Chapter 6
6
TLALLI
T lalli hated to admit when she was wrong. She had been wrong about a lot of things, though she denied just how many. But of all the things she had been wrong about, she had never been more wrong than she’d been about the Dominion. And she could no longer lie to herself about it. Nothing they had ever done or could ever do for her was worth the trouble of working with Anthony.
He was pushing her to the edge, wedging his brand of vitriol between her logical mind and her basic instinct. And she did not care that he knew she’d spoken to Cahuani. It had been inevitable, given her carelessness. Her very intentional carelessness.
At least... that was what she told herself. Otherwise, she would have to admit she was desperate, and Tlalli did not do desperate. Her mother had raised her better than that.
However, Mecati taught her never to run from a problem either, and here she was, pacing some random hallway in this labyrinthine mansion, trying not to bash her fists into something. Being the bigger person was only growing more difficult the longer she paced, however, Anthony’s smug face refusing to leave her be. She was going to kill him before long. She was going to kill him, and she was going to enjoy it.
A figure appeared at the end of the hall just as she turned around again, but she didn’t allow her surprise to cloud her features or disrupt her step, and she kept her head down. Then their voice fell over her shoulders like a sudden wave, nearly knocking her clean off her feet.
“That was quite a show you put on.”
It took only a moment to aim all her ire at Cahuani. She turned on her heel at once, then stalked toward him. “Listen, I’m not in the fuckin’ mood, all right, Cahuani?”
She could hear her mother in her voice right now, her sharp cadence and the dregs of her accent echoing through the corridor. Still, she expected Cahuani to do what Anthony would do, continue pressing and probing until she broke and the hall was assaulted by rain and lightning...
But no. He didn’t. He didn’t press. He didn’t probe. Instead, he halted in his steps, his features morphing from quiet amusement to genuine concern.
She almost hated that more. Almost.
Rather than asking what was wrong or demanding to know details, he merely... stepped around her and walked toward one of the rooms. After taking a key from his pocket, he unlocked the room and stepped inside, then held the door open for her.
“Are you gonna come in?” he asked, raising his brow when she only gawked at him.
“This is your room?” The question fell from her lips without her permission.
“It is. I assumed that’s why you’re up here.”
“How would I know what floor you’re on?!”
“Same way I know what floor you’re on. It’s part of the job.”
He looked sincerely confused, which helped her pull back from the edge she was teetering on just a bit. Though the problem with doing that was that it cleared her vision, most notably her vision of him. Going into that room was a bad idea.
He had to know what he was doing in that suit and cowboy hat, and if he didn’t, he was doing it very well regardless. Silver glinted in his thick beard where the hallway lights caught it, but the rest of him was bathed in shadow, an omen of what was to come if she accepted the invitation.
But she was angry and reckless and set on revenge, and she wasn’t sure she could stamp that out in the next few minutes.
“If you weren’t waiting for me, that’s fine,” he said, his tone neutral. “My mistake. Good night, Tlalli.”
She watched helplessly as he stepped farther inside the room, releasing the door behind him. Don’t do it, girl. You’ll wake up to regret it no matter where you are by then.
Although... maybe she was giving herself too much credit. It wasn’t like Cahuani, of all people, would let her do something reckless. Not that it was his job to keep her in check, but she trusted that he would at least prove to be a voice of reason. Maybe. Probably.
And even if he wasn’t, what the fuck was she afraid of again?
At once, Anthony’s face manifested behind her eyes, smirking and guffawing. She balled her hands into tight fists, her long nails threatening to either snap in half or go straight through her palms.
Hatred propelled her forth. This was a bad, horrible, terrible idea, and nothing good would ever come of it. He had to know that as well as she did, so the invitation was more likely to be a setup than an actual conversation of any type. After all, just this morning, he’d demanded she keep her distance. Why would he change his mind now just because she was upset?
It didn’t matter. It couldn’t matter. Because nothing could justify her walking through that door. Nothing.
She caught the door just before it closed and pushed her way inside.
As if he’d already known she would follow, Cahuani did not look up when she entered. He stood at the small bar on the opposite end of the room, pouring two glasses of wine, and she tried not to take offense at the assumption.
“Trying to get me drunk, then?” she blurted out, attempting to reclaim some semblance of control.
“Trying to be a good host,” he returned easily. “And I don’t have enough wine to get you drunk anyway, but if you’re so worried about what I might do to you, why come inside?”
She scowled. “Well, if you were so worried I was here to do something to you , why invite me inside?”
“I wouldn’t. If I still believed that. Just so we’re clear.”
Okay, now she was twice as confused.
“How the fuck do you just flip that fast? This afternoon, you were convinced I was out to get you.”
He chuckled. “Are you complaining?”
“No, I wanna know—” But then it clicked. “You talked to Anthony.”
Unless Anthony knew the mortal tending the bar in the lounge, which she highly doubted, that had to be the case. The two must have already run into each other. Cahuani must have been the one who snitched on her.
“I am not about to apologize for having suspicions you willingly gave me upon your betrayal. Don’t blame me for what trouble it caused you.”
“Oh, I don’t.” She was acting on instinct at this point. All she knew were barbs and defenses. “I promise you that your son is trouble at all hours of the day, not just when he has to see you again.”
She blinked and he was standing before her, holding out a glass of wine. She took it, if only to give her hands something to do.
“Regardless, whatever the trouble may be, you better find a way to refrain from taking it out on me, or I can send you right back to him.”
She scoffed, prepared to pop off on him again, but for one quick second, his eyes glinted like a sharp blade, and the warning was so dense that she lost her breath. Irritated, she took a drink from her glass.
Nonetheless, she did have to figure out a way to stop forgetting who she was talking to. This wasn’t Anthony. This was Cahuani, who was everything Anthony would never become. Anthony was a storm, but Cahuani was the calm sea before it. He was seemingly always in control. Anthony had his control panel right on his sleeve. She could press his buttons on accident. Cahuani was an enigma far too complex to be so easily manipulated. It angered her just as much as it relieved her.
“So you weren’t trying to set me up.” He stated this as if they were in a debriefing, while taking a seat on the couch and placing his hat on the seat beside him. “But you said you had business with me.”
“Didn’t you bring a demon or two with you? Can’t they tell you if I’m lying?” she asked, exasperated. She still had a mortal heart after all. It was not immune to their inquest.
“They could, but I don’t need them, nor do I want the help.” He leaned forward. “You have something to present to me, be my guest, but the warning I gave you earlier still stands.”
“You said to stay away. That was the original warning, remember?”
“Then let me formally update it.” Cahuani’s eyes burned into hers, and she felt as though they were crawling down her throat. Or up her belly. She couldn’t tell. “If you lie to me, mislead me, fuck with me or my job here at all, that warning stands. And remember, I said the wings would be sent to your employer. The rest of you? Oh, I’m sure you’ve been many places, but there is no place like the one you will end up. And in that place? You’re nothing but prey.”
“You won’t?—”
“I’ve waited four years, Tlalli. I can wait out a truce for two more days.”
She narrowed her eyes, but the act held little weight. Even sitting down, he was every bit as commanding as always, and she had no doubt he meant what he said. Obviously, he was worth something if the Puri didn’t kill him after the robbery. The Dominion surely would’ve killed her if she had failed. Michael had told her that at least a dozen times just before she left. Though she was certain Anthony still would have been welcomed with open arms. She didn’t understand it, but Michael seemed to have a bigger plan for him.
She thought of what Anthony must be doing right now, what he must be thinking, if he was freaking out. Goodness, she hoped he was freaking out. She’d left her phone in the hotel room earlier that night, and she’d made damn sure to keep their telepathic line closed, so any hope he had of getting in touch with her was all but lost. Unless he came to visit his father. And how ironic would that be?
It made her positively delighted.
“So you’re gonna help me,” she said, trying again to find footing in this conversation. She sat in the chair angled toward him beside the couch.
“I said I was gonna hear you out,” he corrected.
She bit her tongue.
“Whether or not I help you will depend on a few things, but right now, I wanna know what it is you need help with, Tlalli.”
Now she wasn’t sure if this was what she wanted to do or not. It seemed too easy, too simple. She had complete faith that he would help her once she told him, but what would it cost? Would she just end up in someone else’s cage?
Even with that thought at the front of her mind, her alternative did not become any less horrendous. She was tired of Anthony. She was tired of the Dominion. She was tired of all the lies and broken promises. She needed an escape, whatever that looked like. She would deal with whatever came next however she had to.
“I want out,” she stated plainly. “I want out of the Dominion, and I want away from Anthony.”
She expected him to say he told her so or to point out that she had put herself on this path by coming into his son’s life. She even thought he might scoff and ask her what the fuck she expected him to do. Instead, he merely stared at her, stroking his beard with those thick fingers.
“Have you been thinking about this long?”
“Since not long after we left you.”
“Did something happen?”
“A lot has happened, man.” She sighed, not really wanting to offer specifics. “You wanna know if I made this decision on a whim? I didn’t. I’ve tried to make it work, to remain rooted in my purpose, but it isn’t there. It isn’t with them anymore.”
“And what? You wanna trade sides?”
“I—Look, I don’t know about all that. Right now, I don’t wanna be on anyone’s side. I just wanna be?—”
“Free.”
She looked at him, and his eyes were doing that thing again. Looking deeper into her than she was prepared for. She couldn’t look away. It was as though she were in a trance. Especially when he licked his lips real slow and leaned back, propping his ankle on his knee. Ain’t no way he wasn’t doing this shit on purpose.
She sat back and crossed one leg over the other. “Yes, free,” she said at last.
“And how are you expecting this to go exactly? I mean, you may be able to persuade me emotionally, but you know who I work for. You know who you robbed. They won’t forgive a betrayal like that so easily.”
“I know.” She nodded. “I figured I help you get whatever y’all came here for, and you help me get away from the angels and live to tell the tale.”
“That won’t be enough, Tlalli. We’re getting that chalice with or without your help, I can assure you. But they’ll want information. They will want things to win a war: data, numbers, names .”
She didn’t hesitate. “And I will supply whatever I can.”
“Do you have no ties whatsoever to anyone in Heaven?”
She looked down at her lap. Elias appeared behind her eyes, but he was there and gone in an instant. They weren’t friends. They weren’t anything.
She had a few close acquaintances Upstairs—people who warmed her sheets or supplied her information every now and again—but she didn’t spend enough time up there to make lasting bonds. She was often on extended missions, like the heist at the Reyes Estate, and after her mother passed, she let a lot of other bridges fall into disrepair.
She wasn’t about to explain all that to him though.
“No, I don’t.” She took a drink of her wine before continuing. “Not anymore.”
“One more thing then. And I do expect an answer.”
She braced herself but maintained eye contact.
“What happened between you and Anthony? What changed?”
After a moment, a nervous laugh left her. “Are you gonna punish me for breaking your baby boy’s heart or something, Papa Bear?”
“I might have, if I thought he had one.”
She gaped at him a moment longer, trying to convince herself that this was a tactic. He was not yet an ally, and Anthony was still his son. She had to tread carefully.
Yet caution did not come to her. Instead, there was only agitation. “Then why does it matter to you?”
“Because he is the enemy now, and inevitably, I will have to face him. In order to do that, I have to know what he’s become.”
“How can I tell you that when I don’t think I knew him to begin with? I... It’s not like I loved him, Cahuani.”
“Do you have to love someone in order for them to hurt you?”
She pursed her lips, and just like that, a dozen memories flitted across the forefront of her mind.
“I never intended to stay with him,” she said softly, the words unspooling from her tongue of their own volition. “It was part of the job for me. Seduce him, get into your house, steal the amulet. That was what I agreed to.”
“With Michael?”
She nodded. “But apparently, Anthony and Michael had an agreement of their own.”
Cahuani shifted in his seat, and she bit her lip.
“I don’t know if they had already met by then or if Michael had just heard of his... aspirations , but either way, they played me same as I played you. When I got back to Eden, I didn’t get a promotion or even a pat on the back. I got told that I belonged to Anthony. I was his prize for betraying you.”
“Why would Michael do that?”
Tlalli shrugged. “Anthony asked. All he had to do was ask. I don’t know what grand plan they have for him, but Michael is... They treat him like a king up there. And nothing I said mattered. Not to Michael and not to Anthony. I can’t even sleep in the Garden with the other angels anymore, because Anthony would keep coming to my bed every night and demanding I fuck him.”
“Did he?—”
“No.” The word held so much venom. She wouldn’t let him ask. She couldn’t. The implication was enough. “I’m still stronger than him, and I don’t care what Michael says, I don’t belong to anyone.” She deflated some then. “But I know that I can’t fight either of them forever, and now that Michael makes us take all our missions together, I just never have a break.”
He stared at her for a long time, and eventually, her pride alone could not keep her eyes on his. She looked away, down at her wineglass.
The silence settled around them, not quite comfortable but not entirely unwelcome. It was only disturbed by what she believed to be the sound of his knuckles cracking. She remembered him doing that often when she lived in his house, all the while muttering under his breath. She could hear the words clearly too. He was counting to ten in their mother tongue—Nahuatl.
Eventually, he breathed out a heavy sigh.
“I’ll help you, Tlalli, but I am not playin’ games with you, all right? You do as I say. Regardless, I cannot make any promises about what the Puri will or won’t do.”
She shut her eyes. “I don’t care. I’m telling you, I just want out.”
“Okay. Then we’ll get you out.”
She heard him swallow more wine, which made her swallow hard in turn, and she gulped down the rest of her glass in one go. Why the fuck was she afraid? For so many nights during her six weeks’ stay in his house, she’d sat mourning her mother in his kitchen, letting her guard down when she should have been working to lower his. What could possibly be scarier than that? Why...
Oh . Maybe that wasn’t fear. Maybe that was shame.
As if compelled to ask, she blurted out the words before she could think twice. “So you forgive me then?”
She looked up just enough to catch him smirk. It made her head spin. Bastard.
“Oh, I ain’t sayin’ all that.”
She rolled her eyes. “Then what do I have to do for that?”
“Why do you want it?”
“Because I am sorry. Not for the robbery but for—for hurting you in the process. For lying to your face. I’m sorry, so just... tell me what I gotta do for your forgiveness.”
He cocked his head to the side. It almost made her regret asking. “Depends, I guess.”
“On what?”
“What are you willing to do?”
Bastard.
The man, who had just said he wasn’t playing, wanted to play. He was committing to it. And here she was trying to be the bigger person, the better person. The apple may have fallen a little closer to the tree than she’d initially guessed. At least, that was the best-case scenario. Worst-case was that Cahuani was something else entirely, something she had no clue how to deal with.
And that thought... Well, it did things to her she didn’t know how to cope with. Things that weren’t entirely bad.
The sudden thrill that went through her stopped Tlalli’s heart for a moment. But only for a moment. She was still angry, and she was still reckless. He was the worst possible decision she could make right now.
Unfortunately, he was also the only decision she wanted to make.