03 Before The Devil Knows You're Dead-Speak Of The Devil

by Eimer, Patricia

“Where are you?” he said through the static. “Exactly.”

  “The fourth floor of Rogers Hospital. The PICU nurses’ station.”

  “Stay right there,” he said and the phone cut off. Which meant we’d either lost signal or, more likely, the stupid jerk had hung up on me—even in the middle of an angelic invasion he had crappy phone manners.

  “Who was that?” Mary Beth asked.

  “It was Tolliver.” I looked over at her and I knew my eyes were as wide as hers. “He got separated from the legion somehow. He doesn’t know where they are.”

  “I’ll go find another phone so that you two can talk.” She stood up. “Give you some privacy.”

  “Right. Thanks.” I nodded. “There’s a phone back where we stashed the patients and Aurelia. Why don’t you go check on them and make the calls from there?”

  “Sure.” She grabbed my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Faith?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Tell him I said to be safe.” She pulled her hand away from my shoulder and started down the hall. “It’s going crazy out there, and the Anti-Christ is going to need a father after all.”

  “Yeah but that baby is getting stuck with Tolliver as a father. The poor kid,” I said as she disappeared around the corner.

  A bright light flashed in front of me and I watched as reality ripped itself apart, leaving a tear in reality floating over the top of my nurses’ station. “Where are you?” I asked, the minute his face came into view.

  I stuck my hand out, trying to touch him, but the air between us was solid—a window, not a door from place to place. I looked behind him as the window stabilized and saw a large, gaping maw in the background with plants hanging out on either side of its jaws. “Is that a brontosaurus behind you?”

  “Where’s Lisa?” He ignored my question and looked around. “Is she safe? Is Malachi protecting her?”

  “You really don’t want to know.” I ran my finger against the pendant hanging around my neck. “She’s as safe as any of us and technically, yes Malachi is protecting her.”

  “Where is my wife?” Tolliver’s voice thundered through the phase portal, and if I were the dinosaur behind him, I’d have seriously considered eating my lunch somewhere else.

  “Malachi trapped her and Hope inside a bubble in Purgatory but don’t worry, I have the key so they’re safe.” I held up the necklace so that he could see the glowing crystal that hung from it.

  “You trapped my wife and my unborn child in a piece of ugly jewelry?” Tolliver asked. “A piece of crappy costume jewelry is holding my entire world in it and you’re wearing it around like it’s something you picked up at yard sale? Are you out of your mind?”

  “Well we didn’t want to put them in regular old Purgatory. What if the reapers found them? So instead, Mal brought a small bit of Purgatory to us. He thought it would be safer. Did you want me to leave them lying around?” I tried my best to shoot daggers with my eyes but probably failed without any demonic power behind it to give it some oomph.

  “Sure, because if they ransack my apartment, the glowing blue crystal is going to evade notice. No one’s going to think of checking what that funny-looking necklace with the weird magic coming out it is? That would be about as safe as leaving them in the Death Department’s waiting room.”

  “Fine, fine, but be careful. I know how you are about jewelry. If you lose my wife and child in your purse, I’m going to be really pissed off, Faith.” Tolliver glared at me.

  “I am not going to lose my best friend and future toy shopping beneficiary in my purse,” I snapped. “Now will you please focus on what’s important?”

  “You transformed my wife into an ugly piece of jewelry. That’s pretty important.”

  “Tolliver!” I pointed at the dinosaur behind him. “Forget about Lisa and tell me why you’re eating lunch with a brontosaurus instead of figuring out how to get us out of this mess.”

  “According to the plaque in front of the exhibit it’s an apatosaurus. Didn’t you pay attention in science class when you learned about dinosaurs?”

  “No.”

  “Well, according to what Mom told me they are fun-loving, plant-eating creatures that behaved like a mix between a llama and a polo pony after too many tranquilizers.”

  “I so very much do not care about your mother’s fondness for playing dinosaur polo. Tell me where you are and why in the sacred name of chaos and shoe sales there’s a dinosaur behind you.”

  “Because we’re at the Carnegie Museums,” Matt said as he came onto the screen beside my brother, “dinosaur wing on the Natural History side.”

  “You’re at the Natural History Museum? Why? Now is not the time to be contemplating the extinction of the dinosaurs. If you don’t figure something out, and quick, they’re going to be putting exhibits about the human race—and possibly us along with them—right next to your friend.”

  “They’re already in the streets,” Matt said. “The Angale. By the time I’d gotten there Brenda—”

  “She’s involved,” I said quickly. “I know.”

  “You know?”

  “She’s here. In the hospital. Her and the rest of the Angale have sided with the reapers.”

  “Shit.” Matt swallowed. “I’m on my way to you.”

  “No.” I shook my head. “You can’t. We’re holding them off on our own but Michael isn’t here. If you come here, then we’re all trapped inside the hospital and he’s free to rain down crazy on the rest of the city. You leave the hospital and Brenda to us and you go find Michael and figure out a way to stop this before too many people die.”

  “That’s why we’re at the Carnegie Museum. There’s a radio tower at the top, and we were able to hack into it. We’ve sent out an emergency broadcast requesting people stay in their homes with the shades drawn. Then J made it look like the National Reserve had rolled into the streets and they’re supposed to stay patient while they wait to be evacuated. Standard emergency procedures to keep everyone calm and orderly until we can get this mess sorted out,” Tolliver said.

  “You think that’s going to work? People will be looting and fighting in the streets in no time. In fact, we’ve got a mob outside the hospital right now, and they are nowhere near calm and orderly.”

  “J did some sort of sedation spell on the people we could get to. He managed to run some sort of hypnosis through the radio waves. No one he’s managed to zap is looting. They’re all passively agreeing to do whatever the broadcasts tell them.” Matt ran a hand through his hair and I could see that it was shaking.

  “What about the Bible-waving freaks outside?” I asked.

  “We couldn’t get to everyone. We tried but the spell only worked on the people who were either in hearing range of the original loudspeaker announcement, or who had a radio on nearby that they could hear.” Matt said.

  “Not to mention that some people are too crazy to take care of themselves,” I said.

  “We did what we could,” Tolliver replied. “We claimed militant right-wing vegans had attacked the city to protest increased taxes and people should stay in their homes but some of the lunatics went out anyway—probably to help bring about the end of civilization.”

  “Oh great.” I huffed. This was just getting better and better all the time.

  “Yeah, unfortunately for you, they all seem to be massing in the three square blocks surrounding the hospital you’ve barricaded yourself in,” Matt said.

  “Militant right-wing vegans who were protesting increased taxes?” I asked, trying to wrap my mind around their cover story. “You claimed that the city was being attacked by militant right-wing vegans?”

  “It was the best I could come up with on short notice,” Tolliver protested. “Meanwhile, did you know that the Angale had a plan in place to overthrow Matt before any of this even happened?

  “Yeah, the fact that your ex was downstairs instead of locked in her cell at the Angale compound sort of hinted at the fact that maybe they weren’t as unde
r control as you first thought.” I glared at my fiancé.

  “They’ve never been under control,” Matt retorted. “I just thought I’d convinced them to not get too crazy but it’s bigger than that. Brenda’s got a bigger plan than just kicking off the Apocalypse.”

  “There’s something bigger?” I asked.

  “Turns out she’s been planning a coup for years,” Tolliver said. “One of the few nephilim who stuck around to wait for Matt told us that she was even the one who put Levi up to killing you and trying to steal Dad’s powers. They said she’s been working with Michael to help overthrow the Angale and come after demon-kind for the past three years.”

  “Crap that explains the spear.”

  “Spear?” Matt raised an eyebrow.

  “The Roman Spear,” I said. “Dr. Webber had it. He stabbed Mal.”

  Tolliver pushed Matt over so that he was in the frame completely. “You said Malachi was stabbed with the Roman Spear. The Roman Spear. Are you sure?”

  “No but that’s what the guy who stabbed Mal called it. He claimed it was the spear that killed J and then he threw it at Malachi. Thankfully he hit him in the leg so he didn’t kill him but it left a nasty wound that he didn’t heal from on his own.”

  “Listen to me,” Tolliver said, his voice stern. “Did you notice anything else about the spear? Anything strange?”

  “You mean besides the humming, the glowing, and the fact that it turns reapers into big piles of dust? Unless you don’t think those are strange things to happen with a spear?”

  “Okay,” Tolliver said. “Where is it now? You said this guy stabbed Malachi in the leg with it. Then what happened? Did he take the spear with him?”

  “No.” I shook my head. “I have it. It’s jammed in the handles of the door to keep them locked. I thought it might make the magic protecting the door stronger.”

  “Good,” Tolliver said. “Leave it there. Or better yet, find somewhere and hide it.”

  “What do you mean hide it?”

  “Listen to me,” Tolliver said. “No one can know about the spear. The knowledge of it can’t get out. If Michael or Brenda figures out you have it instead of Webber, every angel with ambition is going to be coming for you so they can steal it. You have to keep it safe.”

  “If it’s so precious, why would Webber use it to attack Malachi?” Matt asked. “Wouldn’t he have wanted to keep it hidden?”

  “Because he was coming after Faith.” Tolliver said. “Michael wants to make sure that she’s not only dead but completely unable to be resurrected, for any reason. He’s got to make sure that she’s completely dead so she can’t somehow steal her powers back. He must have sent Webber to kill her so he didn’t have to get his own hands dirty.”

  “I don’t understand.” I looked between them, confused.

  Why would Michael have gone to all the trouble of using a relic to kill a mortal woman? He could have snapped my neck and, without my powers, I’d have been gone. Done for. Trapped in Hell with no hope of returning to the Earthly Realms.

  “The Roman Spear steals souls,” Tolliver said. “If Webber would have stabbed you in the heart with it the spear would have taken your soul and everything else. When you stab an immortal creature in the chest with it, the spear has the ability to break the bonds of a resurrection. It won’t simply take you out of the flow of life it will trap your soul inside the Spear.”

  “So you’re saying that we can’t let Michael have it, or Brenda for that matter, because she would totally abuse my soul.”

  “That’s sort of obvious, brain donor,” Tolliver said. “What you need to do is hide it. Then, once this is all over, we’ll destroy the damn thing.”

  “I’ll do it,” J said and came into the room, his feet silent on the carpet. “It’s my responsibility. I’ll destroy it.”

  “Fine.” I stood up. “Open a phase portal and I’ll hand it through to you. You can destroy it now and then the rioters outside will have one less weapon to use against us.”

  J shook his head at me. “No, you keep it. You can use it. When Michael comes for you, stab him in the heart with it. When that’s done, then I’ll destroy it.”

  “I can’t stab one of your father’s archangels with the Roman Spear. He’ll get seriously pissed at me. Your dad I mean. It’s sort of understood that the angel already hates me.”

  J’s eyes were dark and flat. “If you get the chance, take the spear and shove it into his heart. Then hold on tight.”

  “It’s—”

  “Until then, Tolliver is right. Hide it. Put it somewhere safe but keep it close.”

  “I really don’t think—”

  “If Webber didn’t manage to kill you and bring your soul back to Michael and Brenda, then they know he’s failed and you most likely have the spear. So if anyone comes looking for it, do me a favor.” J said.

  “What?”

  “Use the spear.” J stormed out of the exhibit hall.

  “Is he okay?” I asked, staring at the space my cousin had been standing in.

  “One of the few angels he thought of as a friend is in the process of bringing Hell to Earth, you’re in danger, and people have died,” Tolliver said. “ Oh, and to add onto that, he’s got some quarterback in New York who keeps trying to nag him about Sunday’s game. So no, he’s not having the best of days.”

  Tolliver stood up and wiped his hands against each other before turning his head to look at where our cousin had gone. “I’ll talk to him.”

  I watched my brother follow our cousin out of the room and then focused on Matt. He put his hand up to the hardened barrier between us and I put my hand against his, trying to feel his warmth.

  If we were a normal couple, then right now we’d be in bed, screwing each other senseless to celebrate our engagement and trying to figure out if we could get away with eloping. Instead, we were facing down killer angels intent on bringing about a Celestial coup.

  “You said that Brenda doesn’t want to control Heaven.” I kept my eyes focused on his. “If she doesn’t want Heaven, then what does she want?”

  He closed his eyes and swallowed.

  “What does she want? She wants to kill me doesn’t she?”

  “That’s part of it.”

  “What else?”

  “She wants me.”

  Chapter Twenty-one

  “Of course she does,” I said. “I should have known her day planner read something like this: get up, put on ugly sweater, bake cookies, help bring about the destruction of a large metropolitan area, kill some children and my current obsession’s suddenly mortal girlfriend, get the guy back, make brownies.”

  “Fiancée.”

  “What?”

  “You’re not my girlfriend. You’re my fiancée now. Remember? You said yes.”

  “Right. Sorry, forgot that what with the rampaging army of reapers, nephilim, and other assorted crazy people hanging around outside.”

  “Just so you know,” Matt said, his voice thick with emotion. “This is not how I intended to spend the day after I proposed to you. Not that I had planned on doing it today, but I’d been thinking about it before the whole thing with my mom, and this was not anywhere on my radar. I had two possible scenarios and I have to tell you, killer angels played no part in either of them.”

  “What was part of them?” I asked, my voice quiet.

  “Well, I thought there was a very good chance that you would say no and punch me in the face.” Matt let out a short laugh. “So I sort of expected to spend at least part of the day letting Lisa or Harold give me stitches.”

  “You didn’t think I’d say yes?”

  “You hate the idea of marriage, and when I say you hate it I mean you hate it with a passion unrivaled by anything but the thought of them potentially outlawing coffee.”

  “I love you,” I said, my eyes watering. “Doesn’t that count for something?”

  “I had sort of hoped it might.” Matt shrugged his shoulders.

  “So w
hat was your other plan?” I asked. “The one where I didn’t hit you?”

  “I thought there was the possibility I could persuade you to say yes. I had a whole list of reasons. It wasn’t that big of a deal. It was a couple of words to get everyone off our backs. We wouldn’t have to do the big ceremony, you know all those things you have to reassure a guy about when you want to get married and he doesn’t.” Matt shrugged.

  “You had a list?” I sniffed, overcome by the fact that he’d put so much actual thought into spending the rest of eternity with me.

  “I had considered staying naked when were alone together as a way of helping to talk you into it but then I realized we’re never alone together—ever—and if we are that’s when the chaos is going to start.”

  “Not always. Sometimes when we’re alone it’s nice,” I protested.

  “It’s more than nice,” Matt said and I felt the hardened space between us start to waver, “but you have to admit that if we’re not keeping an eye on them, our respective families tend to do something stupid.”

  “Yeah. I guess you have a point.” The shell between us had softened and I wrapped my fingers around his. “That doesn’t mean I don’t want to be with you. Just that—”

  “They don’t really think about the effects of their plans on amorous nephilim,” Matt said as he pressed his lips against mine and our tongues tangled together. Warmth flowed through me and my toes curled. If I had a tail, I knew it would be flickering back and forth like a cat’s right now.

  I pulled back just enough to breathe and smiled against his skin. “Amorous nephilim, huh?”

  “Extremely,” he said and then started to kiss his way down my neck. I scooted back and he leaned farther into the room. I grabbed the back of his shirt with both hands and pulled him all the way through, hoping he’d be able to get his feet under him before we both hit the ground. “What are you doing?”

  “We’ve got five minutes of privacy until my brother or J gets back on your end or someone comes looking for me here. So let’s celebrate. In case we don’t get another chance.” I yanked his shirt up over his head, tossing it onto the floor behind me.