Hellbent Halo Boxed Set

by E. A. Copen

  Chapter Thirteen

  JOSIAH

  I ordered a pizza and opened two beers. My hands shook. A new sense of dread had settled in my gut, coiled tight like a rattlesnake about to bite. It felt like someone had whispered my name into an open grave. I tried to shake it and focus on the small motions I was going through, the mundane task of taking Milly out and feeding her.

  The old girl must’ve been feeling it too because she showed little interest in her food. All she wanted to do was talk. What are we going to do?

  I shook my head. “Don’t know that there’s anything to do yet. We still haven’t got any answers.”

  Yes, we have. You know who it is they’re trying to summon. You’ve read the same grimoires as I have.

  She was right as always, even if I didn’t want to admit it. For years, I wanted to believe that Christian finding me was an accident, some twisted joke played by fate. The maniac who wanted to become a god would happen on a lost little half-blood angel. Once Christian Lenore discovered the secret in my blood, he used me to make himself more powerful, just the same as everybody else. Was it chance that he looked the other way while I seduced his wife? While I put a child in her and let her belly grow? I had tried to play it off as if it wasn’t mine, but the bastard knew all along because he and Evette were spouses in name only. It was his way of controlling her, her and her perfect, powerful bloodline… And the child we’d made together, he would’ve used her too, a sacrifice of perfect blood to fuel his ascension.

  There was power in bloodshed, more power than in any other form of sacrifice. With the right blood, a poor man could become rich, a prince could be made a pauper, and the dead could rise again. It was all written in the pages of a grimoire I’d stolen from Christian in the aftermath of his murder, a grimoire I wished I’d never read. My father’s grimoire.

  I’d burned it long ago, worried that some fuckwit would kill me and get his hands on it. The secrets in that awful book would die with me. If I did nothing else right in my life, I would do that. There were some secrets humanity wasn’t meant to know.

  I shrugged. “It could be someone else. We haven’t got any proof it’s not something else just yet. Even if they are after him, with just one sacrifice under their belt, they’re a far cry from completing the ritual.”

  “It’s not just the one.”

  I shifted to see Niko coming down the hallway. He hadn’t bothered to put his sweaty clothes back on, choosing instead to walk around in nothing but a towel. I didn’t blame him. He’d smelled awful. At least the view was a nice one.

  “So you do know something about the murders.” I scooped Milly up in one hand, ready to dump her back in her container. Most people didn’t take to spiders. Viewed them as pests to be exterminated. Never mind Milly wouldn’t hurt anything bigger than a fly, and half the time I had to coax her into doing that if she wasn’t hungry enough.

  Niko was quicker than I was. His gaze settled on the furry, larger-than-normal spider in my hand and his eyes must’ve doubled in size. “Holy shit. Is that a tarantula?”

  “I was just putting her up.”

  He stopped at the end of the counter and leaned in closer. “You know, my cousin had a tarantula. One of those Mexican ones with the red legs? Fascinating to watch. Yours has a lot more color. And it’s bigger. Male or female?”

  I hesitated. That was the most casual interest anyone had ever shown in Milly when I had her out. Most people either screamed and fled or froze and stared in horror as if she were a monster.

  Milly crawled down from my hand to the countertop. Don’t just stare at him, Josiah. Introduce me.

  I cleared my throat. “Her name’s Milly. She’s…er, sort of a special breed not from around here. Won’t find one like her in a pet store.”

  Niko lowered himself so his face was level with her on the counter. “Wow, she’s beautiful.”

  Milly was practically glowing. Did you hear that? He said I was beautiful!

  “All right now,” I said, scooping her back up. “Don’t go on about her or she’ll get a big head, that one.” She didn’t like going back in her container, but I forced the issue. If I let her roam, she’d find a curtain to hang on and give Harmony a coronary. “Khaleda doesn’t much care for her. Most people don’t.”

  “Khaleda?” There he was again with those deep, dark pits for eyes, staring at me.

  “The partner I mentioned earlier. Succubus. I don’t know where she’s gone to, but she’ll be back eventually along with Harmony who owns the place. I’m just a drop-in nuisance really.” I sealed the container and slipped it into my bag before offering him a beer. “You promised me a story.”

  “I did. Did you cover the mirrors?”

  “Wasn’t easy. Harmony owns a whole fuckin’ lot of mirrors for a woman who lives alone.”

  “Just like a woman,” he said with a smile.

  “Amen to that.” We clinked our bottles together. I leaned back against the sink, a pineapple and pepperoni pizza cooling on the counter between us. It was almost a relief when Niko focused on that instead of me.

  He shrugged. “Where to begin? I suppose the beginning is as good a place as any. I’m not much of a storyteller, but I’ll do my best. You know about Georgie and Christof and Alexi, the triumvirate of assholes that made this mess. But you don’t know about my sister, Fran. After our mom died, it was supposed to be her who took over as the Oracle, but she didn’t have the gift. For some reason, it went to me. Imagine for a minute what that must’ve been like. She’d grown up her whole life training and preparing to be some key member of the organization, and suddenly she’s nobody. All because her stupid brother inherited the power instead of her, for some reason.”

  Niko turned and went to sit on the sofa before taking a long pull from the beer. “Anyway, Fran wound up going to get her STNA. Started bringing home pills a little at a time. Dealing to make ends meet. The way it works, we pay into the pot. Georgie got a twenty percent take of everything we made. Straightforward, right? As long as you’re not skimming on the side like Fran was. Bad idea, cheating one of the Godfathers of Night.”

  I crossed my arms and leaned onto the counter. “I take it Georgie was none too pleased when he found out.”

  “That’s just the thing. He wasn’t. Wasn’t like that with Georgie. He gave Fran a week to pay up what she owed, and after that, they’d be square. Problem was, Fran got picked up during that week for speeding. Fucking dogs found her with a couple of ounces of weed, so they did a search and came up with some pills she had stashed. They strong-armed her after that, sayin’ if she didn’t start naming names and giving dates, locations, things that could bury the whole fucking family, they were gonna put her away.”

  “Your little sister was a narc.” I picked up a slice of pizza and tried it. Not bad. Could use some red onions and maybe some olives. But it was risky enough to put pineapple on the pizza. Americans tended to get offended about that. No taste buds. Or maybe I’d just abused mine enough I didn’t care.

  “Except she wasn’t no fucking rat.” He folded his hands and leaned forward. “She was giving them false information. Lies. Throwing them off. Not that Alexi fucking cared. Bastard had her killed anyway.”

  I finished with the pizza and flipped the box lid closed. “What’s any of that got to do with the murders and broken mirrors?”

  “Don’t you see?” Niko said, pushing himself up from the sofa to pace. “Alexi can’t keep Christof out forever. The more people he has to kill to hold onto power, the less stable he looks, making our alliance with the Italians shaky at best. Alexi can keep this up three months, maybe four tops, and then he’s out of time. Either he cements his hold on Astoria in that time and kills Christof—who he can’t even fucking get to—or the Italians back Christof. Alexi dies, and they bring Christof home. He needs power now, more power than he has access to normally, and he needs to get rid of people who oppose him, send a strong message. Just like he did with Fran.”

  The cold sn
ake coiled in my belly unwound itself and slithered up my spine. “Christ, he’s not just killing the people who oppose him. He’s sacrificing them, trading their lives for the backing of a powerful demon.”

  Niko stopped pacing and gripped the countertop. “I don’t know what the mirrors are for or how this ritual works, but I know that the night Georgie died, they found him crucified in his study, his guts ripped out and a mirror shattered. I had a vision that night. It was the first time…” He trailed off.

  I licked my lips and leaned forward. “First time what, Niko?”

  “First time I saw you. I saw you standing in front of a mirror. When Fran went missing, I knew what he’d done to her. I saw…” Niko paused to swallow and shake his head. “I saw her body hanging like a pig carcass in some warehouse, gutted, her throat slit. Flies laying eggs in her intestines.” He turned away.

  I thought he was going to yack again, so I came around the counter and put an arm around his shoulders, walking him back to the sofa. “Easy, mate. Don’t think about it. Human sacrifice is never a pretty picture.”

  Niko sank into the sofa, a dejected expression on his face. “I ran because if I didn’t, I knew I’d kill him, and that’s not me. I’m not a killer. I’m a goddamn glorified fortune teller.” He met my eyes, his gaze deep and sad. “I’m a coward who didn’t have the balls to avenge his murdered family.”

  “You’re not a coward, Niko. Vengeance is a losing game. You kill them, their mates kill you, your mates kill their mates and round and round it goes.” I sighed and tried to rub out the pounding in my temples. “Okay, Alexi has someone in his employ who knows magic. Someone who knows how to do the summoning at least in theory. Who would that be?”

  Niko spent a long moment thinking before answering. “Iosif Badakis. Cypriot prick. Alexi brought him over about a year ago, sponsored him. He’s young, inexperienced, but the name Badakis is well-respected as far as magic goes.”

  “And where would I find this Iosif Badakis on a Friday evening in Queens?”

  He didn’t need to think near as long to answer that. “Iosif is into some fucked-up shit. Only place he could get what he wants without any trouble would be Eìdolo.”

  I stood, tapped out another cigarette, and lit it. I had a name and a place. Now all I had to do is put a face to it, and this case would be all but closed.

  Chapter Fourteen

  KHALEDA

  I opened the apartment door and walked in on what was possibly the most unexpected scene I’d ever encountered. Josiah was in the kitchen washing dishes, smoking and mumbling curses to himself while a naked man lay on Harmony’s sofa, napping. Well, I suppose he wasn’t really naked. He did have a towel on, but that was the last thing I expected to see walking back into Harmony’s apartment.

  “Am I in the right apartment?” I shut the door behind me.

  “About time you showed up,” Josiah growled and shoved a plate in the dish drainer. “I was running out of things to keep me busy.”

  I glanced over at the man in the towel who’d woken up and was stretching. I don’t know that I would’ve called him traditionally handsome, but he wasn’t unattractive. He was closer to that description than Josiah was anyway, the sort of man who could put on anything and make it look good in the right colors. A chameleon, like me.

  He flashed a boyish smile and waved coyly. Something about the way he did it told me it was a practiced move, a deliberate choice in action. He wasn’t the shy and helpless sort naturally.

  “Where the hell were you anyway?” Josiah tossed a dish towel over his shoulder and plucked the cigarette from between his lips, tossing it into the dishwater.

  I slid onto one of the stools at the breakfast bar. “Well, while you were wasting your time on your wild goose chase, I was out doing both of our jobs. There was another murder with a mirror. Petra really wanted your input, but nobody knew where you were, so I had to go investigate solo.”

  “Wasn’t a wild goose chase. This is Stefan Nikolaides.” He gestured to the man in the towel behind me.

  “Niko to my friends,” Niko said.

  I only gave him a cursory glance. I’d seen enough of him to know who and what he was: untrustworthy. “Great. Now that you’ve found him, you can turn him in and get your cash. We can focus on the investigation. You know, the job we’re supposed to be doing? Together?”

  “He’s part of the investigation.” Josiah leaned on the counter, skinny arms folded. “He knows the mage who’s orchestrating all this and where we can find him. All we need now is some suitable clothing for the venue, so if you’d be so kind as to magic us up some new clothes…”

  I stood and went around the bar to grab Josiah by the arm. “I need to talk to you. Alone.”

  “No need for secrets, sweetheart. He’s with us now.”

  I glanced back at Niko and narrowed my eyes at him before pushing Josiah toward the short hallway. “Bedroom. Now.”

  “All right, all right. No need to be so pushy.”

  Harmony’s bedroom looked like a unicorn had thrown up in there. It was all white, pink, and sapphire blue with purple accents. Lace and ruffles were on everything. I stuffed Josiah in the room and shut the door behind us. “God, it’d be cute if it wasn’t so disgusting in here.”

  Josiah glanced around and shrugged. “That’s Harmony for you.”

  “I don’t want to talk about Harmony. Let’s talk about this Niko guy. I don’t trust him.” I crossed my arms. Josiah wasn’t going to take me seriously no matter what I said. I didn’t even know why I was trying to talk sense into the man. Once he had an idea in his head, it was impossible to shake it loose. But I couldn’t just let him jeopardize our lives over a pretty face.

  He smiled and tilted his head. “You don’t trust anyone, Khaleda. It’s one of the reasons I keep you around. You’re suspicious and good at killing things. Not to mention what little magic you do have is useful in a pinch.”

  If he wouldn’t listen about Niko, maybe he’d at least listen when I told him what I knew about the case. “I think someone is trying to summon one of the Fallen. I also think I know which one. I just… I hope I’m wrong.”

  Josiah’s face sobered. “There was divine magic used in the first murder. Did you find any traces of it at the second?”

  “You know that’s not my area. But I do know the second victim was a prostitute. The first probably was too.”

  He shook his head. “That’s not the connection. They’re all part of Alexi’s organization. People who stood up to him when he pulled a coup and took over. He’s letting this fuckwit wizard execute his enemies and use them to fuel a spell he thinks will buy him power. Kill the Greek wizard, the murders stop.”

  I frowned. He made it sound so simple. I had a feeling there was a lot more to it than that, but with only two murders to go on… “Does the name Remiel mean anything to you?”

  Josiah’s eyes widened, and his lips twitched as if he were working at hiding his true reaction. It was there a moment and gone in a flash, but I didn’t miss it. He knew that name, and it terrified him.

  He turned away and pulled out his pack of cigarettes to put the last one in his mouth and light it. “First of the Fallen, they called him once. But that was after he spent time as a Watcher here on Earth, one of two hundred that taught forbidden magic to mankind. When Sodom and Gomorrah burned, he was cast into Hell with the rest.”

  “He led an uprising against my father.”

  Josiah turned around, eyes wide as if he were surprised by the news.

  I shrugged. “It was before I was born. My father liked to tell stories that made him sound like some sort of war hero. He’d tell that one all the time, the story of how he defeated the Fallen uprising near single-handedly and tossed the First of the Fallen into The Pit for all eternity.”

  “I wish that were the case.” The bed squeaked as Josiah sank down onto it. “This wouldn’t be the first time Remiel’s gotten free. He did once before. The last time Remiel walked the Earth and
held any power, he spent his free time helping round up Jews for concentration camps. It took another thirty years for Michael to finally find him, and that was the last time Heaven and Hell worked together to get anything done.”

  “Well, either way, we can’t let him get free this time.”

  He stood and put his hands on my shoulders. I stared at his fingers and tried to will them to break with nothing but my mind. If only I had that power. “That’s why we need you to magic us up some clothes. As it turns out, Iosif Badakis likes to spend his Friday evenings in a very particular fetish club here in the city. If we can corner him, we can kill him and end this before it ever really gets off the ground. God’s Hand gets an end to their murders and a killer brought to justice, the Greeks stop misusing magic, and Niko gets his life back. It’s a win-win.”

  It didn’t sound like a win-win. His plan would only work if everything went exactly right, and since when did that ever happen? Of course, we did have to try. I didn’t have any other plans to take down a powerful wizard like this guy probably was, and even if I did, I’d need Josiah to do it.

  I stepped back to get his hands off me. “What’s your plan to get him alone in this club? Places like that, there are eyes and ears everywhere. You’ll never get him alone, not for more than a few minutes. If the place is owned by the Greeks, even less of a chance that’ll happen.”

  “The club is recon,” Josiah said. “Niko knew Iosef went to Eìdolo, but the specifics of what he does there are still a mystery. Find out what Iosef is into, exploit it, maybe see if we can get a home address. Then he’s nothing but another victim of random violence or a home invasion. Take your pick.”

  I had to hand it to him. He was thinking like me. That was exactly what I would’ve done on a solo mission. Research the target, find a weakness, exploit it, and execute. “I think I’m rubbing off on you.” I smiled and pushed his shoulder.