Devil's Return

by Percival Constantine

  “The way you keep staring at me like that, I feel like you’re about to ask me to dance or throw me into a windowless van,” I said.

  “I’m sorry, it’s just…” Garret looked around and then leaned in closer. “Mr. Cross, are you dead?”

  “Well…yeah,” I said, as if it were no big deal.

  “My condolences…?”

  “Thanks, Garret. You always know what to say.” I picked up the glass and took another sip. Garret still continued staring and I huffed. “Y’know, it’s starting to get creepy, pal.”

  “I’m just curious, Mr. Cross. But why are you still here? Why haven’t you moved on?”

  “Because I’ve still got work to do,” I said. “And I’d like to start by having a word with your boss.”

  The color seemed to drain from Garret’s face. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I’m positive,” I said. “Where’s Pyriel?”

  Garret had an uncertain look in his eyes as he turned and pointed to the terrace. “You’ll find him outside.”

  “Thanks.” I picked up the glass, but before I could start walking, Garret grabbed my arm. I looked at him with surprise. “What is it now?”

  “Be careful, sir,” said Garret.

  Garret had basically been like Raziel’s butler. But now he was working the main bar. Seemed a bit odd, and it raised some questions in my mind. Maybe Pyriel just didn’t have need of his services in the same way Raziel did. Or maybe it was something else.

  I walked out to the terrace. Pyriel stood at the railing, his wings unfurled and in plain view. Raziel usually kept them hidden to make people more comfortable. But Pyriel, he reveled in his angelic nature.

  “Cross, what are you doing here?” he asked without turning around.

  “I’m here to talk,” I said.

  Pyriel turned, his shimmering blue eyes holding nothing but contempt for me. “There’s nothing for us to talk about. I have no reason to consort with a Hell Lord. Or the spirit of one, for that matter.”

  “I think we could find a few things to chat about,” I said. “For instance, I’m still trying to figure out why nobody’s seen or heard from Raz.”

  “As I told you months ago, Raziel is on a mission for the Host,” said Pyriel. “There’s nothing more to tell.”

  “Then how about the fact that I was attacked by two of Purgatory’s assassins?”

  Pyriel stiffened. “And this concerns me how…?”

  “How did they get here?” I asked. “They shouldn’t be able to easily cross over into this realm. Your job is protecting the barriers, so how come you didn’t see them coming?”

  “Perhaps they managed to cloak themselves somehow. Contrary to popular belief, Heaven is not omniscient. We have our blindspots, same as anyone else.”

  “Seems a lot of things have been going off the rails since Raz went on his ‘mission,’” I said. “Funny how that happened right after we got back from Purgatory.”

  “Perhaps it’s connected to you,” said Pyriel. “After all, you went through a personality change after you returned. Embraced your inner demon, allied yourself with the likes of Lilith and Lucifer, and then went and got yourself killed. And oh yes, before I forget, you also brought Cain out of his self-imposed exile, gave him a taste for violence once again.”

  I could feel the anger bubbling up inside me. Pyriel was trying to goad me into doing something stupid. Something to get myself ejected from Eden. Maybe even send me straight to Hell. Or worse, put me in some kind of prison.

  “Gentlemen!”

  I chanced a look away from Pyriel and saw Gabriel stepping out onto the terrace. Unlike Pyriel, he kept his wings concealed. He approached us with a drink in hand and a broad smile on his face. While I was looking at him, I still felt Pyriel’s eyes locked on me. A look back at him confirmed I was right.

  “Why so serious?” asked Gabriel once he came up to us. He patted Pyriel on the shoulder. “It’s good to see you again, brother. Congratulations on the promotion.”

  “Thank you,” said Pyriel, though in a very monotonous fashion. I got the sense that he didn’t care much for Gabriel’s presence. Maybe didn’t care much for him at all. But he didn’t want it to be obvious.

  I also noted his body language and how he stiffened around Gabriel. You’d think being supernatural beings, they wouldn’t have that kind of problem. But humans and angels were both based on the same template, so to speak.

  He wasn’t as openly hostile to Gabriel as he was to me. Told me one thing right off the bat—Pyriel was nervous around this particular angel. That wasn’t usual. Combine that with several other factors, and the picture was starting to clear up pretty quickly.

  “Tell me,” I said. “How’s Azrael these days?”

  Pyriel’s eyes wavered from me. He tried to hide the involuntary gesture by turning away, but it was too late. I’d picked up on it.

  “I understand he’s fine,” said Pyriel.

  “Azrael’s not one for socializing,” said Gabriel. “Very committed to his work, you understand.”

  “That he is.” Pyriel finally looked at Gabriel. “And what are you doing here, Gabriel? You have some mail to deliver?”

  It was a jab at Gabriel’s status in Biblical lore as a messenger of God. How much of that was true, I didn’t know.

  Gabriel chuckled. Evidently he took the remark as a joke, or at least pretended to. “I just enjoy coming out every now and then and stretching my wings. I haven’t been to Chicago in decades and was curious what the jazz scene these days looked like.”

  He then turned to me and continued. “Speaking of, I’d like to talk with you about a saxophonist I met the other day. He mentioned your name.”

  “Right, I’ve got some stories about that guy,” I said.

  Gabriel smiled and then turned to Pyriel. “Would you mind excusing us for a few minutes, brother? I know you’re not much of a music lover, so this conversation would probably just bore you to tears.”

  Pyriel looked uncertain about leaving us alone, but he knew it’d be suspicious if he pushed the issue. He gave a simple nod. “Of course, enjoy your evening.”

  “Thank you, brother!” Gabriel called out to Pyriel as he walked away. The angel waited until Pyriel went back inside and then turned to me. “Are you out of your mind? Pyriel hated you before you made a deal with the devil. You’re lucky he didn’t shove your soul into a wood-chipper and scatter the remains across the cosmos.”

  “It was worth the risk,” I said. “Did you find out anything?”

  “Yes, one thing,” said Gabriel. “No one knows what’s happened to Raziel. I can’t find anyone who can confirm what you said Pyriel told you.”

  “So if he went AWOL, why would Pyriel say he’s on a mission?” I asked.

  “Could be that’s simply what he was told. The Divine Choir isn’t likely to want to let it be known that they lost an angel—an ambassador, no less,” said Gabriel.

  “Or it could mean Pyriel knows the truth and he’s choosing to lie,” I said.

  Gabriel’s lips tightened and his gaze took on a new intensity. “Choose your next words carefully, cambion. Because it sounds like you’re about to accuse Pyriel of being this rogue angel you mentioned.”

  “What if I am?” I asked. “Think about, Gabe. Raziel goes missing and Pyriel is appointed his successor. Pyriel doesn’t care much for humanity to begin with. More than that, I just got attacked by two of Purgatory’s assassins. Then there’s other things—the way Pyriel acts around us both. The way he reacted when I mentioned Azrael.”

  “Watch yourself, Luther,” said Gabriel, pointing a finger at me.

  I held up a hand. “Just bear with me for a minute, okay? Say it’s true. Say there is a rogue angel out there and he’s captured Raz. How could he keep that a secret? How could he keep him hidden?”

  “Purgatory, I suppose.”

  “They tried that trick with Luxton. Would he be willing to do it again?”

  “Not if he was worried
about being discovered,” said Gabriel. “And as Raziel already sent you to Purgatory…”

  “Right, so where on Earth could he hide an angel?” I asked.

  Gabriel rubbed his chin. “There’s one possibility…but it’s a long shot.”

  “Where?”

  “He could have imprisoned Raziel in human form, stripped him of his memory, branded him with a spell that would conceal him from Heaven’s eyes.”

  “He could do that?” I asked.

  “It would take an awful lot of power, far more than he’d be capable of. He’d need the kind of power possessed by an archangel, maybe even more than one. Or if he had help from Thanatos.”

  “So how do we find out more information?” I asked.

  “If that’s what’s happened, he couldn’t completely eliminate Raziel’s power, just block it. But some would still seep out.”

  “We need someone who knows where he is, or can at least point us in the right direction,” I said.

  “And Pyriel isn’t likely to help.”

  “No, but Pyriel isn’t often on his own, is he?” I asked.

  Gabriel took a deep breath. “Zadkiel.” He looked around Eden. “But I don’t sense his presence. He could be back in Heaven.”

  “Guess we’ll have to go to Heaven then.”

  Gabriel’s attention snapped back to me. “Are you insane? I can’t take you with me, you’re a Hell Lord. If they sense you there, it’s all over for the both of us. You’ll be destroyed and I’ll be cast out.”

  “You think you can make Zadkiel talk on your own?”

  Gabriel sighed. “What you’re asking me to do…”

  “Fact is, we gotta do something,” I said.

  Gabriel’s face became pensive. After a few moments, he looked back up at me. “If we do this, we’re going to need complete trust between each other. That means you tell me everything you’ve held back up until this point. Do we have a deal?”

  He offered his hand. I rubbed my goatee and thought about it. This was what had worried me ever since Gabriel first popped into my life. Trusting him with knowledge of Dakota and the nephilim was a risk I’d tried avoiding. But I was running out of both time and options. If I didn’t do something now, there was no telling if I’d have a better shot at finding Raziel.

  I shook his hand. “Okay, full disclosure. But not here. We have to go somewhere else.”

  Gabriel nodded.

  23

  Tessa sat in the backseat of Odysseus’ limo, right next to him and with nothing but an armrest separating them. He didn’t say a word, just tapped his fingers in time to the rhythm of the jazz music that played over the car’s speakers. She looked out the tinted window, watching as the city rolled past them.

  “You’re an interesting girl, Tess,” said Odysseus. “After everything you been through, you sure you still wanna go down this magic route? Nice girl like you, why don’t you leave this life behind, find some milquetoast boy-next-door type, then settle down in the suburbs an’ have two-point-five kids?”

  “You looking out for me?” asked Tessa.

  Odysseus shrugged. “I just call ’em like I see ’em. Some people, they’re born to this life, don’t got no choice in the matter. Like your boy, Cross. Second he started growing in his mother’s womb, his fate was decided. He was gonna live and die in a world of gods and monsters. Then there are others, like Carraway. They’re not born to it, but they get addicted to it. To the thrill, to the danger. An’ like all addicts, eventually they reach a breaking point where they’ll either get clean or be consumed by it.”

  “You’re saying I’m a junkie?” asked Tessa.

  Odysseus looked at her out of the corner of his eyes. “You came to a disreputable cuss like me for a fix, so what would you call yourself?”

  Tessa shook her head. “It’s not like that.”

  “Sure it’s not. You can quit any time, right?”

  “That’s not what I mean. What I’m trying to say is there’s too much at stake.”

  “There’s always somethin’ around the corner. Some kind of apocalypse or another. All the more reason to just kick back and enjoy what’s left of your life. It’s too late for a guy like Carraway. But you? You still got a chance at a different path. Be smart and grab it by the short an’ curlies.”

  Tessa took a breath. She knew Odysseus was just trying to get into her head, rattle her, make her question herself. But some of the things he was saying were things she’d been telling herself ever since her powers started acting up. What good was it to keep fighting these fights? Why not go through the door that fate kept putting in front of her? She’d seen people die bloody in this life. Did she really want to be one of them?

  Rather than devote any more energy to that line of thinking, Tessa decided to change the subject. “So which one are you?” she asked as she looked at Odysseus.

  “Pardon?”

  “You said people are either born to this life with no choice, or they get a taste of it and then get addicted. Which one are you?”

  Odysseus chuckled and looked out the window. “Y’know, I’ve been around a very long time, girl, and when your age hits triple-digits, your memory starts gettin’ a bit fuzzy.”

  “Are you saying you don’t remember how you got into this life?”

  “That’s what I’m saying.”

  Tessa scoffed. “You’re full of shit.”

  “What reason I got to lie here?” asked Odysseus. “Y’see, I’ve lived so many lives, reinvented myself so many times, that it’s hard to keep track. All I really know is I’ve been doin’ this for as long as I can remember.”

  “So no chance of escape?”

  “Nah, not for me.”

  “What if you could?”

  Odysseus rubbed his beard as he thought about her question. “Funny thing, nobody’s ever asked me that before.”

  “So what would you do?”

  Odysseus met her gaze. “Truth be told, I got no clue, darling.”

  The car rolled to a stop and the music stopped once the driver shut off the engine. Odysseus smiled at Tessa. “Looks like we’re here. You sure you’re up for this?”

  Tessa nodded and then swallowed hard. Odysseus’ bodyguards opened the doors on either side and both she and him climbed out the one closest to them. Tessa stepped onto the curb and looked up at the dilapidated building that had once been the Edgewater Medical Center.

  Cain was inside. The payment she offered Odysseus in exchange for his help. All a ruse to get him out of the office so Alistair could lift the Book of Metatron. She hadn’t expected Odysseus to move this fast on claiming Cain.

  She told Odysseus that Cain trusted her. Maybe at one point, that was true. It did seem like there was a connection between them when they were in Purgatory together. But she wondered if that still stood now. At the time, Tessa didn’t know the only reason Luther got Cain to join them was by making a promise that couldn’t be kept.

  Cain reacted poorly when he learned the truth. For all Tessa knew, he might also believe she was aware of Luther’s lie and went along with it. If she pulled him from the trance Alistair trapped him in, who’s to say he wouldn’t immediately try and kill her?

  There wasn’t much choice in the matter. The bodyguards led the way and she walked by Odysseus’ side. She felt something on her arm and she looked down to see Odysseus had wrapped his arm around hers, as if he were her escort.

  “Place like this can be pretty scary,” he said. “Don’t want you runnin’ off an’ getting yourself into trouble.”

  “That’s…very kind of you,” she managed to say through tight lips.

  “Boss?” asked one of the bodyguards. “Where to?”

  Odysseus closed his eyes and concentrated. He held out his free hand, palm facing forward, and slowly moved his arm through the air, like he was trying to get a feel for something. When he opened his eyes, they sparked with power.

  “We go up,” he said. “There’s a large concentration of power. Feels like
enough to keep Vegas nice and bright for the next several centuries.”

  There was no power in the building, so instead they had to use the stairs. The lycans Odysseus employed were capable of seeing in the dark, and Tessa imagined the same was true of the sorcerer himself. But she could barely see a few feet in front of her. She almost considered asking for a flashlight or something, yet before she did, Odysseus snapped his fingers. Tiny globules of light followed in the wake of the snap, flowing from his fingers and circling around them moving a bit ahead to keep the path illuminated.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “Don’t mention it.”

  They moved through the floors of the abandoned hospital. Putrid stenches assaulted Tessa’s nostrils. Some of it might have been left over from when the center was still in operation—it was hardly a pillar of medical excellence. But Tessa would wager a lot of it came from homeless vagrants who had used it as a shelter since it was left to rot.

  They continued on until they finally came to the pool area. Inside the empty pool was a swirling mass of bluish energy. Tessa squinted and tried to focus on those swirls. She could just barely make out that the swirls were actually ghosts moving rapidly.

  “Boss, you sure this is okay?” asked one of the lycans.

  “You gonna pussy out on me now, Sammy?” asked Odysseus, shooting his bodyguard an angry look.

  “I dunno, boss, he’s got a point…” said the other. “This looks kinda beyond our pay grade.”

  Odysseus gave the second bodyguard the same disgusted look. “Et tu, Tommy?” He shook his head and looked at Tessa in embarrassment. “You see what I got to work with here?”

  “Can’t really blame them, this isn’t exactly usual. Even in our world.” Tessa went to the edge of the pool and started to descend the ladder.

  Odysseus watched her go and then looked at the two lycans while pointing at her. “You see? The skinny little Asian chick whose powers aren’t working has bigger balls than the two of you combined.”

  “Yeah, but—”

  Odysseus dismissed Tommy’s objection with a wave of his hand as he followed Tessa into the pool. Still, he stayed a few steps behind her, watching as she moved gingerly closer to the spirits.