by Liz Schulte
“Where’s Holden?” Femi asked.
“He came back briefly. He’s going to stay there and keep the area clear for us,” I said. “You think you can call in a favor for us?”
“What sort of favor?” she asked.
“We have a transportation issue. We need to get to Arizona and there’s no time to drive or wait for a flight.”
Her eyes flickered to Thomas. “Let me think about it.”
“Okay.” I moved to the center of the room. “Quintus, what did you find out? Will the plan even work?”
“I believe it will. The text isn’t exact because no one has attempted this, but there is nothing to indicate that it won’t..”
“Great, we have a plan.” I rubbed my chin. “We need to split into two groups: one on the topside and one below. To open the tunnel we need to kill an angel. There’s no other way, correct, Sybil?”
She nodded.
“How do we know she’s not lying? She already tried and failed to kill Olivia once,” Femi said.
“Even if she is lying—and for what it’s worth I don’t believe she is—we know that was how the demons planned on opening it, so regardless it will work.”
“I cannot help you if your plan is to murder an innocent angel,” Quintus said. “No matter what Olivia does, Holden will never sanction killing her.”
“This is true,” I said. “He would never let us kill Olivia, but the angel? Well, she’s fair game. I spoke with one of our friends in white and he has arranged it so this knife can kill the angel and leave the guardian. But it cannot be used on anyone else.”
“I’ll take it,” Sybil said. “I have no problem killing an angel.”
“No,” Femi said. “If anyone is going to do it, it will be me.” She glared at her.
Sybil shrugged. “Have it your way.”
“Great. So Femi, Sybil, Quintus, and Maggie will stay topside to take care of the angel.”
“How do we know she’ll even be there?” Quintus asked.
“Holden said we had three hours until she arrives, which gives us about two hours now. We all need to be there and in place before she shows up. Quintus, you and Maggie take care of Holden. He doesn’t know my plan in regard to Olivia. He wouldn’t have gone for it. You have to hold him back long enough for Femi and Sybil to get it done.”
Quintus made a face. It wouldn’t be easy, but we had no other choice.
“Thomas, can I count on you to come to the Underworld with me?”
“I’ll go, but you can’t come with me,” he said. “The only way in is to be dead, and you’re very much alive, man.”
I nodded. “Technically, that’s true. But I think Sybil can help us with that.”
Sybil looked up with a lazy smile. “Perhaps I could, temporarily, provided we actually find the tunnel.”
“How?” Maggie asked.
“Well, gypsies have their ways.” She made a sign in the air and her bracelets jingled. Maggie jumped and she laughed. “If you can find the tunnel I can open it for a short period of time, but you cannot step foot on the other side without dying. You must remain in the tunnel.”
“That’s fine. We just need to get to the entrance.”
“What about the ancient one?” Thomas asked. “You have one of those lying around?”
“Actually we do,” I said.
Sybil, who recognized me for what I was, understood immediately. She stood up. “Holden has made good choices in his friends.” She kissed my cheek then sat down again. The other three stared at me blankly.
“Who?” Femi said.
“Me,” I said softly. I didn’t care what the other two thought. I watched reactions stream over her face: disbelief, sadness, and, finally, anger.
“You aren’t an ancient one. You’re a shifter. You are Baker,” she said, her heels silent against the stone as she stalked toward me.
“About that—”
She punched me with a hard right hook and stormed out of the room.
I stumbled back slightly, rubbing my face. Thomas moved to go after her, but I stopped him. “It’s best if you stay here.”
I found her pacing the hallway a couple cell blocks away.
“You lied to me,” she said when I was close. “You of all people. How could you?”
“I didn’t lie. I simply withheld. I can shift. I am essentially a shifter.”
“It’s the same thing.” She slapped me hard enough to ring my bell. She moved to do it again, but I caught her wrist. Her chest heaved and her pulse thundered beneath my grip. “I trusted you.”
“Kitten—”
“Don’t you dare call me that!” Her lovely cat eyes brimmed. She shook her head, but didn’t struggle to get away. “You can’t leave,” her voice cracking. “What am I supposed to do without you?”
I would’ve given anything to have an answer to that, to even have been able to assure her that I would come back, but I couldn’t make any promises, because I didn’t know. I had died and risen hundreds of times, but I had never been afraid before. I always knew I’d return. This time, I was scared. I was scared for the people I was leaving behind and for what would happen to them when I wasn’t there. I put one hand on her shoulder. “No good can come without sacrifice. I can make a difference in people’s lives. I can bring Olivia back.”
She closed her eyes, a single tear falling down her lovely bronze cheek. She pressed her hands flat against my chest. “I will miss you every day.”
“I promise I’ll try to come back and if I do, I’ll find you as soon as I can.”
“What does that mean? How can you come back?”
“I’m a chol—like a phoenix. I can be reborn from my ashes.”
Her shoulders relaxed and new tears fell. “So you aren’t dying. Not really.”
My heart squeezed. I wanted to pull her toward me and tell her it would be okay, but she needed to understand. “I have to be in this world to come back, but even if I were here, I can’t promise that. Taking my life blood…well, let’s just say odds aren’t with me this time.” I had to clear my throat before I could continue. “Knowing you has been—”
“Shhh,” she said, pressing a finger to my lips. “Don’t say it. Don’t tell me goodbye. Not now.”
I stopped, kissed the end of her finger, and took her hand. “I think I could have loved you, Femi, in another life.”
The air thickened between us. The girl who never stopped asking questions didn’t utter a word. She just stared at me, her heart in her eyes, piercing mine. She burned softly, so softly. The gentle bow of her lips and the soft rise and fall of her chest stole my breath. I wanted to kiss her. Really kiss her, not just messing around, but it wouldn’t be fair. I had already made selfish choices with Maggie, I couldn’t do it to Femi, too.
“We should go back,” I said, blinking to break the trance.
Taking a step back, her fingers curled around my shirt and pulled me forward again. A moment later, her smooth warm mouth was against mine. This wasn’t hesitant or new. Her fingers threaded in my hair and I backed her against the wall, our tongues tasting and exploring with eager enthusiasm. I pulled back for air and a gentle vibrating noise sounded in her throat.
I smiled. “Did you just purr?”
Her eyes contracted and her tongue darted out over her lips. “Want to see if you can make me do it again?”
Leaning in, I nipped at her lower lip. “We really should get back up there.” But then I kissed her softer, savoring it, because all too soon this would end. She must have sensed the change in my thoughts because she pulled back too. “I’m sorry.”
She shook her head. “It’s okay. We do need to go.” She retrieved her cell phone, took a deep breath and dialed. “Sy, I need a favor.”
I left, giving her privacy.
Back in the main room, they were going over the logistics of the plan, something Femi and I probably should’ve been there for. Thomas glanced behind me. “Did you not find her?”
“I found her. Sh
e’s on the phone now, arranging our transportation.”
He nodded, though his bright blue eyes inspected me. “You think we can really do this?”
“I do. You think you can kill me?”
His eyes glinted. “Shouldn’t be a problem.”
That wasn’t surprising. “Why are you here? This in no way benefits you.”
“Femi wants me here or she would’ve turned me in.”
“Well, she’s calling Sy now to help with transportation. You’re a vampire. I imagine if you can get there on your own, you should. Otherwise, I suspect the half-elf will do what he thinks is right, regardless of any promises he makes. From what I hear he’s not a fan.”
A smile flashed. “But the real point is you have heard, meaning she talks about me.”
“He’s right,” Femi said from the doorway. “Sy will turn you in if he finds you here. You better go. We’ll meet you there.”
Thomas left a couple minutes before Sy arrived. “Nice place,” he said as he entered. “I don’t want to know anything about why you’re going to the Superstition Mountains. The less I know the better.”
I nodded. Good man.
Quintus went on his own. Sy instructed us to stand in a circle, holding hands. He took Femi’s hand on one side and Maggie’s on the other—after giving her a shocked second glance. Half-vampire, it was weird. I positioned myself between Maggie and Sybil to complete the circle. A moment later there was a tug that started at my core and spread through my body. By the time it was over, we were there. Storm clouds rolled over the mountain, and lightning connected with the ground with bursts of thunder.
“Call me when this is done,” Sy told Femi, a worried look in his eyes.
I glanced at my watch. We still had an hour. The lightning was the only light, but in the short flashes I still couldn’t see anything.
“Follow me,” Sybil said.
I fell in line with her and the others followed.
“Where is Holden?” she asked.
“He’ll be here,” I said.
“Good. I expect my payment.”
“The boss isn’t a piker. He’ll give you whatever he promised.”
“I know,” she said coming to a stop.
“Why’d ya stop?”
“Can’t you feel it? The magnetic pull. We’re here.”
I didn’t feel a damn thing, but I believed she could. Succubi, like jinn, were connected to Hell. It was different for them. “Quintus, come stand by me.”
He was bright enough that I could see a small opening deep in the rocks in front of us, no more than three feet by two feet. It would be tight. “You have what you need?” I asked Sybil over the wind and rain.
She spit in each hand and rubbed them together, then spread her arms wide and chanted in a deep voice. Her head lulled and eyes rolled back in her skull until only the whites showed.
“Someone’s approaching,” Femi said.
How could she hear anything over the wind? “Protect Sybil,” I said.
We spread out around her and waited for the attack. It wasn’t like we were hard to find. Quintus stood out like a spotlight. Whatever it was, it was fast. Femi’s arm shot out, clotheslining whatever it was. I turned back to Sybil. She was chanting faster and louder. Lightning struck her in the chest, lifting her off of the ground, and shooting from her fingers.
“Shit,” Femi said behind me.
“Is she okay?” Maggie asked.
What felt like minutes later, though it was probably seconds, Sybil dropped to the ground, and red light poured from the opening in the rocks.
She pushed herself up with thin arms. “One hour and it goes back to being one direction. She collapsed back to the ground, steam rising off of her.
“You ready for this, ancient one?” Thomas said in a mocking tone.
I ignored him and took Femi’s hands. We had to time this perfectly. “I don’t think our phones will work.” I handed her a cheap digital watch and set it to countdown thirty minutes, then set mine to do the same. “We won’t be able to communicate. When this watch hits zero you have to do it.”
“What if the angel is late?”
“Then the tunnel closes forever.”
She swallowed. “Maybe it’s not the best plan.”
“She’ll be here.”
Thomas and I went toward the tunnel. I nodded to Femi and we pressed start at the same time.
“Thomas, bring him back,” she yelled to him.
“Wait!” Maggie said. “I’ll do it. Thomas can stay here.” She ran to us. “I’m going.”
“Maggie, you don’t have to.”
She nodded. “Yes, I do. You should be with someone who loves you Baker, not him. Please let me.”
Thomas scowled at us, but didn’t say anything.
Quintus did the sign of the cross and Sybil watched. I shifted to someone smaller and slid through the hole, Maggie following close behind. After about twenty feet the tunnel opened up enough that we could walk side by side. The walls were dark and jagged as we headed down into the unknown. The floor was uneven, threatening to catch your foot and impale you on the walls.
Neither of us spoke which was for the best, but she held my hand. I had nothing to say. Minutes ticked away and I began to get nervous that we wouldn’t make it in time. I picked up the pace and she stayed with me every step of the way.
Suddenly Maggie caught the hem of my shirt and yanked me back. “She said you can’t leave the tunnel.”
I hadn’t been paying attention. We were there. The tunnel opened to what looked like another mountain, only this one was wooded and gray. I glanced at the watch.
Five minutes.
I handed Maggie a knife. My hands were shaking. I never shook. I swallowed a couple times. “Go for my major arteries. The more blood the better.” I pointed at where to cut.
She nodded and wiped away some tears. “I can’t believe this is happening,” she whispered.
I couldn’t comfort her. I just didn’t have it in me. Fear spread like ice through me, and it took all I had to stay in place and let this happen. I handed her my watch. “When it hits zero. Do it fast, Maggie.”
All we had left to do was wait. I closed my eyes and thought back on this life, letting all the friends and family I had fill my heart.
That was the last time I would ever see Baker—the thought kept running through my head. It just didn’t seem real. He couldn’t be gone.
“Can you dim the light?” I snapped at Quintus.
He shook his head and clamped a comforting hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry, Femi.”
“Don’t start that. Just shut up.” I tried to shake it off, but couldn’t. “We have one task and twenty minutes, people.” I clapped my hands together. “Let’s go.”
“Sybil, you stand here. The angel hates you, no offense. She’ll go for you first. I will come up from behind. Quintus and Maggie, you guys have to figure out a way to hide. Holden is fast and strong, and he has that new flame thing going on, plus he can transport. I don’t know how long you can stop him, but it has to be long enough that we can ambush her.”
“That sounds like a succinct plan,” the angel’s voice came from the right. I turned to see her, Holden, and a whole lot of jinn—an army to be accurate.
The angel took in the scene slowly, in no hurry. “Step aside, all of you, and await your judgment.”
“Come and make me,” I said.
Quintus moved to my right. Sybil slowly came to my left, eyes on Holden. Thomas was gone.
“Very well.” She took a step forward, but Holden cut her off.
“Don’t let them distract you. Let’s do what we came here to do. They are caught. Their plan has failed.”
They stared each other down. “Very well. Bring her forward,” she called out.
Holden froze. “Who?”
The angel looked back. “The ancient one of course.”
The jinn parted as one came forward carrying something. My stomach dropped when I r
ealized who it was: Phoenix with the girl.
Holden blinked, flames erupting in his eyes. It was one hell of a tell he had. “She’s just a child. A void. She isn’t an ancient one.”
“But she is. Within her lies the Seal of Solomon. She is a void to hide the power of the Seal. She is born, lives, and dies only to be reborn again. She has hidden the Seal for millennia because she can never wield its power. I have found every void alive today, looking for this one child. Taking her life is the key to our survival. Take it from within, close the tunnel and break the cycle. The world will flourish. We will win and you and Olivia can live peacefully and happily together. I am offering you everything you want.”
The child struggled out of Phoenix’s grasp and flung herself against Holden. He picked her up like it was the most natural thing in the world.
“I never intended for you to meet her. She was secure in the house, and I would’ve left her there until it was her time. I understand you may have gotten attached, but it changes nothing. You will fulfill your end of the bargain.”
“How is Holden supposed to get back to the top when he completes your mission?” I asked.
Static electricity made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I jumped backwards and lightning hit the ground exactly where I’d been standing.
“You will be quiet and await your judgment,” she said. “Sacrifice the child and as I promised I will free Olivia.”
“Holden, three minutes,” I called out to him, praying that Baker’s death wouldn’t be for nothing.
Holden turned and walked toward the cave, the child in his arms. Hope was lost. All of this had been for nothing. “Don’t do this,” I said. “Please.”
He ignored me, moving forward. When he made it to our line no one budged. We stood unified against them. Tears filled my eyes. One minute.
Holden glanced at me and winked. He shoved the kid at Quintus, then transported back to the angel in a flash, wrapping an arm around her neck and squeezing her tight to him as he transported again. He was faster to reform than she was.
Thirty seconds.
She struggled against him as he dragged her the rest of the way to the cave. I gripped the knife in my hand with white knuckles as the seconds counted down.