jinn 01 - ember (6 page)

“Consider the subject dropped.”

Baker sat up. “How did you let all these women into our lives?”

I shook my head. “I can’t pinpoint when it happened, but somewhere along the way, I lost control.”

“I think I could probably narrow that down for you. You have been wrapped around that angel’s pretty little finger since I met you, boss. She knotted you all up. You’re a goner.”

“That she did, Baker.” I looked toward the closed door. “That she did.”

Olivia and Femi came back out. “You ready, chuckles,” she said. “We’ve got shit to do and asses to kick.”

I stood up.

“Was it worth it, boss?” Baker asked. He was serious—too serious.

I kissed Olivia and followed Femi toward the door. I paused before leaving. “If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change anything.”

Baker nodded.

“What are you guys talking about?” Olivia asked as I closed the door.

FEMI AND I walked into Xavier’s. I hadn’t been back since the day I quit and I hadn’t missed the place either. Phoenix seemed to be keeping it up fairly well, at least on the surface. I led Femi upstairs to my old office and didn’t both knocking on the door.

Phoenix drummed his finger on the desk when he saw me. His ink-black hair hung across his forehead and almost obscured an eye. The piercing on his lip glinted in the light. “About time.”

“I got your message.” I sat across from him.

Femi stopped inspecting the room and focused on Phoenix. She sauntered across the space and around his desk, dragging her pointed nail across the wood, leaving a deep gouge. “This angsty piece of shit is the one who attacked Baker?”

Phoenix looked up at her. “What are you going to do about it?”

She punched him square in the face. Blood spurted from his nose. “Damn it. You bled on my shoe.” She hit him again then used his pants leg to wipe her boot off before she walked to the back of the room and continued to snoop through his stuff.

“Can’t you control your people?” he asked as he reset his nose.

“Who says I want to control her?” I raised an eyebrow. “You have my attention. What do you want?”

“Where’s Olivia?”

“Busy.”

He stared at me for a long moment. “You hardly look like yourself.” His lip curled. “You look…happy. Shouldn’t advertise things like that. Happiness isn’t a jinni’s lot in this life. You taught me that.”

“What do you want, Phoenix? I’m not going to ask again.”

“Me? Well, I’m still waiting on the glory and power you promised. How’s that coming?”

“I’m not in that life anymore. Liv and I are out. You guys are on your own.”

He leaned forward, resting his forearms on my desk. “I’m well aware. I’m also aware that I have allowed the two of you to live peacefully in
my
city. It’s time to pay your end of that. Hell is coming, and we both know what that means—they have something that can defeat your guardian.”

“What?”

“I don’t know. It’s all pretty hush at the moment.” He drummed his fingers across the desk again as he sized me up. “But I could keep my ears open if it were worth my time.”

“Why would you do that?”

“To keep the guardian alive.”

“Why do you care?”

“It’s purely selfish, I assure you. If you lose her, then we all lose hope of freeing ourselves from them. I want to be free. Many of us do. We will stand with you— if she frees us.”

I held his gaze. Olivia would never agree to free the jinn. We’d already had that fight once and it wasn’t one I wanted to repeat. “It would be chaos if all the jinn were free. I don’t see the value in that.”

“Perhaps. Maybe not, though, if we had the right leader.”

“A leader like you?”

He shrugged. “Maybe someday, but I was thinking more along the lines of a leader like you. Many jinn still respect you—they’re still frightened of you. You’re also the oldest among us. If you lead, we will follow.”

It was an intriguing idea. I would be lying to say I hadn’t thought about this on more than one occasion, but there was no way I would ever embark on this road without Olivia’s blessing—and she wasn’t likely to give it. Jinn had done little to endear themselves to her or to anyone in the Abyss. It would be a long and bloody fight with Hell, and I wasn’t anyone’s freedom fighter. Not to mention that I had no idea
where
to lead them. I barely knew what to do with my own life.

“The company you keep is strong—I’ll give you that—but how long do you think they’ll last with the constant attacks from Hell? Do you think that they won’t grow weary of this fight? And what will happen when the guardian falls?” He folded his hands behind his head. “She
will
fall. They wouldn’t attack if they didn’t have a plan for her. It will never end, Holden. Let us join you. If you are going to make a stand, then give them a real fight.”

“Just what do you think the jinn will do when they are free? Where do you see our place in this world?”

“We’ll contract out. Work for the highest bidders. We have useful skills. Why let Hell control us when we get nothing in return?”

“No other race will trust the jinn. I can’t even trust the jinn and I am one of you. Why should I believe you won’t betray me? And even if by some miracle I fell for this, it wouldn’t change anything. Hell would only be more pissed off and come at us harder.”

“If you take us away from them, you are cutting off their legs. Possession takes time and a lot of energy. They won’t be able to raise an army. You will have bought yourself decades, maybe centuries.” He stood up. “Do you honestly believe you can hold off all the jinn and whatever demons they send alone?”

“They haven’t killed me yet.”

“We haven’t tried. You’re a dead man walking and you know it.”

He gave voice to a lot of what I had been thinking. Winning probably wasn’t going to be an option, I knew that. My goal had been to keep buying ourselves more time until I came up with a more permanent solution. His points, however, made it seem almost worthwhile to have a discussion with Olivia—Olivia, who had been too quiet for the past hour. A stab of worry for her made me blink. “I’ll think about it.” I stood and shook his hand.

He stood up, leaning forward over his desk, bracing his hands flat against it. “Don’t take too long, Holden. The Devil’s on his way. You need us more than we need you. We can continue to exist like this. Your days are numbered.”

“Perhaps.” I stood and looked down at him. An instant later, I jammed a knife through the back of his hand and deep into the hard wooden desk. “Just so we’re clear, if you touch another one of my people, Phoenix, I won’t be the only dead man walking.”

Phoenix paled considerably but held my gaze for a moment before nodding. “Would you have come if I’d called you?”

I didn’t answer him. I walked out the door, and Femi fell in step.

She waited until we were on the street before she spoke. “Do you think Olivia will go for it?”

“Doubt it.”

“It’s an interesting idea. What would jinn do if they didn’t have to fight Hell’s battles? Maybe they should be given the chance to see what would happen. I mean, you’re doing okay.”

I shrugged. I honestly had no idea. Since I’d left the jinn, I had been struggling with what I was supposed to do now. I didn’t have an occupation or purpose in life. No one trusted us—rightfully so. There was no job or mission to focus on. I didn’t necessarily need to hurt people anymore, but finding a use for my abilities wasn’t as easy as one might think. Without Hell’s agenda, I didn’t really fit into the world.

“You are doing okay, right? You know what they say about idle hands.”

They were the Devil’s playground. Perhaps that was how they’d gotten us to begin with. Our ancient history was buried, all but forgotten, so no really knew much about what had happened. But somewhere, all those millennia ago, Hell had made us an offer and we’d taken it. Hopefully it was for a better reason than boredom.

“You know why I like talking to you, chuckles?”

I raised an eyebrow.

“I only have to hear my own voice.”

I smiled at her. “What did Baker do today to set you off?”

The teasing drained from her face. “He tried his damnedest to ditch me, but I don’t know why. I’m hoping Olivia will get it out of him.”

“She can be persuasive.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. I imagine you can elicit some confessions if you put your mind to it.”

“Sure. I could beat it out of him.” I winked at her. “But he’s had a tough day. Baker’s fragile. Olivia is a softer touch.”

Femi grinned. “He likes her.” I nodded. Everyone liked Olivia. “He likes you too. I think he’s more likely to confide in the two of you than anyone else. Like it or not, the two of you are his family.”

There were worse things than Baker considering us family, and most of them were coming after me now. I sighed. “What do you want me to do? Hug him?”

“I’d pay money to see that. But I would settle for you asking him what’s happening in his life every now and then.”

I rolled my eyes. “I asked today.”

“And?” She watched me with an odd intensity of someone stalking their prey.

“He said it was personal.”

She nodded. “Right…and?”

“If it’s personal, I don’t care. Baker doesn’t owe me anything. So long as it doesn’t affect me or Liv, he can keep any secret he wants.”

“What makes you think it doesn’t affect you?”

“We’re not involved in his personal life. Hell, I don’t even know where Baker lives. Why are you so hung up on this?” A new thought about why Baker would have been sent back to me alive entered my mind. “Do you think he’s working the other side?”

“I don’t think he would do that. As I said, he thinks of the two of you like family.”

“Then why are you prying?”

“He’s lonely. I can see it and so can Olivia. Honestly, I surprised you can’t feel it. How many times has Baker stuck out his neck for us all? The least we could do is be a good friend to him, whether or not he wants it.” She grinned. “Sometimes people don’t know what they need until someone else sticks his nose in their business.”

I shook my head. “Leave him alone. He’s fine. You sound like Olivia.”

“I will take that as a compliment.”

“Good. But I mean it. Leave him alone. If and when he decides he wants our help, he’ll tell us. Not everyone needs to discuss their feelings. Shit happens, and Baker is used to dealing with it on his own. He will come to us if he can’t.”

“Are you sure about that? Has Baker ever asked you for anything as long as you have known him?”

He hadn’t, but he would. “What does that matter?”

She sighed. “Men.”

BAKER SMILED. “WE were talking about how you ruined Holden.”

“You say ruined. I say improved.” I winked at him. “Where are we going?”

He handed me a piece of paper with an address.

“Want to take a cab?” I asked. Baker couldn’t transport and I couldn’t take him with me. When guardians transported, we dissolved into light. Then we had to piece ourselves back together. People with bodies that were more than an illusion couldn’t do it.

“Works for me, angel.” His head was tilted back against the couch and his eyes were closed.