“I don’t know. I’ve been researching but haven’t come up with anything viable.”
“Please keep looking. Meantime, I hope Asherah hears you and Emma goes into remission.”
“Uh-huh.” Lux looked away. “Will do.”
Just like with the Queen, something was off. My eyes narrowed. “Don’t you dare tell me you’re intending to try again. You’re damn lucky that Rafael and I were the ones who faced Ba’al. If anyone else had been in that ring with him, they’d have died. Would Emma want that?”
Lux leaned across the table, her eyes hard. “Fuck you.”
Something whipped across my leg, burning through my jeans. It was a vine, which now bound my ankle. Great, that hadn’t been the illusionist who had imprisoned Rafael during the Ba’al showdown.
I gathered all my fury and let it show in my eyes. The blood red dagger that casually appeared in my hand didn’t hurt either. “Asherah isn’t coming back. Should I get even the faintest hint that you’re pulling this shit again, I’ll—”
“What? Rip our magic away?”
The vine burned hotter against my leg and I hissed, sorely tempted.
I made the dagger disappear. We may have gotten off to a bad start, but we were on the same side. Asherah good, Chariot bad. “I wouldn’t do that to you, but if your faith is as strong as you claim, then respect that Asherah wanted to protect people, not hurt them. I don’t see how feeding people to Ba’al falls into the protection category, let alone would be something she’d be proud of.”
Lux didn’t back down at first, which I gave her props for. I also wanted to smack her, but I didn’t fault her wanting her wife to recover.
“If I can’t get that magic out of Rafael and he has to live out his life in a cell,” I said, “I’m honestly not sure he’ll survive much longer. No one deserves cancer, but you did that to Rafael. Deliberately. Even if Asherah suddenly shows up and cures Emma, can you live with Rafael’s death? Or the next person you use to power Ba’al up?”
Lux dropped her gaze to the table. “No,” she said in a small voice. “I won’t try again.”
The vine disappeared.
“Call me if you find a filter.” I tugged gently on Mrs. Hudson’s leash and the two of us departed.
I’d be first in line to help Lux take revenge on cancer, but that wasn’t possible. It was unfair Emma was ill and unfair that Rafael was caged and injured. I liked my villains to be clear-cut, but I couldn’t slot Lux into that label. I wished otherwise, because letting her off the hook for her actions bothered me. She’d hurt one of my people and everything in me cried out for payback, or at the very least, justice. I cursed Gavriella for how she’d treated Lux. If she’d shown more compassion, maybe Lux wouldn’t have felt compelled to go this route. Now it had fallen on me to show mercy.
Probational mercy. If Rafael got worse or…
He couldn’t. End of story.
After a quick trip to the Nightingale at HQ to heal the welts on my leg, if not the ragged tear in the leg of my jeans, I contacted my mother.
Talia still refused to have me come by her office, so we met on my home turf at Cohen Investigations.
Mrs. Hudson had gotten a quick walk to do her business and was now spending couple-time with Pinky on the doggie bed in the corner.
My mother dropped into the chair across from me, clutching the straps of her purse.
“I found the blackmailer,” I said. “It’s your father-in-law.”
Talia’s grip relaxed, her brow furrowed. “Why? I’ve never even met Adam’s parents.”
“You kept their son from them.” I shared what Arkady had told me, leaving out his role in things. As far as I was concerned, that was between the two of us.
My mother didn’t answer, just shook her head with a dazed expression on her face, because she hadn’t known about her husband’s upbringing. She stood up, then seemed to forget why she’d done that, and sat back down, rubbing her eyes. “How can I be certain this doesn’t happen again?”
“I’m going to meet with Nathan and put an end to this,” I said.
“He’s a fanatic. Why would he listen to logic?”
“I can be very persuasive.”
Talia’s laugh was half-sob. “Violence? No. This is just going to keep happening, if not with Nathan, then with someone else.” She leaned forward, her eyes blazing. “Ward up your magic again.”
While Talia didn’t know about me being a Jezebel or my blood powers, she did know about the ward, if not Adam’s role in it. I’d told her that much and about my low-level strength.
My magic churned, stinging my skin with the force of suppressing it. I stuffed my hands under my butt so I didn’t accidentally produce a weapon and do something rash. “It’s not that simple,” I said through gritted teeth.
Talia smacked her hand down on the desk and Mrs. Hudson whined softly. “Yes. It is. If you don’t have magic, it can’t be used against me. You’re a documented Mundane. That video will appear to be garbage.”
“I won’t do it.”
“And if Nathan doesn’t agree? I’ll be forced to step down. When we win the next election, Jackson has asked me to serve as Minister of Finance. You’d rather I throw my entire life’s work away because you can’t bear to part with some half-assed low-level ability?”
She was climbing the party ladder now? Committing herself even further to this dangerous and deluded ideology?
My head pounded. If she insisted on putting her party before her child, then she could damn well know the truth. No lies. No games.
When I was a kid, my family had a favorite picnic spot at a lake a couple of hours’ drive from Vancouver. One summer, we were anchored at the far shore, horsing around in the water when the sky turned black and a line of storm clouds rolled in.
We jumped back in the boat, watching the rain hitting the lake grow closer. Lifejackets on, my parents rowed us back to the rental place all the way across the lake. Thunder and lightning split the sky, but Dad cracked jokes and Mom sang songs off-key, and every time the wind whipped up the waves, we all whooped loudly. I clasped the wooden bench, swaying from side to side, strung out on adrenaline and exhilaration.
By the time we pulled up, banging into the wooden pier, we were soaked. The owner of the rental place met us with towels and much relief that we’d made it in safely.
I hadn’t been scared because I’d had a safe harbor: my parents.
There was already scar tissue on my heart from the two of us, and I was so tired of hiding. I’d had to navigate all the skeletons in our family closet by myself with no comfort from my mother to help me process and grieve, and if any of that safe harbor still remained, I could hand her my deepest secret and trust that she’d guard it and stand by me.
I summoned my magic, coursing through my body as vital to me as my own blood, and coated it over my skin until it hardened into place as my armor.
This was the real me. This was the unavoidable truth.
Talia screamed, one hand over her mouth, and jumped back so fast that she knocked the chair over.
I pushed to my feet. “I am a Jezebel, my magic bestowed upon me by the goddess Asherah for the express purpose of stopping the men and women of the Kabbalistic organization Chariot from achieving immortality.”
My mother shook her head in jerky movements. “This is crazy.”
“No. It’s the truth that I’ve attempted to shield you from. The original ten who released magic into our world were trying to pull the ultimate con. Achieve that divine spark of Yechida, not through study and faith, but magic, and become immortal. Your precious Isaac is one of them and I’m the only one capable of thwarting them. If it comes to you or me stepping aside? I’ll do what I have to in order to protect my magic, my secret, and my cause.”
“You sound like your father’s people. You’re not some holy crusader on a made-up quest.”
“Nothing about this is made-up, Mother.” Mrs. Hudson pressed up against my leg and I picked her up,
the armor vanishing. “I’m still Ash. Still your daughter. I just have a destiny that I never bargained for.” Petty though it was, I couldn’t help adding, “Jezebel magic is passed down through the mother’s bloodline, same as being Jewish.”
She looked ill. “Your father. Was he part of this?”
“Yes.” I waited for her to ask for further clarification.
Leaching of all color, she grabbed her purse. “I—I can’t.”
She ran out of the office, the outer door slamming behind her.
I buried my face in Mrs. Hudson’s fur, and gave a shuddery sigh. Had I been too cruel? What would have been the right way to show her? I watched through the window as Talia hurried to her car. She hit the fob to unlock the door three times, finally swearing loud enough for me to hear it up here in my office.
A million admonishments swam through my head. I could still go after her to make sure she calmed down before she got behind the wheel of her car. I flashed on the image of the Queen stroking a hand over Isabel’s hair and, quietly but firmly, shut my office door.
Rafael, Isaac, my mother… a storm was gathering again. There were no clouds to presage its arrival, no subtle static charge that lifted the hairs on my skin, but it bore down on me just the same. It was going to break—and soon.
Where was my safe harbor now?
Chapter 16
“Why are his horns back?” I said quietly to Miles.
Rafael’s eyes flashed red and a low growl rumbled up from deep inside him. He punched the bars several times until the fight went out of him and his eyes returned to being black and clear. His nose had widened into a vague snout, and he’d brushed his hair forward to hide the horns, which made him look like the nerd demon who got picked on by all the cooler demons, especially combined with the baggy House sweats he wore.
Miles shook his head. “It shouldn’t be possible. All his magic should be suppressed, including whatever he was hit with.”
I pointed at the flecks of blood on the bars from Rafael hurling himself at them. “I’m going to call a guy I know with Lockdown magic.”
“How will that help?” he said.
“I identify as part of the Nefesh community, but technically, I’m not and neither is Rafael. Our magic comes from a different source.”
Miles frowned at a text that had come in and fired off a quick reply. “Yeah, I know that. And?”
“While nulling should work on us, the combination of many layers of Nefesh powers with Rafael’s innate Asherah ones is complicating shit. If the magic suppression on the cell is failing, do you want to chance the physical structure itself being enough to contain him? Put an extra layer of protection on it and buy me time to find a solution.”
Miles rubbed the back of his neck. “Why is this guy better than anyone I could produce?”
“He’s one of the people who originally got us into this mess and he contained the fake god-manifestation before.”
Miles lifted his phone like he was going to call one of his own people, then he put it away. “Do it.”
I stepped out into the hallway and found the contact info. “Hello, Gabriel,” I said. “It’s Ashira.”
“The woman with the goddess name.” His voice slid into a purr. “It’s so good to hear your voice.”
“I need a favor.”
“It would be my pleasure.”
“Actually, scratch that,” I said sternly. I wasn’t about to owe this guy. “This isn’t a favor. You need to come and help fix the very bad mess you helped to create. If you don’t, you’ll feel my wrath.”
“That might not be so bad,” he said, laughing.
I shuddered. He was a sexual harassment case in pretty tissue paper. “It will be. Trust me. Get here, stat.” I gave him the details and hung up.
Arkady had arrived in time to hear the last part of my call. “Tell me you didn’t call Fabio.”
“Fab—I mean, Gabriel is a useful asset. Find Gramps yet?”
“No. He’s disappeared without a trace.”
“June fourteenth—”
“Is less than a week away. I know.”
I patted Arkady on the shoulder and he smiled gratefully at me. His confession of working for my grandfather to undermine Talia and me had hurt, but with it, the festering wound of his betrayal was draining.
We sat down to wait, killing time on our phones, both of us trying not to sneak glances at Rafael every few seconds.
“Oh fair Jezebel, I have arrived.” Gabriel breezed into the corridor, wearing a silver shirt so metallic it could pick up signals from space.
“Lucky us,” Miles muttered, escorting Gabriel in.
I stood up and pointed at the room with the jail cell. “Rafael’s in there. Get to work. I’ll be in in a sec.”
Gabriel inclined his head and left us.
Miles jabbed a finger at me. “Are you planning on getting buddy-buddy with my boyfriend again?”
“Yeah. What of it?”
He made a “ugh” noise and walked away.
“You good to deal with this on your own, pickle?” Arkady tilted his head at the jail cell room. “I can stick around if you want.”
“Thanks, but there’s no need. I can handle Gabriel.”
“That’s what he’s hoping.”
I elbowed Arkady, who winked and sauntered off. I smiled at his retreating figure and entered the room.
Rafael reached through the bars, flames dancing over his horns, trying to grab Gabriel. “You did this to me!”
Gabriel scuffed his ankle boot along the ground. “Sorry, bro. No hard feelings?”
Rafael bashed his horns against the bars, shoving his arm out as far as it would go.
Gabriel jumped farther away.
“Stop it!” I cried. “We need Gabriel to keep you safe.”
Rafael growled at me, but he pulled his arm in, calming himself with harsh breaths.
“Thank you,” I said, and moved over to the far wall to be out of the way. “Get on with it, Gabriel.”
Levi strode in as Gabriel was marking out the perimeter of the cell with his footsteps, explaining to Rafael what he was about to do.
His Lordship stood beside me, his back against the wall. “I hear you’re worried about the cell’s nulling abilities. Did you bring your groupie here to test it out on his shirt?” He smirked.
“Actually,” I said, matching my volume to his so Gabriel didn’t hear us, “I’m checking his powers.” I batted my lashes at Levi. “You never know when someone might do yet another one-eighty and there’s a sudden opening on Team Jezebel.”
Levi straightened his cufflinks and my gaze snagged on the shift of his biceps. “Ash, I cannot express how misguided you are to think that he could ever replace me. Those words about me walking away were said in the heat of the moment, and while as your ex, I can appreciate you wanting to dally with Boy Band Lite as a fuck you, as House Head, I guarantee that if you try and bring him on board, he’ll find out the meaning of the word ‘expendable.’”
His voice slid through me in a silky caress. He sure as hell didn’t use that tone with Miles.
My nipples hardened and I crossed my arms over my chest, crossing my legs for good measure. Just because we’d had fun working together at the golf charity did not make us the kind of exes who could flirt with each other.
“I’m not eating more of your cookies,” I said.
Levi gave a strangled laugh. “What?”
“You heard me.”
“I’m ready to begin,” Gabriel announced and pulled his hair into a man bun.
“Helps him focus,” Levi said.
I refused to smile.
It took Gabriel only a few minutes to work his containment magic on the cell, but Levi hummed NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye” the entire time.
“You’re not as funny as you think you are,” I said.
“Beg to differ,” Levi said with an imperious toss of his head. “You think he has choreography?”
I pushed off the wall,
my lips clamped firmly together. It would be horrifically unprofessional to laugh at that, which was also why it was so difficult not to.
Rafael could still pace the length of the cell, but when he tried to put his hands through the bars, they caught on an invisible barrier that sparked.
“I’m trapped well and good,” Rafael said.
“No more horns, either.” Gabriel cracked his knuckles. “Told you I should be a level five.”
My Attendant eye-rolled like a teen influencer, while Levi gave a you’re-welcome-to-try smirk.
“We’ll get you out of here as soon as possible,” Levi said.
Rafael sighed. “Chin up and all that. Thank you, Levi.”
“Anything else I can do for you, most wonderful Ashira?” Gabriel took out his elastic band with a flourish, shaking out his locks.
Levi snorted and mouthed “choreo.”
I stepped on his foot. “Nope. That’s it.”
“I like to eat something after expanding all that energy, know what I mean?” Gabriel said.
If you meant ‘expending’ all that energy, then sure.
“There’s a sandwich place around the corner,” Levi said. “Try the corned beef. Alas, Ash must return to work now.” He waved at Gabriel. “Bye bye bye.”
Rafael “coughed,” and I glared at him.
“Another time,” Gabriel said with a sultry look at me and left.
Rafael lay down on his mattress, staring up at the ceiling. There was no point trying to talk to him until I had some hope for a fix.
“Ash—” Levi said.
My phone buzzed. “Hang on.”
Alfie had sent a text. According to his mother, the Kiss of Death surfaced briefly sixty years ago, when it was owned by a rich French philanthropist, Avril de Leon. Its location died with its owner.
Did it, though? Death wasn’t the final frontier I’d once believed it to be.
Alfie texted again to say that there was a lot of renewed interest in the amulet lately. My heart stuttered. I had to get the jump on Chariot and find it first.
Levi and I said our goodbyes to Rafael and left the room. I waited for some sign we were done but Levi leaned a hand against the wall.
“I said you had my trust,” he said. “Give me the chance to win back yours. Let me fight alongside you.”
Revenge & Rapture: A Snarky Urban Fantasy Detective Series (The Jezebel Files Book 4) Page 16