by Liz Schulte
Baker’s mouth pressed into a thin line. “I don’t know that he did.”
I stopped. “What?”
“He didn’t text me back, but I believe her. She didn’t fight us and if she’s working on the other side, there’s no reason to befriend either one of us. If I had to guess, I’d say he’s desperate. We all are.”
“Where is she meeting us?”
“Nowhere you know, but it should be safe.”
“What makes you think so?”
“I had a meeting there earlier with some very important and dangerous people. They would have taken precautions against every conceivable enemy.”
****
Neither Holden nor Olivia were at the warehouse. We collected the maps, I grabbed a small pocket mirror, and we headed for my car. We arrived in Joliet earlier than Baker estimated. I looked around the abandoned building a little, trying to determine where our weakest areas were. All in all the room was fairly secure.
“Why would the kid draw the Seal of Soloman?” I asked.
“Maybe she saw it.”
“What exactly does it look like?”
“I haven’t the foggiest.” He stretched his arms over his head and cracked his neck to either side. “But if the kid did see it. She’s the only person I’ve ever met who has.”
So all we needed to do was get the mute kid to talk. The click of heels echoed in the hall. I stood on the opposite wall from Baker. Spreading out made us harder targets. But surprisingly, true to her word, Sybil arrived alone and seemingly unarmed. Not that a succubus needed a weapon.
“Love what you’ve done with the place,” she said. “You have the maps?”
Baker handed her the bag. “Do you know why they want to find the entrance?” he asked, as she looked them over.
“They wish to open it.” She didn’t bother to look up.
“Why?” I asked.
“If you want motives, ask Lucifer yourself. All I know is he wants it open, and the demons are killing themselves trying.”
Baker looked as disturbed as I felt. I blew out a breath. Lucifer was one fight I’d rather not have in any of my life times.
“How are they going to open it?”
“Well, it isn’t easy,” she said. “They need an angel. It’s the only way to keep it open forever. But the catch is the angel must be pure and have good intentions. It can’t be one who has turned dark. The problem has always been that fallen angels become corrupted so fast that there’s never been an opportunity before. It’s unnatural for them to be here, so removed from God’s presence. It makes it hard for them to maintain their identity.” Her finger nail traced the ley lines as she spoke. “The rumor is your friend has lasted on earth longer than any angel before her. Ironically, she is their greatest hope.”
If that was true, our angel didn’t have long to go. Every day she became more and more irrational. She may have lasted longer, but that was when Olivia was in control. Since the angel took over full time, she was deteriorating fast. Once the gates were open, it wouldn’t take long to overrun both the human world and the Abyss. That was why the Seal was important. The person who possessed the Seal would rule all three worlds.
“So why exactly are we trying to find the opening?” I asked. They both looked over at me. “So long as the angel stays clear of the area, there’s no problem. We just need to lock her up.”
They both considered my words, then Sybil dismissed them with a toss of her beautiful hair. Baker looked instantly distracted, and I kicked him. “Get a grip, man.”
Sybil’s eyes gleamed. “I’m fulfilling my end of the deal with Holden. He can do as he chooses with the information.”
“If they need her, you better believe they have a plan on how to get her. We need to know where the opening is and have our own plan to evade them,” Baker said after a couple moments.
“Their plan is obvious. They’ve totally set her up. As soon as she knows where it is, she’ll go to them of her own free will.”
“If this were my show, I wouldn’t leave it all up to chance. They already sent a human and trolls to the warehouse, not demons, true—but creatures she couldn’t easily defeat. They’ll find a way to get her, no matter where we hide her. If we incapacitate her and trap her, then she’s just a sitting duck.”
I didn’t argue, but it seemed to me we were all doing exactly what they wanted—and had been all along. To throw a real wrench in their plans, we had to do something they didn’t see coming.
“C’est ici.” Sybil looked up, tapping her finger on the page. “Here it is. Superstition mountains.” She wrote down the coordinates. “Now take me to Holden.”
“Ah … You might want to reconsider that.”
She put her hands on her hips. “We had a deal. I insist you take me to him.”
“But the angel isn’t likely your biggest fan at the moment, and she’s probably with him.”
“I am not scared of her. Take me to him.”
Baker’s phone buzzed. He glanced at it and frowned. “It’s the boss. He wants us back at the warehouse.”
“Excellent. I will follow.” Sybil started for her car.
“Think the angel will kill her?” I asked.
“Probably,” he said, chewing on the corner of his lower lip. Worried vibes rolled off him as we slowly walked out.
“Was that all the message said?”
He handed me the phone. It read, “Chol, come to the warehouse. Bring the Sekhmet.”
“Who’s Chol?” I asked.
He cleared his throat. “I am.”
I had never heard Holden call him Chol. “I don’t understand.”
He glanced over at me, his face pinched and serious. “I am a chol, Femi. I’ll explain that later. The problem with this message is that Holden doesn’t know that.”
I let the word process for a moment. “Who is it from then?”
“The angel. Which means, she knows we told him.”
I nodded. “Okay. So now what?”
We paused before leaving the building.
“Now she kills what I love for betraying her.” He looked at me. “You need to run, Femi. I don’t know how or where you can hide, but you need to do it. Stay here for now or go to the Office, though I think she’ll check there.”
I laughed. “Baker, I’m not running. Why would she kill me?”
He took my hand, twining our fingers together. “Because we are family. Because regardless of what happens between us, I will always keep you here.” He pressed my hand to his chest.
My mouth went dry. I looked into his eyes; there was so much sadness and resignation. “What will happen to you?”
“Don’t worry about me, kitten. I always manage to come out on top.”
He started to let go of my hand, but I held onto him a moment longer. A split second later I pulled him toward me and pressed my lips against his. He responded in kind, pressing his mouth to mine just as firmly. Then he ran a hand down my side and cupped my ass, pulling me harder against him. I pulled back slightly and smiled, our lips still nearly touching.
“Someday we’re going to test whatever this is between us, but not today. Today, we’re getting Olivia back and we’re going to do it together.” I squeezed his hand, my heart thudding in my chest, then forced myself to let go of him. “Besides, did you honestly think I would let you have all the fun?”
It felt like my brain was being used as a hammer against my skull. What the fuck happened? Son of a bitch. I pressed the heel of my palm hard against my right eye, and stood up. The room waved and wobbled, but I made it to my feet. Once the initial wave of nausea abated, everything started coming back. She killed those jinn. But she passed something from them into me.
The difference was there beneath my skin. Power buzzed in my ears. All of my senses were sharper, stronger, faster.
“Shift.” The angel’s voice came from the doorway of my cell in the warehouse.
I took my time looking at her. “I’m not Baker.”
&nbs
p; She lifted my gun and pointed it at my chest. “Shift.”
I stared back at her.
She fired; a bullet tore through my shoulder.
I gritted my teeth and forced my temper down. “Ow.”
She fired again in quick succession, this time at my head. But before her bullets met their mark, my body burst into mist and just as quickly reformed. Well, that was new. I hadn’t even thought of making it happen; it just did as a reflex to a threat.
She looked pleased, which pissed me off even more. I vaporized and reappeared in front of her, grabbing the gun and throwing the damn thing across the room. “Have you lost your mind?” I hissed.
She looked up at me, her jaw set to the same stubborn angle Olivia favored. “Shift,” she demanded again.
“I can’t.”
The door at the front of the warehouse slammed open. “Boss?” Baker shouted. “You here?”
The angel’s eyes flickered to the direction of his voice, with a dangerous glint. She started out the door and I transported to them.
“Get out of here,” I told them, but it was too late. She strolled into the room, extended her arm, then one finger at a time clenched her hand into a fist. Everyone but me froze in place, yet their eyes still darted around the room.
“Shift or watch them die,” she said pleasantly.
When I’d willingly opened myself to the weakness having friends caused, I’d figured the day would eventually come where I would have to choose, but not like this. Olivia could never live with herself if she took either of their lives. Olivia tried to teach me to shift when I first got my soul back, but nothing happened. Obviously, the angel thought it would now. “What do you want me to be?”
She smiled slightly, knowing she had me. “You won’t have a choice. A jinni can only shift into one thing. I need to know you can do it.”
I couldn’t imagine myself being anything other than what I was. “He can help me.” I nodded my head to Baker.
She loosened her fist ever so slightly.
“Don’t tell her anything,” Femi said with a strained voice.
Her fingers clenched tight again. “Do it on your own.”
“She’s not Olivia and she’s never going to let Olivia come back, boss. She’s just getting stronger. You know that.” I glared at Baker, whose face was a purplish red, his voice no louder than a whisper. “Kill the bitch.”
I looked back at her, the angelic knife mere inches from my hand. When she touched me at Xavier’s there hadn’t been a trace of Olivia. With every jinni she freed Olivia slipped further away.
“You agreed to help me even if you did not approve of my methods,” she said. “Prove it now.”
I stared at her. “Let them go.”
“It’s time, Holden,” she said. “It’s time for you to take your place beside me. This is the moment where you must choose. Me or them. They have abandoned our fight and have chosen their own path.”
In a blink I was behind her, hand on her forehead, knife pressed to her throat. “Let them go.”
“Holden?” Olivia’s voice wobbled. The part in my mind that she occupied burst into life.
“Let them go,” I repeated for the final time.
“We’re free,” Femi said. She took two long steps toward us, Baker right behind her. “Is it really you?”
“What’s happening? Why do you have a knife to my neck?” Olivia asked.
I didn’t trust the angel. She had used Olivia against me, time and time again. Doubt about whether or not it had ever been Olivia steadied my hands to do what I had to do. “Get Maggie and leave, both of you. I will find you.”
“But—” Femi kept approaching and I shot Baker a look.
He curled an arm around her waist and pulled her back. “He’s already balled up, baby. Let him handle it. He won’t bump her off unless he has to.”
“Bump me off? What is he talking about, Holden?” Olivia turned in my arms—and I let her. She looked up at me like the walking emotion my Olivia was. A fat tear dropped over the edge of her eyelid as her body took on the gentle soft glow that had become little more than a memory. Talk to me. What happened? she asked silently, further melting my resolve.
“Get out of here,” I bellowed at Baker and Femi who were still watching us.
Their footsteps echoed through the room as they headed for Maggie and the other vampire, then exited the building. My breath became shallow at the feel of her body pressed against mine. “It isn’t going to work. You aren’t killing any of them. You can’t hide behind her when it pleases you.”
“Holden, it’s me. Please tell me what’s happening.” Her hand caressed my cheek. “Why would I kill Baker or Femi? Talk to me.”
“You tell me. I said I would help you. Why are you threatening them?”
Her brow furrowed. “Everything is foggy. It feels like I’ve been dreaming, but I can’t quite grasp the memory. Help me remember.”
My mouth went dry. Was she playing me, or was Olivia actually back? Earlier I’d thought that if I touched the angel I could bring her forward, but this was all too convenient timing-wise. There was nothing Olivia could even say that would allow me to believe her now. The angel could know any of our secrets.
Concern, genuine concern, moved in her eyes as they landed on the bullet wound in my shoulder. She pressed her hands against it and fed light into me. “I know I’ve missed something, but please tell me you are okay.”
Seconds ticked away as I watched her. She worked her luscious lower pink lip, worriedly chewing it. I couldn’t stand it anymore. I pressed my mouth to hers. Olivia was filled with passion and life and emotion. The angel was reserved and cold and pragmatic. She immediately responded. Kissing me like I was oxygen, with her whole self. Her essence seeped into my veins. It was her.
I lifted her up and squeezed her tightly, as if it could make her stay. Her fingers ran through my hair. Reluctantly she pulled back slightly. “Please tell me what’s happening. How long have I been gone?”
“Too long.” I kissed her again and again, relief flushing through me. I didn’t want to talk. I just needed to remind myself why I was doing all of this. Everything went still. Or was the angel still pulling strings? I had no doubt this was Olivia, but the angel had only released her to remind me and put me back in line. Using love against me.
“The angel has taken over. She wants to free all the jinn and she wants me to use the Seal of Solomon to control them. She also wants to close the pathway from the underworld forever, though I have no idea how she plans on doing that. Just before you came back she asked me to choose between her and Femi and Baker.”
Olivia’s eyes widened. “How long have I been gone?”
“Six months.”
She pressed her fingers to her temples, her face crinkling. “The voice. The voice says it’s a trap.” She shook her head. “Don’t go to the mountain. It’s a trap. Does that make sense?”
I nodded. “Can you keep her pushed back?”
“I don’t think so. Even now I feel her yanking at me. She’s so much stronger now than she was before.”
I smoothed a hand over her hair. “We need you here. Stay.”
“She’s part of me. I don’t know what to fight against. I tried to blend with her, but she obviously didn’t compromise. She took over for six months and I didn’t even know it. How do I compete with that?”
I ran my fingers down her neck, unable to stop touching her. “I’m part of you too. Hold on to that part.”
“Okay. I’ll try.” She closed her eyes for a moment then whispered, “The voice says you have to let me go.”
“No.” I held onto her tighter.
A tear slipped out. “Protect them, Holden. Uriel can help. Just ask. You know what the right thing to do is here.” She touched just over my heart. “Trust that. You don’t need me to guide you anymore. Have faith we will find each other again.”
All of this was pointless without her. Since the moment we met we fought to be together. I
wasn’t walking away from her now. We defeated everything else; we could defeat this too. “I do need you.”
“This isn’t goodbye.” She gave me a watery smile. “Please trust me. I will find a way to deal with her, but I can’t protect them while I’m doing it. You can. Take care of our friends and I’ll come back. I promise.” She waited until I agreed. Olivia was strong and I had to believe she could do this because I didn’t know how else to help her.
“I’ll be waiting.”
She pressed a kiss to the underside of my jaw. “It’s time. You have to let me go. I can hold onto the angel long enough for you to get away, but don’t make the same mistake I did. I let them use you as leverage against me once and it almost tore us apart. Don’t let her do the same now.”
I kissed her again, and released my arms from around her. I had to trust her. “I love you.”
She pressed her forehead against mine. “I love you too. I always will.”
I turned and walked away, willing myself not to look back. I couldn’t watch her turn back into the angel. I pulled the door shut so hard behind me it bent, hopefully trapping her inside for a while. I tried to call Baker and Femi, but neither of them answered. More than likely they’d ditched their phones and went off grid.
“Why so grim?” Sybil’s sultry voice caressed my ear like velvet. She trailed a finger along my bicep. “Not that I’m complaining. I’ve always liked your brooding.” Her tongue darted out to lick her fingernail.
“Did you drive?” I asked.
She pointed to a sedate rental car. I nodded and got in the passenger seat. She stood outside for only a second before she slid in too. “Where are we going?”
“Just drive,” I said. When we had at least some distance between us and the angel, Olivia dimmed in my mind, but this time she didn’t disappear into a void. She was there, just weak. I wracked my mind for a place we could go where she wouldn’t find us right away. “What do you have for me?” I asked offhandedly, not forgetting that if Sybil came to find me that meant she had something.
“Did your friends not tell you?”
“My friends?”
“Yes. Femi and Baker I believe.”