“The solution is to quit. Either quit the demon thing or quit the Force.”
“I’m almost glad.” Thoughts churned wildly in her brain, but her heart was calm. The kind of calm that only comes when someone stumbles upon a truth they wouldn’t otherwise have believed. “I’m kind of happy they made me forget. All this. Magick. Demons. The responsibility.”
Dexx nodded.
“Rachel. Leah.”
Dexx bit the inside of his lip.
“What a fucking coward.”
“Not so much. I’ve seen people who—” He clicked his tongue. “I mean, everyone has their demons. They have their bad days and their fears. There are lots of people who are overwhelmed and they all handle it different. Some people kill others. Some kill themselves. Others grow into hateful, spiteful old biddies. You showed you’re human.”
“Because that’s awesome.”
Dexx curled the tips of his fingers in hers. “You needed that break and it’s okay. It happened. Get over it.”
She still felt like a jerk.
“You’re not a bad person, Pea.”
She couldn’t stop the negative emotions twisting her gut.
He captured her gaze and held it. “And I’m not going anywhere. Not until you need me to.”
What? Where had that come from? Part of her leapt with joy. The other flinched at the implications of his statement. “You’re a traveler, Dexx. You don’t know how to stay in one place.”
“I don’t care. I’m here until you need me.”
“And if I need you for a year?”
His eyebrows rose, the corners of his eyes drooping. “We’ll have to see when we get there.”
Paige extracted her hand from his. The idea, the thought of allowing another person in—She shook herself. No. They’d solve this case. He’d go back to New York, or maybe he’d find another hunt down the road. They’d go their separate ways and be done. She needed to re-draw the line. “We need to find Lucius. After he walked out of the cell, he disappeared.”
He frowned at her hand as she tucked it beneath the table. “I don’t know. Maybe you should let him go, do his own thing.”
“This coming from the same guy who wants to send all demons to Hell.”
“Right. Right.”
The waitress came by with their food.
“Anything else?” she asked.
They both waved her off and she went to another table.
“But the thing is, Pea, you’re open for possession, which means having you near any demon is a bad, bad, bad idea.”
“You heard him, though. He doesn’t feel he has to possess me.”
“Great for him. I still say let him be. I’d rather you were safe.”
Hearing those words, the caring he offered. Jesus. She didn’t know what to do with it. Take it? How? Give it back? Reject it? Remain independent and alone? “While a bunch of demons run wild on the earth.”
He shoved several fries in his mouth at once.
“I see what you did there.”
He hrmphed at her. There could have been words, but the fries stole them.
She concentrated on her burger. Well, she had to prepare it first. She realized she was weird. She owned it. She took off the bun, setting it on a napkin. Then placed the tomato and the lettuce with it. Soggy bun? Gross. Green tomato? Also gross. She took the mustard and slathered the patty, placing the pickles on top with careful precision.
“There’s a drug for your psychosis. You know that, right?”
She glared at him and cut into her burger.
“Okay.” He shoved a bite of burger in his cheek, resembling a chipmunk. “Why can’t we call in the angels?”
“My mother is an angel summoner. If that doesn’t tell you enough about them, I don’t know what will.”
“I get it. She’s a bitch, but some of the demons you’ve summoned are jackasses. You’re not a jackass. Also, I’ve read the Bible. Angel’s aren’t awesome, but at least they could help protect the gate. You’d think. Right?”
“The demons set up guardians to protect the gate. Did the angels? No. In the exorcism, I caught a few things. Gabriel was the one who bound Lucius between planes. He’s the one who left the gate unguarded and allowed the key to fall into the wrong hands.”
“Angels.”
“They see us as a disease.”
Dexx paused bringing his hamburger to his mouth. “Ouch.”
“I know. Fight for us? Angels? No. I’d prefer to keep them out of my sandbox. If they’re our keepers, I’d rather face Hell.”
“You’re afraid of what the angels might do to you.”
“Of what they’ve already done?”
He chewed, reminding her of a cow. “Yeah. Um, point. I wish we had your globe. Why is it broken?”
“I don’t know, but it’s got me concerned.”
“Concerned.” He raised his eyebrows. “It has me fucking terrified.”
She dipped a fry in a pile of mustard. “Yeah. Me, too. It was working, and now it’s not. Now I can’t see any magickal people anywhere? That doesn’t make sense. At all.”
“So did they disappear, or can you just not see them?”
“You really think that every demon on the face of the planet simply vanished?”
“Right.” Dexx rubbed his face. “How screwed are we?”
“We have the demon summoner who can’t summon or banish demons until we figure how these damned—” She pointed to her chest and let out a long breath. “—things can be fixed. We sent the witch home who happened to be our best line of defense. And we’re surrounded by demons and angels with no clue who’s on what side.”
Dexx flattened his lips. “I say we’re pretty screwed.”
“Up the ass.”
THE NEXT MORNING, Brian arrested Malika and Jones for suspicion murder. A few pieces of evidence had come in. A hair that was quite possibly Malika’s, though they were still waiting for the DNA results. One of Jones’ fingerprints. It was enough. Paige knew they were guilty. It was only a matter of time for the courts to provide due process.
Her targets, however, were Sven and that damn key. She needed to get either Malika or Jones to share his location so she could gain possession of the key. She couldn’t leave without it, and she couldn’t stay.
Malika sat in the interrogation room; petite, finely boned and extremely in control. Her mocha skin gleamed with health under the glare of the fluorescent light above her. “Paige.” She raised her cuffed hands. “I would shake your hand, but I’ve been bound.”
Paige took the opposing chair. “They’re only handcuffs, Malika. It could be a lot worse.” If they’d allowed Alma to stay, yes, but without her? She should have let her grandmother stay. “You understand your rights?”
“I feel so guilty about everything. If there’s any way I can help, tell me.”
This woman was like a funhouse of traps. “Tell me about the key.”
“The key?”
“You can stop playing stupid. You know what I’m talking about. We know you’re guilty of murder. You’re going away for a long time. Just tell me where the key is.”
“Why would I do that?”
“I could help you out.”
Malika’s warm expression slithered away as something cold replaced it.
Paige slid back in her chair. “How did you find it?”
Malika’s lips flattened.
“Help me. You’re going down for murder. You’ve got multiple life sentences ahead of you. I could put in a good word for you. Maybe send you someplace nicer.”
“Nicer than what?”
“You haven’t been to jail yet. Trust me. You want my help.”
Malika tapped the table with her fingertips and dropped her gaze. “I found it among my mother’s things.”
“Where is it?”
Malika sat back in her chair. “We tried to open it.”
“Why do I care? I want to know where it is.”
The other woman smiled slyly. “There’s som
ething inside. I didn’t know what it was. Not at first.”
“I feel like we’re flirting and all I want to do is get to the good part. If you know something, spill it. Do not play with me. I am not in the mood.”
Malika’s lips twisted as if she’d eaten something sour. “Someone is trapped inside, someone who understands the gate.”
“Who?”
Malika raised her eyebrows, a slight smile gracing her lips.
Paige rested her arms on the table. “See, here’s the thing I’m having a hard time figuring out. Everything in this case seems to fall around this key and opening it. What if you knew what the key was, and you knew it opened unspeakable power? And what if you couldn’t use the key? What would you do?”
“I would gather magickally rich people and use the power of their blood.”
Blatant. “Okay. So that was your idea? You’re not going to lay the blame on Mike?”
“I discovered the key. I gathered the coven.”
“That doesn’t seem like you. You seem so much kinder than this.”
Malika’s handcuffs clanked against the table. “You can enter the other side any time you wish.”
“Wait? The other side of what?”
“The gate. He said you had the power.”
“Who?”
“You don’t know?” Malika scoffed.
“Why would I? How would I?”
“He’s one of them.”
“Which them?”
Malika pulled back. “What do you mean which them? There is only one.”
Paige couldn’t tell if the woman had lost her mental capacity, or if she was just clueless. Also, trying to follow her was giving Paige a headache.
“He’s an angel, sent to help us. To free us.”
So someone other than Sven? Or was she trying to say Sven was an angel? “Angels? Free you? Are you sure?”
“Can I speak to him?” Malika’s dark eyes took on a maniacal gleam. “The First. He is The First, isn’t he? The one called . . .” She paused.
Paige felt the power gather around the other woman and sat up straighter.
“Lucius.”
The name vibrated through her, ricocheting through every vein, coursing along every nerve. She gripped the table until her fingertips went white.
“Lucius.” A twisted smile played along Malika’s lips. “Come forth and speak to the one who freed you from your bonds.”
The intense power pulsed around Paige, tightening, constricting, choking the very life from her body. It didn’t make sense why. Lucius wasn’t possessing her, wasn’t connected to her.
Someone knocked on the door, the sound loud in the ensuing silence.
Both women jerked.
Malika’s smile slithered into something nicer, but her eyes held the knowledge that she had nearly won. “I know you’re in there, Lucius. She can’t protect you forever.”
Paige went to the door and closed it behind her, her hands shaking.
Brian clenched his fists. “Saw you weren’t getting anywhere with Malika. I want a full confession.”
“She said she’d gathered powerful people and used their blood. I have the confession.”
His eyes blazed with dark emotions. “Yeah. I heard that. Get one from Jones. I want both these scumbags going away for a very long time.”
“I need to know where the key is.”
“I’m aware, but these two are in our grasp. We can get these two. In trying to get Sven and that key, we could lose all of them. Let’s catch the ones we can.”
“The key has the potential of destroying hundreds of thousands of lives. Millions, even. Billions.”
“I get it. I do, but—” He held his hands in front of him like he were holding a large ball. “—we have these two. Let’s take the wins we can.”
Yeah, well, what if by taking the win in this little battle, it cost them the war?
Brian pointed down the hallway with his chin. “Jones is one door down. Get a confession out of him. I’ll be in the security room.”
“Right.” She steeled herself and opened the door.
Jones’ expression shifted from boredom to mild interest.
Paige leaned against the wall. “Where’s the key?”
Jones raised his eyebrows. “Not even a little foreplay first?”
“Why? We have your DNA at the crime scene.” Still too early for DNA, but they had FBI on the case. She could bluff that lie. “Malika just confessed, pinning you as the mastermind in all this.”
Jones snorted, focusing his gaze in the far corner of the room. “She wouldn’t. I know you’re lying.”
“Why wouldn’t she? She’s facing multiple life sentences. Do you have any idea what hard time’s like for a female?”
“Do I care?”
“If you care for her at all, you should.”
“She was a means to an end. Just like Betsy. Just like Ashley. Just like Eddie.”
“Okay. So if we didn’t catch you, what? You were going to kill Malika, too?”
“This is a lot bigger than a few human lives, Whiskey. If you haven’t discovered that out yet, you disappoint me.”
“What side are you on?”
He sat up, tapping the table in front of him with his index finger. “You’ve got the demon inside of you now and soon, we’re going to unleash it and open the Gate to Heaven.”
Heaven. Shit.
He chuckled and sat back. “Didn’t see that one coming, did you? Yes. I’m working for the angels.”
“Using the demons.”
“They were the ones dumb enough to set up guards on the gate in the first place.”
“Why would the gate be located at the Metley Plantation?”
“You seriously don’t believe the gate can be pinned down to a single point of rock, do you? Something so immense, something so ethereal, something so far beyond your understanding?”
“Then why here?”
Jones took in a deep breath and released it slowly. “Because this is where Gabriel tied Lucius.”
“And that’s important because?”
He tipped his head to the side.
“Because?”
“We needed the soul of the final guardian. The key is in pieces, and this is the only way to mend it. When he tears himself out of your body, your soul will be sucked into the key, and there will be no more demon summoner.”
Souls sucked in the key. Souls already in the key. Did that even make sense? Sort of. Yes. Souls were like batteries, but how many souls would it take to power up a fragment of a key to open an ethereal gate?
“You can’t escape, even if you did know where the key was. You’d only be doing us a favor by going where we need you to be.”
“Fine. Then tell me where I need to go.”
With a sudden burst of speed, Jones shot to his feet, grabbing Paige’s arm.
Every muscle in her body primed for a fight. Even with his hands cuffed together, he could be deadly. She wasn’t stupid
He brought the underside of her arm into the light. He peeled away the white bandage and traced the puckered scar he found with a reverence that sickened her. “Do you see this?”
She tried to break his grasp, but he held it with an iron grip.
He looked at her through his lashes, his expression dark. “Even if you escape, you’re open to possession. You’re weak. You’re a liability. Gradually, you’ll slip into insanity. No more demon summoner. No more demons.” His eyes trailed to her chest and the symbols hidden under her soft t-shirt. “You’ll beg me to kill you.”
“Like you did the others?”
Jones released her. “Your death will be different,” he said, sitting down.
“How?”
He said nothing, settling into a comfortable position in his chair. “You know, you’re pretty smart. I didn’t think anyone would have figured out what we were doing, but you did. Well, sort of.”
He was sick. A sick asshole. Her stomach twisted like she’d eaten too much g
rease. “What do you mean, sort of?”
“You guessed why we killed who we killed and in the order that we killed them.”
“That was easy.”
“He said you were smart.”
“Sven?”
“Gold star. But don’t you want to know how close you were to solving this thing.”
Paige rolled her jaw. “I already know. I have confessions from both of you. I also know who the mastermind is. You might think it’s you, but it’s not. It’s Seven Tails Sven. Trust me. He’s playing you like a fiddle. All I need to know is where the key is.”
“He’s the mastermind? A demon?” Jones threw back his head and laughed.
Something finally clicked into place. “You’re a Nephilim.”
Jones sat back and shook his head. “That would be a nice ribbon around the box, wouldn’t it? I’m half angel, half human?”
“Fits.”
“I’m a little short, don’t you think?”
“Could be a birth defect.”
“You might want to go get your last supper,” he said with a wrinkling of his nose. “By tonight, you’re going to be dead and the power of the gate will be mine.”
“You mean, yours and Malika’s.”
A cold smile lit his lips. “I mean mine.”
Paige stood up. “Where’s the key?”
“Not yet.” His eyes widened in surprise, his smile faltering. “He’s not there.”
“Who’s not where?”
“The demon.” Jones rose. “Where is he?”
Time to get out. She closed the door behind her.
“Where is he?” Jones shouted through the door.
White met her in the main room.
Paige shook out her fingers, her heart racing. “He confessed like you wanted.”
“I got everything.” Brian walked to his office, gesturing for her to follow. “Including the threat on your life.”
“He’s been threatening my life, Chief.” She had a hard time feeling any additional panic. He’d already handed her ass to her a couple of times.
“This was different.” Brian fished the phone out of his pocket. “I’m setting up a security detail. I’m not going to let him touch you.”
“How are they going to defend against demons? Or angels? Sven is a notoriously ugly demon. He’ll get me if that’s what he wants. And are we completely ignoring the fact he’s sending me love letters via dead bodies? I’m not under threat of death from him.”
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