by Liz Schulte
Femi heaved me up to a standing position then stood between us as if she could stop Holden. He wanted to kill me. I could see it in his eyes. The shock wore away and a glower took its place, but there was a haunting emptiness to it. Olivia was gone. I knew it with every fiber of my being. Holden’s breathing was labored and his eyes darted around, calculating how he could kill us all.
“Where’s Olivia? You didn’t let her go, did you?” I croaked.
I thought he might attack me again, but at the sound of her name he deflated. He let out a deep gush of air and rolled his neck in a half circle. “I couldn’t stop her.”
“So I’m too late.” I sank back down to the floor no longer caring what happened. All of this was for nothing.
“Why are you here?” Holden demanded, looming over me.
“To warn you. They’re going to kill her at the trial.”
“Why?” Femi asked.
“It’s political. Ezra was frightened she would be stronger than him so he’s using her as a scapegoat for the murders. And Jace wants to take down the high elders; Olivia has been what he’s used to distract them. She is the catalyst for both of their plans.”
“Then why are you here and not with her?” Baker asked.
“I didn’t know it started. I thought I still had time.”
Holden slammed his fist into the wall again. I didn’t know if I could save her, but perhaps he could. “You have to go,” I told him.
“I’m not going anywhere. You get the fuck out.”
“No.” I stood up and shoved passed Femi to grab his shoulders. His hands twitched, white knuckled, but he didn’t resume his attack. “You. Must. Go.” I broke into a coughing fit again and clutched my throat which felt like I was swallowing sand. I glared at Holden before trying again. “They…will…kill…her.”
“Where is she?” Holden’s voice was sharp, and his eyes filled with deadly focus. They would have to kill him to get to her. It would give us time for the plan that was forming in my head.
“Is the animaphagist here?”
Femi nodded to a pair of copper doors that had blood running down them. “Who’s going to kill her?”
I ignored her, still formulating a plot. “Okay, this will work,” I said more to myself than to them. “Holden, you stall the trial. Whatever you do, don’t let them put her in a room like this.”
“Fine, tell me where to go.”
I rubbed my forehead, still coughing, as a fatal error in my plan became evident. “She’s with the elders.” I shook my head. “I forgot you can’t transport. They have already made up their minds. There isn’t time to wait for me to heal. You have to go now. They are going to execute her as a traitor.”
“On what grounds?” Baker asked.
“Him.”
Holden looked as if I had hit him. He grabbed my shirt and lifted me from the floor. “How do I get there?”
“You better start talking, dimples, or we’ll throw you in with the psycho jinni.” Femi thumped Holden on the arm and gave him a look.
Holden dropped me back to the ground. Good. Juliet was here. We’d need her if we could get Holden to the trial.
“I don’t … I don’t know. I can’t transport you. Even if I had the energy, the trip would kill you—but there has to be a way. I have to think. If you could go and—” I sighed. “Well, it doesn’t matter if we can’t get you there, does it?”
“What did you want me to do?”
“Offer yourself in her place. They need someone to make an example of.” His eyes drilled into me, searching. “It’s not a trap. They will kill her unless we can stop them.”
“If I offer myself, they will let her go?”
“It will give me time for the second part of my plan.”
“Which is what?”
“You have an animaphagist and the jinni who was part of the whole thing. Whoever is controlling this jinni and that room will be at Olivia’s trial. If we put her in the room and activate it, the traitor will be exposed.”
“Wait, wait, wait. I thought it was a soul eater,” Baker said. “She doesn’t have a soul. Not while she’s chalk full of demons.”
“Demons?” I asked, stunned.
Holden nodded.
“Not possible.” I limped to the door and peeked inside.
“That’s what I thought,” Holden said behind me. “Go in and see for yourself.”
I opened the door. The jinni looked up at me through a stringy shield of hair, but stayed seated as she eyed Holden behind me. I used most of my energy to fill the room with light. When I had to pull back, she was covering her eyes, but looked fine otherwise. I looked back at Holden. His jaw was set.
“Not a demon,” I told him.
“None of this makes any fucking sense.”
I squatted in front of Juliet and raised her chin in my hand. Her vacant eyes looked back at me. Something was wrong with her. “Juliet. Juliet,” I said in the gentle voice I used when inspiring someone. Her eyes showed a flicker of panicked emotion before they rolled back into her head and all of her muscles clenched. “Help me get her up.”
Baker and Holden lifted her seizing body off the floor. I ran my hands along the air near her body with my eyes closed. I felt an all too familiar spark and rubbed my injured chest in memory. “Turn her around.”
They faced her toward the wall, and I lifted the back of her shirt. Rune stones lined her spine.
Femi whistled. “Holy shit. Who did that?”
“Guardians have been known to use runes. The carvings on the cell walls and ceilings here are runes too.”
“She was possessed by a guardian?” Baker asked.
I shook my head. “She is controlled by a guardian,” I pointed to seven different symbols along her back, “a guardian who’s preoccupied at the moment or she wouldn’t be so still.”
“What was the Legion she talked about?”
I pointed to a heavy black coil by her tailbone. “She also has a link to a demon named Ose. Ose is making her think she is Legion. It is his way. I imagine Ose is who Juliet’s been selling the guardians to—”
Impatience thickened Holden’s voice. “I appreciate the history lesson, but I’d rather save Olivia than worry about her.”
“Well, as soon as you can transport, let me know.” I dug under the rune connecting her to Ose and popped it off. A scream tore from her and her back bowed.
“I can sort of transport,” Holden said uncomfortably. We all gaped. “It’s new. It’s in smoke form. Will that work?”
I looked at Juliet then back to Holden. It worked for me. I lowered her shirt and we retreated to the hallway. “You have the powers of the ancient jinn?”
“I don’t know. This is the only thing I can do so far.”
“Hmph. Well, it might work. Let’s try.” I described in elaborate detail how to get to the judgment room. “The doors are made of plain wood with a Latin phrase carved into them. If you see that, you are in the correct place. Good luck.”
He nodded and cracked his neck. “What’s your plan exactly?”
“Once I finish breaking the link to Ose, I’ll put Juliet in the animaphagist and activate it. She’ll open the connection to the traitor.”
“What will happen to Juliet?”
“She will disintegrate.”
Holden shook his head. “Olivia won’t be happy.”
“But she’ll be alive.”
“Damn it.” He rubbed his forehead again. “If you don’t have to kill her, don’t.” With that surprising command, Holden evaporated into a wisp of smoke.
I stared at the spot he’d departed from and said a silent prayer he made it to her. Femi clapped her hand on my shoulder. “Let’s finish this, dimples.”
She took Holden’s spot holding Juliet down with Baker, and I inspected each rune before ripping it out of her body. I had to be careful not to dislodge the ones connecting her to the guardian or he would know we had her, and the animaphagist wouldn’t work. When I yanked the last rune free, her back
was slick with blood and she was gasping for air.
“Help me,” she said.
Femi looked at me with wide eyes then stared at Juliet. “Do you know where you are?”
“Yes. Please, please make it stop.”
“Make what stop?” she asked gently.
“The pain. The voices.”
“Shit,” Baker said, letting go of her arm. Femi followed suit.
“What are you doing?” I asked, shocked.
“We can’t go through with your plan now.” Femi shook her head.
Baker shrugged. “Olivia would lose her shit if we killed her, and Holden would grind our bones into dust for ticking her off. All she wants to do is talk to her.”
“Olivia,” Juliet’s voice echoed. “Where’s Olivia?”
“On trial.” I walked away scrounging my mind for another solution.
Juliet stared into space, frowning, her cheek twitching. “She didn’t desert me, did she?”
I had no idea what she was talking about so I ignored her.
“Even trying to kill her, wanting to kill her, she has stood by me.”
“That’s how Olivia is,” Baker said, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’ll go into the room. I’m not connected to this guardian, but my presence is bound to have some sort of effect on him, and Juliet can tell you who it is. That would be proof enough, right?”
“Who are you working with?” I asked her.
She pulled her eyebrows together. “I don’t know his name. Danica set up the deal.”
“What happened after the warehouse?” Baker asked.
“I woke up in terrible pain in the back of a van. A voice told me what to do and said if I didn’t do as instructed, the pain would continue.”
“What did you do after the attacks?” Femi asked.
“I went back to the van then I have no memory until the next time I was sent out.”
One of Femi’s ears twitched. “I can’t believe I am saying this, but I’ll do it,” said Femi. “I have at least five more lives. That has to pack a punch.”
Baker stared at her, his mouth hanging open. “You can’t. You—” he shook his head. “You can’t. I’ll do it.”
“Why?” Femi asked suspiciously. “I’m friends with Olivia. You just work for Holden.”
“What’s one less shifter in the world?” He winked at her, but looked at me with serious eyes. “Will it save her?”
I sighed. I couldn’t let either of them give their lives to fix my mistakes. I shouldn’t have let Jace take this so far. “No.” My gaze travelled between the two of them. Olivia may keep strange company, but she chose her friends well. “This is my responsibility. I am old and ready to go. I’ll go in.”
“She needs you at the trial,” Femi said. “She’s new and doesn’t know the guardians and they don’t know her. They know you though.”
“We can call Phoenix back. I don’t think anyone would miss him.” Baker nodded his head toward the door with a twinkle in his eyes, and Femi snickered. I had no idea what they were talking about.
“I’ll do it,” Juliet’s weak voice came from the floor. We all turned to her, not believing what we heard. She stared at her hands, as if they belonged to someone else. “I’ve made so many mistakes. When she touched me, it was like the fog lifted, but I feel it creeping back in and my heart becoming murky already. I don’t want to live like this. They didn’t stop my disease at all. Lies, it was lies. I stopped questioning.” Her eyes pooled with sadness that too often in jinn turned to bitterness. “Tell Olivia, I know it doesn’t begin to cover what I have done, especially not what I felt, but I’m sorry—for everything.”
“It will destroy you,” I told her. “The animaphagist isn’t made for jinn. You will cease to exist anywhere.”
“If I stay, bitterness will consume me again. That’s no way to live.”
“Maybe Olivia can help you,” I told her.
“Olivia has spent her whole life helping me. It’s time I help her.”
“She won’t like it,” Baker said, but he didn’t look convinced by Juliet’s show of good will.
She smiled faintly. “It won’t be the first time I did something she dislikes—and besides, she’d do it for me. You know she would.” She paused and let us each contemplate the truth of that. “Let me have this last moment. If I live, the demons will take me to hell for what I did.” Her eyes pleaded with us.
“Now your generosity makes more sense,” Baker mumbled.
Juliet’s face contorted. “Even if it weren’t the case, even if I still had to go to hell, I would do this for Olivia. She was the best friend I ever had.”
Femi punched Baker in the shoulder. “If you are willing, I support it,” she said.
Baker nodded, rubbing his arm.
“We will tell Olivia what you’ve done,” I promised.
Thirty Three
As I reformed from smoke, I realized I stood outside two plain doors with words carved into them. The pain in the ass guardian actually got me here. I barged through the doors without hesitation. Olivia raised her bowed head as I stepped over the threshold. She sat gripping the arms of her chair at the bottom of a large auditorium, and shook her head as I approached. Her eyes drilled into mine; no one else flinched or even gave me a second look. Four robed holier-than-thou’s appeared before her, and a booming voice came from everywhere in the room.
“Olivia Martin, we have arrived at our verdict.” The room was so quiet I could hear my footsteps as I quickened my pace. “On the charge of consorting with the jinn, we find you guilty.”
There was a collective gasp. My heart thudded against my ribs and echoed in my ears.
“On the charge of assisting in the murder of guardians, we find you guilty.”
I clenched my fists to my sides and tried not to break into a run. I had to keep my wits if I wanted to get her out of this.
“On the charge of breaking the treaty, we find you guilty.” The voice had a ring of finality. “You are hereby sentenced to…death.”
Liv’s gaze never broke from mine nor did she acknowledge she even heard the man speaking. I was at the stage. I cleared my throat. “I object.”
Four faces turned to me in unison, but recognition flashed in each set of eyes at different times. They all stiffened.
“You have no authority here, jinni.”
“I’m here to turn myself in.” I held my arms wide.
A murmur took over the room. “You confess to your involvement?”
“No.” I looked at Olivia whose eyes were filled with tears. She shook her head so vigorously she had to be dizzy. “But I am the North American Commander, and I’m responsible for my people. So if you would like to punish someone, here I am. Let her go.”
“No!” her voice rang out as she lurched from the chair and it exploded into pieces around her.
Fear flashed across the elders’ faces as they took in Olivia standing in the debris, a pale light pouring from her. Slowly it started retracting. “Olivia had nothing to do with any of this. I will allow you to punish me for the murdered guardians. Any treaties broken by her taking my soul should be absolved by my death, too. I don’t think hell is going to object one way or another.”
“No!” She stalked to me. “Stop, you fool,” she hissed.
I smiled, not caring that I was going to die. “I’m tired of being the one who gets left. First Thomas, then you—and now you’re trying to do it again.”
“Holden, no. I told you not to come.” Her voice was soft. “I can’t let you do this.”
My hand touched her face with a mind of its own and she glowed softly. “You don’t have a choice.”
The murmur rose to a roar.
“Silence,” the booming voice shouted. When the crowd hushed, the little man looked over at us. “Your presence makes no difference, jinni. The verdict is the same. You will both die.”
“Wait, Ezra,” an elder with glasses commanded, then motioned toward me. “Touch her again.”
<
br /> I took Olivia’s hand once more. The glow that spread from her was brighter and softer and more alluring than any other person in the room.
A look of confusion and wonder overtook the glasses-wearer. “Do you know anything about the missing guardians?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said. “I have dispatched of the jinn who headed the unsanctioned operation, and I have also caught her second in command.”
“And what have you learned from her?”
“Nothing. She has runes embedded along her spine, one set connecting her to the demon Ose, the other set to a guardian.”
There was a collective gasp and then absolute silence from the onlookers.
“He’s lying,” Ezra said. “He’s a jinni. We can’t trust him.”
I shrugged. “After Olivia freed my soul she asked me to go back to the jinn and to take her with me so we could find your traitor. She thought we would have better luck from the jinn side, but she has never betrayed any of you.”
“Did she promise to free all the jinn in exchange?”
A laugh slipped out. “No. I told the jinn she would so they would take us back. She was furious with me. Neither she nor I ever had any intention of following through with my promise.”
“I want to change my vote,” James said and his mouth set into a firm line.
“Be serious, James,” the woman scoffed, yet I thought I saw questions in her eyes, too.
“Look at them, Constance. Olivia wasn’t lying. He is sacrificing himself for her, and she glows with him. Soul mates. Who can blame her for going with him?”
“Your vote changes nothing. It’s still three to one.” Ezra waved a hand at him and Olivia tightened her hand in mine.
“It shouldn’t be.” Quintus’ voice came from behind me. I glanced over. What the hell was he doing here?
“Sit down, Quintus. I will deal with you later,” Ezra said through gritted teeth
“She didn’t do this. You know that. How can you not care?”
“You are as sentimental as a human. Perhaps it’s time you retire.”
Quintus set his jaw and stepped up to the other side of Olivia. “If you kill them, then you might as well add me to the execution line. I am every bit as guilty as either of them.”