“He’s bleeding, but his blood’s turning red.”
That wasn’t good.
“Fuck,” Amie cursed. “Fuck, fuck, FUCK.”
“If the situation weren’t so dire, I’d be proud,” Aaliyah deadpanned.
“Um, Amie?” Melody asked. “He’s still bleeding, though. That’s a good thing, right?”
“Angels bleed silver,” Aaliyah explained. “Jaie bleeding red means he’s not an angel anymore.”
“Oh.”
That wasn’t the issue. The issue was his aura was flickering. There were longer moments of darkness than light, and a dark aura meant no aura. And the only things that didn’t have auras were things that weren’t alive or daemons. Jaie was in no way a daemon.
Amie shook her head emphatically. “No.”
Go to the training grounds.
Amie’s head jerked up at the new voice in her mind. She didn’t know to whom it belonged, but she was sure this person possessed a wealth of gravitas.
Hello?
Go to the training grounds.
Amie frowned and bristled at being given marching orders by someone she didn’t know. She was in too fragile a state, even more vulnerable now to Donas’s machinations than before. Who are you? Why should I go there? I don’t even know where that is!
I am Jaie’s Steward Alemayehu. The training grounds will make it easier for you to astrally project. And you will know how to get there.
Astrally project to whom? Amie asked, but she suspected the answer as soon as she finished stating the question.
Donas.
Blowing out a shoring breath, Amie stood, shaking her head and finding her way out of the cave. Bot was on her heels.
“Amie!” Melody called.
“Where are you going?” Aaliyah cried.
“Don’t worry about it,” Amie all but snarled, annoyance, fear, and concern melding into her tone. Whatever was about to happen, she knew she couldn’t let the others get hurt. She needed them to stay far away from where she was going.
Nevertheless, she did give Melody the largest hug she could muster. “I’m so glad you’re better.”
Melody squeezed her back. “Don’t go get yourself killed for real, okay? I just got you back.”
Amie said nothing, unprepared to make a promise she couldn’t keep, and looked to Aaliyah’s ruby-red aura. “Get Micah and Ariella. Maybe they can help with Jaie!”
With that, she ran, feeling the speed kick up as she tapped into djinni powers. Bot had started running with her but had quickly fallen behind. Amie still wasn’t as fast as a djinni could go, but she was making decent time. She felt the sensation she had when Jaie and Ariella were around and headed toward it. If she were completely normal, no way could she even sense it, let alone find it. But she wasn’t normal. She was a djinni.
She reached the training grounds, seeing the angelic light like she could when she’d been on Mount Charleston. Amie paused at the grounds’ barrier. She’d only been able to access the Peak because of Jaie. He wasn’t here and she was no angel. How could she enter the grounds?
Uh? She let Alemayehu know her dismay. Of all things, Jaie’s Steward awkwardly cleared its throat.
You can pass because you have…ah…Jaie’s essence.
Amie felt her cheeks flame so hot they could probably melt the polar caps. She decided not to say anything—they’d both endured enough embarrassment over that bit of news—and crossed the barrier to settle herself in the middle of the circle.
She took a deep breath. It was time to show Donas who was the more Gifted of the two. He’d broken the terms of engagement.
Donas had to pay.
Amie turned her body east and crouched down to pray. After asking the Creator for strength and courage, she sat up, still on her knees, and closed her eyes.
She felt herself float a few feet above her then saw herself look down at her form. Her black eyes appeared even more vacant than they usually did, and she shuddered.
“This better work,” she told herself, then she nodded. “This will work.”
Amie’s projection traveled through the ground, the crust, the core, and deep, deep below until she found herself in the Donas’s quarters. His room was dark, full of reds, blacks, browns, and golds, and it didn’t smell as full of sulfur as she’d anticipated. He sat in a tall armchair near a hearth of fire. Amie thought it a little redundant since he presided over hell, but perhaps the place wasn’t really an oversized oven for the evil.
“Welcome to my humble abode,” Donas said. He hadn’t looked up from the china teacup he’d taken from the dark wooden end table. “I hope the trip was not too painful.”
“Shut up,” Amie snapped. “What did you do to Jaie?”
“I did not do anything other than watch him get the fuck of his life. Nice job, Aminata. Did not know you had it in you.”
She wanted to slap him but she didn’t dare go closer. “You knew this would happen!”
“So did you,” Donas said with a shrug. He took a sip from the cup. “So did he. Both of you made a choice. Here are the consequences. Not so pleasurable now, are they?”
Amie shook her head. “That ain’t what I mean.”
“Oh?” Donas asked, his eyebrows rising. “What else could you possibly mean? I only have control over which I have been tasked.”
“Death,” Amie said.
“Yes, well, that is true,” Donas said with a serious nod. He set his cup down. “Now that Jaie is no longer an angel, I have far more dominion over him than the Creator. Ha. Dominion. He used to be a Dominion angel!”
The Donas, of all things, giggled at his unintended pun and Amie narrowed her eyes at him. This dude had lost his goddamn mind!
“You don’t get to kill him,” Amie said. “Remember? That was the agreement.”
“I did not hurt him,” Donas said. “Nor did I kill him. But if anything should happen to your precious former angel, you have no one to blame but yourselves.”
Amie blinked. “What?”
“I promised not to hurt him or kill him and I have kept that promise. However, you said nothing of your indiscretions against his person, or his own, for that matter.”
Amie sucked in a sharp breath. No…
You see, little one, I can play the semantics game too.
Grinning, he bit into a pomegranate, skin and all, red juices and seeds sliding down the pale, white skin of his face and hands. His eyes glinted even in the muted light of his chambers. She shuddered at the sight he made.
“Should I tell you what the best thing about all of this is?” Donas asked after he chewed and swallowed. He looked ridiculous being so messy and was all the more terrifying for it. “I was able to accomplish this without lifting a talon.”
“This?” Amie asked, eyeing him warily.
“Neutralizing Jaie and getting rid of you.”
Amie blinked at him. “You are aware you aren’t the only djinni.”
“Ah, you mean your Sire,” Donas said with a nod and took another bite of the fruit.
She cringed as more juice and seeds dripped down his mouth and onto his chest. Donas had the nerve to wear a tuxedo and make a mess like this. The daemon had never struck her as insane, but this display only ramped up her dread. Kept her off-kilter. He was doing nothing she’d anticipated, which made her the woefully disadvantaged party of this interlude.
“And others,” she added.
Donas shrugged. “I do not care about them. They will join me eventually.”
Amie scoffed. “Those djinn are more powerful than me or you combined.”
“After I take your soul, and Jaie’s, I very much doubt it.”
Amie frowned, not understanding how Donas could possibly—?
Her eyes widened and she tried to return to her physical body. Yet here she remained, in this handsomely appointed daemon soul trap and she’d floated right into it.
Was this how the darkness would come, in Donas’s clutches? Did she truly fail so spectacularly
?
Donas chuckled at the growing panic in her eyes and finished the pomegranate. “My favorite fruit by far,” he said, walking over to a sidebar where a pewter pitcher was. He picked up the pitcher and clear water poured out, which sizzled and steamed when it hit his hands. Donas looked back at her with a wry grin. She arched an eyebrow.
“Triple insulated,” he explained, hefting the pitcher higher. “I do not need water, but I do enjoy its taste nonetheless.”
Jaie had said something similar about water and she snorted at the memory.
“I am very glad you are amused.” Donas then laughed and shook his head. “Actually, I do not care one way or the other, but I suppose I would rather hear your laughter than your cries as your soul comes to me.”
He looked up and she followed his gaze. Instead of kneeling as it had been, her body was now prone on the ground and daemons hovered over her. They licked their chops, black drool dripping from their sharp teeth to her form. The silk sizzled and burned away. Her physical body didn’t flinch or twitch. Donas was really about to make her watch her own death. And if she had to go out on this day, was she really going out like that!
One of the daemons turned her body over and sniffed her, its nose scrunching up in distaste, but it eventually shrugged and opened its mouth wide for a first bite.
No.
The daemon stopped, blinked rapidly, and frowned. A taloned hand gripped her face roughly to turn her head from side to side. When it released her, her head lolled upon the earth as if lifeless. But she wasn’t dead—not yet.
She felt Donas’s irritated gaze upon her right before his hands closed around her neck. Or tried to. She wasn’t corporeal to him yet and fuck him if he thought she ever would be. It was an unexpected point in her favor and she’d milk it for all it was worth. Nevertheless, one last burst of desperate Faith couldn’t hurt.
Jaie! she thought even as the Donas gave her a slow smile. She might be falling into a trap, but she’d helped him construct it. Please! I need you!
CHAPTER TEN
Jaie awakened with a gasp, his body feeling as if he’d plummeted down from the angel realm directly onto Earth. He couldn’t move—didn’t really want to, at that—but a wet swipe on his cheek and hot breath pumping against his nose had him popping an eye open.
The bark made him wince, as did a rough, cold nose against his ear and jaw.
“Bad Bot! Bad!”
Another bark, this one sounding more indignant than the last, exploded in Jaie’s ear before the dog had vacated his person. He breathed deeply and closed the eye. His head pounded like an off-rhythm drum.
“Drink.”
Moments later, a cool cup was at his mouth and he drank the overly sweet liquid. He felt his muscles strengthen and whatever injuries he’d sustained heal and fade away.
“What…?”
“You need to get up and now!”
Someone was aggressively tugging his arm and he frowned. “Please do not do that.” He then turned in the bed, giving his back to the person. “And I like where I am, thank you.”
The person huffed and groans filled the air. So did a howl. His frown deepened and he finally roused himself enough to prop up on his elbows. The gang was all here: Orion, Aaliyah, Melody, Micah, Ariella—
The gang was not all here.
Jaie! Jaie, please! I need you!
Jaie shot up immediately. “Where is Aminata?”
Silence.
Jaie’s eyes narrowed and he forced himself to stand. His knees trembled, barely strong enough to hold his weight, but he would not fall.
“Where. Is. Aminata?”
They all looked at each other askance before Aaliyah stepped forward. “We don’t know.”
The words made no sense. “You do not know where a blind woman is? Why is one of you not with her?”
Melody shrugged. “She told us to stay here and watch over you! And then she went very fast in that direction.” She pointed to her left. That was west. Jaie’s eyes skipped to Micah, who nodded.
The training grounds. His gaze immediately fell on Ariella.
“I need your help,” he told the younger angel, shuffling toward her.
Ariella’s eyes widened. “Me!”
“Yes,” Jaie said, finally reaching her and placing a firm, steadying hand on her shoulder, both for himself and for her. “You. I trust you. I believe in you.” He nodded. “I have Faith in you.”
Ariella blinked, her dismay stark in her eyes. She stepped away from him and blindly backed into Micah. The former angel smiled at her and nodded.
“But what can I do? I’m still trying to understand who I used to be. I’m not that anymore.”
“Get me to the training grounds,” Jaie said, skipping his eyes to Aaliyah briefly. “I would ask you to come, too, however…”
Aaliyah snorted. “Half-daemon. Got it. No offense taken.” She arched an eyebrow. “But you can drive there, can’t you?”
“I do not know how to drive.”
“I do,” Micah said. “I can get you close.”
It was settled. Melody stayed behind, though everything within her clearly wanted to do otherwise. Aaliyah would wait with Melody and keep her mother posted on everything. To Jaie’s surprise, Orion was going with them.
“You’ll need more than a barely tried angel having your and Amie’s back,” he said with a shrug.
“Thank you.”
There were no speed limits in the desert, so Micah floored it. The drive wasn’t even ten minutes long but Jaie felt as if an eternity had passed. Micah came to a stop yards away from the training grounds. Even in the distance, they could see two nasty daemons circling above Aminata as if they were macabre, overgrown vultures and she were carrion.
“If we can’t pass without instated angels, how did Amie?” Micah asked.
Jaie felt his cheeks heat and Orion snickered. “Well done, Jaie.”
“Shut up,” Jaie muttered. This was neither the time nor the audience for salacious comments about him and Aminata making love. “Come, Ariella. We must go.”
“We’ll be right here just in case,” Micah said. “Maybe we should’ve brought Aaliyah.”
“Aaliyah is precisely where she should be,” Jaie said softly. “We cannot risk an escalation.”
Ariella looked terrified at the sight of the daemons and she started easing back toward the car. Jaie grasped her wrist gently and bent down until their eyes met. She skipped her gaze away.
“Look at me,” Jaie commanded. After a moment, her eyes met his again. “I just need you to help me break the barrier, then you can come back to Micah, okay?”
Ariella nodded and visibly swallowed. “What about Amie? You?”
Jaie looked up to a familiar spot in the sky. The brightest light winked in a rhythm that slowed his heartbeat.
“I have Faith,” Jaie said and he closed his hand over the space where his heart now pulsed. Unbidden, tears came to his eyes but he was able to keep them from falling. Jaie didn’t want to alarm Ariella any more than she already was.
“What about the daemons?” Ariella asked, looking at the monstrous beings warily.
“That’s where I come in,” Orion piped up. “Don’t worry. We’re not letting Donas win this day.”
Ariella looked between both men then nodded firmly. The trio approached the barrier. Jaie could feel the crackle of energy it emanated. Without a sacred being to open it, anyone who tried to cross the barrier would meet a most painful end. Aminata had been protected because of him. Jaie could only guess the daemons had slipped in undetected the exact moment Aminata had entered the grounds.
Immediately, his finger caressed the ring on his thumb—which was now visible. Jaie could only imagine trying to deploy it. He probably wouldn’t be able to heft it, no longer having an angel’s strength.
“Well, ready?” Ariella asked, nerves making her voice shake just a little.
“Yes,” the two men replied.
Ariella stepped forward and t
he two men were close behind, almost overcrowding her. The daemons noticed their arrival immediately and snarled, abandoning Aminata’s prostrate form on the sandy ground. There were burn marks all over her robe and Jaie balled his fists. He wouldn’t even need the scepter to send them back to hell.
“Leave, Ariella,” Jaie commanded. “Leave this fight to us.
“Jaie—”
“Do it,” Jaie said lowly, not bothering to look at her. However, he did when he felt the cool, soft press of her lips against his cheek.
“I have Faith in you,” Ariella said, her eyes darting to Aminata briefly. “Both of you.”
Incredibly touched, Jaie glanced at his ring before pulling it off and giving it to her. She gasped as she cradled the jewelry in her palm.
“But—” Ariella began.
“Keep it safe for me,” Jaie said with a small smile. “You still get to choose your own weapon again, but it is not bad to be proficient in more than one.”
“You’ll have to teach me,” she said, peering at him.
His smile turned sad. “I am no longer an angel, Ariella.”
“But you’re still my Steward,” she replied quietly.
“Anytime now,” Orion said, a thread of impatience in his tone. “I don’t like the way Amie’s body is shuddering.”
Jaie’s head whipped back to Amie. Sure enough, her body vibrated upon the ground and she began frothing at the mouth. His eyes widened.
“Now, Ariella.”
The young angel ran back through the barrier, the dome around the training grounds shimmering as she did. Turning back, Jaie saw one of the daemons forming a fireball with a wild grin on its face. It cocked back its hand and released the powerful orb, but it hit nothing but dirt. Jaie stumbled back into Orion on the other side of the training grounds, the world spinning as he fought to regain equilibrium.
The other daemon started forming a fireball, too, but then it suddenly stopped, the ball disappearing. In fact, the daemons decided to ignore them altogether and started to fly high above them. But they hit the barrier, and they were zapped like bugs in an electric fly trap.
The Sight Page 7
