Dominion: Zoë Martinique Investigation, Book 6 (31 page)

Umayma took several steps back as if
slapped.

I looked from my body to Umayma and
back to my body. I was trying to puzzle together whose bodies
Frejya had been using and I wasn't liking the holes my brain was
filling in. From the expression on Frejya/Umayma's face, she wasn't
ready to have certain secrets revealed.

But she only kept that look for a few
seconds before she rebounded. "We will have you stripped from that
body, Inanna."

"Whoa!" Joe stepped between them, and
I felt a slight hiccup in my chest. "No one's being stripped from
anyone—I'm not even sure that's possible except with that exorcism
spell, and ain't nobody doing that to Zoë, Frejya."

Nick helped Jason to the chair I'd
been sitting in earlier and moved to stand by Joe.

Getting between me (technically) and
someone as powerful as Umayma wasn't a good idea. Yeah, Joe was
powerful—I was really starting to see that—but he was still human
and still subject to human frailty.

And, after Daniel and Dags, I just
wasn't sure I could handle something happening to Joe.

I take that back.

Nothing was going to happen to
Joe.

Umayma's expression became even
angrier. Nick balled his hands into fists. As a ghoul, he didn't
really have any great powers, per se. Except an unnaturally long
life, and the desire to eat things recently killed. Raw. He was
stronger than the average human, faster, and he did have one hell
of a fighting style that only decades of practice could
perfect.

"You think a witch can stop us, Joseph
Halloran? Or a damnable ghoul—a mere slave?"

Now I was pissed. And I wasn't going
to stand idly by.

Move over.

You can't handle Freyja
like I can.

Maybe not—but I don't plan
on handling her. I'm getting myself and Joe out of here. We need to
go find that piece of paper, and I think I know where it
is.

You do? Well, then let's
go.

Will Nick be
okay?

Zoë, Mephistopheles will
never allow anything to happen to Nick. Be assured of
that.

I got the feeling that if anyone ever
tried to hurt Nick, they wouldn't live very long. I slipped back
into my body, but instead of Inanna moving back, it was like she
was in the driver's seat with me. It wasn't a crowded feeling, but
more of a duality I wasn't used to.

You'll need my added
strength.

I moved behind Joe and wrapped my arms
around his upper chest, and then placed my hand over his eyes. Why?
I have no idea. But it seemed the right thing to do…

Because within seconds, we shifted to
an incorporeal state, and I heard Joe scream.

Chapter Thirty-Two

I'm not sure
how
we got to Mom's
house…and to be honest, I'm not sure I wanted to know. I always
just went incorporeal and flew most of the time. But this was
instantaneous. Like,
pop
we were gone and
pop
we were back.

We landed just outside Mom's house in
Little Five Points, about a foot from the back door. I felt the
shiver of the ward Joe had put up earlier—it made my skin crawl.
Was that the Ethereal part of me I'd just been reminded
of?

Joe was in my arms—no, he was limp in
my arms. I lowered him to the ground and started smacking his face.
I was me again, human, and freezing my ass off. Apparently my
previous First Choir garments had reverted back to a hospital
gown!

He moaned, and I put my hands to
either side of his face. "Hey, come back to me. What is it? Why did
you scream? And why did you faint?"

"I…I didn't faint.."

"Yeah, you did." I moved back just a
little, but kept my hands on his shoulders as he blinked and looked
up at me. My hair got in the way so I moved my left hand and tucked
it behind my ears. "You were unconscious, hero."

"I wasn't…." He shivered. In fact, I
noticed in that second he was shivering all over. Even his teeth
were clacking against each other. "R-r-ready for that…k-k-kind
of…t-t-travel…"

Shit.
Inanna…what did we do? I mean, how did we get here? I didn't
just drag his ass through the Abysmal like Bonville dragged Dags,
did I?

Yes. You did.

FUCK.
Inanna, that's dangerous for a physical being! It nearly
killed Dags. We have to get Joe back to the hospital. He might be
going into shock—

No. He'll be fine. What
you see happening now is just the second we were there. The
Guardian was damaged because you weighed him down when Bonville
tried to drag him through—and the bastard wasn't completing the
spell correctly.

So, Joe's fine because he
was only exposed for a second?

He'll be fine. But I would
suggest the two of you getting inside. This house is being
watched.

What? I didn't really have a lot of
inclination to question further on that—my teeth were chattering,
too. I wanted inside to build a fire and get a real set of clothes
out of my closet upstairs.

I helped Joe stand—oh God, his lips
were blue—and the two of us shiver-walked up the back steps to the
door. Joe lifted his hand and the makeshift door, which someone had
tacked on after it'd been exploded by the Fetches, unlocked and
opened. I assumed Jemmy had been the one to fix the
door.

A lot of the piles of crap had been
pushed and swept into two larger piles in what was left of the tea
shop. The display case was gone and a rectangular space was left on
the hardwood floor where it had been. "I guess J-J-Jemmy's been
busy." Joe moved away from me and put his hands on the kitchen
counter to steady himself.

"We need a fire—"

"I can do that." He took in several
breaths and staggered from the kitchen to the botanica. Once in
front of fireplace, he drew a circle in the air—a circle that I
could see as a blue-white light suspended in front of him—and then
pierced the center of it with his finger. Flame leapt up in the
fireplace where someone had piled a few of the smaller pieces and
splinters of wood.

I grabbed the remains of my papasan
cushion, tossed it on the floor in front of the fireplace, and sat
down. Joe plopped down beside me and held his hands out to warm
them. "Zoë, promise me to never…ever…d-do that again."

"I'm sorry. I just wanted you out of
there."

"What did you think Umayma was going
to do?"

"Eat you?"

"Naw." He shook his head. "I doubt it.
But…" Joe looked at me sideways and the right side of his mouth
pulled up in a smile. "Thanks…for caring enough about me to try and
save me."

"Joe." I put a hand on his upper arm.
"I loved Daniel, make no mistake. He was an incredible man, and I
will always thank Inanna for trying to undo what I did to him.
But…you've been the one person who's stayed by me through all this.
Yes, you dated that crazy-ass bitch for a while, but you never
worked anything against me. And since I met you—however weird it
was—I feel like I can trust you." I grinned back at him. "I like
you. I can't imagine my life without you."

His smile faded a tad. "Like me… What
about Dags?"

"Dags is the man I wanted to marry." I
looked at the fire and remembered that day I'd tried to do magic
and screwed up so bad I had to be rescued by a mysterious voice.
That voice had been Dags. Back again after being missing in action,
changed, different, somehow…other. "My attraction to Daniel was
instant. Overwhelming."

"And Dags?"

"Not so much. In fact, when I met him,
I thought he and TCB should be an item."

"TCB?"

"That Crazy Bitch. You know who." I
sighed. "You know, you weren't the only one to tell me how Dags
felt. Daniel told me, too. And TCB. I just didn't want to admit it
to myself. I started loving him slowly…"

Joe didn't say anything for several
minutes. "Would you take him back?"

"Dags? Joe…" I looked at him, and he
was still looking sideways at me. "I never left him. He left me
standing in the rain, waiting. I'm still in the same place, waiting
for answers. Waiting to see if he'll return."

"And if he doesn't?"

That was something I didn't want to
think about. "Then I…I don't know. I think Daniel tried to fill
that void. He tried to make things up to me. Even when he didn't
have to. It was me who needed to give my life for him."

Joe put his arm around me and pulled
me close to him. It was a good feeling. Something that warmed my
heart. I leaned in and then put my arms around him. "I miss him,
too, Zoë. He was my best friend."

If anyone had looked in the windows
that were still intact, they would have seen two people, arm in
arm, their shoulders shaking with a deluge of emotion. We each knew
how the other felt at Daniel's loss. And I think what bothered Joe
more was that Daniel wasn't going to be remembered as a good cop,
but as a murderer brought to justice.

It was a legacy his family would have
to live with.

Something I had done to
him.

"Hey…talk to me."

I hadn't realized I'd closed my eyes,
or that I'd rested my head on his shoulder. Not until he touched my
chin. I sniffed and sat back and wiped at my eyes. "I'm
cold."

"Then go upstairs and find come
clothes that aren't torn to shreds. I'll keep the fire
going."

"Is it safe?"

"From what? The APD or bad oogies?" He
winked at me. "It's my ward. And right now, we're invisible to
everything. So go get dressed and then tell me why we made that OMG
trip here."

I gave him a peck on his cheek and
went upstairs. I refused to really look at the mess. Jemmy hadn't
been upstairs so I just picked over the debris and found my closet.
Most of my clothes were fine; just a few were on the floor and
trampled over. I picked out a pair of soft jeans, socks, and boots,
then this dark blue, butterfly-sleeved shirt I'd bought, and
slipped on a black turtleneck under it.

With a determined sigh, I went into
the bathroom to check myself out. Flipping on the light was fun—it
wasn't working. A better look and I realized all the bulbs were
broken. Great.

To my right was the room Rhonda had
always stayed in. I gingerly stepped over the glass—not worried
cutting myself since I had on my boots, but because there was
enough mess in here. Frowning, I pushed the door open to look
inside. Joe and I hadn't stepped in here before….

The room was immaculate. Not a thing
out of place.

In fact, a suitcase lay open on the
bed with most of Rhonda's clothing in it. Jeans, socks,
shirts…

A noise to my right made me shift
immediately. It wasn't a house-settling noise—it was the sound of
someone moving hangers back and forth on a closet pole.

Rhonda stepped out from the right with
a handful of her shirts and laid them on the bed. As she started
removing the hangers, she said, "You know I can still see you, even
when you shift like that."

Holy motherfucking Hell! Was this
really Rhonda? Here? In my mom's house?

"You fucking bitch," was all I
said.

I didn't have any Geist to stop me
here. No Society with their ghost guns. No Phantasm to tell me to
behave.

No.

It was just me.

And her.

Once I had my hands around her neck, I
squeezed.

Chapter Thirty-Three

I'm not sure Rhonda expected me to
attack her. Either way, her reaction wasn't the one I wanted. She
was on the floor of the bedroom, with me all Wraith, wings out,
ashen skin, and my long-taloned hands around her scrawny ugly-ass
neck.

And she was smiling.

That just made me madder.

Zoë, wait…something's
wrong….

Inanna tried to take control, but I
shoved her back with all my strength before I opened my mouth and
took in a huge lungful of air—

Rhonda put her finger in my face. "Uh
uh uh…you blow me out of here and you'll never find Dags." She
frowned. I frowned. She wasn't having trouble talking, even though
I was squeezing her throat! "Or is it really Dags you want, Zoë? I
heard you and my ex downstairs making all nice-nice. Couldn't have
Dags anymore, so you went for sloppy seconds?"

Oh…I….

…
.she….OH!

I let go of her neck and
started hitting. And I mean I looked like the freaky bully on the
playground beating up on the weak kid. I got two good hits in
before something grabbed me around the neck, lifted me up, and
threw me against and
through
the window. The glass shattered, and I didn't have
time to think about going incorporeal. I hit the ground outside and
had the wind knocked out of me. I tried to yell out to Joe, to warn
him, but I couldn't get enough air in my lungs.