jinn 01 - ember

by Schulte, Liz

  It was my turn to clam up. There was absolutely no reason to bring up Maggie, especially if she was out of the picture. As if thinking about her had the ability to conjure her, my phone rang.

  Holden frowned. “Are you going to get that?”

  “Heh. Yeah. Sure. Swell. Why wouldn’t I?” He rolled his eyes and I answered the phone. “Hey, doll. Glad to hear from you.”

  “You have a lot of nerve calling me doll, Baker,” Maggie said. “Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?”

  “Can’t say that I do.”

  “What happened to you? One moment we are fine and the next you are acting like a completely different person. I want to see you. Now.”

  “No can do, sweetheart. I should actually go. I have to get a wiggle on.”

  “Why are you talking like this? Baker, what’s happening? Are you in some sort of trouble? You can tell me. I will help you. I love you.”

  The words caught in my throat. Holden gave me a motion to hurry up. “Gotta go, baby. I’ll call you later.”

  I felt like a giant schmuck. She was saying what I’d thought I wanted to hear, but now wasn’t the time to hear it. We were all better off this way. I had no idea if I loved her or could love her, and I didn’t intend to find out.

  “Girl trouble?” Holden asked.

  “When aren’t girls trouble?”

  “Hmph.” He glanced at me. “If you want to cut out, Baker, you don’t have to stay.”

  “Applesauce! You trying to get rid of me?”

  “Just saying.”

  “Well, you just keep it that way.”

  We went into Xavier’s and up the steps to the office just like old times. There was something exhilarating about being back in the game. Inside, Phoenix was tied to a chair with a knife protruding from his stomach and a gag in his mouth. Two jinn were on either side of him with broken necks.

  “Sorry for the delay,” Holden said. He twisted the knife slightly and Phoenix grunted. Holden pulled off the gag. “Care to tell me what really happened in New Orleans?”

  Phoenix spit a mouthful of blood onto the floor and looked back at Holden. “I told you.”

  Holden pulled out the knife a little and pushed it back in. “Why don’t I believe you?” He raised an eyebrow. “You see, Baker has a different account of the events that night. Your story better fucking start matching his soon.”

  Phoenix glared at me, and I smiled and waved at him, leaning against Holden’s desk. “By the way, Olivia dispatched the goons you sent.”

  “Oh, I had forgotten about that.” Holden punched him hard enough that Phoenix spit out a few teeth. “Why are you sending jinn to my house?”

  “I didn’t send anyone.” He was hard to understand through the blood, but we managed.

  Holden sat back on his haunches in front of the chair. He tore the knife from his stomach and methodically wiped the blade off on his shirt before tapping it against his cheek, and Phoenix’s eyes darted nervously. Jinn might be able to heal, but they couldn’t grow things back. I knew Holden fairly well and eve I had no idea what he had planned for this asshole. “And in New Orleans?”

  “I don’t know what happened there. I was given him and told to take care of him. I sent him back to you as a warning.”

  Holden stood and walked back behind the desk to the window. He stared out into nothing like I had seen him do so many times before.

  After a few minutes, Phoenix cleared his throat, his face pinched with pain. “Would someone mind untying me?”

  Holden ignored him. “Why would demons masquerade as jinn?”

  “What makes you think they are demons?” I asked.

  “They turned to ash. So either Olivia’s power has changed or they were demons. The latter is more likely. Also, how else could they sneak up on you? Who delivered him to you?”

  “Why should I fucking tell you anything?” Phoenix asked, looking put out by the whole ordeal.

  Holden sighed. “Baker.”

  I stood up and shrugged at the bleeding jinni before I punched the other side of his face.

  “Hit me all you want. Hell, kill me. That’s what they will probably do when they find out I gave you back your pet.” He directed a bloody sneer at me. “Until we have a deal, I’m not saying anything.”

  “Maybe he don’t know nothing from nothing,” I told Holden.

  “Untie him.” Holden folded his arms behind his back. When Phoenix stood, he took a couple steps toward him and held out his hand. Phoenix flinched. “You have a deal.”

  My mouth fell open. Holden was being Zen and Olivia had agreed to free the jinn? What in the hell was going on?

  I SHOOK PHOENIX’S hand, sealing the deal. Regardless of Liv not wanting to do this, we needed him and his people.

  “Um, boss? Can I wag my jaw at ya?”

  “Not now, Baker.” The last thing I needed was for Phoenix to get suspicious that I was going to double-cross him again.

  “So when do we do this?” Phoenix demanded.

  “When you give me what I want.”

  “And what is that?”

  “Information. I want to know who or what is coming after us. What kind of weapon they think they can use against Olivia. And why demons are pretending to be jinn.”

  Phoenix narrowed his eyes. “Then I want a contract. I would hate for plans to fall through again.”

  “What sort of contract?” I asked without hesitation. A contract hadn’t been part of the deal, but we needed this. Whether or not they had the weapon, Hell had definitely made a move tonight. Olivia had fought them off this time, but we couldn’t count of her being able to do that every time.

  “The usual—blood. You up hold your end or we get your soul back.”

  “Boss, I really need to talk to you.”

  Baker’s eyes said everything he was thinking. Not that they needed to since the air was thick with his emotion. I didn’t need to talk to him to know he thought this was a bad idea. If I could feel it, then so could Phoenix. “Go downstairs, Baker.”

  “But—”

  I gave him a look and he finally left, muttering to himself. I sat on the couch and stretched my arms across the back. “What are the conditions?”

  “You free us or we get your soul in exchange for our help. If we help you and you don’t free us, your soul is the only way to get us back into their good graces.”

  “I would never sign such a vague contract. How many do we need to free? How does death affect that number? We are fighting a war. Everyone isn’t going to make it. Also, you are really of no use to me free at this point. I need inside information. If you are free from Hell, you will no longer have that. So I won’t do anything until having you on the inside is no longer of use.”

  “You could stretch that one forever. Define ‘of use.’”

  “Until Hell has figured out what you are doing and has either directly attacked you or cut you out.”

  Phoenix thought about it. “Okay. You will arrange to free all living jinn who were loyal to you after we lose our position with Hell for helping you.”

  “Fine, but if a jinni or associate of was to make it so Hell found out faster, the contract becomes nullified.”

  “Accepted.” He pushed a quill and a sheet of paper in front of me. “If you fail to meet your end of the bargain, we will collect your soul.”

  I pulled out my pocket knife and ran it across my arm far enough away from Phoenix’s blood on my hands so it wouldn’t mix. Blood welled, but my arm quickly healed beneath it. I scraped the quill over the blood at the base of my thumb, wrote out the contract, and signed. Phoenix’s eyes scanned the contract before he signed it as well. He rolled it and put it in the safe.

  “You shouldn’t be seen around here too much. Transport when you can, but let me know first so I can clear out my office. People talk. We will hash out a plan soon.”

  I nodded. “Don’t send jinn to my house. Olivia will take it as a threat. She’s been a trifle touchy about threats recently.
”

  “Did she really turn two demons into a pile of ash?”

  I shook my head. “No.” He looked relieved. “They exploded first. So really it was several piles of ash.”

  He took a deep breath. “She’s no guardian, is she?”

  “That’s need-to-know.” I walked out. Baker was sitting at the bar, tossing back drinks one after another. “You know you need your liver, right?”

  “You took the motherfucking deal, didn’t you?”

  I took one of Baker’s glasses and poured my own drink. “I did what I had to do.”

  “Bullshit.” He tossed back another drink. “Is that how Olivia is going to see it?”

  “Why are you so fucking upset, Baker? This has nothing to do with you. What? You hate it when Mom and Dad fight?”

  He glared at me. “You’re an asshole.”

  He pushed back from the bar and left. I paid and followed him out. We needed help and I’d gotten us that. I narrowly avoided his fist as I came out of the club.

  “What the hell, Baker?”

  “Do you ever think about anyone but yourself? I like our lives right now. What do you think Olivia is going to do? She’s going to leave you or the angel is going to kill you. That’s what she’s going to do. What about Maggie? Do you think this will keep her safe? You just got out and now they have you recommitting to them of your own fucking free will. You son of a bitch.” He took another swing at me.

  I caught his arm and twisted it behind his back as we walked toward home. “You’re making a scene.” I told him, twisting a little harder. “Never mention Maggie’s name in public again.” When he stopped struggling, I let him go. “I have no intention of giving them my soul, but I also have no intention of us fighting this war alone.”

  He jaw clenched. “Olivia agreed to this?”

  “No, and she isn’t going to find out about any of it. Keep your mouth shut.”

  “How do you plan to pull that rabbit out of your ass? Last I checked, you needed her to free them.”

  “Don’t worry about.” As annoying as Baker’s reaction was, it also served my purpose. They were watching. I didn’t know where they were, but Hell was out there taking notes. From my experience in dealing with them, they would make me an offer then make it nearly impossible to refuse. When that failed, they would set out to annihilate me and Olivia, but first they would take everything we loved. To know how to tempt me, they had to know what I wanted. I hadn’t planned on giving them anything, but Baker’s little fit would make them think I was panicked over the contract I’d signed with Phoenix. It would give them hope that I had a weakness to exploit outside of the people I cared about.

  “Take me to the church you and Olivia found.”

  “You’re going to double-cross him, aren’t you?”

  I looked at Baker, unblinking.

  “Look, on the level, I don’t mind being a hood, but Hell gives me the heebie-jeebies. I don’t want any part of it if you go back to them. You gotta be a sap to do that after you’ve tasted life without it.”

  “Drop it. The church.”

  He stalked off and I followed. The sign was gone and the building had been empty for years, but the church was definitely St. Constantine’s. “That’s it.” Baker pointed at the church.

  I’d had enough waiting. If they were going to make me an offer, I wanted to hear it. I walked toward the entrance. Baker caught the back of my shirt. “You’re as bad as she is. You can’t go in there, Holden. What will keep them from killing you?”

  “That’s not their move. Not at this point. They kill me now and I win. They’re just as afraid of Olivia and me as we are of them. Plus, they aren’t ready for Liv, and she’ll come at them with a vengeance.”

  Baker looked far from convinced. “You’re making an awful lot of assumptions.”

  I jogged up the steps and pushed both doors open hard enough that they hit the wall, and the fading light poured into the otherwise dark room. “Honey, I’m home.”

  There was a thump and shuffling to the right.

  “Holden?” Olivia’s voice called out. “What are you doing here?”

  My first instinct was that this was a trap. I scanned the room, waiting for the attack.

  “Well, I guess this answers the age-old question,” Femi’s voice said. “Even if there is no one to hear Holden’s sense of humor, he still doesn’t have one.” Both she and Olivia came out of the darkness. “Good to see you, chuckles.”

  “What are you two doing here?”

  “I asked you first,” Olivia said.

  “I was tired of waiting for the fight to start. I was going to nudge it.”

  Femi grinned. “Now that is my kind of plan.”

  “Where’s Baker?”

  “How should I know?” I still didn’t step closer to her, not completely believing this wasn’t a trap. “Why are you here?” I followed that with a second silent question. Why did you call Femi?

  Her hands twisted together and her nose wrinkled a little as she came toward me. “Well, the voice said they had vacated the premises. I thought I would check.”

  I slipped my hand into my pocket, finger curling around the knife. Where are you, Liv?

  “Holden, what’s wrong?” She took another step closer.

  Liv, answer. “Nothing.” I shook my head and smiled, taking a step toward her. When she closed the gap, I plunged the knife into her throat and tore it across. Three more beats of silence. The feeling that I had made a terrible mistake took hold. Then it happened. She answered.

  I’m sleeping. What’s wrong?

  Call Femi. Fake Olivia fell to the floor. Femi charged at me with a war cry and blind rage covering her like a blanket. I sidestepped, waiting to hear the ring before I killed her too. Not that fake Olivia was dead. Demons took a lot more than a pocket knife across the throat. Her spiked heel caught me just above the kidney. I caught her foot and a phone rang. I shoved her away. “Answer your phone.”

  Just before I grabbed fake Olivia from the floor, she opened her eyes, which were solid red. Shit, I’d taken too long. I punched her, but she caught my fist inches from her face, her hand searing hot. I backed away, scrambling for a plan. Femi moved around behind her, obviously the real one. The demon, still looking like Olivia, had blood trailing from her neck down the front like a bib.

  “I’m going to pull out your fingernails and toenails then strip your veins from your body one at a time,” the demon said in a guttural growl.

  “Why are you talking about it? Here I am. Let’s go,” I said, angry they used Olivia’s image.

  The demon advanced and a voice boomed out. “Let them go.”

  Demon Olivia growled but stopped.

  “Oh, I’m not going anywhere. I’m here to talk. And you obviously aren’t in charge. Be a peach and get me someone with authority.”

  She snarled again and I took a seat in a pew. Somewhere along the line, I had lost track of Femi. As demon Olivia walked toward the back, a boot connected with her head, the heel sinking into her eye. A claw sprung from the demon’s hand as it took a swipe at her. Before the swing ended, it crumpled to the floor and crawled out of the room.

  “I told you to stand down,” a tall priest with no hair and a face that belonged in a mug shot said from the former altar.

  Femi walked back to me and stood behind me.

  “What can I do for you?” the demon asked. “Do you want to come back perhaps? I’ll give you a good deal.”

  I crossed my leg and put my arm on the back of the pew. “Not quite yet. What brings you to my city?”

  The demon laughed. “Your city? I don’t think so.” He moved in almost a slither toward me. “But in the vein of good will, I will tell you that our being here has nothing to do with you. You and your angel-whore are the smallest fish in a very large ocean. A piece of advice—stay out of the deep end.”

  “Leave my city. This is your only warning.”

  “Why would I do that?”

  “Because i
f you don’t, I’ll personally destroy you.”

  “You could not defeat the Belial. What makes you think you can touch me, jinni? You are outmatched in every way.”

  “I guess we’ll see about that.” I stood up. “Send another Belial after Olivia or any of my people and we’ll find out sooner rather than later.”

  I walked out, feeling his eyes drilling into the back of my head. Femi’s stride matched mine.

  “He’s got a point, chuckles. How do you kill a demon?”

  “We can’t. We can only send them back or trap them.”

  “So what’s your plan?”

  “We’re going to trap them and let Olivia kill them.”

  “And how do we do that?”

  I smiled. Now this was something I had been working on for quite some time. “Remember the warehouse where they stored the guardians? Baker and I reconfigured it. We just have to get them in the cells.”

  “Yeah, sounds simple.” She made a face. “You knew about this?” She slapped Baker on the shoulder.

  “What?” he snapped.

  She pointed a sharpened nail at him. “What’s your problem?”

  “Nothing.” He glared at me. “Run into problems? Make any more deals?”

  “Careful, Baker.”

  Femi looked back and forth between us, her cheeks practically twitching.

  “I fought a demon pretending to be Olivia and then talked to the one in charge. He says they aren’t here for us.”

  “How’d you get here?” he asked Femi.

  She frowned. “I was headed over to their place to see if I could help, but I saw her leaving the building. She asked if I wanted to come with her to check out some demons. We got there around the same time as Holden. I don’t know what they wanted with me.”

  “Did you know about the voice Olivia has been hearing?”

  “She’s hearing a voice?” Femi asked.

  Shit.

  I PACED THE apartment. I felt less fragile, my grasp of control less tenuous. I couldn’t remember exactly had what happened when the jinn were here. Vague snippets of memory that seemed more fuzzy and dreamlike than real haunted me, but nothing so solid to catch and hold on to. The angel didn’t taken over very often, but the result was always the same. I’d been shoved to the back, blinded by light, and surrounded by white noise that made it nearly impossible to hear what was happening. Naturally I hated it.