“Certainly,” Pan responded, rising and going back into the house.
Riley looked back and forth between me and Quinn. “Can I talk to you two alone for a moment?”
Anna cast him a cold look. “It’s okay. I’ll go inside.” She got up and strode into the house.
“We can’t just let her walk out of here,” Riley said the moment she was out of range. Not that she couldn’t hear anyway with her vamp ears.
“It’s a risk, I get it,” I said. “She could be lying again. But if she’s not, she could be invaluable.”
Riley made a face. “There’s a lot at stake here. Like, the whole city of Dublin.”
Quinn leaned forward and placed a hand on his thigh. “We wouldn’t even have this intel if Anna hadn’t offered it.”
“But what if it’s bogus?” he pressed.
“Could be,” I said. “But what’s going to happen if we force her to stay with us? That’s one more person we have to keep an eye on. We’ve already got Scorch, for Christ’s sake. Not to mention we lose any advantage of possibly getting her help.”
“So, what’s the worst case scenario?” Quinn asked. “We let her go, she’s lying, we don’t know anything, we’re back at ground zero trying to figure out Lucifer’s plans. Which is where we already are. Unless we give her the chance to get the info for us.”
Riley frowned. “It just doesn’t sit right with me.”
I met his eyes and a knowing passed between us, of siblings you couldn’t trust. Siblings who had done unforgiveable things.
“What?” Quinn asked.
“Nothing,” Riley said with a sigh. “I guess you two are right. We gain nothing if we keep her here, we at least have the potential to gain something if we let her go.”
“Okay, we’re agreed then.” I got up and went to find Anna. She was at the front of the house, staring out one of the large windows made of rosy-hued quartz. She didn’t turn as I approached, but a slight stiffening of her shoulders told me she knew I was there. “Sorry about that. You understand his hesitance, of course.”
“Of course,” she said. After a moment she turned around. “And your decision?”
“We’re going to give you a shot to get the intel from Lucifer.” I met her eyes and held them. “You’d probably better get back to Alexander as soon as possible. The longer you’re gone, the more suspicious they’re going to be.”
Anna nodded. “Let’s pray it works out. If not…”
“I’m glad we’re on the same side again,” I said.
Her expression darkened and her eyes sparked. “This doesn’t mean I forgive you, Zyan. We just happen to want the same thing now.”
“Understood,” I said. “I wasn’t expecting you to.”
An awkward silence fell. I turned and walked back out onto the deck. Pan had returned with a scroll of paper, which Quinn took from him. She whispered a few words and the paper glowed brightly, then faded back to normal-looking paper. Anna came out of the house, and Quinn passed it over to her.
“When you get the info, write it on the scroll and think of me. I’ll get the message.”
“Okay.” Anna looked around at all of us. “Hopefully I’ll have news soon.”
“I’ll make a door for you,” Pan said, stepping forward, staff held high. “Where to?”
“St. Stephen’s Square,” she said.
A moment later, the door opened and she stepped through without a backward glance. I felt my stomach rise up in my throat. Had she really changed her mind about Alexander? And did that mean we had hope of a future together? I quickly shoved down the flutter in my chest at the thought. Hope was something I couldn’t afford.
I turned to Pan. “Now. To our other problem. Have you learned anything else about the missing supes? Michael and the angelic warriors are about to tear down the city trying to find him. Things are about to get ugly.” I purposefully didn’t mention Eli, though it wasn’t like he would forget.
“Indeed. Michael is a most zealous fellow,” he said, folding himself into one of the chairs again. He didn’t speak for a moment, drawing out the silence, enjoying the impatient looks on our faces no doubt. “It actually wasn’t a lucky coincidence that I ran into you at Meziphestas’s marketplace. I was looking for you.”
I blinked, absorbing this new information.
“I mentioned before I was looking for a missing faerie. That wasn’t entirely true. I was looking for the missing horse shifter, who happens to be my… what’s the phrase you use on Earth…god child?”
“A shifter is your god child?” Riley asked, eyes bugging out of his head. “How does that happen?”
“How it happened is not relevant. What’s important is that I will do anything to ensure her safety. I realize now that my previous request of Elijah is not going to be fruitful, not with Michael continuing his rampage.” Pan looked at all three of us in turn. “Ambriel and Kara, my god child, were not kidnapped.”
“I knew it!” Riley exclaimed. “The angels and NHTF set it all up to start a supe uprising!”
“No,” Pan said flatly. “They are lovers.”
“Lovers?” I repeated.
“An angel and a shifter?” Quinn asked.
“That’s not exactly smiled upon by the angelic forces,” Riley added.
“Exactly,” said Pan. “So the two of them ran away. I thought at first she’d been abducted. That’s what the horse shifters seemed to think.”
“And the angels, as far as Ambriel was concerned,” I said.
Pan nodded. “It was a logical assumption. But an incorrect one. They left so they can be together. They don’t want to be found. It’s why I asked Elijah to stop looking for them.”
“Well, it’s not up to me and Eli anymore,” I said, making a face. “Archangel Michael kicked me off the task force and Eli’s being forced to do whatever the angelic forces want him to. I don’t blame Ambriel for wanting to get out of there.”
Quinn piped in, “They have a block on anyone finding them. We’ve tried repeatedly. And the NHTF used a special tracking device with no luck. Maybe they’ll be safe.”
I shook my head. “Michael won’t stop until he’s found them or someone to blame. And I’m not sure if I’m more afraid of what will happen if he does find them, or if he doesn’t.”
Pan’s face scrunched in frustration, a look I’d never seen him wear before. He wasn’t used to not getting his way. “Michael must give up his search. It will be most… unwise of him to continue.”
“Well, he won’t listen to me, that’s for sure. The guy’s a gigantic asshat,” I said.
“Perhaps I can reason with him,” Pan said, narrowing his eyes.
I pictured for a moment Pan and Michael squaring off, and suppressed a shiver. “Well, good luck with that. In the meantime, we need to get ready for whatever Lucifer has going on.”
Pan rose from his seat. “I’m glad I could be of assistance.”
I had purposefully not said thank you, a very bad idea with faeries.
“And having Zyan Star in my debt is always an exciting prospect,” he added.
Shit. Not that I was really expecting him to forget I owed him a favor. Two favors, actually. “No more gladiator rings, okay?” I groaned.
He smiled devilishly. “Perhaps I can make it something more comfortable next time.”
Man, I really didn’t like the silky way he said comfortable. Maybe the gladiator ring was better.
“Shall I open a door for you?” he asked.
“Sure, that’s a bit quicker. I can only take one of them with me at a time through the pathways,” I said. “Do you know Magdalene the harpy?” Pan nodded. “Her place.”
“Oh, and nice house,” Riley said, whistling with appreciation.
Pan smiled and used his staff to cut a doorway for us. We stepped out into the smell of swamp water and bird shit. I wrinkled my nose and waved farewell. The last thing I saw were Pan’s twinkling green eyes.
The door closed behind us. We stood on Magdalene’s dock
. Scorch stood there in the fading light of the sun, his mouth dropped open in surprise.
“Hey, dude,” Riley said.
Quinn went over and pulled the kid into a hug, which made him blush from head to toe.
The sound of clacking clawed feet announced Magdalene before we saw her body come shuffling out of the darkness. “Dinner’s ready soon, handsome thing,” she said to Riley. “Go wash up.”
Now Riley was the one blushing.
“Dan’s going to be jealous when he hears about all the attention his man was getting in Dublin,” Quinn teased.
“Be quiet,” Riley said, tussling her hair.
“You’re back!” Donovan approached from the house, lifting me off the ground and pulling me into a crushing hug.
“Babe, I can’t breathe.”
He set me down. “Sorry. How did everything go?”
We recounted the rather lengthy events that had unfolded. When we were done, he said, “Man. Lucifer sure knows how to stir things up. Lord of chaos.”
“Tell me about it.” I rolled my eyes. “But speaking of dinner, I need to go find my own.”
“Want me to come with you?” Donovan asked.
I shivered. The idea of anyone watching me hunt was unpleasant. I didn’t even like it myself. “No, but thanks. I need to be alone for that.”
He looked slightly crestfallen but he nodded.
I stepped through the pathways and landed in Sheriff Street Flats on the north side of the Liffey. This place was usually crawling with criminals, so I wouldn’t have to look too long for a bite to eat. I didn’t need another crazy incident like the last time.
Shadows lay thick and malleable in the alleys I walked down. Most of the streetlights were burned out or broken, so there wasn’t a whole lot to combat the darkness. The foul smell of urine, both old and fresh, hit my nose. Vomit, too. Not exactly a classy place, this. But classy wasn’t what I was looking for. My aura of magic stretched out, calling, searching.
I heard raised voices ahead, and the sound of busting glass. Several men shoved another man on the ground and kicked him a few times before stealing his wallet. They weren’t my target, though. Lowlife assholes, for sure, but not truly bad souls. Just guys that had it hard growing up and didn’t know any other way. I steered clear of them, heading down a different alley. Before long I felt someone following me. I’d picked up a stray rapist. How sweet.
Walking at a normal pace as if oblivious to my tail, I headed down another alley inhabited by a couple trash dumpsters and dead-ending in a chain link fence. When I reached the end, I turned around and faced my would-be rapist. Rapists were my favorite in a way. They tasted godawful, but then all my prey did. Nothing quite compared to the look on their faces when the tables turned. When they realized their sick exercise of power and control had failed big time. They were used to victimizing women, using strength and brute force to their advantage. Well, that wasn’t gonna work this time.
“Why, hello there,” I said to my attacker.
His eyes flickered with the first shade of doubt. He had been expecting fear.
I wasn’t in the mood to further toy with him, however. I needed to get back. Opening wide the flood gates of my magic, I called him to me, reeling him in like a pathetic fish. He staggered forward, his eyes glazed over. I yanked his head back and pressed my lips to his, ever so lightly, and called forth his soul. Ash, smoke and bile, it poured into me. My demon mark glowed slightly in the plum darkness, which almost broke my concentration. But I finished my kill and let the rapist’s body fall to the ground.
As his body hit with a thump, something moved by one of the dumpsters. My eyes darted to a pile of trash. I cursed out loud. Someone had been sleeping between the dumpster and the building, and I hadn’t noticed when I walked in. I took two steps forward. The trash shook and a whimper rose from the pile.
It was a girl, not older than ten. She shook in terror, her blue eyes wide as the moon. I opened my mouth to reassure her, but the flashback hit me so hard, I fell to my knees.
The village lay burning before me. What had been so pure and clean, all green fields and blue skies and glistening souls, had fallen to my need. The power surging through me was like nothing I’d felt before. With each soul I claimed it grew, a towering inferno. This whole island would be mine, I would be Queen and all would bow at my feet. Never would I be victimized again.
Screams rang in my ears, and it was like music. Yes. Fear me. Worship me. Men ran at me with mediocre weapons and I flung them back with a simple flick of my wrist, my power and magic turning them to dust. I called their souls into me, and I glowed. Even God would stand in awe of me now. I bent over a figure trying to crawl away on hands and knees, and I ripped her soul from her body with the ease of separating the wings of a butterfly. My eyes closed in ecstasy as the soul shivered into me. The body flipped over face up. It was a child. A girl. Turquoise eyes stared up at me, sightless.
And the reality of what I had done came swooping down on me, an angel of darkness, and I screamed…
I blinked into the sudden darkness, my body shaking from head to toe. My eyes moved to the dumpster but the girl had fled. I wasn’t, however, alone.
She stood like a bonfire in the night, flaming hair whipping in the breeze. Her long white dress hung almost to her bare feet. Her gray eyes bored into mine.
“Remembering the good times?” Olga said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
I froze, unable to speak. Olga stepped forward, lightly, with feline grace. Her dress swished around her ankles.
“Those were the best of times, Zyan,” she said, her voice a honeyed whisper. “All that power. How could you just throw it away?”
She’d called me by my new name. Which meant she’d been keeping track of me. “I slaughtered innocent people.” My voice came out ragged, as if I’d downed a gallon of gasoline. “I wouldn’t call that the best of times.”
Olga’s eyes burned bright. She stood only a couple feet from me now, her head cocked to the side like a small bird. So seemingly fragile, a delicate china doll. “Humans are our food like the gazelle is the lion’s. Does the gazelle not feel terror as it is chased, as its flesh is torn apart? But no one hates the lion. It hasn’t done anything wrong. If anything, we are more merciful, as we don’t even need to chase our prey. They can be gone and dead in a moment without having felt a thing.”
My teeth ground together. “It’s not the same, and you know it.”
“Think what you want,” she said, taking another step toward me.
“Stop. Don’t come near me—”
“Or what?” She laughed. “Your magic is out of practice. You cannot begin to challenge me.” Her expression changed. In one moment she looked the innocent doll, the next moment her face shifted, fluid as candle wax, as she dropped the mask and her gaze became truly terrible. “Do not forget that you owe me a great debt.”
“I owe you nothing!” I spat. “You took my soul.”
“Who needs a soul when you have an eternity of endless power?” she snapped. “Don’t be pathetic, as you were when I found you. Dying, from nothing at all but a broken heart. Humans are weak and useless. You should thank me with every beat of your heart, every breath you take, every moment you exist as the limitless being I made you into.”
“We’ll have to agree to disagree,” I said, holding my gaze level with hers despite the fear that clawed at my insides. “Now, what do you want from me? If you’re going to try to kill me, let’s get on with it.”
Her face shifted fluidly again, the false innocence back. “Why, Zyan, why would I want to destroy my greatest creation?” Her laughter tinkled down the alleyway.
“Why have you been following me?”
“You’re the one that came back here. This is my domain.” Her eyes flickered with rage again.
“I had business to attend to. I’ll be gone soon.”
“You are not leaving so easily. Not again.”
Her power crashed into me. I
flew backwards into the chain link fence. Olga’s beautiful features twisted into something truly inhuman, her eyes burning orbs, her teeth jagged shards. Her hair floated up around her in a blood-red cloud, and everything in the alleyway vibrated and began to hover in the air, even the dumpsters. Glass exploded, showering us from the windows of the buildings on either side. Flashes of lightning pulsed overhead. My body stretched, rising into the air, pulled in every direction at once. A cry of agony ripped from my throat.
Olga lurched forward as something hit her from behind. A white flash, followed quickly by another. Everything dropped to the ground, including me. I saw a flicker of gold, and then someone was grabbing me, yanking me into the sky. Wings surrounded me, and the smell of sunshine and sage.
“Eli,” I gasped. “Impeccable timing.”
He didn’t say anything, just pulled me tighter against his chest as we flew through the night. We traveled several miles before dropping out of the sky onto a sailboat on the south side of the bay.
“Are you okay?” he asked, resting one palm on each side of my face.
“Physically, yes. Emotionally, no.” I took in a shaky breath, and we grabbed onto each other as the boat rolled slightly beneath us. The lights of the harbor twinkled, as did the city in the distance. Ocean air whipped in my face and I worked on inhaling and exhaling until I felt like I could speak. “What about you?”
“Things aren’t good.” Eli’s jaw tightened, his eyes stormy. “I don’t have much time. I was trying to sneak out and find you anyway, but then—”
“Then what?”
He looked down at me. “I can feel you. Your presence. When you get distressed.”
My mouth made a small O of surprise. Though when I thought back to our trip to L.A., and the line of energy I had felt between us, and how I’d been able to jump through the pathways by focusing on Eli after I’d seen Olga at my family home, maybe it wasn’t such a bombshell. “Um, really? Since when?”
“The last month or so. To be honest, it scares me. I’ve never experienced that with anyone before.”
I said nothing, not sure what to make of it.
Whiskey and Angelfire Page 16