With This Ring: Imp Series, Book 11

by Dunbar, Debra

  Wiping the rain away from my eyes, I took a breath and placed my palms on the dead angel. Then I pushed my spirit-self into the body and tried to discover what lay beneath the flesh. The second I touched the angel, I knew neither a demon nor a hellhound had caused this death. The angel’s spirit-self had been mauled. Bits of it still remained in the corporeal form after death, chewed around the edges with an energy pattern I didn’t recognize at all.

  I pulled my hands away and shook them to rid my fingers of the sensation. A hellhound would have torn the angel’s spirit-self cleanly from the physical body. A demon would have left a different energy signature than this. Even a devouring being wouldn’t have left bits behind with strange bite marks.

  “I don’t know what did this, but whatever it is, it isn’t from Hel.” I looked over at Gregory. “I’m sorry.”

  “Do you think the humans…?” His voice trailed off, then he shook his head. “No. I’ve seen what they’re capable of during my time here with them, and this isn’t it.”

  He stood and held out his hand, helping me to rise. I went to check the other nine bodies, hoping there would be something there that would give me a clue as to what happened. At the end, I was just as perplexed as Gregory.

  “There’s nothing more to do here. Let’s go home.” He walked over to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. Suddenly the rain slanted around me, and my body warmed with the heat of his energy. I glanced over at the lights from some suburb in the distance, then frowned.

  One of those lights wasn’t like the others.

  “Do you see that?” I asked Gregory before I realized that of course he couldn’t see it.

  “See what?”

  That confirmed my suspicions. With considerable regret, I shrugged out from under his arm and shivered as the rain hit me once more. Sloshing through the mud, I approached the light. It spread wide, welcoming me as I came near.

  “A wild gate?”

  I smiled, thrilled at how in tune our thoughts had become. “Yeah.”

  The angels wouldn’t have been able to sense it, so I assumed it was a horrible twist of fate that brought them to congregate right next to a rift that led to some other world. Reaching out a hand, I touched the gate, wondering what had come through here that was powerful enough to kill ten angels. Hopefully whatever the fuck it was, it had gone back home after its murderous rampage.

  Gregory scowled. “We need to close it. I’ll assign three of my best hunters to this area, just in case whatever killed these angels is still on this side of the gate.”

  Yep, it was as if we thought as one. I traced the outlines of the gate with my hands, then reached out to Gregory with my spirit-self, showing him the gate through my sight.

  His eyes narrowed, then energy poured off him in hot waves, turning the rain to steam before it even hit my skin. The edges of the gate glowed, and it narrowed, pulsing with a gold and silver light. The light shrank to a dot, then vanished. Gregory sighed and stepped back, dusting his hands against his jeans.

  “These wild gates are continuing to be a problem, Cockroach. I know the issues with angels and humans are a priority, but we cannot allow the prevalence of these anomalies to slip from our notice.”

  At one time we’d been devoting substantial effort to closing these rifts, but then other more pressing matters had commanded the attention of the Ruling Council. Maybe instead of my negotiating overtime pay for elves, I should be focusing on this instead. But in spite of there being two Angels of Chaos on the Ruling Council, it was still a governing board with a majority of members who relished being bogged down in paperwork and committees. I hated to think of it, but perhaps if another ten angels died, the others might decide this was more important than worrying about Dar being the mayor of Chicago or legislation about shifter employment discrimination.

  Once more Gregory put his arm around me, and the rain slanted away from my skin. He pulled me into his arms to teleport, as he always did. And just before we left, I could have sworn I saw a blink of light growing and stretching right where the wild gate we’d just closed had been.

  Chapter 5

  Gregory spent the night and woke me up at an obscene hour of the morning. Neither of us mentioned the ten dead angels, but I could tell it weighed on his mind as he made pancakes shaped like stars for our breakfast. Lux was also an early riser and stood on a chair by the stove, guessing which stars the various pancakes were made to represent. They all looked like blobs to me—delicious blobs about to be drenched in butter and syrup. I hated getting up early, but pancakes were a good reason to haul my ass out of bed. Plus, something delightfully warm and heavy settled in my chest as I watched the ancient archangel and the little one that looked up at him with such awe and adoration.

  Uncomfortably aware that I probably had the same expression on my face as Lux, I left them discussing which galaxies they were going to visit after breakfast and went outside to shovel more half-dead animals off my porch. This time it wasn’t just rats. There was a mangled possum right outside the door, four rats at the bottom of the steps, and two groundhogs over by my SUV. None of them were dead yet, although they certainly looked like they should have been. Every single one of them attacked me, which meant I spent a good bit of my morning hopping around the driveway in my pajamas, beating dying animals with a shovel.

  After I’d tossed the bodies into the woods, I went inside, cursing my shitty neighbors. That pile of dead animals was probably getting big enough to stink. I’d need to go shovel some dirt over them, maybe pick up a bag of lime at the hardware store to keep the stench down. It was ridiculous how humanlike my life was getting. I enjoyed living in the human world, and having an angel make pancakes for breakfast was pretty epic, but I could do without early morning dead animal clean up.

  Lux was at the table, already eating his pancakes and drinking coffee. I ruffled his blond curls and went into the kitchen. Gregory had put on an apron that said Mr. Good Looking Is Cooking. I’d gotten it for him for Valentine’s Day in hopes he’d expand his food preparation beyond coffee, and that horrible sandwich he’d once made me. It had worked, judging from the beautiful golden-brown pancakes stacked on a plate beside the stove.

  “Where in the universe have you and Lux decided to go today?” I stole a pancake and bit into it. It was soft, buttery, and rich with little bit of crisp at the edges. The angel could really cook. Who would have thought?

  “We are still undecided.” There was melancholy behind his words.

  I wrapped an arm around him and pressed my face into his back. “Are you worried about last night? The angels outside of Dublin?”

  He sighed. “Yes. There were no human deaths in the area, so whatever killed them either returned directly after slaughtering ten angels, or it has had no reason to attack further.”

  I rubbed my cheek against the soft cotton of his polo shirt. “They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Something came through the wild gate. They were startled and attacked it. It killed them in self-defense and either returned home through the gate, or is roaming the Irish countryside in peace.”

  It was wishful thinking on my part, because nothing I was involved with ever turned out to be this simple. Still, an imp could hope. This had all been a fluke. The toothy thing had returned through the gates and was no further threat. And the newly closed gate had not glimmered as we’d gone to leave. Nope. It had been an illusion of the rain and lights from the nearby town.

  “I miss Aaru,” Gregory said, out of the blue.

  I knew he did. I also knew he tried not to talk about it too often since I couldn’t help but feel guilty.

  “I wish I could take Lux there,” he added. “I fear that he’ll never know our homeland, or that I’ll never be able to experience it with him.”

  I needed to work harder at finding a way back in. If only all this other stupid shit didn’t keep happening. Actually, it wasn’t just the stupid shit. I’d tried everything to get in there. I’d tried my sword, I’d tried the
wild gate, I’d tried shouting all sorts of profanity at the weird barrier that kept me and the other angels from entering Aaru. Nothing worked and I’d run out of ideas.

  Samael might know how to undo the banishment, but if he did, he wasn’t willing to tell me. Not that I blamed him. The Ancients had been banished for two and a half million years. Now they could enter Aaru, but they found themselves unable to shed their corporeal forms and live there as beings of spirit. They were trapped in a second sort of Hel where they continually needed to reform a physical body that always degraded. Fuck, I’d be bitter too.

  The Angels of Order were dickheads, and they probably deserved the same punishment they’d dealt to the Angels of Chaos so long ago, but that wasn’t what I wanted. I didn’t want revenge. I wanted both to be able to live together in Aaru, or wherever they chose. Instead there was a group of Ancients stubbornly holding on to Aaru, a group still living in Hel, and a group who were making their homes here in the human world. Meanwhile, the Angels of Order were stumbling around among the humans, wondering what the fuck was going on. Aside from a few, they still hated the demons and the demons still hated them. And lately it seemed like the humans might be hating both angels and demons. The elves too.

  All I could do was create more chaos, no matter how hard I tried. Was this the pendulum swinging too far to the left after millions of years of Order? When would we finally see balance?

  Balance. Fuck, I was starting to sound like Gabe.

  Gregory turned and handed me a plate of pancakes. “Stop blaming yourself. I love you, and I love our life together here with Lux. When I chose you, I knew I would have a life filled with chaos. The quantity of that chaos may still continue to surprise me, but I never regret my choice. Never.”

  “I love you too.” I stood on tiptoe, but still could only manage to kiss his chin.

  He grabbed his plate, and we went into the dining room to have breakfast with Lux. As a family. And weird as it was for angels and a kinda-angel/ still-a-demon to sit down and eat pancakes together, I loved it.

  And I loved them.

  * * *

  I tried teleporting directly to the Oval Office, figuring that’s where today’s meeting would take place, but instead I found myself in a tiny bowling alley. Not one to miss an opportunity, I tried my hand at the sport, then filled a glass with ice, rum, and Coke from a handy nearby bar. Figuring from the lack of security that my presence hadn’t set off any alarms, my mixed drink and I started wandering around. The White House was much larger than it looked on postcards. It was also one of the most boring homes I’d ever seen. The rooms were bland with marble floors or carpeting, giant heavy furniture, and walls covered with pictures of old white men. I encountered no one until I turned a corner and saw one of those tour groups down the hall. Ducking under three red velvet ropes, I joined the group, sipping my drink as the guide talked about china patterns and place settings. Seeing a suited man who looked like he could possibly be security, I wandered up to him.

  “Hey, think you can tell me where the head honcho is? Sorry I’m late, but I wound up in the bowling alley by mistake.”

  “This tour doesn’t include a meet and greet with the president.”

  His tone of voice was rather snotty. Not that I blamed him. If this was my job, I’d be in a pissed off mood as well.

  “Yeah. See, I’m not really with the tour.” I took a swig of my drink and revealed my wings, knocking a vase from a table onto the floor where it smashed into big chunks of colorful porcelain.

  The guide screamed. The tourists pivoted and began taking pictures of me. I was pretty sure I’d be trending on Twitter in about five seconds.

  The guard had instinctively reached for his gun, but dropped it once he realized I wasn’t attacking anything more than a poorly placed vase. “You’re supposed to be in the Oval Office.”

  I shrugged. “Like I said, I ended up in the bowling alley. At least there was a bar down there. This place is like a fucking maze. Can you point me to the right spot?”

  The guard stepped aside to talk into his headset. I posed for pictures with a few of the tourists, confirming that yes, I was Satan, and no, that I didn’t have any immediate plans to unleash a demon army on the Capital.

  “What are you going to do about California?” a blonde woman asked me. “Is my chardonnay going to go up in price? Will I even be able to get it anymore? And what about the fruit?”

  Thankfully the guard waved for me to come with him, so I didn’t respond. Waving to the tourists like I was a film star, I followed the guard around two velvet ropes, and down several halls that were lined with suited security. Just as I was beginning to wish I’d brought some breadcrumbs to mark my path, the guard opened a door and ushered me inside.

  The Oval Office did look just like the postcards, only more spacious and more populated. The president was sitting in the big chair behind the big desk with a big pile of papers in front of him. On either side were big men with big guns. I was no expert in firearms, but I’d never seen ones with the muzzles painted white. Maybe they were Nerf guns? I would absolutely be on board for these meetings if we had Nerf battles.

  “Iblis. Welcome, welcome.” The president stood and extended his hand. Some humans just don’t age well, and this guy was proof of that, even though he’d clearly made many desperate medical attempts to halt the impact of time on his face.

  I shook his hand, sneaking a glance at the papers on his desk. They said something about increased military spending on a project called Woo-woo. “Where are the hamburgers?” I asked the president. “I thought this was a lunch thing.”

  He laughed. “I like you! When I met you at the photo shoot over Christmas, I wasn’t sure, but any angel who likes burgers and booze is someone I can talk business with. Jones, run down to McDonald’s and get some Quarter Pounders with cheese and bacon. Oh, and lots of fries. Perkins, freshen up the Iblis’s drink. What do you have there?”

  “Rum and Coke.” I handed the empty glass off to Perkins and sat across from the president as he squeezed himself back into his giant wingback chair.

  “Now, let’s get down to business.” The guy clapped his hands, then rubbed them together. I wasn’t as enthusiastic about business, but if I was getting fast food and booze, he had my attention. Well, maybe had my attention. If this dude was about to go on a long speech like Gabriel did, then I was going to take a nap.

  He pursed his lips and rubbed his hands once more. “Personally I don’t have any problem with demons in our country. I’ve met that new mayor of Chicago and he’s a great guy. A great guy. The best. Fan of mine, you know. Voted for me in the last election and said he one hundred percent supported my policies.”

  Dar. I stifled a grin, wondering how many people he’d said those exact same words to.

  “Like I said, I’m in favor of demons living among us. I’m even going to give them a fast-track to citizenship and the vote. But those angels…” He wiggled a finger and sighed. “They’re dangerous. They’ve got mind control powers. They secretly want to take over. And we’re not going to stand for that.”

  Perkins shoved a drink in my hand. I took a sip and sat up in my chair. The president had my complete and full attention. No wonder all the demons wanted to Own this guy, he was cool as shit.

  “Yes, those angels are very dangerous. So… I’m guessing you want to kick all of them out?”

  He waved a stubby-fingered hand. “Let’s not go quite that far. But any angel who didn’t go through the appropriate process for legal entry into the United States needs to be sent home. I have no problem with legal angels, it’s just the illegal ones I have a problem with.”

  I nodded. Of course, all the angels were illegal and they’d have no home to go to, so I wasn’t sure where this guy thought he was going to send them. Probably Mexico or something.

  Wait. Lux was an angel. And so was Gregory, although I couldn’t see him, or any of the archangels, abiding by this guy’s policy. Like Rafi had said in the Rul
ing Council meeting, if they got kicked out, they’d just teleport back in.

  I found myself mimicking him with the hand-wave. “Just hypothetically here, what about angel-spouses of demons or human citizens? Or kids. I might have an adopted angel kid. What happens to him with this policy of yours?”

  “We need to take a firm stance on angel chain migration.” He puckered his lips, then spoke through them, as if he were kissing the words out. “But we would certainly make exceptions for our supporters, like that mayor of Chicago. I think his wife is an angel. His daughter too.”

  Huh. I really didn’t want any of those other angels hanging around me anyway. Uri and Rafi and Gabe could fend for themselves. I was sure they could hire a lawyer to get them the angel equivalent of a green card. It wasn’t my problem.

  “Deal.” I slugged down the rest of my drink and held it out to Perkins.

  “Marvelous.” The president smacked and rubbed his hands together again. “Now let’s talk about our western states.”

  “Nyalla said something about reparations?” I took the refilled glass, wondering where the hamburgers were. Had Jones needed to drive to Virginia or something? Surely there was a McDonald’s somewhere close to the White House?

  He held up his hands. “Don’t get me wrong, I have no love for the state of California. Or the state of Seattle. But there are some very good people in the western part of those states and they are upset.”

  “Got it. Maybe they can move to Idaho or Montana? Or Detroit? Aren’t there a lot of vacant houses there?”

  He looked down at his papers. “They don’t want to move. They’re staying, and I’m just warning you that they may not be willing to follow demon laws or pay your taxes.”

  Then they could duke it out with whoever Doriel had put in charge of laws and taxes, which was probably nobody. New Hell was pretty close to an anarchy. These people were probably going to be less pissed off than the president thought they’d be.