Her forehead furrowed. “Days? I’ve been on this account for less than twenty-four — ”
Suddenly, he was behind her. His arm draped around her neck and his lips pressed against her ear, prickling the fine hairs there and sending an electric jolt down her spine. And it wasn’t the typical proximity tingle, either — this one was like a repeated static shock. As if she’d shuffled across a shag carpet in wool socks and touched a metal doorknob again and again.
And it kept coming, morphing from merely annoying, to uncomfortable, to painful.
She tried to pull away from him, but it was as if his touch had welded her in place. She couldn’t move. Could hardly breathe.
“What … are … you … doing … to … me … ?” she croaked, and his lips moved around the words he whispered.
“Like I told you. If you knew who I was, you’d be afraid of me.”
She still didn’t know — not really — but that fear thing had definitely made its arrival.
“Let … go … ”
“No. Just open up a little and we’ll be all done. You won’t have to worry about a thing. Won’t even remember. Won’t remember this day. Won’t remember me. Won’t remember John.”
“John?”
His arm wrapped tighter around her neck, although asphyxiation was probably unnecessary. Her body felt like it was shutting down, one system at a time. She wasn’t sure if her feet were still there. She couldn’t feel them or even look down at them.
“Mm-hmm. It was supposed to be an easy in-and-out, but I guess it’s my fault for not supervising him better. It was his first week on the job.”
“Job?”
“Job. That’s all. You know what he was supposed to do?”
“No.” It was all she could manage. With every exhale she took, her longs compressed a bit and she couldn’t get back that space her lungs needed. She held her breath which was not a particularly wise move given how she was already lightheaded. She tried short, shallow breaths next.
Where were all her coworkers? They normally tramped up and down the halls day in and day out. There was never more than five minutes that passed where someone didn’t walk by. Where were they all now? Had time stopped just like her brain evidently had?
“I — ”
“Shh, shh. No need to talk, Arianna.”
“Ehhrr-ee-uhhl,” she croaked.
“Whatever. Don’t you see? I bet if you were the praying sort, this wouldn’t have happened to you. He would have never got close. You’re not very pious, are you, little girl? Isn’t that what your grandmother calls you? Her little girl? I seem to remember that from way back.”
This time, she knew better than to respond.
“You’ve hit the romantic jackpot. Hooked up with the son of an incubus, and not just any incubus. A goddamned angel who
chose
to fall. You really know how to pick ’em. But, I guess you couldn’t help it. He’s good-looking like his daddy.”
This is crazy. He’s on meth or whatever that other drug is that makes people have delusions of grandeur. John’s not …
She had to think about it. He’d fallen off a roof to no effect — not even a scratch. And then there was Momma being so weird the past few days. And all the mysterious brothers popping up out of the blue when he’d claimed he’d never met any of them before? Surely, he was gaming her. It couldn’t be real. If what this guy Bill was saying was true, that meant there was no way John could love her. She was just a pawn. Just a warm body. But …
“Why?” Now she couldn’t even croak. It was just a wheeze. Every time she blinked, she lost a few precious seconds to the darkness. Was he killing her? Taking something from her? Turning her into an empty shell?
Well, whatever he was doing, she had to fight it. But how?
“Why? For the souls, little girl. That’s what we demons do. Torture. Intimidate. Steal. Wreak havoc. Reap. Taint. I’m claiming your soul for my team. And this one — oh, this one will guarantee me kudos from the big guy. You see? We don’t take kindly to people smiting our guys.”
“Ehh — ”
“Don’t waste your breath. Blame your parents for this. I might have let you go otherwise, but now — you and John? You kids make me sick, so I’m wiping your memory, putting my brimstone thumbprint on your soul, and taking back my son. I don’t get the appeal. He could have at least picked someone with attitude. You’re weak.”
If she’d had the ability at the moment, she would have kicked him in the demon nuts. And John? Oh, if she got out of this alive, he’d be next.
“Say goodnight, Ashley.”
She said nothing. The room started going dark, and she felt herself slumping — falling toward the floor.
Strong arms caught her and gave her a vigorous shake.
“Dammit, don’t do this shit in my office!” Agatha said. “What’s wrong with you?”
Is she talking to me?
Ariel could hardly open her eyes.
“Fine. I won’t.”
“What’s the deal, Gulielmus? You can’t find enough women out on the streets to harass you’ve got to bother my staff? Not cool.”
“She’s not just any woman. She’s screwing my son.”
“Who
isn’t
screwing one of your sons? Have many do you have now? A quarter of the country is probably genetically linked to you.”
Ariel heard a splintering pound on the table. Must have been his fist.
“They’re not like John.”
“Okay, I’m sorry. This isn’t going to work out,” Ariel said as her vision became clear.
Agatha, now reasonably certain she wasn’t going to fall over and smash her nose on the table edge, let go of her.
“I quit. I don’t know what’s going on here, but I quit.”
Agatha sighed. “I wish you wouldn’t, but I can certainly understand how uncomfortable this must make you. If it’s any consolation, I don’t condone any of his extracurricular activities. We went our separate ways millennia ago.”
“What?”
Agatha sighed yet again. “Look, honey, there’s a lot you don’t know about the world. I’m sorry this had to be your introduction to the more secretive bits. Please know no one at this agency is going to harm you. I didn’t know anything about your connection to his son when we recruited you.”
“I wasn’t dating his son then. And I’m not
now
, either.”
She picked up her laptop, then put it down again. It belonged to the agency. They could move it their own damn selves.
She sidled around Bill —
Gulielmus
— but before she could get to the door, he wrapped a strong arm around her waist.
“Not done.”
“Gulielmus, leave her.”
He laughed, and Ariel had never heard a more evil thing. “No. You’ve never had the ability to command me. Not way back when you were actually doing the job you were made for, and not now either. So, good day to you, you windbag. Sorry we won’t be doing business this go-round.”
Ariel’s feet started to numb again, followed by her arms, her neck … She looked to Agatha for help.
As if knowing exactly what she was asking, Agatha shook her head. It was a slow shake and her pale gray eyes were doleful. “I can’t. I can’t pick sides. I hope you’ll understand some day.”
“Agatha!” And Ariel felt herself start to fade, right as a dark-haired man of slightly less-than-average height, wearing hipster glasses, and donning a pair of headphones around his neck pounded down the hall.
“Let her go!” he yelled, reaching a hand into his sweatshirt pocket and extracting the handle of some sort of knife. He didn’t get it out in time.
It was too late.
John was lacing up his boots when he heard the screaming — high-pitched and keening like some wounded animal begging to be put out of its misery.
He bounded to the screen door and yanked it open when he saw his father — angrier than he’d ever seen him, pulsating with a violent red aura — in the front yard with an arm wrapped around Ariel’s neck.
She didn’t look hurt, but her face was contorted in pain and she drooped boneless in his arms.
“Clarissa!” he called. “My father has Ariel. He’s here.”
She must have understood the urgency in his voice and that this wasn’t just one of Gulielmus’s usual social calls, because when she ran out of her room, she was wearing real shoes and not slippers.
“Just stay back. Let me try to reason with him. There’s no reason for him to bother her.”
“John, son, demons aren’t reasonable. That’s why you’ll never be one.”
If he hadn’t have been so damned terrified, he would have grinned. He really did love that old lady. It was too bad he’d probably never see her again.
He pushed open the screen door and stepped onto the porch.”
“Hello, son.” Gulielmus didn’t move. He held Ariel about twenty feet away. His arms were so loose around her neck and waist, she could have easily slipped free. Suddenly, John understood that his father probably didn’t have to get physical to restrain someone.
“Gulielmus.” He decided not to make any sudden moves. Ariel wasn’t even looking at him. Her eyes were closed and she appeared to be mumbling something to herself. Praying, maybe?
Open your eyes, sweetpea. Look at me.
And she heard him. Or, at least seemed to. But when she opened her eyes, there was no relief there. She seemed just as scared of seeing John there as she was at being in Gulielmus’s grasp.
He’d never felt such terror. He hadn’t even been so scared that time in the desert when he heard a rattle and a hiss behind him. Not even after that snake had bit him and he knew for sure he was going to die.
Now he understood why he didn’t perish out there. It’d taken so long to receive the anti-venom, and by then he should have been dead three times over. He lived, because he was cut from the same cloth as that snake. A serpent, even if he didn’t know it at the time.
He’d been prepared to just walk away — to leave Ariel be if meant she’d be safe and her soul free to do with as she pleased — but seeing her like this, afraid of him and angry, that made him change his mind.
She was angry because she’d
cared.
One thing at a time.
“Just let go of her. She didn’t ask for any of this. That one soul isn’t going to make you any difference.”
“Next you’re going to try to convince me that she’s nothing, right? Isn’t that how it always goes in the movies? The hero pretends he doesn’t want the damsel in distress anyway and butters up the villain only to do bait-and-switch? Not gonna work on me, John. And, please, whatever it is you’re carrying on your person that’s preventing me from coming close, please discard it. Shouting like this is hardly civilized.”
John cut his gaze to Clarissa behind him, and she nodded.
“I’ve got your back. Don’t worry about Ariel. Do what you’ve got to do.”
He nodded and slipped his hand into his back pocket, wrapping his fingers around the bible’s spine. He pulled it out and bent, slowly, and set it on the porch.
“Very good.” Gulielmus drug Ariel ten feet closer and stopped again. His lips peeled back as he hissed. “Why don’t you meet me the rest of the way. The house is warded. It’s a ploy that reeks of that other pain-in-the-ass son of mine. I really hope he isn’t involved this time.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” John jumped from the porch and strode to the pair, holding his hands up palms-out, hoping the gesture would calm them both. Ariel still looked angry. Anger he could deal with. Anger was far better than apathy.
“You’re lying, but I don’t care. Let’s go. Obviously you need re-training.”
“I’m not going anywhere until you let go of Ariel.”
“What is it with you and
names
? Who cares what you call one bag of bones versus another. They’re insignificant. No better than dogs.”
“That’s funny coming from you. You’ve been using them as breeding stock all these years.”
“They’re not my first choice.”
“Ah.” John scoffed. Of course there would be
other
things. That’s why people like Claude existed. He wondered what the source of Charles’s personal power was, but only briefly. “Well, obviously you know some of these meat sacks are a little more special than others or you wouldn’t have marked me this way.” He held his left palm out a bit more so the fading symbol was more prominent to his father’s eyes. Where it has previously glowed blue, now it had changed to a sickly-looking red as if he’d been branded for real with fire and iron.
As Claude had said, “You gotta let the bad out.” And it’d felt just like metal being pressed into his skin again and again while his brother had started the regimen.
“What did you
fucking
do?” Gulielmus spat, and in his surprise, released Ariel. She flopped to the ground, and John reached for her, but Gulielmus made it first — squatting and covering her body with his massive arms.
John took a step back to give his father some space. It was like negotiating with a lion or some other wild beast that cared more about territory and scraps of meat than the big picture.
“All I did,” he said, voice calm, and eyes locked on his father’s, “was reversed what you started. I’m not going to spend the rest of my life corrupting people. Sounded fun a couple of weeks ago, but I guess that was my misery talking. Well, I figured out I don’t have to be miserable. And if that means I’m cutting my life significantly shorter than the typical cambion’s, then so be it. I don’t want to serve you or your liege.”
“Claude,” Gulielmus hissed through clenched teeth. He’d grown so angry again, he’d forgotten about Ariel. He’d stood and stepped over her in a long stride that put him nose-to-nose with his son.
John didn’t respond. A flash burst behind his father and a man with a blinding white aura wrapped arms around Ariel and picked her up.
“Mark?” Ariel croaked.
“Yeah, it’s okay. Sorry it took me so long to hone in on ya.” He pointed a knife with a glowing blue blade toward Gulielmus as he backed Ariel toward the porch. “Gulielmus, the truce still stands. Don’t be the spark that changes that.”
“Hey, why don’t you mind your fucking business, feather-brains? This is personal.
Family
business. But you wouldn’t know anything about that. You’re essentially a eunuch, right? Too scared to be a full-time superstar like me.”
Mark kept his mouth shut.