"How did you break the wards on this house?" Levi spoke up. "You shouldn't have been able to get in."
Scylla pursed his lips. "I don't remember any wards. There was nothing stopping me. I walked in and heard voices upstairs, so I came up here and was abruptly attacked by him." He pointed at Kyle. "And then her." He pointed at Sam. "And then he came running out of the back with a big ass sword and tried to hack me to pieces with it. I touched the other two and put them to sleep, and turned on this kid. That's when that book appeared, the sword vanished, and the next thing I knew, he had wings and an aura around him. Then you came traipsing up the stairs."
"Is that it?"
A growl and then a ferocious bark and howl came from the bedroom. The door flew open and Grey came flying out. She tackled something blue in midair behind the sofas, close to Levi, who was knocked back by whatever invisible thing Grey was after.
Damn it all to hell. Scylla shook his head. He'd given the Djinn a simple order. Get your body back. And apparently Rip had triggered an alarm in the shape of a Hunt hound. Why was all this Faerie stuff in this apartment?
Too quickly, the others saw the Djinn in its cat form, a blue creature that had gone from the simple domestic breed Scylla had brought in with him, into a rather large predator of the Serengeti. The wolf and the cat pulled and yanked and gnashed at each other. Abruptly, the large cat form vanished as the wolf dragged it into the light from the boy angel's aura, replaced by Ripp'n Jack's visage of a mostly human torso and top appeared as he was dragged by his windier lower half closer and closer.
>Do something!< Rip shouted at Scylla. >This creature is going to eat me!<
Scylla sighed. "You are dismissed."
The Djinn vanished, leaving the wolf snapping at nothing. She paused and looked around, still snarling and still keeping her eye out for the intruder.
"Son of a bitch…" Levi said. "That was Ripp'n Jack."
"You know his name?" Scylla pouted. "I thought I was the only one who knew it."
"We used it to banish that monster from a human victim." Levi narrowed his eyes. "And you just controlled him."
"Yes. Surprising, isn't it? Found him in a bottle in the swamp. Popped him out and poof." He held out his hands. "Insta genie." Then he frowned. "A bit cliché, isn't it?"
"He was trying to take Mike's body again, wasn't he?" Crwys said. "Not going to happen with the curse I put on the fucker. Ole Ripp'n Jack should have remembered that. I suggest you get the fuck out of here, Scylla. That body you're wearing is stolen, and human, and if I remember correctly, not invincible to pain." He fired his gun, striking Scylla in the shoulder. "Or bullets."
The Incubus howled at the agony that ripped through his shoulder as he staggered back. Immediately, a reddish haze formed around Scylla. He could feel the Djinn's power then, wrapping around him and seeping into the hole in his flesh. He tried to protest, terrified the Djinn would now try and take his new body from him.
But that wasn’t what happened. Instead, the bullet expelled itself, making a clacking noise as it hit the hardwood. Very little blood came from the wound as the massive cloud absorbed it and reversed the damage. Within a matter of seconds, the wound healed, leaving behind a scar.
Scylla dug at the ripped shirt and touched the mark. "What sorcery is this?"
Crwys cursed under his breath. "Get out, Scylla. And take your Djinn with you. Now."
:Be careful, devil spawn,: came the all-too-familiar voice of Medbh in Scylla's head. :That thing will destroy you.:
With a narrowed glare at Crwys, Scylla moved back into the strong shadow of the empty bedroom behind him and shifted into it, allowing the connection of shadows in the world to take him back to another shadow, one deep in the alleyways of Bourbon Street.
Once corporeal again, he touched the scar with his fingertips. "Rip…"
Laughter bounced around in the alley. Ripp'n Jack's laughter. Scylla did not find comfort in that sound, only dread. He knew on a surface level that the Djinn had entered his body through that wound, riding the pain and agony in, and then healed it. Mended flesh. He knew how his uncle’s curses went, and he knew they were hard to break if at all possible. Rip had told Scylla the entirety of the curse placed upon him.
But somehow, Scylla suspected the Djinn had just found a very small loophole in the spell. A way to get closer to Scylla's true form. He didn’t know what that meant, only that it put him on guard and made him even more cautious about this little deal he’d made with the pretending Obsidian Queen.
Eight
THAT’S MY BOOK!
DAGS
I've had a lot of blackouts in my life and I can pretty much trace them back to every time the Grimoire decided, "Hey, sorry, need your body to do something."
And when that happens—lights out. Which is what happened in Sam's living room the moment the guy with the blond hair showed up.
So when I came to my senses this time I was standing by the couch, the book vanishing back to where it resided inside of my soul. My aching shoulders and my knees abruptly gave out from under me. I knew I was on my way out, as usual, when someone grabbed me from behind, under those same aching shoulders, and pulled me back against them.
"I got you."
I'd heard those words in that same voice so many times that I didn't realize at first I shouldn't be hearing them now. I fought back the fatigue I knew would overwhelm me as I was helped into a chair at the table. Once I leaned back and stared straight ahead, I saw his face. Bruised. Battered.
And smiling at me.
"M-mike?"
He nodded as he took a glass of juice from someone's hand. I looked up to see that hand belonged to someone I didn't know. A man in a suit with a concerned look on his face. Everything about him said cop, including the pin on his lapel with the initials NOPD on it.
"Drink this. Last time this helped, remember?"
It was orange juice. Cold and sweet and I drank it fast, causing brain freeze, but I didn't care. The pain between my eyes helped me focus on where I was, on the man in the suit, on a man appearing behind him, a man with a shock of brown hair over a very stern face, and then back to Mike.
Everything Sam and I talked about—the deaths Mike had witnessed as Ripp'n Jack used his body—came rushing back and I instantly put my hand to his chest. He smiled at me, knowing exactly what I was doing. "I'm fine, Dags. I'm hurting in places I didn't know still worked," he snorted. "But I'm okay."
"No, you're not okay," I said, then stopped myself from spitting out a long list of all the things the Djinn had done. Somehow, that didn't seem so important at the moment.
I finished the orange juice and gave Mike the glass. He set it on the table and then pulled a chair close to me. "Dags, we need you to tell us what happened."
"When did you wake up?" I blurted out, unable to control my own curiosity.
"About ten minutes ago, I'd say?" He looked at the two men, who both nodded. "Grey's barking did it. Then she was licking my face when I said something. I came out here and you were doing your winged-angel thing with the book, and these two detectives were looking at me as if I'd come back from the dead."
"That wouldn't be a bad description," the one in the suit said. "I'm Detective Levi Tulose, NOPD." He offered me his hand.
The moment I touched him, I knew what he was and pulled my hand back. It was an involuntary thing. More of a surprise since the only Revenants I'd ever really known were Raven and Jason Lawrence. I didn't count my dad since he'd been a Leviathan.
Levi smiled. "You sensed Ashur."
"Yeah," I said. "Sorry. I was just surprised."
"It's all right. You've known Revenants before?"
I nodded.
He turned and gestured at the other guy with the angry eyes. "This is Detective Crwys Holli—"
"You got two minutes to tell me what the hell happened in here, and most importantly"—he pointed at my chest—"where the hell did you get that book?"
Levi frowned at his partner, or I
assumed they were partners. "Holliard," he finished.
I didn't look at big-and-scary and concentrated more on telling Detective Tulose what happened. He seemed the saner and more rational of the two. Every time I looked at Holliard, I swear I saw fire and more fire. Was that a representation of his temper? "Sam called me about Mike, so I drove here overnight. We were up here, talking about Mike when Grey heard something." I looked at the couch where Sam rested. Grey sniffed at her daughter and then came to stand by me. I absently scratched at her neck. "There was this blond guy, and he said he was here to pick up a Goblin. Sam told him to get out and he attacked her. She wasn't prepared for him and neither was Kyle. I, hearing the thing about a Goblin, ran in here and hit the guy with my sword."
"Sword?" Holliard said.
"It's a flaming sword he can produce and wield when he's threatened," Mike said. "It's pretty impressive."
"Uh huh." Holliard did not sound convinced.
"Well, I managed to fend him off so I could pull Sam close to me," I continued.
"You put her on the couch."
"Yes."
"And Kyle?"
I shook my head. "No, that was Grey." And then I shut my mouth. I wasn’t about to tell them how Grey reverted to her human form to help get Kyle to the floor. I figured omission was the best avenue. Though I was pretty sure Mike knew better. "That guy did something really weird with the shadows in here, sort of bent them and twisted them, and when they came at me, the Grimoire—" I put my hand on my chest. "It protected us."
"It does that," Mike said.
"That's nice," Holliard said, and his tone wasn't any easier. "Where did you get this Grimoire?"
"Why are you so angry?" Levi asked.
"Because that book doesn't belong to him." Crwys pointed at me. "That book shouldn't even be put together."
I blinked. This guy knew the history of the Grimoire? I was surprised, given I didn't sense he was Revenant, or Witch, or anything but human. "You're right. From what I've learned about it, this book was torn apart and scattered, and there are still missing sections of it."
"Exactly," Crwys said. "So now you're going to tell me how the hell you conjured it and made it vanish, because that book should only obey the commands of a First Born." He took a step toward me and I started looking for the exits. I am not a tall man, and this guy was a giant. Both of them were in comparison, and I didn't want the book to hurt them if they decided to hurt me. I couldn't always control its power.
It was Grey who reacted first. She growled and bared her teeth as she moved in front of me, preventing Holliard's path. Mike also stood, though a bit wobbly, and stood in front of me. "You just need to calm your ass down, friend."
I wasn't sure what was about to happen.
"Lady Darksome," came a woman's voice from somewhere past the wall of men around me. "The level of testosterone in this place is way over my personal limit."
The two men parted and I saw Sam standing over Kyle. She bent low and I figured she was checking his vitals before she straightened and put her hands on her hips. She looked at me. "Dags, you all right?"
"I'm okay."
"He had to use the Grimoire," Mike said.
And having known what the book did to me, she arched her dark brows. "And you're still awake?"
"I gave him juice."
She smiled at him and looked as if she'd just realized he was awake. She threaded her way around the sofas and past the two detectives to give Mike a tight hug. He returned it and she put her hand on his chest.
He in turn, put his hand over hers. "I'm fine, Sam."
But her blue gaze lingered on his face. I knew what she was thinking, the questions in her mind. Was he really okay? Did he not remember what happened? Had his mind blocked it out?
"So," Crwys said as the two stared at one another. "Answers, please?"
"I heard Dags give a pretty good and accurate description of what happened. I wasn't prepared to battle that bastard's shadows—I'm not sure I was aware that's what an Incubus does." Sam stepped back from Mike and then started looking at me, into my eyes and then placing a hand over my heart. I could feel warmth as she used her healing energy to give me a bit of a buff.
"Scylla's part of that darker side of his mother. Same as his sister." Crwys crossed his arms over his chest. I noticed how his gaze never left Sam as she administered to Mike and then me. "He has several abilities. He and Charybdis both do, especially when they claim human hosts. They can control, command and even travel through shadows. They can also use their charisma to get what they want, sort of hypnotize victims into doing their bidding while they feed on them."
"They feed on humans?" Levi asked.
"It's close to Revenants," Crwys said. "Only they feed on the energy of the soul. A little at a time to make their food last and more susceptible to commands. If they take it all of once, they also end up taking other nutrients, leaving behind a husk."
"You mean an actual husk of a body?" Sam said as she straightened and looked at Crwys. I wanted to stand, but Mike pushed me back down.
"Think of a mummified corpse. It's pretty nasty, but it's a telltale sign an Incubus or a Succubus has been there."
"That's creepy," Levi said. "But not as creepy as the fact your Incubus has a Djinn as a pet." He looked at everyone. "Or did anyone not notice that monster actually healed Scylla?"
"It did what?" Sam said. Then she put her hands up. "Wait…Scylla had a Djinn with him?"
"Not just any Djinn." Crwys put his hands on his hips. "Ripp'n Jack."
My jaw, Mike's and Sam's dropped. I stood, waving Mike's hand away. "How…how is that possible? Djinns don't do that kind of thing. They make a deal with someone if they know their name, but it's a one shot deal." I knew about this since I'd made a contract with the bastard, and then he'd taken my best friend's body when he was free of his contract and left me for dead.
Sam rubbed at her temple. "I'm afraid this one would, if found and freed."
I looked at Mike and he looked at me, but he appeared to be just as confused as I was. "Freed?" I said.
Crwys shook his head. "It was my decision to put the little fucker in a bottle. I’d already killed enough of his kind and I just couldn’t bring myself to kill another one, no matter how despicable he is. When he dies, it’ll be of his own doing."
"Not to mention, I think you’ve got a perverted sense of justice locking him in that bottle. An eternity of boredom." Sam held out her hands. "I believe Djinns can be killed while in a host body. But I wasn’t about to kill Mike. Not ever."
"Sam," I said. "Why in a host body?"
"Once they join with a host, their powers are diminished a great deal. Not necessarily their magical abilities. When Jack—" She stopped and looked Mike, then said, "When Jack possessed Mike, what took a hit was his vulnerability. While in a host, they no longer have the ability to pull from the ley lines around them, nor can they pull from the Akashic stream, which takes from the Well of Souls. They're cut off of those means of survival."
"Which means an exorcism is then possible," came a voice from the sofa.
I shifted my gaze to see Kyle sit up. He had a dark mark on his cheek and stumbled a bit when he moved. Sam went to him and steadied him. "Unfortunately, like a direct shot to the heart, it also kills the body."
"Which is why I refused to exorcise the Djinn before." Sam glanced at me and I understood why she was avoiding saying anything about Mike and Ripp'n Jack. We weren't sure how much he remembered yet. I was sure I didn't want him to remember anything.
"But if he doesn’t find a body soon," Levi said. "Ripp’n Jack is going to dissapate."
"Yep," Kyle said. "We can wait him out, observe a he becomes nothing but smoke, but he can also wreak all kinds of havoc like this."
"So," I said. "Why is he obeying Scylla like that? I'm assuming Scylla knew his name?"
"No." Crwys looked miserable. "I placed a curse on him while he was in the bottle. Just in case some defenseless human did find
the bottle. If they let Ripp'n Jack out, he was compelled to tell them his name, he couldn't hurt them and had to protect them."
Mike's eyes widened. "You did what?"
"Can I go on record that I was not for this?" Kyle held up a hand. He then pointed at Crwys. "You saw me toss that bottle into the swamp."
"I watched it sink into the water."
"Well, somehow Scylla got it and now he's got a Djinn for a protector." I was thinking about everything Sam and Kyle said, and formulating my own strategy. "So…is the Incubus just as weak while in his host's body?"
"Yes," Crwys said. "With this body, there's no reason to hesitate if we can hurt Scylla. There's no soul remaining. Scylla doesn't share well, except with his sister. Whoever that poor kid was, he's long gone."
I didn't like hearing that. Some innocent had lost their life to this Incubus, and what for?
I moved away from Mike and approached Sam. "Why is he here?"
"What?" She looked at me, a bit startled.
"Scylla said he was here to collect a Goblin. Sam, the only Goblin here is me. He knew I was going to be here, didn't he?"
And I knew it was the truth the moment I looked into her eyes. There was something there, something she wasn't telling me. Something she didn't want to tell me.
"Sam…" Crwys said.
She licked her lips and faced me. "Dags…in order to expel Ripp'n Jack from Mike—"
"What?" Mike said.
Levi put a hand on Mike's shoulder. "All in good time."
"—We had to have his name. You know how Djinns work. I didn't know that you knew it, so I contacted Brendi—"
I closed my eyes. I already knew where this was going. "To get the Djinn's name because she was the one that hired him."
"I didn't know that."
"Doesn't matter. She told you his name in exchange for me."
Chimes At Midnight (The Grimoire Chronicles Book 3) Page 5
