by Lizzy Ford
Eddy waited, his sharp gaze never leaving Nathan’s.
“3G will find you, if I did,” Nathan started. “You and I both have the primary concern of protecting Kaylee. Would you consider a temporary truce?”
“Work with you?” Eddy asked, eyebrows lifting. “You sound crazier than me.”
“You know by now what Kaylee is to me,” Nathan replied. He kept his features stoic, his focus on Eddy rather than where it wanted to be. “Do you think I’m any less willing to do what it takes to protect her than you?”
“No,” Eddy said after a pause. “I think you’re the only other person on the planet who would go as far as I would.”
“Our endgames are different. But it won’t matter, if neither of us goes that far.”
“Neither of us can afford trust anyway.”
“I’m not asking for your trust. I’m suggesting an alliance.”
Eddy fell quiet, his head lowering as he conducted what Nathan suspected was a much deeper evaluation of his aura and energy.
Nathan had nothing to hide. He meant every word. If joining forces with the assassin was the only way he could keep Kaylee alive, then he wasn’t going to make the mistake again of listening to someone else over his duty. Her life came first, no matter what the expense to him.
“Does this include the guide I sense in your truck?”
“Just me,” Nathan replied. He wasn’t about to put Amira within Eddy’s reach.
“You have any firepower? I’m low.”
“That can be arranged.”
“I think we can work this out,” Eddy said with a nod.
“Good. Let me tell my friend and he’ll be on his way.” Nathan said. He exited the house into the rain, relieved he’d struck some kind of deal, even if it meant working with the man who would have been his mortal enemy at any other time.
He trotted to the truck and opened the back door. “I’m staying here,” he told Troy firmly. “Eddy’s willing to work with me to protect Kaylee.”
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Troy demanded. “He’s more likely to murder you the second your guard goes down.”
“Maybe,” Nathan replied. “You’d take the same risk for Amira.”
Troy was silent.
“Take her somewhere safe,” Nathan advised. “Wherever Kaylee goes, 3G will follow, or try to, once they realize the truth about the gateways. By the time they realize they need Amira, you can have her too far for them to find.” He snatched his weapons. “I’m also taking a bunch of guns.” He began loading up one of the gym bags with weapons and ammo.
Troy grumbled but didn’t object. “You’ll keep your phone with you?”
“Absolutely. And if I need help, I’ll call you right away.”
Amira twisted to see him.
“Take care, angel,” Nathan said and smiled at her.
“I’ll know where you are,” she said and raised the stone. “Tell Kaylee I said hi.”
Nathan nodded and closed the door. He stood on the sidewalk until certain Troy pulled away from the curb and left the neighborhood.
Returning to the house, he opened the front door. He missed a step when he saw Kaylee beside Eddy in the foyer. She appeared in much better shape than the last time he’d seen her. Her color was back to normal, and she wore a sweater and jeans. Physically, she appeared healthy.
Her eyes told a different story entirely. He’d never seen a look that chilled him like hers did.
Nathan ripped his focus out of his thoughts and closed the door.
“Sweet!” Eddy exclaimed and took the bag from him. He went to the kitchen.
Kaylee didn’t move, didn’t speak.
Hating her raw expression, Nathan crossed to her. He cupped her cheek with one hand. Her warmth shot through him, grounding him, setting his soul alight with joy he couldn’t afford to feel. His blood blazed with need. Her warmth and softness, coupled with her scent, felt too right for him to question why he had a soul mate any longer. He was where he belonged, beside his soul mate, and nothing was ever going to separate them as long as he was alive.
Kaylee made no attempt to kiss him, and Nathan didn’t dare breach the fragile trust stretching between them. Her gorgeous blue eyes expressed the same emotions he felt to his soul.
“Hate to interrupt,” Eddy said from down the hall. “But we need a plan, Nathan.”
Nathan’s hand dropped from Kaylee’s face, whose breathing was as uneven as his own. One touch, and Nathan was ready to surrender everything for a chance at a kiss.
“I’m glad you’re safe, baby,” he murmured to her before stepping away and down the hallway, towards Eddy.
Kaylee’s pain plagued Nathan, as did the yearning tugging him back to her arms. She didn’t know the depths of how well he could feel her emotions. It was torture – and he deserved every second of it.
Eddy appeared entertained, if not satisfied. He had Nathan by the nuts and knew it. He had begun to unpack the weapons and line everything up on the table.
“I’m blind,” Eddy started.
Nathan glanced at him then at the table of weapons. Kaylee’s scent lingered, distracting him away from Eddy and back to the small moment he’d shared with Kaylee in the hallway.
“My people are scattered, and I’ve had no contact with anyone for two days,” Eddy said. “I couldn’t tell you if 3G was in the house next door.”
“I have a feeling that’s not true,” Nathan replied. “They’re not, but if they were, you’d know.”
“Aw, you caught me! Yeah, I would. But if they found me as easily as you did, we’re in trouble. The problem with guides is rendering them permanently dead. You guys are like immortal cockroaches,” Eddy complained. “I keep wounding the same ones over and over.”
“That’s not the solution,” Nathan agreed. “What you have to realize is that we don’t exactly have any allies. You, me, my friend – and that’s it. We’re not going to win this battle straight on.”
Eddy paused from his task of laying out the weapons and looked at Nathan curiously. “What do you have in mind?”
“We need to go on the offensive and outsmart them. We know what they want. We know who they want and why. We find the other two gatekeepers and make sure 3G never lays a hand on them.”
“Two gatekeepers. You know where one is,” Eddy said. “Is it the one I have in the basement?”
Nathan raised an eyebrow. “You have a gatekeeper in the basement?” Amira wasn’t in the basement, and Nathan wasn’t aware of another key holder being discovered.
“Then you’re talking about a different one,” Eddy said. “There are three. We just need one more. Where is yours?”
“You’ll forgive me if I’m not in favor of giving your kind access to the gates of Hell,” Nathan said dryly.
“Our paths don’t diverge quite yet,” Eddy pointed out. “If we have the gatekeepers, 3G won’t have them and won’t try to murder them, either.”
“You know what 3G’s plan is?”
“I suspect, as I believe you do. I appreciate their enthusiasm, but what they plan could put a dent in my people’s plans. We need all four archdemons freed, not three, not an accident that obstructs our ability to summon all of the Horsemen. As easy as it sounds to summon the Horsemen and start the apocalypse, it’s a precision operation, not the floundering around 3G is doing,” Eddy replied. “3G is in over their head, but they possess the ability to mess things up in a way no one can fix.”
If Eddy’s people were a threat, 3G was a disaster waiting to happen. How had spirit guides become a greater danger than the Satanists who wanted to start the apocalypse? The Satanists knew what they were doing. While they had to be stopped, they weren’t likely to accidentally bring about the apocalypse, which Zyra would, if she continued on with the plan Nathan believed her to be pursuing.
“I never thought I’d agree with one of you,” Nathan said.
“But you do!” Eddy exclaimed.
“I do.”
Sitti
ng, Eddy began loading up clips and magazines with bullets. Nathan followed his lead, thoughts on how close Kaylee was.
“Kaylee has great aim, doesn’t she?” Eddy said.
Nathan snorted. Did Eddy know his thoughts, or was it obvious where Nathan’s mind was? “I take it you taught her?”
“Yep. She’s a great shot. As long as she’s shooting at someone who can’t really die.”
“She’s an archangel. What do you expect?” Nathan pointed out.
“Don’t try to tell me the archangels have no blood on their hands. One could argue the seven have out killed every demon who has ever existed.”
“Probably,” Nathan agreed. “Anymore, I’m not sure I blame them.”
“We’re going to make a great team.”
“Yes, we are,” Nathan said softly. He glanced up. In that moment, he sensed he and Eddy were thinking the same thing.
They were a great team, until they reached the time where their interests diverged, at which point, they were likely to annihilate anything within miles of them in an attempt to beat each other to the portals and Kaylee.
At least I know where he stands, Nathan thought bitterly. He had been fooled by Maggy and to an extent, by Zyra.
“Oh, and don’t think Kaylee’s going to let you off the hook,” Eddy added. “We had a little talk about your sixty three plus times. You’ve got some work to do.”
“I don’t think that’s any of your business.”
“Just a friendly warning. She’s not the wilting flower she was before you killed her. Death changes people, sometimes in good ways, sometimes not.”
“Speaking of death,” Nathan said, “who brought her back?”
Eddy smiled.
“She was dead much longer than the time I had planned, wasn’t she?” he prodded.
“Half an hour.”
Nathan frowned. It should not have been possible to bring her back after so long. “I don’t suppose you’ll tell me who or how?”
“How is irrelevant. As for the who – yours truly.”
Nathan assessed Eddy’s energy and aura once more. The assassin was hiding his true self well. “At what price?” he asked quietly. Kaylee’s presence placed her in the living room, too far to hear him. “No one who dies returns for free.”
“True,” Eddy allowed.
“Meaning?”
“Good and evil can both bring souls back from the dead. Good and evil can choose how those souls repay the favor.”
An uneasy feeling slid through Nathan. “I’m guessing you weren’t benevolent.”
“Benevolence is not my thing,” Eddy replied. “But I’m not dictating the price. I returned her with the blessing of the Fallen One. If you think I’m a force to be reckoned with, you have no idea what he’ll do to free himself from Hell. I used the magic of Hell to return her. Truth be told, I don’t even know what that price will be.”
Holy fuck. Can things get any worse? Nathan thought. “Does she know?”
“Nope. Shadowman probably does but he hasn’t returned to full strength after the ordeal. That’s something I can’t control.”
“You’re not the second gen Maggy claimed you to be,” Nathan said. “But I think you misled her. It wasn’t her lying to me this time.”
“I heard you were good,” Eddy said. “I am older than I claimed to be. I am stronger than you can guess. I am here for the same reason you are: Kaylee. It’s part of the elaborate chess game that’s been going on since Creation. You were made her soul mate, and I was made her protector, long before either of us existed.”
Something stirred within Nathan, the sense of jealousy he’d experienced when Kaylee asked him to rescue Eddy. It struck him that Eddy had spent more time with Kaylee than he had. The assassin knew more about his soul mate than Nathan did.
Despite his irritation, Nathan’s mind couldn’t help returning to the paradox of an archangel being returned from the dead by Hell itself. He couldn’t imagine the price both
Eddy and Kaylee would pay. No one who called upon the Fallen One was exempt from the price of using His power. Ordinarily, Nathan wouldn’t care what Eddy gave up in exchange for Kaylee’s life. In this scenario, however, Nathan suspected whatever it was would make Eddy far more determined and lethal in order to make his sacrifice worthwhile.
“You recognized my energy at the bunker?” Eddy asked.
“Recognized? No,” Nathan replied with honesty he didn’t know if Eddy deserved. “I have no idea what you are or what you were. I did follow your energy to the cellar.”
“Guess I’m getting sloppy, eh?” Eddy smiled. “In my defense, I was severely injured. That was the day Kaylee shot you.”
Nathan drew a deep breath. “I deserved worse.”
“I’m not going to disagree. But I did give her a silencer, in case she needs to shoot you a few times without the neighbors calling the police.”
Nathan didn’t quite understand the dynamic between Kaylee and Eddy. If she were armed, why not shoot Eddy and escape?
Where would she go? He answered his own question. To date, everyone she knew was trying to kill her. He’d been no different. He’d actually been the only successful one thus far.
Eddy was right. Kaylee deserved more than any excuse Nathan could provide. Since the night he slid a knife through her ribs and into her heart, Nathan had felt lost.
“She needs space,” Eddy replied, confirming Nathan’s suspicion the assassin was actively reading his energy and aura. “And to see you actually care.”
“Never thought I’d take relationship advice from a psychopath,” Nathan said with a laugh.
“Can’t be a an effective killer without understanding human nature.”
“Maybe that’s my mistake,” Nathan replied dryly. “I used to try to save people.” But not Zyra. Not Maggy. Not the other members of 3G. Their recklessness had placed innocents, and the world in general, in danger.
They had crossed a line Nathan couldn’t ignore, even if he wanted to, even if he cared for at least two members of 3G, even if stripping the guide corps of its most effective, most senior leaders meant undoing the progress the spirit guides had made the past millennia. It would take a century or more to recruit and train new guides. There was no salvaging those who had embraced a different kind of evil.
In three thousand years of relationships, Nathan never paid attention to how to create a healthy one. He’d never had a reason to take one seriously. Like his duty, he was generally grateful for the physical stimulation but apathetic towards the emotional aspect. He had no friends and a list of exes too long for him to remember all the names.
He wouldn’t know a healthy relationship if he was in the middle of one. But he did know without a drop of uncertainty that his relationship with Kaylee started on a dysfunctional note and only grew worse.
“We can’t stay here long,” he said, needing to take his mind off of his challenges.
“My thoughts exactly. Leave in the morning?”
Nathan nodded. “With the gatekeeper. 3G is executing the women without understanding who or what they are.”
“They haven’t figured out the gatekeepers are part of the portals,” Eddy said.
Nathan lifted an eyebrow. He shouldn’t have been surprised Eddy had figured it out.
“Will you be telling me where your gatekeeper is?” Eddy asked.
“That’s my secret to keep you in check,” he replied firmly. “You know. Since we’re temporary allies and all.”
“Not fair. I’m willing to share my gateway with you.”
Nathan smiled. Eddy was entertaining. He had to give the assassin credit for that much, along with keeping Kaylee alive thus far.
Twenty-One
Shanti’s nose wrinkled. The basement smelled of the graves Eddy had been digging for the people who lived in the house. She sensed energy around her, but it was still, quiet, dark, the fading energy of the dead.
The bodies were too fresh to smell of decay, but she could feel the
ir presences, even if they didn’t stink. Or perhaps, it was her imagination creating boogeymen out of the innocent dead slaughtered by what smelled like pretty violent means. They weren’t shot – probably because Eddy had complained of needing to preserve his ammunition – which meant the family had been killed by hand.
Brutally, if the amount of blood in the air was any indicator.
She huddled against the wall. She had never fully been grateful for being blind before the adventure that brought her from Florida to the DC Metro area. Not witnessing the bodies would keep her sane, even if her imagination painted gruesome pictures.
Normally, she didn’t shy away from danger. She also hadn’t realized how much her guides protected her from reality before coming to DC. She couldn’t fathom anyone hurting people in this manner. Reality left her unsettled, off balance, uncertain if she wanted to challenge her situation or slink away from it.
The idea of running was new to her. Unfortunately, it sounded like a damned good solution when she thought about how twisted Eddy had to be in order to do something like this.
I hope there were no kids, she thought. Her chest tightened at the idea Eddy was capable of violence on that level. She wanted to believe no children had been involved.
The signatures of energy told her otherwise.
If he were the person Kaylee believed him to be – incapable of mercy or feelings or good of any kind – what did that mean for either of them?
More specifically, what did it mean for her?
Of everything Shanti had been through, of everything she thought she could handle, a man like Eddy had never crossed her mind or radar, because the existence of a man like Eddy didn’t seem possible. He was worse than any serial killer movie or audiobook she’d ever listened to.
Shanti began to hyperventilate. She was beginning to understand why Kaylee freaked out so much around Eddy. What horrors had the former archangel witnessed?
Tunnel vision formed. At the edge of her mind, Shanti was aware of the soft footfalls of someone descending into the basement. She couldn’t focus on him when she was mid-meltdown.
“Head between your knees,” Eddy told her. He didn’t approach her side of the basement but went to the far wall and opened a cardboard box, whose flaps scraped and brushed each other. “Deep breaths.”