Iniquity (The Premonition Series Book 5)

by Amy A. Bartol

“What do you want me to do?”

  “Will you close the gateway to Sheol? The Fallen are retreating into it. We’d like to cut off their escape.” I look away from him. He’s right, the path to Sheol is still open and monsters are fleeing into it. Tugging the boatswain from beneath my armor, I put it to my lips, piping out the key that will lock it down. Tau moves a short distance away to get a better view. The fabric of our world knits together, closing off the way in to Sheol.

  I stare at Tau. His hands are braced behind his back as he watches the carnage from this clearing on a hill. He looks like a general surveying his troops. For him, this might be what it’s all about, what it has always been about—finding ways to draw Fallen out of Sheol—setting dangerous traps by using enticing bait to lure them. Maybe all this ever was about is the war of Heaven and Sheol.

  Or maybe it isn’t. “I found Xavier.”

  Tau stops breathing for a moment, but he doesn’t turn to look at me. “Is he dead?”

  “No. He ascended. You will see him again when you return.”

  “What happened?”

  I can’t even begin to explain it to him. I don’t think I’ll be able to ever speak of it. “He’ll tell you.”

  “And Reed?” Tau asks. His name, said aloud, is a knife wound in my heart.

  “He ascended, too.”

  “Then your contract with Heaven and Sheol is fulfilled?” When Tau sees the look of confusion on my face, he adds, “Xavier told me the deal you made.”

  “Byzantyne ceases to be…Emil has been annihilated—body and soul.”

  “You are extraordinary, Evie,” Tau says, his eyes shining with pride.

  “No. I’m just done,” I reply in a thready voice, “with all of it.”

  “There is no done. Not while we’re at war with Sheol.”

  I don’t argue with him. There’s no point. He has his views on my life and I have mine. Only time will tell who is right. Instead, I move away from him toward the line of angels who are protecting us from the fray. Tau calls after me, “You haven’t asked me about your friends.” I halt and am unable to move forward even though I need to leave. I won’t survive it if one of them was killed. I glance over my shoulder at him, my eyebrow rising.

  “They ascended.”

  My knees become weak. My first reaction is relief, but I need to clarify, “All of them?”

  “All of them.”

  “Buns and Brownie?”

  “Yes. The Reapers were taken by Heaven right after you left for Sheol, and from what I understand, they were not happy about it.”

  “Zephyr?”

  “The Power stayed for some of the battle, but he was pulled home when he was injured—” Tau holds up his hands when he sees my eyebrows take the shape of concern, “—nothing that cannot be mended. He went with Preben, who is also your friend, yes?”

  I nod. “And Russell?” I whisper his name.

  “He wanted to stay—he wanted to wait for you. He said he knew you’d be back and he was going to wait by where the door had been until you got back, but Anya was injured and when she ascended, he went with her.”

  “Did he say anything else?” I ask.

  “There wasn’t time.”

  “Of course,” I murmur absently. I look away from him. There’s an argument brewing just down the hill between divine angels and my faeries who have collected there. They’re demanding the return of their queen.

  “You have a job to do,” Tau says. “It’s why you didn’t ascend.”

  “A job?” I don’t really care what they want me to do.

  “You saved the faeries. You can save more.”

  “How can I do that?”

  “You can do that by helping Brennus.”

  “I’m not following you.”

  “He has a mission. He has created thousands of Gancanagh throughout the years. He now has a chance to save them—to give them a second chance. He’ll need your help to do it.”

  “Why do you think I can help?”

  “You could be a team. You and he could use the boatswain to find faerie souls in Sheol, rescue them, and reunite them with their Gancanagh counterparts on Earth.”

  “What if they’re evil?” I ask.

  “You would watch them, if they continue to disappoint once they return from Sheol, you would send their souls back.”

  “Revoke their green cards?”

  “You could start with Molly,” Tau says offhandedly.

  An excruciating ache squeezes my heart at the thought of my childhood friend. “You know what Brennus says about Heaven?” I ask.

  “No, what does he say?”

  “He says Heaven knows all your secrets. They know exactly the right buttons to push to get us to do what they want.”

  “I’ve been told that he possesses an uncanny sense of intuition. So you’ll do it—for Molly?”

  “I’ll do it.” My voice is a whisper on the wind.

  “Mo chroí,” Brennus calls from behind me. The sharp points of his white wings meet my gaze as I turn to find him moving toward me from down the hill. His black hair falls onto his brow, over skin that’s flawless—a normal hue, turning rosy from the crisp air. The black armor he wears is streaked with mud and blood. He’s no longer Gancanagh; his soul has merged with his body and he’s Faerie once more.

  I’ve never felt so lost. I stumble toward him. Falling into the shelter of his arms, I hide my face against his chest, trying to blot out the violence around me. His heartbeat is fast and strong, and wrapped in the sound of it, I feel safer. “Help me, please,” I manage to say. Holding onto him with weak fingers, my knees buckle beneath me.

  He picks me up. “I will, mo chroí. I’ll protect ye wi’ me life.” He turns us away from Tau and takes me down the hill to the faeries waiting for us.

  Finn is at our side. His soul has merged with his Gancanagh body. He’s no longer undead; he has become a faerie once more. His white wings spread wide when he looks upon me. “Ye did it, Genevieve. Ye saved us.” The respect in his look just about breaks me. He goes down on his knee, bowing his head. All of the faeries except Brennus who holds me follow his action, getting on their knees. “We pledge our lives ta ye, me queen, for now and forever.”

  When he rises, I can hardly see him through my tears. Brennus notices my distress. “I’ll take ye home now, if I may?” he asks.

  I nod my head, unable to speak. Brennus gives a perfunctory nod, looking beyond me to Finn. “I’ll meet ye dere, brother.” Finn steps back from us. Brennus whispers a spell. A soft glow emits from us. The battered skyline with its smoke-filled night fades from view, gradually replaced by an elegant bedroom. It’s just the two of us. I hear movement in other parts of the building—the faeries are arriving home, but we’re alone on this floor.

  He sets me on my feet. “Finn worked on yer room for ye. If ye do na like it, we can change it.”

  The room is bright and timeless with a lovely bed all in white and two soft chairs that face a fireplace. Brennus waves his hand and the pile of logs in it catches fire. There’s a row of windows that show the fading light. Snow piles in waves on the windowsills. A full-length mirror nestles in the corner of the room. Brennus goes to a beautiful armoire. Finding a set of cotton pajamas, the kind I like, he brings it to the bed and lays it on the gorgeous coverlet.

  “Do you know what they want us to do?” I ask.

  He nods. “Atwater found me, jus after I transitioned back ta Faerie. He explained da path of redemption ta me.”

  “Are you going to do it?”

  “’Tis a chance for me ta right all dat I’ve done wrong, Genevieve. I’ll take it and be grateful. Will ye join me in it?” he asks.

  “I will,” I murmur. “Do you…do you remember me?”

  “I tink I remember everyting—whah happened while I was Gancanagh and whah happened ta me soul while I was in Sheol.”

  “Is that good or bad?” I ask.

  “Both. Ye need ta rest now. Can I help ye wi’ yer armor?” I n
od, presenting my back to him. He brushes my hair from my nape, causing goose bumps to rise on my flesh. Magic glows from his hand as he runs his finger down the spine of my armor. It opens, revealing my skin beneath.

  I shy away. Facing him, I say, “Thank you. I can manage the rest.”

  He nods, my awkwardness making him smile. “As ye wish. Dere is a shower tru dere.” He indicates a door attached to the room. “’Tis a lot like Ireland.”

  “It is,” I agree. I know he means the room, but I mean it all.

  “Me room is next ta yers. We share dis wall,” he indicates the wall behind my headboard. “If ye need me, ye jus need ta call for me.”

  “Thank you,” I murmur, holding the front of my armor. He nods. Without a word, he crosses the room to the door and leaves me alone. I walk to the bathroom. Peeling the black armor from me, clods of dirt fall off of it, scattering mud on the white tiles and bathmats. I leave it in a heap on the floor. I don’t cry when the water hits me. I’m too numb to think. Standing for what must be an hour under the shower, I let it keep the thoughts of Hell and loss from me. When the water starts to get cold, I shut it off. Finding a towel, I move back to the bedroom. The pajamas on the bed are perfect. I dry off quickly, and don them.

  Sitting at the small vanity, I brush my hair. My hand stills with my brush in mid-stroke. I gaze at my reflection in the mirror. The low neckline of my cami-style top reveals my skin over my heart. Reed’s charcoal-colored wings are gone. My binding mark has been stripped from my flesh, leaving behind no indication that it ever happened—that Reed ever loved me. I set down the brush and rise from the vanity. Crawling into the enormous bed, I curl up in a ball and I grieve.

  I wake up after only a few hours of sleep. My eyes are swollen from crying. At first, I don’t know where I am. Everything is dark. Everything is unfamiliar. I dare not breathe. Then I remember where I am and why. Overwhelming fear and sorrow crashes in on me. Cold desperation makes it feel as if the earth is shaking, but I realize it’s just me trembling in my bed. I pull the blanket up to my chin.

  “Do ye need anyting?” Brennus’ voice comes from the chair by the fireplace. He has pulled his wings into him, so he looks like the Brennus I know. I didn’t think I could be more scared than I was a second ago, but I was wrong.

  I sit up in bed and reach for the lamp next to it. A soft glow illuminates the room. It shines on his skin, showing the vibrant color of his handsome face. He is extremely beautiful as a faerie, even more attractive than when he was a Gancanagh. I turn the light off again. Somehow the dark feels safer. I can see Brennus just fine with my angel vision and I know he can see me too. “Why are you here?” My voice sounds like someone else’s.

  “Ye were screamin’. I tought ye needed me, but when I came in here, I found ye asleep.”

  My dreams have turned against me. I’d had a nightmare of angels tearing the skin from Xavier—I couldn’t find Reed. He was gone—he is gone. “There’s nothing you can do.”

  “In a very real way ye died yesterday. Ye’ll never be da same. Do na try ta be.”

  He’s right. The life that I knew, the one I wanted, was slaughtered in Sheol. Emil may be dead, but he’s still inescapable. I’ll carry him around inside of me forever. The pain in my chest is unbearable and it only grows.

  “What do I do?” I ask. Anguish is the bitterest poison beneath my skin.

  “Ye go on from here. Ye learn from da past, but ye try na ta live in it. ’Tis gone and ye can change none of it.”

  My heart aches. The thread that Reed held has unraveled me. I panic. Without Reed, I’m vulnerable to the darkness. He always kept me from thinking of all the creatures that would like nothing better than to bring me to my knees. My teeth chatter. I’m chilled to the marrow of my bones.

  Brennus comes to me. He sits upon the bed, taking me into his arms. “Hush now, mo chroí. Lay yer head here.” He lets me rest my cheek on his chest. “Ye’re in shock.”

  “I’m so lost,” I whisper. I have no guard to put up. I’m defenseless.

  “Ye will find yer way. I will help ye. Ye will never be alone. I promise ye.” His deep voice speaks in some language long forgotten. I know it. I don’t know how I know it, but I do. It calms me. The backs of his fingers are golden upon my cheek. “We’ll heal our scars one day and be who we are.” He enchants me. I close my eyes. In my dreams I run and scream with peals of laughter. Brennus dances with me through fields of green, under the fairest sun.

  The first few weeks after our return from Sheol are a blur. I have days where I cannot get out of bed, even when I don’t sleep. I squander those days. I count the cracks in the ceiling, listening to whispered notes of a piano played by one of the faeries somewhere in the house. In many ways I’m very much in the company of strangers. The faeries who were killed and had no Gancanagh bodies to return to, like Declan and Eion, do not remember their time on Earth as undead creatures. They only remember Sheol and their lives as faeries before Aodh. Brennus and Finn remember it all.

  Nightmares plague me, but I don’t sleep very long, so my torture becomes less and less. I focus on creating a routine. I try to do all the things that will break me out of the enslavement of sorrow. The one thing I find that helps most is work. The job I’ve come here to do, hunting down Gancanagh and freeing their faerie souls from Sheol, becomes my new obsession, something to live for.

  Time passes quickly with so much to do. I rise every morning and dress in black leggings and a black t-shirt, which will easily allow me to slip into combat armor later if needed. I wrestle my long hair into a ponytail at the crown of my head and jog downstairs to have breakfast with the fellas. I know they’re technically no longer “fellas,” but I can’t stop myself from thinking of them that way. In the kitchen, I take a seat beside Finn who has set a place for me. I smile at him; it’s automatic. He smiles back, chewing his pancakes. He hands me a dossier of our next client. I scan the file as I pour syrup on my pancakes. “Ohh…Bruno’s bio reads like a terrorist’s resume. Do you think he can be saved?”

  Finn shrugs. “He’s a demon, but I try na ta judge. Most o’ da vilest Gancanagh I know weep at da sight of ye, but others dat I tink will be easy conversions end up makin’ us send deir souls back ta Sheol.”

  I nod, knowing exactly what he means. “Is there any news on the other?” I ask. It’s a delicate subject; one I usually don’t broach this early in the morning.

  Finn stiffens. “Dere has been no sign o’ her. I may have taught Molly too well. I should’ve been less comprehensive on how ta avoid Brennus and da fellas.”

  “We’ll find her. She has to agree to everything before we can hunt for her soul in Sheol.”

  “A contract must be made wi’ her. I know da rules.”

  “Sorry,” I murmur, “I know you do.”

  Brennus walks into the kitchen. He selects an orange from the giant bowl of them on the stone island. Tossing it in the air, he catches it. Walking behind my chair, his hand rests on my shoulder. He squeezes it. I tip my face up at him and smile. “Good morning,” I say.

  He leans down and kisses my cheek. “Good morning,” he replies.

  He looks over at the file in front of me. “Bruno Sarcasey?” He frowns. “Is he yer client today, mo chroí?”

  “He is up to bat.” I say, looking at my plate. I butter my toast.

  “I should take dis one.” Brennus picks up Bruno’s dossier.

  “Drop it, faerie. He’s moin.” I smirk, using his accent to humor him and ease his anxiety. He worries too much about me. If anyone should be worried, it should be me. I listen to him in the next room every night while he tries to sleep. He has terrible nightmares, too. Whenever I go to him, he’s drenched in sweat and pawing at the air, fighting unseen demons. He tries to hide it during the day, but he’s tortured, just like the rest of us. “Anyway, don’t you have that thing with Atwater?”

  “Whah ting?”

  “That thing…the meeting?”

  “Oh, dat.” He gives an
irritated shrug. “I can put dat off. He hasn’t even said why he wants ta see me.”

  “Then you should seriously take the meeting. If he didn’t say, it’s bad.”

  “’Tis always bad. He’s an aingeal,” he replies.

  “I resemble that comment.” I feign outrage.

  He waves his hand dismissively. “Ye’re na one of dem. Ye’re one o’ us. Da queen.”

  I smile and rise from my chair, taking my empty plate. I slip the file from his grasp. “You’re forgiven. Eat your orange. I’m going to go give Bruno a look see.” I walk toward the sink.

  “Ye’re takin’ da fellas wi’ ye, are ye na?”

  “I am not. I’m just going to get eyes on him. I won’t approach him yet.”

  “Dat was na a request,” Brennus says scornfully. “Ye do na go anywhere wi’out protection.”

  I rinse my plate, before sliding it in the dishwasher. “Keegan,” I say, speaking to the redheaded faerie near Brennus. “What are you doing in an hour?”

  “I’m going wi’ ye ta get eyes on Bruno.”

  “Happy?” I ask Brennus.

  “Na even close.”

  I sigh. “Declan, Lachlan, and Faolan, can you come with me in an hour?”

  “Aye,” they all say in unison, while continuing to eat.

  I give Brennus a there-you-go gesture. “Happy now?”

  “Trilled,” he says with a sarcastic smile.

  Bruno, it turns out, is a wan-loving playboy with poor business practices and a really scary sense of style. From our position in the abandoned building across the street from his warehouse, I have an unfettered view of our target and his over-sized lapels.

  “He’s an arms dealer,” I murmur.

  “He is,” Declan growls. “He recently sold me a chillax charm dat jus about blew me face off. I say we end him on principle.”

  “Why were you buying a chillax charm from him?” I ask.

  “Never ye mind,” Declan replies. “Have ye seen enough yet? I have some personal tings I want ta take care of today.”

  “What things?”

  “Personal. Tings,” Declan replies. “I agreed ta stay longer wi’ ye while da other fellas followed Bruno’s connection ta da freight yards. Ye could say tanks.”