jinn 01 - ember (18 page)

I shook my head. “They didn’t know about us.”

Holden pushed his sandwich away untouched. “The jinn didn’t know about us. I wouldn’t count on the fact that Hell didn’t.”

“Why do you say that?” Quintus asked.

Holden sighed. “It would have been in their interest for her to love someone like me. It made her vulnerable. They have a plan and Baker is right. They are miles ahead of us. We have to figure out what they want and what they are looking for or we don’t have a chance.”

“Obviously they want Olivia,” Femi said. “They let her stay alive. They let you stay with her so she would fall. Even if it is a trap, it is our only lead.”

“I had a similar line of thinking,” Holden said, taking my hand. “We have four hours to figure what happens at midnight and where we need to be. I think just Olivia and I should be there tonight. You and Baker should be working other angles.”

“That’s a lot of bullshit,” Femi said. “I think we should all go.”

“I agree with Holden,” I said. “It makes more sense for us to cover more ground. Plus, if this is a trap, then they will only have two of us. The rest of you can still stop whatever it is that they are trying to do.”

“Aren’t they just trying to kill you?” Quintus asked.

I shrugged. “I think if they just wanted us dead, they would have made their move before now. I am not sure what their goal is, but it seems to me the pieces are being moved, and if we don’t get in the game soon, it will be over before it starts.”

“Then either you or Holden should go with one of us. Not both of you. If it is a trap, you don’t want to risk them getting both of you,” Femi said

“Plus, you could use your connection to warn the other,” Quintus said.

“I volunteer to go with Liv,” Baker said.

Holden scowled. “Olivia and I aren’t splitting up.”

“If anyone gets to go, I get to go,” Femi said, looking at each of them. “I do this kind of stuff for a living. It makes more sense for me and Olivia to go and for you guys to stay. Baker has more human and otherwise contacts than anyone I have ever met. Holden is already working with the jinn, and Quintus can do whatever he does.” She waved a hand toward him.

“He could monitor strange activity and clusters. If Hell is about to make a move, you know the humans around them will be affected,” I said, and he nodded.

“That’s all great, but we aren’t splitting up. Baker can deal with the jinn in my place.”

“Okay, well let’s say all of this is a trap and the two of us are caught. How will whoever stays here know that we need help?” I asked.

Holden gave me a level look, his eyes still saying no.

“We don’t even know if more than one person can go or where we are supposed to meet them or what we are up against. This may all be moot, but so long as we are planning, nothing has been able to block our connection.”

“Except death,” he said.

My chin tilted down in a single nod. “Except death, but either way, it is a definitive answer for what is happening.”

He rubbed his hand over his jaw. “Then I go and you stay.”

“I won’t be as useful here as you would be.”

“That’s the deal. If only one of us goes, it’s me.”

“Why is—” My phone rang, cutting me off mid-protest. I glanced at the caller I.D. Selene. I didn’t really have time to navigate her messy life when I was smack dab in the middle of my own, but I couldn’t screen her either. I took a deep breath. There was no point in arguing about any of this with Holden. If only one of us could go, it would be the person who got there first. I answered the phone as I stepped out of the room.

IT WAS ALL going to work out. Sure, Holden had given me an earful, but he knew everything and I was still breathing to talk about it. I figured when I came clean it would be time to get a wiggle on—or at least he would insist it was time—but Olivia had somehow come through. Not only that, but she’d taken care of Maggie’s demon. For once, everything was going my way.

There was a flash from the living room that caught everyone’s attention except Holden’s. He was still brooding.

“She went to see Selene,” he said and rolled his eyes. “Because we don’t have our own problems to deal with.”

“Cheer up, chuckles. Your irritation now will be nothing compared to what it will be when she finds a way to play their game and leaves you here.” Femi flashed him a toothy smile. “Might as well let a little chat with Selene go.”

Holden let out a long-suffering sigh while Quintus laughed. I stayed the hell out of it. His anger might not have been directed at me, but I wasn’t going to goose that chicken. I wasn’t a flat tire. Survival instincts, thy name is Baker.

Femi directed her cat eyes to me with a devious glint in them. “So you’ve been banging the boss’s daughter.” I choked on my sandwich. She raised an eyebrow. “That’s pretty gutsy, Baker.”

Holden pinched the bridge of his nose and an angry vein popped out on his forehead. Quintus looked dutifully uncomfortable, but he wasn’t offering a distraction.

I forced my own grin. If I had figured anything out about Femi in the time I’d known her, it was that if she found a spot that made you wiggle when she poked it, she would never stop. “It’s not quite like that.”

“So you haven’t slept with her?”

I continued to watch Holden out of the corner of my eye so I could dodge if he decided to take another whack at me. He hit like he was holding a fucking brick. Not something I relished to have done twice in one day. “I don’t kiss and tell, doll.”

Holden stared blankly at his untouched plate like he was listening to something far away from us. My money was on whatever Olivia was doing. She calmed him. No matter what happened, he always kept tabs on her as if he was sending a part of himself he couldn’t live without into the world. I didn’t understand that sort of obsessive worry over another person. I cared for Maggie, but her hold on me was nothing like Olivia’s on Holden. Sure, there were plenty of things I would rather do than break up with her, including taking a beating from Holden, but I wasn’t going to do anything as dramatic as die without her. That just wasn’t my style. However, I sympathized more with him now that I understood a little bit better. Once the right woman got you all balled up, it was damn hard to go back. He smiled slightly and his face softened for a moment before he realized what had happened and went back to his usual façade.

“So what are we going to do about her?” Femi asked.

Both Holden and I looked up.

“What do you mean?” Holden asked. “Why do we have to do anything?”

“Protect her,” I said at the same time.

Femi brought one foot up on her chair and slung an arm around her leg. “Yeah, obviously. But she’s
human
. They’re pretty breakable. So are you bowing out of this, Baker, to watch her 24/7? Does she have a job? Family—besides him? She was possessed. What does she know about us? What sort of information could she have given them? Has she retained anything from the possession? Can she help us?” Femi took another bite. “Why am I the only one asking these questions?” she said around a mouthful of food.

I ran my hand over my hair. She couldn’t come with us, and I couldn’t stay behind to babysit. I glanced toward Holden, who looked like he was waiting for me to say something. I shrugged.

He blinked, breaking his icy glare. “I told you to stay away from her,” he said. “I didn’t think any of this would happen. I sure as fuck don’t have a plan. You made this mess. Deal with it.”

“I know.” I did know. I’d known the whole time I was with her that it was a risk. Now I was left with two options and a tomato of a choice. “Any thoughts on what we should do? Are you leaning more in one direction?”

Holden cracked his neck on either side. “She obviously can’t help, so you will have to stay with her. Get her out of town. Try not to mess things up more than they already are.”

There had to be another way. I wasn’t going to run away before the fight even started. “Maybe Olivia will have an idea.”

Holden looked at me like I had finally descended into madness. “You want to go with Olivia’s idea?”

“I sometimes have good ideas, Holden.” Olivia walked into the room, looking happier than when she’d left.

Holden looked at her, his face again softening. “You have risky ideas.” He had lost the edge in his voice. Those two should be chained together.

Olivia smiled. “She can’t be possessed again. I took care of that. Even if she can’t remember a lot from being possessed, she might know something. I think she should tag along. What’s the harm?”

“Death. Death is the harm.” Holden looked at me as if to say, “That’s the kind of ideas you get from her.”

Olivia chose to ignore him. “But ultimately this is her decision, not ours. And we aren’t going to force her to do anything. She’s an adult.”

“I’ll take her,” Quintus said. “If you guys need another option. I don’t know how much help I can be with most of what you are going to do, but I can hide her and watch over her until it is safe.”

Olivia smiled. “We will present her with that choice too.”

Holden frowned. “I think Baker should decide.”

Olivia narrowed her eyes. “Why?”

“Because he’s the one who ‘loves’ her and introduced her to this world. She doesn’t know anything about the Abyss or what we are dealing with. What qualifies her to make this decision?”

“It’s her life. That’s all the qualification she needs.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” I held up my hands before they could really get going. “I didn’t say I wanted to decide for her. Not really my way of doing things.”

Olivia tilted her chin up with a smug smile.

“But I also agree that she doesn’t know enough about this world to make a good decision.”

Holden didn’t react.

“Maggie and I will discuss it when she wakes up, and we’ll decide then. But no matter what happens, I’m not leaving. Not to get all mushy on you, but as long as you’ll have me, I’ll be here. I meant it when I said you guys are my family.”

Olivia took Holden’s hand. A second later, she froze, her head tilting to the left. “I have to go.”

Holden tugged on her hard enough to get her attention. “Where?”

“Uriel.”

He nodded and released her. Once again, she blinked away with a flash of light.

Maggie’s voice came from behind me. “Whoa. Where did that lady go?”

We all looked back at her. I immediately stood up, gave her my chair, and swiped Holden’s plate for her before Femi took it.

“Can she see us?” Femi whispered to Quintus. Quintus tilted his head and watched her.

“How are you feeling?” I asked her.

“Uncomfortable.” She smiled weakly, her stare flittering passed me to Holden, whose expression was even more guarded than usual. “Have we met?” she asked.

He finally looked at her. “No.”

“So it’s just the two of you here? Where did the girl go?”

“You only see two of us?” I asked.

She frowned, glancing around the room. “Are there more?”

I had hoped that opening her mind to the fact that there was the Abyss would let her see it—or at least see as much as a witch could. Apparently not. “It’s not important.”

Femi threw her wadded-up napkin at me. “I am the most important.”

I pressed my lips together to keep from smiling.

Maggie gasped. “Where did you come from?” I followed her eyes to Quintus.

“I was here the whole time. Quintus.” He held out a hand to her. Her face relaxed as soon as she touched him. It figured the guardian would be good at this.

He stood and walked around the table. “May I?”

I moved out of his way, and he took both of Maggie’s hands. “Close your eyes.” She did so without questioning him.

Holden moved to stand next to me, and Femi propped her feet up on the table, texting.

“If she starts dating him”—he nodded to Quintus—“I will hold you personally responsible.”

I couldn’t even laugh at that while he held her hands and she looked so at ease. The urge to knock his hands aside puzzled me.

“Open,” he said after a few minutes.

She blinked and smiled up at him. “I don’t feel different.”

He released her hands. “Look around again. Has anything in the room changed?”