by Deanna Chase
Five days had passed since our trip into Hell. After hours of research, neither Bea nor Lucien had found any practical way of locating the trio. Bea tried a finding spell, but as suspected, Philip had the group shielded by a specialized spell only angels could wield. Lailah knew the counter-spell, but couldn’t reverse it unless she was near them.
We also tried the same locator spell we’d used the night we transported Philip and Jonathon to the coven circle. It actually backfired and Bea produced a mirror image of herself. That was weird. Especially since Bea number two didn’t fade for twelve hours. It was like having a doppelganger following her around.
“Has the good reverend and his merry band of proselytizers had any luck?” Pyper handed me a chocolate cinnamon danish. “You look like you need a pick me up.”
I took it and jammed a piece in my mouth, barely chewing before I swallowed. I’d been having sugar cravings all week. Serious cravings. Like, get up at two in the morning and run to the neighborhood Quick Mart for some ice cream cravings.
Afterwards I always felt a little more energetic. I was sure I was only contributing to a future hypoglycemic crash, but damn. I was sharing my soul with a demon. There couldn’t possibly be any other better excuse for overindulging on the sweets.
Reluctantly, I set the danish down. Caving to chocolate and cinnamon was one thing. Inhaling my food was another.
I turned back to Pyper. “No luck yet from Goodwin or his followers. This morning he released pictures of each of them on his television show. We’re hoping his TV audience can help with the hunt.”
Her eyes went wide. “Goodwin put out a religious Amber Alert on them?”
I made a face. “Sort of. I mean, for our purposes he did. But his followers think the three of them voluntarily sent in pictures asking for prayers. He didn’t say they were missing, only that if anyone spotted them, to please offer them prayers and assistance. Then he added a hotline number asking the three of them to call him directly so he could be their personal savior. Knowing Goodwin’s zealots, if Philip, Dan, or Meri are spotted, someone will call.”
Pyper shook her head. “Remind me to never get on the wrong side of Goodwin. I can think of nothing worse than being hunted down by a bunch of religious fanatics.”
“I know it’s extreme, but we’re out of options. Lailah’s on the phone constantly with her angel connections, but she wasn’t kidding when she said if Philip doesn’t want to be found, he won’t be.”
The bell chimed, and in walked Charlie, the manager of the strip club next door. “Hey, pretty ladies. Lookin’ sexy as usual.”
I laughed, and Pyper rolled her eyes. “You need new contacts,” Pyper said, scanning the milk-stained apron she wore. She tilted her head toward the carafe of premade Columbian. “Coffee?”
“No, thanks. I’m here on a mission.” She walked behind the counter and grabbed a metal pitcher then rummaged through the refrigerator.
I stepped up. “Need help?”
“I’ve got this.” She reached out and untied my apron. “You look like you could use a break. Take a load off. I can cover you.”
I retied my apron. “That’s sweet, but no. I need to help Pyper. We close in an hour and there’s still a lot of cleaning to be done.”
Charlie put on a no-nonsense manager face I’d never seen before. “It’s not a request. The boss sent me to check up on you.” She scanned the length of my body. “I’m sorry to say, despite finding you hotter than a fried green tomato, I’m going to have to insist you call it a day. If Kane walks in and sees you dead on your feet, I’m gonna be the one who has to deal with his cranky ass all night.” She poured soymilk and some chai tea concentrate into a cup, filled it with ice, and handed it to me. “Now go. I’ll help Pyper clean up.”
I sent Pyper a questioning glance.
She shook her head. “I don’t want to deal with his cranky ass either. Go on up to your apartment. We can manage from here.”
With my chai in one hand and my danish in the other, I took off through the back door and headed up the first of the three flights of stairs leading to my studio apartment. At each landing I had to pause, taking bites of my snack to regain some energy. Stupid soul-stealing angel-demon. I couldn’t even get up to my apartment without a major sugar injection.
When I finally stopped in front of my door, I frowned at the tiny sliver left of my danish. Darn it. I should have taken another one for later. Deciding it was too hard to hold the pastry and unlock my door at the same time, I stuffed it in my mouth.
I jiggled my key, forcing the sticky lock that had been acting up for over two weeks. Since I hadn’t been home much, I hadn’t gotten around to telling Kane, who also happened to be my landlord. I made a mental note. He needed something else to focus on other than me.
Inside my apartment, I didn’t stop to change out of my café clothes. All I cared about was my bed.
Five steps later, and I flopped on the goose down comforter. Ah, the soft pillow top was better than heaven. Better even than the chocolate cinnamon danish. The bed shifted. I squinted at Duke, my golden retriever ghost dog, now lying next to me, his head on the second pillow. “Enjoy yourself while you can, buddy. Once Kane shows up, you’re back to the couch.”
The dog let out a muffled snort and in seconds was snoring.
I closed my eyes, more than ready to follow him into dreamland.
My reality faded and a moment later I found myself in a rustic shack with white paint peeling off the wood plank walls. The floors were constructed of the same thick wood planks, but no one had bothered to ever paint them. Swollen with years of humidity, the grain was rough against my bare feet as I moved to the only window in the old structure.
Unfortunately, the glass was completely obscured with layers of caked on dirt. I paced with my hands laced behind my back. A heavy dose of anxiety rippled through me, but I didn’t know why.
Female voices carried from the hall into the small room. Nervous energy made me bite my nails, but I quickly dropped my fingers from my mouth as the door creaked open.
I stood stock-still, terror and hope fighting for my dominating response.
My shoulders hunched with disappointment when Dan filled the doorway. I didn’t mind seeing him. I just expected someone else.
He smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry so much. Everything’s going to be fine.”
I grimaced. Easy for him to say. He wasn’t the one sharing his soul.
“You’ll see.” He stepped into the room, leaving the door wide open, and gestured to me. “Ladies, Meri’s waiting.”
Meri?
Holy shit! He meant me. In my dream I was Meri. Was this happening right now, and I was witnessing it? My excitement was squashed by the turmoil churning inside her.
A second later, a woman with long, pale blond hair and striking Caribbean blue eyes hesitated in the threshold. Meri held her breath. The last time she’d seen her sister, she’d been wielding enough magic to bring down half the state of Louisiana.
An incredible amount of relief rushed through Meri. Felicia was safe.
“Where’s Priscilla?” Meri asked, her voice quiet and strained.
A slow smile crossed Felicia’s face, and she headed straight toward Meri.
“Felicia!” A fierce voice carried in from the hallway, followed closely by its owner. Priscilla stomped into the room, hands on her hips, eyes narrowed. “Don’t go any closer.”
“I can assure you she’s safe,” Dan said mildly.
Priscilla shot him a skeptical look and then dismissed him with a cut of her eyes back to Felicia. “If what he says is true, her soul is still compromised.”
Felicia sighed, and Meri could almost hear her praying for patience. “Yes, but she isn’t tainted.”
“Not yet,” Priscilla said.
Felicia moved closer, carefully studying Meri from head to toe. She squinted. “Your posture is different.”
“What?” She straightened, pulling her shoulders back.
“You’re right.” Meri’s shoulder slumped in defeat. “This can’t last. Two people weren’t meant to share the same soul. One of us will eventually overtake the other. Then what happens? I want a normal life, but not at the expense of someone else.”
Dan’s face clouded. “What do you mean, one of you will take over the other?”
Meri stared at him for a minute, sadness squeezing her heart.
“She means two people cannot share the same soul forever.” Philip leaned against the door frame. How long had he been standing there? Meri’s heart started to hammer with excitement, quickly replaced by disappointment and rejection.
He uncrossed his ankles and stood straight with his hands shoved in his pockets. “They can for a little while, but when one becomes too weak, the soul will migrate to the stronger individual.”
“Do you think Meri’s stronger?” Dan asked.
Philip nodded. “She’s an angel.”
“No, I’m not,” Meri said.
“You’re not a demon anymore. What else would you be?” Philip countered.
“What about Jade?” Dan frowned, worry creasing his brow. “What will happen to her?”
“That’s for the council to decide.” Philip moved to stand in front of Meri, his eyes filled with longing, regret, and something tortured.
Meri’s two sisters retreated from the room. Dan hovered near the door, uncertainty clear in his expression.
With Philip’s gaze so intently locked on her, Meri asked, “Why didn’t you come for me?”
“I…” He swallowed. “I wanted to, but I had Dan to watch over. By the time I formed a plan, it was too late.” He closed his eyes. “I can’t begin to imagine what all you—”
“No, you can’t. So don’t even try!” She curled her hands into fists, nails biting into her palms as unbridled anger rippled through her. Meri’s mind filled with dozens of unwanted memories, all shared and stolen moments with Philip. The pair of them sitting on a porch swing holding hands. Their first kiss. Their first…
“You’re not my mate,” she spat. “Whatever the witch did to me dissolved our connection. Including the mating bond everyone says is unbreakable. Lucky you. Now you can go off with your airhead hippy girlfriend and forget about me. Like you’ve been trying to do for the last twelve years.”
Philip moved closer.
She bristled. “Leave me alone, Philip. Go take care of your witch’s soul. There’s nothing left for you here.”
He took a long time before answering. When he did, he raised his chin and met her haunted gaze. “I gave up on you once. I won’t do it again.”
Chapter 21
My eyes flew open and my survival instinct kicked in, adrenaline racing through my veins.
No way was Meri keeping my soul. It was mine, damn it. Mine.
So what if I’d been the one to destroy what was left of hers? She’d been a demon at the time. It was justified. She’d tried to corrupt Bea with black magic. It’s what demons did. What they were conditioned to do, once they fell from angel status.
My breathing returned to normal, and after a while, a tiny bit of guilt touched my heart. Hadn’t I said Meri was a victim too?
Sure, she took my mom from me, entrapped Dan in Hell, and stole half my soul, but should she be held accountable for those things? She wasn’t a demon anymore. Maybe she was responsible for the soul-stealing thing, except I wasn’t sure she had control over the connection.
Until I had the chance to talk to her, I had more questions than answers.
***
My newest mission was to find Meri so we could share information.
Of course, all my friends thought I’d lost my mind, but they hadn’t had the benefit of sharing Meri’s emotions in the dream like I had. I’d witnessed firsthand her aversion to keeping my soul. Why she still held on to it, I didn’t know. Maybe she didn’t have a choice. What would happen to her if she didn’t?
“Somebody has to know how to fix this,” I whined to Lailah, Bea, and Kat. The four of us had met at Bea’s to discuss my dream.
Some sort of silent communication traveled between Lailah and Bea before they both shook their heads.
“Don’t think I didn’t see that.” I waved an accusatory hand. “What about the angel council? Or whoever you take orders from?” I asked Lailah.
“That’s not a good idea,” she said slowly.
“For who?” I stabbed my fork into a baked potato. “You or me?”
“Now, Jade,” Bea said. “There is no need—”
Lailah held up her hand. “It’s okay. She has every right to be frustrated.” She turned to me. “The council is unpredictable. Asking them for help might result in…an undesirable outcome.”
I made a face. “Undesirable outcome? What does that mean?”
“An earth-bound angel’s job has always been to do everything in her power to save an individual’s soul.” Lailah paused for a moment, apparently organizing her thoughts. “There’s rarely a debate about who a soul belongs to, because everyone has one of their own. As far as the high council is concerned, the person isn’t important. They don’t care about the vessel. The battle for souls is about ridding the world of evil. The betterment of the greater good. Not for protecting any one person.”
Kat’s hand tightened around my arm. A thick film of outrage circled her. “You mean, they could give Jade’s soul to Meri?”
Lailah pressed her lips together in a flat line. She took a deep breath, staring me in the eye. “Since Meri is a former angel…”
She didn’t need to say anything else. The reality of my situation stripped all my bravado and left my heart raw. Angels were rare. If the council had a chance to save one of their own, they would.
Kat stood, her hands on her hips, anger rippling off her. “Why do they have to give Meri Jade’s soul? Why can’t they give her someone else’s if Meri’s so important? Not that I think they should be ripping people’s souls out, but it’s hardly fair they’d just take Jade’s.”
Lailah took a deep frustrated breath and turned to Kat. “Because Meri is already sharing her soul. The council doesn’t have the power to completely rip souls from people. But since Jade’s is compromised, they can help bind it to one or the other.”
All the fight drained out of Kat as her anger turned to fear. Then she put into words what I didn’t have the courage to ask. “If they give Meri Jade’s soul, what happens to Jade?”
My vision turned myopic as everything faded but Lailah’s pained face. Our eyes locked and silence filled the room.
Demon. I’d be a slave to the twisted underworld.
“No.” Lailah’s harsh voice punched through the static filling my ears. “You wouldn’t be a demon. You’d fall into a coma and your body would start to shut down. Life support could sustain you, but eventually your heart would give out.” Her tone turned soft and almost apologetic. “The only part of you that will remain are our memories.”
Eyes still on Lailah, I stayed seated, too shocked to speak.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Kat stalked across the room before abruptly moving to stand behind my chair, hovering protectively. “Meri lost her soul and she didn’t die.”
Frowning, I wondered why that even mattered. Without my soul, I wouldn’t want to live anyway.
Lailah slumped and cast a weary glance at Bea.
My mentor patted her hand and gave Kat her full attention. “Only angels turn demon. Human souls can be corrupted by black magic, but their essence prevents them from turning. Without both an essence and soul, a human cannot live.”
“And Priscilla and Felicia? How come they didn’t die when their souls and essences were taken?” I asked.
Bea’s eyes turned cold with quiet unease. “Meri preserved them in Purgatory. If they’d been here, in our world, they would have.”
I nodded numbly. So much for sharing information with Meri. If I wanted to survive, I had to find a way to rip my soul from her before the angel council could intervene.
Kat steamed from behind me. Righteous indignation exploded from her chest, making the room temperature rise a few degrees. “You’re just telling us this now? It’s been five days. I can’t believe you’ve been holding this information back. Jade had a right to know. You should have—”
I pressed my fingers to my pounding temples and did my best to block my friend out as she continued to rage. I supposed if I were in her shoes, I’d be just as angry, if not more. Although, I had no idea how things would have been any different had they told me.
Kat started to pace again, still verbally berating our friends. They kept still, appearing appropriately chastised.
During one of her trips through the living room, I slipped out the front door and stood at the porch railing. I breathed in the cool air and wished I could will it to cleanse away all that ailed my weakening body.
After a few moments, I dug a bag of M&Ms out of my pocket and proceeded to chump down my chocolate energy treats. I was going to need a whole new, slightly larger wardrobe if I kept up the sugar craze.
The front door creaked open, and somehow, even though I couldn’t feel her energy, I knew it was Lailah.
“Your headache’s better?” She took a place beside me on the porch.
I nodded. Studying Bea’s marigolds, I asked, “What would you do?”
She leaned over the railing and in a quiet voice said, “I’d spend every spare second with those I love and put my affairs in order. Then I’d fight like hell to keep my soul.”
I tore my gaze from the flower garden and turned to her in surprise. I’d gotten so used to her reading my thoughts I hadn’t felt the need to clarify my question. “I meant, if you were Philip.”
“Oh.” She gave me a half-smile. “I told you the connection would start to fade. I’m only getting snippets now.”
Finally. At least something was going in the right direction. “So, if I’d been your assignment and you had to choose between an angel and a human, what would you do?”