jinn 03 - vestige (8 page)

“Life. The better fed I stay, the more life-like I can be.”

She nodded, tilting her head to the right. “What happens if you don’t feed?”

He scowled in no one’s general direction. “At first you become slow and sluggish, then eventually your body stops moving and you become a prisoner inside a rotting corpse.”

“That’s good,” she said to herself nodding.

“Not my initial reaction, love.” His eyebrows arched and his mouth twisted in a wry expression. “What does any of this have to do with her? She’s not a vampire.”

“I’m half,” Maggie objected.

“We need to find what balances her,” Holden said, nodding at Olivia.

Why couldn’t they see how much better they were as a team?

“Everything is about balance,” she said.

Well, what in the hell would balance a half vampire? “She’s technically still alive, right?” I asked and everyone nodded. “But she has vampire strength and speed.”

“And eyes,” Corbin volunteered.

“I’ve never seen a vampire with red eyes,” Holden said.

Corbin shrugged. “I have.”

Olivia smiled. “Like when they’ve fed too much?”

One side of Corbin’s mouth raised and he wagged a finger at her. “There’s something about you, love. I like it.” He moved a little closer to them. “Actually, yes, when they get energy drunk. First you forget anything else matters but feeding. You take and take and take until your skin buzzes and hums and your strength and speed go off the charts making it nearly impossible to control.”

“How do you fix it?” Holden asked.

“You don’t. You lock them up until their body burns off the excess energy.”

“But it won’t work with her,” I said. “Since she’s alive, the vampire half is constantly being fed.” Maggie was fucked.

“That’s why she has so much energy.” Holden leaned against the wall.

“So what do we do?” Maggie asked, bouncing her legs.

Olivia gave her a sympathetic smile and rested her hand over hers. Maggie’s foot stopped thumping against the floor. “So you have too much life. What is the antithesis to life?”

“Death,” I said. “Are you saying we should kill her?”

Maggie blanched, but Olivia laughed. “No, she just needs to feed on a death.”

“Nope. That’s won’t work. He”—she hooked a thumb at Holden—“made me eat a dead guy’s liver. It was disgusting.”

“He had the right idea, just the execution needs work,” Olivia said. “You need something more direct, more pure. Let me think about it.”

Maggie nodded. “I already feel better.”

“Me too,” Olivia echoed.

I did a double-take; they both actually looked better.

I caught Holden’s attention and nodded toward them. His eyebrows pulled together and he shrugged. Seriously, men were so thick. I went to him. “They look better since Olivia touched her. Do you think—I don’t know—that maybe Maggie is feeding off of her?”

Holden looked at them again.

“He’s ready.” Olivia stood up abruptly, swaying slightly.

“Who’s ready?” I asked.

Holden nodded, obviously understanding. “Maggie, can you watch the kid?” He glanced at me. “Find Sybil. I need to talk to her.”

I smiled. I hadn’t liked her from the start. I’d happily hunt her down. “Who’s ready?” I asked again.

“Death,” Olivia said.

I looked between her and Holden for a moment. The voice was back. It tried to help her once before, but that didn’t turn out so great. “Sybil can wait. I’m coming with you guys.”

Holden shook his head—like that would stop me—but Olivia agreed.

“I’ll just wait here,” Corbin said.

Holden scowled at him, but didn’t waste time arguing.

“Be careful,” Maggie said as the three of us left.

****

“Stop me if you heard this one, Death walks into a bar—”

Olivia tapped her fingers on the table in front of me and twisted her hair with the other hand. “No matter what happens to me, the two of you need to walk out of here. Even if he takes me—

” She shook her head. “There isn’t much left to take. Regardless. Finish this. No matter what happens,
finish it
.”

Holden sat back stony as ever, not saying anything.

“He’ll have to come through me to get to you,” I said.

“That’s not why you’re here,” she said staring at the door, waiting for her death date.

“Yes, it is,” I told her. “That’s exactly why I came.”

She shook her head again. “You’re here to make sure he gets out.”

Holden raised an eyebrow and she looked directly at him, until he softened just a little. “I’m not punishing myself,” she said quietly.

“He’s not taking you,” Holden said.

A fedora plopped down softly in the middle of our table. I looked up at the guy who had come out of nowhere. I hadn’t sensed, seen, heard, or even smelled him coming. In fact, if I didn’t see him standing right in front of me, I wouldn’t believe anyone was there at all. His chin lifted, and light reflected off his balding head. “How would you stop me?” he said in a deep, soft voice that rolled out like water over a rocky riverbed. “Go on. Amuse me.”

His entire presence was unassuming, yet intense and demanding. He seemed to see and categorize every detail of the room, endless curiosity shimmering in his gray eyes. He pulled a chair up to the end of the table, and didn’t remove his thick leather gloves and overcoat.

“You’re the Angel of Death?” I said, breaking the silence.

He looked more like a tired and grumpy lawyer—maybe an auditor. He wore a three-piece suit under his overcoat that may have been nice, what did I know? It wasn’t cold outside so he was definitely overdressed. His small, direct eyes were steady and intensely focused on whatever happened to catch his attention. When they met mine, the years of my life replayed in an instant and the sensation of falling made me clutch the table and look away. Everything inside me screamed to retreat from this calm and peaceful, yet terrifying man.

“So I am told,” he said with an enigmatic expression that looked both amused and annoyed. He turned to Olivia and stared at her too long. His face softened, obviously pleased with what he saw. “We meet at last.” The corners of his mouth lifted in an attempt at a smile, revealing crooked teeth.

Olivia looked back at him with clear eyes. “I’ve seen you before.”

He frowned. “Regrettable circumstances.”

“Can you help her?” Holden asked, fire erupting in his eyes.

“This has nothing to do with you.” Death didn’t spare him a glance. Olivia was obviously the one he wanted to see.

“Like hell it doesn’t.” Holden kicked the leg of Death’s chair.

He turned slowly toward Holden and stared into his soul. To his credit, Holden didn’t flinch, though his jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed. “You are insignificant to my plans.” His tongue touched the corner of his mouth. “And if you are able to protect her, why is she here now, in this condition no less?” He nodded when Holden didn’t reply. “I will take it from here. You may go.”

There wasn’t a threat Holden could make that would matter to Death. There wasn’t a promise he could keep or a deal he could strike, and he knew it. It was written all over his face. Death couldn’t be stopped or fought. When the Angel of Death sat down at our table, whatever the game was, he called checkmate.

Death pivoted back to Olivia, knowing he had won but without a trace of gloating. “I could have saved you so much pain.” He caught a piece of her hair between his thumb and his forefinger and gently smoothed it over her shoulder. “Had you come to me sooner…”

Olivia was quiet.

“I think we should probably speak alone.” He flourished a hand toward the door.

Her eye ticked, but other than that small tell, she remained motionless. “I’m not going anywhere,” I said. It wasn’t just Holden’s eyes flaming now. The blaze traveled down his arms. Olivia had been right. I wasn’t here to stand between her and Death. I was here to stand between Death and Holden.

“Olivia?” Her name curved off Death’s tongue and seemed to blossom in the air. “I will speak only to you. They do not have a say in what is to come. It is between the two of us alone.”

She blinked a few times. “I understand.” Her voice cracked, but a thin smile stretched her face. “I’ll be fine.”

Holden didn’t budge.

“You wanted me to do this,” she said quietly.

His lip curled and she gave me a pleading look. “You can’t win. Either I go with him or we leave and this option disappears.”

It was a mistake, a huge mistake, but her spirit was weaker now than it had been at the warehouse. “Is this our only chance?” I asked.

She nodded. I stood up and kicked Holden in the shin hard enough to get his attention.

His glare redirected to me. “Kick me again and lose the foot.”

“Come on, Chuckles. You’re the third wheel on your girlfriend’s date with death.” When he still didn’t move, I tried a new tactic. “Look at her. Can you stand to watch her fade away like this? I can’t.”

He stood up. “I’ll be right on the other side of that door.”

Death gave him a patronizing look and put a hand on Olivia’s shoulder. “If that gives you peace.” A second later Olivia, Death, and the fedora were gone, without even a flash of light. Just gone.

If this was what the deep end looked like, we were going to drown.

I was nowhere, yet everywhere. Everything was bright and white. It was familiar yet entirely new. Death stood in front of me watching everything I did. His presence was comforting, but fear continued to pound through me. His face was soft and his eyes filled with sympathy, yet there was unyielding iron at their core. No matter how empathetic to my plight he might be, his decisions would be final. He always won in the end and he had the confidence of someone who knew that. His head bobbed up and down and he squinted as he watched me.

The bright white nothingness surrounding us was neither hot nor cold. Every problem I had was just out of reach of my thoughts. I knew I was here for a reason, but couldn’t exactly remember what it was. When had I been here? It was on the edge of my thoughts.

When I died.

The memory flashed in my mind, the pain dull as an old wound.

“Yes!” Death’s arms stretched up and he smiled, squinting even further. His smile was as arresting as it was shocking. It exploded onto his face and was gone the next second as if it had all been imagined.

My own lips edged upward, but I couldn’t say why, other than his smile startled it out of me. Tranquility spread through me like a cool touch on a hot day. I took a step forward. My legs didn’t wobble. In fact, I felt better—no scratch that, I felt great. I took several more steps, and relief and happiness lifted my heart. I was going to be okay.

“How?” I asked. “Am I healed?” I could have kissed him.

He opened his mouth then closed it again. “I once knew a man who was shot in the chest. He held on to his life for hours past his time. I sat with him until he finally let go. Everyone believes they die alone, but they don’t. I am there. I am always there. Granted you took me by surprise when you died last time, but I was still there in the very moment you needed me most.”

I swallowed hard. “Am I dying?”

“That’s not the right question. You already know the answer to that.”

I licked my lips. More memories came back to me. He was right. I came to this meeting knowing that my time was rapidly approaching yet again.

“Can you stop it?”

“Ah.” He tilted his head back. Again with the sympathy. “Once you are on my list, reversal is nearly impossible.”

I closed my eyes and let out a slow breath.

“Would dying really be that bad?” His chin tilted up and his eyes pinned me.

I shook my head. It was the truth, but my heart refused to let go. “I can’t leave. You said you could help. How do I survive?”

He looked deep inside of me. “I knew you were special from the start, not the angel half of you, but this half. The part that never gives up.” He nodded. “Your survival does not have an easy answer. You and the angel were halves of the same whole.”

I nodded. “But we didn’t blend.”

“You blended more than you might believe. Personality-wise, perhaps not, but you freely used her powers. You still are.” He pressed his hand over the wound on my chest. “While the knife’s poison draws out any last trace of the angel inside of you, it is taking you as well. It cannot be separated.”