by M. R. Forbes
"Don't make me drag you out," I said.
The demon hissed.
"Really?"
He cursed under his breath, and then pushed himself out between the pipes, his body cracking as his skeletal structure returned to form. A small pair of wings held him up over my head.
"Whatsss do you wantsss, Diuscrucisss?" he asked.
"I'm looking for Yuli."
"Who?"
I reached out with my power, throwing the demon against the wall and holding him.
"You know who," I said.
He smiled. Messenger demons weren't known for their backbone. "Yuli isssn't here."
"Where is he?"
"What do I looksss like? Hisss mother?"
"You're way too ugly to be his mother, which says a lot. I need to talk to him."
"I haven't ssseen him in two monthsss or ssso. He left one day. He sssaid he had a job that would paysss very, very wellsss."
Two months? Had Sarah been planning this for that long? That was a little before the day that Adam had fallen. Had she really seen everything unfolding the way she claimed?
"Is his token here?"
"I'm not telling you thatsss," the demon said.
I pressed against him with my power again, flattening him to the wall. "I know there's one thing that demons like you value more than secrets."
His snout opened in a wicked smile, his tongue flicking between his teeth. "I can'tsss. Pleassse, Diuscrucisss. If you needssss messenger, I cansss do it for you."
"Sorry, pal. I need Yuli."
"He can'tsss tell you anythingsss."
"I don't need information from him. I just need him to take me to someone. Bring me to his token. I'll use it to get him here, and that's it."
"You liesss."
I let him go. He slapped his wings furiously and rubbed at his neck.
"I'm not a demon. I don't need to lie. I promise. Take me to the token, let me summon him, and I'll be gone. Nobody will even remember I was ever here."
"Hmmm. You setsss many of usss free, Diuscrucisss. For thatsss, I will bring you."
He swooped down into the corridor, flying ahead of me. I walked behind him, keeping his pace as he navigated easily through the decommissioned aircraft carrier. Within minutes we were in one of the larger open spaces. There were at least two dozen of the small demons living here, each of them perched in dark corners behind pipes and equipment, their eyes barely visible through the cracks. They didn't protest my arrival. In fact, they all tried to shrink further away, just as my guide had. I left them alone.
"Here isss Yuli'sss space," the demon said, bringing me to a small opening between two metal boxes.
He ducked inside it, and I could hear him moving things aside beyond my view. He emerged a moment later, holding a small strip of worn flesh with runes etched into it. All of the demons in this room would have a similar token tucked away into their spaces, declaring them as free. My guide was showing a lot of faith in me to turn Yuli's over so easily, and to have led me here. I could easily gain control of every demon in the room if I decided to break my promise.
Not that I had any intention of doing that. I didn't want to be down here, and I had no need for two dozen nearly powerless demons. I reached out and took the token from the demon, running my fingers over the runes. The I pushed some of my power into it, feeling the change as I made the connection with the demon. If he were with Sarah, she was going to know something was up as soon as he disappeared, which meant that the second he showed up here the clock accelerated that much more.
"Yuli'grk'ishcalizi," I said, using his full name. "I summon you."
The runes on the token flared for a moment. Then the demon was hovering in front of my face.
"Diuscrucissss," he said, his eyes growing wide. He looked around in a panic. "You gavesss him my tokensss? Whysss?"
"Yuli, relax," I said. "I need you to tell me where Adam is. That's all."
"She'll killsss me. She'll killsss usss all."
"She's going to anyway if we don't stop it. Adam. That's it. Where is he?"
He dropped onto my hand, grabbing at his token. I let him take it. I didn't need it anymore. He seemed calmer once he had it. He looked up at me.
"He won't be happy to see yousss, Landonsss."
"I know. I can't worry about that right now. Where is he?"
"You can'tsss reach himsss. No onesss can."
"If he's in the mortal realm, I can reach him," I said, getting impatient. "Where is he?"
"No, you can'tssss. Isss impossible."
"Can you show me? If I can see it in my mind, I can go there."
He nodded. "I cansss show you." He held out a clawed hand. "Takesss it."
I took his hand. I could feel the power pass between us, and then I saw an almost ethereal view of Adam layered over reality. The fallen angel was sitting in a small room. A cell of some kind, with dark hewn walls and little light. He didn't look happy.
I didn't know where in the world the cell was. I didn't need to. All I had to do was picture it, and as long as it wasn't protected with runes or scripture, I could travel there.
I pulled my hand away from Yuli's. "I have what I need," I said. "Thank you."
"Be carefulsss, Landonsss," Yuli said, surprising me. "Isss dangerousss."
"Thanks for the warning," I replied.
I closed my eyes and transported myself once more.
Forty-Two
Adam looked up at me the moment I appeared in his cell, his face twisting into an angry, expectant smile.
"Of course," he said. "My hero."
"What are you talking about?" I said, glancing around the room.
It was a cell for sure, the bars of which were loaded with writing that looked too familiar, and made my stomach drop.
Djinn runes.
Damn.
"I see you figured that out for yourself," he said. "I'm a prisoner here, courtesy of my stupidity."
"Sarah?" I asked.
He nodded.
"Tell me everything."
He shook his head. "Screw you, Landon. I don't owe you anything."
"You're going to owe me your freedom in a minute. Maybe you can pay me in advance."
He laughed. "Freedom? What the hell is that worth? I was making a real difference before. Then I tried to do something good. I tried to do the right thing. I almost had you. I almost solved the equation. Then God does this to me?" He motioned to himself. His dark hair, his black eyes, his sooty wings.
"We already had this discussion," I said.
"Yeah, because you're perspective means anything to me. I knew something that apparently was more correct than I realized."
"Which was?"
"That you're a stain. A dark spot on the Divine. The problem, not the solution."
"Which is why Sarah reached out to you?"
"Yes. She came to me soon after I fell. She told me that I was right and that we could help one another. She had a plan to help me make amends with God, and to take care of you at the same time. I would get my revenge on you, and be able to return to Heaven. Who wouldn't jump at the chance?"
Nevermind the fact that God wouldn't be too accepting of an angel who was acting out in the name of revenge. "Except it didn't go the way you were hoping."
"Brilliant deduction. We started organizing other angels, trying to get a number of other seraphim and Touched on board, so we could petition God through prayer."
"You made quite an impression on Raguel," I said. "And quite a few other Touched."
"I know. I thought everything was going perfectly when Sarah told me how many would be at the Mass. She told me you might be there, too."
"And you told blue-eyes to expect me."
"Sarah wanted to make sure you would stay for the proceedings. She didn't want you disappearing."
"She wanted to kill me."
"I know. I was hopeful she would succeed." He looked away from me, at the wall to his prison. "She didn't say anything about slaughteri
ng the rest of the Touched. I didn't know she planned to do that."
"You were there when she killed the changelings. You didn't have a clue that she was off-center?"
"A bunch of demonlings? Why would I care about that?"
"Brian was an angel."
"He wasn't a real angel. He was a twisted distortion, the worst kind of changeling if you ask me."
Half his words were in line with his formally good soul. The rest were dark enough to match his outward complexion.
"When did you find out she killed them?" I asked.
"After I helped her kill the demons in Somalia. The Warlord we killed mocked me about it before he died. I confronted Sarah about the Mass, and she brushed it off as inevitable. Like the whole thing was just a thread that needed to wind its way around history. Then she admitted her full plan to me. Her desire to kill you notwithstanding, she's out of her mind. I told her as much. I thought she was going to kill me, but she brought me here instead."
"A djinn prison. Why?"
He smiled. "To capture you. Why else?"
"She knew I was going to come for you?"
"She can see into the future. I thought you knew that?"
"Her visions aren't always clear, and they aren't always correct."
"Maybe not before. She seems pretty accurate lately."
I reached out and put my hand on his bare shoulder. "Time to go," I said, closing my eyes. I pictured the steps of St. Patrick's again.
I opened my eyes. We were still in the prison.
"Shit," I said.
"She told me you're going to die in here, Landon. She told me if I kill you, she'll set me free. She'll let me remain when the others are gone."
He shifted, drawing a blade from behind him.
"You can't kill me," I said.
He stared at me, the anger obvious. "As much as I hate you, I know that's true. What choice do I have? There's no way out of here for either of us. She's seen what happens."
"She's seen a possibility. I told you, she isn't always right."
"Can I take that chance?"
"I can't decide that for you. We've got better odds if we work together, especially if it goes against what she's seen. If you attack me, I will end you."
I pulled Uriel's blade, holding it up ahead of him. How would the sword react to the power of djinn? The creatures weren't truly Divine, which explained how Sarah had been able to bring them over to her side. Would the sword be totally ineffective against them?
"Uriel's sword," Adam said, mesmerized by it. "He remade it for you?"
I nodded.
I could see his jaw working, clenching and loosening as he tried to deal with how much he hated me.
"You have God on your side," he said at last. "Killing you isn't going to help me much, is it?"
"No, but mending fences might."
He slid to his feet, his eyes flaring. "Can you get us through those bars?"
I gathered my power, pushing it against the cell door. It broke free of its moorings, slamming into the opposite wall.
"I've only got one arm," Adam said, lifting his dagger. "How many djinn do you think I can kill with it?"
Forty-Three
We moved out into the hallway. The corridor was similar to the cell, cut directly into dark stone, buried somewhere on the planet Earth. I tried to teleport again once we were beyond the bars. I had as much luck as the first time.
"Do you know where we are?" I asked.
"Deep underground," Adam said. "Somewhere in the Congo. I could feel the moisture and the humidity when they brought me here."
"Is Sarah here?"
I expected she would be. If she had known I was coming, she probably baked me a cake.
"She wasn't before. She might be now. She can travel faster than an angel with those wings of hers. Not as fast as instant. That was a good trick, by the way. Where did you learn it?"
"Dante died to give it to me," I said.
He nodded slightly. He wasn't sorry. He didn't really care that much. He was trying to do the right thing, but every thought he had was tinged with evil.
We moved through the corridor, finding a stairwell leading up. We took it, coming to a second magicked doorway. I blew this one from its hinges as well, surprising the djinn who were standing guard on the other side. They drew swords to fight us, their bodies remaining just material enough to swing the blades.
I blocked with Uriel's sword, slashing back, slipping the sword from the parry and getting it around to block again. Adam circled the other djinn cautiously, his single arm nearly a blur as he sought an opening. The blade whisked through the air toward the djinn's eye, and would have removed it if the creature hadn't dematerialized completely. It reformed a moment later, slashing down at Adam, who fell back cursing as a few more of the creatures appeared at the end of the hallway.
"Can't you do something a little more forceful?" he said as he slipped away from an incoming strike.
I gathered my power, lifting it up ahead of the incoming djinn. They ran into it as though it were a force shield, bouncing off the power. One of them put his hand to it and began summoning his magic, pushing against the barrier. It wouldn't last for long.
I ducked beneath a sword blow, planting my feet and shifting, hitting the djinn's sword with my first strike, reversing and getting the backhand through. I was surprised when I felt the blade sink into the phantasmal flesh of the creature, registering its existence.
I tried to draw its power out, preparing myself for the pain to follow.
Nothing happened.
The djinn cried out, stuck on the blade, unable to pull himself free. I cursed as well, struggling to pull the blade loose. It held fast to the creature, as though it wanted to steal its Divine energy but couldn't find any.
"Damn," I said.
Adam was struggling with his opponent, barely able to keep the pace with his one good arm. The reinforcements were almost through my shield, the power of it falling to their magic.
I didn't have much time to react. I had to get the blade out so I could keep fighting. I had to get rid of this djinn so he wouldn't be able to keep fighting.
I had an idea.
I pulled a piece of my power from the quickly crumbling barrier, pushing it gently into Uriel's blade. I felt a bit of resistance at the maneuver, as though I was trying to shove the energy through mud. It flowed through the blade, changing the blue glow to a strange green as I calmly willed the djinn's energy to relax, to release itself back into the universe where it was first formed. If I couldn't take the creature's power, maybe I could at least disperse it.
The djinn seemed confused at first, unsure of what I was doing. He tried to materialize his sword arm, to bring his blade around and into me. I flinched as it passed through my face, unable to gain purchase in the mortal realm.
Then he began to scream.
I almost screamed with him. The power started to flow back into me, the djinn's energy escaping in every direction at once, blowing out from his spirit wherever it could. A portion of that power returned to me, not much, but something, as the djinn's form became complete.
I pulled the blade from his chest, ready to move on to the rest. Then I froze in surprise. The djinn was still alive and unharmed, standing in front of me whole and healthy. He lowered his hand to the point of entry, feeling for a wound. I watched as his fully white eyes changed, the pupils becoming a very human brown.
"What have you done?" he said to me, moving his mouth in confusion after the words came out, uncertain of the feel.
I stared back at him, the rest of the escape forgotten. What had I done, indeed? At first, I wasn't sure. I couldn't quite put a finger on it. The djinn was different; I could tell that much. How?
"A little help here," Adam said, noticing me standing limply beside my attacker.
I watched as his blade came up, biting into the side of the djinn's neck. He cried out in shock and pain as the blood began to flow.
Normal, human blood.<
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"What have you done to me?" he said again, reaching up to touch the wound, his life force leaking through his fingers.
Human, I realized.
I had dispersed the energy that made him different and returned him to his original mortality.
My mind was ready to spin with the sudden implications of the discovery. If I could do the same to non-djinn, it would change everything.
There was no time to give it any more thought. My defenses fell beneath the magic assailing it, and the additional enemy forces moved in to join the fray.
Forty-Four
They approached us with swords drawn, ready to join the fight. Then the djinn who had been tangling with Adam noticed his companion slumped against the wall and bleeding to death. The entire complexion of the fight changed in an instant, the first djinn breaking off his attack and backing up toward the others.
"Sorcery," he said, the fear tangible. "Dark magic."
He spread his arms out, causing the rest of the group to come to a stop behind him.
"She didn't tell us we would be killed," he said out loud, to no one in particular.
"No," the others said together. Then one of them moved next to the first.
"This is no longer fun, brother," he said.
Djinn were powerful, immortal, and also immature. They existed to partake in vice. Drinking, gambling, sex. It was one thing to kill for sport when you didn't think you could be killed back. It was another to watch one of your comrades die.
"What did she promise you?" I asked.
"Angels," the djinn replied. "Beautiful young golden angels for our harem."
I laughed. "She lied to you twice then." I moved around Adam, approaching them with the blade. Now that my power was not coursing through it, the glow had returned to a soft blue.
"We have no wish to die," the lead djinn said. "Not now. Please, leave our home."