“I can’t accept this, Maalik.” I wedged my arms between us and pushed him back. “And if this place is so easy for you to afford, then why are you sharing that tiny flat with Ridwan?”
“I’m not home enough to enjoy a place like this, and I spend most of my time off work with you anyway, so what’s the point?” He gave me a lopsided smile and slid his hands down the backs of my arms, trying to warm me.
I was trembling, but not from being cold. I was furious, and somewhere in the middle of our arguing, that fury had been penetrated with the throbbing awareness that I was exhausted and defeated.
Maalik reached his hand up to thumb away the tear running down my cheek. “Just give it a try. If you decide you don’t like the place, you can always find another, after we find Seth and Caim. Is that so much to ask?”
“Fine.” I sighed, looking down.
“Good.” Maalik bent and kissed my nose. I felt like biting his off. “Josie’s on her way over with a few boxes. Why don’t you wait here for her? I’ll go help Ridwan finish moving the furniture you won’t be needing into storage.”
“Ridwan’s helping you move my stuff?”
Ridwan gave Maalik hell day and night for dating me. Luckily, Maalik had plenty of experience tolerating hell. I began to laugh, but then my jaw dropped as my brain retracted back to his first sentence.
“Josie’s on her way over here?” I said through gritted teeth. “You weren’t even planning on giving me a choice, were you?”
“Please, Lana.” He pulled me to his chest and pressed his chin to my forehead. “Look past your pride for one second and understand how much I love you.”
“I’m not sure love is the right word.” I couldn’t keep my voice from trembling. If he didn’t let go of me and leave right that second, I had full intentions of screaming like a loon until he deemed me crazy and fled in terror. But just then, Holly popped back in.
“So,” she said, “would you like to see the common areas and the rest of the grounds?”
“Maybe later,” I answered, maintaining my steady glare at Maalik.
He gave me a tired smile and let go, fluttering his wings with false cheer. “Thank you, Holly. I think this will work perfectly. Allow me to venture downstairs with you. I must be on my way. Lots to move.” He gave me a nod and closed the door behind them, leaving me alone in the alien place.
It was perfect. I couldn’t argue that. Who doesn’t dream of something better than the spoonful of crap life so often delivers? I just hated setting myself up for disappointment, and that’s what this felt like.
Who’s to say Maalik wouldn’t get tired of me? Or that I wouldn’t get tired of him? If I accepted this and became accustomed to this sort of lifestyle, would I be able to handle giving it all up? Well, I did have three hundred years of practice making it on my own. Maybe it was like riding a bike. I really didn’t plan on staying long anyway. Right? It wouldn’t hurt to live it up for a while.
I stood around in the sitting room for a good ten minutes thinking of all the ways my situation could be worse. And after all the hell I’d been through already, that wasn’t hard. I finally scrapped together what was left of my pride and went to check out the rest of my new condo. I could throw that pride back in the blender later, while Holly showed me the pool and gym downstairs.
Chapter 9
“The more I see of the moneyed class,
the more I understand the guillotine.”
-George Bernard Shaw
Josie tumbled through my front door, followed by my anxious hounds. They leapt over her in an effort to reach me. Saul jumped up on his hind legs and placed his coffee can sized paws on my shoulders, shoving me to the floor so he could lick my face, while Coreen sniffed my neck and arm pits until she was sure I wasn’t in need of a healing spit-bath. I was still amazed that Holly was letting them stay with me in the condo. I guess she figured the extra security might be worth any curious stains they might leave behind.
“You lucky bitch.” Josie dropped the bags and boxes she carried so she could place her hands on her hips. “It’s just not fair. You so don’t deserve this place. You’re not even nice to Maalik anymore. You’ve really got him whipped, don’t you?”
“I wish,” I said as she began stalking from room to room to assess just how lucky I was.
I heard her gasp from the bathroom. “There’s a freaking Jacuzzi tub in here! I hate you.”
“You can take a bath in it anytime,” I hollered back before pulling myself off the floor so I could figure out which box contained the dog food. I probably owed Josie a fridge full of groceries. The hounds just weren’t satisfied without their special Cerberus Chow.
“This place has three bedrooms?” Josie rounded the corner as I set down a couple punch bowls of chow and stepped back before I became road kill. Saul almost slipped in a puddle of his own drool as he dove for his dish.
“Yeah,” I answered, wiping my hands on my jeans. “Holly didn’t have any studios available. I think she only has four. Most of the angels and nephilim who stay here have roommates. It helps balance out the expense, since most of them don’t live here year-round.”
“You need a roommate?” she asked.
“I said you could use the Jacuzzi anytime.” I glared at her.
“Oh, come on,” she huffed. “It’s not just the Jacuzzi.”
I smiled, thinking I was about to receive another safety lecture.
“I mean, look at this view.” She turned away from my bewildered expression to gaze out the magnificent window in the sitting room. Okay, so it was a pretty kick-ass view of the city. Holly had taste. I’d give her that.
“You want some coffee?”
Josie turned around. “Yeah, better make a whole pot. Jenni and Kevin should be here in a few.”
“Huh?” I dropped the can of grounds with a start. “Come again?”
“What?” Josie stepped into the dining room and gave me one of her looks. “Did you think getting attacked by a demon and having your apartment destroyed would overwhelm Grace with some newfound compassion and she would just pass you out of sympathy?”
“Well.” I shrugged with a frown. I deserved a little slack, didn’t I?
“Ha!” Josie howled and set both hands over her stomach, caressing her blue cashmere sweater. “Think again.”
I scowled at her. “I think I’ve suffered plenty. I don’t need you to help me with that one, thank you.”
“Grief, Lana.” Josie picked up a box of dishes and joined me in the kitchen to help put them away. “You’re at Holly House now. Shut up and enjoy it for a second.” Then she paused. “Tell Holly that if she has any more condos available for reapers to contact me.”
“Really?” I squeezed a coffee cup in my hand and looked at her.
“Sure,” she said. “Why not? I mean with me, Kevin, Jenni, and maybe one more, we could afford a place like this. Don’t you think?”
“Maalik didn’t put you up to this, did he?” I was going to scream if he rearranged one more aspect of my life without telling me about it first.
“Don’t be silly,” Josie snapped. “Besides, being friends with you seems to get more dangerous every day. A little extra security never hurt anyone.”
“Gee, thanks,” I said and grabbed another mug.
At least most of my dishes had survived the fire. I reminded myself to send a thank you note to Zibel, the local weather god who worked at Bank of Eternity. Maalik had informed me on the ride to Holly House that he had been a big help, drenching the Coexist Complex with rain to put out the fire.
The new kitchen came with quite a few accessories that weren’t typically supplied, like a lightening-fast, stainless steel coffeemaker. You wouldn’t catch me complaining about that one, but I did have my suspicions. I wondered if all Holly’s condos came with thirty-speed blenders and antique china sets. There came a point when I just didn’t want to know about anything else Maalik was doing for me without my permission. It just turned my pride into a h
ungry little worm that ate away at my stomach.
Josie filled a couple mugs of coffee and slid onto one of the barstools at the breakfast bar. She picked up a cloth napkin, folded in the shape of a dove, off one of the place settings and giggled.
“What’s so damn funny?” I said, slumping into the stool next to her with my coffee.
“Oh, nothing. Just picturing you hosting a dinner party.”
I picked up a fork and gouged her in the arm. “What makes you think I won’t?”
“Oh, that would be rich. If you do, you better invite me and Kevin.”
“You’d be the guests of honor,” I said.
“Oh, yay.” She clapped her hands together in mock delight.
The doorbell rang a singsong chime like church bells, and I hopped up to answer it. Coreen and Saul fixed themselves at my side, close enough to drip drool on my boots. The demon attack had surprised them pretty badly. They were going to be overbearingly protective for the next few weeks. I was sure that didn’t bother Maalik any. That’s why he had bought them for me in the first place.
I opened the front door and was greeted by Jenni and Kevin’s gaping faces. Josie hopped to her feet to give them the tour, starting with the Jacuzzi tub. Kevin was already wagging his eyebrows at her. I made sure to pen in extra cleaning supplies on my grocery list.
“I brought my scythe,” Kevin informed me as they came back into the dining room. “You know, just in case,” he said with a goofy grin.
“You learn quickly, grasshopper.” I handed him and Jenni each a mug of coffee.
“And I’ve brought you a supply of holy water,” Jenni added, setting a gift-wrapped box on the table. “Think of it as a housewarming gift. Now, let’s kick this studying business where it counts.”
The four of us sat down and opened up our text books to the page we had left off on. There was an uncomfortable silence as we each looked up and at the front door. I hadn’t noticed before, but a very long and complicated prayer had been engraved in Latin along the doorframe. I felt safer already.
“Let’s get started,” Josie said softly, dragging her eyes back to her book. “We’ve still got your mentor examine to study for after this.”
“Yippee.”
Kevin made a face at me. “You’ve got to be the only reaper not beating down Grim’s door for the chance to train me in the art of harvesting. Do you realize that?”
“I don’t think training you will be so bad. I just wish I could train you to take this test for me first.”
“I’m helping you study for it, aren’t I?” He flicked a sugar packet at me with a playful scowl.
“Let’s not get distracted now,” Josie snapped. “We only have two weeks left.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m taking the next two weeks off work so I can study.”
“Lana, are you sure?” Jenni looked up in amazement.
“I really want to make it on the Posy Unit,” I lied. They didn’t need to know about the demon training. It would just conjure up too many questions that I wasn’t ready to answer. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be ready for that conversation. And I would be using some of the time to study.
“That’s very responsible of you, Lana.” Jenni was beaming, like I had just slipped her the answer to the million dollar trivia question. Josie, on the other hand, looked like she was waiting for me to shout “Psych!” any minute. I really wished I could.
The hours crawled by, each one slower than the last, as we took turns reading aloud and quizzing each other on multiple harvesting techniques and how to select a soul for an apprentice to harvest. I was the only one taking the mentoring exam, so I felt like a lucky duck to have so many friends willing to waste their time just to see me pass. I developed a migraine somewhere in the midst of hour five and was about to beg Josie for mercy when a knock came at the door.
We all jumped in our seats. I stood to check the peephole. A nephilim waited out in the hall. He was a pleasant looking guy with a tumble of sandy blond curls and happy, green eyes. A basket of fruit and cheese dangled from his wrist, and I suddenly realized that I was starving.
“Can I help you?” I asked, opening the door.
“Uh, Lana?” The nephilim’s eyes bulged and he dropped the basket so he could throw his arms around me.
“Whoa!” I gently pushed him away. “Do I know you?”
Kevin stood and Jenni reached into her pocket, searching for a vile of holy water.
“Warren?” Josie blinked at my guest with faint recognition. My jaw dropped.
Chapter 10
“It’s never too late
to be what you might have been.”
-George Eliot
The last time I had seen Warren, he was hiding out in a filthy basement apartment, paranoid out of his mind. He had rather reluctantly sold me a cherished battle axe, and at a rather steep price. I had promised to take care of his father, one of the fallen who had recently fallen for good. Of course, I really couldn’t take much credit for that feat. The demon had perished with a good chunk of Caim’s followers when Winston sank a secret island out in the Sea of Eternity last fall.
Warren beamed. “I live down the hall. I was just coming to greet our newest tenant.”
“That’d be me,” I said, still ogling him.
Warren cleaned up nicely. I was glad Josie had recognized him, because I never would have. Holly House had been very good for him. He picked up the fruit basket and handed it to me as I waved him inside. Jenni pulled her hand out of her pocket. Relief flooded over her face. We were all a little on edge.
“Warren, this is Jenni, a friend of ours. Jenni, meet Warren,” I said.
Jenni nodded, a light smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. She had seemed surprised that I introduced her as a friend. We had never gone shopping or out drinking together, but she had just wasted five hours of her time helping me study with no promise of reward or even success. If that’s not a friend, I’m not sure what is.
“How have you been?” I asked Warren, pulling out a chair for him, something I would have never thought to do for the old Warren, all skittish and grimy.
“I’ve been fantastic,” he said and joined us at the table. He sat with perfect posture, gracefully holding his wings at a wider angle so they weren’t pinched against the chair. He placed his hands on the table and grinned. “My business has exploded. When Holly found out what I did for a living, she was thrilled. She’s sent me more clients in the past three months than I’ve dealt with in a century.”
“Wow, that’s great.” Josie smiled and patted the top of his hand. He folded his free one over hers, drawing an unpleasant look from Kevin.
“I never got to thank you properly.” His grin spread wider as he reached into the pocket of his robe. “Here are a few discount cards for thirty percent off everything. I’m running the business out of my condo, in the two spare rooms. That’s how much inventory I have now.”
“What exactly is your business?” Jenni asked, raising an eyebrow at the card he handed her.
“Oh, I sell things like weapons, protection charms, and holy water. And I even have a license to do so now.” He gave Josie a playful grin. She had given him a pretty hard time during that first meeting.
“I see,” Jenni said. “And this is for thirty percent off everything?”
“Yes, but I’m legit now, so I expect my clients to be too,” he said sternly.
“Of course.” Jenni looked perplexed and then cast Josie a surprised frown. “I keep all my licenses current.”
Josie blushed. “I only bought one bottle of holy water, and I have a license now, thank you.”
“When did you get a license for holy water?” I snorted. Guess I wasn’t the only one keeping secrets.
“Last month.” She looked a little embarrassed. “And I’m taking you to get yours next week.”
“I’ve got one, too,” Kevin added.
“Very good.” Warren looked around the table with an excited twitch in his wings. �
��Would you like to see my latest inventory? I haven’t even shown the guard yet?”
“The guard?” I asked.
Warren frowned. “Don’t you watch the news?”
“We’ve been studying all morning, cramming for finals,” I answered, not really wanting to admit I was afraid of the news lately.
I was just sure I’d find a picture of my charred apartment, or me lying unconscious on the floor with drool running down my face. And I was still waiting for the headline “Reaper Murders Deity, Execution Today” above a picture of a guillotine with the caption “Get your tickets now!” I’d even rerouted my walk to the office so I wouldn’t have to pass so many Limbo Weekly and Reaper Report stands. Okay, so I was getting a touch pathetic. I’d phase out of it eventually. I hoped.
“The Nephilim Guard?” Warren tried again. “There was a group of nephilim protesters not too long ago, really coming down on Grim about deityship rights, and then they just stopped protesting. Don’t you remember hearing about that?”
“Sure, but that was months ago,” Kevin replied. At least someone was keeping up with the news.
“Well,” Warren continued, “Grim introduced those same protesters this morning as his elite Nephilim Guard. He’s paying them a pretty coin to be the city’s new law enforcers.”
“Do they get deityship with that pretty coin?” Jenni asked.
“No, but those serving on the guard do have permanent residency now, a place in this world.” Warren sighed. “If my business wasn’t doing so well, I think I’d join them myself.”
“So the guard comes to you for their equipment?” Jenni was intrigued.
“Well, not all of their equipment. Their armor is being crafted by Artemis, and their robes by Athena,” he answered modestly. “Let me show you what I’m contributing.”
2 Pocket Full of Posies Page 5