Divide and Conquest (Grimm's Reapers Book 4) (3 page)

“Let me understand just a few things – Conquest has been captured, Eden has been sealed shut, our son is with a fallen angel named Raphael, and you signed a treaty with the Arch-Demons?”

That summed it up nicely.  “Busy afternoon, what can I say?”

Too fast for me to even see, a hand hit me on the back of the head.  Hard.  “Idiot!  This all reeks of being a fucking trap!”

Not the reaction I was expecting, but probably should’ve been.  “The treaty is signed in blood with Lucifer’s seal.  No one down there is going to break it, especially after all the problems Sabrina is causing.”

“I don’t like it.  They see a means to an end and once it’s over, trust me.  They’ll figure a way to weasel out of it.”

“Be that as it may, right now the Hell witch is the biggest threat on the board and if the Arch-Demons are this scared, we should be too.”  Phew, that was a mouthful.  “Plus there’s the matter of Jacoby.  I need to save my son if I can.”

Her features softened.  “Speaking of sons, are you one hundred percent sure we can trust Raphael?”

“It’s either that or we take him with us.  I don’t know about you, but the boy isn’t quite ready for the dangers this life presents.”  The life of a celestial being was far from easy.  “He can defend himself pretty well, but he hasn’t even begun to master his celestial fire yet.  Raphael can help.”

She crossed her arms; her face creased with worry.  “We don’t even know how it will manifest.  Will he be more gifted by his Horseman side or his Lust demon side?”

That was a question I was hoping I’d be around to answer, but the situation dictated otherwise.  “Raphael will be able to help the boy, I know it.”  And to the other matter of concern.  “But for now, we need to concentrate of freeing Conquest.”

“Belial said he was being held in an old Russian prison?  The Gulag?”

“That’s right.”  The Gulag was one of those old prisons, like Alcatraz, that became more myth than fact over the years to humans.  There was a reason – celestials had taken over.  Angels used old prisons like that to house the most dangerous of enemies of Heaven.  The fact that Sabrina was able to take over the prison and release its inhabitants wasn’t a good sign.  “Belial said I’d have to face my worst fear there.”

“Years ago I would’ve asked how the fuck you’d have to face commitment issues there, but I think it’s safe to say that fear has been alleviated.”

Roxanne and I had been together for fifteen years.  In that time I hadn’t been with another girl.  “Funny.  I think he means Jacoby will be there.”

She folded her long, tone legs.  “Is that something you are mentally prepared for?”

“Fuck no!”  I looked up, hoping for some internal strength.  “This is the hand I’ve been dealt and I’ll deal with it when the times comes.”  I don’t know if anyone believes those inspirational lines from greeting cards, but it was all I had at the moment.

Roxanne whipped out her phone and began texting like crazy.  You would’ve thought in all the years that’d past texting would’ve gone the way of the dinosaur.  It didn’t.  Cell phones still reign supreme.

She was typing at a fever pace.  “Who are you messaging with such urgency?”

“An old friend.  I thought he might be interested in helping.”

Thinking it was the same old friend I was thinking of reaching out to, “Jacar?”

“We have coffee from time to time.”  I didn’t know that, but I also wasn’t surprised.  “He’s held up well over the years.”

Roxanne had filled me in.  During my enslavement with Sabrina, my former girlfriend (and mother to Jacoby) Astrid and Jacar had gotten real close.  He’d taken her loss hard, but apparently didn’t blame me for it.  Though, I don’t know how he didn’t; no matter what, I was the one who killed her.  “I’ve always been a bit scared to see him, especially after the last memory being what it is.”

“You can’t beat yourself up like that.  If he’s forgiven you, then you need to forgive yourself.”  She put her finger up to stop any whining from me.  She grabbed her phone and read the message.  “Grab your stuff, we have to go!”

“Whoa, what’s wrong?”

She flew right by me and opened the closet.  She pulled out her old whip (not the one for our sexcapades, but the one with the sharp steel tail).  “The witch coven that brought him to Earth, they’re under attack from an unknown enemy.  He needs our help!”

****

The coven wasn’t that far from our place.  Strange magic filled the air, something that didn’t belong to angel or demon.  Not wasting any time, I kicked down the door to their place and ran downstairs with Roxanne right behind me.  The door was barricaded shut with magic, not even sounds were escaping.  “Shit, how do we break this down?”

“Got it covered!”  She was already on her phone, typing again.  “What, I told him I’d text when we got here.”

Sure enough it worked.  The door flew open with Jacar standing in the doorway, still shirtless and still wearing leather pants.  I recognized the blade in his hand instantly; he was holding The Grasscutter.  “Reunions can wait, c’mon!”

With the barrier gone, the sounds of battle filled the air.  Half naked witches were flinging spells at hooded swordsmen who in turn were trying to cut them down at every turn.  The weird swordsmen were covered in magic, yet not using any of it.  How strange.

Jacar jumped right back in, engaging one of the larger black clad enemies while Rozanne went from one who was shaped like a female.  Leviathan burned bright, signaling the Reaper had entered the battle.

The first one of these assholes to challenge me found out quickly I was no ordinary foe.  I blacked his sloppy overhand strike with the handle of my scythe and kicked him in the gut.  Not prepared for the impact, he dropped his sword than I very politely removed his head.  As it rolled away, “These guys are humans?”

“Yeah!  Imagine my surprise too!”  Jacar stabbed his opponent in the chest, red, human blood running from the wound as he died.

This was unexpected.  I counted eight more of these fools in the room, but there numbers were thinning quickly.  Two witches caught one with an explosion spell, sending internal organs and goo everywhere.  Roxanne caught one in the eye with her whip and ripped out his eye and some other important parts.  Jacar sliced and diced two at a time while I beheaded another foolish enough to attack me.

Soon there was just one left, cornered by me.  He was injured and looked to be close to dying.  “Tell me who you are and who you work for.  It’s the only way you live.”  I reached out, trying to grab him.  He pulled away, but not before I touched his forearm.  The moment that happened, I caught a vision of his death.  He was about to eat a cyanide tablet.

“For the Order of Ruin!”  He bit down hard and foam began to form on his lips as he fell down convulsing.  The black swordsman twitched for a bit before he finally died.

Jacar and Roxanne walked up behind me.  The Pride demon must’ve heard the human’s last declaration.  “Ruin?  Isn’t that what you went by when you were under the Hell witch’s thrall?”

The same thought had crossed my mind too.  “That’s no coincidence is it?”

“In the celestial world, there are no coincidences.”  Leave it to Roxanne to impart the wisdom.

Roxanne handed myself and Jacar each a beer before taking a seat on the old couch.  A bit of weird, awkwardish tension lingered in the air between me and him.  After all, he fell in love with Astrid when I’d been kidnapped and brainwashed, then I killed her.  In front of him.  In cold blood.  Yeah.

My girl was at ease though and took control of the situation.  “Jacar, how have you been?  It’s been far too long since we’ve chatted.”

Trying to play it cool, he took a small sip of the beer, yet ended up choking on it.  After his coughing fit, “Yes, it has been.  It was my fault however, trying to keep those witches in line.”

“So you’re hanging out with the Philly Coven?”

I think he was surprised I asked a question so soon.  “I have come to enjoy their company.  They have mellowed since you last saw them, for the better.”

“That’s good to hear.”  I didn’t know what else to say.  Was Jacar mad at me?  Was the Pride demon going to try and kill me?  “So, yeah…”

“I never blamed you, as I’m sure Roxanne has mentioned.”

She looked over at me with that smug ‘I was right’ smile etched on her face.  “She has mentioned it.  But always the cautious and paranoid one, I didn’t know if I trusted you.”  Hell I would’ve wanted to kill me.  “Not that I would’ve blamed you if you had tried to get revenge.”

He crossed his one leg over the other.  “There is only room for one soul I intend to seek vengeance on and that is Sabrina, that fucking cunt.  She ruined so many lives, all out of spite.”

“My daughter has indeed done a number on all of us in this room and that is where our journey begins.”  The former Lust demon stood up and started pacing, her nervous tic.  “And it appears that if we don’t engage soon, she and her brood will be at our door sooner than later.”

The last knight that was killed proclaimed they were from the Order of Ruin.  “It seems my old station has been filled.  I have a pretty good guess as to whom.”

“Is it Jacoby?”  A hint of sadness came through his voice.  “He was such a sweet child.”

No reason to let him suffer the fate of ignorance.  “Yeah, he called me the other night proclaiming something to the effect my time was almost up or something.  He’s just a mixed up kid, twisted by her evil.”

“I assume you have a plan?”

So I filled him in on my meeting with Belial.  Good thing it wasn’t his old boss Baal or his future help may have gone out the door.  Not that me signing a treaty with the Arch-Demons seemed to make him all warm and fuzzy on the inside.  In fact, he scoffed pretty hard at that part of the story.  But he did keep his mouth shut.  That was nice.  Unlike Roxanne…

When I finished up, “So our first order of business is to free Conquest from the Gulag?  That seems like a task of the impossible.”

“Hey now!  Remember, we were the ones who stormed Hell to get the Morningstar Sword from Lucifer!”  Granted, we were given that blade more than anything.  Lucifer was feeling very charitable that day.  “I won’t have any doubts about our abilities.”

He still seemed a bit on edge about this.  “Roxanne, you’re the voice of reason.  What’re you thoughts on this crazy scheme?”

“Derrick is nothing short of fucking nuts, but his track record speaks for itself.  Plus I’ve come to truly love the moron.”

“The confidence you two instill in inspiring.”  Both demon and reformed demon laughed at me.  It was nice they could continue to bond over my misery.  “If the two of you have had enough of a go, we need to figure out transportation to get to Russia.”

“Flying seems like the logical choice, but then Khloros wouldn’t be able to come.”  As Roxanne spoke, I looked outside at my buddy, in his four door car form.  “And after the last fiasco at sea, I’d rather never ride in a cruise ship again.”

Jacar looked confused at this, but now wasn’t the time to relive tales of old.  “Well the Gulag is on the far eastern side of the country.  We could head up through Alaska and cross up there somewhere.”

“That would take a long time Derrick.”

“I know Roxanne, but our choices are limited.”

Jacar cleared his throat, interrupting a couple’s squabble.  “I hate to be the deciding vote here, but I for one don’t want to attempt this without Khloros.  We will need his help.”

The black leather pointy heel began tapping on the floor.  “I get it, I really do, but time is of the essence.  There was to be a smarter, better way.”

“Every time there’s an adventure, we try to find the most convenient way to go.  It just hasn’t worked out so well.”

Roxanne was playing with her phone, typing away like crazy.  “According to the GPS, it’s eighty-four hours to get from here to Nome.  That means if we leave now…”

“Driving nonstop, we could be there in just about three and a half days!”  I reached over and gave her a big old kiss.  “See, teamwork!”

It was time for me to pull out my phone and call Khloros.  Yes, I know it’s weird that I call my own car that’s also a horse, but it works.  “Hey buddy, time to fill you in on the details.”

I was pretty pleased with the plan I was passing on to him, but he added in a wrinkle that made it even better.  “What if I could cloak myself?  We would be able to travel at speeds we never have before due to human law enforcement.”

“That would be fucking fantastic, but how the hell are we going to find a way to cloak you?  That sounds like an idea Azrael would’ve had, but he’s no longer with us.”  Azrael was the old angel who hooked us up with all sorts of badass goodies.  He died fighting Abaddon, going down like a champ.

Even as I was talking to him, a beeping noise came from my phone.  “I just sent you a text with a number of a sketchy place not too far from here.  I found it surfing the net one day and I think we’ve got another celestial hiding in plain sight.”

I pulled the phone away from my head and sure enough there was a number flashing.  “So you want me to call this sketchy place and do what exactly?”

“I don’t know, do your Death thing.  You have a knack for pissing people off to the point they divulge too much information.”

He was kinda right.  “Fine, let me see what I can do.”  I hung up on him, just because.

“My friends still had those damn amused looks on their faces.  “Did Khloros get to you my love?”

“Not now Roxanne.  I have to be in primo form.  Khloros thinks he just gave me a hot tip to get some cloaking additions put on the car.”

As I dialed the number from my phone, Jacar offered up an opinion.  “I wonder if he’s talking about Speedy’s Auto Shop.  I had heard rumors…”

When the other line picked up, a froglike voice on the other end confirmed Jacar’s question.  “This is Speedy’s – what the fuck do you want?”