Jude; The Fallen (The Fallen Series, Book 2) (14 page)

No one was quick enough to stop Coriander as she flung herself at Domniel, screaming, “Where? Where is my baby?”

Domniel was almost terrifying, his eyes blocked by a heavy swath of black fabric, blindfolding them. His lip curled, “What kind of a fucking mother are you that you don’t know where your little waste of sperm is?”

Every woman in the kitchen gasped as if he’d slapped Coriander. The redhead’s eyes narrowed as she hauled back her arm, palm open wide.

A steely, cool hand locked around her wrist and Lucius croaked out, “Don’t.”

He looked to Domniel and asked, “Did you hear her?” The blind angel nodded. “When?” Lucius asked again as he steered Coriander into Jude’s grasp.

Domniel’s head tilted in thought, his dark hair tumbling over his forehead to cover the front of his face. “About sunrise. So, maybe an hour ago. Little shit makes a lot of noise…then again, so does that fucking badger.”

Lucius nodded. “Thank you, Domniel. I’d say go and get some rest, but we have to find her. Did she go north or south?”

Domniel’s lips and jaw hardened as he said, “South. She went south.” He straightened to a stiff stand and waited before saying, “I heard screaming, Lucius.”

Everything exploded as Coriander belted past Domniel and out the door, screaming her daughter’s name. Persephone and Teraslynn raced after her.

Domniel turned and growled, “Happy hunting,” as he left. The four angels stared at each other, Alex catching their glances.

“How many acres to the south?” Mordecai asked.

“About fifty or sixty, I think,” Alex answered as he stepped in front of the gathered angels and undid the drawstring on his sweats. “Most of the acreage is wooded, so you’ll need a good nose to find any trace of Ashtiru.” The little girl’s name was rich and resonant on his tongue, with a definite Middle Eastern curl on his accent. His sweatpants hit the floor as he got naked and looked at four pairs of shocked, raised eyebrows. Alex’s face set into a hard mask as he glared at them. “No questions.” In a bright flash of blue light, Alex was gone.

The sandy colored dog, its big ears pointed sharp and its snout narrow, was big. It stared at each angel with deep, cinnamon-colored eyes before looking to the back door. It whined as it trotted to the kitchen table and nosed at the crinkled box of Cheerios.

“You want a treat, boy?” Mordecai snickered as he reached for the box. A growl was punctuated with quick huffs of its muzzle. The deaf angel set the box on the floor and stepped back as the dog rammed his snout in the box. The dog snuffled in the box for a moment, and then shook the box off. The hackles on its back raised as it released an unearthly growl, followed by a blood-curdling howl. It took off like a shot out the open door, leaving the angels to gape at one another in befuddled silence.

“Well,” Lucius said on a low breath, “I sure as fuck wasn’t expecting that.”

Jude stared at the mess of Cheerios and Alex’s discarded sweatpants on the floor. “You and me both, boss. You and me both.”

Jude wiped the sweat from his brow again as he thought about the last six hours. They had been tromping through the woods, calling Ashtiru’s name. The dog, which he had begrudgingly reconciled as Alex in his mind, had turned out to be quite useful to the search party. Luckily, they were about fourteen people strong on the ground, and Lucius had taken to the air.

He pushed another branch out of his way, and flinched as a rabbit bolted for the safety of its warren. Coriander’s crazy, Irish sister had turned out to be useful as well. Her band members were equally noisy, like a giant murder of crows as they entered the search, each with a drum in tow. They had fanned out after a moment and disappeared.

Jude’s head snapped as a booming bass of a drum came from his left. It was followed by a large amount of whistling and shouting in what sounded like Gaelic.

Bells jingled rhythmically on his right and Teraslynn burst from between two trees, Coriander right behind her. Coriander locked wide eyes with his as she gasped, “Seamus found something.” Jude followed them.

The badger, Princess, lay in a mashed heap beneath morning glory vines. The froth on her jaw was bloody, her eyes closed in pain. Jude hugged Coriander close as Seamus explained how he found her, while running his hand around the rim of his doumbek in nervousness. Seamus, like most of the musicians, didn’t speak English, instead using a combination of Arabic and Gaelic. Jude caught tail ends of the Arabic, but the rest might as well been the Greek Coriander and Alex preferred.

Coriander and Teraslynn understood it all. There was some soft crying before they left the badger in peace to look for Ashtiru again.

It came upon Jude unexpectedly. The shoe, a little white sandal, peeked out from underneath the edge of a fallen log. Jude kicked the rest of it aside and stared at the smashed piece of delicate footwear, the growing tightness in his chest threatening to cut off his air. He closed his eyes, the brush rustling as Alex sniffed around. Brimstone filled his nose and he choked as he heard Alex’s plaintive whine. The dog nudged his leg with a wet snuffle, and then leaned down to nose at the shoe. His body stiffened in response to the demon scent. And from the stench permeating this section of the woods, it was powerful. His wings burned as rage filled him, and it took him a moment to realize that Alex wasn’t the one growling.

Jude put two fingers to his lips and whistled for the others.

Every moment for Coriander was an eternity. Finally, it was over. She cradled the shoe, her hand shaking and her teeth sinking into the flesh of her bottom lip hard enough to break skin. Jude. Jude had found it, the last vestige of her precious baby. She could remember how much Ashtiru loved her white sandals. The sandal twitched in her hand, hard enough to drop. Coriander gasped and fumbled to hold it tighter. She knew the moment she opened her mouth she would start screaming and probably never stop, so she held it tighter and cradled it close to her face. Coriander breathed deep and sulfur filled her nose. A million terrifying memories screamed in her mind at the smell: her mother, her father, and the demon. Coriander opened her mouth and screamed.

Chapter Seven

By the time they realized little Ash was well and truly gone, Coriander had worked herself into a strop of biblical proportions. Jude and the other angels stood back and watched, helpless in bewildered confusion as the tiny redhead exploded in a tirade of righteous fear. She screamed at the top of her lungs while Alex and Winston trailed after her, frantically trying to get her to calm down.

The point of convergence seemed to be Coriander’s office, where they all filed in to see her crying out in hysterics over a crumpled note in her hand. She sobbed and flailed in a wild mass of flying limbs, making it impossible for anyone to get close. It wasn’t until Teraslynn stepped up and delivered a whistling, open-handed slap to her sister’s cheek that things began to settle.

The crack of Teraslynn’s hand against Coriander’s cheek echoed through the room, and snapped her head back. Jude held his breath as Coriander’s green eyes focused from glassy terror to outright anger.

“Jaysus
’, Cori! Would you shut it?” Teraslynn yelled. “We won’t get fecking’ anywhere with you ranting like a thrice-damned banshee!”

The murderous glare in Coriander’s eyes was trained on her sister for a moment before her face drooped and she stumbled into Teraslynn’s outstretched arms. The willowy blonde held Coriander gently, murmuring soft Gaelic into her ear. She plucked the crumpled note from Coriander’s grasp and handed it off to Alex as Persephone sidled in, wrapping her arms around the sisters.

Jude looked sharply at Alex. “What does it say?”

Alex unfolded the paper as his eyes scanned over it, shadows crossing his features. “We have a week. Bring him the amulet and he returns Ash. If not, he’ll kill her.”

Coriander screamed again and Jude felt the air squeeze from his lungs. “What amulet?” he asked.

The redhead choked out, “The same one you tried to take from me the first time we met. It’s the only one I have. I don’t even know what it does.”

Jude’s voice cut like steel. “It’s going to get your daughter back.”

Lucius’ voice was soft. “Where did it take her?”

“It?” Alex asked.

“Demon. Don’t tell me you didn’t smell the brimstone with that nose.”

Alex’s face went pale. “It’s been a long time.”

“So where is it?” Jude asked.

Alex shook his head. “Not sure.” He handed the note over to Jude. “’One daughter sleeps while one daughter dies.’ What the fuck does that mean?”

Coriander’s head snapped up. “Daughter?” She scrabbled for the note, panicked eyes reading over it again. “The statue.
Meketaten
,” she whispered. She ran to the glass case in the corner of the room. The note fell from her hands as she pressed them against the case with the death mask. “Akhenaten’s daughter. He knows this piece. That’s why he was here. He was supposed to deliver the statue.” She turned back around, frightened eyes glassy with panic. “He’s taken her to Egypt,” she said with certainty. “To Meketaten’s tomb.”

Coriander was a dervish, rushing out the office to whirl around the living room in a panic, her tiny hands flailing in the air. “Cairo. We have to get to Cairo.” She rounded on Alex. “Look,” she said, grabbing at him, “we have to get in touch with the Egyptian authorities. Monitor traffic in and out. Maybe we can find her that way. Do you still have your contacts in Immigration? It’ll be a rush,” she panted, digging in her pockets for her cell phone, “but maybe we can get a charter and leave tonight. We’ll need papers and maybe a team. I’ll have to find the tomb. Avalon. I need Avalon. She knows the texts. She can help me find it.” She was babbling now as she pushed at Alex. “Go on, go pack. Go!” She pushed harder, but the dark-haired man didn’t move. Jude watched his face tighten.

“Cori,” Alex said softly. “You know I can’t. I’m sorry. We’ll find another way.”

“No!” she screeched. “You get on the phone! You get us a fucking flight! I won’t let him take her like this! I can’t-I won’t…I-” She broke down, and Alex caught her before she hit the floor.

“It’s okay, Cori. We’ll find her. We’ll get her back.” Alex’s eyes found Jude’s over Coriander’s hair, beseeching him.

Jude stepped forward, and Alex turned her gently into his arms. The rest of the room erupted in a frenzy of shouts as the enormity hit home. Coriander pushed out of his hold and into the mass of bodies, adding to the noise.

“Will everyone just calm the hell down?” Jude roared. The room silenced instantly. Lucius opened his mouth to step forward, but Jude shoved a hand in his face. “Not now, boss.”

His leader pursed his lips and gave him a long look, then relaxed and remained silent. Jude felt a twinge of guilt at putting the kibosh on Lucius. He’d never overstepped before. He had never needed to, but this was Ash. And there was something about that little girl that tore open his heart. They had to find her.

“I can’t go, Coriander.” Alex’s voice was soft, tinged with heartache, and he could see the effect the gentle tone had on her. Her shoulders slumped and a tiny sigh escaped her.

“Why can’t you go?” Jude blurted, enraged that the other man could be so calm. “She’s your daughter, for fuck’s sake! If she were mine, I would tear this world apart to find her!”

“But she’s not yours,” Alex snapped. “And don’t you presume to tell me how to handle this. She’s my child, and it’s killing me—“ his voice broke in a harsh sob, “fucking killing me.”