Black Howl

by Christina Henry

  We have some fairly large trees on the north side, and this was a three-story catalpa. I sincerely hoped it did not crash into the street and smash my neighbors’ cars.

  I jumped to my feet and swung the sword at Azazel, who looked surprised that I was actually doing it.

  “You dare…” he said.

  “I swear to the gods, I can live the rest of my life without hearing that phrase,” I said.

  Azazel blasted me again, this time with some spell made of small gold sparkles. Wherever they touched me, they burned like acid.

  “Thanks for ruining another jacket,” I said. “I’m not made of money, you know.”

  I slashed down with the sword. He danced out of the way but the blade managed to slice through the arm of his coat, which was much nicer and more expensive than mine.

  “Now we’re even,” I said.

  Azazel narrowed his eyes at me. “You have never truly given me the respect I deserve.”

  “You have never earned it,” I replied.

  We stared at each other for a moment, taking each other’s measure.

  “I will not yield to you,” I said.

  “I gathered as much,” my father said.

  I slashed forward with the sword. I wasn’t about to engage in a magical tête-à-tête with a creature who had significantly more power than I did. Azazel blocked the blow with some kind of shield spell and began shooting various forms of fire, electricity and other things that hurt me.

  I grimly settled in for the long haul. Some of his spells hit me. Some of them I managed to knock away with the sword. At every opportunity I pressed forward, looking for an opening.

  Azazel’s remaining flunky cried out, and Azazel’s eyes slid to left, just for a moment. I had him.

  I slashed him across the face with the blade, slicing open his cheek. He staggered backward, more in shock than in pain, I believe.

  “I think that will leave a mark,” I said. “Something tells me Lucifer’s sword will defy any permanent healing.”

  My heart was cold. There would never be space there for Azazel. I’d wanted a father all of my life, and when he finally showed up he was interested only in obedience, not love.

  Azazel stood alone. His foot soldiers were down for the count. I held the sword before me, his blood still fresh upon the blade. Gabriel moved beside me, prepared to strike.

  “This is not over,” Azazel said, taking in the situation and correctly interpreting that he would have his butt kicked if he stayed any longer.

  “Yes, it is,” I replied. There was no anger in my voice, only steady determination. “I renounce you as my kin. You may be a father in name, but that is all that you will ever be. I refuse the inheritance of your court and the appellation of your name. From this day forward you will have no platform from which to demand obedience from me, and I will not give it. I renounce you and everything to do with you.”

  The air between us shimmered with heat, and then there was a heavy crack, as if the cord that bound that two of us by blood had been severed.

  Azazel appeared stunned. Blood dripped from his cheek, the slash that ran from the top of his ear to his chin.

  “You…you…cannot…” he said, spluttering.

  “I just did,” I replied.

  Gabriel was by my side, taking my hand. “Let’s go inside.”

  We walked away from Azazel, and my heart was a fist of ice.

  16

  THE DAY AFTER THE INCIDENT WITH AZAZEL I CALLED J.B. to check on the progress of the victims. The first man that they’d tested had woken up disoriented but cognizant of his surroundings. They were proceeding with cautious optimism through some more people before going full-scale. J.B. was convinced the prognosis was good, but he didn’t want to call Wade to bring in the cubs until they were sure. During the same conversation I convinced him that keeping track of Amarantha’s ghost was a good idea.

  “But I don’t want you to do it,” J.B. said over the phone.

  He sounded distracted. I imagined he had a lot on his plate. Upper management at the Agency wouldn’t give him a break on his regular duties just because he had to deal with this other massive issue of memory stealing.

  “Why not?” I said. I was a little offended that my services were being refused for a second time. “You don’t think I’m competent enough?”

  “You’re too competent—that’s the problem,” J.B. said. “Do you know how many phone calls we intercepted yesterday about an altercation on your front lawn between three angels and a crazy woman with a sword?”

  “Umm, my father was being an…” I began.

  “Sixty-two,” J.B. said. “Sixty-two phone calls. Do you know how hard it is to keep these calls from actually reaching the authorities? Do you know how much trouble I get into every time you do something like this?”

  “I don’t know why I get the blame,” I said angrily. “Azazel was the one who showed up on my lawn threatening to take Gabriel away to his death. What was I supposed to do, let him?”

  “No,” J.B. sighed. I could almost hear him pulling on his hair. “I’m just grateful no one has caught you on their phone’s video camera—yet.”

  “J.B.,” I said. “I’m sorry I’m nothing but a headache for you.”

  “You’re worth it,” J.B. said.

  He hung up before I could apologize again.

  So another day passed, with our little family behaving as normally as we knew how to be, given that we were composed of an Agent, two angel/nephilim crossbreeds and a gargoyle. Lucifer still wasn’t returning my calls, which gave credence to the notion that he wanted to see how I handled the fallout from the marriage.

  “The least he could do is make some sort of proclamation from afar,” I said to Gabriel the next evening as we walked home from the grocery store.

  The trudge through the snow was not pleasant. We lived about eight blocks from the nearest grocery. Many people had done a half-assed job of shoveling the walks in front of their buildings. The snow was tamped down into an icy, slippery crust in many places, and it made for treacherous walking even when you weren’t laden with bags of food.

  Something gray and misty darted across the road when we were about a block away from home.

  “Hey,” I said, staring. “That’s Amarantha.”

  Gabriel frowned. “Do not get any ideas, Madeline. J.B. asked you not to follow her.”

  I looked around, but I didn’t see any Agent in the vicinity. “No one else is doing it.”

  I was already pushing my wings out, disappearing into the night. The grocery bags fell to the ground.

  “Madeline,” Gabriel said, scooping up the bags.

  “I want to know what she’s up to,” I said.

  “She is near our home. Doubtless she was attempting to haunt you and found that she was unable because of the spell the Agency provided.”

  “She’s not hanging around as a ghost to haunt me or J.B. That’s a side benefit. She’s still out to get revenge against Lucifer. I’m sure of it.”

  Gabriel sighed as we chased after her as inconspicuously as we could. She glanced around a lot, obviously expecting a tail.

  “She must have shaken off whoever was following her before,” I whispered.

  “I am not going to carry this food all over creation while you do the exact opposite of what was asked of you,” Gabriel said.

  “Why do I hear J.B. in your voice?” I said. “Just stow the groceries somewhere and we’ll come back for them. Come on, she’s getting farther away. I don’t want to lose her.”

  Amarantha was drifting along the sidewalk, her head moving around constantly. I got the impression that while she was concerned about being followed, she was also unsure exactly where she was going. She seemed to be checking landmarks.

  Gabriel quickly flew to the top of a multi-unit apartment building and put our groceries on the roof. The building was only a couple of blocks from our house so the stuff would be easy to find later. I can’t afford to throw away grocerie
s, and I was glad that Gabriel was conscientious enough to remember that even when I couldn’t.

  Amarantha turned on Lincoln just past the Metra tracks and went north. She went past the underpass where Ramuell had killed Patrick. I always have to swallow the lump in my throat when I pass by that place.

  Gabriel murmured something and I felt a weight like a heavy cloak settle over me.

  “What did you do?” I asked.

  “Redoubled our spell of invisibility,” he replied. “It will better protect us from the eyes of supernatural creatures—or ghosts.”

  “Cool,” I said. “When are you going to show me how to do all this neat stuff?”

  Gabriel gave me a half smile. “We have plenty of time.”

  We followed Amarantha for more than a half hour. She seemed to be wandering aimlessly at times, stopping to stare at sculptures or the glowing signs of chain stores.

  “This is really boring,” I muttered.

  “As I understand it, this is what surveillance work is usually like,” Gabriel said.

  “Who told you that?”

  “Beezle. It seems he spends a great deal of time watching police procedurals on television. We can always contact J.B., let him know her location and return home.”

  It pained me to admit that he might be right. Amarantha seemed to have no clear purpose in mind, and my stomach had been rumbling for a while. I pulled my phone out to make the call to J.B. It was a given that he would scold me for ignoring his wishes, and I braced myself for the argument that would follow.

  We followed her into Welles Park, which is across the street from Sulzer, the large regional library branch on the north side. Amarantha floated over the baseball fields, which would be crowded with leagues for the young and old in the summer. Now they were covered in drifts of snow.

  There was a large gazebo in the center of the park, just south of the complex that housed a fitness center and pool. Several feet to the right and left of the gazebo were play lots filled with swings and slides and things from which children could jump. Between the two play lots was a wide, empty field.

  A shadowy figure stood inside the gazebo.

  Amarantha moved with purpose now, shooting across the snow directly toward the gazebo. I dropped my phone back into my pocket. This was what she had been up to all along.

  She entered the gazebo, and the figure turned to speak to her. There was very little light in the center of the park this time of year. I couldn’t see the other person clearly. I had an impression of height, but the deep shadow may have been distorting my perception.

  “We have to get closer,” I whispered.

  “This is exceedingly foolish,” Gabriel said. “I am calling J.B. so he can deal with his mother’s ghost.”

  “Call him after we find out who she’s talking to,” I hissed. “It’s not helpful if we call him with no new information.”

  I again had the impression of a heavy weight thrown over me.

  “Are you adding to the invisibility spell again?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Gabriel said grimly. “Since you insist on staying, the least we can do is ensure that we are not detected.”

  “Are we having our first argument as a married couple?” I asked innocently.

  We flew closer to the gazebo. Amarantha and the other person talked in low whispers, and I couldn’t make out what they said.

  “I never thought I would say this, but I wish Jude was here,” I said wistfully.

  The couple concluded their business, and Amarantha exited the gazebo. The person inside lingered for a few moments longer.

  “Come on, come on,” I whispered.

  “Shall I follow Amarantha?” Gabriel said.

  “No,” I replied. “Call J.B. and tell him where she is.”

  “Which is what I wanted to do in the first place,” Gabriel muttered.

  The figure in the gazebo stirred just as Gabriel concluded his call to J.B. Amarantha had resumed her slow drifting down Lincoln, and there didn’t seem to be any urgency in chasing after her now.

  The clouds shifted, and the moon, which was three-quarters full, was revealed. A shaft of light fell across the person who had met with Amarantha.

  It was Nathaniel.

  “I’ll kill him,” I snarled, and shot forward. I had no real plan in mind other than grinding Nathaniel into tiny pieces.

  Gabriel snatched me out of the air and pulled me back to him, both arms around my middle.

  Nathaniel left the gazebo with a furtive look and crossed to the northwestern side of the park, disappearing into shadow.

  “I’ll kill him,” I repeated. “That dirty sneaking scumbag!”

  “Wait,” Gabriel soothed. “Wait. You can gain nothing by killing him now.”

  “I can gain the satisfaction that comes from knowing I have squashed a poisonous bug,” I said angrily, thrashing in Gabriel’s arms. “This is what he was talking about when I overheard him on the phone at Amarantha’s castle. I figured it had to be some stupid angelic shit. I didn’t think he had the balls to kill humans and participate in rebellion right under Azazel’s nose.”

  “Think,” Gabriel said. “Just think. We already have enough difficulties with the Grigori. If you murder Zerachiel’s son in cold blood, then it will cause additional problems.”

  “My blood is not cold right now,” I growled. “Jude was right. Nathaniel helped kidnap the cubs. He helped take away their memories. Little kids. And they were nothing to him—just another means to an end. Like me.”

  “What are you really angry about?” Gabriel said.

  “I didn’t love him, if that’s what you’re asking,” I said. “I never loved him. But he used his relationship with me as a cover for his extracurriculars. I’m sure that as long as Azazel thought everything was humming along nicely on the betrothal front, he didn’t bother to question Nathaniel too closely. And his position as negotiator with the faerie court gave him leave to meet with Amarantha multiple times over.”

  “We must inform Lord Lucifer,” Gabriel said.

  “You mean inform Lucifer’s voice mailbox?” I said bitterly. “What’s to say that he’ll rush back from wherever he’s been holed up to deal with Nathaniel? We’ve got to do it ourselves, before any more people are captured.”

  Gabriel looked at me steadily. “If I release you, do you promise not to act rashly?”

  “Define ‘rashly,’” I said.

  “Rushing after Nathaniel and taking his head off with Lucifer’s sword,” Gabriel replied.

  “So if I do anything less than that, it won’t be considered rash? What if I rush after him, jump on him and beat him until his face is mangled?”

  “I do not want you touching Nathaniel. You might catch something,” Gabriel said solemnly.

  I laughed, and Gabriel relaxed, releasing me. I took his hand.

  “I’ll call Lucifer. I’ll let him know what’s going on. But then I’m going in,” I said. “I won’t have Nathaniel running around doing more damage.”

  “Fine,” Gabriel said. “We will collect our allies, and then we will confront him.”

  “You know where he’ll be,” I said grimly.

  “Azazel’s court.”

  Maybe now Azazel would see just what kind of man he’d tried to force me to marry. Even Azazel couldn’t overlook his favorite undermining Lucifer’s kingdom by consorting with vampires.

  “I’m guessing Daddy won’t be happy to see me.”

  A couple of hours later the usual suspects were assembled at my house—Jude, Wade, J.B., Samiel, Gabriel and, of course, Beezle, who seemed to have completely given up on the idea that he was supposed to be a home guardian.

  “So, what’s the plan?” Beezle said, rubbing his hands together.

  “The plan is we go to Azazel’s court, get Nathaniel and get out of there,” I said grimly. “Let’s try to limit casualties if possible.”

  “I do not know if Azazel will allow us to limit casualties,” Gabriel said. “He will likely take
offense at your presence.”

  “I’m prepared for that,” I said.

  “I told you that Nathaniel was involved,” Jude growled.

  “And I told you that I would get Wade back,” I snapped. “Everyone’s right, so can we dispense with the I-told-you- so’s?”

  Gabriel put a restraining hand on my shoulder. Wade mirrored his action with Jude. Jude was having a lot of trouble with the idea that he had to be grateful to a descendant of Lucifer.

  “When we go through the portal there may be soldiers waiting for us,” I said. Azazel would know who had generated the portal in his castle and would likely interpret my impending arrival as an act of aggression. “If we’re lucky, Azazel won’t notice our arrival.”

  “You have no such luck,” Beezle said.

  “There’s no point in standing around talking about it,” J.B. said. “Let’s go.”

  We all filed into the yard and huddled in a half circle. Beezle climbed down to the inside pocket of my jacket.

  “Go team,” he said, and disappeared under my lapel.

  “I’ll wake you when it’s over,” I said. “I’m going first.”

  There was a general rumbling of male disagreement.

  “I’m going first,” I repeated. “Azazel may interpret my presence as an attempt at contrition, and if they notice our arrival immediately, then that may save us. But if the lot of you come through before me loaded for bear, then it could get ugly really fast.”

  I could tell Gabriel did not like this at all. His innate need to throw himself before any possible threat to me was warring with his common sense.

  “Trust that I can take care of myself,” I said softly.

  “I do,” he said.

  “Then show me.”

  He nodded reluctantly, and turned away to open the portal. A moment later I stepped through.

  There was the familiar disorientation, the sensation of my brain being squeezed, my ears popping, and then I was through. I landed in the hallway outside Azazel’s throne room, as usual, and even managed to land on my feet for a change. I drew Lucifer’s sword immediately and spun in a circle, looking for the threat that I was sure would be there.