jinn 02 - inferno (27 page)

“How do I do that?”

“I will tell you when the time comes. I must gather a few things before I can be ready. Meet me back here in three hours.”

I nodded and she disappeared. I took one last look around to make sure it was clear and transported back to the prison.

Baker stood alone in the room where I’d left him, pouring over the maps. “Where’s Maggie?” I asked.

“In a cell sulking,” he said, looking up. “You okay?”

I nodded.

“I didn’t expect you to come back.”

“I didn’t think I would.”

He looked back down at the table. “I think I found the exact location.”

“Baker, I made a deal with the angel.”

He let out a long sigh. “That doesn’t surprise me.”

I handed him the parchment. “Keep this. Hide it somewhere. It’s binding. She’ll be forced to follow through.”

He unrolled the paper and read it, nodding. “I’ll take care of it, boss.” He rolled it back up and looked at me. “What do you have to do to get this?”

“Take the seal and help close the tunnel.”

Baker raked a hand through his hair. “Fuck’s sake, Holden. You’re all wet! We talked about this. No good can come of it.”

“Olivia returns.”

“At the expense of the world. Do you believe she wants that?”

“I. Want. That.” The anger was back, licking against my insides. Baker wasn’t my enemy but the rage didn’t care.

“We’re still going through with our plan.” He glared at me.

“We both know it can’t be pulled off. This is our best chance.”

He shook his head. “You know when I first met you, boss, you were wound tighter than a fucking coil, but at least you weren’t destroying the world. I love Olivia. I don’t want her to be gone, but sometimes you just have to accept that bad things, very bad things, happen. We can try to get her back, but I won’t risk everyone else to do it. And if you’d be honest with yourself, you’d know I’m right and you’d be with us right now.”

“I’m tired, Baker. Tired of constantly having to fight. Tired of always making the hard decisions. Just once I want to take the easy way. The angel will give her back to me.”

“But will you even be here? You have no idea what the Seal will do to you. You took the easy road once before or you wouldn’t be standing here right now. Let’s not forget about that. Don’t tell me you didn’t wish every day, before you met her, that you had made the other decision.”

He was talking about my deal. Becoming a jinni was easier than dealing with my brother’s death. It was easier to get revenge than let it go. The parallels were there whether or not I wanted to see them. I was willing to take on something I couldn’t begin to understand to save myself from pain. Not physical pain, I could take that. But crushing emotional pain.

“She’s all I have. All I’ve ever wanted.”

“And you have to let her go,” Baker said, echoing Olivia’s own words.

I had let her go once before and no good came of it. No good ever came of it. “I can’t,” I said more to myself than him.

“Then you haven’t changed as much as you thought. At the end of the day, you always put yourself first.”

I wanted to punch him. I wanted to walk out. But I sat down on the other side of the table. “The angel plans to make her move in three hours.”

“Can you stall her?”

“I doubt it, but I’ll try. The area’s clear for now.”

Baker chewed on the end of a pen. “Femi found out how to close the porthole.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

He nodded. “You have to sacrifice an ancient one at the entrance.”

Ancient one wasn’t a familiar term. The original jinn were called the old ones, which seemed a little too close to me. “She plans to sacrifice me?”

Baker laughed. “No. You aren’t an ancient one, but she is. Do you think the angel is planning on sacrificing herself? Maybe that’s why she can make you any promise you want—because it won’t matter. She won’t be alive to fulfill it.”

The backstabbing bitch. “It’s possible.”

Baker shrugged. “Just keep that in mind.”

“How do you open it?”

“Sybil hasn’t called in yet.”

Angels couldn’t be the only ancient ones because one look at Baker said he had a plan. “Just angels?”

“No. All immortals.”

We stared at each other.

“And you know another?”

He smiled a little. “Shit, boss, I know several others, but there’s only one that I know who’s willing to take this job. One that will volunteer.”

I knew the look in his eyes, the stubborn you can’t stop me look, all too well. It was one Olivia gave me. “Baker, no more bullshit. You took me to that sewer to get answers from immortals that no one else knows about.” He nodded, waiting. “You’re one of them, aren’t you?”

“In a manner of speaking,” he said. The realization washed over me like a cold rain. He was going to sacrifice himself. “I may not be willing to sacrifice the world so you can get her back, but I will my own life.”

Protect them was what Olivia told me, but I couldn’t do that and help her. She said to follow my heart, but I didn’t know how to listen to it. “Can you come back?”

“It requires my life blood to close it and I’ll technically be in another world. That changes things. If someone brought my body back here, then perhaps. No guarantees though.” He put his hands in his pockets and shuffled his feet. “The council wants me to come back and they aren’t taking no for an answer. Maybe this is a blessing. It couldn’t have come at a better time because no matter what happens, there’s no way I’m going back to them. If I die, I’m free and clear of them for at least a while.”

“Baker—” I shook my head. I didn’t have the words. No one had ever sacrificed for me except for Olivia. I also didn’t have friends until he pushed his way into my life. I cleared my throat. “You don’t have to do this. There’s no other way?”

“None that I’m willing to consider. Stall her, Holden. I haven’t always made honorable decisions in my life, so let me end it with one.” He stuck out his hand. “We had a good run.”

I shook it firmly. “It’s been an honor, Baker.”

“When you get that girl back, handcuff her to you so she can’t get away again. No matter what anyone says you’re the real McCoy and it’s been a goddamned privilege to know you in the flesh. Now scram.” He gave me a hug, thumping his hand against my back twice, then let go, his eyes a bit misty.

“See you on the other side, Baker.”

So one down, one to go. But Femi was the one I was dreading saying goodbye to. I knew Holden would handle it. He’d lived long enough to know what was what. He had lost people along the way. We all had. All of us except Femi.

Not to mention the dynamic between us had been changing slowly but surely. Part of me wanted to stay and see where it would go, if anywhere, but the universe was conspiring against us. Maybe it wasn’t our time. Maybe she wasn’t ready to be in a real relationship. I recognized the fear in her eyes. Or maybe we weren’t meant to be, period. None of it actually mattered. That was the punch in the throat about the whole thing.

I flipped Holden’s angel killing knife in my fingers—I’d lifted it from him when we hugged—then stabbed it into the table. I lied to him when I said Sybil hadn’t called. She had and the demon’s way to keep the porthole open was the only way. We had to take an angel’s life and they weren’t easy to come by. I tapped my foot waiting impatiently. I needed to have all of this sorted out before everyone got back.

Finally the room filled with light and Uriel walked through. I gave him a mock salute.

“Has the situation progressed?” he asked.

I nodded. “Is a fish wet?”

Confusion flashed over his face. “I believe so.”

“The situation is normal: alarmingly fucked up.”

His face darkened. “Do we need to get involved?”

“I have it in hand. I have a question though. Is there a way to kill the angel without killing the guardian?”

He didn’t blink or move an inch as he thought over my question. “I would prefer she not die,” he finally said.

“Well, I would prefer she stop terrorizing our world. Hell is going to use her to make a permanent opening to the Underworld. How long do you think we’ll last once that happens? She’s planning on closing the existing opening. You’re the one worried about the balance. There’s only one way to stop them both. What I want to know is, can I stop just her or does my friend have to die too?”

He pursed his lips. “Just as the guardian could’ve been killed without damaging the angel, it can be done.”

Relief swept through me. “Now you’re talking. How?”

“That knife is a good start.” He reached out. “May I?”

I handed it to him. He turned it over in his hands and studied the blade. When he was satisfied, he ran his finger over the end then drew a symbol on the side. “If this blade takes another before it makes contact with her, it will kill them both.”

I nodded. Don’t stab anyone else, got it.

“The blade must enter her heart. If you fail, she will destroy you.”

“If I fail, you cats better hot foot it down here, because Hell is about break loose.”

“I will be watching.”

“Why didn’t you tell us this earlier? It would have saved a lot of trouble.”

“I do not seek to kill my sister. Angels, all angels, are my family and I did not wish to see her fail. I believed she could have been different. I had hoped for a peaceful resolution. That the jinni could reach her.” His voice was clipped. “But if it is as your heart says, it must be so.”

I narrowed my eyes. How could he know what my heart said? Femi drew the symbol on me.

“I’m an archangel. It takes more than a symbol to block me,” he said, reading my mind again. “Good luck, chol. Your sacrifice is great, but you will always be remembered.” With that he left.

I made my way to Maggie’s cell, knowing she had to have heard everything that was said. I owed her an explanation—an apology. I went in and sat on the wall opposite of her. She looked up with tears in her eyes.

“You’re really going to kill yourself?”

I shook my head. “No, someone else will have to do it.”

Her head dropped to her chest. “How did all of this get so out of hand?”

She wasn’t talking about the situation. I didn’t mean to hurt her. I never meant to hurt anyone. I tried to do right by people, but balancing two worlds was hard. “Because I wasn’t honest with you, Mags. This is all my fault, not yours, okay? I should’ve done a better job explaining things to you. I shouldn’t have left you and told you to pretend you didn’t know.” I scratched my head. “I shouldn’t have brought you into this when I wasn’t sure how I really felt about us.”

She looked up, a tear rolling down her cheek. “What are you saying, Baker?”

“I’m saying that I love you, kid, but…”

“Not enough…” she supplied.

My shoulders fell. “I’m afraid so. I should’ve told you this sooner I know. But I didn’t want to hurt you. Apparently that was unavoidable.”

She stared at her hands for a long while. “You know what, it doesn’t matter.” She looked up with clear, red eyes. “I belong in this world. I know I do. I can feel it. Thank you for introducing it to me. I’m glad it was you and not somebody else. You made all of this an adventure. You brought things that were only possible in books to life for me. If you’re really going to die, Baker, then die knowing I’m glad I’m here.” She hugged me tight, a little too tight given her new found strength, but I hugged her back anyway. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“I wish I could be here to see how amazing you will become.”

She pressed her lips to the side of my head. “I’m sorry I’ve been so emotional.”

I kissed her temple. “It’s not your fault. Give it a little time. You’ll balance.”

She pulled away and nodded. “Do I have to stay in here?”

I helped her up and together we went back out. Maggie still hadn’t eaten anything. Normally a new vampire was unquenchable, but she had yet to mention food of any kind. She probably should’ve stayed in the cell until we knew more about what she was, but with only hours left to live, I didn’t want to spend them alone. It wasn’t long before one by one everyone trickled back in. First Quintus, then Sybil, and finally Femi and Thomas.