And like a
dropped cell phone signal, her line to Alec died abruptly.
She blinked at
Hank. The mark had done its job and healed the injury to her nose, but the
deeper ramifications lingered.
Dropping the
hand holding the handkerchief, she asked, “What happened?”
The occultist
crossed his arms and looked thoughtful. “That piece of jewelery appears to put
a damper on an Infernal’s powers.”
“I thought it
only worked on the Nix.”
He shrugged. In
the back of the room, the tengu began to screech and bang against something
metallic. A cage perhaps.
“Why would a
charm against Infernals work against Cain?”
“We’re circling
back to my theory now, aren’t we?”
“But I don’t—”
The tengu
continued its tirade.
“Can you shut
that thing up?” she yelled. Bending down, Eve righted the fallen chair.
Hank nodded and
gestured for her to follow. The spot of illumination followed them, a trick she
wished she knew how to pull off herself.
As she’d
suspected, the tengu was caged in what looked to be a large dog kennel. He
clung from the top with fingers and toes, shaking and shouting violently.
Fred stood
nearby, taking notes on a clipboard. She glanced up at Hank and nodded at
whatever cue he’d given her. Turning, she set the clipboard on a lab counter,
then grabbed a canister that had a nozzle like a fire extinguisher. She aimed
it at the tengu and sprayed a reddish cloud of fine mist at him. He sputtered
and coughed, causing him to lose his grip and crash to the bottom. He lay there
for a spell, shaking his head and appearing nearly as dazed as he had while
wearing the necklace. The red liquid was quickly absorbed into his cement
shell, leaving him looking the same as always. Hank spoke a lyrical
incantation, and the tengu sat up and looked at Eve.
“Pretty Mark,”
he said, hopping to his feet.
“You’re a noisy
fellow,” she replied.
He moved his
gaze to glare at Hank. “Traitor.”
Eve leaned
toward the occultist and whispered, “What was in the can?”
“Infernal blood.”
She almost asked
where he got it, but decided she didn’t want to know. “Demons find demon blood
soothing? We could win the war with that. Kill some, spray the others.”
“It wouldn’t
have any effect on a healthy Infernal. In this case, it’s just canceling out
the overdose of Mark blood I gave him earlier. I doubt you want to try your
scenario with Mark blood.”
“Right?’ Moving
closer to the cage, Eve studied the little stone beast. “That was a very
ferocious reaction this guy had.”
“Oil and water,”
Fred said. “Infernal and Mark don’t mix.”
“No kidding.”
“About the Nix.”
Hank walked over to the counter where Fred had set down the clipboard.
“Yes?”
“I dug out that
punch bowl you brought me before. I know Cain wanted me to scry for the Nix
through any residuals that might be on it, but I’m afraid that isn’t possible.”
“Oh.” Her nose
wrinkled. “Would have made things easier, but since he’s after me, we’ll see
him again regardless.”
Thanks to the
necklace, the Nix was the least of her problems at the moment. She pushed
thoughts of him aside for more pressing problems.
“Right, but
using a combination of bits and pieces of the mask, I was thinking I could
create a repellent of some sort.”
Her brows rose.
“Unless it’s a permanent repellant, I think I’d rather just kill the sucker and
be done with it.”
“Well, I didn’t
know about the necklace at the time.” Hank leaned into the counter with one
hand and set the other on his hip. It was a very feminine pose and made her
smile. “Now that I do, I’m thinking I might be able to tweak it in the reverse.”
“Reverse?”
“Make you more
attractive. Irresistible.”
“She doesn’t
need any help being irresistible.”
Alec’s low, deep
voice hit her ears just before she registered the sound of his boots thudding
rhythmically onto the cement floor. He appeared out of the darkness, wild-eyed
and dangerous, the veins in his forearms and biceps thick and visible. She
might have swooned if she was the type and Unmarked. As it was, she licked her
lips. She’d always had a thing for his bad boy vibe, but this… yowza.
“You resisted me
well enough earlier,” she managed.
He kept on
coming, a raging force of nature that pinned her against the cage holding the
tengu.
His hand caught
the back of her neck. “Don’t you
ever
hang up on me.”
Her shoulders
went back. “What are you going to do about it if I do?”
As she’d thought
he might, he yanked her closer and kissed her, his lips mashing hers without
any semblance of finesse.
His hand at her
nape moved, sliding around in a quest for her breast, focused solely on his
animal urges despite their audience. Reaching up, she caught the necklace
chain. She pulled it up and over her head, then dropped it around his neck.
Alec froze.
There was an awkward moment when they stood like statues with their lips
pressed together.
What the hell?
Eve pushed him
back and moved away from the cage where the mischievous tengu had been poking
her in the butt with his stubby fingers. She studied Alec, noting the drastic
change in his eyes and stance.
Sucking in a
deep breath, she greeted the Alec she knew. “Hi.”
He frowned at
her.
“How do you
feel?” she asked.
Hank sidled
closer. “Yes. How do you feel, Cain?”
“How the fuck am
I supposed to feel?” he barked, but it lacked bite. He scrubbed both hands over
his face, as he did when first waking up in the morning.
“Not angry?” Eve
suggested. “In control?”
Alec lifted the
amulet and stared at it. “What is this?”
“A lucky charm.”
“Lucky for
whom?” His gaze lifted and met hers. A pained look crossed his face. Guilt
settled like a heavy stone in her gut. Not hers. His.
“Lucky for us,”
she said. They’d deal with guilt later. “We need you on top of your game now.
If decking you out in a pimp chain does the trick, I’m all for it.”
“Where did you
get this?”
“I tossed it to
her,” Hank improvised. “It’s something I’m working on.”
Eve shot him a
grateful glance.
“Whatever it
is,” Alec said, “it’s perfect. Glad something is working out for us in the
experimental department.”
His head tilted
to the side as if hearing something she couldn’t, then, “Montevista woke up. I
need to talk to him.”
Hoping the guard
would be able to tell Alec what she couldn’t, Eve said, “Go check it out.”
“You’re coming
with me.” He gave her a stern look. “I need to talk to you, too. Best to get
you, Sydney, and Montevista together, and see if we can figure out what
happened last night.”
“I still have
some business with Hank’ she protested. He looked at the occultist.
“He’s not making
you anything to attract the Nix. That’s an order.”
Hank lifted his
hands in a gesture of surrender. “I have no idea if I can pull it off, but if I
could, it can help you set the time and place of the showdown to your liking.”
“That could come
in handy,” Eve pointed out.
“Like you don’t
have enough Infernal trouble with the bounty?” Alec scoffed, tugging her toward
the door.
She waved bye to
Hank before they moved too far away and he was lost in the darkness.
If I could
get Gadara back,
she wondered,
what
would happen to Alec?
She’d like to
ask whoever endorsed Alec’s promotion, but that could run the risk of them
killing him. If Alec was the emissary, they wouldn’t hesitate.
He’s not the
emissary,
she scolded herself.
Besides, she didn’t have a clue about who was responsible.
A sudden image
of eyes the color of blue flame filled her mind. She almost set the thought
aside, telling herself that of course she would think of him. He was the only
seraph she’d ever met.
Then, she
realized the thought came from Reed.
***
Chaney slumped
back into the plastic chair, clearly taken aback. “I knew you hated your
brother, but this. . . Aren’t you going to get in trouble for this?”
“Actually,” Reed
picked up his beer, “I’m sanctioned.”
“Someone gave
you the authority to get rid of Cain?” Asmodeus was clearly disbelieving.
Reed considered
how much to reveal. “Something went wrong with the ascension. He’s a danger to
himself and to others.”
“We could use a
man like him.”
“He’ll be
fatally wounded by the absence of God in his soul, I suspect. Worthless to
everyone.”
Reed looked at
the increasing number of tourists as the amount of Infernals grew in
proportion. Casting a glance into the dark interior of the restaurant, he
regretted his decision to sit outside. The same exposure that gave him a
modicum of safety around Asmodeus also bared him to any of the dozens of Marks
policing the overabundance of demons in the area. They were too visible out
here.
“A fate worse
than death for you guys, eh?” Chaney cut into his rare steak and bit into a
piece with relish. “Hope I never get on your bad side.”
“Then don’t fuck
up this exchange.”
“How do you
propose we do this?” Asmodeus asked, poking at his VooDoo Shrimp appetizer with
his fork.
“I need you to
bring the Nix,” Reed murmured, twisting his beer bottle to catch the sunlight.
“But rein him in. He needs to be a threat, nothing more. Cain will come to the
rescue and I’ll make sure there’s no one around to get in the way.”
“What about
Raguel and the priest?” Chaney licked blood off his lips. “Who’s going to play
the hero? You?”
“No. Let them
escape.”
“What are you
getting out of this, then?”
“The seraph who
endorsed Cain wants his mess disposed of,” he lied. “That’s a favor I can call
in later. And without Cain, Evangeline Hollis serves no purpose. Raguel will
appreciate both the loss of his replacement and the end of the bounty. Again,
another favor to call in at a later date.”
“Lose one, save
many.”
Asmodeus’s fork
tapped against the edge of his plate. “I’ll need help to pull down Cain.”
“That’s your
problem,” Reed dismissed. “Not mine. However you go about doing it, just show
up the day after tomorrow at Hollis’s condominium complex. The Nix knows where
she lives, if you don’t. Say.. . midafternoon? We’ll be out by the pool. I’ll
open the water lines so the Nix can get in. He can be the distraction while you
do whatever you have to do.”
“That place is a
fortress,” Asmodeus growled. “It will be an all-out bloodbath.”
“Which is why
you better make damn sure that Raguel and the priest are already on the move,
if you want to avoid pegging yourself with a Vanquish Me sign.”
“Pick a
different place,” Chaney said.
“Can’t,” Reed
retorted curtly. “After the way the priest was snatched, Hollis is locked up
tight. It’s either her home or work, and there’s no way you’re getting into
Gadara Tower. We all know that.”
“Shit.”
“No.”, Asmodeus
said. “I’ll wait until things settle down, then I’ll go after her when it’s
more convenient.”
Reed’s foot
tapped silently beneath the table. He’d prefer to wait, too, but the priest
wouldn’t make it that long. And if the priest died, Eve would never forgive
herself. “She and the priest might be dead by then.”
“I would rather
lose them,” Asmodeus snapped, “than me.”
“You might lose
Cain, too, if he doesn’t get his shit together.” Standing, Reed pulled his
money clip from his pocket and tossed a couple of twenty-dollar bills onto the
table. “You know where I’ll be, if you change your mind.”
“I don’t like
being played with, Abel.”
Reed’s mouth
curved. “You won’t know if I’m playing with you, unless you show up.”
***
“Mariel? Are you
all right?”
Mariel pulled
her gaze away from the party sitting on the patio of the House of Blues and
returned it to her companion. The balcony of Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen was
across the busy promenade from the other restaurant, but Mariel’s
mal’akh
hearing
had no trouble picking up the treasonous conversation taking place there. Even
from this distance, she could see the laser brightness of the demon’s eyes and
hear the malevolence in his voice.
“No,” she
replied in her Mark’s native Zulu. “I’m far from all right.”