by Debra Dunbar
This might work, although I’d need to keep the nasty side effects from my household. The time issue could be a problem, but I’d just talk really fast — and ensure I had a few angels to hurry things along a bit on their side. I crossed my fingers and hoped that Gregory would be on board with this insane plan, because it was all we had.
“I can do fifteen minutes. How many passengers can it move?”
“Five.”
Well, that was a whole lot less than twelve. So much for the whole legion thing.
“Is there an illusion that will make five seem like a dozen?” I was grasping at straws. Angels wouldn’t fall for an illusion, even a skillfully crafted one. Their primary sensory input was related to energy signature.
“Yes, but it’s strictly visual.” Gareth told me. “Elves use something similar to bait their traps since humans are primarily visual beings.”
“Energy.” I pointed a finger at Gareth, startling the elder man into dropping his spell book. “I don’t need a dozen demons; I just need five kick–ass ancient ones. Is there a spell that masks demon energy signature, or makes a low–level demon look like a high–level one?”
The men exchanged a quick glance. “Yes, but I’m not positive it will work well enough to convince the angels,” Kirby told me.
Gareth bent to pick up the fallen spell book. “Elven lords use it sometimes when they are hiring a demon and can’t afford a high–level one. Cheap demon plus quick spell, and you’ve got instant intimidation. Lasts for a couple of hours.”
“Deal,” I rose to my feet. “I’ll have my household members meet me at Gareth’s shop in Dis, so we can arrive together. When do you need the focus back for modification, Kirby?”
“I can do that right before you transport. When do you want all this to happen?”
“Let’s shoot for forty–eight hours, but I’ll need to confirm with you after I speak with the angels.”
“You’re going to warn them?” Gareth asked.
“No, I’m going to invite them to the party.”
***
“What do we get out of this?” Radl squinted his eyes in suspicion. “You gonna pay us? We getta fuck or kill somethen?”
I swept my arms outward in a grand gesture. “You get to meet an angel! Lots of angels, actually.”
Snip’s six eyes widened alarmingly. “Don’t think that sounds like such a good deal, Mistress. I’d hoped to get through many thousands of years afore meeting an angel. I’d hate to have my head chopped off and turned into dust at this young age. I’s not even four hundred yet.”
“No, no, they won’t kill you. You just stand there and stare at them for fifteen minutes or so, and then the spell ends and you’ll be safely back home. Easy peasy, and you’ll get to tell everyone that you saw an angel and lived to tell the tale.”
“I’m a Low,” Pustule whined. “I can’t activate the gates. I’ve never Owned a human — I can’t assume a human form. What good would I be to you? Mistress, I think I would serve you far better by remaining behind and keeping your house free of crawling vermin.”
“You’re perfect for this job!” These five Low were all I could afford after blowing a huge sum this year on magical supplies and consulting. “Another magical spell will make you seem thirty levels above Low. The angels will quake before you. It’s the chance of a lifetime.”
“And why are we getting this ‘chance of a lifetime’?” Radl drawled. “Cause we’re expendable with no weregeld? Cause we’re stupid? I didn’t get to be six hundred and twenty–two without taking adequate precautions, you know.”
Here’s where the ‘cheap’ came in. “In addition to the great honor, chance to experience the human realm, and opportunity to be face–to–face with an angel and survive, I’ll give each of you fifty coin and two baskets of rats.”
There was a flurry of excited conversation, mostly about the rats.
“I’m in,” Rot squeaked.
The other three quickly followed his lead, until only Radl stood with arms crossed and eyes narrowed. “Okay, but we each get a passage through the gates that lasts more than fifteen minutes after this. I want a week’s vacation among the humans.”
Crap. “There are behavioral restrictions,” I warned. “You Own or kill any humans and the angels will be on you like fat on bacon. Got it?”
He waved his stubby, clawed hands. “Own? How the fuck am I supposed to Own anyone? I’m a damned Low, for fuck sake!”
I scowled and crossed my arms. “All right. Deal.”
Awesome. I’d secured my five–demon legion. Now just a few more loose ends to tie up before my Mighty Show of Power. Hopefully I’d survive.
–26–
I’d been gone less than a day, but my heart was still in my throat as I drove over the bridge crossing the Potomac River and looked up at the huge alpine–style inn. It didn’t look like it had been attacked by angels. The white and brown tudor–style façade loomed along the edge of the cliff, high above the churning, brown water. It was pretty, elegant, serene — safe. I hoped those inside were the same.
Harper ran to me, practically throwing herself in my arms. Her enthusiasm shocked me, and her huge belly nearly knocked me to the floor. After a quick hug, she composed herself, stepping back a few paces and awkwardly smoothing her shirt over the bulge.
“Sorry. I’m just so glad to see you. You’ve no idea … here waiting, thinking I’m on the verge of being attacked, that you might be killed or never return. You’re my only hope, Sam.”
I wasn’t Obi Wan Kenobi. At least I hoped I wasn’t, since he got killed in the first movie. That would suck.
“Didn’t anyone come up with a way to protect you all from the angels?” I’d expected a ring of salt or brick dust around the inn.
Harper shook her head. “Michelle’s aunt tried, but some of the werewolves couldn’t cross the barrier. Jaq and I definitely couldn’t cross the barrier.”
It made sense. All that angel energy running through them, or their baby, triggered the magic Aunt Marie used to guard against demons and angels.
“At least we’ve got these.” Jaq’s sardonic voice cut through my musings. I looked up to see her and Kelly approaching, both fingering what appeared to be macaroni noodle necklaces.
“And those do…?”
The Nephilim shrugged. “They’re supposed to alert us if an angel or demon is nearby. A friend of a friend of Nyalla’s — supposedly a witch — made them. Although I think maybe her pre–school kid was the one who actually made them.”
“Well, if you’re really hungry, I guess you can eat them.” I was worried. They were here, with little more than Gregory and Gabriel’s distraction techniques to keep the other angels searching elsewhere. It wasn’t safe. None of them were safe, and I wasn’t sure this crazy plan I had was even going to work.
“So, how’d it go?” Jaq asked. She and Kelly remained a respectful, wary distance from me.
“The trip to Hel was informative, but it pretty much confirmed that we don’t have but a few of options. One: we secure another sanctuary, but the angels methodically hunt and kill all werewolves and eventually find you all.”
Harper swayed, gripping the back of a chair to keep from falling. I hated to scare her. It wasn’t herself she feared for; it was her child. That made her especially helpless in spite of the knives. It tugged at my un–demonic heartstrings.
“Two: we slowly move everyone, groups at a time, to Hel. You’ll be safe from the angels, but there will be a huge adjustment, and I’m not saying the elves and demons will be any friendlier. The good thing in that scenario is that there’s a group of freed humans who would be happy to join forces and support you all. It would be a rough journey, though.”
“I’m not leaving West Virginia,” Jaq said.
I restrained myself from an epic eye roll. Broken record and all that. Nephilim — just as stubborn and intractable as their angelic sires.
“Three: I arrange a showdown with the angels and bully t
hem into letting you all continue to live here under my wings.”
I swear the three of them stopped breathing for a good ten minutes.
Finally Jaq took a deep, long–overdue lungful. “That doesn’t sound like it’s going to end well.”
“It won’t unless I get a few angels to come to an agreement under the counter. Honestly, you all are a pain in the ass to them. They’ve been steadily dumping shit in my lap all year. Given the right incentive, they should be happy to unload the werewolves and Nephilim off on me. I’ve already got the Fallen. This is just a short step away.”
“Then why the showdown and the bullying?” Leave it to that vampire to get right to the heart of the matter.
“Because they need to save face. I can’t look too threatening. I’ve got to be such a psycho that they’d rather give you all up than deal with my crazy ass.”
Kelly pursed her lips. “I can sympathize with them.”
“Careful, vampire,” I warned her. “I’m still waiting on those Doritos.”
“Will this work, Sam?”
I turned to see Harper, steely eyed and fingering the knife at her belt.
“It’s got a snowball’s chance if I can get Gregory and his brothers on board.”
She relaxed, a smile trembling at the edge of her lips, and I saw the woman she used to be — the woman she was before Bencul made her into this angry, frightened, knife–wielding nutcase. “He loves you. He’ll do anything for you. I wish my angel had been the same.”
Jaq walked forward to wrap a long, thin arm around the woman’s shoulders. “They’re not all such jerks. Your angel may have been a sociopath, but you’re not alone. You’re one of us now. Me, Kelly, and every werewolf in this state — none of us will let you down. Ever.”
This had to somehow work out. Jaq would be a good friend to Harper, and a good role model for her son. I’d fucked up a lot of things, but introducing the two of them was the flower that bloomed in a pile of shit.
“Shit!” I’d just remembered something that might send all these plans crashing to the floor. “Jaq, where’s the durft? Where’s Fred?”
Without the focus, we’d need a whole new Kirby’s Marble setup. Even if the mage had another ready to go, we’d lose valuable time retrieving it and returning to place the locators. Time we didn’t have, especially with the werewolves and Nephilim unprotected.
Jaq blinked at me. “In my trailer. One of the neighbors is feeding him until I return.”
“I’ll need to go get him.” Whew, at least he hadn’t escaped into the woods or been eaten by one of the werewolves.
“Please do. He’s a nasty animal, and I hate having to ask Melody to deal with him. Although he seems less vicious with humans than he is with Kelly and me.”
Less vicious wasn’t the same as sweet and cuddly. I grimaced, thinking of how chewed up I would be after wrestling that animal into a more portable box.
“When is all this going to go down?” The Nephilim asked.
I peeked at my cell phone for the time. “Let’s shoot for forty hours from now. I’ll have to confirm the time once I speak to Gregory, but that’s what I’m going for.”
“Where?” Jaq was already restless and ready for action.
“How about the casino? There’s a huge parking lot out front where we can do the showdown.”
“I’ve got a better idea.” Jaq smiled, her silver eyes glowing with bits of gold. “Harper’s Ferry. If it was good enough for John Brown, it will be good enough for us.”
“Yeah, well hopefully it turns out better for us than it did for him.”
Jaq and Kelly left the room, whispering under their breath. I watched them climb the stairs then I turned to leave, only to feel a tug on my arm.
“Sam? Can I go with you? Well, at least back to your house, since I can’t exactly go with you to Aaru.” It was Harper. And her grip on my arm was surprisingly strong for a human.
“No way. You need to be here with Jaq and the werewolves. They can protect you best.”
The woman’s chin went up, her eyes sparkling with defiance. “Better than you? Better than Nyalla and Nils? We’ve got the sorcerer items your brother brought from Hel. I’d feel safer there with them than here with a huge target on my head.”
She had a point, but there was too much at risk.
“How am I supposed to get you there? Every time you move, there’s a chance an angel will spot you, or a Hunter will pick up your baby’s energy signature. And my house is under particular surveillance. The angels know I’ve sheltered you in the past. They know where my sympathies lie. Gregory took great risk moving you here. I don’t want to take that risk again.”
The look of defiance turned into an angry glare. “I’m not going to sit here, knit baby booties and wait for some winged being to rip my baby from my womb. If you won’t take me there, I’ll go myself. I’ll hitchhike, take the bus, anything. You can’t stop me.”
“Hitchhike? Do you know how dangerous that is? Some serial killer with a pregnant woman fetish is liable to pick you up, knock you over the head and lock you in his basement.”
Or not. I eyed Harper with her fierce glow and the knives on her belt. She was more liable to scare off the serial killers and end up walking all the way to my house.
“I’m safer in your house, with Nyalla and Nils. I’m safer with you. Once all this is resolved, I’ll go live with Jaq and the werewolves — I promise. But until then, I feel the best place for me and my son is in your home.”
I hesitated, hating to separate her from Jaq and the werewolves. They were her new family, and she should be relying on them for security. But that sin of pride that had long eluded me blossomed like a winter rose. A human, betrayed by an angel, trusted me — felt safe in my house. It was a heady feeling of power that ran through me at her words.
“Okay, but you have to promise me that you’ll be careful. Don’t leave the house, even to go out to the pool. Keep an elven net on you at all times. Don’t hesitate to tell Nyalla and Nils if you see anything odd, or feel at all uneasy. When all this is over, you can start your new life with the werewolves in West Virginia.”
Harper smiled, and once again I saw the beautiful, cheerful, confident woman inside.
“Deal.”
–27–
I appeared in Aaru, retaining my physical form, despite the horrible scratchy feeling being in corporeal form in the home of the angels always caused me. Immediately I was surrounded, and this time the spirits were clearly hostile. Word had gotten around about my dealings with Nephilim and the lethal force I’d taken to defend what I called mine. It was like having a mob press against me with sharp knives and fire.
“Where’s … um, where’s Michael?” Yeah, that was his name. Yelling for Gregory or ‘asshole’ wouldn’t get me too far. Good thing I’d remembered what Dalmai had called him. I hoped this worked, that my crazy appearance here furthered my goal, and that Gregory was quick enough to catch on. Once again, I mourned the loss of the tie we had when I was bound to him.
The angels advanced. I dodged just in time to avoid a blast of white. Fuck this. If they were going to shoot at me, I wasn’t about to stand here and take it. I might be a trespasser, but I was a legal one. As the Iblis, I was the only demon allowed in Aaru. They might hate my presence, but they were supposed to tolerate it without attack.
I drew the sword of the Iblis. No one had answered my request for Gregory, but the sword at least garnered some uneasy respect.
“I demand to see the head of the fourth choir, Michael.”
I knew there had been no misunderstanding who I was asking for, but repeating my request with more clarification in combination with my weapon might get results. I felt them draw back, giving me space while still watching for an opening to rush me. Unwilling to give them that opening, I spun around in circles, my sword in front of me. Luckily they were too stupid to come at me from above or below.
I should have known better than to rely on luck. I felt the angel
just before his blast took my head off. It rolled across what counted for a floor in Aaru, singed hair, smoking flesh and all. It was a bit disconcerting seeing my head no longer affixed to my neck, feeling my body begin to crumple.
Luckily I was in Aaru, and other than a lot of blood and gore flying through the endless white, nothing too dramatic happened. The loss of my corporeal form here didn’t mean death, but it did pose a bit of a problem. Uncertain how I could wield the sword of the Iblis while headless and dead, I recreated my form with a pop. Another blast nearly took my newly created head off, but I was prepared this time. I blocked the stream of energy with my sword and seized hold of the angel.
Word must have also gotten around about my devouring tendencies. The moment I grabbed him, the angel screamed in mind–speech with a pitch that nearly caused a brain bleed.
“Shut the fuck up!” I held onto him and struggled against the urge to do more than just hold. With so little effort he could be mine — dead and converted into energy. But dead angels made for poor hostages, and I was in enough trouble without killing another one of these fuckers right in the fourth circle of Aaru.
“Stay back!”
The angels complied, but their fury hit me like a whip. If Gregory didn’t show up soon, there was a good chance they’d rush me. I might be able to take out a few, but even the Sword of the Iblis couldn’t defend me from a mob. The whole scenario made me realize how much of a long shot this plan of mine was. If I couldn’t get Gregory behind it, I was going to go down in flames. Literally.
“Cockroach, stand down.” His voice slammed into me with power and compulsion, but behind it I heard the note of concern. My grip on the hostage angel trembled.
“I promise I won’t hurt him. I just need to meet with you about a matter of utmost urgency.” And Gabriel. I need to meet with Gabriel, too, I added silently.
What are you doing? What is going on?
“Your angels have attacked me and mine in my home, and now you mount an offensive against those I claim. I won’t tolerate such a trespass upon my authority.”