Dominion: Zoë Martinique Investigation, Book 6 (23 page)

"Some old book?" He tilted his head
toward his right shoulder. "You really don't know what that book
is, do you?"

"I don't care. I just want Dags. And I
want him in one piece. And I want…" I sighed. "I want him to
remember me."

"I know. And I'm sorry. Geist told me
what happened. And how he'd had a part in it. You do realize he…he
was only doing what he felt was the right thing to do."

"Because I could be a hindrance to the
Guardian." I'd heard it before. I wiped my face and pulled my hair
back. I was warm under his coat. And I'd sort of forgotten and gone
off track from the reason I needed to talk to him, although what
he'd already divulged was gold. "Dad…who has Dags?"

"Someone you can't mess with, Zoë.
Someone even we're having difficulty with."

The conversations with Nick and Jason,
and with Mom, came back to me. "It's a Dominion, isn't
it?"

The expression on his face told me I
was right. "How did you—"

"Zacharel. I fought him a few days
ago. Well, more like a week, by now. He was judging souls down in a
club in midtown—"

I didn't see him move. He was suddenly
there, kneeling in front of me, and had his hands on my wrists.
"Zoë, tell me what happened."

"Let go. You're hurting
me."

"Sorry." He did let go, but he
remained in front of me, invading my personal space. I recounted to
him what Manuel and I had done in the club, of how this asshole had
killed a Revenant and then was after Manuel, so I'd fought him with
my sword and then—well—grabbed him. I left out the eating-the-souls
part of that. Didn't think it was relevant. "Then we took in him
into custody and the Society put him in the dungeon." Well, not a
real dungeon, but it was one to me.

"Is that how he came in contact with
the witch?"

"Rhonda? Yeah. But him overshadowing
her happened after I left town—"

"But how, Zoë? How is he overshadowing
a witch? Dominions can't possess humans. They can't take physical
human forms. And they can't manifest physically without sacrificing
their power. If they did, they'd become immortal humans damned to
live for eternity."

My jaw dropped. "Are you serious? We
have immortals besides the Revenants walking around down
here?"

"Down here?" He gave me a half smile.
"Where do you think the Physical Plane is, Zoë? It's not below
anything. It's at the center of everything."

"It is?" I'd never thought of that.
I'd always kind of seen the Physical Plane as like the bottom of a
layered dip: the bean layer on bottom.

I'm not always the best at
putting these puzzles together, and sometimes it takes a bit of
percolating to do that. Meaning I get a bunch of questions, a bunch
of answers, throw them into the pot, and
poof
. I have pie or
brownies.

And suddenly, I had a seven-layer
cake.

It started making sense
now. Dominions can't physically control humans. Nor can they
possess them, or overshadow. Pick a word. But Zacharel had found a
way to manipulate Rhonda by hiding in her Veil, if Joe was right
about what he saw. Since Rhonda couldn't make Dags do anything he
didn't want to do, and Maureen was apparently protecting Dags from
anyone physically taking the
Grimoire
out, then it made sense now
as to why someone was looking for the Eidolons.

I grabbed my dad's arms. "Dad, I think
I know what they're doing." I told him what we knew, of what we'd
learned about the Eidolons, Rhonda, the Veil, and Maureen. He
watched me, listening and nodding. "So you're assuming Zacharel has
Dags?"

"Yes. He's trying to
control the
Grimoire
before the Seraphim can." He looked up at the sky and stood.
"I have to go. Nona's condition is getting a little better. If
there's any chance she wakes—I want to be there, and not that
blood-sucking—"

I stood, too, and put my finger in his
face. "Jason is a good man. So is Mephistopheles. They're both
loyal and very trustworthy. If they show up at the hospital, you be
nice to them. Or I'll personally—"

"I know, have Joe cast a spell. You
might want to check on him, by the way. Casting a ward like that
taxes a witch's magic, and they have a limited well to pull
from."

I leaned back as I glared at him. "How
did you know—"

"I pay attention when it comes to you,
Zoë. I always have." He reached out and put a hand on my shoulder
before I could back away. "I can give you one more piece of the
riddle, Zoë, but you have to solve it."

Huh?

"There are six Eidolons in the riddle,
my baby girl. And their creation is Ethereal." With that he
vanished. Just…poof.

I stood there for a few minutes,
thinking. Six Eidolons? No one ever mentioned six! Destruction,
Creation, Possession, Banishing, and Command. Five! And what did he
mean, they were Ethereal?

I hate this shit! But, now
I knew the Seraphim didn't have Dags and wasn't torturing him—some
creepy-ass Dominion did. And he wanted to Eidolons to control Dags
and the
Grimoire
.

I'd kicked this Dom's ass before—time
to kick it again.

Because if Zacharel got his hands on
those Eidolons, then we were all in deep shit.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Jason answered his door after I
pounded on it for a whole minute. "Wow, quiet down—"

I rushed inside. "Where's
Daniel?"

"I'm here," Daniel stepped out of the
hall and met me in the living room of Jason's plush apartment.
"What is it? Whose coat—" His eyes widened. "That thing wreaks of
Ethereal energy."

"It's my dad's." I ignored the gasps
and voiced outrage that Nick, Jason, and Daniel threw at me as
Umayma stepped in off the terrace and asked what was
happening.

Her reaction was a bit different.
"What did you find out from him?"

Everyone quieted down once we were
gathered in the living room. It felt odd without Joe here. Manuel
came bounding down the stairs and gave me a quick wink as he jumped
onto the back of the couch.

One I finished recounting my
conversation with Dad, Umayma retrieved her phone from her pocket
as she went back out on the terrace.

Tel raised his hand. "So the Seraphim
has a mutiny on his hands?"

I nodded. "Sounds like it."

"It also sounds like—and I'm just
speculating at this point—" Manuel said "—that you and I were lured
into that club. I'm not sure his intention was killing me as he did
Zivena, but finding a way into the Society."

"You mean, to get to Rhonda?" Nick
said.

Manuel nodded. "I say this because we
finally identified the meat suit he'd killed. Guy by the name of
Clark Terrance, out of Ringgold, Georgia. Solitary
witch."

"You think this Clark had a Veil the
Dominion was using?"

"Yes."

"But…" I shook my head.
"It's not jiving with what Adiran said. Dominions can't possess
bodies. But when grabbed at him, grabbed into him, I saw all those
points of lights, they were
in
that body. How could that have been
human?"

"What if the guy was already dead?"
Jason interjected. "Clark Terrance. But Zacharel remained in the
Veil. Is it possible he puppeted the body? The trapped souls really
were trapped inside of his Ethereal body, and that's what you
saw?"

"I guess." I tried remembering what it
felt like physically when I reached inside of him, but I
couldn't.

"Can I say something?" Nick held out
his hand. "You're talking about trusting information from Adiran
Martinique. In case you forgot—"

"I know what he did. I also know I saw
real, genuine concern about Mom." I looked at Jason. "Have you seen
him with her?"

"Seen him?" Jason made a rude noise.
"He and I've exchanged more than words. It's like he never leaves.
Even when I order him out of the room, he stays in the hall.
Because he's invisible, I can't request the nurses get rid of
him."

"What's your opinion of his
intention?"

Jason ran his fingers through his
hair. "I have to say, he seems genuinely upset. Virtues can't be in
two places at once. Him being with Nona and the anger I feel
radiating off of him—I'd say your father's no threat. He seems very
upset. As for Nona's condition—no change. I checked on Joe before I
left. He's going to be fine. Just needs several hours of deep
sleep."

Nick wasn't finished. "Did you
confront him with the man who raped you—the one with his mark on
him? Did you mention Karl Gibbons's name? Did you ask about the
Powers in Montreal?"

I glared at him. "Yes to all of that,
Nick." I explained the rape and attack in Piedmont Park all the way
up to my mom confessing to me. "Gibbons was in Montreal on
Zacharel's orders. Dad believes the bastard's sending out the
Powers to unsettle me. And Dad's sent out his own army to find and
destroy the Powers wearing the altered mark."

Daniel spoke up. "What was it you
wanted to see me for?"

"I want to get the Eidolons and keep
them safe. I don't trust them being in the Society House, not with
Mom not there, and Rhonda knowing all the building's access
points."

"Well, I'm with you and all, but how
do you know they're there?"

"Where else would they be?"

Daniel smiled. "Take a look at what's
happened. Zacharel wants the Eidolons, and he's in possession of
someone who should have, or has a way to get access to, information
on where they are, right? So if they were in the Society House, why
did they go after your mom's shop?"

Oh. Shit on a stick. "Because they're
not there."

Daniel nodded. "Rhonda doesn't know
where they are. I assume they hit the most probable location, being
Nona's shop."

"And if what you say Joe noticed is
true, Rhonda lowered the wards to allow someone to attack Nona,"
Jason said with a grin. "They came up empty. What other places
would they go?"

"They'll scour Rhonda's memories,"
Daniel said. "And one by one, they'll look at where she's been. I'd
be willing to guess they'll hit Zoë's apartment, if they haven't
already. And Joe's, since they're in the same building."

"So…" I looked at Daniel. "What
happens when they run out of places to search?"

He didn't look very happy. Manuel
answered as he stepped jumped down off the couch. "They'll start
taking people."

Oh no…no no no. That dick already had
Dags, and put Mom in the hospital. I was not letting him pick off
people. "We have to find the Eidolons first. We know they stole the
Creation stone, taking it from Mom. And they used it to make
regenerating Fetches." I thought about Pumpkin Basket, and
shivered.

"Does Joe still have the Destruction
stone?" Jason said.

"I think he does. He hasn't said. I
have the Banishing stone."

"Did you ever tell Rhonda?" Manuel
said. "That you and Joe had one each?"

"I didn't tell her shit. And I hope
like hell that Joe didn't tell her during a little pillow
talk."

"I'm assuming she knows, given her
involvement with your Horror," Daniel said quietly. "So that makes
you both targets, just like Nona."

I didn't want to think about the
Horror, and I didn't care if I was a target. Let that son of a
bitch try and come after me. "What about Command and Possession? If
they're not at the Society House, then where are they?"

Jason said, "I bet Nona had them
moved, but she was smart enough not to hide them in the
shop."

But where would she put something so
important that she wanted to keep it safe without anyone else in
the world getting to it? It made sense to have hid them at the
house, but it was obvious they didn't find them there.

"Zoë, what was your Eidolon again?"
Manuel asked.

"Banishing. My dad had it wrapped in
silver on a chain for my fourth birthday." I thought about what Dad
said, his final statement. "Has anyone here heard of there being
six Eidolons? And there being a riddle?"

Head-shaking all around.

"Riddle?" Jason said.

Did your father tell you
something about a riddle?

I jumped in reaction to
Mephistopheles' voice in my head.
Yes. He
said that the sixth Eidolon was part of the
riddle
.
But he
didn't tell me what the riddle was. Just that there was
one.

Interesting.

Jason gave a deep sigh. "Nick and I
are heading over to the Society House, just to check things out.
Umayma? Tel?"

"I'll go with you," Umayma said as she
moved to the bar to retrieve her purse. I didn't remember her
stepping back in the room. "Tel, you and Manuel come with
us."

"But I want to go with Zoë." The
little metal head (with the big huge First Born Loki within) whined
as he jumped off the couch and followed behind her. He gave Daniel
a wide berth as he walked by and followed everyone out the
door.