“You’re going to find a whole lot more than a stiff drink if you go out tonight.” She wasn’t going to budge. The last thing I needed was another Maalik telling what to do.
Until that moment, I had never actually thought about the best way to take Josie down. I guess if I really had to, I could always have Saul and Coreen corner her. Of course, she’d never forgive me for that. Maybe I could use the angelica mace Jack had given me. But that would be wasteful, and it wouldn’t detour her for long since she wasn’t a demon.
Josie watched my brow furrow and widened her stance, foreseeing the plot of my frustrations like a good friend usually does. She bit down on her bottom lip and frowned. “You could make this a lot easier on both of us and just pop in a movie. I’ll even sit through one of your John Waynes,” she offered.
I crossed the dining room and stood directly in front of her, daring her to challenge me. The condo had grown unbearably quiet the past few days, and I just didn’t think I was ready to submit to its lonely demure for yet another night.
“Josie, you can get the hell out of my way on your own or you can get the hell out of my way with assistance. Your choice.”
“Don’t threaten me, Lana. I’ll tie you to the coffee table if I have to, but you’re not going anywhere,” she snapped, lifting her chin with a dignified air that brought the late Coreen to mind.
I tilted my head back to cast her an admiring gaze. She knew I wouldn’t stand for this, but she was doing it anyway and probably because she truly thought it was in my best interest. It didn’t mean that I wasn’t going to kick her ass over it, but I could admire her while I did, right?
I waited for her intimidating posture to go stale. If you stare absently at a person long enough, you can see the confusion dawn on them with such clarity that it’s nearly impossible not to strike. And strike I did. I slugged Josie in the stomach hard enough to double her over. I grabbed the back of her robe and flung her over and onto the dining room table.
“Don’t wait up,” I said, pulling the front door closed behind me. I felt a twinge of guilt, but Josie should have known better. I took heavy strides towards the elevators, wanting to make it downstairs before she made it out of the condo and caught up to me. I was sure she would, but she didn’t have to. Warren met me at the elevators.
“Hi.” I tried to smile, but I feared the scowl I’d been carrying around all week was becoming a permanent fixture.
“Where are you going?” Warren looked horrified.
“Uh, out.” I frowned at him.
“That’s probably not the best idea tonight.”
“You too?” I clenched my teeth, debating just how nasty I wanted to get with him for not minding his own business.
“Forgive me,” he said. I felt a pinch in my arm and staggered back, groping my shoulder. Warren dropped whatever he had stabbed me with and reached out to catch my fall. “I’m so sorry, Lana. I didn’t want to, but-”
“Is she down?” Josie stormed down the hallway, her face red and distorted. She carried a coil of rope around her wrist. If she hadn’t been serious before about tying me to the coffee table, she was now. I was just glad I wouldn’t be awake for it.
The golden walls of Holly House rose above me as I slid to the floor. Warren was still babbling his apologies, and if my mouth had been working, I would have told him it was okay. I’d kick his ass tomorrow.
Chapter 28
“Alcohol may be man’s worst enemy,
but the bible says love your enemy.”
-Frank Sinatra
My head felt like it was no longer attached to my body. I lay awake in my bed for a good hour before the feeling in my limbs returned. It took entirely too much energy to roll over. I waited for the room to stop spinning and focused long enough to glance over at my alarm clock. I was sure it was broken. There was no way it was four in the afternoon.
Hushed voices drifted in from down the hall. I sat up with a groan, and the voices suddenly stopped. I wondered if maybe they were only in my head, and then Maalik appeared in my doorway, wearing his formal black robe and carrying a tea tray.
“Hey,” he said softly, though my head throbbed anyway.
I didn’t care for tea, even before being exposed to Meng’s nasty concoctions. I was sure he knew this already, but if not, the snarl I met him with probably set him straight.
“It will help soothe your headache,” he said, apologetically setting the tea on my nightstand before sitting down on the edge of the bed. He reached for my hand, but I pulled it away. Maalik sighed and dropped his hand on my lap instead. “It was for your own good, Lana.”
“Wow. We’re skipping the apology altogether this time, are we? Color me impressed.”
Maalik closed his eyes and pressed his lips together. “Do you have any idea what happened last night?”
“Sorry, I was tranquilized since I wouldn’t stay in my cage like a good little pet reaper,” I said through gritted teeth as I rubbed my temples.
He grabbed a copy of the Daily Reaper Report off the tea tray and thrust it at me. I snatched it away from him with equal zeal.
The front page was one huge picture of the street in front of Purgatory Lounge. At least a dozen demons were being led out the front door by the Nephilim Guard, including the skanky fire harlot that destroyed my apartment. She sneered, like she could see me on the other side of the thin newsprint. The headline read “NEPHILIM GUARD ELIMINATE REBEL THREAT IN LIMBO CITY” in big red letters. A small caption in the bottom corner of the picture requested that readers turn to page two for the full story. I did so with shaking hands.
Apparently, Anubis had found a hot spot in the city and set several spies around the location to notify him when there was a substantial amount of activity. The spies followed a group of ten rebels to Purgatory Lounge Tuesday night, where they were meeting up with some of their comrades to discuss new attack plans. Anubis stated that he was confident the rebel base in Limbo had been eliminated, and he intended to return to Duat the following week, after Grim’s formal announcement was given at the placement ceremony.
I tossed the paper down with a huff. “The Nephilim Guard was out in full force, and yet the city still wasn’t safe enough for me to be out and about?”
“There was too much risk for an ambush attack. Rebels have been spotted outside Holly House. They know you live here. What if some of them had been waiting for you while the guards were all distracted?”
“What if?” I was belligerent now, and I didn’t care. “What if?” I said louder, refusing to let my throbbing skull dull my outrage. “What if I don’t want to live my life walking on eggshells and looking over my fucking shoulder every goddamned day? What if that? What, do you think you can just tranquilize me until I start seeing things your way?”
“I don’t know what I think anymore.” Maalik stood and nervously paced around the bed. “Apparently, you have a death wish, and I really don’t know what I’m supposed to do about it. I love you, but you’re driving me insane.” He glanced down at his watch. “I have a council meeting. We’ll talk about this more later.” His tone was foreboding. I imagined he used that same voice to condemn plenty a deserving soul, but I wasn’t one of them. And I’d be damned if he was going to talk to me that way.
“No, we really won’t.” I threw the covers back and pulled myself out of the bed, only wobbling for a second as the room whirled around me again.
Maalik moved to help me. I stepped around him and found my jean jacket resting across the back of a chair. I pulled it on over my day old outfit, not caring that it was wrinkled or that my hair was probably a mess.
“You should really be resting,” Maalik said.
I glared at him. “You should really be minding your own business.”
“Lana.” He growled and balled his hands into fists. “I don’t have time for this.”
“You know what?” I said, pulling on my boots that had been discarded next to the chair. “I don’t really have time for this anymor
e either.”
Maalik blew out a breath like I had struck him. “What are you saying?”
I righted myself and ran a hand through my tangled curls. “This isn’t working anymore. You and me. Things haven’t been right for a while now, and I’m finally realizing that they aren’t going to get any better. I’m tired of constantly having to fight with you just to live my life the way I see fit.”
“Then stop fighting me,” he said, and like it was actually a legitimate solution.
I looked at him a moment, in complete and utter disbelief.
“I’m sorry.” He sighed and reached for me again.
I put my hands up and took a step back. “This isn’t a debate anymore. Do you understand? I’m done. We’re over. Goodbye, Maalik.” I stormed through the condo and slammed the front door behind me. I hated to admit it, but it kind of felt good leaving him standing there with his mouth hanging open. He had done it to me enough times. He could handle a little of his own medicine for a change. Tears were stinging my eyes, threatening to spill, but I knew I had made the right decision, and I was ready to stick by it.
I wasn’t sure where I was going yet. I just had to get out of Holly House, my prison, cleverly disguised as home. Sure, it was one of the nicest places to live in Limbo, but the whole stigma surrounding it left a bad taste in my mouth. I was tired of being a damsel with a demon problem, hiding out at Holly House. Today, I was going to be a damsel with a drinking problem, hiding out at Purgatory. Maalik could just try and stop me. I wasn’t beneath screaming obscenities at him in a bar. Not today, anyway.
I took an elevator downstairs and spared Charlie a quick wave at the front desk before bolting out into the courtyard and through the front gate, where I stopped to breathe in the bittersweet smell of freedom. It smelled suspiciously like the pizza joint across the street, but I didn’t care. I closed my eyes and let a soft breeze tug at my curls, just for a moment. Maalik would be out soon, either to follow me or to head off to his council meeting. I took off down the sidewalk, rounded the corner, and ran right into Bub.
I gasped and nearly fell over backwards, but Bub caught my arm. His black hair was slicked back and he was in leather pants and a shiny, green dress shirt. It was more intimidating, not at all like the casual look I had grown so fond of, but I suppose he had a public image to maintain.
“Lana, what are you doing out here? You should be at home, where you’re safe.” The words sounded strange coming from Bub. God, he was just as paranoid as rest of them breathing down my neck.
I really didn’t have a death wish. I just couldn’t stand the thought of always having to look over my shoulder. It brought to mind Warren before he found his way to Holly House. I did not want to end up cowering behind a door with a dozen deadbolts, painfully aware of my surroundings but somehow oblivious to personal hygiene.
I frowned at Bub, remembering his female guest the day before. Though it pained me, I pulled away from him and straightened my jacket. “The city’s safe now. Haven’t you read the paper? I’m going to Purgatory for a drink.”
Bub gave me a lopsided smile. “Oh?”
“Yeah.” I glared, daring him to try me.
“I’ll join you.”
“I don’t need a babysitter.”
He cleared his throat. “You didn’t show up this morning for your training, and I was worried about you. The least you could do is buy me a drink after putting me through that sort of distress.”
I huffed and walked around him. He fell in step beside me.
“I’m sure Jack was really disappointed. Send him my apologies, won’t you?”
“Lana, I’m really sorry. These past couple days, I had something come up, and I wasn’t available to work with you.”
“Oh, I heard your guest yesterday. I have a pretty good idea what came up,” I said, glancing briefly at his crotch.
He actually blushed. “My goodness. What’s gotten into you today?”
“Nothing yet, but a whole lot of tequila is on its way.”
We pushed through the front door of Purgatory and froze. The place was nearly deserted. It was still early, but even at this hour, I’d never seen the place so dead. A few nephilim were playing pool and a couple of lesser pagan deities were seated at a corner booth. One of the front windows was boarded up. Xaphen was busy sweeping stray bits of glass off the floor. He paused to look up at us.
“Lana. B.” He nodded his head in greeting.
“Hey, Xaph. What’s cooking?”
“Nothing, now that there’s a rumor flying around that I’ve been harboring rebels,” he grumbled.
“That’s ridiculous. People should know better. They’ll come round.” I took my jacket off and laid it over a barstool before sitting down. Bub took the stool next to me. I frowned at his smug grin.
“What’ll it be, kiddo?” Xaphen asked, stepping behind the bar and pulling a lowball glass down from the overhead rack.
“Triple shot of patron, on ice, with lime.”
“And a godfather. Her treat,” Bub added.
Xaphen whistled. “If you two plan on drinking like that all night, you just might keep me in business.” He pulled a second lowball glass down and fixed my tequila and lime first before digging the good scotch and amaretto out from under the cabinet to fix Bub’s drink. He garnished mine with a slice of lime and dropped a couple cherries in Bub’s.
Bub turned to me with a familiar and mischievous grin. “What shall we drink to?”
I should have been tickled to be sitting next to him, leisurely enjoying a drink, but I was still reeling from the tranquilizers and the fight with Maalik. And I was still sour over the fact that I was jealous of Bub’s female visitor. He knew it too, and he was enjoying it entirely too much.
“To your new girlfriend,” I said, not caring how snippy I sounded, and tossed my drink back with wild abandon. I called out to Xaphen as I slammed my glass down, bouncing a few ice cubes out onto the bar. “Same.”
He gave me a frown, but refilled my glass.
Bub sipped at his drink as he tried not to smile. “Lucky me. I wasn’t aware I had a new girlfriend.”
“What do you call her then? Your playmate? Booty call? Demon delight?”
He laughed. “Demon delight? I like that.”
“I bet you do.”
“That was Lili. She works for me. She just got back from a long stint in the human realm, since she prefers the company of naughty Jewish men.”
“Succubus?”
“Yes, and a rather good one. But she’s needed here right now to help aid us against the rebels.”
“Oh.” I was feeling a little better.
“So, tell me.” Bub rested his arms on the bar and reached into his drink to retrieve a cherry. “Why are you so torn up over seeing another woman in my home, when you obviously don’t want me for yourself?”
“Torn up?” I snorted. “Right.”
“Then what’s with the sorrow drowning?” He nodded at my glass.
I looked down at my hands and sighed.
Bub shifted uncomfortably beside me. “Ah, Maalik.”
“He had my neighbor tranquilize me to keep me at Holly House last night.”
“What?” Bub laughed. “You’re kidding?”
“No.” I frowned at him. “I understand things got pretty eventful last night, but I’m not fucking helpless, and I’m tired of hiding out, waiting for the world to be safe again.”
He nodded. “So he let you out tonight?”
“Well, he didn’t try to tranquilize me when I left him.”
“By left, you mean…”
“Yeah.” I sighed and finished my second drink before holding it up to motion to Xaphen for another.
Bub downed his and tilted his glass in the air as well. When Xaphen came around the bar, Bub slipped him a Pandemonium Bank card.
“I thought this was my treat,” I said.
“Well, being tranquilized is a fair enough excuse for skipping out on your training, and what
kind of gentleman would I be if I let you pay for our date?”
“Date?” I nearly choked on my drink. Xaphen gave us a funny look, but quickly glanced away.
“A man and a woman. Sharing drinks and conversation. What would you call it?”
“Not a date, that’s for sure.”
“What if I asked you to dinner tomorrow evening? Would that be a date?”
“You don’t waste any time, do you?” I blushed.
“No, I don’t. So will you have dinner with me tomorrow?”
“I can’t,” I answered. “I have class.”
“Then the night after?”
“Oh, good lord.” I set down my drink and turned to face him. “Fine. I’ll have dinner with you.”
“Good.” He smiled at me and tossed his drink back, running his forked tongue around the ice cubes at the bottom of the glass. I looked away. His husky, musical laugh sent a chill through me.
“I should probably get home,” I said.
The alcohol, nearly nine shots of tequila to be exact, was starting to hit me and hard. It was also possible that the tranquilizer hadn’t quite made it out of my system yet either.
“Let me walk you.” Bub stood and reached for my jacket, but I beat him to it.
“That’s alright.” I gave him a forced smile as I slid off the barstool. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Lana.” He caught my arm. “Anubis may have made some arrests, but I somehow doubt Tisiphone was among them.”
My jaw tightened. “Fine.”
Xaphen noticed me pulling on my jacked and came back around behind the bar. He ran Bub’s card and handed it back to him.
“You two be careful tonight,” he said.
“Of course.” Bub gave him a polite nod and held the front door open for me.
The streets were growing darker. There were a few souls and reapers wandering about, but with the recent scare, it looked like most were staying in for the night. I stuffed my hands in the pockets of my jean jacket and glanced sideways at Bub. I was trying to be excited about him walking me home, but the notion that he was only doing it for my protection kind of ruined the fun of it. It also made me wonder if the dinner date was a setup for him to babysit me too, now that Maalik was relieved of that duty.
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