by S. J. West
The earnest way Xiulan voices her words, and the way she’s looking at Leah, like she might not ever see her again, tells me something is definitely wrong. I can’t exactly ask her any specific questions in front of Leah. It’s obvious she doesn’t want to worry her daughter. I know I’ll have to find a way to get her alone to see what’s actually going on.
Mason makes me a large two-egg omelet, with cubed ham, spinach, and cheese. I eat it so fast I don’t really get a chance to savor my husband’s culinary skills. So, he makes me a second one to eat at a more leisurely pace. When Malcolm and Leah leave the kitchen to settle the birds in the solarium so they can stay warm, I take advantage of their absence to speak with Xiulan.
“What’s wrong with you?” I ask her rather bluntly, not knowing how much time I have before Leah returns. “And please don’t try to lie to me.”
Xiulan gapes at me, as if she’s not used to being asked a question in such a direct manner. I don’t have time to beat around the bush, and I hope she doesn’t try to deflect my question.
Xiulan glances over her shoulder to the entrance of the kitchen, making sure no one is about to enter the room. Mason comes to sit beside me and across from Xiulan as she pulls up her right sleeve. I gasp involuntarily when I see the blood-filled polyp surrounded by spider-like black veins on her wrist.
“When did that happen?” I ask her in a whisper, knowing Xiulan’s fate has been set in stone.
“A few days ago,” Xiulan confesses, self-consciously covering up her injury.
“I’m guessing Leah doesn’t know about it,” I say.
“No,” Xiulan answers, with a resolute shake of her head, “and please don’t tell her. There’s nothing she can do to help, and I don’t want to cause her any worry.”
“Are you feeling…any effects?” I ask, having witnessed firsthand the savagery the infected are capable of committing.
“Not yet,” Xiulan replies with a sad smile, understanding what it is I’m really asking. “But when I do lose control of myself, please make sure I’m nowhere near Leah. If I ever did something to her…”
Xiulan leaves her sentence unfinished, but she doesn’t need to say more.
“I can’t offer you a cure,” I tell her, knowing one doesn’t exist, and not wanting to give her false hope. “But maybe we can help your soul move on so you’re not forced to live through the pain.”
“Thank you for your honesty. I would much rather leave this world on my own terms if possible,” Xiulan says, doing her best to put on a brave face, but I can still see her fear. And who in their right mind wouldn’t be scared? Being driven insane by the excruciating pain of living in a decomposing body was enough to frighten even the bravest of us.
“Has there been any word on where they’re keeping Lucifer?” I ask Mason.
“Yes,” Mason replies rather reluctantly, his back stiffening slightly as his gaze drops to the table, “we know where he is. Noel was able to find him and Ava.”
“I’m not going to like the answer to my next question, am I?”
Mason finally meets my gaze. “No. You’re not.”
I take a deep breath. “Where are they being held?”
“They’re being kept inside the White House.”
“Ok,” I say, wondering why this is such a bad thing, “well, I know there will be added security there, but it doesn’t sound impossible.”
“Jess,” Mason says like a warning, to prepare me for what he’s about to say next, “they’re keeping them in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center.”
“Why do you say that like it’s the worst place on earth to be?”
“Because it’s six stories below the East Wing of the White House,” Mason explains. “The only way to get inside is by going through an access tunnel, which has three vault doors leading to the only elevator that goes down to the room. The vault doors can only be opened one way.”
“How are they opened?”
“Only someone with security clearance can get through them. They’re fitted with a biometric access control system.”
“Like the controls Wayne put in Lucifer’s cell?”
“Yes.”
“I assume no one working with the rebellion has the security clearance we need to get through the doors.”
Mason shakes his head. “None of them do.”
“Then what’s the plan?” I ask, not ready to give up on the one hope Xiulan and perhaps thousands of others have to end their pain. “There is a plan, right?”
“Brand and his group are working on one,” Mason tells me, not sounding too optimistic about the outcome.
“Which is?” I press.
“Nina is trying to play on the sympathies of a fellow Watcher. Her name is Peyton Kilpatrick.”
“Will’s wife?” I ask, remembering Will mention his wife by name during our attempted rescue mission of Logan and Tristan from Robert’s mansion. “Why would she help us?”
“According to Noel and Xavier, Peyton isn’t like the others under Lucian’s command. She reached out to Xavier a couple of years ago for help. She asked him if he could hide her and her daughter somewhere that Will couldn’t find them. Xavier wasn’t sure if she was just testing him for Lucian or not, so he refused to help her. Since then, she’s made several attempts to escape on her own, but Will always finds them and brings them back home.”
“Why would she help us?” I ask.
“Ava is one of her best friends,” Mason says. “Nina thinks she can talk Peyton into helping us by promising to rescue Ava.”
“How does Peyton have access to the room they’re being held in?”
“She’s one of the few people Ravan considers to be a friend,” Mason says.
“And is she?”
“Yes…and no,” Mason replies hesitantly. “She does genuinely seem to care for Ravan, but she’s also fully aware that opening the seals can destroy this world, one she’s made her home. Peyton doesn’t want to see that happen. All she wants is a chance to live with her daughter in peace, without having to worry about Lucian and the others using her and Dillon in their plans. She wants out, and we might be able to give that to her if she helps us.”
“We should help her get away from them, whether she helps us or not,” I argue, not liking the idea of holding the possibility of freedom over someone’s head just to make them do what we want.
“I’m sure Brand will,” Mason says in an attempt to soothe my ire. “But we have to use what little leverage we have in order to get Lucifer and Ava out of there before it’s too late.”
Mason’s words bring me up short. “What do you mean by ‘too late’?”
“Ava is scheduled to be executed in front of the other angels under Lucian’s command. He wants to make an example of her, and show everyone what can happen to them if they try to betray him.”
“When is this supposed to take place?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
“It’s that soon, and Nina is still trying to convince Peyton to help us?” I ask, feeling the burden of not having enough time to do what needs to be done.
“Nina’s with her now,” Mason tells me. “I’m confident she’ll be able to convince Peyton to help us.”
Just then, Leah walks back into the kitchen with a bright smile on her face. I watch Xiulan’s expression closely as her daughter leans down and kisses her on the cheek.
“Do the birds like the solarium?” Xiulan asks.
Leah nods. “Oh, yeah. It’s the warmest room in the house. Malcolm says they should be ready to strike out on their own in a couple of weeks. I would really like it if you were here when I release them. I’ll probably become way too attached to them between now and then. I might need your help to let them go.”
Xiulan smiles wanly at her daughter. I’m sure she understands that she won’t be allowed anywhere near Leah in two weeks’ time. She’ll be driven completely insane from the torture of living inside a decomposing body if we can’t get her some help before then.
“I’ll be here if I can,” is all Xiulan can promise her only child.
Leah looks slightly confused by her mother’s answer, but doesn’t question it.
I send out a silent prayer, hoping God hears my plea for His help in rescuing Lucifer. He is the last person in the world I want to owe a favor to, but he’s also Xiulan’s best shot at an honorable death. We need him. I need him. I just have to brace myself for what he’ll ask in return for his help. I have a sneaking suspicion the price won’t be cheap, and that it will be one only I can pay.
CHAPTER SIX
Mason and I leave the kitchen to give Leah and her mother some time alone. If Lucifer is able to free Xiulan’s soul from her body, Leah won’t have much longer to spend with her mom. I feel a small sense of guilt for not telling Leah the truth, but it’s really not my secret to tell. As a parent, I can understand why Xiulan wants to keep it from Leah for as long as she can. It would only cause Leah pain to know that she’s about to lose the mother she just found. If I were in Xiulan’s shoes, I would be doing the exact same thing; enjoying what little time I have left with my child, and relishing every moment. I would postpone Leah’s heartache for as long as possible.
Mason and I find Malcolm and Brand speaking with one another in the library.
“Have you heard back from Nina yet?” I ask, needing to know if she’s successfully convinced Peyton to help us.
“Yes,” Brand tells me, not exactly looking happy about the fact. “Peyton has requested that I meet with her in person. I think she wants some reassurances that we’ll keep our end of the bargain if she helps us.”
“I can’t say I blame her,” I say. “She’ll be putting her life at risk if she does what we ask her to.”
“I don’t think it’s her own life that she’s most concerned about,” Brand says. “She’s more worried about her daughter’s well-being and getting her away from her father.”
“Which one?” I ask, knowing how twisted that particular family tree is. “Robert or Will?”
“Strangely enough, Dillon can’t stand her biological father,” Brand tells me. “Her loyalty has always been to Will over anyone else, even her own mother. Dillon’s never respected Peyton. She’s always considered her the weakest member of the family.”
“Why?” I ask.
“I think it’s because her mother submitted to Will’s demand that she sleep with a fellow Watcher in order to become pregnant.”
“Doesn’t Dillon understand Peyton only did that because she wanted a child so badly?”
“Dillon only sees it as her mother being spineless,” Brand replies. “She’s still a child in a lot of ways. She doesn’t see the bigger picture, and how much more her mother loves her than Will does.”
“So what exactly does Peyton want from us?” Mason asks. “If Dillon doesn’t want to leave Will, how are we going to force her to?”
“Peyton has chosen an isolated island in the Pacific Ocean that she wants to move to, and she wants our help to make sure Dillon never escapes from it.”
“And how exactly are you supposed to keep a flying werewolf from leaving?” I ask. “Does she want you to build her daughter a cell that she can’t escape from?”
Brand hesitates, swallowing hard before answering, “She wants us to rip off Dillon’s wings.”
I literally can’t make any words come out of my mouth. I’m too horrified by the imagery of such a barbaric act of cruelty.
Finally, I’m able to say, “How can she ask you to mutilate her own child like that? I thought you just said Peyton loves her daughter.”
“She doesn’t see it as mutilation,” Brand says. “She only sees it as protecting Dillon from herself. I think Peyton’s more worried about the damage being done to her daughter’s soul through Will’s manipulations than she is about taking away Dillon’s ability to fly.”
“And I assume that she wants one of you to do it so Dillon doesn’t know her mother is ordering it to be done,” I speculate.
Brand nods. “Yes.”
“Has she always been this much of a coward?” I ask, feeling my temper get the better of me, and realizing Dillon might be right about her mother’s character. “I don’t see how you can place any faith in someone like that.”
“It’s her weakness for Dillon’s love that makes her the only person willing to help us,” Brand points out. “She’s so desperate for it that she’ll do whatever is necessary to get it.”
“You have to know this isn’t right, Brand,” I state emphatically.
“Right or wrong,” Brand sighs, “it’s our best…no…it’s our only option at the moment. We either do what Peyton wants or lose our chance to save Ava and your Lucifer. I think we need to decide which outcome we can live with.”
“As much as I hate to admit it,” Malcolm says, “we need Lucifer. We need to know if he can release the souls of the infected. If he can, we won’t only be able to save their souls, but also the lives of those they might kill out of spite and jealousy. I don’t really think we have much of a choice here, Jess.”
“It doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
“No,” Malcolm agrees, sympathetic to my plight. “You don’t, but you need to be able to live with it for the rest of your life. We all do.”
“Can her wings be removed surgically?” I ask. “Is there a way to make sure she doesn’t have to suffer any more than necessary?”
“The bones in the wings are so strong they can’t be cut by anything man-made,” Brand tells me. “Only someone with our strength can rip them out of their sockets and permanently detach them. Trust me, if there was a less painful way, I would do it, Jess. There just isn’t. The most we can do is to give her a sedative so she isn’t awake while it’s being done.”
I close my eyes and take a deep breath because I know there’s only one decision that can be made in this situation.
“I take it from the grim expressions on your faces that you’ve reached a verdict,” I hear Nina say as she walks into the room to join us.
When I open my eyes, I see Nina take her place beside Brand.
“It wasn’t a question of deciding what needed to be done,” Brand tells her. “It was only a question of whether or not we can live with the outcome.”
“Let me be the one to remove Dillon’s wings,” Nina says, her voice as cold as ice. “There’s no reason anyone else should have to live with the guilt.”
“No,” Brand tells her resolutely, “I’ll do it. If I’m going to make this deal with Peyton, I should be the one who follows through with our promise to her.”
Nina doesn’t say anything as she continues to look at Brand. I think she knows any argument she makes would be wasted on him. However, I do see something behind her eyes that tells me she might be thinking of an alternative to his plan.
“Peyton has asked for one more thing,” Nina tells us.
“What, the mutilation of her daughter isn’t enough for her?” I ask tersely.
Nina raises her hands in the air. “I’m just the messenger here, Jess. Don’t blame me because she likes to make outrageous demands.”
“What else does she want?” Brand asks, sounding wary of Peyton’s next condition to ensure her cooperation.
“She wants us to stage Dillon’s kidnapping.”
“Kidnapping?” Brand asks, looking confused by the request. “Since when are we kidnappers?”
“Peyton wants Dillon to think of her as a hero. Once Dillon sees Peyton attempt a rescue, we give her the sedative and remove her wings. When Dillon wakes up, Peyton will tell Dillon that she did everything she could to stop us from hurting her.”
“I haven’t met this woman yet, but I already don’t like her,” I say, unable to keep my disgust over the entire situation to myself.
“She’s desperate for Dillon’s love,” Nina tells me, not defending what Peyton wanted us to do, but trying to put it into perspective for me. “I don’t agree with her methods. I don’t think anyone here does, but it’s t
he only way we can get her to help us. That’s just a cold, hard fact. We can stand our ground and refuse her demands, which will mean losing the only chance we have of saving Ava’s life and rescuing your Lucifer, or we can do what she wants and hope we can forgive ourselves later. Which one is more important to you?”
“The choice is clear,” Brand says, not waiting for any of us to make an argument one way or another. “Tell Peyton I’ll meet her by the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park in ten minutes to officially agree to her terms. Also, remind her that this needs to be set up before Ava’s execution is scheduled. We have less than twenty-four hours to do everything.”
Nina nods. “Understood.”
After Nina phases to deliver Brand’s decision to Peyton, I hear him take a deep breath and stand a bit taller. He’s taken on a great burden, one I hope doesn’t break him in the end.
Mason takes me by the hand and says, “JoJo wanted to see you as soon as you woke up. She wouldn’t tell me why, but I promised her I would take you up to her workshop.”
Silently, I’m grateful to escape what’s about to occur next. I don’t want to play a part in Dillon’s torture if I don’t have to.
Mason and I find Gabe, JoJo, Zack, and Chandler busily working in the attic of the mansion. Natural sunlight is able to filter in through the large windows on either end of the open area, bringing a warm glow to JoJo’s workspace. Back home, all of her studios have glass walls. JoJo told me once that natural sunlight was the best to design by. Long tables have been set up for cutting out pieces for the leather outfits. JoJo is sitting in front of her sewing machine, busily stitching a jacket together while the guys are all cutting out pieces at their own individual tables.
“Well, hey, stranger,” Chandler says when he sees me, abruptly abandoning the scissors in his hands with a clatter as he drops them on top of his table. He walks over to me and gives me a big hug before stepping aside so the others can greet me in the same way. “It’s good to see you rested. We were all worried about you and Leah going on so many missions one after the other, without taking any decent breaks. The two of you made the rest of us feel like slackers.”