The Halo of Amaris

by Jade Brieanne

  Considering their newfound knowledge on souls, well…

  “Aiden?”

  He shushed her as he lowered his mouth to the shell of her ear, running his tongue over skin and cartilage. Trailing his lips down her neck, he paused to suckle the skin at her pulse and Jin sighed. The pocket watch necklace was pushed it out of the way so he could slide his hands into her hair.

  “I’m sorry.” He paused when her lips tightened in a frown. “I know, I know. You told me to stop apologizing so I’ll make that the last time. But I still have to make this up to you, and I know this isn’t enough but I have to start somewhere,” he whispered into her ear. “If I’m going to start anywhere, I want to start here.”

  Jin’s brow rose and Aiden grinned, the first smile she’d seen in days.

  “Well, you got a lot of ground to cover so you better get a move on,” Jin said smoothly as she turned her face towards his.

  Aiden’s grin stretched wider across his face. “Aye-aye, Captain.”

  Jin was just rolling over after a post lovemaking nap when she heard the door creak open followed by Rooke’s loud squeak a moment later. She squinted through sleep heavy eyes to see Rooke standing just outside their room with his face flushed. He was gripping the door handle like it was the one thing keeping him on the ground and he was trying really hard not to look at the bed sheet tucked around her bare chest. She grabbed the duvet from the bed and pulled it up over the sheet.

  “I-I…um…I’ll just come back later.” He broke away from Jin’s inquisitive gaze and turned to walk out of the room.

  “Rooke, wait. You obviously need something. Is there something I can help you with?” she said cautiously. He stutter-stepped at the threshold of the door and turned around slowly, still trying to look everywhere but at them.

  Hearing voices, Aiden stirred, raising his head and looking in the direction of the doorway where Rooke still watched them with a flustered frown.

  Surprised, Aiden untangled himself from around Jin and quickly slid to the other side of the bed. Jin frowned at the missing warmth but opted to keep her attention on the figure still hovering in the doorway, shifting from foot to foot. When Rooke didn’t answer, she nodded at him encouragingly. “It’s okay. What’s up?”

  Looking comforted by that, Rooke opened his mouth to speak, but clamped it shut when a hand fell on his shoulder, gripping it tightly.

  “What are you just staring at?” Jon peered around Rooke, and he tilted his head in confusion. “Why do you two look all sweaty and sated? Is this some kind of post-coital glow? As in sex? It is!” His face screwed up, annoyed. “You two are in here bumping uglies while the rest of us are out here trying to save our collective asses. Perfect,” he yelled, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

  Jon grabbed Rooke and turned him until he was facing him.

  “These are bad, bad people, Rooke. Don’t let them influence you. Rational adults are not supposed to have sex—” He yelled the last word as he glared at Jin and Aiden, “—in the middle of a crisis. Is that clear?”

  Jin laughed and Aiden rolled his eyes. With an hmph of satisfaction, Jon walked off but pulled up short. He turned back to Rooke. “By the way, do angels have sex?—and I swear to God, if you pull out another necklace or come up with some goddamn metaphor, I will scream.”

  Rooke looked more embarrassed by Jon than he had when he saw Jin and Aiden. “Uh, yeah. Hence our existence,” he explained, like Jon was slow. Jin was beginning to think he was.

  Jon cleared his throat. “Right…right. Still, you’re much too young to be thinking about that sort of thing, anyway. You stay away from those two succubi in there.” And he walked off.

  “I’ve got him by a few centuries and he says I’m the young one?” Rooke scoffed as he pulled the door closed behind him.

  Jin laughed as the door clicked shut and put her hand against her cheek and giggled. “You know, he’s very cute when he’s all flustered and embarrassed like that. He didn’t even tell us what he wanted.”

  Aiden ignored her statement, instead choosing to sulk as he pushed the covers back. “Jon’s going to tell the whole neighborhood, watch,” he muttered under his breath as he crawled out of bed. He jammed his feet into his sweatpants and pulled them up over his hips.

  Jin slipped her hands behind her head and reclined against the headboard. “No need to worry about that. You made enough noise I’m surprised they don’t already know.”

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Key looked around the empty living room and sighed into the fresh cup of coffee with a peaceful hum.

  Jon was probably somewhere harassing someone else, and Key couldn’t be happier. Ever since they’d invoked squatter’s rights in this hellhole, Jon had been throwing around commands like a tyrant. The good thing for Key’s temper and Jon’s personal safety was that regardless of what Jon thought, no one had died, so there was no King. Still, as annoying as Jon was, he was pretty useful. He’d found them clothing, more food—although if Key ate another serving of packaged noodles, he’d throw up—and pulled an old TV out of the garage that only worked on about four stations, but the entertainment was appreciated.

  Earlier that morning, he shook Key awake before the sun was up and drove him down to the convenience store. They were supposed to stick to staples—bread, canned food, that sort of thing—which made no sense because they had a stove, they had a microwave, and electricity. They weren’t up on some damn mountain with only berries and leaves to eat. The canister of Arabica beans was the only thing Key had been able to sneak back to the house.

  The coffee was perfect. Dark and strong and exactly what he would need to get through today. He'd finally, after four days of hiding out in the safe house, received a command from The Fallen. It was to escort Jin to Caeli. It didn't make sense, but a command was a command. Key propped his feet on the coffee table in front of him and leaned back into the stiff cushions of the overstuffed couch, letting out a satisfied moan as tendrils of steam rose and curled around his nose. He let his eyes slide closed, knowing this would be the only sliver of peace he’d be able to steal.

  His short lived peace was interrupted when a body fell into the couch, roughly kicked his feet off the table and replaced them with its own. As his feet hit the ground, Key counted to ten in his head before cutting his eyes at Jon. “You have no sort of home training, do you?”

  “Nah.” Jon grinned and pulled the warm cup of coffee away from Key’s lips and over to his. He slurped loudly as he looked over the rim of the mug. “But it’s not like you’re a shining example of model behavior either.” He returned the mug with a bright smile before reaching into his pocket and fishing out his cell phone.

  The agent unlocked the screen and began scrolling through his contact list. “I’ve put off contacting my reporting officer long enough because…well I wasn’t quite sure what to tell him. Funny, no one over here has reached out to me either. I mean, I know I’m not the most important thing to the agency, but Aiden’s apartment has about five thousand bullet holes in it. That’s at least worth a phone call, right? But…what if this thing is tapped? What if they are listening to everything I’m saying right now?” Jon gasped as he clutched the phone to his chest and glanced around suspiciously.

  Key looked down at his now-ruined cup of coffee and tried not to imagine Jon’s slobbery lips all over it. “Hard to believe someone would go through the trouble of purposely listening to what you have to say. Plus…” Key set his cup down and looked away.

  Jon stared at him for a long moment, unblinking, waiting for him to finish, but the look wasn’t exactly encouraging. “Key,” Jon finally growled, grabbing Key’s chin and turning him.

  Key huffed. “Technically…”

  “Technically?”

  “Technically”—Key winced—“there is no case.”

  Jon’s eyes narrowed in confusion.

  “You were right when you told Ruiz the case was dead. There is no Five Star Mob case,” Key began. “The ring was pr
etty much finito after Shen’s trial, barring the idiots who don’t know when to stay down. So there is no case, because technically the Five Star Mob doesn’t exist anymore. I…had Rooke manipulate the paperwork to make it seem like you were requested. They don’t know you’re here.”

  “Wait. Who doesn’t know I’m here?”

  Key winced again. “The FBI? I also gave Ruiz an inhibitor in his coffee the morning he sent you packing. He doesn’t remember sending you here. You’re on vacation, according to TAOCI.”

  Jon peered dangerously at Key as if he were waiting for laughter or any sign he was joking. When Key’s face remained serious and unwavering, he shot off the couch. “You did what?”

  Key held up his hands in surrender and edged back into a corner of the couch. “What else did you want me to do? We needed you.”

  “For what?” Jon yelled. “You needed someone to drive a car through a fucking bullet shower? You could have gotten anyone to do that! I could have seen my friends die! And for what?”

  “No! No! You’re smart, you’re seasoned. It couldn’t have been just anyone in that driver’s seat. It couldn’t have just been anyone there that day because you would have made sure he got out alive no matter what. He wasn’t our concern but…I just…thought Aiden needed someone.”

  Jon moved in on Key, hovering above him as Key tried to disappear into the cushions of the couch. Both of his hands shot out to bookend Key’s head. “You aren’t to do anything…anything from this point on without consulting me. You got me?”

  The remorse drained from Key and he jutted his chin out in defiance. “Just who in the high hells do you think you’re talking to?”

  “I’m talking to the man who keeps making my life a living hell! That’s who I’m talking to!”

  “I’m making your life a living hell?” Key sputtered. “Look here, asshole, if anyone is making your life a living hell, it sure isn’t me! Sometimes I wish I’d never met you!”

  “That’s funny coming from the fairy fuckhead who made it his personal mission to get me here. What was it? ‘We needed you.’ Idiot.”

  “You got a lot of nerve talking to—”

  Someone cleared their throat and it was enough to rock them out of their argument. Jon groaned as he righted himself and plopped down on the other side of the couch. Key, on the other hand, watched as Jin and Aiden walked into the living room, ignoring their arched eyebrows altogether.

  After breakfast, the four of them gathered around the coffee table while Tahir and Rooke moved to the kitchen to hover over Rooke’s laptop. On the kitchen table was a scattered assortment of runes, scrolls, and Jin’s crystal. Every so often Tahir would pick something up, study it, and put it back down.

  “What’s that for?” Jin asked from the couch, her eyes lit in curiosity.

  Tahir looked over, a slow smile spreading across her face. “Ah, that’s kind of hard to explain, but we are looking for a place. It moves every day, but we are given clues to find it when we need to. We are pretty good at finding it, so no need to worry.”

  Jon leaned towards Key with his hand cupped over his mouth, motioning for him to come closer. “Is there any reason why she keeps smiling at Jin like that?”

  “Jealous? Jin is the only one that she likes.”

  The agent scrunched his nose in offense, sulking a bit. “The only? I’m likable…”

  “You sure about that?” Key whispered right before pushing the agent out of his face. “Everybody, we’ve got to move.”

  Aiden nodded. “I figured we couldn’t stay here much longer if what you told us is true. It would only be a matter of time before they located us, right?” Aiden looked at Jin before looking back to Key for confirmation. “They probably have some kind of supernatural homing beacon on her.”

  Key laughed, shaking his head and waving his hands. “Whoa there, cowboy, pump your brakes. You’re getting ahead of yourself. They can’t find Jin.”

  Aiden cocked his head and raised a brow. “They found her the first time.”

  “No, Shen found her. And he did so by using conventional means such as paper trails and phone records. Those things are easy to track down with the sort of network Shen has built. But you’re only half wrong. As far as ‘supernatural homing beacons’ go…” He turned to Jin. “Reach inside your shirt.”

  Cautiously, Jin plucked the collar of her borrowed shirt and looked down slowly as if something might jump out and bite her. Blinking owlishly, she hooked a finger around the chain and pulled out the pocket watch. She eyed the new phoenix emblem embossed across the front. “I’ve been meaning to ask…”

  “And voilà, a supernatural anti-homing beacon. That is what protects you from whoever ‘they’ are.”

  “Protects?” Jin scoffed. “Like it’s done a fine job protecting me so far.”

  Key pulled a face. “Okay, so protect is the wrong word. The phoenix on your watch? You’ve all heard the stories—the phoenix signifies rebirth. The phoenix appears for those we save. A tattoo you don’t remember getting or a new piece of jewelry—anything—a dream, an image in your head you can’t shake.”

  Jin’s forehead scrunched as she studied the cover of the watch.

  “We all emit a spirit essence,” Key explained. “It’s as identifiable as fingerprints or your DNA. For each person, it has a unique smell to it. The closest I can describe your scent is…” He paused to think. “The smell right after the rain, maybe?”

  Tahir and Rooke agreed loudly from the kitchen. “Petrichor,” Tahir supplied eagerly. “It’s wonderful. I once had a mission where I had to save a man who smelled like rotten eggs. And I wanted to ask the old fart, hey, why in the hell do you smell like that? Longest week of my life. But you?” Tahir smiled dreamily at Jin. Her smiled withered as Aiden moved into her line of sight, glaring, and Tahir recoiled. “I’m just saying, she smells nice. Geez.”

  “To pinpoint you,” Key continued with a roll of his eyes, “they would have to be able to distinguish your scent from a million others. It’s hard, but not impossible.” Key motioned toward her necklace. “With that on, they can’t.”

  “And that brings us full circle. As I was telling Rin Tin Tin here,” Key said sweetly as he ruffled Jon’s hair and ducked to avoid the retaliatory swipe, “as soon as Tahir and Rooke pinpoint our next stop, we are moving immedi—”

  “Found it!” Tahir yelled from the kitchen.

  Tahir rushed into the living room and unrolled a large map across the coffee table, using the runes to keep it flat. She then laid a longer scroll littered with dots and lines on top of it, her tongue poking out in concentration as she rotated the thin rice paper. She let out a loud hoot when the figures locked into place, running a finger down the length of one line, tracing it until she landed at one lone dot towards the edge. “St. John the Divine Cathedral.” Tahir stood and placed her hands on her hips, eyes gleaming.

  Jon peered at the map with a raised eyebrow. “Wait. So you’re telling me that the location you’ve been mapping out for the last hour with all your divinity and technical thingamajigs is located in New York City?”

  “Your point?” Tahir asked, lip nearly curling.

  “If this place keeps moving—and I’m not going to ask why or how because I’ve ingested enough of this hocus-pocus bullshit to want to barf down your angelic throat—don’t you think it’s strange that it’s conveniently a stone’s throw away from us?”

  “Geometry?” Rooke answered, and Jon groaned at the phrase. “Not that explaining this makes it any easier to understand but it’s…” Rooke paused. “Okay, so when you look up at the sky you can see the stars, right?”

  “Yeah?”

  “So a person in one location could possibly see the same stars as someone else in a completely different location? Well, this place, it’s not locked in a particular space. As long as our coordinates match up with how we see the stars, granted you know which ones to look for, it’ll lead us to the correct place.”

  “But it’s the mi
ddle of the day,” Jon deadpanned.

  “Do stars cease to exist in the daytime?” Key’s gaze narrowed. “Were you dropped on your head as a baby?”

  Jon frowned. “How did you know that?”

  Key’s eyes narrowed in complete disgust before he turned to Aiden and Jin. “You guys know where this is?”

  They both nodded. “A few blocks west of Central Park,” Aiden provided, pointing at Amsterdam Avenue.

  “All right, let’s move out!”

  Chapter Forty-Five

  “The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine boasts one of the largest interiors ever seen in a cathedral. The same can be said for the exterior as well,” a tour guide intoned as she led a group of people past the doors of the church. Rooke noticed a few people staring at them as they went by, but he ignored them. They probably wanted to get closer to the Great West Doors of the Cathedral, but too bad, it was theirs for the time being.

  There were pictures of all of Earth’s revered monuments back on Caeli. So far, Rooke had only seen a few of them for real. The Statue of Liberty, the Temple of Artemis. The Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa. He could now add these massive doors to his life list.

  Tahir, on the other hand, who wasn’t much interested in history, hadn’t paid much attention to the textbooks and the doors were new to her. “Who on earth would need doors this big? How would you even open them?” she asked as she ran a hand down the intricately sculpted panel of the massive bronze door. “I mean, it would take an army to get past these.”

  “Wait.” Jon looked from Key, to Rooke, and then to Tahir. “You don’t know how to get in? Isn’t there a magic word you’re supposed to say? Sprinkle some divine pixie dust on it? Can’t you just walk through the doors? What kind of angels are you?” Jon sputtered as he continued looking at the immovable object in confusion. He pushed the doors and his frown deepened when they didn’t budge. “What’s on the other side, anyway? Can’t we just use the front door? Or do we have to make it as mystical and as illegal as possible? Is magic illegal? It is, isn’t it? There’s a law somewhere that says ‘you can’t use magic for breaking and entering.’ Especially when you guys are carrying swords strapped to your back like this is feudal Japan and good luck explaining that one to the police. I only have so much clout you know and—”