"What about Daniel?"
"Daniel, I love. He's my brother."
"Because of Inanna?"
I was surprised when he didn't answer right away. And when he did, I wasn't expecting what he said. "No."
Inanna, the First Born sharing Daniel's body, was by all accounts Azrael's sister. His older sister. And the one who sheltered him from their other sister's wrath when she killed their father and took his place as the Phantasm. "I don't understand."
"It's complicated, Zoë. Inanna…wasn't bonded to a human for long periods of time. She served my sister far longer than any of us before she fled the Abysmal and sought out a hiding place in the Physical. The first host she chose—she chose him for purposes of power. She wanted to learn what it was to be a leader."
"Who was that host?"
"A great woman, lost to history. Her name was Eshe, a wise leader in Sumeria who often spoke to the gods."
I didn't know the name, but that wasn't saying much. "After that?"
"All of those afterward, she chose so they could teach her, and she taught them. But all were practitioners of magic, sacred geometry, and science. The one she chose before taking Daniel was a man named James Wynne."
I chewed on my lower lip. "Why does that last name sound familiar?" I didn't think it should. I mean, Wynne was probably a pretty common name.
"His great granddaughter was Nora Wynne."
I blinked. I did know that name! "Wait…my mom's mentioned her. But where?"
"I'm afraid that's my fault that you can't remember. I was distracting you that night."
"What night?"
"The night all of you were discussing the Grimoire and the Cruorem in Nona's shop."
Bingo! Before Allard Bonville dragged Dags physically through the Abysmal Plane.
I pulled away and turned to face him, but he still attempted to keep my hand wrapped in his. "She was the one who destroyed that group. And Inanna was inside her great grandfather? I thought when a First Born inhabits a human body, you can't have children."
"James had children before Inanna took over. He was dying of a rare blood disease and invited her in freely. She possessed knowledge of the Planes he could only dream of. But in learning what she knew, he realized the group his forefathers had created, the Cruorem, was dangerous. And the book they were amassing was equally so."
"The Grimoire."
"Yes. But before then, Inanna had already hidden away her journal, the one that contained the spell to eradicate First Borns. And she was using James to go through the Grimoire and remove the spells that could do the most damage. Only the group discovered what he was doing and Inanna made James disappear before they could kill him. But they got hold of the Grimoire before she could sift through the spells and remove all of the dangerous ones."
"And somehow later on his great granddaughter knew to destroy them?"
"Yes. I'm not sure about all the details. And the reason I'm telling you this is because so much of this fucked-up situation is because of Inanna. She was always someone who had to be independent. Never asked for help. And because she raised me…" He shrugged. "I developed the same attitude. Even when she joined with James Wynne, she took control. He was never allowed to be himself again."
"But she's not like that with Daniel. He's in control most of the time."
"Which is why I love him like a brother, Zoë. This is my point. Something about him changed her. She's working with us. She's working with him. She's no longer trying to control things, and I think it's because of him. Although I can't seem to make the others see this. They're all still distrustful of her."
There was something in his face, a hint in his expression, that told me there was information he wasn't giving me. So me, being the bitch I am, guessed. "She's in love with him."
"Zoë, First Borns don't love their—"
"No….I can see it. TC, I know when you're lying, 'cause you suck at it with me." I pulled my hand from his. "Your sister's in love with her host."
He looked down at me. It was so different seeing color in his eyes. Before he took the Throne, they were white. Solid white. "She'd been watching you. I don't know whose body she had or if she was still in James Wynne's. She never said. Her plan was to get the Grimoire from Maureen, but you and Dags intercepted her and got it first. And after it was all over with, and you and Dags were in the hospital, she followed you. She saw Daniel."
"And…she saw what my Horror did to him."
"Yes. So she saved him when she could."
"I'm guessing she's not that crazy about his feelings for me." I wasn't fooling myself, nor was I being a bitch. I was aware Daniel still loved me. Even though my own heart had found someone else.
I loved Daniel, too.
"Zoë." He arched an eyebrow at me. "I brought you here because this is where your mind was. Where you intended to come. I told you about Inanna so you'd understand. Now you know a bit more of our history—more than even Nona knows. And now…" He moved forward and put his hands on my upper arms. "What in the hell happened at the Society House?"
I wasn't ready to switch subjects yet! Oh! Damn him. I needed to know more about how Inanna felt. And if she was the jealous type.
"Zoë?"
Give him an evil glare, I did! A cold breeze blew strands of hair across my face, and I reached up to move them. My fingers were like ice and I was pretty sure I had a red nose. "You know everything there is to know about me, right?"
"That's a loaded question. Right up there with 'does this make me look fat?'"
I punched him in the arm. "Stop it. I'm serious. You know I was raped here, right?"
His expression became very solemn. "Yes."
"And you know a young man died here because of it?"
"Yes."
"And that technically…I died, too."
"That's how your mother's spell was broken."
After a few breaths, I told him about what happened at the hospital in Montreal. And about the picture I saw, as well as my father's mark. Then I told him about the picture Nick had and the murders in Atlanta before I left.
His expression never changed. "So this guy wasn't a Power when he raped you."
"No. According to my mother."
"And she's sure?"
"Yeah, she's pretty damn sure." I licked my lips. "You hinted once that this incident wasn't an accident."
"It wasn't."
His tone was so confident, I narrowed my eyes at him. "I assumed when I saw the mark on the face of the two sketches that my father created the event to break the spell. But my mother confessed to doing it herself." I swallowed bile at the thought. "She sent this man to do it, but said Barry wasn't supposed to die and I wasn't supposed to be raped."
I studied his face, documented every minute detail of his reaction to the news.
Damn ass-hat had a stone face. Nada.
"TC?"
"Nona's lying, Zoë. But I don't know why. There isn't any gain in saying something like that except to make you mad."
Lying? Why in the hell would she lie like that? Especially about something so…
"Hey." He put a hand to the side of my face. "It's okay. Whatever the reason Nona has, it's got to be a good one."
"When you came…" I tried to remember everything that happened after they shot me with the gun, but it was just really fuzzy. "Why did you come? How did you know?"
"I know whenever there's something wrong, Zoë. You and I are still connected. Especially now, after sharing the same Throne. Your essence is still here with me." He paused. "And the essence of…"
"Of?"
"The page. The one Rhonda tried to get rid of."
Oh. Right. It was still there. Just in a million floaty bits. "So you know when I'm in trouble?"
"Yes. So I came to you. And what I found pissed me the hell off."
"You and me both." I sighed. I was still mad, but it was that after-mad feeling. The one you get after a good ugly-cry. Drained. "But you also said the Society was corrupt o
r something."
"Zoë, do me a favor, okay? Don't trust half of what the Society's ruling body says, and don't believe anything they tell you."
"That…" I blinked several times as my brain had a little trouble with that sentence. "…makes no sense."
"It will. Trust me on this. And believe me when I tell you that your mom had nothing to do with that man raping you."
"Then who did? He wasn't a Power, so he wasn't being controlled by my dad. So it was a random attack? And now Dad's got his Ethereal fingers inside the bastard, pulling the strings so he'll kill and rape other people? For what? To rattle me?"
Azrael took a step back and crossed his arms over his chest. I realized he was still wearing only a suit, no coat. But then, he wasn't really here, was he? "Probably. Zoë, do you realize there's a much larger issue here? In fact, there are several?"
"Well, yeah, but—"
He started ticking them off his fingers. "First and most important, Dags and Rhonda are missing. And the best guess anybody has is the Seraphim has them. I can't say for sure because the moment I took office, each of us slammed our front door to the other. So, we're not talking, and Geist doesn't know."
I felt awful! In all of my wallowing in a pity-party, I'd forgotten the love of my life was missing! Possibly being tortured to get to that fucking goddamned book!
"Second, no one can find Daniel and Inanna. I sensed them in Montreal, and I knew the moment he drank from you because I could hear Inanna doing it. The moment I knew you were all right, I took off after them, but I lost them. She's not answering and neither is he. They're in the wind. We don't know what will happen when combining your blood with his still-developing ties to the Abysmal."
"Is it that dangerous?"
"What if it breaks the mental buffer Inanna set up to separate Daniel from the insane, darker side of himself the Horror created?"
Oh, shit on a stick! That kind of thing happening never occurred to me. I stepped back and turned around. I was going to throw up just thinking about that happening. "Oh, TC…that can't happen. She's got to keep hold of him."
"Zoë, we don't know that it will, but we also didn't know what touching you would do, either. I mean, look what happened to us when I grabbed you. Sorry, but this wasn't in the how-to-be-a-Symbiont-plus book."
"TC." I turned and faced him, but I had my fingers on my chin. "That can't happen to Daniel, and if the Seraphim does have Dags….what will he do to him?"
"I don't think he'll hurt Dags. He can't—not really. And I don't think they can do anything if Maureen's in there playing guard dog. I think you've already been told it's been three days and nothing's happened."
"Can you be so sure?" My fingers were damn cold, so I shoved them into my coat pocket.
Wait a minute…when did I put on a coat?
"There's been no surge of power, no attempts by the Ethereals here in the Physical. It's been quiet, except when it comes to things surrounding you." He pointed at me.
"Me?"
"Every other place in the world where Ethereals have set up some kind of hub or ops or base has gone quiet. No movement. The only activity has been near you. The attacks Joe got word of in the park, and then the deaths in Montreal. And isn't it interesting they all started right after Dags and Rhonda disappeared?"
"You think they're connected?"
"I just don't know how." He lowered his shoulders. "I want you to concentrate on finding Daniel first. I'll send Geist to help you."
I made a face.
"Zoë, he feels really bad about helping Rhonda. Remember, he only operates on a platform of logic. If she proved to him that removing Dags from your equation would make a better Wraith, then that's what he did. There was no malice."
"I don't want to work with him."
"Too late. You will. He's actually seen and spoken with Maureen and Alice."
Hear that? That sonic boom was my jaw hitting the concrete in Piedmont Park, Atlanta, Georgia! "What? Why didn't Mom say something?"
"Because she doesn't know," came a new voice behind me.
I turned to see Joe standing here. His hair was still sticking up at odd angles. He was dressed now, in jeans and boots. He wore a black sweater and leather peacoat. His nose was red in the cold. He looked…adorable. "How did you know where we were?"
He nodded to Azreal. "My buddy here."
Wow…they really were best friends, weren't they? Weird.
"Joe's got some news."
I looked at my cop buddy. "What?"
He smiled. "Remember how when we first met, you called me a dick? Well, I quit." The smile broadened. "I'm a private dick now."
!!!
Chapter Ten
At first I didn't know what he meant by "I quit." I mean, he could have quit a lot of things. The Society? Smoking (but I don't think he ever did that)? Mixing those vile potions that drag astral-walking drug addicts back to their bodies?
The private dick comment was sort of a clue, but then he'd always been kind of a dick.
"Joe, are you okay? You're standing kinda funny."
"Eh, it's this Orbital Veil thing…" Joe's hand shot out and he gripped the concrete guard along the edge. "I have to be careful when I stop quick. It's like…I stop, but the ride keeps going." His expression transformed from happy into worry when he looked at me. "Hey…never mind me. You all right?"
"Yeah. I'm good." I don't know why I did it, but I leaned in close to Azrael. He put his hand on my shoulder. "TC took care of me."
"Look, I'm sorry I wasn't much help at stopping them from doing that to you. They shouldn't have—"
I raised a hand. "It's done. And it's over. I quit."
"So did I."
"So you quit the Society?"
"Yes." He smiled, and the cool breeze ruffled his wacky hair. "And the force."
?
I leaned forward with my brows all bunched together. I probably looked like Bert. "Say what?"
"I quit the force. The police force. I no longer work for the Atlanta Police Department."
"Joe," Azrael said. "Was that a good idea?"
The former APD detective nodded, shoved his hands into his pockets, then shivered. "Uh, can we go in? I don't know if you supernatural Abysmal types noticed, but it's freezing out here."
Heh. And they say it never gets cold in the South. P'shh.
"Are you cold?" Azrael asked me as he leaned back from me.
I nodded. "Oh, I could use a roaring fire, my booties, and a cup of coffee."
"I vote my place." Joe raised his hand, then shoved it back into his coat pocket.
"Your place, it is." Azrael stepped away from me, but kept a hand on my arm and grabbed Joe with the other one.
Bam!
We were in Joe's living room. And the funny thing was, we sort of landed on the floor. I don't mean fell over, but the moment I realized where we were—since the park view and setting sun changed into his bachelor pad and wide-screen TV—it was like I dropped an inch or two onto the floor.
Like a tiny jump.
The jump did a number on Joe's balance, though. Azrael had to keep him up right as he regained his feet.
"Whoa," Joe said in a very Keanu Reeves way.
"I didn't know you could do that." I stepped away and started taking off the coat I couldn't remember putting on. I knew Joe's apartment like the back of my bunny-slippered foot. I lived above him and our floor plans were identical. That, and we both bought at Ikea. Sort of the same stuff.
"I couldn't before the Throne," Azrael answered as he meandered about the kitchen, lifting plastic bags and opening cabinets.
"I couldn't do that when I was in the Throne." I felt a little like a kindergartener who was the leader once but never got the playground privileges.
"That's because you never integrated. No resonance, remember?"
"Grapes are in the refrigerator." Joe removed his own coat and walked in a more leisurely way around the apartment. I took his coat and hung it next to mine as he joined Azra
el by the fridge.
The Phantasm had half his body inside, his nicely shaped Vin Diesel ass sticking out. "Where?"
"Under your nose."
"Oh. These are purple."
"They're seedless."
"I like the green ones."
"Beggars and choosers." Joe moved around him to the counter and turned his Keurig on. The familiar rumble of the appliance's water heater comforted me as I joined him and grabbed two cups from his cabinet.
"So…" I set the cups on the counter as Azrael pulled a strainer filled with grapes out of the fridge. It was almost endearing to see this powerful being of a First Born sitting on an Ikea stool at a mundane counter, popping grapes in his mouth like popcorn. "Care to tell me how you managed to quit the Society and the police force in one afternoon?"
Joe showed me his box of Starbucks Pike Place Roast, medium, and I nodded. When the light indicated the appliance was ready, he switched out the K-Cup, closed it, and placed one of the mugs under the nozzle.
While it brewed, he turned and leaned back against the counter edge. "Well, when the whole house started shaking the way it did, I knew that was one of two things. Either Rhonda was pitching a fit, or you were. And since Rhonda was gone, had to be you. And you usually don't gather that much power around you unless you are really, really pissed off."
I blinked. Me? I gather power?
How the hell do I do that?
"And when I got to the room—you know the rest. I was still off my feet a little when Azrael vanished with you in his arms. So was your mother. That sergeant what's-his ass wanted to arrest me for interfering and preventing them from apprehending the planar."
"Planar?"
"It's what they call us," Azrael said between grapes. "They dubbed any of us who dwell mainly on the Abysmal or the Ethereal Planes, planars."
"But they—I mean we—live on the Physical Plane," I said with my arms out. "We think on the Mental, and our souls inhabit the Astral."
"Now, that's my girl," Azreal said with a shit-eating grin. "I honestly didn't think you were listening to me during our little training sessions."
Before I became a temporary resident of the Abysmal Plane, thanks to my father, I'd asked Azrael to teach me how to be a better Wraith, meaning how to use my power and help me understand better about the changes my body went through. It used to be I had to slip out of my body to become the Wraith.
Dominion: Zoë Martinique Investigation, Book 6 Page 6