jinn 01 - ember

by Schulte, Liz

  She sighed. “Men.”

  BAKER SMILED. “WE were talking about how you ruined Holden.”

  “You say ruined. I say improved.” I winked at him. “Where are we going?”

  He handed me a piece of paper with an address.

  “Want to take a cab?” I asked. Baker couldn’t transport and I couldn’t take him with me. When guardians transported, we dissolved into light. Then we had to piece ourselves back together. People with bodies that were more than an illusion couldn’t do it.

  “Works for me, angel.” His head was tilted back against the couch and his eyes were closed.

  I called a taxi company and looked at Baker. Femi told me he had been acting weird, and I could see the melancholy and pain in his aura, but outwardly he appeared normal.

  “Stop eyeballing me.” He didn’t open his eyes.

  I went over and sat by him. “What’s wrong?”

  “People keep asking me what’s wrong. Maybe that’s what’s bugging me.”

  “Fine. I won’t say another word about it. You just sit there, festering and stewing over whatever. It’s not like anyone here wants to help you or at the very least could listen and maybe make you see it more clearly.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “You have it covered. You don’t need anyone.”

  He finally looked at me. “Does that actually work on Holden?”

  “No. I just read his mind.”

  Baker shook his head. “I wouldn’t just be telling you, though, would I?”

  The connection Holden and I shared was convenient, but it wasn’t impossible to bypass. Baker probably didn’t want to reveal weakness when he knew Holden would hear. I understood that. “He doesn’t have to know.”

  Baker raised an eyebrow. “You can turn it off?”

  “I can keep him out.”

  He considered it, looking like he would like nothing more than to talk about whatever was weighing on him. “I don’t want to come between the two of you. The last thing I need to do is cause the boss-man more problems.”

  “You couldn’t come between us if you tried. Holden would never say it, but he cares. If it makes you more comfortable, I’ll make it so he can’t hear, and we can talk about whatever it is.” I crossed my legs. “I just want to help.”

  “What if what I tell you makes it necessary for you to keep a secret from him?”

  Secrets never really went well between Holden and me. However, Baker shouldn’t be keeping things from Holden either. From experience, I knew those types of things always came up at the worst possible moment. “I’m not going to keep secrets from Holden, but if you tell me, we can figure out how to tell him in the right way.”

  “Is it off now?”

  I nodded. “He can’t hear us.”

  He licked his lips. “I’ve been seeing Maggie.”

  My heart stopped. My hand froze in front of me as my jaw fell open. Holden could never know. “Why? You can’t. Holden—” I made a face, unable to force the words from my mouth because my brain had no idea what it wanted to say. “Crap. Is it serious?”

  He sucked in a breath through his front teeth. “Not exactly the reaction I had hoped for.” He pressed his lips together. “It doesn’t matter. I’m breaking it off with her…today. That’s why tried to get away from Femi. Only I couldn’t do it this afternoon. The words wouldn’t come out. I will call her tonight. We’re definitely finished. Love just isn’t in the stars for me.”

  My heart broke a little when I saw his resigned face. He really did like her a lot. Maybe he loved her—it was hard to say. Holden was adamant about not wanting his one living relative to be involved in this world. He wouldn’t even meet her. Baker dating the girl might make him a little homicidal. Or on the other hand, it might make him at least acknowledge her. It was hard to say, but one thing was clear—there was no way Holden would give his blessing on this match without a lot of persuasion. “Why are you breaking up with her?”

  “I don’t want Maggie to become collateral damage. Also I would prefer to keep living my life. The boss would remove my liver through my nose if he found out.”

  I took a couple deep breaths. This was complicated and something we certainly didn’t need right now. However, I couldn’t take away his chance to be happy because it was inconvenient. First, though, since Baker was seeing Maggie, she was in more danger than Holden or I had previously thought. “You should have told me sooner, Baker.”

  He ran his hand over his short hair. “I know.”

  I prayed for Quintus and he appeared. He smiled at us. “How are you feeling, Baker?”

  Baker grumbled.

  “Quintus, you know that human we ended up not having you watch?” He nodded. “I changed my mind. I think she needs protection.”

  “Okay. Sure.” He frowned. “Who is this girl?”

  I looked at Baker. “She is someone inadvertently connected to this world and she doesn’t know it. I just want to make sure she is safe.”

  “Understood.” He tilted his head up toward the sky. “I have a few things to wrap up then I will find her.”

  I gave him a quick hug. “Thanks.”

  I sat back down by Baker. “Okay, here’s what we are going to do. You aren’t going to break up with her.”

  “I’m not?”

  “No. You like her, Baker. I want you to be happy—we all want you to be happy.” I licked my dry lips. “We just have to tell Holden and Maggie at the right time.”

  “What do you mean ‘tell Maggie’?”

  “I mean she has a right to know the world you are a part of if she is going to be in your life. She also has a right to know Holden. He doesn’t see it that way, but he doesn’t really have any ground to stand on once you tell her. Obviously, you need to be certain how you feel about her because once Holden knows, you can’t go back.”

  “Are you trying to get me bumped off? Telling Holden is one thing. Telling Maggie without his permission—that’s going to get me killed.”

  “He won’t kill you. He might maim you slightly, but you’ll still be alive.” I smiled at him. “You can grow back parts, right.”

  Poor Baker didn’t look amused.

  I had mercy on him and stopped teasing. “We just need to time this right. Everything will work out.”

  “And right now, on the dawn of having a showdown with Hell, is the right time?”

  I smiled a little. “It’s the perfect time. Wait until we are a little bit deeper in and then tell him.”

  “Did you hit the ol’ noggin, angel? Steam is going to come out of his ears and his head will pop clean off.”

  “Maybe. But right now he needs you and he has too much going on to obsess about this. The less time he has to think, the less time he has to be angry. You found Maggie for a reason.”

  “Yeah, because you asked me to.”

  I shook my head. “No. Perhaps her destiny collides with ours. I was a Dominion angel. Destiny is sort of my thing. None of this happened by chance—even Holden can’t deny that. He can’t keep ignoring her.” Holden would come around. He had to. It might take some time, but he would. “It will work out. Trust me.”

  “Maybe I should just move on? I mean, it isn’t really worth losing”—he held out his hands—“this. I have a life here.”

  I knew what he meant. It was hard to allow change into your life. We all struggled with it, but without change, the greatest moments would pass you by. If I hadn’t fulfilled my destiny, Holden and I never would have stayed together. I never would have gotten to see my mother again. I never would have met Baker or Femi. Change had made all of that possible. It led me down a sometimes terrifying road, but the prize at the end made the journey to get there somehow less impossible in my memory. “If you can just move on, then it’s probably for the best because you don’t really love her.” The door buzzed. “But if you can’t, then we’ll find a way to make it work. Cab’s here.”

  Baker followed me down the stairs and was quiet the whole ride to a bar named B-Side. He c
aught my arm just before we went in. “You’re the bee’s knees, angel.” His aura was brighter, more hopeful. “I don’t know what Holden was like before he met you, but I’m positive he’s better for knowing you.” He kissed both my cheeks but didn’t actually tell me whether or not he loved her.

  I gave him a half hug. “It will work out. I promise. What’s our plan in here?”

  “We’re just watching. Seeing what’s what and who’s hanging around.”

  Inside there was dark wood paneling covering everything, and old rickety booths were scattered around the room. Baker nodded me toward a table and went up the bar. I sat, though the cheap vinyl stuck to my jeans. I was surrounded by dark auras but nothing supernatural. They were all humans as far as I could tell. Baker was right—none of them would be hard to take. Baker put a beer in a foggy, chipped glass in front of me.

  “Do you really think they would choose people like this?” I asked.

  “Yeah, sure. Easy pickings.”

  I pictured all the demons I had met with Holden. Most of them didn’t look like this. A few of the lower level ones did, but not the ones he’d dealt with. I couldn’t imagine they would waste their time here. “Maybe lower level demons. Not the ones we will be fighting with.”

  “Snob.” He winked. “We’ll follow the lower levels to the higher levels. It is safest this way. You can handle these demons, but I don’t know what they are sending or what you can defeat. You haven’t really been tested.”

  Ice flowed through my veins and the angel opened her eyes. It was hard to describe what it felt like to be both human and an angel. On one hand, I had the memories of my human life and the emotions that went with that. On the other, when the angel part of me decided to wake up, I had millennia of memories and experiences as a soldier of Heaven. Demons didn’t frighten me. Hell didn’t frighten her. “I have been tested more times than even one such as you could fathom.” My voice was deeper and more booming than I would have liked. I fought the angel back down.

  Baker leaned forward, his hand hovering near me, and held my eyes, unflinching, until I had her more under control. “I’m not your enemy, angel. Save it for the demons.”

  Olivia, I’ve been waiting for you. The same voice was back in my head. Holden was shut out, but this voice had made it through. It was so familiar, but too soft to recognize. A dark one approaches.

  Who are you? I thought.

  There was no response. I had the overwhelming urge to go to the voice and see who it was. It tugged at me like Uriel’s call, only it wasn’t him.

  “I have to go.”

  Baker took a drink. “Okay, where are we going?”

  I shook my head. “You can’t come with me.” Whoever it was had to be an angel. The voice was compelling. Maybe someone in Heaven was trying to warn me of what was to come. Falling meant I’d been cut off from most other angels, but maybe I still had friends who wanted to help.

  “No. We stick together— no splitting up.”

  “It’s an angel thing, I think. I have to do it alone.”

  “Not a chance, sweetheart. Right now you’re with me and I’m not letting you out of my sight even if I have to handcuff myself to you.” He wrapped his fingers around my forearm and forced me to look at him. “They wouldn’t have come if they didn’t have a plan for you. Unless you know where you are going or who you are meeting with certainty, you don’t go.”

  “If I take you with me, it will kill you.” I pulled away from him.

  “Then I guess you’re stuck here with me.”

  Olivia. The voice was back. “In the corner. It rises.”

  My eyes darted around the room until I saw it. The humans couldn’t see it, but in the darkest corner of the bar, an even darker shadow rose from the floor. Pieces of it smoldered like burnt coals with thin lines of red and wisps of smoke rising up from the mostly human-shaped form. “Can you see that?” I asked him.

  Baker looked at the corner. “See what?”

  How was a demon rising up from nothing in the corner of a bar? My urge was to destroy it, but Baker clamped his hand down on my arm like he knew I was about to attack. The angel struggled to get free, but somehow Baker’s hand on my arm kept the human part of me in control. I watched as it traveled the room and chose a victim, seeping in through its skin.

  The man blinked several times then ordered another drink.

  “He’s possessed,” I said under my breath.

  “What did you see?”

  “The demon. It was a Belial.”

  Baker stared at the side of my face. “You know the demon by name?”

  I removed his hand from my arm. “I am a soldier of Heaven, Baker. Of course I do.”

  The man stood and walked out, never looking in our direction.

  “That’s our cue.” Baker pulled me out of the booth.

  We followed the tall, skinny man with greasy black hair to a building that looked an awful lot like a church. Rundown and possibly abandoned, but a it was church. My stomach twisted and anger simmered underneath.

  Baker’s eyebrows were knitted together. “If he’s possessed, why a church?”

  “It’s a perversion. They are turning hallowed ground into something unholy. It’s the perfect spot for them really.” I licked my lips and tightened my fists against the urge to reclaim what was ours. I closed my eyes. There were no more than four demons in there. Brimstone tickled my nose. Something else was there too. Not demonic but just as unholy. They needed to be sent back to where they’d come from. “There’s only four. I could probably clear them out.” I started across the street.

  Baker pulled me back. “Don’t let the angel run off with you, doll. We’re just watching.”

  The urge to destroy faded. My head had a dull ache at the base of my skull as I stared at the building. Why had the angel retreated when Baker put his hand on me? Maybe she’d sensed a friend… Or maybe there was more to him than he had previously let on. “We need to get in there. Watching from out here, won’t tell us anything.”

  “What’s your idea? You can’t go in. They will recognize you for what you are.”

  I smiled. “Not if they don’t see me.”

  “And how are you going to pull that off, Houdini?”

  I patted his shoulder. “Distraction.”

  He gave me a long side-eye look. “I’m not dipping a toe into that death trap.”

  “Do you have a burner?”

  “Yeah.” He handed a phone to me. “Why?”

  “All I have to do is get this in there. I’ll be quick. You need to go in and make a scene. Then I will be out before they can show you to the door.” I dialed my phone number in the burner, handed it back to him, and answered the call.

  “The battery isn’t going to last forever on that thing. A couple hours tops.”

  “Well, it’s all we have. A couple hours of hearing are better than none.”

  “And how am I going to get inside?”

  “Surely someone as old and resourceful as you can figure it out.” I wasn’t sure exactly how old he was, but he was older than he let anyone believe. I was sure he’d told me the truth about the man who had raised him, Shorty McGovern, but I didn’t believe the exact circumstances under which he’d been found. Baker was old. There was no way he was a baby in the 1920s—unless he’d shifted into one.

  He raised an eyebrow. “How old do you think I am?”

  “Older than Holden.”

  He smiled and pointed from his eye to me. “I gotta keep an eye on you.”

  “Someday you’ll tell me everything, Baker.” I looked at the phone in his hand. “But not today. Tick-tock.”

  The Baker I knew rippled and changed into a blonde with big hair, too much makeup, too tight of a dress, and hooker heels. He winked and sashayed across the street. I transported to the back of the building and peeked through the dirty window. Two demons dressed as priests were headed toward the front. As soon as I was clear, I transported inside and glanced around for a place to hide
the phone where I could still hear. I felt something heavy and oppressive getting closer to me. Definitely a demon—a powerful one from what I could tell. The smell of sulfur grew. There was something else though. Something not demonic. I could feel it in my bones.

  A dark one approaches. Leave now, the voice said in my head.

  I put the phone on top of the refrigerator and transported back to the alley where Baker and I had been. A few moments later, he was escorted out by two demons.

  “Because I’m a working girl, I can’t be redeemed?” he yelled at the demons, struggling against them as they pushed him out of the abandoned church. When he was in the middle of the street, he turned back around and flipped them off before he grabbed his breasts and said “Hey, father, your moobs are bigger than mine.”

  I covered my mouth and pressed against the wall to keep from laughing. Baker kept walking past me, letting me know they were still watching him. He kept talking to himself as he went, flailing his arms around. I jammed the phone to my ear to see if he’d succeeded. There was silence on the other end so I couldn’t tell. I went through the alley to the street on the other side and hurried forward, still with the phone pressed to my ear. I had no idea where I was supposed to meet him. A couple minutes later, there was talking on the other end. It was muffled and there was a little echo, but I could understand it.

  “We shouldn’t have let her leave.”

  “We don’t need a whore.”

  “She could have been a vessel.”

  “She’s a dime a dozen. They want people who have connections.”

  “Then we should have killed her.”

  “What if someone comes looking for her? Use your brain,” the other one snapped.

  A third voice came into the mix. “Shut up, both of you.” It was higher and had a threatening whine to it. “We were given orders. No deviation.”

  “When is he coming?”

  “What makes you think he isn’t already here?” the third voice replied. “Something was here.”

  “He won’t come until we have the weapon to kill the angel. It is impossible.”

  “Hey, angel. Want me to teach you a few tricks?” I looked up at Baker and he winked at me, leaning against the wall, still disguised as the prostitute.