Demon Bound (50 page)

So it was enough, Alice thought later as she sat with Jake on the steps to Michael's temple, watching Lyta sniff uncertainly at a marble column—watching the other Guardians uncertainly watching Lyta.

Then Selah arrived, and it was not much longer before the delayed celebration for Jake was in full swing. Alice hadn't attended the last few celebrations before the Ascension, but she suspected this one was quite different from any that had been thrown before.

With a slice of pizza in his hand, Ethan dropped down beside her, stretched out his long legs. He pulled a second slice out of his cache for Jake, and passed it to him over Alice's lap. She lifted a piece of pepperoni as it went by, but waved away the offer of a whole slice.

“I'll eat yours, then,” Ethan said. “You figure anyone's ever played . . . What do you call this, Jake?”

“Nine Inch Nails,” he supplied, and Alice laughed as his T-shirt changed.

“Nine Inch Nails in Caelum before?”

“No.” Alice glanced over at the large battery-powered stereo one of the novices had brought. There were many things in the past one hundred and twenty years that she needed to catch up on. Music, she decided, would be at the forefront.

“I've played it here,” Jake said. “Just not at this volume.”

Alice's gaze landed on Khavi and Michael, who were speaking with Alejandro across the courtyard. “Perhaps the volume is a blessing—she might not hear everything that is being said of her.”

Jake shook his head, his jaw tight. “What they should be saying is, ‘Thank flippin' God that we've got two grigori on our side now that Anaria's loose and with the nephilim.' ”

“Well, according to the prophecy, the nephilim will be defeated—one way or another.” Ethan met Alice's eyes. “Is it right that everything she told you would happen,
did
happen?”

“Yes. I didn't fulfill my bargain; Teqon put a sword through Jake's heart.” Her voice was steady, but she slid her hand over Jake's, and reassured herself with a touch.

“Except my shirt,” Jake said, squeezing her fingers. “Alice changed that.”

“But Khavi didn't tell you the rest—that Jake had Fallen first, and that he'd live through it, be transformed again. Or that you wouldn't need to be fulfilling your bargain after you were released from it. Didn't she know?”

Alice couldn't claim to be surprised when Khavi appeared in front of them. Michael joined her a second later.

“Of course I knew,” Khavi said, frowning. “But they might have acted differently if I had told them the outcome. This way, he Fell on his own, rather than at my suggestion.”

“Yet you still influenced their actions when you told Alice what you saw,” Michael pointed out. “Nothing is inevitable—but you cannot deny that everything you decide to reveal, you choose because you believe it will improve the probability of the outcome you desire.”

Khavi narrowed her eyes at him, then turned to Jake. “He has never approved of my Gift. And there are times when I am too confused by what I see to enjoy it, as well. Such as now. I am told that this celebration is due to you having recently been made a full-fledged Guardian—which means that you were recently a novice?”

“Yep.” Jake nodded. “That's the way it seems to work.”

“But how can that be? I have seen many battles in which your strategic command—Oh.” She shook her head. “No, I will not reveal this. I suppose every general was once a soldier.”

Alice smiled, and Jake's dog tags jingled softly when he laughed and slid his hand over his head. “Yeah, well—most generals have that rank by the time they're sixty years old.”

“Yes,” Michael said, “but most do not spend thirty of those years in an orgy.”

Alice barely held back her laughter. “I suppose a man must have his priorities,” she said.

“Well now, that reminds me,” Ethan said. A rolled sheaf of paper appeared in his hand, and Ethan didn't make a sound when Alice poked her elbow into his ribs. He passed the sheaf over to Jake. “I have this for you; I suppose you might call it a gift from your mentor in honor of your promotion. It's the one thing I ain't willing to teach you.” Ethan waited until Jake glanced at the first page before adding, “Alice was the one who transcribed it, and she sketched all them pictures.”

“Yeah?” He grinned and looked up at her with glowing eyes. “Hot damn.”

Alice fought the urge to drag him off to the Archives building. “It needs to be improved,” she said with pursed lips and her primmest tone. “Everything within is based upon human physiology. Guardians have many capabilities that aren't used to their full potential, and that aren't addressed in the manual.”

Khavi sighed. “I have nothing for you, Jake.”

“Maybe you can tell me what my new Gift will be.”

“No.”

“Ah, damn,” he said easily. “Well, I had to try. But, I don't really need you to tell me anyway. I can guess what my future is: Alice and I are going to spend a couple of thousand years fighting demons, then we'll Fall and make a ton of babies, then grow old together and reminisce about the good old days, when kids didn't talk back to their parents.”

That, Alice thought, would be absolutely perfect.

Khavi's mouth curved. “I do not know how many years it will be, but that is not too far off. And I suppose I can tell you that together, the two of you will be feared by demonkind. You will be known as ‘the Weapon and his Witch.' ”

“The Witch and
her
Weapon,” Alice said.

Khavi's Gift rolled out in a soft wave. “Yes,” she said. “Now it will be the Witch and her Weapon.” She glanced over at Michael. “You see how easily they catch on?”

Michael rubbed the bridge of his nose before dropping his hand to his side. His eyes were obsidian now, Alice noted with sudden unease. “I have something for you, Jacob—but I do not know that I would call it a gift.”

The amusement faded from Jake's expression. He rose to his feet, and Alice stood with him.

“When you could not locate me earlier,” Michael said, “I was retrieving these. They cannot balance what was taken from you, but I demanded them as recompense.”

The music in the courtyard was still loud, but Alice heard the silence that fell over the Guardians when the two white-feathered wings appeared on the steps at Jake's feet.

Not Jake's wings. These glowed subtly, as if they'd once shone brilliantly and the light within hadn't completely faded.

“Belial's wings?” Alice whispered.

“Two of them,” Michael said. He lifted his gaze to Jake's. “And now they are yours.”

Jake shook his head. “One goes to Alice, for what he did to her.”

Khavi nodded. “Yes.” She met Alice's eyes. “They have power within them . . . witch.”

How strange. How utterly and wonderfully strange it was to vanish a glowing wing into her cache. And she felt it against her psyche, like a gentle, soothing hum.

She looked to Jake, saw by his expression that he'd experienced the same sensation when he'd vanished his. Then quietly, she sat again. He joined her, and they waited until Michael and Khavi had moved off, until Ethan had left to speak with Selah.

Jake took her hand, held her gaze as he brought her fingers to his lips. “So,” he said, “it looks like I'm going to be as badass as you are when I grow up. Wanna take a victory dance?”

In the courtyard, a few Guardians were moving to the heavy beat of the music. “I will dance,” she agreed. “But only if you will wear your wings.”

“You drive a hard bargain, goddess.” But he stood and formed his wings.

His full-sized wings.

“Oh!” Alice's laugh pealed out. “You wretch! You didn't say they'd finished healing.”

“They didn't. I didn't have time.” Jake turned his head, his brows furrowing as he studied them over his shoulder. “How much you want to bet it's because I Fell and was transformed again?”

“Yes,” Alice said. And in their natural size, they were much larger than her own. She would have to remember to amend that, and shift hers. When he wasn't looking, of course, so that it wouldn't be too obvious.

Jake glanced at the courtyard, then at the sky. “Dancing—or fly?”

She stood. “Let's fly.”

 

This
, Alice thought, was cleansing.

The glass-smooth sea that surrounded Caelum lay below. She and Jake skimmed above their reflections, so quickly that her dress whipped her legs and her hair came free of its braid.

For the first time in over a century,
all
of her was free of its bindings. What an exhilarating feeling it was.

Jake rolled in beneath her, flying on his back, grinning as he stole a kiss. She gave him the next one.

“So,” he called over the wind, “next Sunday?”

“Yes.” And the next and next and next. “What shall we do until then?” She would make plans for the next hundred years. Starting with the next hour—she planned to fly and feel the wind on her face and think of nothing but the present.

Until her gaze slid down Jake's taut form, and—unbidden—an abundance of salacious thoughts rose.

His grin widened. “Wanna ride?”

And how lovely it was, that she could alter her plans whenever she wished.