jinn 01 - ember

by Schulte, Liz

  She took half a step forward.

  “You are not the first angel who has fallen. Most have come to me, but you are the first who can effect change. You have strength. Why let the human tether you?”

  “She’s strong and full of passion.”

  He smiled. “You are fascinated by her.”

  “The jinni makes her strong.”

  I could feel the angel weakening the more they talked. This was the first time she had come out to speak with another angel. She’d always stayed hidden when I spoke with Uriel. I didn’t know a lot about Heaven or angels, but I knew Lucifer offered nothing but lies. He was twisting the situation, appealing to her arrogance. I had to stop it, but she was stronger than me.

  I focused on one area of my body while she was distracted. When I was confident I had control of my hand still holding the piece of wood, I swung it with all of my strength at the mirror. At first, I thought nothing happened, but spider web-like cracks spread over the mirror. His face darkened and his eyes narrowed. Piece by piece, the mirror fell apart and the images all disappeared. The room went dark again.

  “You’ve made your choice,” he hissed into my ear. I jerked away, swinging my arm but hitting nothing. I had to get out of this room.

  The angel and I worked in tandem, weaving our way around the mirrors toward the exit based on our memory of where everything was. The entire room started to shake. Mirrors burst around us as we rushed forward before the whole room came down around us. When we finally hit the wall, relief filled me.

  Moments later, we stepped outside and the angel slipped again to the back, wounded. I could feel her shame in having listened, in having been tempted. The scariest part was that she was still tempted. I hadn’t thought about how alone she would feel, hiding inside of me. I knew I needed her, but it never occurred to me that maybe she needed me too. It was still hard to fathom. Why had she done it? Why had she agreed to stay?

  The feral cats outside circled wide around me, eyeing me suspiciously and watching every move I made. The carnival was empty. The rusted, broken rides moaned and creaked with the slight breeze. My thoughts were much clearer out here. If there was a game, what did I have to do? How was I supposed to play with no rules?

  “Holden,” I called out both physically and mentally. He didn’t answer this time. What if it hadn’t been him before? What if all of this was part of the game? I shook off the thought. It had been Holden. I would have known if it was someone pretending to be him. “Baker,” I tried.

  The Ferris wheel groaned forward slightly before settling again. My head whipped around, but all I saw were cats. Cats of all shapes, colors, and sizes were everywhere. They seemed to all move with me like I was the pied piper, only they weren’t friendly. They were the type of animals who would eat me alive if I stumbled. I had to find the Tunnel of Love ride. Everything else was a distraction to keep me from it. The angel had said it herself. Holden made me strong. Ignoring the cats that seemed to multiply endlessly, I charged forward.

  “Olivia,” Femi’s voice called out, stalling my feet.

  What was she doing here? Though I knew it might not be her, I couldn’t just ignore her. I opened my mouth to call out when a hand closed over it and everything went black.

  “WAKE UP, PETIT ange,” a sing-song voice called to me.

  My entire head throbbed. I tried to lift a hand but neither would budge. Forcing one eye open then the other, I didn’t see anyone before me. However, I was completely immobilized. There was a thick strap across my forehead, my chest, and my thighs and around each wrist and my ankles. The restraints kept me pinned to the wall of a deranged sort of Gravitron.

  “Good. You’re awake.” A soft finger trailed down my cheek as the woman’s voice purred in my ear. “It takes away all the fun to start before you wake up.”

  My mind went hazy when she touched me, making me feel drunk. “Who are you?”

  A petite woman with wildly curly blond hair that was held down by colorful scarf over the top part of her head, big chocolate-colored eyes, and a flowing dress that accentuated her femininity stepped in front of me. She held out the sides of her cobalt blue skirt with jingling gold pieces sewn in around her hips before giving a deep curtsey. “Sybil. I’ve been waiting a long time to meet you, Olivia.”

  She studied me as if waiting for recognition to cross my face, but I had no idea who she was. “Oh?”

  “He never mentioned me.” Her head tilted back as if slightly offended by the slight. “C’est la vie.” Her shoulder rose in a halfhearted shrug. “It changes nothing.” She reached around me and produced a knife carved with angelic script.

  I stared at the weapon cautiously. I really needed the angel right now. Only Heavenly weapons could kill me, but I couldn’t spot one on my own. I needed her instincts. If I escaped too soon, I wouldn’t be able to find out what we needed to know—what they wanted and why they were playing games with us. “Who never mentioned you?” I stalled, trying to coax the angel forward.

  She pressed the blade to the side of my neck. “Holden, of course.”

  “Why would he mention you?”

  She raised a dark eyebrow. “Stalling won’t work, mon ange. The angel, she’s”—she tapped the end of my nose—“asleep.”

  Sybil wasn’t a jinni or a demon, that much I knew. The weapon didn’t feel Heavenly, and the script looked crude. “Why are you doing this?”

  She smiled. “I volunteered. The chance to see the girl who stole his heart? How could I resist?”

  “So this is about Holden?”

  She laughed and slid the knife along my collar bone, slicing as she went. Light gushed from the wound, but it didn’t repair itself as it normally would. “It’s about both of you. Either you have to die and Holden must return to his position among the jinn or you must join them. Though”—she wrinkled her nose—“I’m not sure why Lucifer would want you, petit ange. I am not impressed.”

  “How about this option? Holden and I go free and I let you live.”

  She laughed. “Your words would be more meaningful if you were not completely at my mercy. I expected more of a fight from an angel”

  “Take off the restraints and you’ll get a fight.”

  She made slices down each of my arms and carved an X over my heart. The pain gripped me in an iron fist, but I shoved it away. I wouldn’t succumb to it. I had been through worse. She paused, placing a soft hand on my cheek. “I don’t know why you would fight so hard. You barely know him.”

  “I know everything I need to know,” I said, breathing more heavily than I would have liked. Her touch was intoxicating. It made everything soft along the edges as it compelled me to agree to whatever she wanted.

  “What do you really know about him? Think about it. If it weren’t for Baker, you wouldn’t even know his real name.”

  I steeled my mind against her. I wouldn’t let the poison of doubt enter my thoughts. “I love him and he loves me. That is all that matters. I doubt a succubus who could never love anyone could understand.” I took a guess on what she was based on how her touch felt. It was also based on the fact that she had some sort of relationship with Holden. Who better to appeal to him than someone who also had a penchant for lust but a revulsion at commitment?

  She plunged the knife deep into my stomach. “Is it enough? Really?” Her eyebrows settled at a cruel angle and she leaned in close, her breath whispering across my cheek. “How do you know that, in the volumes he won’t discuss with you, there isn’t one thing you can’t forgive?”

  Our noses were nearly touching, and I felt a slow smile ease onto my lips. “There’s nothing that can make me love him less. He is as much a part of me as I am of him. We are halves of the same whole. I am not naïve as to what or who Holden is. I don’t need to know every detail of his life. I have his heart.” I just needed to hold on a little longer. She was so close to telling me what I wanted to know.

  She straightened and rocked back on her heels, glaring at me through those ho
llow eyes. The ratty tangles of her long hair framed her pale face that was both beautiful and filled with hatred.

  “I’m not scared of you, what you can do, or of what you know.” I told her. “Just kill me. No more games?”

  “I can see that,” she said through clenched teeth. “Alas, I cannot kill you. I do not possess the means, and Lucifer, well, he has plans for you. Both of you.”

  I shook my head. “There is nothing any of you can do to us. Holden is free. He’ll never come back.”

  “Perhaps you are difficult to hurt, but you aren’t the only means to get to Holden, are you? How much loss will he take before revenge once again colors his heart and you won’t be able to stop it? Hell wants him back. All you can do is sit and watch him slip back into darkness.”

  I smiled. It finally made sense why they needed us to play the game. I should have thought of it sooner, given the location and who we were dealing with.

  “What are you smiling about?” she asked.

  I laughed in response. I finally understood.

  She tapped the side of my head with her dirty fingernail. “It’s only a matter of time before I am in here. Enjoy your secrets while you have them. Soon you will beg to tell me everything you know.”

  I COULDN’T CATCH a break.

  A fist grazed my jaw as I unsuccessfully tried to dodge it. “I’m getting really sick of people hitting me,” I said, swinging my fist at the big oaf in front of me. I connected, sending him back a couple steps. The fella had at least two feet and a hundred pounds on me.

  I took a step back, shaking my arms out at my side as I shifted to match his proportions. It wouldn’t make me any stronger doing it, but normally just the act of changing into to something else gave people pause. Not this demon though. He hit his chest with both hands and growled before he charged. I used his momentum against him, the hit damn near shattering my arm. The demon fell back and then the bastard laughed.

  Shit.

  Obviously, no one else was in this particular part of this freak show. I hightailed it back outside to continue my quest to find Olivia or Holden. After a bit of a run and a few turns to make sure gigantor wasn’t following me, I went back to just plain Baker. No need to attract bigger enemies than I could handle. This carnival was quite enough for me. I had no idea where anyone else was or if they were even here. For all I knew they, whoever they were could have taken us to three different places altogether, but I wasn’t about to let that bother me. I had a mission with two objectives: regroup and figure out how to save Olivia and Holden. It was too late for them to break up, not that they would, but it wouldn’t change anything. If they made Hell look foolish, heads would roll. I had to figure out the game before it was too late to win it.

  It was the game more than anything that was confusing me. Why play it? Why bring me along—unless they meant to use me against them. I had to assume Hell knew what I was. We all had to assume they knew everything we had ever done. By the time this fight was over, there would be no secrets left for any of us who managed to survive.

  “There is still time to leave, chol.”

  I turned slowly to see trouble sitting on the fence behind me. Trouble came in the form of a stacked redhead with legs that went on for miles.

  “It’s been a long time since I have been called that,” I said.

  “Obviously someone still remembers.” She uncrossed her legs and jumped down. “This isn’t really your fight. We gave you an opportunity to get out of it in New Orleans, but here you are.” She swung her hips from side to side as she came toward me. “You don’t want enemies like the ones you are about to make. Let me help you.” She went to brush her hand over my arm.

  “Ah, ah, ah,” I said, avoiding her and wagging a finger at her. “Fool me once and all that jazz.”

  A succubus was dangerous enough while talking. As for touching, you might as well forget about free will for a few hours. Smart. They knew Olivia would clear out demons or jinn without trouble, but succubi were a more of a challenge. I didn’t know how an angel would react to one, but my fingers were crossed that she was immune. Holden probably was, but I most definitely wasn’t.

  “Let’s just keep our hands to ourselves, doll.” I winked at her.

  She smiled. “I like you. Don’t make me kill you. Just leave.”

  I folded my arms across my chest. “So let me get this straight. I was brought here to be told to leave? You aren’t going to use me in any way?”

  She raised an eyebrow. “How would we use you?”

  “You know the drill. ‘Do what we want or we kill your friend.’” I started walking so she would fall in line with me.

  She laughed, following me. “You give yourself too much importance. We don’t need you. They have plenty of real weaknesses. You’re not really one of them, chol. You never will be. You are little more than a blunt weapon. Just leave. Save yourself the embarrassment of another rejection.”

  “It wouldn’t be the first or the last time I get the icy mitt. It’s no skin off my nose.”

  “Sure it is.” She moved in closer. “I understand. You don’t have to pretend with me. It isn’t easy to always be alone. You have no equals. No one even remembers what you are.”

  “How can you understand, doll? You have your sisters of Lilin. I only have my friends.” I was where I wanted to be. I turned to face her.

  “I can change that for you.” She leaned toward me, her stare mesmerizing. “I can make you feel like you are a part of something again.”

  When our lips nearly touched, I moved to the side, bringing her face to face with a mirror—a fading and cracked mirror, but a mirror nevertheless. Whatever energy she had been sending into me reflected back into her and she crumpled to the ground, her young skin drying and wrinkling. Her hair fell out in clumps and her limbs twisted.

  “I’m already a part of something bigger than any of us, sweetheart.”

  I didn’t stay to watch her croak. I broke the mirror above her and took the biggest shard I could find, about the size of half my forearm. Then I kept moving. I needed to stay ahead of the succubi or I would never find Olivia and Holden.

  “Olivia,” Femi’s voice called out.

  I stopped and listened for a moment before turning in the opposite direction and heading toward the sound of her voice. I had no idea how she’d managed to get here unless they’d brought her in too, but if they didn’t want to use us against Olivia and Holden, why bother? Succubi were typically known for their impersonation skills, but that didn’t mean Hell didn’t have a whole slew of trouble waiting here for us. I approached the general direction as cautiously as I could. Creeping through the white, peeling shack and rusted rides, I didn’t see anyone.

  A whistle came from above me. I sighed. Why did I always forget to look up?

  Two feet in black leather boots with impossibly high and thin silver heels softly thudded on the ground beside me. I looked up with a smile. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes? How did you get here?”

  The grimace on her face eased into a grin, but she put a hand over her side, slightly shaking her head. “I have no idea. One minute I was driving and the next I was here.” She scooped up a feral cat. “I don’t want to even think what that means for my car.”

  I nodded. Femi loved her car more than most any other possession she had. “Are you hurt?”

  She winked. “I’m indestructible.”

  I laughed. “So you decided to stand on top of a merry-go-round and shout for Olivia?”

  “I saw her come out of a building over there.” She pointed southwest. “Then a succubus captured her. I was about to go save the day when you showed up.”

  “It took her that easily?”

  Femi shrugged. “She didn’t put up a fight. She just sort of crumbled. I figure she must have done something to her.”

  “Did you see where she took her?”

  Femi rolled her eyes. “Do I look like an amateur? Enough talk. Let’s go get her.” She dropped the cat to the
ground.

  I let Femi lead as we wove our way through the maze of buildings. “Have you encountered anything yet?”

  “Just a succubus, but I ganked the bitch.”

  I snorted. “That’s all I’ve seen too.”

  She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. “Nothing about this place feels right. The whole thing is off. I don’t trust any of it.” She stopped at the base of a Gravitron—a round room that spins so fast it glues it occupants to the wall. It was sitting still, but the room was locked.

  “Now what?” I asked.

  “Shh,” Femi said. “I can hear voices.”

  I couldn’t hear a damn thing, so I watched our perimeter for trouble, and it wasn’t long before it found us. Four succubi approached, eyes blazing. “We got company,” I told Femi.

  She pulled a bowie knife and I retrieved my shard of glass. Femi laughed. “Old school. Nice.”

  We stood back to back, but the succubi didn’t approach. They only surrounded us and waited. Femi and I moved in a slow counterclockwise circle until I felt her shoulders pull up in a sigh behind me and she threw her knife, hitting one dead center between the eyes.

  “I never was patient,” she said before she made a dive and roll to retrieve the knife. The two on my side raced toward me. I never was any good at fighting with dames. I kicked one, pushing her back as far as I could, and held the mirror up to the other. When I heard her body smack against the ground, I held the mirror out to the other. But she caught my hand. I was slipping away and everything around me was becoming foggy. Somewhere in the distance, there was the sound of glass shattering. Then suddenly the world came hurtling back into focus. The succubus’s mouth was agape and her eyes were wide and unblinking. A thin trail of blood seeped from her hairline and ran down her face like a tear. She had Femi’s bowie knife sticking out of the top of her skull. Femi pulled it out and the woman sank to the floor.

  “Thanks,” I told her.

  “No problem, champ.” Femi rolled her shoulders, her hand hovering by her side again. She looked pale.