by Lisa Olsen
I traded looks with Parker, wishing I’d had a chance to look over what he’d told her already. “We have a couple of problems we need help with actually. First, I guess, do you know anything about possession?”
“If you are looking to get rid of a demon, you’d be better off with a priest. Exorcism is a tricky business,” she shook her head.
“Actually, we’re trying to get rid of a fallen angel. I don’t suppose you have much in the way of personal knowledge when it comes to them?” It was too much to ask for, but instead of shooting me down, Luz gave another wry twist of the lips.
“Actually, I’ve known one… intimately,” she admitted. “A real sonofabitch, but he did have his amusing moments.”
My face fell. I knew Adam spent a good deal of his past reveling in more than his share of earthly delights, but the thought of coming face to face with one of his conquests left a little to be desired. “You um, you know Adam?” I asked in a small voice.
“Adam?” her brows drew together in puzzlement. “No, his name is Remiel. I was a little bit wilder in my younger days,” she winked at Parker.
“I’ll bet,” he smiled back, leaning against the bar.
It suddenly got a lot easier to breathe. Not that it meant there weren’t scores of women out there that he’d been intimate with, but I definitely didn’t want to meet any of them. Especially not any with such lush attributes. “So, anyway, we have this problem with a fallen angel. He managed to possess a friend of mine, and we need both a way to force him out, but then a way to somehow keep him from doing that to anyone ever again. Is such a thing possible?”
Luz considered for a moment, lacquered nails tapping against full lips. “It could be done. We might need something to jolt him free of the body, but you could maybe help with that.”
“Me? What could I do?”
“Please. I can feel the power radiating off of you from here. Are you trying to tell me you don’t know what I’m talking about?”
“No, I guess not,” I admitted sheepishly. “I’m just not supposed to talk about it much, and I’m still not really sure what I can do to help.” I wasn’t aware of anything within my power to help knock Azazael out of Ben’s body.
“No te preocupas,” she waved away my concern. “You want to bind this dangerous angel, for how long?”
“Does eternity seem like too much to ask for?”
“That will take a lot of power, at least a circle of five, maybe seven,” she frowned, tapping with her finger again. “I will have to put out the feelers, see who I can raise. When are you looking for this to go down?”
Parker and I traded looks again. “See, that’s the thing. We have to go bust our friend out of the demon realm first. I don’t suppose you have a way to help us with that?”
“You want to go to the shadowlands on purpose?” Her brows rose, as if I’d said the stupidest thing she’d ever heard.
“It’s not that I want to, but that’s where Ben is. Trust me, if it was up to me I’d never go back there, ever again.”
“Then you’ve been there before. You don’t remember how you got there the first time?”
“Of course I do, I just don’t know how to get past the gate guard. He’s very… imposing.” That was an understatement. I’d never met anyone who looked as capable of tearing a person limb from limb.
“That’s where they’re keeping her boyfriend too,” Parker contributed, and I shot him a look. So much for pretending we were an item. The first time a good looking woman came into it, he forgot his promise to me. Typical.
“I thought you were her boyfriend?”
“No, I’m available, Senorita,” he winked broadly.
“Que sorpresa,” she smirked. “I’m not.”
“I’m devastated.”
“I doubt it, but it’s sweet of you to say so,” she laughed. “When are you looking to break your friend out?”
“Soon,” I replied, happy to redirect the conversation away from Parker’s flirting. “I don’t suppose you’ve ever heard of a way in or out of there besides through the main gate? We have it under good authority that witches have found a way to travel there unnoticed.”
“I can’t help you there, I’ve never been into that dark shit before,” a shake of the head was given. “I’ll put the word out though, into the great beyond.”
“The afterlife?” Parker blinked.
“The internet,” she smiled. “Listen, why don’t you go do something manly and leave us alone for a little girl time.” Luz made a shooing motion with her hands and Parker’s face fell.
“Can’t I stay and watch?”
“Parker!”
“What?”
“How about you play the quiet game for the rest of the day?” As annoyed as I was with him for de-evolving back to the smarmy Parker I’d known for the past few years, I was dying to find out what Luz wanted to talk to me alone about.
“Alright then, I’ll bid you ladies good bye. But if either one of you need me for anything, anything at all…” he fixed his baby blues on Luz.
“We know where to find you,” she finished his sentence for him. “Is he always like that?”
“Most of the time. Actually he’s a pretty cool guy if you get to know him better. But like most men, he turns into a drooling idiot when faced with a beautiful woman,” I gestured to her.
“He must drool all the time then,” she replied, her smile losing some of the edge it’d had when Parker was in the room.
“What did you want to talk to me about?”
“You hear some weird shit when you hang out around the people I do.”
“I can imagine.” She was easily one of the strangest people I’d ever met, but not in a bad way, just… interesting.
“I heard about what happened to you, when you got taken by the demons.”
“I’m surprised you know who I am at all,” I frowned. How exactly did something like that get around?
“Oh please, we have seen the signs coming for a long, long time. Even before the prophesies los angeles keep so closely guarded. My sisters have had the sight for as long as there have been witches. We know when something big is coming long before those stuck up bastards do.”
Wow, she didn’t pull any punches when it came to telling it how she saw it. “They’re not all like that, you know. Some of them are very nice.”
“Of course you’d say that, you’re on their side.”
“Tell that to them,” I snorted. “Half of the guys upstairs think I’m an abomination.”
“That’s because you’re a woman. If it was a man who had been given the gift, they would have called it a miracle,” she snorted.
“You’re preaching to the choir, honey,” I muttered. “So, am I the something big your friends saw, or were you talking about something else?”
“My tia Lucia saw you first, actually. I’m named for her, on my mother’s side.”
“What did she see exactly?”
“That’s the problem with having the Sight. The future keeps changing. Little decisions you make every day that you don’t expect to make any difference end up fucking things up, or setting them to right where they should be in the first place.”
“Okay.” Interesting, but it wasn’t all that helpful. “What did your tia say about me in general?”
“She said you were going to drive the heavens apart, I think we can agree that’s already happened,” she sniggered.
“I’ve already heard that one. Did you hear anything else?”
“To be honest, I didn’t really pay that much attention to her stories when I was a little girl,” she shrugged. “I thought she was telling fairy tales.”
“You heard about me when you were growing up?” my jaw dropped. I wasn’t sure if that was kinda cool or plain creepy.
“I told you, we always know first,” she held up a single finger proudly. “But I remember that you were a symbol to us women. Like the Virgin Mary, but a symbol for the modern day. You’ll bring about rea
l change. Talk about a lot to live up to,” she gave me a commiserating smile.
“It’s a real bitch,” I agreed aloud. I decided I liked Luz, even if she did make Parker act like a total idiot. “Any advice?”
Her eyes went distant for a moment as she laid her hand over mine. “Don’t be afraid of change. It might scare the hell out of you, but you’re strong enough to handle it.”
“Change. Gotcha,” I waited to see if there would be any more.
“You’re not alone,” she added after a few seconds. “Even if it feels like the loneliness is unbearable and you can’t go on, you are loved, and you will never be truly alone.”
That didn’t sound promising.
“Oh shit, is that the time?” she looked at her watch, releasing my hand. “I got to get home before things fall apart. I’ll be in touch about the binding, or if I hear anything about another way into the shadowlands.”
“Thanks for your help, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”
Luz gave me a brief but fierce embrace. “What are sisters for?”
Chapter Six
As the days went on, I felt more and more restless, like I needed to do something instead of wait for a break to come to us. Raziel had come and gone, delivering us copies of all of the prophet’s rantings, but nothing proved very useful. Promising to try to find an angle on another way in to Midian, he left the same night, but in truth… I think he was uncomfortable hanging out in the same place with Sam.
Matty, Sam and Daphne took to hanging out at my place most nights. One night after work we were sitting around, watching more TV than actual brainstorming, when Matty came up with an interesting idea.
“Maybe we can work out a trade? Capture someone Raum wants, and trade him for Adam and Ben?”
“I don’t know. An angel, even a fallen one, would be quite a coup. I’m not sure who he’d trade for.” I couldn’t help but be skeptical, besides me, I wasn’t sure who else Raum would be interested in.
“No, I think he might be onto something,” Daphne shook her head. “We just need someone even better… Who would be better?”
“Too bad we can’t catch Nathanael, he could use a year or two in there, it might knock him down a peg or two,” I muttered, while Sam hid a smile behind his mug of hot chocolate. “Nelo? Who do you think Raum might be interested in trading our friends for?” I figured he would be the person who knew Raum the best out of all of us. The little demon looked up from where he sat with Mimsy in his lap.
“Someone with power, he covets power above all else.”
“Power… who else has power in his court besides him?” I hadn’t seen anyone else to match his skills, except for maybe… “Oh! What if we snuck in and stole Oriana?”
“He would undoubtedly want her back, he relies on her gift of the Sight,” Nelo agreed.
“How would we get in and out? There’s no way that gate guard is gonna let you sneak by with Raum’s favorite witch,” Matty pointed out, but I wasn’t ready to give the idea up yet.
“Nelo, could you…”
“I couldn’t hide her from Naberios’ gaze, just as I couldn’t when you escaped, Mistress. I don’t even know if she would come with me.”
Which is why we needed a bargaining chip in the first place, instead of sneaking Adam and Ben out directly. “It’s a good idea, we just need a little more thought put into it. We keep coming back to this idea that we need another way in and out. You didn’t find anything in your books, Sam? It seems like angels would have some knowledge of people slipping in and out of a demon realm.”
“No, we avoid that place at all costs.”
“Someone must know…”
“What if you kidnapped a demon?” Matty suggested. “The ones that go in and out all the time might know more about it than one who was on a short leash. No offense,” he added as an aside to Nelo, who didn’t appear upset in the slightest.
“Look at you coming up with the good ideas tonight,” I shot Matty a grin. “I think that’s a great idea!” Even if it didn’t get us any new intel, at least it gave us something to do.
“How do you catch a demon?” Daphne asked, directing her question more to Sam than to me, but I had the answer.
“You go to where they hang out.”
*
I’d never been on a stake-out before. You’d think it might have come up when I dated a cop, but instead I had an angel sitting beside me in my trusty little Ford Escort, watching the entrance to the strip club, ‘The Honey Pot’ emblazoned across the front in flickering neon.
“I don’t understand the name,” Sam frowned, pouring his third cup of hot coffee from my thermos. He didn’t have a problem with cars as long as they weren’t moving, and he looked downright comfy in the passenger’s seat.
Not sure I wanted to get into that kind of a conversation with him, I ignored the question. “You’re gonna have to go make a coffee run if you drink all of my coffee,” I grumbled, shifting in my seat to try and get comfortable.
“They don’t sell food there, just drinks am I not correct?”
“If I’d known you were going to be in a coffee mood, I would have packed you your own thermos.”
“Do they specialize in sweetened drinks?”
We were having two different conversations. “Sam, do you know what a strip club is?” I asked finally, turning to look at him.
“A club that’s on the strip?”
“No, it’s a place where men go to watch women strip their clothes off.”
“Oh.” He was silent for a few seconds. “Why would they do that when they can watch women strip their clothes off for free on cable television at night?”
I did not want to know how he knew that, the idea that he may have been sitting on my couch watching Skinemax was a little icky. “Some people would prefer to see it up close and personal.”
“Sometimes I don’t understand humans.”
“Me neither,” I muttered.
“Why would you want to watch a woman disrobe if you don’t even know her?”
I shrugged at that. “Some men aren’t all that picky.”
“Do women want to watch men disrobe as well?”
It was turning into a different conversation, and I wondered if anyone had ever had the birds and the bees talk with Sam. I didn’t want to think what kind of a spin Adam might put on it. “Ah, some do. I think it depends on the guy.”
“What does it depend on?”
“I can’t speak for all women, but we can appreciate a good looking guy with his shirt off, like men appreciate a girl in a short skirt or a push up bra. The better looking the guy is, the more we want to see.” Not that I’d ever been to a male strip club, but I wasn’t above the appreciation of a well made male figure.
“Am I a good looking guy?”
Any other guy I might have thought was fishing for compliments, but there was no mistaking the earnest look on his face. He really had no clue. “Yes, you are a very good looking guy,” I smiled back at him. “God made you guys at the peak of physical perfection, you must have noticed.”
“Beauty is often in the eye of the beholder. I hadn’t ever thought of it before…”
“Before Daphne?”
“Do you think she finds me dreamy?”
“Dreamy?” I laughed, wondering where he’d picked up that word. “Yes, I do believe I’ve seen her give a dreamy sigh when thinking about you, Sam. I’m pretty sure that qualifies.”
“Then you believe she wants… more, with regards to the physical aspects of our relationship?”
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go there with him, but I could see he had no one else to talk to about it. “It’s hard for me to comment on that, when I have no idea how close the two of you have gotten already.”
“Very close,” he murmured, “I held her very close. And once, our lips touched, though I don’t know if it was by accident or design.”
So basically he hadn’t even gotten to first base with her, but for him, I coul
d see how that was very close indeed. “I think any normal person wants things to progress, the closer you get,” I said carefully. “But you’ve told me she wasn’t in any kind of danger from you acting on your feelings.”
“I still hold true to that pledge. I wouldn’t dream of exposing her to my sinful desires.”
“Sam, those feelings aren’t sinful, they’re normal when two people care about each other the way you do. It just happens to be against the rules for you two to…”
“Hook up?”
“Yeah, hook up,” I suppressed a smile at his mixture of the vernacular.
“I have recently begun to feel it might not be fair to her, if she is expecting things I can not give her,” Sam added thoughtfully.
“Have you talked to her about it?”
“Daphne says we don’t need to sully what we have with the physical side of things. She is content to take what I have to offer.”
“Good luck with that,” I murmured, my eyes going back to the street where I caught sight of someone who looked familiar. “Sit tight, Sammy, I see someone who might be able to help us. I should be able to handle him, but be ready to come if I call for you, okay?” Without waiting for an answer, I slipped out of the car, hurrying across the street to follow after the dark figure whose absence of a soul marked him a demon.
He turned off the sidewalk into an alley, and as soon as my eyes adjusted to the change in light, I realized I couldn’t see him anymore. Figuring my cover was blown and he could see me better than I could see him in the shadows, I changed tactics, slowing my step to draw him out. “Come out, come out, wherever you are…” I called out in a sing song voice.
“All alone are we?” came from up high, maybe on top of the dumpster, it was hard to tell. “A bit dangerous for the likes o’ you, ain’t it?”
I knew my Grace would be too much temptation for him to pass by, and I suppressed a smile as I recognized his gravely voice. “I can handle myself.”
The demon himself stepped out of the shadows, all casual, as if he held all the cards. Still dressed shabbily like one of the unwashed homeless, he’d added a ratty bowler to the ensemble. “If you need a bit o’ protection, just ask old Cephas. I’ll keep you safe from the other rabble for a taste now and then.” He smiled, showing the sharp teeth I sometimes still dreamt about, but I gathered my courage around me. I wasn’t the same girl he’d met on the church steps months ago.