jinn 01 - ember (16 page)

“Liv and I are. You’re staying in case Baker comes back.”

“The hell I am,” Femi said.

“This won’t take a minute. We are getting the Belial and bringing it back here.”

Olivia’s eyebrows shot up. “To our home? Why?”

Why would we take him anywhere else? This was our turf and Olivia felt safe here. “To question it. We need information and there who knows what will show up there. Here is better. Is that a problem? They already know where we live.”

“Yeah, it’s a problem. I don’t want demons in our apartment. I sleep here.”

I sighed. So picky. “Where then?”

She shrugged.

“To your demonic prison,” Femi suggested.

I had forgotten about that. “Good idea.”

“You don’t even know if the warehouse will work,” Olivia said.

“Baker and I have been working on it for a year. It will work,” I said. “And you are going to wait for Baker.”

“Send him a text message. I’m going to the warehouse. I don’t sit around and wait for anyone.”

The apartment filled with light as Olivia transported out. I followed.

I hadn’t liked leaving that church without striking back. We looked weak—we were weak—but looking so wasn’t doing any of us any favors. I didn’t think much on the fact that they’d said that they weren’t here for us. They were in Chicago for a reason, and I couldn’t believe in coincidences at this point. Outside the church, Olivia’s posture was stiff and rigid.

“What do you feel?”

She closed her eyes. “One, maybe two inside. One is injured.”

“We want the injured one.”

“Why?”

“It pissed me off.”

She nodded and vanished without another word. Inside, we walked down the center aisle. The back of her jaw twitched as her eyes scanned the room. Apart from that, she looked calm and relaxed.

A perfectly healthy demon walked into the room. It ignored me, letting its beady eyes drill into Olivia. She didn’t slow her pace, but the light around her grew brighter and bolder. For a second, I thought it would run, but the demon charged instead. Olivia held up her hand. As soon as its fist connected with her hand, his arm disintegrated into dust, but it didn’t stop there. It traveled to his shoulder, down his right side, and over to the left until it was as if he had never been there.

She blinked a few times, the light receding, and led me to a small room in back. The demon from before still looked like her—too weak to change back. It hissed when she stepped in the room. Olivia’s lip curled up in response.

“You take him,” she said.

I wrapped an arm around the demon’s body. “This is going to hurt.” I concentrated on evaporating and taking it with me. I wasn’t sure I could do it, and obviously neither was Olivia because she hung around to watch. The demon screamed as it slowly blended into my smoke. In the warehouse, I came back together much faster than the demon. Olivia walked in through the door.

“What took you so long?” I winked at her.

She rolled her eyes. “It’s still warded against me transporting in here. You forgot to remove that.”

I hadn’t forgotten to remove anything. This warehouse was a fort. I had it warded against everything Baker and I had thought of.

“Shit, are you guys back already?” Femi called out from one of the cells. “I’m still snooping around the place. Did you know they even have something for Sekhmets in here?”

I smiled. “You never know what side they will fall on.”

She nodded. “Smart.”

“This demon isn’t looking so hot,” Olivia said. “Pun totally intended.” She moved in front of the still blurred demon. “Do you think it can recover from being transported with you?”

I shrugged. “Apparently not fast.”

She nodded. “That could come in handy.”

I smiled. “I had a similar thought.”

“You need to learn to do it faster though.”

She’d joked earlier, but she was running on mostly angel right now. It wasn’t that Olivia looked any different or sounded different. It was the manner in which she spoke and carried herself that gave her away. However, she was holding on to her temper. That was a good sign. “You want to help Femi check the symbols? I I’ll wait with him.”

She nodded once and walked away, her hand grazing my arm. Liv was still in there. I stood over the demon and watched as it tried to piece itself back together. It wasn’t easy the first time. Finally it was solid enough that I could start to make out Olivia’s features.

Femi popped her head out of the cell. “We’re ready for you.”

I carried the demon into the room and sat in on the chair in the center. Olivia stood in the doorway.

“What do you want to know?” she asked.

“What do you see when you look at it.”

“Filth. Abomination. Lies.” Her eyes were cold as she looked down on it.

“Do you see its face?”

She nodded. “Both the face it pretends to be and its true appearance.”

“That’s good enough for me,” Femi said. “Get rid of her. This whole thing is creepy.” Having perfectly normal Olivia standing behind me and a bloody, slightly limp one in front of me was somewhat unnerving, but not enough to ruin this opportunity.

The demon groaned.

“Not yet,” Olivia said, on the same page as me. “While we have a demon in our grasp, we’re going to get some answers.”

“What weapon are you looking for?” I asked it, squatting down so I could see its face.

It blinked slowly and its face melted into that of Olivia’s mother. “Please, Holden. Help me.”

It was not a subtle threat. It knew I wouldn’t be swayed by the change of appearance, but it was letting me know it knew about Marge. And by letting me know, it also let Olivia know. She charged it. I stood just in time to step between them.
Not yet.

Her mind was violent and filled with righteous anger, but I knew my words had gotten through to her. Fists clenched to her side, she took a step back and I resumed my position. “What weapon?”

“You can’t hurt me, jinni.”

I considered it for a brief moment. “You want to try transporting again?”

Its lip drew back. Olivia’s fingernail went down the side of its face, leaving a scorched mark in its wake. The demon screamed and sizzled. When it still didn’t say anything, she did it again and again.

I caught her hand. “Tell us what we want to know and we’ll let you go.”

It looked at me, panting for air. “You have signed your death warrant.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time. I’m not going to ask again.”

“Balit. They want the Balit.”

Olivia narrowed her eyes. “Why?”

It smiled a grotesque smile. “We seem to have an angel problem.”

“What is the plan?” Femi asked, stepping forward.

It sneered at her. “Come a little closer, Sekhmet. Let me get a good look.” Its tongue flicked out a few times. Femi kicked it hard enough that the chair tipped backwards. The demon’s laugh was rusty and made my skin crawl.

“It doesn’t know,” Olivia said. “This is a minor demon. Barely a pawn.”

I nodded and Femi walked away with a shudder.

“Release me.”

I raised an eyebrow at it. “Liv, you want to do the honors?”

She took a couple steps into the room until she was right over it. He struggled to move away from her but couldn’t. “Holden said he would let you go, but he didn’t say to where. I’m going to give you a gift. Free you from your vile existence.” She laid a hand on his head then brushed away the ashes as pieces of him floated to the floor.

I smiled. My girlfriend was a total badass.

AT THE APARTMENT, another note was stuck to the door. I plucked it off before Olivia could. They were really persistent about these fucking building meetings apparently. I opened the envelope and knew immediately it wasn’t the same as before. Inside, the note was written on what I could only guess was skin. I waited until we were inside to carefully pull it out of the envelope, the thin, leathery material smooth in my hand.

“Is that what I think it is?” Femi asked.

I unfolded it and read the old-fashioned and elaborate handwriting out loud. “’We will meet soon. Consider the lack of retaliation for tonight’s attack against us as my gift to you. A welcome home, if you will, for you cannot resist me for long. I know you all better than you know yourselves. Tonight at 12 a.m., let the games begin.’”

“What games?” Olivia said. “I thought you said they weren’t here for us.”

I shook my head. “They lied. Or changed their minds. Either way, doesn’t really matter. Whatever the game is, we can’t win it. We’re not playing.”

“Don’t be so hasty.” Femi leaned against the kitchen counter, resting her elbows behind her. “We have no idea what their plan is. Sure this mildly threatening letter probably leads to a trap, but at least we aren’t on hold. If we stay here, hiding, we are blind to what’s coming. This is something we can sink out teeth into.”

This was a situation I couldn’t control once we got into it. I didn’t care if we had an entire army—I didn’t like it. The fact that we still knew nothing about their plans for what they could do was unacceptable.

Femi clapped her hands together. “Okay, since Olivia has that whole spotting a demon thing down, I am going to pick up dinner. You have absolutely no food in here. How do you live like that?”

Olivia laughed. “Thanks.” She gave her a hug then came over to stand next to me, her shoulder against mine. The angel had retreated again, without a fight. How much would Olivia remember about this time?

Femi left, wiggling her fingers at us, and Olivia looked up at me. “I don’t remember anything from the church to the apartment. I take it I did okay?”

I put an arm around her. “You did great. Do you think someday these two halves are going to blend?”

She rested her head on my shoulder. “Am I driving you crazy?”

“Never.” I kissed her hair.

There was another knock on our door. Peace and quiet—that was all I ever wanted, yet it was the one thing I could never have. Olivia straightened. She closed one eye and wrinkled her nose. “Um, Quintus.”

She wasn’t wrong. Quintus came in all light and good intentions. “I found Maggie. She’s at her apartment.”

“Then why did you leave her?” I asked.

“Just to tell you. I will head back. She is with a man right now. He seems familiar.”

My eyes darted to Olivia. Who was the guy? How did we know he wasn’t a demon? “And you left her? Damn it. What did I say about not leaving?”

Olivia held up a hand. “She’s fine.”

“How could you possibly know that?”

“The man is Baker.”

“Baker? Why would he be at her apartment?”

She smiled tightly. “Why don’t we fill Quintus in on what is happening. Then we can discuss Baker.”

I stewed while she brought him up to speed. The pieces were coming together and I didn’t like them. Baker had been acting like an idiot about some girl and moping. At the same time, Maggie had disappeared. But when she showed back up, he had been the first person to know.

“Hey, dimples,” Femi said when she walked back in with a paper bag.

“Hey, Femi.”

Olivia cleared her throat. “Could you two go and pick up…” She gave a helpless gesture. “Something?”

Femi glanced at me then back at Olivia. “Yeah, sure. Come on, dimples.” She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him outside.

“How long has Baker been fucking my brother’s great-great-granddaughter?”

She blew out a breath and turned back to me. “I don’t know.”

“Damn it, Olivia—”

“I really don’t know. He didn’t say. I told you to talk to him.”

“There’s no need to talk to him. I’m going to kill him. No conversation necessary. Just a shallow grave.”

“You aren’t going to kill him.”

I just looked at her. Of course I was going to kill him. That wasn’t even up for debate.

She shook her head. “Holden, Baker loves her.”

I held up a hand. “Don’t start that.”

“It’s true. He broke up with her when all of this started and that’s why he has been sad. He was trying to protect her.”

“Then he should have stayed away from her in the first place.”

Olivia smiled. “Not being able to stay away from someone you know you should. Hmmm, you wouldn’t know anything about feelings like that, would you?” She took my hand. “What if Maggie loves him too? She could do a lot worse than Baker. He is loyal and sweet, and he wants to keep her safe.”

“She could get a dog for all the same qualities.”

Olivia shook her head. “You don’t actually have a say in any of this, you know that, right? Baker is your only friend. If he isn’t good enough for the girl you haven’t even met, then who is?” She squeezed my hand. “Whether or not you like it, you can’t control either of them. They are both consenting adults.”

“Has he told her about our world?”

“No.” I raised an eyebrow at the hesitance in her voice. She frowned. “It isn’t fair to keep Maggie in the dark, especially if her life is in danger. I told him to tell her.”

A vein in my forehead pulsed. I was surprised it hadn’t exploded.

“I know a little something about being protected, Holden. I won’t be a part of doing that to someone else.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “If you really want to protect her, this is how you have to do it. Tell her what is happening and how to protect herself.”