jinn 01 - ember

by Schulte, Liz

  “Hey, kitten, you sure you’re jake?”

  “Yeah. I don’t see anything.” She lifted her shirt and her side was completely smooth and clear.

  I pressed my hand to her side. “Does this hurt?”

  “No,” she said.

  I poked her hard in the side and she hit me.

  “Did that hurt?” she asked, her cat eyes flashing at me.

  “Maybe it’s a broken rib.”

  “Doesn’t matter. We have to get in there before we are all old and gray.”

  Light burst from the elevated round room, making it glow like a UFO. The wall panels trembled and vibrated before they exploded outward. A succubus fell at our feet, scorched and writhing in pain. It looked like the angel was awake. I looked up and own at us, glowing like a Christmas decoration. An instant later, she was in front of us and over the fallen temptress. She reached down and plucked the knife from her crispy hand and the succubus screamed. Femi and I weren’t stupid enough to utter a damn word at her. Holden was the only one who’d ever gotten through to Olivia in this state. Maybe neither of us was certain what they angel would think of us, or maybe we both knew our verbal diarrhea would probably end with something like the smoking heap at our feet. Either way, our lips were zipped.

  She looked us both over then blinked several times and the light faded into nothing. Olivia smiled back at us. “I knew you’d be here,” she said, looking entirely too pleased with herself. “Holden’s here too.”

  “Have you seen him?” I asked.

  “No, but I know where he is and what they want.”

  She started to walk, paying no attention to the still living succubus at her feet.

  “You want me to take care of her?” Femi asked.

  Olivia glanced back, her eyes flickering down. “No, I don’t think that’s necessary. She’ll live.”

  Femi looked at me. “That’s kind of the point.”

  I shrugged and went after Olivia. “You care to share what you’re talking about, angel?”

  She smiled. “This is all a dream. They brought everyone who agreed to play in the game. It was the only way they could bring the two of you here. You aren’t really here.”

  “Where are we?” Femi asked.

  “Whatever you were when you were when you were taken…I think.”

  I looked back at Femi quickly. She was driving so she was still in the car. The image of her tiny little sports car in a heap of twisted metal and broken fiber glass filled my mind. Shit, that wasn’t good. “How’s your side, kitten?”

  Olivia stopped walking and turned to us. “What’s wrong with your side?”

  Femi waved us off. “Nothing. I’m fine. Let’s find chuckles.”

  Olivia didn’t look fooled. “Were you hurt here or in real life?”

  “I haven’t been hurt here.”

  “She was driving when she was taken,” I told her.

  She closed her eyes. “Oh.”

  “Oh?” Femi looked slightly panicked. “What does that mean? I’m fine. We will find Holden then get out of this freak show.”

  “I think I can send you two back,” she said.

  “We all leave together,” Femi said, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “I still don’t understand why they wanted us here.” I said.

  Olivia opened her eyes, her face serious. “They wanted me and Holden. The two of you volunteered so they brought you too, but they want to tempt us, plant doubt in us. Holden has been quiet too long. I don’t have time to explain right now. If you want to go, now is the time. Otherwise, we need to find Holden.”

  “Where is he?” I asked.

  “Tunnel of Love,” she said. “At least he was last time I talked to him.” Her eye twitched.

  “A succubus can’t tempt Holden, angel.”

  “Lucifer can.” Her eyes met mine.

  Lucifer. Great. “Well, isn’t that just the berries?”

  Like we were already out of our depth.

  I HAD BEEN in her angelic dreams, but they weren’t like this. The dream she’d had when she was still alive about the carnival wasn’t angelic then and it still wasn’t. A dream demon was the only thing that made sense, but no one was asleep, so how did it bring us here and why? We needed to find the source or we were never going to make it out. Unless it was a mix of the two. Perhaps Lucifer was more involved than he was comfortable thinking about. He could have pulled us all into this dream being run by the demon. In that case, though, how were we ever going to make it out?

  “Holden, Holden, Holden,” a voice I recognized said.

  “Sybil.” Her sultry French accent was recognizable anywhere. I turned toward her. This was how they were coming at me? Apparently, someone had been paying attention for a lot longer than Olivia had been alive. Or they had been digging, but for what? My history with Sybil went back too far to take lightly, but I didn’t know what they hoped to gain with it. I didn’t have feelings for her, nor did she have them for me.

  “Surprised to see me, mon amour?” She moved toward me, swishing her hips and her skirt as she went.

  I shrugged. “Should I be?”

  Her mouth tilted. “It’s been too long.” She rose on her tiptoes, kissing my cheek.

  “I know you don’t have the power to bring us here. Still making deals with the devil?”

  Her grin widened. “Funny you should say that. I am, in fact. And right now, he wants two things.”

  It didn’t take a genius to figure out what that was: me and Olivia. “Where’s the dream demon?”

  “Some things you have to figure out on your own.” She kissed me again. “I’m going to go play with your girlfriend. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

  I tried to take a step forward, but my feet were stuck to the floor. “Sybil!” I called after her.

  She looked back. “Are you going to do something as predictable as threaten me?”

  “No.” This time I smiled at her. “There’s no need. Olivia will kill you. I only regret that I will miss seeing it.”

  She twirled a knife with angelic script on it. “You think so?”

  The harder I tried to move, the less of my body worked. I forced myself to be still. Olivia could handle it. I needed to focus on whatever was holding me here and why. It had to be the demon, which meant it was close. The stone floor beneath me softened, making me sink an inch into it. “What do you want from us?” I asked.

  “Your attention,” a voice responded. “You helped her escape me once, jinni. Never again.”

  I laughed. “You think you can hold me here?”

  “You haven’t moved yet.”

  I sank another four inches into the stone, my feet completely immersed. “Why do you hide? Are you afraid of a jinni you have trapped, demon?”

  Something shifted in the shadows on the other side. I transported, freeing myself entirely, but nothing was there. A slow clap moved closer as a wall parted and a man came walking out. Power and strength came off of him in waves that made me feel lightheaded. “Holden, I presume.” He raised an eyebrow.

  His voice sent my instincts into overdrive. Whatever he was, it was too powerful for me, for any of us. We were fucked. I raised an eyebrow at him in response. There was no way I would let him see or sense fear or I was as good as dead. When he got close enough, I would transport out.

  “You have played your part well, soldier. She is within reach. It is time for you to leave.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.”

  He tilted his head. “You think because you are free I can’t control you? You were much more of a threat when you had nothing to lose, jinni. Now your fragile little life is in my hands.” He held out a flat palm to me. “All I have to do is crush it, and you will lose everything again.” He curled his fingers into a fist.

  “You may find that we aren’t so easy to crush.”

  He shook his head. “You are a bug on a windshield, nothing more.”

  “Then why go through all of this to get me back
? To get us here?”

  His laughter filled the cave and bounced off the walls, surrounding me. “Not you. Her. I want her. You are a means to the end. I have allowed you to live because it suits my needs.”

  “Olivia will kill you on sight.”

  “She doesn’t have the power to kill me. She does have the power to give me what I want though.” He smiled. “We are so close.”

  “And what would that be?”

  He whipped back around, eyes gleaming red. “A spoiler. You have to wait and see. If you live that long, that is.”

  “Kill me. Go ahead. She will find a way to destroy you.”

  “Kill you? Why would I do that? You still have your part to play.” His eyes traveled around the room and his hands folded behind his back. “Who would have thought all it took was a jinni who refused to give up to his destiny? I don’t even have to do anything. I’ll just sit back and wait. She will come to me on her own. I just wanted to meet you. Watching you interact with her has been one of my greatest enjoyments. Let me just say, I am a big fan of your work. Pretending you have changed. Pretending you do not still feel the pull of the darkness. How long did you believe you could keep it up? How long before she noticed there was something rotten in”—he jabbed a finger at my chest over my heart—“Denmark.” He didn’t actually touch me, but every organ, every muscle, clenched in my body and I fell to my knees, sweat slicking my skin and my breath coming in gasps.

  I struggled back to my feet. I had changed. I wasn’t the person I’d been then. She had changed me and I had control over my urges. My instincts might run slightly south, but she was true north. All I had to do was follow her lead and we would both be fine. We had to be fine.

  “In your own way, you are every bit as arrogant as she is. You think you are in control, but, Holden, you can’t even control yourself. Eventually your control with snap and she will see what you are and not what she hopes you can become. Nothing you do will make a difference. Come back to me and all will be forgiven. Work against me and you will be punished.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest. There was no fucking way I was engaging this demon in further conversation. I could already feel his words burrowing beneath my skin. I had never encountered anything this strong. We needed a much better plan.

  “Thomas was nothing compared to what I am going to do to you this time.” He winked.

  Red-hot rage flashed through me. I lunged myself at him, all thoughts of strategy fleeing my mind. I hit an invisible wall, bouncing off as the demon disappeared.

  The man had disappeared before my eyes. Not into smoke like me or light like Olivia. One minute he was there and the next he was gone. I tried to transport, but it didn’t work. I looked down for the first time and saw that I was standing in a devil’s trap—which apparently worked on jinn.

  Shit.

  I rubbed my hand hard over my face. I tried to reach out to Olivia again, but there was nothing. This dream was the first thing we had ever experienced that interfered with our ability to communicate—or maybe it wasn’t the dream at all. I looked to where the man had been standing and replayed everything that happened in my mind. There was something familiar about him, but I couldn’t place it. He’d said that Olivia couldn’t kill him. Demons weren’t known for truthfulness, but he didn’t sound worried about it. Also he’d thought she would come to him, and he had the power to forgive me. Olivia had thought this was angelic and I had thought it was demonic. I shook my head against the idea that wouldn’t let go. Not for people like us. Why would Lucifer be involved? A bug on the windshield…

  Hopeless was the word that came to mind. It was one thing to fight off some demons, but Lucifer was another game altogether. The situation went from house fire to nuclear meltdown. We needed more help than the jinn. Heaven needed to be involved. Fuck, everyone needed to be involved.

  I paced around the circle, trapped with nothing but my thoughts, until Olivia arrived. I heard them before I saw them. Olivia, Baker, and Femi came into view. First, I felt relief. Then suspicion. I couldn’t feel Olivia. What if they were demons? But I hadn’t heard or felt her since we last spoke. I watched them approach, searching for clues.

  “Howdy, boss. You stuck?” Baker asked.

  Annoying. Check.

  Olivia looked relieved. “When I used to pull you into my dreams, what happened?”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Did you disappear or stay where you were?”

  I thought back. I’d always woken up where I had been. “I think my body stayed.”

  She nodded. “We need to get Femi home.” She bent down to inspect the circle.

  “I’m fine,” Femi said. “We need to figure out who is doing this.”

  “I know who’s doing this.” Olivia looked up sharply. Apparently so did she. “You too?”

  She pressed her lips together. “We’ll talk about it later.”

  “What? Wait. No way are you going to cut us out after everything,” Femi said.

  Olivia rolled her eyes. “Our only priority at the moment is to get you home. After that, we can all talk.”

  I looked at Baker and Femi. They appeared to be fine. “Why? What happened?”

  “The kitten here was driving when she was taken. The angel thinks she’s hurt. I think whatever brought us here isn’t going to let us go that easily.”

  I nodded. “I think they got what they wanted. However, this whole place reeks of a dream demon. Have you seen anything?”

  “Only Lucifer and a succubus named Sybil,” Olivia mumbled.

  “Hold the phone.” Baker waved his hands in the air. Femi leaned against the wall, pressing her hands against her knees. “You didn’t just casually name drop the devil, did you?”

  Olivia chose not to respond, trying to rub off part of the markings on the floor.

  “Is Sybil dead?” I asked.

  “No. I’m not going to kill your ex-girlfriends, Holden.”

  “You have ex-girlfriends?” Baker asked.

  “Wouldn’t bother me if you did,” I said. She gave me an impatient look. “Just find some way to crack the floor.”

  Olivia flattened her hand over the stone and fed light into it, but nothing happened. Baker held up a finger then jogged away. Olivia went to Femi and pushed light into her until she looked a little more alert. I wanted to know what had transpired between Sybil and Olivia, but I didn’t want to sound paranoid. If I made too big of a deal out of it, Olivia would start asking questions I didn’t necessarily want to answer.

  “What did he say to you?” she asked.

  “He said he wants you and has a plan for me. You?”

  “He wants me to join him. He says it can bring peace to everyone.”

  We looked at each other. Resolution was as clear in her eyes as it had to have been in mine. We weren’t giving up. Neither of us was willing to let go.

  “This isn’t going to be easy,” she said softly.

  “Nothing in our lives ever is,” I told her.

  “Are we being selfish for staying together?” she asked.

  I smiled. “Probably. But it is too late for anything else. You have already fallen. Whether or not we are together isn’t going to change the fact that Hell wants you. I have already left the jinn. With you or not, they will still try to force me to come back.”

  “We have the best chances of winning together.”

  “Always.”

  “Is it just me or did the air in here get mushy all of a sudden?” Femi asked.

  Olivia laughed and walked into the circle with me. She laced her fingers through mine and nodded to me. Together we walked out of the circle unharmed. Immediately her thoughts were once again running through my mind. When she released my hand, however, her mind was quiet again. She looked at me and I nodded.

  “How are they doing it?” she asked.

  “Better question. How do they know?” I said.

  Baker came running back up with a crowbar in his hands. His face fell when
he saw that I was free.

  Olivia patted his arm. “Let’s go home.” The four of us walked out of the Tunnel of Love.

  “How do we do this?” Baker asked.

  Olivia looked at me.

  “I have no idea. You pull me in then I leave when you do. Beyond that, I don’t know.”

  Her eyebrows pulled together in intense concentration. I couldn’t tell what she was doing until her face got that blank, inhuman look and she started glowing brighter. The angel offered a hand to Baker. He swallowed a couple times before taking it with a shrug. A moment later, he vanished. She offered the same hand to Femi, who took it, but nothing happened. She stayed where she was. The angel tried again with the same results. Frowning, she let go and extended a hand to me.

  “We’re just going to leave her?” There was no way Olivia would be okay with that.

  “No. You will go back. I will stay with her. You need to get to wherever she is and wake her up before I can send her back.”

  I folded my arms over my chest. “I’m not leaving.”

  “If I go, no one will be here to send you home. You must leave.”

  “If we can wake her up, then you don’t need to be here to do it.”

  She narrowed her eyes. I was prepared for her to argue, but she grabbed my arm and I was gone before I could stop it.

  I opened my eyes, pissed off. Baker was already on his feet, flanked by Maggie and Quintus. “Where was Femi before the dream?” I asked.

  Baker shook his head. “I don’t know. She didn’t say.”

  I clenched my hand into a fist, irritation trying to take hold.

  “Where’s Olivia?” Quintus asked.

  “She won’t come back until she can send Femi back, but she can’t send Femi back. She thinks the injury is preventing it. She wants me to wake her up.” Quintus wrung his hands but didn’t say anything. “What?”

  “We can’t find her mom.”

  “And your phone has been ringing nonstop,” Maggie said.

  I checked the phone, hoping for Marge, but it was Phoenix. If it wasn’t one thing, it was a thousand. I released a slow breath, prioritizing. “Okay, first we have to find Femi. Check accident reports. I doubt any humans can see her body, so she probably isn’t in the hospital. Check with Sy to see if he has any way to track her. Quintus, what can you do?”