by Debra Dunbar
“Hey.” Gregory drew himself up to full height and stared down his brother. The air crackled with tension, and I scooted back, bettering my vantage point for what was probably going to be the fight of the century.
Disappointingly, Gregory only crossed his arms over his chest and turned to me. “There are some energy anomalies occurring. I’m looking into one of them, and I’ve got a few of my enforcers examining others. The Gate Guardian in Alaska is concerned and has asked us to check it out, so we thought it best to send Raphael.”
Energy anomalies. I tilted my head and thought through all the possibilities. “I wasn’t lying when I said I was attacked earlier. It was some kind of lion-scorpion thing. I’ve never seen anything like it, either here or in Hel. Do you think it’s related to these energy anomalies?” Maybe this energy was causing mutant lion monsters. Ugh. One more thing to add to the to-do list.
“A lion-scorpion?” Gabriel looked at me as if I were a lunatic.
“Yeah. The front end was like a sphinx, only without all the riddles, and the tail shot poisoned darts.” I wiggled my wing. “One hit me.”
Gregory and Gabriel exchanged some kind of angel’s-club glance that went totally over my head.
“What happened to it?”
I blinked at Gregory, thinking how best to answer this one. “I cut the scorpion tail off, but it ran away before I could kill it. Hey, I had a meeting that I was already late for. It’s not like I could spend the rest of the day running around the city looking for a lion with an amputated tail.”
Gregory shook his head and turned to his brother. “Rafi to Alaska. I’ll try to cover the energy anomalies on the lower part of the continent. Can you take South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia?”
Wow, that seemed pretty sucky in terms of an even delegation of job duties. I wasn’t a fan of Gabriel’s, but even I made a grumpy face at Gregory’s division of labor.
“No. I need you to handle this as the head of the Grigori. And watch Aaru for two months while I take care of this personal matter.”
He had to be fucking insane to make that sort of demand. I’d always thought Gabriel was a little off his rocker, but not this far.
“Brother. There is a revolution in Aaru. Hel is undergoing its own disruptions. We have energy anomalies, and apparently a renegade non-riddling sphinx running around among the humans. This is not the time to take two months off to handle personal matters.”
Gabe scowled. “We agreed the energy anomalies were a priority. What you’re calling ‘my personal matter’ is also a priority.”
“When was any of this voted on?” I asked, suspiciously. I didn’t pay much attention during our Ruling Council meetings, and last month I’d slept through most of one. Still, I had a feeling this hadn’t been on any of my agendas. Energy anomalies? And what the fuck was this personal mission of Gabriel’s?
“It wasn’t,” Gregory soothed me, a wave of calming blue energy accompanying his words. “The energy anomalies occurring here among the humans might be nothing, and we don’t want to cause any kind of rumor mill to start with Aaru still boiling over with revolution.”
Angels gossiped worse than demons. I swear they probably gave their blessing to every tabloid and paparazzi on the planet. Still, I had a bad feeling about this whole Alaska thing, as well as the lion monster loose in the city. Energy anomaly. The last time that sort of thing had happened, the angels had needed to shut down a major inter-realm gate and relocate it to a remote location—in Alaska.
“The humans haven’t set off a nuclear warhead over the gate at Devil’s Paw, have they?” Angel gates were amazingly powerful constructs, but they didn’t do well when atoms started splitting nearby.
“No, no,” Gregory hastily assured me. I remembered too late that the destruction of the gate in Russia was still a sore spot with Gabriel. Everything was a sore spot with Gabriel.
“Good.” Now back to our original topic. “So, what’s this two-month thing you’ve got to do?”
I really didn’t care. Knowing Gabriel, it was probably something mind-crushingly boring, like meditating on Mars. Poking my nose into his business annoyed him, though, so I did it every chance I could.
“Nothing you need to know about,” he snapped.
“Well, it’s something I need to know about,” Gregory drawled. “Especially if you’re asking me to handle both Aaru as well as the significant issues here for two whole months.”
I snorted. Two months were nothing to an angel. It was like Gabe asking him to watch the teakettle while he ran down the end of the driveway to grab the mail. I remembered my conversation with Gareth, the negotiations that always occurred whenever demons did business. Angels weren’t so different.
“This is a significant favor you’re asking,” I told Gabe. “You’re going to owe me big time for this one.”
The younger angel stared at me, mouth open. It wasn’t an attractive look for him. “I’m not asking you to do anything. There’s been no discussion of you doing me a favor at all in this conversation.”
I pointed at Gregory. “Having him gone is going to seriously cramp my style. I need him. He’s integral to my business operations. You can’t just pop down here and poach my angel without offering anything in return.”
“In spite of what my Cockroach wants or doesn’t want, I won’t even consider your request until you tell me what is so important that it takes you away from your divine responsibilities.”
I almost snorted again. Gregory had happily handed off those divine responsibilities hot-potato style to spend more time with me. He was such a controlling, hypocritical jerk—which were all qualities I loved in him.
Gabe turned an interesting shade of red. “Forget I asked. Stay here. Sin with your infernal lover. Eat crustacean chips and drink brown water while I clean up the mess you made up in Aaru.”
Unfortunately, Gabriel vanished with a pop right after delivering his insult. I’d hoped for yet another episode of angelic sibling WrestleMania.
“Wanna hit me instead?” I offered. Being a participant in a fight was often more fun than watching one, especially with Gregory. Fights with him quickly turned into sex—which I liked even more than brawling.
“Nope.” Gregory didn’t seem very angry. In fact, the expression on his face was downright smug. “I know what he’s doing; I just want to make sure he’s too busy to continue doing it.”
“What’s he doing?” All right, angels weren’t the only ones who loved gossip.
“Hunting down a traitor. Gabe takes these things rather personally.”
“He’s going to kill this traitor?” That didn’t seem like the Gabriel I knew.
“Oh no. Just take his wings. We’ll catch up with him eventually. There’s no need for my brother to ditch his job and go tearing around in search of revenge. He’s got work to do.”
I smiled and reached out to caress Gregory’s arm. Ah, my beautiful hypocrite. “I’ll say he’s got work to do. If he’s stealing Rafi from me, he’s gonna have to pick up the slack and do a few things for me too.”
My angel smiled, capturing my hand in his. “You must be hard up if you’re recruiting angels. You’ve got a huge household, plus Nils and your human and werewolf pals. Give Gabe a break.”
“Damn straight I’m hard up. Nils is useless unless I’m asking him to throw himself on a bomb. I’ve got hardly any demons left in my household after the elf wars, and Dar is on some kind of permanent vacation, ensnared by one of your angels.” I glared, as if it were all his fault that my brother was mooning over one of his enforcers.
“You don’t approve of Asta?”
“It’s not that. I need him right now. Besides, I was going to hook him up with Gabriel.”
“You must really hate your brother.”
Yeah, he was much better off with that one in Chicago. Who would I get to pair up with Gregory’s pompous brother, though? Rafi would be easy to match. He was fun. Uri was on pilgrimage for fuck knows how long. Gabriel was my
new pet project. But which demon could do the job?
“Fine. I’ll just have to set him up with Leethu.”
Gregory made a choking noise. “Cockroach, she’s a succubus. A succubus and Gabe?”
“It would do him good. That guy seriously needs to get laid, and if anyone can make that happen, it’s Leethu.”
“Not that I’m doubting your sister’s prowess, but it’s not going to happen. The only way Gabe would have sex is if the woman hit him over the head and tied him to a bed.”
I pursed my lips. “I can arrange that.”
“Well your matchmaking efforts are going to need to be put on hold. Rafi really is needed in Alaska, and Gabriel has got his hands full.”
I sighed, disappointed, although I had my hands full too. I needed to get a move on and talk to Amber if I wanted to be on time for my appointment in Hel.
“Hey. You mind giving me a lift to Philly?”
He mirrored my sigh and grabbed me, yanking me into his arms. “Later. First we need to go look at something.”
‘Something’ was a dead angel. Not a recently dead one either. This guy had been rotting away for at least a week by the look of him. I hadn’t seen a dead angel up close since Alaska and was mighty intrigued, especially because there were still little shredded bits of his spirit-self inside the maggot-ridden corporeal form.
“Wow, things are bad in Aaru if you all are leaving dead bodies in an Indiana cornfield. Does Gabe know about this guy? He’s gonna shit a brick.”
“This has nothing to do with the rebellion in Aaru, and no, Gabriel does not know about it.”
“Okay, so spill it. Who is he, what happened, and why the fuck is it my business?” I had enough on my plate and didn’t need to add a dead angel to it.
“Because a demon killed him, and he did a very messy job of it, too.” Gregory gestured toward the corpse. “This angel was a courier, delivering an artifact to another. That artifact is now missing.”
Artifact? As in my sword, artifact? “Let me get this straight. FedEx angel here was making a delivery, and a demon shredded him and made off with the package?”
Gregory nodded.
“Is the thief a member of my household?”
“No.”
“Then I hereby delegate this issue to the Grigori to handle. I wash my hands of the matter, decline to claim jurisdiction, abscond and abjure and all those other things. I’m busy. Go get ‘em, big boy.”
His lips twitched into a smile. “Why, thank you for your cooperation in this matter. We would be happy to enact justice. Now, aren’t you curious what he stole?”
Damn straight I was curious. “Another sword? You’ve got one. I’ve got one. I’m assuming there’s an angelic equivalent to a gun safe somewhere, some arsenal full of the things.”
“Not a sword, but a very important item.”
Very, very curious. That was me. “Go on.”
“It’s the Traveler’s Veil.”
He looked at me as if I was supposed to know what that was. “What the fuck is a Traveler’s Veil? Some kind of disguise?”
“It’s used to create gateways between the realms—any realm. Very useful to quickly evacuate a large number of people.”
Like when the elves left their homeland. I scowled at Gregory, thinking I could have really used that item last year when we were trying to figure out a way to get the werewolves and Nephilim to a safe place.
“So why is that a problem? Unless you’re worried this demon is going to open non-guarded passageways from Hel and flood the world with demons.”
“It’s a problem because that sphinx thing you encountered today is a manticore, and you are correct—they are not indigenous to either this world or Hel.”
I shrugged. “So the dude stole this thing, killed an angel, went traveling, and brought back some exotic man-killing souvenir. Go get him. Oh, and can you give me a lift to Philly first?”
“The Veil opens a passageway. It remains open until the user closes it. I’m worried this thief didn’t just bring back a souvenir, but left the gateway open. If so, this manticore isn’t the only one that will probably come through. And there are worse things that I really don’t want to see here gobbling humans up like popcorn.”
Oh. Yeah, that was a problem. “Well, the gateway has to be somewhere near where I was attacked. That manticore didn’t have wings and didn’t strike me as a creature motivated to travel long distances just for the fuck of it. It’s probably close to the angel gate in Columbia. Demons like to try new stuff out before they go back to Hel, and it’s a good idea to do that close to a gate. You know, just in case stuff goes boom.”
“Probably.” There was an odd look in Gregory’s eyes I didn’t quite trust. “I’ll need you to help me locate it, though.”
I had so much shit to do, but any activity that put me side-by-side with my angel was top of my list. “Only if we can get naked and sweaty afterward.” My smile faltered. “I miss you. We hardly see each other anymore.”
He gathered me close, resting his chin on the top of my head. “It’s a date. And I believe you needed a lift to Philadelphia?”
Chapter 4
Amber answered the door, her brow creased. “Sam? Are Wyatt and Nyalla all right? What are you doing here?””
She stood by to let me in, and I entered her little apartment, admiring the warm colors and tasteful designs. “Everything’s okay. I just need a favor.”
“Sure. Ask away. Make it quick, though. I’ve got a date in thirty.”
Shit. If Irix was here, I was screwed. He’d have my head for what I was about to ask. Looking around for the incubus, I followed Amber into her bedroom. She stripped off her shirt, tossing a heavily accessorized dress onto the bedspread.
“Are you and Irix going to a Renaissance fair?”
She laughed. “Nope. This is for my ‘date’. His fantasy is to have sex with Galadriel. Pretty funny, huh? I get to be his elven queen.”
Given she was half-elf, she was well suited to fulfill this fantasy. “So your date is a forty-year-old virgin, plays a lot of video games, and lives in his parents’ basement?”
“Forty-five. He actually has a penthouse apartment and is a bank vice-president. And since he just wrapped up his third divorce, I’m thinking he’s probably not a virgin.”
Huh. Kinky dude behind the suit. I wondered if Amber was supposed to ride a white horse bareback and speak to him in Elvish. If so, he’d be shit out of luck. Other than a few insults and basic greetings, the half-elf didn’t know much of her mother’s language.
Not that it would probably matter. Amber was also half succubus. She could have spoken to the guy in pig Latin and he would have been starry-eyed at her feet. The energy she got through sexual encounters sustained her, and those she tied to her would supply her with a steady stream of energy their entire lives. I couldn’t imagine the amount of energy a middle-aged, three-time divorced, bank VP would have pent up inside him. Amber would probably be humming for days from this one night.
But it wasn’t her succubus skills I needed; it was her elf ones.
“I need you to help a group of humans who are struggling with agriculture in their territory.”
She shimmied into the crushed-velvet dress, smoothing it over her hips, and adjusted her breasts for maximum cleavage. “What crops are they growing? And is it a problem with drought, soil, insects, or fungus?”
“All of the above. They really don’t care what they grow; they just need to find something that’s going to work with their challenging environment.”
“Sounds like an interesting project. I’m not an expert on grains, but I can analyze conditions and at least point them in the right direction. Do you have soil and fungal samples?”
“Uhhh, no. I was hoping you could go there. I don’t think it would take you long, maybe a week or two.”
Amber pursed her lips. “I’m wrapping up finals, and then I’ve got graduation, but I don’t start my internship in Napa Valley until Aug
ust. Would June work?”
“Perfect. The location might be a bit of a problem though. It’s in Hel.”
She paled, her breath hitching. “Sam, are you insane? I can’t go to Hel.”
Yeah, that was an issue. Elves considered her a blight on their beautiful genetic purity and would kill her if her presence was discovered. Demons probably wouldn’t be as murderous, but their fascination with her odd parentage could result in an enthusiastic welcome. Death by hate or death by lust—either one was still death. And then there was the fact that anyone could take her out to collect the bounty on her head.
“Yeah, but it’s just a little tiny sliver of Hel. No elves. No demons. Just a group of formerly enslaved humans who are slowly starving to death because they can’t get crops to grow.”
It was a low blow, but Amber had a soft spot for humans. She’d been raised as one, and the plight of her changeling stepsister haunted her. Nearly two decades of her sister’s enslavement had bought Amber’s safety. I knew it was a debt she felt she could never repay.
The blond woman chewed her lower lip. “How can you guarantee my safety for the week I’m there?”
Shit if I knew.
“I can have one of my household guard you.” Of course, it would have to be one of my Lows. Leethu had her hands full. Dar was joined at the pelvis with this Asta angel. I’d have to assign her someone I wasn’t planning on using for Infernal Mates. Someone unsuitable to pair with an angel of any level, yet able to protect her from any demons or elves that got wind of her presence. Maybe that color-changing guy.
Amber sighed. “Please tell me this demon of yours speaks English, otherwise I’m going to spend a week repeating the ten Elvish words I know.”
Damn. I totally forgot about that. My mind raced, trying to think of who knew Demon, Elvish, and English. Nyalla, although I could never ask that poor girl to return to Hel after what she’d been through.
“Kirby!” Amber jumped at my shout. “He’s a mage, and he lives in the human area. He’ll be the perfect translator for you while you’re there.”