jinn 02 - inferno (25 page)

“Gotcha. So if I get into a bind with all this, are you willing to swoop in and save our sorry asses?”

“No.” She left without another word. That old softy.

The stone room was oppressive. It probably was meant to be that way since we were in a prison and all, but I was over it.

You’re saying if I tattoo that on me, no angel will ever be able to eavesdrop on me?” I asked.

Baker’s breath tickled the back of my neck as he blew on a spot he just finished. “No time for real tattoos,” he said, drawing between my shoulder blades with henna ink and sending chills down my spine. After Quintus made a quick trip to get the supplies, Baker started tattooing. He’d already did one on Sybil and Quintus, who left as soon as they were done, and the vampires who had no choice but to stick around. His callused rough thumb made a tiny circular motion on my shoulder blade as he drew with the other hand. Thomas’s stare drilled into me, watching every touch by Baker like he still had a right to care. “Best I could do now is a brand.”

“Just something to keep in mind for the future.” I squirmed against the feel of his hand and the ink against my skin.

“Hold still, almost done.” The smile was evident in his voice. Bastard.

A few moments later he stepped back to look, then we waited for it to dry better. Finally he declared me finished and sprayed my back with some sort of hairspray. The only person left was Holden and I couldn’t imagine him sitting here, letting Baker draw on him. “Your turn, Chuckles.” I grinned.

“I pass,” he said.

“No can do, boss. If she can spy on one of us, then she can spy on all of us.” He patted the chair.

Holden’s chin lifted and he looked like he was considering it for half a second, then he shook his head. “No.”

“Why did you stay if you weren’t going to get a—” Baker cut off his own sentence. He blinked a couple times and shrugged. “I thought you weren’t going to trust her.”

Holden took a couple steps across the room and stuck out his hand. Baker shook it, all smiles gone. “Goodbye, Baker.” He gave a final curt nod and walked out of the room.

Baker stood perfectly still, watching him go, then cleaned up as if nothing had happened, though something sad lingered in his eyes. Well, that would never do. I hated feeling left out so I hurried to catch up with Holden before he left the building entirely.

“What do we do if she captures you?”

He stopped. “Baker knows. Nothing changes. If she captures me do everything as we planned. Don’t try to save me.”

“Why are you doing this?” I asked. “Taking risks is more my thing than yours. Don’t go out there without a symbol. She’ll know right where you are. It’s dumb.”

He finally glanced back at me. “I’m not taking a risk. The risk for me would be wearing that symbol. Olivia and I have a connection. I don’t understand it, but it’s there. I can’t risk that symbol blocking it. If she’s going to fight her way back, she needs our connection as a guide. It’s the only thing we have. I won’t destroy it.”

“You could die. Don’t you think she would rather you be alive?”

He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. If it takes my life to bring her back, so be it. Outliving Olivia isn’t in the cards for me. She’s my heart.” He smiled slightly. “If she dies, trust me, you don’t want me here.”

“I think you undersell yourself.”

He rolled his eyes. “When she vanishes from my mind, it will be the beginning of the end.” He paused, waiting for me to acknowledge that I understood. “She’s the only part of me worth having. It’s for the best. The angel knows we’re planning something. If she captures me, I’ll stall her and buy you guys time. If we don’t see each other again, take care of yourself, Femi.” He turned to leave.

I walked around him so I faced him and straightened his perfectly starched collar. He stiffened and his eyes narrowed, giving off a strong don’t touch me vibe that I ignored. “It’s not going to come to that.” I smiled. “You’re both coming back. I know you guys would never desert me here with Baker. And my feelings are never wrong. You don’t have a choice.”

He nodded, though his face was stony as he searched me with his eyes. “You know I try not to get involved with…anything.”

I laughed.

“But this seems like something Olivia would want me to say.” He paused, searching for words and coming up empty.

“Shit, Holden, I know you love me.”

“What? No. That’s not it.” He sighed. “Allowing someone into your life after years of being on your own is terrifying. You forget how to do it, and they wreak all kinds of havoc on what was essentially a good thing.” I raised an eyebrow, but he held up a finger for me to wait. “But sometimes by dumb fucking luck you find the right person. The one who doesn’t trap you, but sets you free in a way you never knew was possible.” He glanced in the direction we came from and looked back with an eyebrow raised.

Shit. If Holden was getting sentimental on me the end
was
nigh. I hit his shoulder softly. “I’ll keep that in mind. One last thing though, she isn’t the best part of you. That’s definitely your ass.” Now it was my turn to walk away, though I swear I heard him chuckle as he left. My work was done.

When I got back to the main room, the tension was thick between Baker and Maggie.

“I don’t see why this is the ‘only’ way I can help.”

He glared at her. “Because you’ve been a vampire or half-vampire for about half a second. You have no idea what you’re doing and you have no business out there. Obviously your judgment can’t be trusted or you wouldn’t be a vampire right now. You keep pushing me on this, and I’ll put you in one of those cells and leave you there.”

“I’d love to you try.”

“Don’t test me, Maggie.”

“You aren’t in charge of my life,” she yelled at him.

“Well, somebody sure as hell should be,” he fired right back.

“Not to interrupt this totally fascinating yet ill-timed domestic dispute,” I said, “but I’m going to go. Just keep in mind that we have enough people who want to kill us, so try not to kill each other.”

“I’ll come with you,” Thomas said, striding toward me.

I wanted to say no, but who had time for another fight? “You keep your hands to yourself or I’ll stab you in the temple with this.” I pulled out my bowie knife. “Your head would look great mounted on my wall.”

“I look great everywhere,” he said with a lopsided smile. I’d probably be better off if I just stabbed him now.

“Wait, I’m coming too,” Maggie said hopping up.

“Nope,” I told her. “Baker needs someone here to have his back, in case the location gets blown. And as much as I hate to admit it, he’s right. He isn’t just being chauvinistic. You are too new to this world and you don’t know even what your powers are, let alone how to control them. You’re dangerous. I can’t take responsibility for that.”

I caught Baker’s eye for just a second and nodded to him. He returned the gesture, reassuring me though I couldn’t say how. This was going to work. It simply had to. I had never had friends growing up. Not real ones. I was the misfit, the loner. These unlikely people were the closest to me of anyone I’d ever known and I wasn’t letting them go. If anyone wanted to take them away, they’d have to go through me.

“Just a sec,” Baker said. “Do you mind?” He held up the bottle of ink. It took a minute for my brain to catch up. “The symbol. If the leech is going with you, I should have one too just to be safe.”

“I can do it,” Maggie snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. I had the urge to slap her.

“I got it,” I told her, taking the ink.

It wasn’t her fault. She didn’t have control over her emotions yet. She was lucky Baker was handling her, not Holden or I. Holden would just knock her out and I would lock her in a cell. At least Baker tried to be patient. The thing was, though, even if she wasn’t consciously aware of it, the chances of her sabotaging him were high. Also she had no experience in rune work. Runes were exact. If you messed up a line or a dash or a dot, them not working was the least of your concerns. One tiny out of place line could spell the difference between protection and a curse.

Baker stripped off his shirt and put his chin against his chest. We placed the runes on his back because an arm or a leg could be lost or removed. Not that henna ink wouldn’t eventually wear off, but at least it bought us some time if any of us were caught. When we were finished, Thomas and I headed to my car.

He laughed when he saw it. “This is what you drive now? You have changed.”

“Bite me,” I said.

“The teeth are so much more fun when you let me use my hands too.”

I rolled my eyes. “You are one more comment away from riding in my trunk.”

“Just like old times.”

“No.” I stopped. “Nothing like old times. Do you realize I was this close to handing you over to the vampires today in exchange for the opening’s location. This close.” I held up my fingers again. “It isn’t too late to call Corbin. He’s waiting by the phone.” I kicked the back of Thomas’s knee, buckling his leg, then grabbed him by the scuff of his neck and opened my trunk.

“Hey, wait,” he protested.

“I warned you.” I pushed him forward. “You can do this the hard way or the easy way, Thomas.”

He climbed in. I slammed it closed.

****

Where does someone go to find out how to close the tunnel to Hell? The DMV of course.

I opened the trunk after I parked and Thomas climbed out, looking a bit testy. “Get the sudden urge to renew your license?” he asked. “I think they’re closed.”

I waved for him to follow, and we went around to a side entrance that was obscured yet unlocked. I flashed a grin before we went inside. The hallway was dark and there was a single door at the end of it. It led to a windowless room lit by bright florescent lighting. Plucking my number, I took a seat. I had never done this before, but I had been with Sy when he did it. Well, maybe I had followed Sy, but it was basically the same thing. I knew what I was doing.

Sy was my go-to person for information or anything I needed, but being a bounty hunter was my job, my career. What if Sy took a sick day or was called away or something? I still had to do my job. So following him was really a public service and not just me being nosy. Whenever I needed anything, he came here and took a number. Then he was ushered to the back and emerged minutes later with the goods. Easy enough.

I sat next to Thomas, bouncing my legs as we waited.

“Can you stop?” he finally said. “Just hold still for two seconds.”

I tried to stop, but I couldn’t. I was so bored. I should’ve stopped for food. “You’ll live,” I told him and bounced all I wanted.

He sighed and craned his head to see our number. “Being turned over to the vampires might have been better than this. Why are we even here?” he whined.

“We need information. If you don’t like it, you’re welcome to wait in the trunk.”

He leaned back in the chair and stretched his legs out in front of him. “I’m not getting back in the trunk.”

A balding elf looked over at us.

“You know people can hear you, right?” I asked. He shrugged. “Not my problem.” I gave him a look. “What? Is baldy bothering you?”

He hooked a thumb at the horrified looking elf.

Thomas’s hand struck like a viper, catching the elf by the collar. He pushed two fingers against his forehead and lingered for just a bit with a smile. The jerk was feeding off of him. I punched Thomas in the ribs and he let go. “Go over there,” he said, waving his hand to the right side of the room.

The elf stood on wobbly legs and stumbled away, even though there were no chairs available where Thomas pointed. We sat for another thirty minutes with nothing to do before they finally called our number. I couldn’t take another hour sitting next to Thomas. I’d kill him and the mess probably would’ve made the people here decide not help me.

I walked up to the counter and smiled at the lares behind the counter. “Hi.” I smiled. “I need some information.”

“Credentials?” she asked automatically.

Lares looked like anyone else, but they were ancient and powerful. They had one job, to observe and protect all that was in their charge. They were a natural choice to guard the supernatural cornucopia that must be hidden in this building. If crossed they would call down lightning and smite your ass. They took that whole former deity thing really seriously.