Eae closed his eyes, murmuring under his breath as he debated my request. After a few moments, he opened them and his features took on a grim resignation—a man walking to the gallows with his head held high.
I instantly grew uneasy, as did Ryuu.
Eae surprised the hell out of me by revealing a long ivory claw where his finger had been. The only reason I didn’t instantly murder him was because he turned the claw towards himself and sliced into his own palm. He smeared the blood down his face and then drew an intricate rune on his throat in a practiced gesture. The structural cartilage of his wings suddenly flared with light as dozens of glowing runes sprang to life from shoulder to tip. Enochian script. The one on the tip of his wing looked familiar, but it rapidly began to fade and then fizzled out as I stared at it. The next one started to do the same, and I realized that it was a countdown.
Ryuu was glaring past Eae, staring at the ground, and I noticed a ring of golden light in the grass that trapped us all within its circumference. I clenched my jaws. “A trap,” I snarled, rounding on Eae.
“No!” Eae hissed, holding out his palms in a don’t shoot gesture. “A ward that lets us speak privately, but it won’t last long,” Eae said, eyeing the fading runes extending down his wings. He was right. The second to last one had also winked out, leaving about a dozen on each wing.
Ryuu pursed his lips, keeping his hand rested on the hilt of his sword. “Speak.”
Eae nodded. “I was told that if Callie Penrose does not immediately cooperate in the capture of Michael, Nephilim hit teams will strike. Repeatedly. Until she complies. I am entirely sure I am being watched, so if you want to prevent any innocent lives being taken by these independent teams, you need to help me help you.”
I took an aggressive step forward, checking the runes on his wings and the ring surrounding us. “What do you mean, hit teams will strike? Where? Who? Are you saying they are coming after me? Or are the Nephilim staking out my people?” I demanded, realizing that both Heaven and Hell were putting me firmly in their scopes—and they didn’t even know the full story of what I had actually done in making an Anghellian. I quite literally could not give them what they demanded.
“They told me no more than that,” Eae assured me in a desperate tone. “I would guess that your allies are already under surveillance or they would not have told me about the strike teams. It sounded to me like they wanted to hit you before you had a chance to gather your forces. They did not want me to serve as a warning without teeth. They know and respect your ability to wreak havoc, and that if we warn you with mere words, you will form an allied army of monsters and demons to knock down any Nephilim assassins. This leads me to believe that your actions, right here and now, will determine someone’s fate. In less than five minutes.”
“A five-minute warning?” I snarled incredulously, clenching my knuckles. “This was never intended to be a friendly negotiation. They sent you to buy them time! How long is this ward? Are we trapped inside?”
“No. You may pass through without issue. It guards only against eavesdropping.”
Ryuu was utterly silent, so it took me a moment to notice that he had actually closed half the distance between him and Eae. His face was utterly blank, and his hands were empty, but he looked like he wanted to get them dirty.
“Ryuu. Stop,” I said, sternly. “He didn’t have to tell us any of that. He could have said his piece and then left when we told him we didn’t have answers about Michael. Or after mentioning retaliations from Nephilim for noncompliance.”
Eae was nodding fervently.
Ryuu kept walking, not speeding up or slowing down. Just a steady march of death closing in on the angel.
“In fact, he probably put himself in danger by being so open, didn’t you, Eae?” I said, louder.
Eae nodded rapidly, realizing the situation was spiraling downhill fast.
Ryuu continued his slow, graceful pace, not making a sound. He was almost within striking distance.
Eae closed his eyes and fell to his knees, spreading his arms and wings out wide as he silently muttered a prayer, tilting his head back so that his face looked to the heavens. The runes were about halfway gone.
Ryuu came to a stop before him and silently assessed the praying angel. Then he reached out with one hand for the top of the angel’s head, and I had no doubt that I was actually going to see him grab the halo and proceed to choke Eae to death with it, just like he’d vowed earlier. I didn’t see any indication of a halo like I’d apparently seen with Legion. I also knew that there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop Ryuu. Nothing I wanted to do, to be completely transparent. It was unfortunate for Eae that he’d been forced into such a terrible position, sent out like a dog with a message, but that wasn’t what his brothers had done. They had inadvertently sent me a hostage, and I was pretty sure Ryuu knew it. If we could kill or capture Eae for a message we didn’t like, they might think twice about aggravating us further by killing any of my allies.
Ryuu’s fingers touched Eae’s hair and the angel flinched. I stared at the empty space above Eae’s head, trying to see any sign of the halo before Ryuu came into contact with it, but I noticed nothing out of the norm.
The Halo Breaker pinched a few strands of Eae’s hair and shifted them to the other side of the angel’s head, correcting the part down the center of the angel’s skull. I hadn’t even noticed Eae’s hair had a part until Ryuu fixed it.
Ryuu stepped back with a satisfied grunt and brushed his hands together. “That was bothering me this whole time. Now you’re looking like a million bucks.”
Eae peeled his eyes open and stared up at Ryuu in disbelief. “You…fixed my hair?” he croaked, trembling as if he’d soiled himself for no reason and couldn’t decide whether he was okay with it or not.
Ryuu nodded, extending his hand to pull Eae to his feet. The angel hesitantly held out his hand and let himself be pulled up. Face to face, Eae was much taller than Ryuu, but it didn’t look that way. “For being honest with Callie.”
Eae lifted both hands to check his hair, looking as if he couldn’t quite believe his luck and needed to verify that his halo hadn’t been snatched up by ninja sleight of hand.
Ryuu moved so swiftly that it was a blur, and I heard a meaty thump followed by Eae’s lung crushing groan. The angel doubled over, wheezing around Ryuu’s fist, which was firmly folded into Eae’s ribs where he’d delivered the mother of all uppercuts. “That was for not being honest sooner.” He pulled his hand away and Eae’s knees buckled, sending him crashing back down to the ground with a pathetic whimper.
Ryuu turned away without a sliver of compassion on his face, gave me a nod, and then slowly returned to his original position closer to me. I watched him the whole way, my jaw hanging open. It wasn’t an arrogant strut, but his oozing confidence gave me vague stirrings that made me think of the words covet and lust.
“Well,” I said, letting out a breath as I glanced at the recovering angel. “I’m not really sure where we go from here. Are you returning to the angels who sent you here as a hostage victim? You do see that, now, right? That you were sent out as a sacrificial lamb to buy them time?”
Eae nodded. “Y-yes,” he rasped, slowly rising to his feet and clutching his ribs. “But the only way to stop this is to find out who is behind it all, if not Gabriel. I am beginning to see duplicity in more than one angel, situations where I know their words contradict their actions. I can be of more use on the inside, and very little use by your side.”
I nodded. “But that doesn’t help me now. Who have they been watching?” I asked, checking his runes. I estimated that we had a minute or two, tops, before he would be unable to speak freely. “Anything, Eae. Who should I protect?”
Eae shot me a desperate, impotent look. “Someone close to you but not someone who will push you so hard you will no longer cooperate. An underling of lesser importance. Likely more than one so you know it was intentional.”
“They are all importa
nt, Eae,” I snarled, grinding my teeth.
“I know! I’m just explaining their intentions. Killing Claire or Cain would put you on the warpath and make you uncooperative, which they don’t want. So, it will be a follower you might not even know. One of your many vampires, for example. You are Count Dracula and are responsible for all of them, but you hardly know them all and you certainly don’t love all of them as family.”
I ran a hand through my hair, realizing that keeping my people safe was an impossible task. He was right. It would be a nameless soldier. That’s what I would have done. “Damn them all!” I shouted, panting furiously.
Ryuu watched me with surprisingly compassionate eyes, and I realized that he was entirely aware that it might end up being one of his own men—a nameless ninja. My anger turned to guilt and I tried to mirror his compassionate look. I probably failed, but I hoped the sentiment came across clearly.
My people were not unimportant to me…even if I didn’t personally know them.
But I was suddenly very aware that I had done a pretty shitty job at uniting them and letting them know I appreciated them and their support. I could have at least brought them all to Castle Dracula. The place wasn’t perfect since Archangels and Archdemons could enter with abandon, but at least there were enough armed monsters to keep an eye out and police the figurative streets.
Which was the only answer I could think of. I turned back to Ryuu. “We need to get everyone to Castle Dracula.”
Ryuu stared at me, not agreeing or rejecting. If his ninjas were at Xuanwu’s warded estate, they would be safe. But most of them spent time patrolling the streets of Kansas City, which meant any one of them might be experiencing their final moments, destined to die in five minutes. “I can have my men do a roll call to see who doesn’t reply from the street patrols. The others can retrieve their body and bring them to…” I trailed off, eyeing Eae, realizing that I needed to choose my words carefully, “the spa.”
Because Xuanwu had a rebirth pool in his pocket dimension, the training field. Aala, Ryuu’s sister, could see about bringing back a murdered or injured ninja, if they were one of the targets. And if Eae’s warning turned out to be true.
Ryuu nodded. “You realize that your plan will empty the streets of Kansas City and leave it defenseless and up for grabs?” I nodded. “And that it will herd everyone you care about all into the same place. Much easier for your enemies to attack in full force and do the most damage without fear of being flanked.”
I nodded again. “I know, Ryuu, but I’m running out of better options.”
Eae glanced down at his wings, grunting to see only one glowing rune left. He looked back up at me with a forlorn look. “When this fades, I will need to play my part so as not to arouse suspicion. We cannot be seen as allies.”
I nodded, clenching my sword. “We’ve done that before. When we ran you over with a car.”
He smirked, nodding his head. Then his face went utterly calm and the last rune winked out. The ring of light around us also disappeared, and the blood on Eae’s face and chest crumbled away like dry ash in the breeze. “Be warned, Callie Penrose. I will pass on your response, but know that the next encounter between us will not be with words. Michael has been declared a criminal, and all those who associate with him are deemed guilty.”
I nodded. “So. Be. It.”
Eae studied us for a few more moments, glaring furiously for the sake of his handlers.
A blur of tanned skin and feathers abruptly swept down from the sky and tackled Eae, driving his face into the dirt and using it as a brake pad for a skid that lasted at least thirty feet. I stared in disbelief.
“Riddle me this,” Ryuu said, entirely too pleased with himself.
12
It took me a few moments to see through the tufts of sod and grass and feathers to verify that it was indeed Phix, the sphinx, the queen of riddles. Now that I saw her with my own eyes, I felt her presence in my mind, realizing that it was her who I had sensed watching us minutes before Eae flung up his ward. I’d shrugged it off, too concerned about my allies in danger to give it any further scrutiny.
“Don’t you ever put my White Rose inside a ward without my permission!” Phix screamed, throttling the poor angel as she gnashed her teeth at him.
Ryuu’s amusement had shifted to mild concern as he shot me a look. “Should we—”
“Nah,” I said. “Nate’s put him through worse. Phix is just giving him a friendly hello—”
“I will rip out your grace and floss my teeth with it!” Phix snarled, palming the angel’s forehead with her massive paw and banging the back of his head into the ground with each syllable.
I continued speaking. “Peaceful greeting between allies—”
“I will pluck every single feather from your overcompensating wings and burn them with Greek fire!” she roared, batting his face from left to right with alternating swats of her paw. The talons slicing across his face emitted a scraping, metallic sound rather than tearing his flesh to ribbons with fountains of blood. This made me curious, since Ryuu had readjusted his internal organs with one punch. She finally hurled herself up into the air, circled him with powerful sweeps of her wings, and then glided back to me, landing by my side. Ryuu studied her thoughtfully and then gave her an approving nod. She nuzzled up even closer, ducking under my arm as she let out an affectionate purring sound.
Which wasn’t weird at all since, from the feline’s chest up, she was a perfectly curved bombshell of a naked human woman, from navel to million-watt smile to salon commercial hair. Her breasts were on full display and would best be described as insurable—perfectly shaped, large enough to draw every eye without resembling a teenaged boy’s favorite anime, and resilient to gravity in every way. So, a naked chick was pressed up against my side, physically forcing me to wrap my arms around her shoulder as she purred at me loud enough to tickle my armpits. Apparently, I’d been adopted as a founding member of the Furry Scouts of America.
“Hey, um, Phix,” I said under my breath, knowing it sounded lame and not wanting Eae to see my discomfort. “I thought you were training with Grimm to be…” I trailed off, not wanting to officially announce her new role as my Horseman’s ride so that she wasn’t targeted by Eae’s handlers. “Training for your new job.”
“That’s what you get for thinking,” she said, haughtily. Ryuu’s eyes widened slightly and he very wisely chose to keep his focus on Eae. “I’ve been assessing the city from the air, getting a better read on the layout. Can we go to war soon, because I am hungry, and this place is a boiling kettle. It wasn’t even this bad with Roland’s red dome. Well, close,” she admitted.
The angel had scrambled to his feet, gasping in horror at the grass stains on his white wings. He slowly turned, aiming his glare at Phix like a drawn arrow. “You will suffer for your insolence, creature—”
“Horse,” Phix snarled, aggressively. To further muddy the water, she abruptly shifted into an entirely human form and I almost tripped over my own full-body muscle spasm. I had been entirely sure she couldn’t do that, and it gave me instant reservations about choosing her as the official ride to the Horsewoman of Despair. A vision of me piggybacking on her shoulders, entering the Omega War like it was a game of chicken in a fraternity house pool.
“What the hell, Phix?!” I hissed, unable to stop myself from inspecting her now human lower half. Her newly revealed ability invited very important questions. Did she still have paws or could we now go shoe shopping together? Her thighs were a sun-kissed bronze that glistened like suntan oil and there wasn’t a single blemish or hair to be seen—even as my attention drifted to her pelvis. Her nails were bright purple. What the hell?
“Horse?” Eae sputtered, staring at her lower confessional booth with a dumbfounded expression on his face.
She nodded adamantly. “I identify as a horse, given my recent promotion to Despair’s most trusted confidante.” And there it was. So much for secrets. She somehow managed to cast chal
lenging glares at both Ryuu and Eae, giving them equal levels of disdain. Looks like she was aiming for Callie’s BFF status, competing against my tutor and potential boy toy.
“You cannot identify as a horse!” Eae sputtered, infuriated. “That is ridiculous.”
“You identify as a good angel, so I thought it was make-believe day,” Phix said, smugly. “Now, begone, creature.” She made a shooing gesture with one hand, volleying his own term for her existence right back at him. Eae’s face darkened and I shot him a discreet, apologetic look.
Eae winked out of view, much like Legion had. I absently wondered if it was a form of Shadow Walking for the elites.
Ryuu pulled out his phone and made a call, probably to his ninjas. I disentangled myself from Phix, gave her a flat glare, and then sat down on a log. I snatched up the bottle of sake, and took a long, healthy swig, staring off into the park.
Phix rolled her eyes and shifted back into her sphinx form with a relieved sigh. “So itchy being human,” she muttered before curling up into a ball and closing her eyes.
I shook my head, feeling mentally exhausted for so early in the morning. “How did training go, Phix?” I asked, absently. She didn’t respond. She didn’t even open her eyes. “Right. Great talk,” I muttered.
I took a sip of sake and stared off into the clouds while Ryuu continued on the phone.
“Demons and Nephilim on my ass, threatening to kill my friends, and I don’t know how to tell them that their own bosses are behind it all. Gabriel and Wrath. Oh, and Aphrodite shows up to tell me Nate’s scheduled for execution by an Olympian, but he’s helping the Olympians, and I shouldn’t trust the Olympians because they are starting a pre-war that could determine the fate of the Omega War. And now demons and Nephilim are both targeting my people.” I took another swig, feeling Ryuu sit down beside me. He reached for the bottle and took a drink of his own. “Who do I trust, Ryuu?” I asked, leaning my head against his shoulder and wanting to do nothing more than cry. Just a little.
Trinity: Feathers and Fire Book 9 Page 7