Dumbfounded didn't even come close to halfway describe how I felt at that moment. Did I believe him? He was saying everything I wanted to hear, just like he had at the preserve. Could I even risk my heart again? Did I want to?
"Zoë." Dad put his hands on the railing. I got the impression he wanted to hold my hand but was afraid to try. My dad…afraid of anything? "I don't want what's happening to happen. But I got caught up in the politics, in the power, and in the whole idea of exploring the planes beyond the ones we suspected. So when Domas came to me, he told me I had the correct DNA to help him with his experiments."
"Don't do this," I said. "I can't believe you."
"I don't blame you. I might not agree with everything the Seraphim wants, but I can't stand around and allow a rogue Dominion the opportunity to try and use the Grimoire to destroy the Throne, no matter who's seated there. Zacharel must be stopped."
Pushing myself down into the pillows, I glanced at TC. He had touched my left hand, the one caught up in all the tubing. "TC?"
"Listen to him, Zoë. You have to know this."
"Did you? Know this?"
"Some of it. But not all of it. I picked up bits from Inanna, and from Geist. What you have to know right now is that, for a while, we're going to have to trust the ones we've been fighting. We're going to have to work together to stop this idiot."
"I understand that. I figured that out when Dad told me about the rogue. But where's Geist? I thought I was talking to him, that you'd sent him to me like you said you would, but it turned out to be Zacharel. And he said they'd shut down all communication with the Abysmal Plane when we were fighting, and then I couldn't sense you. I couldn't…" I looked at my missing foot.
"I'm so sorry, luv. I found out too late Geist isn't in the Abysmal Plane, nor is he in the Ethereal. In fact, it was his disappearance that triggered talks between myself and the Seraphim. That's when you couldn't contact the Abysmal or me, but he couldn't contact the Ethereal, either. When the Seraphim and I meet, both planes seal as a precautionary measure. We suspect Geist is with Dags."
I looked at my dad, then back to TC. "How is he with Dags? You mean he's with him, advising him? Or he's with him, protecting him?"
"We don't know how," Dad said. "We just know the last location sequence in his programming put him in the vicinity of the Guardian and Rhonda Orly. We know he's not been deleted—that would be something very evident in all planes. But he is incommunicado, which, like TC said, has forced a dialogue between the planes."
My head started spinning. "So you're telling me I have to work with the Ethereals now?"
"To stop their rogue, it would be helpful," TC said. "I don't see this truce lasting forever. The Seraphim is not a patient individual. And don't be fooled at all by this. We're not." He pointed at himself and then at Dad. "Once we get rid of Zacharel, you can bet on the Seraphim calling in all the markers to try and take that damned book."
"And kill Dags."
"Possibly." TC nodded. "That's exactly it. So I figured you'd be a bit more than enthusiastic to give me a hand?"
Oh, great. I felt like Kirk greeting the Klingons in Star Trek VI. I'm supposed to invite the enemy in and help them fix their own problems? Just…awesome. Yay. Super. "You mean, a hand in kicking Zacharel's ass, right? As long as I don't have to work with any Cherubim."
"You mean Gabriel." Dad folded his arms over his chest. He was wearing the same clothing as before. I guess it was his new uniform. "I won't lie and say that Gabriel is sorry for what she did. That will never happen. Arrogance runs deep within the First Choir, I'm afraid."
And a good deal in the Second. I wanted to say this out loud, but I was also a little curious as to what they getting to. I mean…I was missing a foot. What help could I be? And yet the Phantasm and a Virtue were in my room, and they were in the Society House.
Whoa. I pointed at Dad. "How are you in here? I explicitly told them to shoot you on sight."
"I'm here because Nona said I could be, and I'm afraid her orders override your own. And, by the way, that is not a nice way to treat your father."
Mom? As far as I knew, she'd agreed with me after he'd locked me in the Throne. So if she'd changed her mind, it had to be damn recent. I looked at TC. "Is my mom awake?"
"No. She's still in intensive care and she's very weak. Adiran's been staying with her this whole time." He glanced over at my dad. "He's removed himself from play."
"Play? You think this is play? Daniel is dead, asshole. Gabriel killed him." I looked at Dad. "So, you convinced Mom you were all good now? That you weren't some evil genius bent on destroying her and me? That you weren't trying to put the Seraphim in control of all the planes so you could—"
Zoë.
I stopped. That wasn't Inanna. That was Mephistopheles.
I swallowed what I was about to say. Yes?
Shut up and listen. That goes for Inanna as well.
Only Mephistopheles could do that to me. Yes, sir.
He didn't answer, so I pretended that made him happy. It also made sense I could hear him. I was at the Society House, which was where Jason and Nick said they were going. Was Manuel here?
And what about Umayma?
Listen to Adiran.
Fine.
"Zoë, Gabriel did not kill Daniel Frasier. Detective George Mastiff did. And rightly so. Without Inanna forever in battle with that mad part of him, he would never know peace." He held up his hand when I opened my mouth to go all medieval on him. "You know I'm right. She was seconds away from him, banished by the Eidolon, and Daniel's psyche was ready to kill you. He was too dangerous as a Revenant. Did it ever occur to you what might have happened if she'd lost control of him while still bonded? What kind of monster would he be then? With all the powers of a First Born at his fingertips?"
I really hadn't considered that. Or even thought of it. Dad was right. Inanna, was it difficult to keep the madness away?
I felt her pause inside of me, and I knew she was looking for the words. I—yes, Zoë. It was a constant battle. His soul had been damaged and the only way it could ever be healed was for it to return to the Well of Souls.
Not sure I wanted to know what that meant. But in a way, it did make me feel a little better.
TC moved to the door and looked back at me. "Zoë, we've made a deal with Gabriel and we're going to have to ask you to abide by it."
Well, that statement snapped me back to the present problem and away from considering souls. "Deal with that bitch? What?"
He opened the door. "I'll let her tell you."
I grabbed the side rails with both hands (ow with the tube hand) and gripped as hard as I could when Gabriel strolled inside the room. She nodded to TC in an almost reverent way, ignored my dad, and stopped at the foot of my bed. "Stupid monkey. Thinking you could go up against an Eidolon-wielding Dominion." She shook her head. "I'm here to make you whole again." She reached out and held her hand over where my foot should have been.
The blanket moved and shifted just before the pain started. I fell back against the pillows and half-shifted as something grabbed and twisted itself inside of every muscle, from the ones in my face and scalp to my chest, my arms, my stomach, my thighs. TC and Dad were on opposite sides of the bed with their hands on my shoulders, pressing down as I screamed.
As soon as it started, it stopped.
I lay panting as if I'd just run a marathon. Sweat down over my forehead, over my eyes, my cheeks, my neck. I was drenched in it.
WTF?
And then my left foot itched again. I ignored it. It wasn't supposed to—
I wiggled my toes.
When I looked down at the foot of the bed, I saw a lump on the left side to match the one on the right.
Gabriel jerked the blanket off of me to reveal a brand new foot. New, because I still had polish on the right one. No polish on the new one.
I moved it at the ankle, wiggled my toes again, and then, with TC's help, sat up to take a long look at it.
"It's real. Touch it."
I reached out with my right hand and did just that. It was real. I could feel it—but it couldn't feel me. The water running down my face wasn't sweat anymore as I broke down in front of everyone. I didn't want to do the ugly-cry, but damn, I'd sort of resigned myself to be footless and getting a prosthetic shoe-foot.
"There's a price," Gabriel said as she poked the foot in the center and it twitched. "For this, you give me the page of the Grimoire that Nona hid away. You have until the job is done and Zacharel is no more. If I don't get the page within twenty-four hours of that, then I take the foot back and your new nickname will be Stumpy."
Chapter Thirty-Six
After Gabriel left, the room became a convention of doctors, Society scientists, occultists, and the Society police. I endured the probing and prodding and the X-rays, but put the kibosh on the idea of tissue sample and a biopsy.
I wanted out of there, and I was even more happy to walk out of there on my own.
And I did. Still dressed in my hospital gown. Only as I made my way to the door, I slowly converted the shift into clothing. Black jeans, serious cock-stomping boots, and a tight turtleneck. By the time I emerged in the House's entrance, I was fully clothed and ready for action.
And really damn hungry.
Jason had ordered a buffet be set up in the parlor to the right of the front double doors. Chicken, steak, lobster, potatoes cooked in seven different ways—fried being the best—green beans, corn, cornbread, biscuits, gravy…I was in heaven as I piled my plate high.
I ate because if I didn't, I'd sit down and cry. All of this reminded me of Daniel. He and I'd been to several buffet restaurants while we were seeing each other, before the crazy took it all away. He always loved the fried chicken on a buffet, that and the green beans.
And I…
Halfway through, I lost my appetite.
I put my plate on a side table and stood by the farthest window. It seemed like every human in the House was in the parlor. It felt like a party. I didn't know why. Daniel was dead. Dags was still missing.
And now a fucking Cherubim wanted to take from me the only chance I might have at returning Dags's memories of me. For now, I had the appendage, because I would need all of myself to fight this Dominion. But afterward—could I knowingly give up that page and sacrifice those memories I believed contained my future happiness just so I could keep my foot?
I think what upset me the most was—I didn't know what I was going to do. She wanted the page, and Zacharel wanted the Eidolons, and no one knew where either of them were.
Nona apparently told my dad she no longer had them. And that was all she would say.
What I wanted at that moment was to go Wraith and slip through those walls and visit her. But I also didn't want to wreak havoc on the machines helping her.
I reeeeally wanted my mommy.
A piece of chocolate cake with white icing was put in front of my face. I looked down at it and grinned. "I'm not really that hungry."
"Not even for cake?" TC moved the plate from my face and set it on the shelf with my discarded food. "That might be from the blood they gave you. For Inanna."
Oh. Ick. I didn't know they did that. I looked at my left hand. Pincushion city. "Why does this feel like a party? Don't they realize Joe's missing? He's one of them and they're," I glanced back at them all. "This isn't right."
"It's the calm before the storm. And Joe wouldn't want us to worry too much. They won't hurt him as long as he doesn't give them the Destruction Eidolon. And I know he won't."
"How do you know that?"
"Because I have it."
My jaw dropped. "You?"
"Yeah. He gave it to me after you moved into the apartment above him. Didn't want it anywhere near the two of you. In fact, he worked pretty hard to try and keep your life as normal as possible when you were home."
"He did?"
"Yes. Zoë, you have to know how he feels—"
I put my hand on his shoulder. I had to reach up to do it, which was nice since I was usually the tall one. "TC, don't. I don't want to know. Anyone that feels something for me, the moment I feel something back, they get hurt. Or killed." I sniffed. "I don't think I could take it anymore if something happened to Joe."
"Then we need to get to him."
"It's been three days, TC. Why haven't we heard anything?"
I didn't like the look on his face. "I suspect they've been quiet because they've been trying to get to the Eidolon. The Destruction stone is one of the more powerful, because it can destroy the others. And when this is done, I think that's what we need to do. Just line all of them up and destruct all of them."
I smiled at his grammar. "I agree. And you're waiting on them to contact us."
"Yes."
"Would…would that mean Joe was dead?"
"No. Joe's leverage. As is Dags. I'm pretty sure Rhonda's already communicated to Zacharel how important both of those men are to you."
"Hey, Zoë, you in here?"
I turned at the sound of Manuel's voice. He was waving at me from the doorway. I patted TC's arm again, and he grabbed me into a quick hug before I threaded my way through the people to where the handsome Revenant stood. "Hey, Manuel."
"Wow…that foot's really working, isn't it?" He was looking down at my boots. "Which one was it?"
"Aw, if you can't tell, then where's the fun if I give you the answer?" I smirked. "So what is it? And where's Jason?"
"Oh." His expression darkened. "No one's told you? Azrael didn't?"
"No." Panic! "What is it? Where's he at?"
"A meeting's been called about you. And Inanna." He looked so sad. "So he and Nick took off with Umayma. I gave them my vote, witnessed, and volunteered to help out here. I'm not as old as Mephistopheles or Frejya—I mean, Morgan isn't—but she's a lot like me in that we don't like politics."
"Meeting about what?" I felt Inanna inch forward, but she didn't take the wheel. "They're not still wanting to use the Banishing stone on Inanna, are they?"
"Well, they can't. Because no one knows where it is."
"I thought Gabriel had it."
"She says she doesn't. She left it around Daniel Frasier's neck. But it never made it with him to the morgue. So it's in the wind at the moment, and a few of them—not me or Tel—think that Jason did something with it."
"This is getting ridiculous. So where did they go?"
"Dunno. Ah." He motioned for me to follow him. "But I came to get you because you have a visitor."
I followed him to the public den area on the other side of the entranceway. I was a bit surprised to see Constable Mae Theotokos standing by the desk. She gave me a warm smile and offered me her hand. "It iz a pleasure to see joo again, yes?"
I shook her hand. Warm and strong. And very alive. "Yes, nice to see you as well. Where's your partner?"
"He is still arguing with your local law enforcement over zee details of former Detective Frasier." Her expression darkened. "I am very sorry. I know he was a dear friend of yours."
My eyes burned with instant tears, and I turned to brush at them. "Yes. He was. Very much. So…" I glanced at Manuel who was still hanging at the door. "Why are you here?"
Constable Theotokos looked at the door as well, and I gave Manuel a "shoo" gesture. He nodded and shut the door. Theotokos reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, plastic evidence bag. When she held it up, I gasped.
The Banishing Eidolon, the one my father had given to me, still in the silver setting. "This was found around his neck. I don't believe it iz important enough to be held in evidence for years when as a memento it should be with joo."
I took the bag with shaking hands. It still had blood on it, splattered across the stone and silver. "Thank you."
"None needed. Also," she added, pulling a sealed envelope from her coat pocket and handing it to me, "I was told to give this to you. But you are not to open it for twenty-four hours."
I took the envelope, too, and
looked at it. It had my full name typed on the front. "Who is this from?"
"I don't know. It was on my temporary desk. The instructions not to open it are on the back."
I flipped it over. And yeah, typed in small type was the sentence, "Do not open for twenty-four hours after delivery."
Weird.
"I have a plane to catch," Theotokos said, and she offered me her hand again. "I wish you all the luck in the world, Zoë. There are a lot of people counting on you."
Her accent had disappeared.
I shook her hand and puzzled over that declaration. "Excuse me?"
"Don't worry. One day this will all make sense, oui?" She moved past me to the door and walked out. I looked at the envelope and the stone, and panicked again for a few seconds. This was the stone Umayma wanted so she could banish Inanna.
I suggest you securely hide both of those. Perhaps a box here, in the House?
Sounded like a good idea to me. Then no one could find it on me. But was this the right place to create the box? I left the office, and slipped past the parlor and down the hall to the den, the place where TC first told me what Rhonda had done to Dags.
It still looked the same—like some gentlemen's club. I expected to see old fat cats in expensive suits drinking cognac in small snifters when I went in. I figured this was a good place to make a small box and decided on a place between the two largest bookshelves. Right in the corner, where very few people ever went.
I concentrated on the space in front of me, moved it to the side just as I used to move my body, and watched as a small square opened in the air. I shoved the letter inside and then the bag with the stone—and then I reached in and took the letter back out.
Dominion: Zoë Martinique Investigation, Book 6 Page 23
