by Liz Schulte
“I may not be able to hurt you,” he said in her ear. “But she can.”
“Holden?” Olivia’s voice said and he faltered.
“Don’t let her go, Holden. She’s messing with you.”
He looked at me, flames still dancing in his eyes. “Is Baker down there?”
I nodded.
Five seconds.
My heart pounded against my chest as if trying to escape. I held my breath.
“Do it,” he said.
The watch hit zero and I plunged the knife into the angel’s heart all the way to the hilt. A blue bolt of lightning shot out of her and into the cave’s opening. A sonic boom cracked through the night. The adrenaline that had been keeping me going vanished. My whole body shook, and I could barely hold back sobs as we waited. Waited for Olivia to open her eyes and waited for Maggie to come back with Baker.
Holden scooped Olivia’s body into his arms and held her, tears mixing with the rain. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he whispered, pressing kiss after kiss against her forehead and face.
He didn’t know.
“She’ll come back,” I told him. “Olivia is supposed to come back.”
Holden didn’t even look at me.
I leaned forward and pulled the knife from her chest and handed it to him. “Uriel gave us the weapon. It was designed to kill the angel and leave the guardian.”
Holden blinked several times and looked at me then back down to her. Moments later her chest moved. She was breathing. I didn’t wait to see her open her eyes. I ran to the cave to wait. If Maggie brought Baker back, then he had a chance. He just had to come back. What seemed like an eternity later, nothing happened. No sign of either of them.
Holden was suddenly beside me. “Who went with him?”
“Maggie,” I whispered. “If he turns to ash down there, he can never come back.”
Before I could turn my head, Holden had slipped into the opening and was gone.
“You only have ten minutes,” Sybil shouted. “After that, the tunnel reverts to one way only.”
Quintus, still holding the little girl in one arm, took my hand, and a moment later Olivia, the real Olivia, took my other one. She looked tired and weak and was shaking, but damn it if Baker didn’t do exactly what he said he would. He’d brought her back. She squeezed my hand.
Minutes ticked away like hours. What if none of them returned?
Once I was in the cave it was clear no matter how fast I ran I wasn’t going to make it. Even while I was running my body turned to mist and traveled faster than I ever could have. I stopped at the fire. Blood, lots of blood, was all over the ground, attracting the same demons I killed guarding the entrance earlier. The flames kept them at a distance, but their numbers grew.
Maggie was pressed against the wall, tears streaking her face, arms clenched to her chest. “I can’t lift him. The fire.”
I nodded. “I’ll get him. Run as fast as you can back to the front. We don’t have time.”
She took off in a blur toward the opening.
“Holden,” a dark voice said, making me look up. I was met with a face. A face I would never forget, for it had been scorched into my mind almost my entire life. My brother stood at the entrance to the cave, arms stretched and hands braced on each side of the wall, but he didn’t cross the threshold.
I ignored him. It was trick. It had to be a trick. I picked Baker up, the flames soaking into my skin, as he continued to burn, never taking my eyes off of the mirage in front of me.
“See you soon,” he said. Laughter, maniacal laughter echoed in my ears.
I backed out until he was out of sight, then moved forward as quickly as possible. I had to get Baker back before he began to turn to ash, but I didn’t know if I could transport with him. He was dead, putting himself back together would be impossible, so I carried him. I carried him through the tunnel as fast as I could. Demons followed us at what they considered a safe distance, but I didn’t care. Baker burned hotter and faster the closer we got to the entrance. Ashes began to flake away from him. When we got to the opening I pushed him through first, bits of ash falling behind him as he went.
Maggie was outside gasping for air. She crumpled to her knees, tears flowing. “I did it as fast as I could.”
Quintus went to her, still holding the child, then led them both away. I laid Baker’s remains on the ground, Olivia and Femi approached solemnly. I caught Phoenix’s eye and waved him over.
“I couldn’t help it. The angel commanded me and I was compelled to follow. I couldn’t fight her,” he said.
“I know.”
“You aren’t going to kill me?”
“Not today. Take a few of the jinn and guard that entrance. Kill anything that comes out of it for the next two days. Do you understand?”
He nodded and went back to the jinn.
I stood in silence with Olivia and Femi as Baker burned to nothing. When all that was left was a smoldering pile of ash, we collectively held our breath waiting for him to rise up, but nothing happened. All the ashes did was smoke.
One of the demons who’d followed us escaped past the jinn and barreled toward us. Olivia’s arm shot out and caught it by the neck; a moment later it too was ash.
It hadn’t worked.
Femi and I stepped back at the same time, readying ourselves to fight. Olivia looked up, her large eyes still wet with tears. “It’s me,” she said. “I swear it’s me.”
“But—” Femi pointed to the demon.
She splayed her hands. “Her presence is definitely gone, but maybe some of her power remains or maybe I could always do this. I don’t know.”
Femi sniffed the air, but all I could smell was burnt hair and flesh. I looked through my mind and Olivia was as bright as ever. I went back to her side. Her fingers twined with mine, and as she rested her head on my shoulder we were encased in her soft, familiar glow. It was Olivia. I let go of her hand and stepped toward the pile that used to be Baker.
“We can’t just leave him here,” she said.
A ball of light formed in her hand and a second later an amber vase with a black cap appeared in her hand. She knelt down, tears rolling down her cheeks, and began to collect his ashes. I knelt beside her and helped. Femi stood over us, crying openly and shaking her head.
“He was supposed to come back,” she said, her voice was cracked and broken. “He was supposed to come back.”
Olivia stood, carefully brushed her hands off into the jar, then hugged Femi tight. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Femi hugged her back, sobs shaking them both.
I looked back to the ground and finished collecting the ashes of the only friend I had ever had.
I dispatched the jinn with instructions to do nothing until we could all meet in one week in Chicago, then I went back to where I had left the girls. They were gone. I found them sitting next to each other in front of a rock, watching the beginning of the sunrise over the mountains and quietly talking.
“I’m ready for my end of our arrangement to be fulfilled. I think I went above and beyond for you.”
I looked back. Sybil. With perfect timing as usual. I didn’t want to kill her. I didn’t want to kill anyone at this moment. For a few hours, at least, all I wanted was peace. “Not today, Sybil.”
“When?” she demanded.
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
She stomped away, muttering to herself about getting a ride with the elf. A little body crashed into my leg and I picked the kid up. She smiled grandly at me and I smiled back before she nestled her head against my shoulder.
Quintus came up beside me. “I was wrong,” he said. “Perhaps the child does belong with you. I didn’t know what she was.”
I shook my head. “You weren’t wrong. It’s dangerous around me.”
He nodded. “You protect your own, Holden. You chose her and Baker and us, even over Olivia.”
That wasn’t entirely true. I chose them over the angel. It wasn’t the same thing.
And I’d gotten Olivia back. She was back. But why wasn’t I happier? The only casualty was a person who had been loyal to me every day since we met, though he had no reason to be. I always figured he had angle, but in end that angle appeared to be nothing more than friendship. My mind could barely grasp it or what he had done for us.
“You didn’t know you would get her back,” Quintus said gently. “You were willing to give up your only chance to save us.”
“Don’t fool yourself into thinking I’m a good person, Quintus.” I stared down at my hands still stained with Baker’s blood.
Quintus smiled. “Don’t worry. You’re still an abomination. But today you are an abomination who did a good thing.”
“It doesn’t feel like it.” I met his too caring eyes. “Baker was a good person. Olivia is a good person and so is Femi.” I looked over at him. “Even you are from time to time. But I’m not. I know that.”
“And what does that say about you that you surround yourself with good people?”
I couldn’t answer because I didn’t know who I was any longer. I was Olivia’s soul mate, the leader of the free jinn, the one who made the hard decisions, the one who let people go, the abomination, and the savior. I was evil who strove to be good, but blood still stained my hands and it always would.
The ground crunched behind us as someone slowly approached. I turned to watch a demon in a three-piece suit make his way toward us, despite the quickly approaching daylight.
“You served Hell well today, jinni,” he said. “This is your last chance to come back to us.”
I stared at him for a moment, then handed Quintus the girl and went toward him. “You have lost control of the jinn and failed to open the tunnel.”
He laughed. “This pathway was never ours. We do not need tunnels to come here. We simply wanted the angel dead and you complied. And as I see the Seal remains intact, your weakness is apparent. Join us. We will allow the guardian to live and reunite you with your brother. That is the final offer.”
An instant later I rammed the angel’s knife up beneath the demon’s chin and watched him turn to dust.
This wasn’t over. Not yet.
I was a lot of things already, but there was still one thing left to become: my enemies’ worse nightmare.
The end
I think it is important I acknowledge you the reader. Thank you for going onto these journeys into my imagination with me. I love hearing from you and talking to you through the magic of the internet. I am thankful and feel blessed daily to have you in my life.
MANY AUTHORS CLAIM to have known their calling from a young age. Liz Schulte, however, didn’t always want to be an author. In fact, she had no clue. Liz wanted to be a veterinarian, then she wanted to be a lawyer, then she wanted to be a criminal profiler. In a valiant effort to keep from becoming Walter Mitty, Liz put pen to paper and began writing her first novel. It was at that moment she realized this is what she was meant to do. As a scribe she could be all of those things and so much more.
When Liz isn’t writing or on social networks she is inflicting movie quotes and trivia on people, reading, traveling, and hanging out with friends and family. Liz is a Midwest girl through and through, though she would be perfectly happy never having to shovel her driveway again. She has a love for all things spooky, supernatural, and snarky. Her favorite authors range from Edgar Allen Poe to Joseph Heller to Jane Austen to Jim Butcher and everything in between.
Liz would love to hear from you
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Check out more books by Liz:
URBAN FANTASY/PARANORMAL ROMANCE
The Guardian Trilogy: Secrets
Choices
Consequences
Easy Bake Coven
Hungry, Hungry Hoodoo
Pickup Styx
Tiddly Jinx
MYSTERY
Dark Corners
Dark Passing
The Ninth Floor
ANTHOLOGIES
Naughty or Nice Christmas Anthology (Ella Reynolds Christmas short story)
Christmas Yet to Come (Baker Christmas short story)
SHORT STORIES
Be Light (A Guardian Trilogy Short Story)
Sweet Little Lies (A Sekhmet Short Story)
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author