do before, a sign that she was getting worked up and having trouble controlling her body. If I could put her to sleep, Caleb could collar her and we could have Remy free of the possession in minutes. With my skin touching hers, I sent a forceful bolt of my succubus powers through to Remy, trying t
o knock her unconscious.
Nothing happened.
Remy looked down at me, surprised, and began to roar with laughter. “Did you forget that the necklace nullifies your magic, too, fool?”
I had. Whoops. It was worth a try. And now it seemed that all I’d done was piss her off. I tried to shove her off of me, but her grip was firm. She snarled and her mouth pulled into a wide, ugly, bloodstained grin. “I’m going to have fun dismembering you.”
A stool crashed over her head.
She paused, her eyes rolling backward as she struggled to remain upright. Ethan hovered over her, the broken half of the bar stool still in his hands. He stared down at the two of us, and when Joachim-Remy didn’t go down, he grabbed my fallen bar stool and repeated the same action.
Crash.
Her eyelids fluttered, as if she were having a hard time deciding if she wanted to pass out or not.
To my dismay, her head rolled back, then snapped forward again, and those red eyes focused on me once more. Her mouth curved into a snarl. “Your friend doesn’t know when to stop.”
She reached up over her and grabbed Ethan by his shirt, then threw him forward over her body. He landed on me, his back smashing into my face.
Shock waves of pain reverberated through my body, and the world went black for a second. My nose felt like it had been pushed into my head, and pain exploded in my mind like a series of firecrackers. I could taste blood in my mouth.
Over me, I felt Ethan struggling to get up, which only made my face hurt more. “Mmmfck phff,” I tried to yell around the small, hard things that littered my mouth—my teeth? Who cared, they would grow back. Right now I needed to get him off of me or we were going to lose this fight.
Hot hands curled around my ankles and jerked me out from under Ethan’s struggling form. The wood floor scratched my back, a splinter tore through my skin as she dragged me over the surface and away from the men. I screamed with pain.
“Can’t get away now,” she breathed, laughing cruelly. “I’ve waited too long for this.”
Blood streamed from my nose, and I reached out, desperate to find something to get Remy off of me.
A large shadow charged overhead and Ethan rushed past, bowling Remy over like a linebacker. The possessed succubus flipped backward as if anticipating his move, and when he feinted to the left, she was right there to angle past. He’d found his bo staff again and it whipped out, snapping her across the head. Remy recoiled but only hissed, undaunted. She grabbed the staff and flipped him with it, and I watched Ethan go sailing overhead again.
Remy took the staff and snapped it in half with her bare hands, leaving a nasty jagged edge. She loomed over me, cocking her head, and pushed the jagged edge between my lips. “You realize that you won’t die if I force this into your brain?”
Cold fear washed over me. I said nothing, staring up at her, my palms braced against the floor.
She smiled, a low, deadly smile. “I’ve thought up all kinds of ways to torture you, my sweet succubus. That’s one of the best things about playthings being immortal.”
“You weren’t worried about that when you killed all those vampires,” I said, careful to try and remain as still as possible. The jagged splinters of the stick tore at my lips as I spoke.
“Yes, but I needed them,” she purred, leaning over me. “I don’t need you. You have no power on your own. You only exist because of your masters. There is no special halo that lights within you.”
Ethan charged at Remy again but she neatly sidestepped, the stick shoving deeper into my throat. I gagged and my hands went around it to stop her as she laughed, a rough trill that seemed so strange coming from my friend’s small, blood-covered mouth. “You fools are nothing before me. I have been here for thousands of years, waiting to go free. You think you shall stop me?” She turned toward Ethan and grabbed him by his long, black ponytail, swinging him around and flinging him into the bar. He crashed into the side of it, the wood cracking apart as he fell to the ground. “How long before you think your friend understands this?”
She turned to look down at me, and as I watched, the gold collar appeared around her throat.
Remy’s eyes widened, and her laughter turned into gagging.
Behind her Caleb watched with avid eyes, a hard, confident smile stretching across his face. He held the collar against her throat, locked around her as she thrashed wildly.
“NOOOOOOO!” she screamed, the voice erupting from her throat inhuman. “NOOOOOOOOOOO!”
I pushed the stick away from my mouth and scrambled to my feet, weaving unsteadily. Caleb pinned her with that simple golden collar, pulling her body against his own. At my side Ethan moved to stand up straight, and I heard several things pop as he righted himself. No doubt he’d broken a few things fighting Remy, who brimmed with endless supernatural strength.
“Can you stop her?” I called out to Caleb. Remy continued to thrash wildly in his arms, so crazily that I was sure she was going to snap her neck—not that it would stop her for long. But I was frightened for the Remy deep inside, the one that needed our help to be free.
Caleb gave me a cocky grin, nearly hidden by the long, rank black hair that flung in his face from Remy’s thrashing head. “I have it under control. It takes a few minutes for the collar to drain her fully.”
I could already see the unholy red light in Remy’s eyes slowly fading, and the collar growing brighter and brighter. It was as if the power was being sucked into the shenu. Joachim-Remy howled and frothed, looking like she was in horrible pain.
One of Ethan’s mitts clamped on my shoulder. “You should go see if the vampire is well.”
Zane! I didn’t need to be told twice.
I dashed up the stairs and past the broken door. The upper level of Midnight looked as if a tornado had blown through it. Napkins and shattered glass littered the floor, and the furniture was smashed to bits. I stumbled past the broken, shattered tables, staring around me. Every bottle behind the bar was smashed. Several of the lights in the room were broken as well, and one had a small trail of smoke leaking from it. All around was the scent of alcohol, thick and sweet.
“Zane?” I called. Below, Remy gave an ear-piercing screech and I jumped. The sound seemed overloud in the silence upstairs. “Zane?” I tried again.
“Over here,” said a low, tired voice.
I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Frowning, I shoved past the sea of broken furniture, out to the dance floor. “Where are you? We need your help. Caleb’s trying to subdue Remy.”
“I’m a little occupied, Princess,” said the tired voice. I still couldn’t pinpoint it.
Frustrated, I kicked aside a broken bottle and took a few more steps forward. “Well, where are you?”
Something wet dripped on my arm, and I wiped it away. It was dark and thick, and I recoiled in horror at the same time as Zane answered.
“Above you,” said the faint voice.
I glanced up, and stared in surprise.
Zane was above me, all right. His hands were braced on one of the rafters, his clothing ripped. Blood dripped from a myriad of small cuts over his body. His wings were extended above him, spread wide as if he were about to swoop down on something. His normally pale face seemed strained.
I was missing something important. “Are you … coming down?”
His mouth twisted into a painful smile. “I can’t. My wings are pinned to the ceiling.”
I stared up at him and noted how very still he remained in place. Each of the wings was curved upward, and the largest feathers were pulled flat against the arching slope of the ceiling. I took a step forward and something glittered. Shards of glass? The floor was crunchy with them. Had some sort of explosion occurred up here and his wings had been pinned? Or was this done deliberately?
I stared up at him. “I don’t suppose you can just rip your wings out and wait for it to heal?”
He gave me such a tortured look that I winced.
“Never mind,”
I said. “I’m coming up there. Just hang tight.”
“Hurry,” he said in a tight voice.
It took me a few minutes to find the supply closet and a ladder tall enough to reach the rafters. I propped it up in the middle of the room and climbed, then slid out onto one of the beams. Ignoring how high up we were, I scooted over a bit more until I was close enough to Zane to feel his body heat. His wing dripped blood on me, splashing my clothing. I stretched an arm up experimentally, and then looked over at Zane. “Can you hold me while I do this?”
Warm arms wrapped around me, and I noticed the deep body tremble that was moving through him. I said nothing about it, though, just got to my feet on wobbling legs and began to pick the spears of glass—not a normal shattering explosion by any means—out of his wings. There were dozens of them, and he gave a full, racking shudder as I pulled each one out.
Wings were sensitive for angels. Especially for the vampires, though I’d never realized Zane was so affected by them. Then I thought of the dreams that we’d shared of blood and feathers and pain, and wondered if this was a more recent occurrence.
As I pulled the glass from his feathers, a warm feeling of affection swept over me. It was puzzling, but it felt like … contentment. Which was odd, given that we were in a trashed nightclub, had just fought the bad guys, and my lover was pinned to the ceiling.
But he was whole, and safe, and that made me far happier than it should have. Being with Zane had somehow made everything right in my world again.
That was startling to realize.
I was able to pluck free one wing. It fell limply from the ceiling it had been pinned to, and Zane carefully let it fall to his side. I noticed the other one, still pinned, twitch in reaction. I murmured for him to keep holding me as I moved down the beam and began to work on that wing, too.
As I began to finish my task, Zane spoke slowly.
“Is she … all right?” When she came in, she seemed to be struggling with the power inside her. Like it was fighting to escape her body. Her skin was practically crawling off of her bones. Ethan tried to touch her and everything just seemed to explode around us, like he’d set off a bomb.”
