Leo nodded. “But even with all the time we lost yesterday, we should be able to roll into San Diego late tomorrow. I can make it one more day.”
One more day until answers and hopefully solutions from Uncle Carlos, until Leo could sleep and I could pry the angel out of my skull. I still wasn’t sure what that solution might involve and hoped it wouldn’t be something like a blessed white-hot ice pick through my ear.
What if it did, though? Would it be worth pain or maiming to get rid of Uriel?
You do not need to worry, Uriel told me.
Thanks, I thought. But then I frowned. Wait, why not?
Because I cannot be removed. I am a part of you, Jaz. You are my vessel.
Was that supposed to be reassuring? I was kind of touched, but Uriel’s words were disquieting, too. Would the angel fight whatever Carlos wanted to do? And what about the horseman inside Leo? Uriel was a force of light and order, but Death was… well, Death. I couldn’t imagine it just letting go of Leo.
Our food arrived, along with a second cup of coffee, and Leo was awake enough to thank the server this time. My pasta was good, but the cheese sauce made me thirsty and my water was gone. I searched around for our server. The grill was only about half full and I spotted him bussing another table. I wasn’t that thirsty… I could wait until he finished, so I returned my attention to dinner.
But I felt eyes on me and looked up again. It wasn’t the server noticing that I needed something… There was an older white lady a few tables away, maybe in her fifties or sixties. I wasn’t sure – I was shit at guessing people’s age. But her hair was gray and she watched us through a pair of black-rimmed glasses. As soon as she saw me looking, the woman turned away. But she had definitely been watching us.
“Hey, Leo,” I said quietly. “There’s a lady three tables back. The one with glasses.”
Leo finished his swallow of coffee and glanced over at the table I indicated, then nodded slightly toward the left shoulder of his leather jacket, where the embroidered rattlesnake coiled, ready to strike.
“Think it might be the snake patch?” Leo asked. “Sometimes people recognize it and get spooked.”
Yeah, I remembered. I had recognized that rattlesnake back in Crayhill and was certainly freaked out. Not that it stopped me from running off with a big, sexy biker. But…
“She doesn’t look scared,” I said.
The woman was studying her menu way too hard, and she seemed more curious than frightened. She looked up when our server approached her table. Whoever this lady was, she had arrived after us, apparently.
“Is she one of yours?” Leo asked me. “She’s not a horseman, as far as I can tell.”
Uriel? I asked. I didn’t feel anything like I had with Michael or Gabriel – and this close, the feeling would be pretty damned strong – but figured I better ask. Is that woman over there about to sprout wings?
She is not an angelic vessel, Uriel answered.
And if another archangel was sitting across a restaurant from us, I was sure Uriel would have control of my body, not me. But I picked up my fork and stuffed some more pasta into my mouth, just to be sure. Yeah, I was still running the show.
For now.
Uriel, will you help me keep an eye on that lady? I asked. If I look away, can you watch her?
I can use your senses, but I have others that you do not.
Uh… is that a yes?
Yes, the angel said.
Leo and I ate our dinner quickly. I watched the woman with the glasses from the corner of my eye – and it was clear she was doing the same thing with us – but Uriel didn’t alert me to anything fishy.
After about twenty minutes, the lady finished her salad and got up. She put some cash on the table, then left the restaurant. My heart finally slowed and Leo let out a sigh. He ordered some more coffee and I celebrated this small victory by adding a slice of cheesecake to the bill.
We lingered at the grill until we were certain that the woman at the other table was gone, and our server was starting to give us some stink-eye for taking so long.
“Let’s get a room,” I suggested.
“That sounded bad,” Leo said. “Or good. Maybe both.”
Even after all of that coffee, Leo was still tired and his smile was sleepy. It was no less charming, but the biker was dragging his feet and nearly dropped the money when he went to pay. Leo left a tip big enough to make our server smile again, though.
“Hotel room?” I asked.
“Yeah. Let’s grab one next door.”
We left the restaurant and headed across the parking lot toward the dark rectangular silhouette of the hotel. Leo tripped over the edge of the curb and I grabbed the sleeve of his leather jacket to steady him.
“Shit, sorry,” Leo said. “I guess coffee just isn’t doing the trick anymore. And I don’t know when I’ll be able to look an energy drink in the eye again.”
We made sure that the Packmaster was still where we left it – which it was, and it grumbled at Leo as we passed – and then headed to the hotel. We had the same problem as before with paying in cash, but enough cash seemed to take care of the issue and we were quickly heading up to the third story, the first available room that the clerk could find. It was another single king bed, but Leo said that was fine.
We took the elevator to our room, unlocked the door and Leo staggered inside. I followed him, then closed and locked up behind us. It was a simple, boring hotel room, with a lot of mint green and faded sky blue. But the bed looked comfortable and the shower was well-sized.
Leo headed straight for the sideboard that held the coffee maker. No minifridge or pop in here, but I had seen a couple of vending machines out in the hallway. Leo grabbed a foil packet of instant coffee, but it slipped through his fingers and bounced across the floor.
“Shit,” he sighed.
I picked up the coffee and replaced it on the counter. Leo ran one hand through his thick brown hair and shifted his weight between his feet a few times.
“How’re you doing?” I asked.
“Not great,” Leo admitted.
I approached carefully and held out my arms. He nodded and I circled them around him. Leo’s whole body was tight and trembling as I hugged him. A shuddering sigh ruffled my hair.
“I keep wondering if heroin would quiet Death down,” Leo said. “I’m not sure I could say no to a needle right now.”
A shudder wracked Leo and I held him tighter, as though I could physically stop the craving. Leo wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. I heard his heart jackhammering in his chest.
“I don’t know how much longer I can do this, Jaz,” Leo said. “The coffee and energy drinks are barely keeping me awake anymore. What if I fall asleep? What if Death takes control…?”
Slowly, I reached up to run my fingers down Leo’s cheek. It was rough with stubble and the contact made Uriel jolt inside me. Leo jumped, too.
“Death doesn’t like that,” he growled.
I ran my fingers along Leo’s jaw and visions of heavenly fire burned through my brain, but I didn’t pull away.
“What about you?” I asked. “Do you like it?”
Leo’s eyes were so intense that I could feel them on my skin.
“Yes,” he said.
“There might be another way to keep you awake.”
“Jaz, you shouldn’t touch me,” Leo said. “It’s dangerous…”
He meant every word, I knew, but Leo’s hands didn’t get the message. They trailed up my arms and then slowly down my back. My head was full of bladed wings and flames, power and violence, but I closed my eyes and leaned into Leo. Maybe there was another way to shut those visions out, too…
I pulled Leo down into a kiss. He stiffened again and I swore that I could hear Death snarling inside him, but Leo put his arms around me, too. He lifted me effortlessly up off the ground and I wrapped my legs around his waist.
Not taking his lips from mine, Leo staggered toward the bed, but he c
ouldn’t see and hadn’t slept in days. We hit the corner, overbalanced and fell together into the sheets. Fine by me – that’s where we were going, anyway. Leo came down on top of me, with every deliciously hard inch of his body pressed against mine.
I clutched the hem of Leo’s shirt and wondered how I was going to get it off without breaking the kiss. Would Leo mind if I just ripped it to shreds? He grabbed my hips and let out a deep, hungry growl. Somehow, I didn’t think he cared one bit about the shirt.
Someone knocked on the hotel room door. Who the hell was that? We weren’t even being noisy… yet. I sat up with a groan.
“What the fuck?” Leo asked.
His heart was still pounding so hard that I could hear it. Leo was wide awake now, but didn’t seem to have enough blood in his head to make complete sentences. I wasn’t much better and only managed some grumbled swearing as I went to the door to squint through the little glass peephole.
A woman waited in the hallway outside. She stood a few feet back from the door with her hands tucked into the pockets of neat gray slacks. I recognized her, but it took a moment for me to figure out why.
“Holy shit,” I whispered. “It’s that lady from the restaurant. Did she follow us?”
It would take a lot more than a few nights without sleep and a horny mechanic throwing herself at him to entirely dull Leo’s edge. He was on his feet in an instant and racking the slide of a gun that I hadn’t even seen him pick up.
“Do you sense something?” Leo asked as he hurried over.
“No, still nothing angelic,” I said. “Do you feel anything?”
“Other than pissed off?” Leo shook his head. “Nope. I mean, Death wants to kill her. But it wants to kill everyone, so that’s not exactly useful information.”
For a second there, I was shamefully tempted to let Death do precisely that. I was tired of being box-locked. The woman in the hallway checked her watch, then knocked at our door again. I jumped and Leo’s grip tightened on the gun.
“Now what?” I asked.
“Maybe she’ll leave,” Leo said.
“Jasmine O’Neil?” the woman called out. “Leopold Valdis?”
I blinked. How the hell did she know our names? I didn’t like it, and to judge by how Leo tensed, neither did he. Or maybe he just didn’t like being called Leopold.
The woman outside adjusted her glasses. “My name is Diane Owens. This conversation will be easier if I don’t need to shout through a door.”
The lady – Diane, apparently – had a point. I gestured to the chain latch and looked at Leo. He nodded slowly and stood to one side of the door. I hesitated, then moved over to the other side to stay out of the potential line of fire. When we were both in position, I unfastened the chain and turned back the deadbolt. Leo grabbed the knob and cracked the door open. Outside, Diane smiled.
“Much better, thank you,” she said. “Would it be pushing my luck to come in? You’ve gone to a lot of work to keep what you’re doing private, and I’d like to do the same.”
Leo glanced at me, and I shrugged. I had no idea what to do, but Diane didn’t seem to be either a horseman or an archangel. She wasn’t even very big. If something went wrong, Leo could get rid of this woman without breaking a sweat.
As could you, Uriel said. With my help, at least.
You would help me? I asked.
Of course.
I wasn’t sure if that was Uriel being my friend or just refusing to let some mortal get between them and the final battle. It had been another long day, so I figured that I would take any small victory where I could.
Leo opened up the door the rest of the way and then waved Diane through with his gun. Our visitor stepped inside and eyed the weapon.
“You don’t need that, I assure you,” Diane said. “And I know that you’re both capable of substantially more deadly force than a simple firearm.”
Leo pushed the door shut, but didn’t lower his gun.
“You were watching us at dinner. Who are you?” I asked.
“Well, I attended seminary, so you could call me Reverend Owens,” Diane answered. “But I also hold doctorates in astrophysics and history, so you could call me Doctor Owens. But if it’s all the same to you, I really prefer Diane.”
Her voice had a smooth non-accent I always associated with California. If she threw out a hella or dude, then I would be sure I was right.
“You already told us your name,” Leo said. “How the fuck do you know our names?”
Diane crossed the hotel room and raised delicate gray eyebrows in a wordless question. When Leo and I didn’t object, she sat down in one of the pale green chairs.
“There’s some history to that,” Diane said. “But the first part of it is because I’m the director of the southwestern division of the Society for the Protection and Observation of the Tellurian.”
“The what?” Leo asked.
I blinked a couple of times. There was a lot of information packed into that sentence. And answers, if we were lucky… But none of that was what came out of my mouth.
“So you’re… SPOT?” I asked.
Reverend-Doctor Diane Owens spread her hands. “Well, the Latin version provides a somewhat less embarrassing acronym, but… yes. Feel free to make fun. I’ve heard all the jokes by now.”
“I’m more interested in what that name actually means,” Leo said. “What are you after, lady?”
Diane sighed. “Well, you’ve already met some of my people, I’m afraid. Back in Zamora Canyon.”
“What?” I asked. I knew my voice was rising and didn’t care. “You mean those bastards in the riot gear? The ones who tried to shoot us with big-ass guns?”
“Yes,” Diane admitted. “To be fair, however, we had no idea that the hosts – you and Leopold, that is – were still in control of your bodies. We never even suspected that such resistance was possible. I promise you that killing a pair of more or less innocent humans was never our goal.”
“Don’t call me Leopold,” Leo said. “So what were you trying to do?”
“To deal with the entities inside you before they could fully manifest and reunite with their factions,” Diane answered. “We expected hollow vessels and acted accordingly. I apologize.”
“For shooting at us?” I asked.
“I realize that I’m sorry isn’t much, considering,” Diane said. “But it’s sincere. Given the fact that the two of you have managed rather shockingly to remain in control of your souls, I thought that we could dispense with the guns this time and simply talk.”
Leo hefted his gun. “I’m not putting this down.”
“I’d really prefer if you did,” Diane said. “I lack the… hmm, resilience granted by the entities within you. But if it makes you feel better…”
“It does,” Leo answered.
My heart pounded, but it wasn’t just Leo making it thump this time. We had spent days racing to San Diego for answers, but this Diane woman seemed to understand more than even Uriel had ever told me. She knew our names and that there was an angel inside me. How?
I am curious, too, Uriel admitted.
“What do you know about all of this?” I asked.
“I’d really rather discuss that someplace more secure,” Diane said. “We can all admit that your… unique spiritual guests… can be rather destructive. There are seventeen people dead so far, a crater that used to be a motel in Arrow, and we retrieved half a gallon of tainted blood from the back room of a bike garage in Jasper.”
“You found that shit?” I asked. “Does SPOT uh… know what to do with it?”
“Yes, we do,” Diane answered. “And we have disposed of the substance safely.”
That was good to hear and I wanted whatever answers Diane had, but that didn’t mean I trusted her one bit. Neither did Leo, apparently.
“We’re not going anywhere,” he said.
“In point of fact, you’re both heading to California,” Diane countered.
“How do you even know
that?” I asked. “How did you find us? We don’t have cell phones anymore and we pay for everything in cash…”
Diane nodded. “And those were wise precautions. But Leopold – I’m sorry, Mister Valdis – discarded a gun during an altercation on Highway 44. It was collected by the police, but the Society has chapters in just about every nation, with members at every level of authority. We were able to intercept that particular piece of evidence.”
“I was pissed at Pestilence,” Leo said. “That fucker killed my friends. But there weren’t any serial numbers on that gun. It’s not registered to me.”
“No, but there were several fingerprints on it,” Diane answered. “And your prints are in the system, which we have access to.”
Well, Leo was a criminal, so I guess that made sense. I really wished that we had thought of it at the time… But to be fair, I had been facing down a Death-possessed Leo.
“Then there was a suspicious break-in at a garage in Jasper,” Diane said with a smile. “Where a throttle kit sized for a Packmaster was taken, and cash left behind that could be traced back to an armored car robbery in Chicago.”
Leo sighed. “That’s exactly why we always take the money to San Diego first. Anything else?”
“Yes,” Diane said. “An email sent from a hotel in Flagstaff. It contained no names, but went out to a monitored address for the San Diego Knights of Hell.”
Leo turned to me. “I’m sorry, Jaz.”
“It’s alright,” I said. “Sounds like we were screwed no matter what. They had plenty of ways to find us.”
“We’ve been tracking you for our own purposes,” Diane told us. “The Society… SPOT… hasn’t reported you to governmental authorities. In fact, we’ve done the best we can to keep the police and state troopers clear of the situation wherever possible.”
“Wait, why would you help us?” I asked suspiciously.
“At the risk of further alienating you both, we weren’t actually trying to help you,” Diane said. “We were helping those first responders. The Society exists to protect this world and its inhabitants from… well, you.”
The strange woman stood and adjusted her glasses.
“There’s much more for us to discuss,” she said. “But there are innocent people here that none of us wish to see harmed. I hope I’ve proved that we have valuable information.”
400 Horsepower of the Apocalypse Page 21