I gathered my power around me, gritting my teeth against the immediate pain. "You need to stop your ridiculous investigation into supernaturals. You will admit that you were on a wild goose chase, and it got the better of you. You will admit, when asked, by any colleagues you involved in this, that you abducted innocent men. You have found, through your research, that there are absolutely no such things as supernatural beings." My power built, and the air was practically snapping with energy around me. "It will be so."
I hadn't raised my voice above a whisper. I saw the look in his eyes when my power took hold; first, a confused, searching gaze, a shake of the head.
"I'm sorry. What were you saying?"
"I was asking if you've found any supernaturals? I'd love to interview you for this article I'm writing!" I said, playing to his vanity, trying to ensure everything had taken hold.
He glared at me. "Miss, everyone knows there's no such thing as supernaturals. What, do you write for one of those supermarket tabloids? Stop wasting my time!" And with that, the front door slammed in my face. I gave a nod.
He'd meant every word.
The imps and I got into the car, and we pulled away. I was aware of the officer watching me from the window of his home. He'd gotten a second chance. If he acted against us again, I wouldn't be quite so gentle next time.
Okay. Next.
"My demons. Where are they?" I asked my imps.
"Most are living in a house the demon bought, not too far from the loft," Dahael said.
"Nain bought a house for them?" I asked in dismay.
They nodded. Great. Now I owed him money, too.
Bash took a breath, stopped, opened his mouth again. "As long as it's not about Brennan, please feel free to speak," I said.
"Not all your demons there, Mistress," he said.
I glanced at him. "Meaning?"
"Some lost their way, once you were gone," Dahael said. "Causing trouble. Demon Levitt hunts them. A few still can't be found."
"Is Elsoloth still around?" I asked. They both nodded, and I asked them where the house was. As they gave me directions in their gravelly voices, I drove to a large old house not too far from midtown. Most of the homes around it had been renovated already, part of the revival of midtown and the surrounding areas. But this house had a few boarded up windows, peeling paint, and a porch that sagged so badly I was sure it wouldn't hold my weight, let alone some of the huge demons who had sworn themselves to me.
I got out of the car and the front door opened. Demons, wearing their human skins, flooded out of the front door upon recognizing me. When they reached the bottom of the steps, they dropped to a knees, saluted me, heads bowed. About half of those I'd brought with me from the Nether.
"Rise," I said, feeling distinctly uncomfortable, looking around to make sure no one had noticed the odd display. "Elsoloth, my demons. I've heard you've done good work for the city, worked alongside Nain and his team."
Elsoloth nodded. "We have, my Lady. It has been a pleasure to do your work in your absence, but we are very happy to have you back among us."
"There have been losses in your ranks, Elsoloth."
He nodded, kept his eyes on me. "There have, my Lady. Many lost their way, with no light to guide them. We've been hunting the deserters, aided by the demon Levitt."
"The imps tell me you've executed all but a few." As I stood there, even amid this whole new batch of problems, I had another moment of gratitude. The sun was bright, and the air smelled like autumn. How had I never noticed how good the sun felt on my face? I tried to focus my attention back on Elsoloth. Someday, I'd take a day off and enjoy being home again. Eventually.
"Yes. There are four demons who elude us, even though we have at least one group out searching for them at all times. From what we understand, they have come under the control of the goddess, known as Eris, though she calls herself 'Strife' now. She was trapped here with us when you closed the gateways. Apparently, she wasn't happy about that. And she's not too fond of you, my Lady."
Oh. Damn it. In all of the other insanity, I'd forgotten about her. One more thing to add to the list of shit I needed to take care of.
"Their names?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. The demons watched me, and I felt the same thing from them I always did: awe, adoration, respect. They'd seen me as their true leader, due to my blood and the fact that I'd bonded with a demon when I'd married Nain. The fact that we were no longer together hardly seemed to matter. All that mattered was that I did not write them off as worthless Netherspawn, the way the other gods did.
"They were Rafel, Azra, Szilek, and Daiv," Elsoloth said.
"Azra was female," I remembered, and he nodded. "Yes. One she-demon. The rest are males." He paused, looked uncomfortable. "I don't need to tell you that the things they're doing are not good. They are truly sickening individuals."
"I will find them. Thank you for everything. I'll be calling on you soon. In the meantime, please contact me if you need anything. The imps can always find me."
"Yes, Mistress," he said, saluting, bowing his head. The other demons followed suit. "It is a pleasure to have you back."
"Thanks," I said, trying not to sound as irritated as I felt. I said a few more words, then the imps and I got back into my car and we drove off.
"I need you guys to help me find them as soon as possible," I said to the imps.
"Have been. Slippery demons. Move a lot," Bash said.
"Try harder. This can't keep going on," I said, and they both nodded. I drove, listening to the stereo.
♦ ♦ ♦
I was on Jefferson. I was in the driver's seat. I had no idea why I was on Jefferson.
I shook my head, pulled over. I turned to the imps in the back seat. "What were we doing?"
They just looked at me, confusion rolling off of them.
"Why were we on Jefferson?"
They both watched me more. "Just came from Belle Isle, Mistress," Dahael said, staring at me.
"What did we do there?" I asked. My stomach twisted. What the fuck was happening now?
"Walked on the beach. Sat on a bench. Mistress doesn't remember?" Bash asked.
"Where were we going now?"
"Home."
"How long were we on Belle Isle?" I asked, not sure if I wanted to hear it.
"Almost an hour, Mistress. Mistress?"
"Was I acting funny?"
"No. Quiet."
I put my hands back on the steering wheel, stared out the windshield at nothing. I remembered none of it. The last thing I remembered was getting into the car after talking to my demons.
Oh, this was not good.
Was this the damage I'd caused by having the immortals all bound to me? Had I scrambled my brains so much that I'd blacked out for a while? Was it going to happen again?
No. That couldn't be it. I was tired. I was overwhelmed. I was an emotional wreck. So I'd zoned out. I shook my head. That was all.
"I'm not ready to go home yet. You have any leads for me?" I asked them. They told me about a husband and wife who were being held captive by a few warlocks. Levitt was supposed to deal with it. I'd take it instead.
It was unsatisfying.
I mean. I saved the couple. That goes without saying.
The imps and I pulled up to a nice-looking house in Eastpointe, and I marched up to the front door. Didn't bother knocking. I blasted it in with a push of energy. I should have thought before I did it. It hurt like a bitch.
Powers. Right.
I pulled off my sunglasses as I walked into the living room. I wanted them to know damn well what was coming for them.
There were four of them, and they had come running when the door had crashed in. Now they saw me, and fear rolled off of them, thick, heavy, and sweet. They put their hands above their heads, in the air, a posture of surrender.
"Where are they?" I snarled, and another warlock, a thin guy in his forties with greasy hair and a scruffy beard, came out of the other room, leading th
e woman and the man, who were cuffed together at the wrist, blindfolded, gagged. He, too, had his free hand above his head.
"Come here," I told the woman, and she did, bringing her husband with her and sobbing gratefully. She was in pain, and scared to death. I could easily see into her mind. They'd used her blood, over and over again, for different bullshit spells. Half-assed attempts. The whole point of it all was that they got off on causing pain, used their pathetic amount of ability to justify it. They were planning to kill both of them. They didn't like her. She was a woman two of them had worked with, and she'd fired both of them from their shitty janitorial jobs. I removed their gags, and the imps found the key for the cuffs. I removed their blindfolds, after I put my sunglasses back on.
"So. Bunch of big, tough men when you've got a couple of Normals at your mercy. What are you going to do now?" I said quietly. One of them pissed himself.
I wanted to kill them. They were pathetic. Useless. Sickening.
I craved their deaths. And it would be so easy.
One of them was crying.
I should kill them, I thought to myself, and I shook the thought away. They were weak. No significant power to speak of. There was no need to kill them, and I was a little freaked out that I wanted to do it so badly. I could visualize their lifeless bodies, their blood running across the floor, and it was tempting.
So tempting.
"Shit," I cursed, getting myself under control. I took a few deep breaths. I could feel the imps watching me.
"Kneel," I said to them, forcing the order into their minds. All five of them sunk to their knees instantly, so hard it was a wonder they didn't break their kneecaps. I reached into my pocket, found the zip ties I still carried out of habit. I handed them to the imps.
"Secure them, please," I said to them, and they went to work binding the warlocks' ankles and wrists. I turned to their victims, who were standing next to me. The man was in shock. They'd beaten him up pretty badly, and his eyes were swollen shut. The woman was trying not to freak out over the appearance of the imps, and she was wondering if I'd let her kick her captors a few times.
"Go for it," I told her, and she looked at me in surprise.
"It's okay. I don't really want to touch them at all," she said after a few seconds. She'd been tempted, though. "What are you?"
I gently made my way into her mind. I removed a lot of what she'd seen. Me controlling her abductors' minds. The imps. "You are going to call the police. You are going to tell them who you are. They've been looking for you. You will tell them to come to 14655 Lincoln. That's where you are. And when they ask how this happened, you will say the Angel rescued you, that she subdued your captors and tied them up. You will not be able to describe me, other than that I have dark hair. It will be done." I could have left that information out of it. But it was time for the troublemakers in my city to know I was back, and their days were numbered.
And my power took hold, and I wanted to scream from the pain. I could feel my nose bleeding again, that sensation of my body being shredded from the inside out. And then I left before I fell down in front of the woman I'd rescued. She'd had enough trauma for a while without that.
The imps and I drove away, and I had to pull over on the freeway when the nausea got too bad. I was sick at the side of the road as cars barreled past me at seventy miles per hour, and in my pain, for just a moment, I left my mind unshielded and I could hear the thoughts of the people in every single car that passed me. I whimpered against the onslaught and tried hard to pull it together.
Once there was nothing left to throw up, I crawled back into the car and rested my forehead against the steering wheel. I could feel the imps watching me, concern radiating from both of them.
I did my best at cleaning myself up with a few tissues, and, once I was sure I could drive without hurting anyone, I pulled back into traffic.
"Should rest, Mistress," Dahael said quietly.
"I will." I drove for a while in silence, taking I-94 back toward Midtown. "I should go to my house."
"Should be with the people you love. You were missed," Bash said.
"I feel out of place now. Maybe it's been too long. They've moved on, and I only feel like I left a few weeks ago."
"Haven't moved on. Most part, waited."
"For the most part," I grumbled, thinking of Brennan.
"He waited, too. Was weak," Dahael said.
I didn't want to talk about it. We drove the rest of the way in silence, and I pulled into the parking garage and headed up into the loft. Ada was in the living room, Sean in a little bouncy seat thing on the floor near where she sat. She was knitting something, soft blue and green yarn on her needles, and she looked up and smiled when I walked in.
"Hey, girl," she said. I kicked my shoes off and headed toward the living room.
"What's going on?" I asked her as I fell into Nain's chair.
"Brennan and Levitt are out on patrol. Stone is having lunch with Jones," she paused, grinned at me. "You hear Jones' troublemaker went back on his thoughts about supers?"
I smiled. "I wonder what made him change his mind."
"Yes, I do wonder," she said, laughing. She set her knitting down in her lap and leaned forward, put a warm hand on my arm. "It is so good to have you back, baby girl."
"It's good to be back, Ades," I said.
She studied me, her warm brown eyes seeming to take in more than she should. "You went through hell, and you came back changed. I can see it. Know that you are loved, Molly. Every one of us missed you. It felt like part of our hearts was missing, the whole time you were gone. Nain and Brennan were both a mess in their own ways. And Stone and I just kept wishing you'd be back, because there was nothing else we could do. Nothing was right while you were gone."
"I feel so out of place," I said softly.
"That's normal. You're back from something none of us can understand. Normal life maybe isn't so normal for you anymore. Give it time, honey. Make your new normal. Just promise you'll let us be part of it." And then she smiled, and I couldn't help smiling back.
"Thanks, Ada."
She nodded and picked up her knitting again. "Nain is here. He's up on the roof deck. And your immortal friend? Hephaestus?" I nodded and she continued. "He moved in while you were gone. Shanti's old room."
Which reminded me that I needed to bind him to me again. If I even could. My powers were so screwy now that there was no telling what would work anymore.
I sat with Ada a while longer. I knew there was something I needed to do, but I kind of dreaded doing it. I excused myself, got up, and headed up the stairway that led to the roof.
Chapter Fifteen
I walked out onto the roof and was hit with a barrage of memories. Learning how to fight better. Learning how to shield my mind. Kissing Nain for the first time. Arguing with Nain, constantly. Mourning him.
And there he was, punching the bag I'd used so often when I'd been mourning him. Sweat darkened the back of the dark gray t-shirt he wore. He was facing away from me, and I watched for a few moments as he hit the bag, huge muscles bunching with each movement, then a hard thump as his punches connected. If it had been a person, the poor guy would have been dead after one punch.
I considered going back inside. There was no need to do this now. I had myself convinced of it, and was turning to head back in, when he stopped hitting the bag and stood still. He still faced away from me. "Are you leaving already?" he asked, and just the sound of his voice brought back hundreds of memories.
"I didn't want to bother you."
"Too late."
I let that go. Stood in silence as he wiped the sweat off of his face and guzzled most of a bottle of water. He turned and looked at me, and we stood in silence for several long, uncomfortable moments. "What do you want, Molls?" he finally asked.
I shrugged. Looked out at the city, because looking at my former husband still did all kinds of crazy shit to me. "I think I wanted to say I'm sorry," I said.
H
e snorted and sat on the wall, watched me. "Yeah? And what exactly are you sorry for?"
"I think I'm maybe getting a taste now of what I put you through."
He was silent. I could feel his eyes on me. He was pissed. Hurt. And underneath it all was the familiar undercurrent of desire. "Mr. Perfect isn't as perfect as he seemed, huh?"
I didn't answer.
"Tell me. I want to hear it. What exactly is it you thought you put me through?" he asked, and I started to regret starting this with him. But I owed him this, if nothing else.
"You died trying to keep me safe. I mean, yeah. You had your agenda, too. You wanted Astaroth dead, finally. But you wanted to keep me alive. Came back in the Nether, miracle of miracles. And you waited, and tried to find a way back to me. And then you did. And nothing was the same," I said. "And maybe thoughts of coming back to me kept you sane during the worst times. Maybe fantasies about the way it would be were all that kept you from giving up. And the reality is something else, and now you're not sure what was real and what wasn't," I finished, my voice barely above a whisper. I knew he could hear me, though.
We stayed in silence for a while. His emotions roared over me.
"I never expected you to wait for me. I didn't want you to be alone. If thoughts of you kept me going, well, whatever gets you through, right? Do I wish things were different? Did I fantasize about coming back and spending days with you trapped in our bed? Yeah. But I'm not going to hate you for living when you thought I was dead."
"Our bond is broken," I said, because I didn't know what else to say.
"Yeah. Your blood still runs through my veins, though. I can still feel it." He paused. "Why do you think it finally broke? It was alive when I saw you in the Nether."
I shrugged. "I died a few dozen times. I guess even the demon marriage bond has its limits."
I sat down on the wall beside him, and we didn't say anything for a while. "We're okay, Molls. We always will be," he said. "And if you and Brennan ever split, you know where to find me."
I shook my head, and he laughed. "Hey. Your bond makes it so he can feel you, right?"
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