Black Lament

by Christina Henry

  “Hold on a sec,” I said, crossing to the small shed that I used to store gardening supplies.

  It was one of those home-supply-store do-it-yourself jobs, and several Chicago winters had taken their toll on it. The doors didn’t quite shut all the way, and the metal sides and roof were dented and rusted. I yanked one of the doors open and gagged at the smell that billowed out.

  I covered my nose with my sleeve and peeked inside. The corpse of the Bad Man was propped in the corner. It was decomposing far too rapidly for the frigid temperatures. Chunks of burned flesh and skin had already fallen off bone, and it seemed as though the body had shrunk.

  “You may not have to worry about disposing of the corpse,” Nathaniel said. “It will likely be completely gone by tomorrow.”

  I shut the door. “Let’s just hope the police don’t show up in the meantime. J.B.’s got enough to deal with already.”

  4

  NATHANIEL RAISED AN EYEBROW AT ME.

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said. “It’s an Agency thing.”

  He conjured a portal in the center of the yard. Litter from the alley behind us skittered across the ground and into the swirling tunnel. The branches of trees bent toward the portal.

  “My lady,” Nathaniel said, indicating I should enter.

  “Uh-uh,” I said, shaking my head. “While I’d normally be thrilled at this demonstration of respect for my skills, I think you can go first.”

  “You believe I would deliberately send you into harm,” Nathaniel said flatly.

  I just looked at him, my arms crossed.

  “Someday you will realize you can trust me,” he said angrily, and stepped into the portal.

  “That day is not today,” I muttered, and followed him. I hoped there wasn’t an assassin waiting for me on the other side.

  My head felt like it might collapse under the pressure of traveling through the portal. This kind of travel was a lot harder on me than it was on Nathaniel. The strain of mortality in me made negotiating the supernatural world several degrees more difficult than it was for all the immortals that hung around.

  I tumbled out the opening, expecting to fall flat on my face as usual (somehow I still haven’t mastered the knack of landing on my feet). Instead, Nathaniel caught me easily around the waist, holding me just at his eye level.

  His hands were hot. I could feel their warmth through the layers of clothing I wore. There was an unwelcome flare of something I didn’t want to name inside me, and I was reminded of all the times Gabriel had caught me just this way when I’d come through a portal behind him.

  “Put me down,” I said. I didn’t need to feel any more confused about Nathaniel than I already was.

  He lowered me to the ground, but didn’t release me, his eyes searching mine. I pushed his hands off and stepped back.

  “Keep your hands to yourself,” I said, now embarrassed beyond measure because I’d revealed something to him that I’d have preferred he’d never seen.

  “Of course,” he said coolly, and moved away from me.

  Then a gigantic wolf slammed into him.

  A second later Nathaniel was flat on his back with a red-and-silver wolf snapping at his throat.

  “Jude!” I shouted.

  The wolf growled, glancing back at me.

  “Don’t kill him,” I said.

  Jude growled again, turning to Nathaniel and showing the angel his teeth.

  “Don’t,” I repeated.

  He gave one last menacing grumble close to Nathaniel’s face. The angel had lain very still while Jude stood on top of him, correctly interpreting that the wolf would kill him without blinking if he moved an inch.

  Jude stepped off Nathaniel’s chest. He went blurry for a moment, and then there was a man standing before me. A six-foot-four, 220-pound naked man.

  I covered my eyes. It was like seeing my brother naked. “Where did you put your clothes?”

  “Why is he here?” Jude said angrily. “I thought the ceiling fell on him in Azazel’s court and he was dead.”

  “Please get dressed and I’ll explain,” I said, getting tired of staring at the backs of my fingers.

  Jude blew out a breath; then I heard him move noisily through the grass. I knew it was deliberate because Jude can be more silent than air when he wants to.

  “The wolf has gone into the woods,” Nathaniel said.

  I uncovered my eyes and took a look around for the first time. We stood on the edge of a forest that ran along the road across from Azazel’s mansion. The house itself was directly opposite us, perched on top of a small rise. It was surrounded by a long, open slope of snow-covered grass on three sides.

  I knew from my last visit that the back of the house had a similar open expanse, filled only by flower beds and topiary animals. The remainder of the property stretched away into the woods.

  Gabriel had once told me that Azazel’s estate covered dozens of miles. There were certainly no sounds of humanity anywhere—no cars on the road, no people hiking through the trees. There weren’t even any planes flying overhead. It was almost as if they wouldn’t dare to cross Azazel’s airspace, or perhaps he had arranged for them not to.

  Jude emerged from the trees wearing what I thought of as his tailgating outfit—gray sweatshirt topped with a down vest, jeans, work boots and a knit hat. Since he was from Wisconsin, his hat was dark green with a Packers logo.

  “Remind me to buy you a Bears hat,” I said.

  “Tell me why this traitor is here with you,” Jude said, giving Nathaniel the evil eye.

  I sighed. Jude was never one for levity. I quickly explained about the deal Lucifer had made with Nathaniel, and my subsequent agreement to allow him to stay.

  “I don’t like it,” Jude said flatly.

  “Yeah, well, big surprise that you don’t like anything to do with Lucifer,” I muttered. “I don’t love it, either, and I’m not entirely sure I trust him.”

  “I don’t trust him at all,” Jude replied, his ice-blue eyes burning daggers at Nathaniel over my head.

  “But he’s sworn his intentions are good, so I’ve decided to give him a chance,” I said firmly. “If he proves otherwise, then you can kill him.”

  “Have you forgotten I am standing right here?” Nathaniel said angrily.

  Jude and I both looked at him and replied, “No,” simultaneously. It was better if Nathaniel was aware of what was in store for him if he tried to betray me again.

  I looked at Jude. “I don’t trust him, but I trust you.”

  Jude nodded. He had my back. Nathaniel would be less likely to try anything funny with both of us there.

  “What is the wolf doing here in the first place?” Nathaniel demanded. “Do you not think his behavior is suspicious?”

  “She called me,” Jude said blandly.

  “Before I left the house,” I said, nodding.

  “Werewolves run very fast,” Jude said, and Nathaniel had to be content with that.

  The mansion loomed, white and silent, on the hill before us. The hair on the back of my neck prickled.

  “Something’s watching,” I said quietly.

  “I know,” Jude replied. “But I can’t tell where it’s coming from.”

  “It feels…” Nathaniel began.

  “Like it’s everywhere,” I finished, and the other two nodded. “Well, we can’t just stand here. We can deal with whatever it is when it decides to reveal itself.”

  The three of us crossed the road and started up the rise toward the front door. The sensation of being watched and pursued intensified.

  “It’s behind us,” I breathed. My body broke out in goose bumps.

  Jude started to glance behind us, but I laid a restraining hand on his arm.

  “Don’t. Don’t look back,” I said.

  “Why?”

  “Just a feeling,” I said. “I think we should get inside as quickly as possible. But don’t run.”

  We all picked up the pace a little. Sweat poured of
f my brow, but it was from fear, not exertion. The muscles in my legs trembled. The front door looked like it was a hundred miles away.

  Just for a second, I thought I felt the pointed tip of a claw drag down my spine.

  “Don’t look,” I said again, and then my boot heels were clattering on the porch. My hand closed over the door handle and I hoped that it wasn’t locked.

  It wasn’t.

  We all tumbled through the door and slammed it shut. I looked at Nathaniel and Jude. They were both chalk white and covered in sweat. I leaned back against the door.

  “What was that?” Jude asked.

  “Something faerie,” I said, glancing at Nathaniel. “It felt like the Maze, or the Grimm. The same kind of magic.”

  “I am not certain of the identity of the creature. But I believe you were right in telling us not to look back. That kind of acknowledgment can give a child of faerie more power.”

  Three hard knocks pounded on the door behind me. I stumbled away from it, spinning around to stare at the knob. It didn’t move.

  “Don’t open it. And don’t look out the window, either,” I warned Jude, who was moving to do that very thing. “I don’t think we want to know what’s out there.”

  Three knocks sounded again, and a whisper floated under the door.

  “Madeline.”

  I deliberately turned my back to the door. Several deep breaths did nothing to slow my pounding heart. The thing whispered my name again.

  “Come on,” I said to the other two.

  We were in a foyer that was wider than my apartment. Entryways stood in front and to the side. I realized I’d never even been in this part of the mansion.

  “Where do these go?” I asked Nathaniel.

  “To the left is the receiving parlor. To the right are servants’ quarters and the kitchens. Straight ahead is the passage to the ballroom.”

  “And on the second floor are Azazel’s labs, right?”

  Nathaniel nodded. “I was never permitted inside them. Azazel’s experiments were under strict lock and key.”

  “He’s probably taken everything of importance with him,” I said. “Were you still here when Azazel took off for parts unknown?”

  “No. After the battle I went immediately to Lord Lucifer.”

  “Making sure your own ass was secure,” Jude said contemptuously.

  “I do not have to explain my actions to you, wolf,” Nathaniel said.

  “Don’t start arguing,” I said with a quelling look at Jude. “Let’s take a look around upstairs anyway. If Azazel was in a hurry to skip town before Lucifer heard about the uprising, then he may have left something useful behind.”

  “Follow me,” Nathaniel said, and led Jude and me through the doorway before us.

  There was a thump behind us, almost as if something had slammed its fist against the front door in frustration.

  We entered a long hallway with several doors leading off it. The air had the staleness of an abandoned place. Here and there were signs of a hasty retreat. Doors had been thrown open, objects scattered. In one room I saw a trail of blood from the hallway crisscrossing around the space as someone had collected items. A large cabinet stood open and empty.

  “This was Antares’ room,” I said. The cabinet was exactly like the one where Greenwitch had stored her spells. “I guess that means the cockroach is still alive.”

  “Looks like he was bleeding pretty badly,” Jude said. “How do you know he made it out of here?”

  “It’ll take more than a little blood loss to get rid of him,” I said. “I’ve never known any other creature to have such an immense capacity for tolerating physical pain.”

  “I have,” Jude said. “You. It must come from Azazel.”

  “Please don’t remind me that I share DNA with those two.”

  “Still, the wolf is correct,” Nathaniel said thoughtfully. “I never fully considered your ability to survive situations that would kill an ordinary mortal. Lord Azazel is not only one of the most magically powerful of the Grigori, but one of the most physically powerful as well.”

  “So I got something from Daddy besides the color of my eyes,” I said impatiently. “So what?”

  “A blood connection has power. You, of all people, should understand this. It is why Lucifer pursues you so doggedly.”

  I understood the strength and importance of bloodlines all right, but I failed to see why this particular trait was so meaningful to Nathaniel.

  “Let’s keep moving,” I said, continuing down the hall.

  I thought about the little one growing inside me, wondering what traits it would get from me, and which ones it would get from its daddy. For the first time since I’d found out about the baby, I felt a little chill of fear. There were monsters in this child’s bloodline. Would my baby be another horror unleashed upon the world?

  We crossed through several more rooms and hallways until I was hopelessly lost. Everywhere we went were signs of damage and destruction. Strangely, there were no bodies. I knew for a fact that we’d taken out dozens of Azazel’s soldiers as well as a ton of charcarion demons. We reached the ballroom, and I pushed open the doors.

  The room was smashed to pieces. Chunks of the ceiling were missing, and the floor-to-ceiling windows that bordered the back lawn were shattered, letting in the cold Minnesota air. Outside, the sky was gray and still. A whisper of menace drifted through the open window.

  “Madeline.”

  “Can we move to another part of the mansion?” I said, shutting the doors hastily and moving down the hall to a set of steps that I thought would lead to the labs.

  The stairs were stained with blood and other sticky gunk from the nephilim we’d battled, but again, no bodies.

  “What happened to everyone?” I asked as we climbed the stairs. “Did Azazel actually take the time to have all the corpses carted away?”

  “Doesn’t make sense,” Jude said.

  We reached the upper hallway. Four doors stood on the left side before the hall terminated in another short flight of stairs. All four doors were padlocked.

  “Interesting,” I said, looking at Jude.

  He nodded. “What’s the point of locking doors if there’s nothing behind them?”

  I approached one of the doors to inspect the lock.

  “Be careful,” Nathaniel warned. “Azazel surely protected those rooms with something stronger than just a human’s lock.”

  I hovered my right hand above the lock. The snake tattoo on my palm shifted, warning me that Nathaniel was correct.

  “There’s some kind of spell on the door,” I said, thinking. “But there has to be a limit to how much damage it will do.”

  “Why would you say that?” Jude asked.

  “Because Azazel would want to deter the curious without potentially destroying whatever he was trying to protect. So I think it’s safe to assume the door won’t blow up or anything like that.”

  I stepped back, searching my pockets. All I came up with was some lint.

  “Have either of you got a coin?” I asked.

  Nathaniel silently produced a quarter and handed it to me.

  “You know, the two of you need some help in the playful banter department. The quality of the conversation really goes down when Beezle’s not around.”

  “We should argue with you for no productive reason in order to make you more comfortable?” Nathaniel asked.

  Jude looked at me impassively. No help there.

  “It’s like being with two stone sentinels,” I muttered.

  I tossed the coin at the door. It hit the spell that covered the entrance. For a second I thought the magic was just a warning, or that it wasn’t working properly. The coin dropped toward the floor, and then suddenly it crumbled into ash.

  “That’s not good,” I said.

  “Kicking the door in isn’t an option, then,” Jude said.

  “That was almost a joke,” I said. “Your delivery needs some work, though.”

  W
e all stared at the door as if a solution would suddenly present itself. And then one did.

  “Why do I keep forgetting about that?” I murmured.

  I stepped forward and put my hand on the wall beside the door.

  “What are you doing?” Jude asked.

  “I am the Hound of the Hunt,” I said quietly, “and no walls can hide my quarry.”

  The wall became fluid beneath my touch, and my hand passed through it.

  “I’ll see if I can get the door open from the other side,” I said, and disappeared into the wall.

  I emerged in a clean, bright room that could have been a chem lab at a university. Beakers and tubes filled with various mixtures sat on shelves. There was a long counter with a microscope at one end. On the opposite wall were several black three-ring binders.

  I checked the impulse to immediately start going through the binders and instead turned back to the door. There was no obvious sign of a spell on this side—no handy “off” switch, and I didn’t think I’d be able to turn the knob with the padlock on the other side, anyway.

  I stuck my head back through the wall. Jude and Nathaniel stood with their arms crossed, scowling at each other.

  They turned to me simultaneously, starting to speak.

  “I don’t want to know,” I said, cutting them off. “There are some binders in here that I want to go through, and I can’t see any obvious way to open the door. I’ll look through them and be out shortly.”

  I ducked back into the room before either of them tried to speak again. I was pretty sure I knew what they were arguing about. Jude had probably questioned Nathaniel’s loyalty/bravery/masculinity and Nathaniel had gotten angry. Cue downward spiral of civility from there.

  I grabbed one of the binders off the shelf at random and opened it. The pages were filled with equations and chemical notations. Well, it wouldn’t do me any good to look these over. I’d barely gotten through high school. Chloe might know what it was all about, though. She seemed scientifically minded.

  I put the binder on the floor next to me and flipped through another one. More chemical jibber-jabber. This time I noticed that the sections were dated, and the binder I held was from two years ago. That was unhelpful. I wanted to know what Azazel was up to now, and I didn’t want to carry every single binder with me. Besides, I could always come back and get the others if I needed them later.