by Liz Schulte
“We just want to help,” the other one called out. “We knew Baker.”
I made it the rest of the way to the door in a blink, and yanked it opened. Three demons tumbled out. One took a knife beneath the chin (the same blade we used to kill the angel), and I pounded the next in line, while the third made a grab at me. The first demon blew away in a cloud of ash. Fire erupted all over my body and spread to the demon trying to restrain me from behind as I took out the second one. He released me and stumbled back. I smiled and tossed the knife aside. I didn’t need it.
The demon’s black eyes darkened and it charged, knocking us both to the sidewalk. He grabbed my head and smashed it against the sidewalk, cracking the concrete. My vision blackened for a second, but I swung anyway. My fist smashed into the side of its face. The jaw gave way. I hit him again and again, and the human shell broke beneath my hands. The demon only laughed, catching my fist in the air, squeezing it and twisting until my wrist shattered. White-hot blinding rage took over. I screamed and focused on my good hand. Soon it was engulfed in an inferno of flame. I shoved my burning fingers through his chest. The fire spread throughout his body, undeterred by the rain. I knocked him to the side and straightened, watching him writhe and die.
When it was over, I retrieved my knife and headed for the building once more. It wasn’t enough. It would never be enough.
“Wait.” The dark haired woman stepped in front of me. “You walk in there and you won’t come out. You know who is inside. You’re not ready.”
I picked up my knife and wiped the water from my face. “Step out of the way.” I tapped the flat side of the knife against her chest.
She frowned, but moved. I strode forward. A lightning bolt struck the ground in front of me. Then another and another and another—until the bursts of light blinded me. When my vision came back, six scorch marks circled the ground around me.
I tried to glance over at the woman, but my head wouldn’t move. In fact, I couldn’t move any of my body except to blink. The rain had even paused midair. What in the…Uriel. So he finally decided to show up again. I fought against the hold on me, wrenching my head backward so I could face the sky. “Why now? Why are you interfering now?” I shouted. “You can take your fucking signs and shove them up your—“
“I wouldn’t finish that thought if I were you,” Death’s calm voice came from my left, and he slowly moved into my line of sight. “Best not to draw their attention if you can help it. But by all means, do as you will.”
“I don’t remember asking for your help.”
“Help?” He locked his eyes on me, nodding. “I am not helping you. That would break the rules. In fact, I am not even here.” He went very still. “If I were here, I would say don’t walk into that synagogue. Give Olivia time to come to terms with her new calling. Give yourself time to learn what you can do. And those two ladies you snubbed … I believe they have a proposition for you. You should at least give them the courtesy of hearing what they have to say.”
“Why do you care what I do? If Olivia takes your deal, she’ll do it regardless of whether or not I’m here. No matter what happens, you’re still going to split us in the end.”
“Is that what this fury is about? Curious. Haven’t you already achieved that on your own?” Death stepped forward, took his gloves off, and placed his bare hand on the back of my neck. “And in any case, I have no desire to come between the two of you.”
Before I could say anything else he was gone, and rain was splattering the soggy ground again. The two women stared at me with wide eyes. I slipped the knife back into its holder and turned around, heading toward them. “What do you want?”
The blonde recovered first. “We have an opening.”
The dark haired woman frowned. “Perhaps we can talk about this somewhere more…” She gestured around her.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Just because you claim to have known Baker, doesn’t mean I’m going anywhere with you. Who are you? And what do you want?”
“How about the Office? You know Sy.” The blonde smiled and batted her pretty eyelashes.
“Fine.” I transported and walked inside to get out of the damn rain. The bar was packed. Sy raised an eyebrow, but I shook my head and found a table. A few moments later he delivered a whiskey.
“Holden,” he said, suspicion all over his face. “Is Femi okay?”
“I assume. I’m meeting friends of yours here.”
“Friends?”
They entered just as I was about to describe them, and when Sy saw them, his shoulders snapped back. “Follow me.”
He led the three of us to his apartment behind the storeroom. He didn’t say a word. Just opened the door and went back to the front.
“What do you know about the council?” the black haired woman asked, taking off her sunglasses to reveal reptilian eyes.
“You were Baker’s source and he’d rather die than go back to you.”
The blonde blinked hurt from her eyes, while the dark haired assumed an air of being thoroughly annoyed and inconvenienced.
“We were one of his sources,” the blonde said. “He seemed to know everybody. And, for a while at least, we were his family.” She glanced at her partner. “My name is Anessa and this is Leilah.”
I stared back blandly. “I don’t have all day. You still haven’t told me what you want.”
Leilah smiled faintly. “It has come to our attention that your abilities have expanded past that of a typical jinni.”
“And you are free,” Anessa said, over enunciating each word like she was talking to a small child. “You still have much to learn about this world, but you are in a unique position, with the ability to influence the Abyss as it enters into a new phase. And that is very useful to us.”
“We also know about Mammon being here.” Her lizard eyes darted around the room.
I sighed. “Your point? You didn’t just come here to tell me what I already know.”
“My point is that you are woefully out matched.” Her self-satisfied smirk made me consider places to hide her body. “However, we would like to help you balance the playing field and perhaps offer you a seat on the council, provided you are able to clean up this…mess.”
“Baker’s spot,” Anessa said. “I think he’d like that. Plus there would be benefits for you, too. For all the jinn, really.”
I laughed. “You have the wrong person.” I turned for the door.
“I don’t think we do,” Leilah said. “You are Holden Smith. Born on October 26, 1868. You have one half-brother you were quite close to who was murdered and a mother and stepfather who died of natural causes. You have recently found a blood relation named Margaret Edwards. You have refused to meet your father, showing as little inclination to get to know him as he has shown toward you throughout the years.”
My teeth clenched so hard they could have shattered. Who the fuck were these people?
“You have had four committed relationships since becoming a jinni, but only one that has been, shall we say, life altering. You kept a low profile, again until recently, as a jinni, never making a splash one way or the other, but you still managed to cultivate a reputation for being ruthless and uncompromising. You have been consistent in your output, but never pushed the line. Quite the good soldier you were, right up until you weren’t. You had very few connections or friends. And that’s why we’re here.”
“Because I don’t have family or friends?” I asked dryly.
Her dark pencil thin eyebrows arched. “Because you know how to play by the rules, have demonstrated you are unemotional, and yes, fewer attachments makes it easier to make hard decisions. That was always Baker’s downfall. He couldn’t separate his heart from the problem.”
“That’s quite the biography, but I’m still not interested.” My hand was on the doorknob.
Leilah pressed her hand against the door, holding it shut. “You want to hear something you don’t know?” Her face was inches from mine, and her pupils r
olled around inside her eyes, while a second set of eyelids blinked vertically as she stared at me. “Mammon didn’t come alone.”
I shrugged. What was one more demon? The more the fucking merrier.
“He brought someone with him. Someone just for you.”
Ice spread through me. My last moments in the tunnel, holding Baker’s fiery corpse flashed in my brain. But no … what I saw at the base of that tunnel wasn’t real. It was just a temptation. Thomas wasn’t in Hell. I kept a firm grip on my emotions. “Who might that be?”
“Your brother.”
I shook my head, but my fingernails broke the skin on my palms as my hands clenched into fists. “It may look like my brother, but it isn’t him. That is what they do. They find your weaknesses and exploit them. My brother is dead and in a better place.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Wouldn’t you like to know for sure?”
I fought back the flames that wanted to engulf me. “No.” I knocked her hand away, opened the door, and fled into the darkness. My brother was dead.
****
Back at the warehouse the living room was empty, though I could hear soft echoes of Olivia’s voice coming from the back. I did a cursory once through of the building before I followed the sound of her voice. She sat on the bed, her ankles crossed out in front of her, reading some story about monkeys while the little girl rested beside her, not looking at all tired.
The kid stared at Olivia’s face as she read, her forehead wrinkling. Olivia was animated and did voices and made faces as she read each line, still looking strong and healthy. I stood in the hallway, watching the two of them interact. I’d originally kept the two of them apart because the kid was terrified of her and I had to be sure the angel was gone. But once I was certain, I don’t know why I kept it up, other than I still had no idea what to do with the child.
Sending her away wasn’t an option anymore. She had the seal of Solomon inside of her, which meant she would always be a target. Her welfare wasn’t up to group decisions and Olivia didn’t need to get attached. Like you aren’t, my own voice ran through my thoughts.
Olivia’s head snapped toward me, all easiness fading. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
I stepped inside the room. “Nothing.”
Her eyes narrowed, but the kid climbed out from under the blanket and took Olivia’s face in her hands, turning it toward her. She moved her mouth, mimicking Olivia’s earlier expressions.
“You want me to keep reading?” Liv laughed.
The child had a look of supreme concentration on her face as she studied Liv’s. Olivia mirrored the little girl’s movement, putting a gentle hand on either side of the kid’s face, too. As they stared at each other, Olivia glowed gently. The girl was even more fascinated by the glow, poking her little finger at Liv’s chest.
Olivia sucked in a pained breath, and released the girl, pressing a hand over her heart to prevent further jabs. “We need to teach her how to talk and she needs a name. She’s trapped in there.”
“You should have seen her when we found her,” I said.
“I thought she might take a nap if I brought her in here, but apparently not.” The kid pushed a finger over Olivia’s eyebrow in the wrong direction hard enough to wrinkle her skin. Olivia removed the girl’s hand and put it back at her side. “Sleep,” she said and closed her eyes, pretending to rest.
I came over and picked the kid up, laying her back down in the bed.
“Sleep,” Olivia said again, scrunching down so she could lie across from her.
The girl watched Olivia feign sleep, and gave me a doubtful look, punctuated with a yawn.
I touched my fingers to her forehead and released enough energy to put her to sleep.
Olivia shook her head. “Cheater,” she said as she stood up.
I winked at her. “I’m just good with kids.”
She followed me back into the hallway. “Now are you going to tell me what’s really wrong? You stormed out of here, and returned, eyes blazing. Now you have that line between your eyes you get when you’re stressed.”
I considered putting her off and not telling her, but that would only prompt her to do the same—and I wanted her to talk to me, needed her too… . But at the same time she had her own problems and no matter how she looked, she wasn’t healed. She didn’t need anything else to worry about. “There were too many feelings in here, so I had to get some air.”
“And?”
“And I was approached by two women who knew Baker. They want me to join the council.”
She frowned. “What council?”
“I don’t know. All I know is Baker used to be on it, but then got out. Mentioned that dying would at least buy him time before they made him come back—hardly a ringing endorsement for the group. I know he went to them to get information from time to time. I think the half-elf bartender knows more about it.”
“Huh.” She studied me for a moment. “But that’s not what’s bothering you.”
I bit the inside of my cheek hard enough to draw blood, needing the pain to balance the building rage. “They said my brother was back.”
She looked at me blankly. I didn’t have to read her mind to know the thoughts that were tumbling through it. How was his brother still alive? Did Holden lie? “How is that possible?” she finally asked.
I scratched my jaw, my tenuous hold on my emotions fading too fast to be controlled. I was a danger to everyone like this. “It isn’t.”
She watched me carefully. Could she tell? I couldn’t tell she was dying. We had both retreated, but for the first time in different directions. She no longer had the angel, but now my powers raged inside of me. The angel said I had to embrace my true nature to win, but how could I do that and still be someone Olivia would want? It would certainly be the end of us. Perhaps that was why I retreated away from her. Somewhere inside I was saving us both from the fires that would consume us. “You don’t believe that. Not really.”
My jaw tightened and I stared just over her shoulder. She didn’t know a lot about my past—but I had told her about my brother because that was the only part worth telling. “I don’t know what I know. When I went through the tunnel to get Baker I saw him. He was different, but it was him. At least it could have been.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
I still couldn’t look at her. How was I supposed to know why I didn’t tell her? Why had I blamed her for Baker’s death when it wasn’t her fault? Because it was easier? Because I didn’t know how to go on from here? Because we were never going to be safe, and we were never going to find happiness in this life, together or apart? “It was an illusion. My brother wouldn’t be in Hell.”
My mind told me she was about to take my hand—but then she didn’t. Took a step back and laced her fingers in front of her instead. I was both relieved and devastated. “I know someone we can ask.” Those clear blue-green eyes sought out mine.
She wasn’t talking about a séance. I smiled slightly. “I don’t think the Angel of Death is my biggest fan. He’s not going to help. We should let it go and deal with it, if and when it’s a problem. My brother is dead and as far as I’m concerned, he’s staying that way.”
“Well, lucky for you, he does like me. This is important. It hurts you.”
For one dumb ass moment I thought she was letting herself care again—and then the practical Olivia, the Olivia that I’d forced into existence, spoke again. “And they will use your pain against you, against us. Let’s take this particular sword away from them, okay? It doesn’t hurt to go right to the source.”
I exhaled and glanced at my watch. “I should check in at the club.”
“Fine. I’ll go by myself. No problem.”
I shook my head. “Shouldn’t you be looking for a way to save yourself?”
“There’s not much I can do on that front, but I can take care of this.” She touched my chin for just a moment, stealing my breath for a moment. “You go to the club. Your brother will be in go
od hands… as soon as Maggie gets back to watch Charlie.”
“Charlie?”
“The girl needs a name. We can’t keep calling her the kid.”
I glanced back at the room. “Why Charlie?”
“It’s cute and tough, just like her.”
A slow steady stream of warmth spread in my chest. How did she always manage to do that? I could know Olivia for five hundred years and she would never cease to surprise me with her ability to find the one switch that would lighten even the darkest of hearts and give hope. And at the moment it was a ratty little girl and Olivia knew it. “Charlie it is,” I said.
She didn’t smile, but happiness lit her from within. It had been too long since I had seen her look like that. “Now go. Take care of the jinn. Let me handle this while I still can.” She stood up.
“No.” I shook my head. “They can wait. Let’s see what Death has to say.”
“Selene is resting,” Cheney said as he opened the door that was nearly twice his height into his office.
Shelves of books in languages I didn’t speak lined the walls and the warm smells of the fireplace and the soft leather couch gave the area a sense of calm that went against my grain so much that it put me further on edge. I had stabbed my best friend in the chest to save her, certainly not to kill her. No one had time to rest. Favors were getting called in, and one way or the other everyone was going to help. The elves owed me. It was time they paid.
I planted my butt on the couch, crossed my legs and slung an arm over the back of the cushion, eyes narrowing. The Erlking and I were about to have a major problem. “Wake her up.”
His gold eyes flashed and his eyebrows arched in a challenge as his arms crossed over his chest. My fingers brushed the handle of my knife. Diplomacy wasn’t my best subject. In torture, however, I excelled.
“You don’t want me for an enemy.” I pulled the knife and flipped it this way and that, smiling at him, though I wasn’t feeling friendly. “I don’t have time for egos. Not today. You will help us or I’ll get testy.”
