Grace and Glory

by Armentrout, Jennifer L.

  “Plan B is not on the table.”

  “It’s not off the table, either.” Dragging my gaze from the spot the man had fallen, I turned to Jada. “You okay?”

  She nodded.

  “If I’d known he was going to be doing that, I wouldn’t have brought you,” I told her.

  Jada looked up at me. “I mean, you were bringing me to Lucifer. Not like I expected him to be knitting.”

  “He does like to do that, but with human skin,” Cayman decided to share with us. “By the way, I’m Cayman. Your friends suck at introductions.”

  “Jada,” she said.

  Roth returned with air freshener. Layla was with him, carrying a WetJet and a tub of disinfectant wipes.

  “Heads-up,” Zayne said to him as Layla got down to scrubbing the floor. “Those angel blades? They’re missing.”

  Roth stopped midspray. “What?”

  As Zayne and Roth went down that road of whether or not a Warden would’ve taken the blades, Jada finally rose and wandered over to one of the windows. I didn’t realize she was even listening to the conversation until she said, “You know, I wouldn’t be surprised if a Warden did take them.”

  Everyone turned to her.

  “I don’t know you,” Roth said. “But I like you.”

  She looked a little uncomfortable. “What I’m thinking is that I wouldn’t be surprised if a Warden took them and hid them. I mean, most Wardens aren’t...friendly with demons, and even though that seems to be, uh, different here... No judgment,” she was quick to add. “But I imagine not every Warden here is on board with that.”

  “They’re not,” Layla confirmed, looking over at Zayne. “You know that.”

  He blew out a heavy breath and nodded. “I could see one of them thinking the blades were safer stowed away where Gideon or Nic wouldn’t know where they were.”

  “Or they want to use them against one of us,” Roth stated. “Those blades need to be found.”

  “We’ll add that to our ever-growing list of things that need to be done,” Zayne commented.

  Roth looked around the room, frowning. “Where is Lucifer?”

  “I think he’s in the living room.” I yawned. “Back to watching Supernatural, I guess.”

  “Huh. Kind of like parenting a really annoying toddler, I imagine,” Roth replied.

  Layla closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I don’t think today can get any weirder.”

  “Um, guys?” Jada was staring out the window. “I think there is a legion of actual demons out here, playing...badminton? With a...” She took a step back from the window. “They’re playing with that dude’s head. The dude Lucifer de-skinned.” She faced us. “They’re actually playing badminton, using that dude’s head as a shuttlecock.”

  We all turned to Layla.

  “Sorry,” she said, opening her eyes. “I’m never speaking again.”

  * * *

  It was strange that after what we’d seen Lucifer do, we were able to sit down and eat an early dinner at one of the restaurants in the city.

  I didn’t know what that said about the three of us, but I was glad that I got to spend more time with Jada. We caught up, chatting about non-Harbinger-related things, and it was nice seeing her and Zayne interact.

  It felt so...so normal.

  It felt like a future, and even though Zayne’s and my future wouldn’t be easy considering the whole aging thing, it made me feel good. I held on to that feeling after returning Jada to the compound and while Zayne and I walked the city, hoping to draw out one of Gabriel’s goons.

  “What were you thinking you’d want for breakfast?” Zayne asked as we walked past several shops closed for the night.

  I’d made plans to meet up with Jada and Ty for breakfast. That was if they weren’t still fighting. I doubted that they would be. I knew that they’d have to return to the community in the next day or so. I was still expecting Thierry or Matthew to show up.

  “I don’t know.” I scanned the dark trees, having not felt one single demon. All of them had to be congregating around either Lucifer or Gabriel. “I know they’re not picky. Neither am I, so if you can think of a good place, I’m sure it will be okay.”

  “What if I picked a place that only made egg whites and spinach?”

  “I’d stop talking to you.”

  “But you’d keep loving me.”

  “Reluctantly,” I quipped.

  Zayne laughed as he swooped down, kissing my cheek. “I’ll find us a place with all the fried bacon you can eat.”

  “And waffles.”

  “What about pancakes?”

  “Ew. No.”

  “What?” He looked down at me. “How can you like waffles and not pancakes?”

  “I just don’t.”

  “You’re weird.”

  “I’m not the one who eats egg whites willingly.”

  “How is that weird? It’s healthy—”

  “That’s all you need to say to prove my point.” We neared an intersection. “You’re not going to die of clogged arteries, so live a little and eat the yolk.”

  Zayne laughed as he placed his hand on my lower back and we crossed the street. He waited till there were several feet between us and anyone who could overhear our conversation. “I’ve been thinking about how to draw Gabriel out. The last you saw him, he was at that school. Obviously it was a trap, but what if that trap works both ways?”

  I immediately picked up on what he was saying. “You’re thinking about going to that school—to the portal, to possibly catch Gabriel’s attention?”

  “He has to have eyes on the place.”

  “I’m sure he does. I’ve been thinking of that, too.” I paused as he snagged my arm, stopping me as someone cut directly in front of me, rushing into a convenience store. “But the school is still full of ghosts, wraiths and Shadow People. Actually, there are probably more there now than there were before.”

  “But the difference this time is that I can see them. It won’t just be you that has to keep an eye on them,” he pointed out.

  I thought that over as our steps slowed and we neared several stone, abstract shapes that I was guessing were supposed to be artwork at an entrance to a city park. “That school is the last place I want to visit. It gives even me the creeps,” I admitted. “But we may have more luck doing something like that than aimlessly roaming the streets.” Stopping near a stone that looked like an oval doughnut, I looked up at Zayne. “Especially when Gabriel has to know that you aren’t dead.”

  “And now a new and improved version,” he added.

  I cracked a grin. “And if the demons at Roth’s place sensed Lucifer, then I imagine the ones who have been working with Gabriel also have sensed his arrival.”

  “Not to mention his fire display last night.”

  I nodded, surprised that was last night. It felt like a week ago. “He’s probably going to be more careful.”

  “It’s a plan.” Zayne crossed his arms. “Better than you being bait and letting yourself get caught.”

  “That isn’t a bad idea and it’s still not off the table,” I replied, watching Zayne’s jaw harden in the glow of the streetlamp. “I know you don’t like it, but if we can’t get him or Bael to come out by going to the school, we need to try that. I don’t want to wait until we’re days away from the Transfiguration to try to stop him. That’s cutting it too close and that’s—” I stopped as a small group of people crossed the intersection. They were too far away and there wasn’t enough light for me to see their features, but goose bumps spread across my arms as I watched them.

  Three of them were talking and laughing among each other, but there was someone behind them—someone whose shadow didn’t look right to me.

  Zayne followed my gaze. The group passed under the light spilling out from the park. Three co
ntinued on. One didn’t.

  I squinted as the person walking behind them stopped and looked over at us.

  “Holy shit,” Zayne whispered.

  I took a step forward and then another so I could see better.

  And immediately wished I hadn’t.

  Only half of the man’s head looked right. The other side was misshapen, caved in and, from what I could see, a bloody mess.

  I recognized him.

  Senator Fisher.

  31

  “Idon’t know if I want you to confirm or deny what I’m

  seeing,” Zayne said.

  “You really are seeing him,” I whispered, still a bit shocked that he could.

  “Do they always look like that?”

  “Some do, unfortunately.” I moved around Zayne. “Senator Fisher.”

  The ghost didn’t move, but he did that bad reception on an old TV thing, scrambling in and out. “I’ve been trying to find you,” he said, his voice sounding like he was in a long tunnel, standing at the other end. “But I keep ending up here, over and over.”

  Zayne twisted at the waist, and let out a low whistle. “The hotel is right across the street. I didn’t even realize it.”

  “Serendipity?” I mused, crossing my arms as I focused on the senator. “You keep ending up here because this is where you died.”

  The ghost drifted forward. “It’s also where I first met him.”

  “Bael?”

  The ghost shook his head, and the sight turned my stomach. “No. Him. The Harbinger.”

  “I thought you said you only spoke with Bael,” Zayne said.

  “He said that he came to him,” I reminded Zayne.

  “I saw the Harbinger only once and then Bael,” the senator said, coming even closer. I sort of wished he wouldn’t. “I thought he was an angel answering my prayers. He is an angel. I thought he would help me. That he would bring back Natashya.”

  I’d felt pity for the man before, but there’d been mostly anger. But now? Now that I knew how he felt? There was more pity than anything else. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m sorry that he lied to you. I’m sorry that you believed him.”

  One eye focused on me. The other eye...well, I didn’t even want to know where that ended up. “She was everything—my strength, my courage. My backbone and the voice of reason. I would’ve never made it to where I did if she hadn’t chosen me—”

  A young man walked through the senator, causing the ghost to scatter. I tensed, holding my breath until the senator reappeared.

  Zayne was staring at the young man’s back. “He didn’t even know he walked through him.” He looked down at me. “How many times have I walked through ghosts?”

  “You probably don’t want me to answer that,” I told him, and then refocused on Fisher.

  “I’m never going to see her again, am I?” he asked, flickering. “I realized that when you all left. I had nothing left.”

  My heart squeezed. “Did you—?”

  “It was the one like you. Sulien. He’d been watching. He was always watching.” His voice faded out and came back. “I was going to find you—find you both and tell you what I knew, but Sulien was there...and now there’s this thing that keeps following me. It’s a light.”

  “And you don’t want to go to it,” I surmised, unsure if I was relieved or not to learn that he’d been thrown out of that hotel window. I really couldn’t blame him, though, for avoiding the light. The senator knew enough now to know what awaited him, and it was most likely not going to be pretty. I wanted to lie, and not just because it may make him more likely to give us helpful information he’d held back on before, but because Fisher had been played in the worst ways. Maybe if he hadn’t been preyed upon, he wouldn’t have been in the position to do the damage that he’d done. But it was still a choice he made, and feeling bad for him didn’t mean what he did was okay.

  And I didn’t lie when it came to this. “I don’t think you’ll see your wife,” I told him, exhaling heavily. “The Harbinger preyed upon your grief and used it against you, but you made those choices, even after you began to sense something wasn’t right. You’ll have to answer for that, because you can’t stay here. If you do, you’ll end up even worse than you are now.”

  “But is...is God forgiving?” Fisher lifted half-formed hands. “I always believed that He was. That’s what I was taught, but...”

  But he met a homicidal archangel, so he was probably questioning everything he knew about God and all of that. I glanced at Zayne, unsure of how to answer.

  “We don’t know,” Zayne spoke up. “And I don’t think anyone really knows what can be forgiven and what can’t be. Avoiding it, though? Probably not going to do you any favors.”

  The senator fell quiet as his gaze shifted to the hotel across the street.

  I took a deep breath. “You were looking for me—for us? Did you have something to say? If so, you probably want to do it. I know you probably don’t have much time until you lose hold—”

  “And float,” he said. “Sometimes I just float.”

  “That sounds...disturbing,” Zayne murmured.

  “I lied. I lied so many times to the people I represented, to families of those kids who were so hopeful,” Fisher went on, and I struggled with my patience. “I lied to Natashya. Told her I would go on—that I wouldn’t lose myself or lose faith. I lied to both of you.” He continued to stare across the street. “It’s there. The light.”

  Zayne turned, and I swore to God, if he was able to see it I may lose my mind. Luckily for him, I didn’t think he did, because when he turned back, he was frowning.

  “Why were you looking for us? You said you were going to come to us before Sulien showed up.” I tried to get him back on track. “If you know something that could help us stop the Harbinger—”

  “It won’t undo all that I’ve done. It won’t make things right.”

  “No,” I said softly. “I don’t think it will, but this is bigger than you—it’s bigger than all of us. What the Harbinger plans will destroy this world and parts of Heaven. It will be the end of everything. We need to stop that.”

  “They’re together.” Senator Fisher’s form scrambled. “The Harbinger and Bael. I lied when I said I didn’t know where that was. I was afraid. A coward. I can’t be afraid anymore.”

  I think Zayne and I stopped breathing.

  “He’s been staying at a farm in Gaithersburg.” He rattled off an unfamiliar address. “That’s where you should find them.” He shuddered again, this time becoming more solid. “I’m sorry for all that I’ve done and it’s time I reap what I sowed.”

  Senator Fisher took one more step forward and vanished before I could even say thank you.

  “He’s gone.” Zayne turned in a slow circle. “Did he...?”

  “He went into the light.” Throat thick, I swallowed. “He went to judgment.”

  * * *

  We were on the strangest damn conference call known to man. Roth, Layla and Lucifer on one end and Nicolai and several other Wardens on the other.

  I was counting all my blessings that it wasn’t a video call.

  “It’s about an hour from here, depending on the traffic,” Zayne said, having looked up the address on his phone the moment after Senator Fisher had gone into the light. Now he had his laptop open and resting in his lap as we sat on the couch. We figured it was best to call both at the same time. So far, everyone had been playing nice.

  Probably because Lucifer was apparently watching Supernatural.

  Shocker.

  “Turns out, the house was recently up for sale,” Zayne said. “The listing is still on one of those realty websites.”

  “I don’t think anyone is looking to buy right now,” Roth tossed out there.

  “Damn, here I thought you were looking for an upgrade,” Zayne re
torted, and I grinned as I pushed my glasses up my nose. “The reason why I’m bringing that up is because under property details it lists state-of-the-art video surveillance. Getting onto the property is going to be hard enough without Gabriel being aware, but it should be noted there are apparently cameras everywhere, including the barn.”

  “And how confident are we that Gabriel is there?” Nicolai asked.

  “As confident as we can be,” I spoke up. “I believe Senator Fisher was telling the truth. It’s the best lead we got.”

  There were murmurings from the phone from the Warden side, and then I heard Nicolai ask, “So what’s the game plan, then?”

  Zayne looked over at me.

  What? I mouthed.

  He raised his brows as his jerked his chin toward the phone, telling me this was my show basically.

  Which I appreciated.

  But I squirmed a little, unused to, well, to being in control of anything so major. “I think we...” I cleared my throat as I focused on the phone. “We need to move on him fast. Get as much of the element of surprise as we can, especially since he has to be aware of what’s happened with Zayne and that Lucifer is topside. The longer we wait, the more time it gives him to gather forces and prepare.”

  Zayne’s gaze met mine when I looked up. He nodded as he said, “Agreed. We need to go at him fast and hard.”

  “That sounds dirty, Stony,” Roth purred.

  I shook my head at the phone.

  “So, you’re thinking...what? We do this tomorrow?” Nicolai asked.

  My stomach tumbled a little. Tomorrow. Less than twenty-four hours, and that seemed like nowhere near enough time to prepare myself for coming face-to-face with Gabriel again.

  But truth was, I’d been preparing for this all my life.

  My thoughts settled, along with my stomach. “Tomorrow,” I said, nodding. “Probably close to dusk. It will make it easier for us to get closer to the property instead of broad daylight. There’s a lot of trees surrounding it, based on the pictures Zayne found, so that should help.”

  “Up to a certain point,” Zayne tacked on. “I’m sure he has eyes on the area, but based on the listing, it looks like the property is off a private access road in a fairly wooded area.”