Dominion: Zoë Martinique Investigation, Book 6 (30 page)

Mm…yeah, that was half me
and half her. Because I'm not sure I've ever used the word
despicable
in any kind of
context. Ever.

"Wait a second…" Joe moved
from behind Jason and looked at each of us. "What the hell is going
on? Doing what? And when—" he looked at me "—have you ever used the
word
despicable
?"

See?

Jason pointed at me. "Inanna is now
Zoë's First Born."

Joe's expression didn't go where I
thought it would. Instead of looking shocked, he looked…intrigued?
"I didn't know that was possible. Wouldn't the present Abysmal
essence screw around with Inanna's own Abysmal being?"

"We honestly don't know," Jason said.
"What we can see right now is that Inanna and Zoë are both hungry.
But we're not sure if that's going to be Wraith food or Revenant
food."

Jason was right there with me
wondering the same thing.

And it was evident that now Joe was
wondering this. "And, well…I have both, so I'm not sure I should be
in here—"

"They want to perform that
exorcism ritual," I blurted out. I didn't want him to go, 'cause I
didn't want to be alone with either of them—and because he
smelled
really
good.

Me mentioning that yanked Joe into
gear. He stepped out from behind them and put himself between them
and me. Holding out his hands, he looked at Umayma and then Jason.
"That's not going to happen. And, Jason, having nearly been killed
like that—why would you ever agree to such a thing?"

"I didn't." He was looking at Umayma.
"I'm not sure that was a unanimous decision."

"That ritual is the only way to
separate a First Born and a Revenant."

"Uh uh!" I gave her my best
sixth-grader defending herself against the bullies impression. "The
Banishing Eidolon works just fine. It's how she got here to begin
with."

Joe turned to look at me. "Exactly
what happened?"

I told him, and the other two
listened. I honestly didn't think they knew the specifics to begin
with, even before they came in here declaring Inanna's a bad First
Born and needs to be exorcised. Hey, let's not even go into what
happens to the human host in that ritual.

"So it's possible, if we can get that
Eidolon back to banish her…" Frejya/Umayma said as if in deep
thought.

"No one's banishing Inanna," Joe
said.

"I second that. Frejya, you're going
to have to put your personal feelings aside when it comes to your
sister—"Jason began.

"This has nothing to do with my
personal feelings." She pointed at me. "Look what she's done,
Mephistopheles! We made an agreement never to seek possession of
things stronger than ourselves. Now the one that stayed behind is
inside the body of a Wraith! Don't you remember how terrified
Sophia had been of the possibility Azrael had inadvertently created
one?"

I wasn't really listening. My
attention had refocused on Joe the second he came closer to me. Now
I could smell him, hear the rush of his blood through his veins,
feel the warmth of his soul against my cold, ashen skin. Mm…he was
like a Little Debbie Snack Cake all unwrapped and ready to be
eaten.

Sneaking up behind him was pretty
easy, since he was interested in the argument between Jason and
Umayma and they were interested in themselves. My upper jaw started
aching the closer I got.

We have to feed, Zoë…I seem to be
consuming your energy at an alarming rate.

I had to agree. When I woke up I was
tired and sore and stiff and—wait a minute. I thought back over the
list of owies that Geist rattled off and looked down at myself.
None of those things were showing up on me.

Your injuries weren't life threatening
but needed to be fixed. I repaired what I could, but it took so
much out of me. Now, Zoë…you can't take Joe. If you do, you won't
be able to stop. You could kill him.

Oh.

I didn't want that.

But I was soo hungreeeee….

I stopped my cat-like stalk on the bed
toward Joe when he spun around and caught me. I froze and then
grinned. His eyes widened again and he backed up.

"Shit, Zoë, don't do that. You look…"
He made a weird face like a chipmunk and rubbed at his front teeth.
"You've got…"

I ran my tongue over my
teeth—

AH! No! My teeth were all sharp and
pointy!

Umayma ran up and pulled Joe away. "Do
you see how dangerous she is now?"

"And when we're wounded and
in need of blood," Jason said as he approached me, "aren't
we
dangerous?" He removed
his suit jacket and tossed it on the bed, then rolled up the sleeve
of his shirt. When he held his arm up to me, I was mesmerized by
the smell and the feel of him. I could actually sense Jason and
Mephistopheles' souls inside of the one body. They were in perfect
sync. "Zoë, drink what you need. I'll be fine, but you're going to
have to keep an eye on that Wraith part of you."

I looked into his eyes and then back
down at his arm….

SNACK!!

And then it was all over. I
was on him like cute on a puppy. I grabbed his arm and he pulled me
to him, my back to his chest as he wrapped his free arm around my
face so my teeth could crack that thick skin and sink deep into the
vein beneath. I was already good at this because it wasn't me
anymore. I felt the shift as I fell back and Inanna came forward.
She took control and I slipped back…and then
out
…to see Jason and myself. He'd sat
on the bed and had me in his arms. It looked as if he were cuddling
a child, and he kissed the top of my head.

"Zoë?" Joe moved to the left of Jason
and became visible on my right. "Are you…"

I smiled at him. "Yeah, we found this
out earlier. I can OOB again. And so can Inanna."

Chapter Thirty-One

I'm not sure Joe was completely
comfortable with what was happening. He didn't move any closer to
me, and kept looking from the scene on the bed and then back to me.
I was more worried about what those little monitors were going to
show. If my heart rate or temperature fluctuated, then I'd have a
nurse in here.

And I wasn't sure I wanted that…just
yet.

I also wasn't too happy about the look
on Umayma's face. She was doing that "watching us but not really
seeing us" thing. And I wondered if her First Born was actually
talking to Mephistopheles or Inanna.

Abruptly I was yanked back into my
body, and an awesome surge of happy warmed every inch of my body.
The heart monitor did its alarm thing, and so did the temperature
gauge as I felt myself grow much warmer.

Jason let go and stood as the door
opened and Nick ran in. He was at Jason's side in an instant and
caught him under the shoulder. "What the hell did you just do?"
Nick hissed.

"He chose sides," Umayma said in a
very scary voice. Frejya was in the house.

But it didn't really matter—not when I
took in a deep breath and spread my wings out as wide as the small
room would allow. I felt…free! And something else.

Something I hadn't felt since Daddy
Dearest abandoned me in the Abysmal Plane.

Empowered.

It wasn't just a physical
empowerment—I could feel that as well. That was something I sort of
had all along. As a Wraith, I was physically more than the
Revenants. But I always felt…how am I going to explain
this…

I felt…confident. I knew now there
wasn't much either an Abysmal creature or an Ethereal one could do
to me. But there was a shitload I could do to them. And knowing
that—knowing I now had what I needed to seek revenge on them for
what they did to Daniel—I could forget my own responsibility
because I didn't strip that wall away from him by banishing
Inanna….

Ignoring Umayma and her really harsh
glare, I slipped off the bed and shifted back to human me. Hospital
gowns were never a fashion statement, so I decided I should wear
something else, so I remolded it into jeans and a shirt.

"Zoë," Joe began as he took a step
toward me. "How…what did you just do?"

"She did something only a First Choir
can do," Umayma said.

I frowned at her, but it was Nick who
answered what was in my head. He was still supporting Jason, who
looked really pale. Damn…how much did Inanna drink? "First Choir is
an Ethereal distinction, Frejya. Zoë is a Revenant, which is
Abysmal."

"Her birth is a combination of
Ethereal and that of a human soul, Nickolas." Umayma took a single
step forward and allowed Frejya to have full access to the host.
"She was born half Ethereal, and the touch with Abysmal because of
our brother created a trifecta of energies. She possessed all three
of the facets of creation, as well as the catalyst of a physical
body. Something from the universe's beginning we call a Wraith.
When Inanna entered and bonded with her, she created something even
newer, something that now has power on the same level as that of an
Ethereal Choir."

I swallowed. Loudly. I knew my own
history to a point, and it seemed every time one of these damned
First Borns opened their mouths, I learned even more. I really
wanted to sit one of them down and get the full story all at
once.

But I didn't have time right now. I
had within my power the ability to rescue Dags and possibly return
his memories to him. I didn't care what happened to Rhonda. I
didn't care about anything else. They'd taken Daniel from me. He'd
died beside me and I was mad at what I'd done to him.

Joe held out his hand. "Is this a bad
thing?" He looked at Umayma. "'Cause the look on your face says
this is a bad thing. I mean…I never figured a First Born could
actually bond with Zoë. I see it's possible. But if the fusion has
given her power to equal that of a First Choir—" he looked at me
and then back at Umayma "—then isn't that good? Doesn't that mean
we have a chance against the rogue Dominion and
Gabriel?"

I opened my mouth to say
yes, but Umayma butted in. "And after that? What happens next,
witch? What if she succeeds in rescuing the
Grimoire
and we are able to keep it
safe? What do you think this creature is capable of?" She started a
slow pace around the room. "Inanna chose to remain with Sophia
after she destroyed our father, with the story she was going to
protect our little brother—and yet he came under Sophia's influence
regardless. Inanna was the one who began her diaries, her journals,
which eventually found their way into the Physical Plane because
Sophia turned her out. Inanna chose hosts, not to help them or save
their lives or because they were worthy, but because they could
give her power. Alchemists, scientists, magicians…she chose the
ones who could give her what she wanted." She stopped and pointed
at me, but I was pretty sure she was pointing at Inanna, who was
being very quiet. "And she did the one thing we all agreed we
couldn't do—she wrote it all down in a physical form. We knew such
a collection of spells, of magic, would eventually bind to itself
and that binding could become dangerous."

Something pushed forward and pretty
much shoved me back. I landed on my ass in my little theater behind
my eyes so I could watch. Uh uh. I slipped right out of there and
manifested in a visible astral form near Joe. I wasn't happy Inanna
had done that, but I understood it. She wanted to be heard and
defend herself.

When I shift to Wraith, in my opinion,
it's really not all that attractive. I look like a Stan Lee
creation. Ashen skin, crazy black swirls that cover up just the
right amount of curve, big huge wings that started out as bat-like
wings (but I noticed right then looked more like a raven's wings),
and crazy-ass hair that just sort of moved on its own like the
tentacles of an octopus. And those bunny slippers…wow. I think
those were my most ferocious attribute.

But when Inanna slipped into the
driver's seat, a few other differences showed up. One was my face.
It became more hollow, with deeper shadows, and my eyes went
completely black.

And the fangs!

I had teeth that'd make Dracula
happy.

"Frejya: one of the first
of my family to desert us when our father died. You criticize my
choices in hosts? You, who took the mantle of a queen and
slaughtered hundreds of thousands of slaves because they couldn't
make bricks without straw? You, who told a nation of starving
peasants to eat cake? You, who tricked a peace-loving pacifist and
turned him into a megalomaniac who came close to destroying an
entire group of people based strictly on their religion? How
dare
you
judge
me
?"
Inanna pointed to herself—or she pointed at my body. "What exactly
did you do to get Sophia out of that Throne? What exactly did you
sacrifice to save our brother? Tell me, Frejya…is the truth of this
because you're jealous? Because I now have the power to take back
what a mere human soul was able to steal and bring us to the edge
of chaos?"