jinn 02 - inferno (16 page)

She smiled and stretched for the phone, but I kept it just out of reach. “Hol-den.” I repeated to her.

“Hol. Den,” she dutifully repeated.

I smiled at her and pointed to the picture one more time.

“Holden,” she said confidently.

I nodded and clicked the phone off and took a bite. She watched every move I made. I pointed to myself. “Fem-ee.”

She looked around the room at everything but me.

“Come on. I gave you a bath. The least you could do is learn my name too. Femi.”

Still nothing. I gave up and resumed eating. By the time I finished my plate and the kid had scarfed down her pasta, I had a new theory to test. The girl obviously liked Holden. But was it because he was a jinni? For some reason I didn’t think so. I took her to Phoenix’s room and opened the door. He was groggy but awake.

“What’s that?” he asked sitting up and pointing at the kid.

The girl looked him over, still holding onto my hand. “Another one of our guests.”

“A little small for the cause, don’t you think?”

I moved her a couple steps closer. “Try to make friends,” I told him.

He leaned close, his black hair falling over his eye, and spoke softly. “Hey there, nice to meet you. What’s your name?”

The kid dropped my hand and sprinted out the door and down the hallway. I laughed. Smart kid. “Don’t take it personally. She doesn’t like many people.”

He shrugged and lit a cigarette. “I’m heart broken. Where is everyone?”

“Baker and Holden had things to do. Olivia’s on the other side of the building and you’ve been nominated to babysit the kid.” I batted my eyelashes at him. “Don’t let either vampire out of their cells and oh, if anything happens to that kid, Holden will set you on fire.”

The cigarette fell from his lips to the concrete floor. I smooshed it out. “That reminds me, one more thing, no smoking. See you later.”

I was halfway down the hallway before he caught up with me. “You aren’t serious, right? You aren’t really leaving me with a little girl.”

“You’ll be fine. She hardly bites at all. Just remember if you mess up, your life will be drastically shortened.” I closed the front door behind me.

Free at last. Don’t get me wrong, the kid was fine, but the last thing they were going to do was saddle me with babysitting constantly. I texted Baker to meet me at the Office, and beat him there. Sy beamed as I walked through the door. I took a stool in front of him.

“Please tell me you’re here for a bounty.”

“Nope. Information.” The smile vanished from his face. “Which vampire knows a way to the underworld?”

Sy froze. “Why?”

“I need to ask him a purely academic question.”

Sy’s silver eyes narrowed. “Why don’t I believe you?”

I held up my hand. “I solemnly swear I do not intend to use this information to gain entrance to the underworld. Seriously, I just need to ask him a couple things.”

He wiped down the bar for the hundredth time today. “And I just need the women in my life to stop giving me ulcers. How about this? You tell me your questions and I’ll get your answers.”

I leaned over the bar and motioned him closer. “No,” I said into his ear, then sat back again. “Look. Word is Hell is looking for a place to bring something really bad through. If they find the spot and we don’t know where it is, we can’t stop them. Trust me. None of us have any interest in the opening other than that.”

He rolled his eyes. “Can’t believe you haven’t heard the rumors already. I’m sure Holden or Baker have. Why haven’t you asked them?”

“Because they aren’t around and you are. Who is it?”

“Corbin.”

“No shit?” I hadn’t had much interaction with Corbin because I’d pretty much avoided vampires since Thomas, but I’d seen him around. Blond hair, accent, and lot of attitude. He’d fit in perfect. “What’s he like? Easy to work with?”

“Only if he likes you.” Sy smiled at me and I grinned back.

“Everyone likes me.” We both knew that wasn’t true, but I didn’t care. Everyone
should
like me. (Yes, they really should!)

Baker came through the door and headed in my direction. “Sy,” he said and stuck out his hand. “How’s life slinging beers to the peacekeepers?”

Sy shook, then pushed a cold glass to him. “Could be worse.”

Baker took a long drink. “I used to know the person who had this job before you.”

Sy’s smile stayed, but his eyes froze. “Did you?”

Baker nodded. “Sure did. We should talk sometime.”

Sy eyed him with a new appreciation. “Perhaps we should.”

I was so lost I was in another ZIP code.

Baker refocused on me. “Now what was the hustle, kitten?”

I didn’t miss Sy’s expression at Baker’s nickname, and I ushered him over to the table as far away from Sy as I could get. Sy and I definitely weren’t dating, but I didn’t need jealousy in my life. “I spoke with the prisoner.” I gave him a meaningful look and Baker nodded. “He confirmed Hell is looking for a way into our world. He said there’s a vampire who knows where it is.”

Baker nodded. “The rumor is Corbin knows, but I wouldn’t count on it.”

“Doesn’t hurt to check. Sy seemed to think it was better than rumor.”

Baker looked interested. “What did he say?”

“Not much in words, but he’s trying to protect me , which means we’re on the right track.”

“So we just need to see the vampire?”

“Yep. And he confirmed turning Maggie was intentional. They wanted Maggie compromised.”

Baker’s face darkened. “Why?”

“No idea. They know she can’t be possessed. Do you think it was to have something to hold over Holden?”

“Perhaps. So the prisoner volunteered all of this information to you?”

“He said he wants to help us. If he goes back without Maggie he’s as good as dead.”

“That almost makes me want to let him go.”

I laughed. “Tell me about it. He says he knows where the passage is, but if we can get that info on our own, we don’t need him. There are plenty of people looking for him right now. We’d have our pick of those who’d love to take care of him for us—and we might make a new ally by handing him over.”

Baker nodded. “I guess we’re going to see a vampire.” He stood up. “Speaking of taking care of, weren’t you supposed to be watching the kid? Is Holden back already?”

“Left her with Phoenix. I told him if anything happened to her Holden would light him up.”

“Probably not far from the truth.”

I waved to Sy as we left. “What did you find out?” I asked when we were outside.

“The angel’s binding the jinn to her as she frees them.”

She was building an army who she could force to be loyal to her. Smart. “Why didn’t she do the same to Holden?”

Baker shrugged. “I don’t think she planned on freeing him. I think it was an accident or Olivia hijacked her powers for a moment and did it herself. Doesn’t really matter either way, though. She doesn’t need to bind Holden. She already has him. Especially if she keeps Olivia hostage. He’ll stand with her through anything.”

The apartment door was a dark blue-green and bore a heavy golden knob directly in its center—just as I remembered it. Nothing had changed. That’s what happened when you lived in a two hundred year old apartment building. My phone buzzed with a message from Baker telling me what he and Femi had found. I scanned the text quickly and slipped the phone back into my pocket. I knocked. I didn’t know if Sybil still lived here or if she had moved on years ago—as a general rule we didn’t live anywhere more than five years—but at least it was a place to start looking. Footsteps approached the door and I waited.

Sybil answered the door, looking the same as she always did, with her gypsy skirt, unruly hair, and dark eyes. A jinni and a succubus. Ours had been more of a partnership than a romance; it was a simpler time. Together we made several fortunes and brought companies to their knees. We made quite the pair.

“Have you come to kill me?” she asked.

“Not today,” I answered just as conversationally.

“Then why bother.” She tried to shut her door, but I held it open. She huffed. “Fine, since you insist, come in.” She stepped aside. “I expected you sooner.”

Everything about her dwelling was exactly the same. The same clutter and messy stacks everywhere I looked, and, of course, no mirrors. The same cloying smell of cloves and nearly spoiled fruit. I went over and opened a window. “I’ve been busy,” I said.

When I turned back, she was lighting a cigarette. “It is like no time has passed—but we both know that isn’t the case. Much has changed. You for example.”

I gave her a single nod. “Life is change.”

“Oui. Look who is now the philosopher.” She blew a ring of smoke in my direction. “When do you plan to kill me, philosopher?”

“When it suits me.”

Her tongue darted over her lower lip and her pupils dilated. “Is that today?”

I shook my head. “I already said it wasn’t.”

“You wouldn’t have come all the way to France to be vague. There must be a reason. Let me hear it.”

“What did they offer you, Sybil?”

She took a long draw on her cigarette. “I can’t see how that matters now. I failed to weaken the angel, therefore I did not receive what was promised. The past is behind me.”

“Yes, but what did you want?”

She jutted her chin up. “Why?”

“Perhaps there could be a counter offer for your services.”

A slow smile spread over her full lips. “I knew you would tire of the angel. When they told me you had left, I was happy for you. You were never one to be ruled, but aligning with an angel? That was unexpected. But a clever, clever ploy.”

She moved closer, looking up at me through her thick black lashes with dark mischievous eyes. Her draw was even stronger now than it had been before. She had only grown more powerful since we were together. Her lips crushed into mine and an immediate fog tried to cloud my mind.

I picked her up, moving her away from me. Her gorgeous mouth frowned and I raised an eyebrow. “Do not presume to know me or why I do what I do. I am simply here to offer you a job. A job that will not involve me or a renewal of our partnership in any way. My interests lie in insuring our past remains buried. That’s all.”

She studied her fingernails. “I do believe you think you mean that. We were great once, though.” Her tongue flicked over her lips. “It isn’t too late. We could be again.”

I rolled my eyes. “Not interested. Now what did they offer you?”

She closed her eyes and her lips pursed as if the words pained her. “The first life I took. They offered it back. Can you make me such a deal?” She knew I couldn’t. “Then you might as well kill me. I am bored here. The world holds no amusement anymore and I am not foolish enough to believe in the other option. I have nothing else left. The most fun I have had in twenty years was trying to kill your girlfriend. Pathetic.”

Most succubi ended up starving themselves when they were ready to make their final exit. Normally they met someone, fell in love, and instead of taking their life (the natural course for a succubus) they slowly withered away and died. But starvation wasn’t a path I could imagine Sybil taking. She loved the thrill of the hunt, and she never passed on a chance to reap the rewards either. She was strong, but her huge brown eyes were sad. Had they always been that way and I never noticed or was this new?

“What sort of deal would you like me to make?” I asked.

She pouted and encircled me with her arms. “My life. You must promise to end it as soon as we’re finished. Fast and painlessly.”

She was the second woman in the past twelve hours to ask me to kill her. It seemed no one wanted me to be good except Olivia, and she wasn’t here. “Fine.” I offered her my hand.

She shook it. “Just like that. No, ‘but Sybil you have everything to live for. You are young and beautiful. The world will mourn your loss’?”

“When have I ever lied to you?”

She laughed. “Good. It’s a deal.” She finally sat down, crossing her legs beneath her. “Now what am I to do?”

I chose my words carefully. Sybil agreed to help, but if a better offer came along she’d take it. “It has come to my attention that demons here are searching for a pathway to Hell. I want to know why. What do they want to use it for?”