jinn 03 - vestige (2 page)

Before I made it too far, however, there was a knock on the door. I went to answer, glancing back to make sure the child was hidden. Her safety was priority. Holden nodded and I yanked the bar back and opened the door. The wind blew in rain, and lightning scattered across the clouds as the sky growled. The jinni, Phoenix, and the succubus, Sybil, entered.

“You look horrible,” Sybil said to me. She shoved a thumb under my chin and pushed it up. “Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. You should put more effort into your appearance.”

I smacked her hand away, took a deep breath, then forced a smile. “It’s nice to see you, too.”

She smirked and shoved past me, making a beeline for Holden, where she took his arm and batted her pretty eyes at him as she pressed the length of her body against his side.

“You should fight back. She’s just jealous.” Phoenix’s voice surprised me. I had forgotten he was there. He squeezed my shoulder when I turned around. “She gets off on torturing you. If you put her in her place, she’ll stop.”

Phoenix had his typical eyeliner and stark appearance. Without warning, I rose on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek. We hadn’t been friends, but I felt connected to him, to all the jinn really, since the angel freed their souls from purgatory. They were all now pieces of me in a way I didn’t really have the words to explain. “She’s not worth the fight,” I said softly. “There are more important enemies.”

He winked as he stepped away. “Are you trying to get me killed?”

My insides froze, his words hurting more than anything she said. I didn’t want to get anyone killed.

“Hey,” he said, touching my arm. “Holden’s looks can kill and right now he has a knife to my throat for even touching you. That’s all I meant.”

I nodded and patted his hand. “You should go then.”

“Phoenix, we don’t have all day,” Holden barked.

Holden led them to the room with the maps and closed the door. The little girl didn’t come out of wherever he hid her either—and she probably wouldn’t while I was there alone. I chewed on my thumbnail, staring at the closed door. I wanted to throw something, to stomp, to push my way in, but I ignored that urge too. It wasn’t useful.

There was another knock. I opened the door again, relieved to see Quintus. I hugged him tight, just happy to have a friend and ushered him inside.

“You’re early,” I said.

Quintus came to see me almost every day. We would go for a walk and talk about things. He would tell me what was happening with the guardians and try to get me to return to work, and I would listen, appreciating his attempts to make me something useful again. But I didn’t tell him why I couldn’t come back or what I actually needed to do, if only I could muster up the energy—because here’s the thing. After someone gives his life for your relationship, you no longer have the right to complain.

“I have troubling news,” he said.

I suppressed the urge to sigh and pulled my sweater tighter around me. Of course it was bad news. There was no other kind. “Uh huh?”

“The night Baker died, something from the underworld slipped through the veil. It’s big. The power shift is massive. The real problem, though, is something that big shouldn’t be capable of crossing into our world at all.”

“What is it?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I don’t know, but there have been signs.”

“Such as?”

“First of all, there is this storm. It’s affecting the whole of the United States. Second, there are the bird issues; flocks of them have fallen from the sky. Third, schools of fish have washed ashore, the darkness is growing. Can’t you feel it? The newspapers are littered with signs.” He paced in front of me. “Nothing got through that tunnel. I was there. They must have been distracting us away from somewhere else.”

I looked down. My head felt so heavy on my shoulders. “I don’t know. I haven’t . . . I guess I haven’t paid attention.” I had been so caught up in my own problems that the outside world seemed light years away.

Quintus stopped moving, and his face changed from determined to concerned. “Are you okay?” He reached for me, but I dodged his hand.

“I’m fine. What do all these signs mean to you? What exactly are they indicating?”

“Mammon is here,” Holden said, coming out of the office with Sybil and Phoenix behind him.

Quintus shook his head. “It can’t be him. That would be nearly apocalyptic.”

“I’ve been fairly reliably informed that the tunnel we closed wasn’t the only one. He could have come through another.” Holden frowned. “What else do you know?”

Quintus’s lips parted, eyebrows furrowing. “Even if there are other holes in the veil, Mammon’s too powerful to go through them without the entire barrier between the worlds collapsing. It would take unbelievably strong magic—magic that would have been felt all over.”

“Perhaps he had angelic help,” Holden said, not looking at me though the words were clearly directed.

Quintus crossed his arms over his chest. “I doubt that. How do you know it is him?”

“Because when I went back to get Baker, he spoke to me. And because the jinn are free, at least the ones in Chicago. He will take it personally. We were his charge and he has failed to keep us. It will be an embarrassment and make him look weak. He’ll want to return things to how they were.”

Quintus nodded. “We have been getting reports. . . . The jinn are free everywhere, not just here.”

“Exactly who is Mammon?” I asked.

“There are seven princes of Hell. Each one is representative of one of the seven deadly sins. Mammon is greed and his job is to rule the jinn,” Quintus said. “But a prince has never come above. Ever. I don’t think it’s possible.”

“So I gathered,” I mumbled.

“Do the signs have a central location?” Holden asked.

“Not that I can see. Seems to be worldwide.”

Holden glanced at his watch. “I have to go. Let me know if anything progresses. You going to stick around for a while?” he asked Quintus.

“I can.”

“Good. Keep an eye on the kid for me.” His gaze didn’t even flicker to me.

If I had blood it would have drained from my cheeks. Instead, I pressed my lips together and said nothing.

“Where are you going?” Quintus asked before Holden made it to the door.

“Meeting the jinn,” he said and walked out.

Sybil blew me a kiss, then sashayed out behind him, the beads on her skirt jingling. Bitch.

I can help you,
a subdued voice said in my mind.
Why won’t you come to me?

Stay the hell away from me,
I thought back at it. Whether he was “just doing his job” or not, I had watched the Angel of Death kill my mother, and we weren’t ever going to be friends. Almost from the moment I was back, he was there in my head, talking to me, trying to coax me to come and see him, but I had other plans. He’d have to wait until I was ready.

“Are you really okay?” Quintus asked, snapping me back to reality. My fists ached at my sides, making me realize I had them clenched.

I release my fingers. “I’m fine.”

“You’ve been staring at the door for twenty minutes.” Worry creased his brow and I fought the urge to roll my eyes. I didn’t want his or anyone’s sympathy. “Sit down,” Quintus said. “You look sick.”

“We’re undead. I don’t think we can get sick.”

He tilted his head. “Well, you look it.”

“Gee thanks.” I strode around the room. Why was everyone so concerned with how I looked? I didn’t go around commenting on their appearances. Why couldn’t everyone just leave me alone?
Like Holden is doing?
my own voice rang in my mind. I bit my lip. That was different. Not the same thing at all.

Instead of responding further I did a half-hearted search for where Holden stashed the girl until a more reasonable response came to me. “You try freeing every jinni in the entire world and we’ll see how you look.”

“Maybe you need to take a break,” he said gently.

“There’s not time,” I muttered.

He sighed. “There is always time, you just have to take it.” Why couldn’t he just leave it alone? “Are you ready to tell me what is going on yet?”

“With what?” I asked blandly, refusing to look at him.

“With you and Holden.”

I couldn’t find her anywhere. “Little girl, are you hungry?” I called out, continuing to poke around the room.

Quintus caught my arm to stop me. “You can’t see her?”

I blinked. “Do you know where she is?”

He frowned. “She’s a human, Olivia. You can sense humans.”

I tried to use my guardian sense, but it made my chest ache. “Maybe I’ll sit down after all.”

I sank onto the couch, closed my eyes, and leaned back against the cushion. Quintus took my hand and pushed light into me. After a few minutes I felt better, not renewed, but the edge was definitely taken off. I smiled and squeezed his hand before I opened my eyes. “Thank you.”

“Anytime, you know that.” His face was thoughtful and I pulled my hand away from his quickly. Perhaps I’d let him hold on for too long. “I think you’re unwell, Olivia, but you know that, don’t you?”

“It’s just stress. You know, it’s the silent killer.” I smiled but he didn’t look convinced. I sighed. “A lot has happened in the last couple weeks and there’s a ton to catch up on. The angel burned through most of my energy. I have feelings to feel.” Sadness latched onto me again.

“Then take the time to take care of yourself. I don’t understand what you’re doing. What do you want?”

“I just need to make things right before it’s too late.” The words spilled from my lips, though I hadn’t wanted to say them. Tears came to my eyes.

He reached for me again, but I stood up.

“It’s familiar, but I just can’t quite put my finger on what’s wrong with you.” He frowned in my general direction.

Yep. Definitely let him hold on too long.

I waved him off. “I’m feeling better already.” I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders and looked around the room again. This time I spotted her little soul though it was still faint to me. She was sitting in the cabinet of the entertainment center, playing with her doll. I sat back on my heels and didn’t reach for her.

“Eat?” I asked.

She nodded and crawled out.

“I’ve got this, Quintus. Thanks again for your help. Talk to you later.” I walked to the back of the warehouse with the girl, my hands shaking like leaves as dizziness hit me again. I shouldn’t have wasted my energy on the guardian powers.

Quintus followed us into the kitchen. “How long have you known you were sick?”

“Since I woke up or thereabouts,” I said, looking into the refrigerator.

“Surely there is something we can do, something that will make you better?”

I bit my lip. “Well, what you just did gave me more energy than I’ve had for days. If you could keep me going—I know it’s not a permanent solution—until all of this is done, then…” I shrugged.

He blinked a few times. “Then what?”

“Then we’ll let the virus or whatever it is run its course, but you have to swear to me not to tell Holden. I don’t want him to stay with me because he feels sorry for me. If he wants to leave, I want him to have that option.”

Quintus gave me an incredulous look. “Why would he want to leave?”

I rubbed my temples. “Because I ruined everything.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Nothing. It’s nothing. I just don’t want his or anyone’s sympathy right now.” I didn’t deserve it. I pulled out a pan and worked on making a grilled cheese sandwich for the girl, pretending I didn’t feel Quintus staring at my back.

“Olivia, it’s not always about what you want.” The emotion in his near-whisper made my throat hurt, and tears threatened to spill over my lashes. His gentle hands turned me around. His own eyes were wet. Damn it. He had figured it out. “You should tell Holden.”

“Tell him what?” I asked barely breathing.

“That you’re dying.”

I looked away.

“I thought so,” he said softly.

“When are you going to admit things are over with your little chickadee?” Sybil asked, trailing her finger along my jaw. “Love is such a prickly beast. It’s always best to avoid it, and when that isn’t possible?
Kill it
. Can I be there when you let her down? So smug.”