Consequences

by Liz Schulte

  I grabbed his arm and channeled light into him until he fell to the ground. “How’s that for yummy?” I stared down at him until my mind caught up with what my body had done. I pulled back my hand and clenched it into a fist so it couldn’t touch him again. “Holden, it’s for you.” I called, my voice steady.

  Holden came out of the bedroom with a frown that was replaced with a scowl. In a few long strides Holden was at the jinn, dragging him off the ground, and slamming him into the door jam. “What did you do to make her retaliate, Phoenix?”

  “Nothing. The bitch is crazy.”

  I cringed at his words. Not because they mattered to me in any way, but because I knew what Holden would do to him. I felt the flush of rage and saw the images that raced through his mind.

  “What’s going on?” Baker’s voice penetrated the tension, and Holden squeezed the jinni’s throat until he couldn’t breathe.

  “The guy called me a bitch after I wouldn’t let him have ‘a taste.’”

  Holden’s eyes narrowed to slits. There was a loud crack and a thump, as Holden dropped the jinni to the floor. I looked at the body and didn’t feel much. Was Baker right? Was this world already rubbing off on me? I wasn’t as disturbed as I should’ve been at this display.

  “He had to be taught a lesson. He’ll heal.” Holden said, misreading my expression. He looked me over and patted me down like I might be hiding an injury.

  Baker dragged the body inside and closed the door behind him, giving the body a kick as he walked past it. “Serves you right, you no good bum.” He glared at the temporary corpse then smiled at us. “What’s the plan today?”

  “I’ve been thinking. I don’t know what that room was, but that doesn’t mean another guardian who’s been around longer won’t know.”

  “What makes you think the room’s from a guardian? It could be a demon creation,” Holden said.

  “If demons had something like that, don’t you think they woulda used it before now?” Baker countered.

  “It didn’t feel evil to me. It felt corrupt. I don’t know how that makes sense, but that’s what I felt. Another guardian might have some answers—and I could find out more about my trial.”

  “You want to see Quintus?” Holden folded his arms across his broad chest with a frown.

  “No. I’m sure he’s still angry. I was thinking of a young guardian I met a while ago named Marshall. He’s nice.”

  “I don’t like it.”

  “We need answers and they have them. How else are we going to figure this out?”

  “I’d rather you see Quintus than the one I don’t know.”

  Holden’s eyes flickered from me to the jinni’s body on the floor then to the ceiling before settling back to me, like he was trying to decide if he’d allow me to do this. I had the urge to laugh.

  You know I’m not asking permission, right? I’m telling you what I’m going to do. I raised my eyebrows and pursed my lips.

  I figured as much. I’m deciding if I’d rather deal further with Phoenix or tackle my unfinished business with Quintus. Holden read the objection on my mind and smirked. I’m not asking permission either.

  Holden was still pissed Quintus kissed me in Memphis, but the stronger, more demanding anger in him was toward the jinni who dared to defy his order and touched me.

  Baker looked between us with furrowed brows. “Why does it always feel like I’m missing something with the two of you?”

  “Take Olivia wherever she wants to go. If you see a guardian named Quintus—” Holden’s eyes locked on mine. “Tell him thanks for keeping her safe the past year, but I’ll take it from here.”

  I tilted my chin and refused to be charmed by him not hurting someone. Most people managed to do that every single day without much thought—Holden needed to as well. I rose on my tiptoes and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. His stony exterior melted beneath me and a stream of hot thoughts drizzled through my mind. I had him where I wanted him. “Make me proud,” I said. His eyes registered my words first with amusement then understanding as he looked from me to the healing body on the floor.

  “But—” he started, but I was already headed for the door with a triumphant smile. I’d won this battle and he knew it.

  “Baker, hold up a sec,” he said as I walked out.

  Baker caught up with me in the hallway as I was texting Marshall and shook his head at my grin. “What did I miss? Why does Holden look like he promised to work in a soup kitchen every day for the rest of his life and you look like you won the lottery?”

  “Because he’s going to make me proud. He needed a reminder.”

  “What does that mean?”

  I glanced back, still feeling Holden’s bewilderment course through me. “Mercy.”

  Baker walked in silence, his hands jammed in his pockets as he thought about it. “Can’t say I approve,” he finally said.

  “I’m not interested in your approval. I’m interested in whether he can do it.”

  I took Baker to The Office. I understood it was a bounty hunter hang out, and every other creature of the Abyss avoided it, but that’s what made it perfect. No one there would care if I was talking to him, so he couldn’t get in trouble for consorting with the enemy.

  Sy eyed me as I walked in with Baker, who looked very much like a bodyguard. A flicker of amusement and mistrust warred on his almost too perfect face. He leaned over the counter, a devastating smile on his full lips. Why didn’t Femi want to go out with him?

  “In any other bar you’d be a welcome sight. In my bar you look like trouble.”

  “I’m meeting someone.”

  “Olivia.” There was a touch of impatience in his voice.

  “Please? I need your help.”

  He sighed and muttered something about being a sucker for a pretty girl. “I know. I’m working on the code for Femi. I think I almost have it. Will this meeting end in violence?” He gave Baker a pointed look.

  I laughed. “Baker? He’s harmless.”

  Baker gave Sy a look that was anything but harmless, and I elbowed him in the ribs. “Ow,” he objected, the hardness slipping from his face. “How am I supposed to keep you safe when you do things like that?”

  “See?” I said cheerfully. “And the guardian I’m meeting is sweet and harmless. You won’t even know we’re here. I’ll owe you one.”

  He nodded toward a back table. “But you owe me that date.”

  I nodded.

  “Please tell me you did not make a date with him?” Baker whispered as we sat down. “Holden—”

  “Not me! He likes Femi, and she refuses to go out with him. I told him the four of us should have a double date. Not that Holden will like that much more.”

  “I don’t like it that we’re meeting a different guardian than the one the boss wanted you to see.” Baker had been trying to talk me out of seeing Marshall since we left the house.

  “What did Holden tell you?”

  “Nothing.”

  I narrowed my eyes, but before I could question further Marshall walked through the door with gangly, loping steps. He wore strange yellow tint goggles on his head, baggy shorts and a t-shirt, and looked nineteen. Doubt that he could help me at all crept in. I caught his eye and he headed over without giving Baker a second glance.

  “Olivia. How the heck are ya?” He gave a genuine grin. “You know how to set an entire race on its ear. No one has stopped talking about you.”

  “What are they saying?”

  “Eh. Some support you, some say you have it coming.” He looked at Baker. “Is this the jinni?”

  “No.” I shook my head for emphasis. “He’s here to watch my back.” I leaned in closer so I could speak softly. “I have a question for you.”

  “Shoot.” Marshall leaned in too, a conspiring smile dancing on his lips.

  “Have you ever heard of a room with bronze doors that have four engraved panels and the space inside is like a black hole that draws energy?”

  He pulled
the ridiculous goggles from him head and drummed his fingers on the table. “Could the doors have been copper?”

  “Yeah.”

  “It couldn’t be,” he muttered, shaking his head.

  Baker’s eyebrows popped up. “What couldn’t it be?”

  “They’re legend… I think.” We both gave an impatient look and he rolled his eyes. “Animaphagist.”

  I glanced at Baker; he seemed lost, too. “And what is that?”

  “A soul eater. It’s said the possessor of an animaphagist can absorb the souls of anyone who is put inside. They are nothing more than myth though.”

  “Why would they want someone else’s soul?”

  “Power. Think about how strong you are. Imagine if you were five times this powerful! And you wouldn’t want any old spirits. Anyone weaker than you would be a waste of time. You’d need strong souls to increase your power. This is all theory though because it isn’t real.”

  I chewed the inside of my lip. I didn’t think this was all theory. Marshall may have been too young to remember when an animaphagist was used, but I knew one guardian who could’ve been alive. Holden was getting his wish; I was going to see Quintus.

  Twenty Three

  My face twitched when I felt Olivia’s call for the fifteenth time. Jace had been lecturing about why tipping our hand to Ezra was a bad move, but he didn’t miss the tick. His brows furrowed. “Ezra again?”

  I shook my head. “Olivia.”

  He sighed. “Ignore her. We have to think about how to fix what you’ve done. He’s covering his tracks as we speak.”

  “What evidence? There’s nothing more than what I found. We’ve talked to everyone connected and no one knows anything. We need the jinn the guardians worked with.”

  Jace tapped his foot a couple times before conceding. “Perhaps we’ll visit Olivia after all. Stay strong though, my friend. Remember, she chose her path.”

  We appeared in the church where she was waiting and laughing with a man who looked intimidating enough to make people cross to the other side of the street.

  “Olivia, I’m so pleased to see you alive and well.” Jace smiled widely, approaching where she sat while I stayed back. He faltered when his eyes drifted to her scowling companion. “Are the rumors true, my dear?”

  Jace was good at playing dumb, but Olivia wasn’t fooled. “And which rumors would those be?” she asked.

  I wanted to talk to Olivia, but not like this. Jace didn’t want to help her. He was using her. If she let her guard down, she might say something he could give to the elders to use against her. “The ones about you becoming the jinn’s pawn,” I called out behind her.

  The brute whipped around, the threat clear in his eyes. But Olivia looked at me, sadness pouring from her as she willed me to understand that she loved Holden. And I was beginning to see areas where the two of them were alike.

  “I’m with Holden, but I’m no one’s pawn.” Her voice was flat and her emotions never surfaced. Her control was much improved. All I had to do was mention Holden’s name the last year and she stormed off, but now she was at peace.

  I snorted, hoping to keep her on edge while Jace watched our exchange with interest but no comment. “He’s using you and you’re letting him. Did you think you were made a guardian to become his pet? Did you think you wouldn’t have to pay for that?”

  “Quintus.” She sighed like I was her annoying brother. Her bodyguard’s dislike was written all over his face, but unlike Holden, he made no move to attack me. “I’m not having this argument. Who I’m with is none of your business. Believe it or not, I have purpose in being here. If you choose to hate me, that’s regrettable, but it’s something I can live with.”

  “What is this purpose you mention?” Jace asked gently. “Have you heard about the trial?”

  “I heard I was being accused of being the traitor.”

  “Do you have anything to say about that?” he asked.

  “What could I have to say about it? It’s absurd. Quintus knows I didn’t do it.” Olivia shot a look at me; I stared at my feet. “He was with me all the time. How could I set anyone up? Ridiculous.” She shook her head and took a deep breath. “But that’s not why I’m here—”

  I couldn’t tell her that I wouldn’t be any help in her trial. None of them believed me. They all thought I was in love with her and protecting her, so I tried to pick a fight. “You don’t belong with us. You never did. You should have become a jinni. Why did I waste so much time on you?” Hurt reddened her cheeks. I stalked over to her and grasped her shoulders roughly.

  The bodyguard lunged at me, but Olivia held up a hand. “Baker.” She shook her head and he stopped though he looked like he wanted to pummel me.

  “You’re giving everything up for a jinni—a jinni. Damn it, Olivia. You’re important to this world, to our world, to me. But if you’re going to leave, do us all a favor. Stay gone.”

  “Quintus,” Jace said warningly.

  “If I come back. Could I be with Holden?”

  “Absolutely not,” Jace replied.

  “But I love him. Nothing has changed. I may love him even more now.”

  “It’s not possible. Your natures should assure your mutual repulsion of one another.” I lessened my grip, repeating the same words I said to her at least a dozen times before.

  “The jinn let me be me.” She pulled away, and Baker made himself into a barrier between us.

  “If you touch her again, I’ll take exception.” His steely eyes pierced into me, but I ignored him. I had been taking Holden’s threats for long enough to be unperturbed by Baker’s.

  “So where is the charming prince of darkness?” I asked.

  She rolled her eyes and ignored my question. “What’s an animaphagist?” It took everything I had to keep shock from showing on my face. How did she always find trouble? This was the one thing that would give her motive for killing the missing guardians, and she had to ask me about it in front of Jace. I stared up at the sky as Jace’s mouth fell open slightly.

  “How did you hear about an animaphagist?” Jace stuttered.

  “Because Olivia has a knack for trouble,” I answered for her with a scowl. Amusement flashed in her eyes. “Why do you want to know?”

  “What does it do?” Baker pushed.

  “Animaphagists eat souls.” Worry ticked my eyelid. “They would be useless to jinn. How did you even hear about them?”

  “Used for what? Why would guardians want to eat souls?”

  “Quintus…” Jace’s eyes widened, and he shook his head. I pretended not to notice. I was so sick of keeping secrets.

  Olivia frowned at him, but I kept talking. “Guardians don’t eat souls. When a guardian retires or when a guardian is stripped of his or her powers, they’re fed into an animaphagist that transfers the guardian’s divine powers back to the elders. Why do you want to know?” If the jinn had an animaphagist, the traitor was an elder. Olivia had uncovered the best piece of evidence we had without even trying.

  “So the power is evenly distributed among all the elders?” she asked.

  “Hardly evenly,” Jace muttered. “The power is transferred to the high elders so they can make new guardians when the time comes.”

  “But it is given to all of them?”

  Jace thought for a moment. “Yes.”

  “It doesn’t have to be,” I told her. Jace glared.

  “Have there been any more disappearances?”

  “Not one,” Jace said gravely. “It looks bad for you, but Quintus is right. You’re an excellent guardian. We can’t afford to lose you. If you’re innocent, turn yourself in and face judgment.”

  Baker laughed. “Turn herself in? You kidding me? She’s with us. Family. You come at her; you come at all of us.” Baker’s level stare promised he was not someone we should trifle with.

  Olivia laid a hand on Baker’s arm, and guilt trickled down my spine for the hundredth time. Why couldn’t I do more to help her?

  “No
, I’m not one of you. I never was. I tried to live the life you wanted me to, but it didn’t fit. I like guiding people, but I don’t like your rules or stipulations. With Holden, Baker, Femi, I can be myself and they accept me. That’s all I want. Why can’t it be the same with you? Holden doesn’t hate me because I’m a guardian. Why should I hate him because he is a jinni?”

  “It’s not as simple as that, Firefly,” I protested. Jace cleared his throat. My eye ticked, but I didn’t say anything further.

  “It is as easy as that.” She straightened her shoulders. “I hope we can be friends again. I’ll come back for my trial, but I’ll never fall into rank.”

  I tried to tell her not to return with my eyes, but she was impervious. I bit my lip and let the light take me away to where Femi called me.

  “Hey, dimples. Glad you made it.”

  I nodded. I didn’t have the patience to banter today. “What do you need?”

  “I have a lead on where the jinni will be tonight. You in?”

  “I don’t know how much help I will be, but sure. Did you pass my message to Olivia?”

  She frowned. “I told you I wouldn’t.”

  “I can’t speak to her alone. Jace or her bodyguard will always be there.”

  “You can trust Baker. He’s good people.”

  I rolled my eyes. Were all women brainwashed now? “If she goes to the trial, she’ll be killed. There is nothing more I can do.”

  “That isn’t true, Quintus. You can make a stand. You can tell her yourself. You can tell Holden. You can forgive them and wish them a happy life. There’s a lot you can do. For a pompous, self-righteous ass, you aren’t all that bad. There’s hope for you.”

  I stared at her. “Was that supposed to be a compliment?”

  She laughed. “Take it how you want it. Help me catch Juliet. We think she’s the key to all this.”

  “What do you need me to do?”

  “Help me trap her.”

  “Why don’t you ask Holden?”

  “He has his hands full with Olivia.” She made a face and a begrudging smile spread across my face.

  She drove me to a theater and parked illegally where we had a clear view of the line already beginning to form outside.