Chapter Seven
Zavier prowled the small, cluttered confines of the study at Liss and Maisy’s house. He wasn’t happy being stuck in there. The slice of pizza in his hand barely helped. Small spaces made him twitchy.
Not enough room to extend his wings.
Not enough room to slash a sword in defense.
Too reminiscent of the cell he’d been held in for three endlessly painful months. Sure, the study was well lit, full of comfortable furniture and two beautiful women—so it was nothing like his cell. The idea of the small space, however, was enough to put him on edge.
He wouldn’t leave, though. Not after the stunt Liss pulled with the relocator ring. Happily, everyone in their group had agreed with him that Liss couldn’t sort through the former Keeper’s probably mystical trinkets without backup.
Evangeline was here. The dark angel, no, the first Dark Nephilim as her grandfather Lucifer had recently revealed, knew plenty. More than Zavier and the guys knew about some things. The Nephilim order very much worked on a need-to-know basis. Whereas Eva had been raised by her Fallen Angel aunt in Hell. Rules weren’t a thing down there.
Technically, Eva’s presence and knowledge were enough to keep Liss safe.
“Technically” was no longer good enough when it came to that particular human, though. The night Zavier had spent with Liss had changed, well, everything.
Not that he’d tell her.
It had unleashed something within him.
Unlocked?
Broken through all the shields he’d carefully shored up for decades. She had. With her trust. With her willingness to work through a fear to be with him. Her bravery. That relocator ring had not just half suffocated her but shook her to the core. Yet Liss shook it off.
To be with him .
It was humbling. Amazing. And Zavier had zero clue what to do about it. All he could do was make sure that she didn’t touch anything else that might accidentally kill her. And try to hide his unsettledness .
He went back to the box for another slice. Fighting with something would settle him. Not an option. But planning to fight someone might do the trick.
“Hey, Eva. You had the run of all of Hell when you lived there, right?”
She set down the bone carved with runes they’d been working at translating. And turned that cool blue gaze on him like a laser. Guess she’d seen through his attempt to be casual with the question.
“Theoretically. But it isn’t very much fun to do homework sitting by a fiery pit of screaming souls. There were parts I very much avoided.”
“Isn’t living in Hell and having to do homework redundant?” Liss asked with a quirked eyebrow.
God, she was beautiful. She’d changed out of her boring office temp clothes while they ordered the pizza. Now Liss was in leggings and a fuzzy red sweater that kept sliding off one shoulder. That slide made it obvious she wasn’t wearing a bra.
Zavier had already almost lunged for her seven times.
He’d kept count. He’d run an extra mile tomorrow for each time that temptation came close to winning out over control.
Eva, however, still aimed a squinty stink eye at him. “I didn’t think any of our plans included another trip to Hell. So why are you asking?”
Why were the three new women in his life so smart? Maisy was people-smart, Liss was street-smart, and Eva, damn it to hell, was just freaking book-smart. “Well I was wondering if you might be willing to draw me a map. Not of the whole thing. Just a giant X marks the spot would be good enough for me.”
“Who’s the X for?”
This could get tricky. Seeing as how he’d probably used up all of his luck for the next seventeen years by having sex with Liss three nights ago. “Do you, um, know Aamon?”
Eva abandoned the desk, coming around it to confront him, toe to toe. “Drop it, Zavier. Drop this whole nonchalant routine. You don’t pull it off well. You’re practically vibrating with intensity. Tell me what you need to know. Like we respect each other.”
Damn it. She’d hit his weak spot. He did respect her. Which meant he did need to stop trying to trick her into thinking this whole conversation didn’t matter to him.
“Fine. Do you know Aamon?”
Elbow supported by her other arm, Eva tapped a pale blue-tipped nail against her lips. It looked like she was thinking. Except Eva was brilliant and never made a show of thinking unless she was being snarky.
Didn’t bode well.
“Hmmm. You mean the Fallen Angel who embraced his dark side and became a Grand Marquis of Hell, ruling over forty legions of demons? Yeah, he taught me how to play hopscotch. Used to give me a Tootsie pop every time I won.”
Liss’s jaw dropped. “Seriously?”
“No. Of course not,” she said in a warm, reassuring tone. Right before she spun back to face Zavier with a scowl. “Why would I be friends with a powerful demon lord?” And her tone had frosted over just like Niagara Falls was starting to do along the edges.
Zavier, however, had faced plenty more pissed-off combatants. A little snark wouldn’t deter him. “Sounds like you know of him, though.”
“Sure. He never got invited to dinner at my aunt’s house, though. Because of the whole thoroughly evil Hell demon thing.”
“Right. Whatever.”
“His preferred form is a wolf with a serpent’s tail. He spits flames. Why are you asking about this dirtbag?”
Liss sucked in a sharp breath. She rose from her cross-legged position on the floor, discarding the logbook she’d been entering into a laptop. Guess she’d put the pieces together faster than her friend.
Zavier rubbed at the decades-old bite scars near his elbow. The poison had prevented them from being fully healed despite all the magical potions they’d tried. ”Do you know where he lives?”
Evangeline combed her fingers through the long blonde hair hanging over her shoulder. “Do I need to spin another tale of how I’d go over and watch Halloween movies at his house? Or is the massive sarcasm already implied enough?”
“I’m being upfront. Like you asked. How about you stop snarking at me?”
Liss was still poised on her toes, as if ready to move to help him. But instead, she snorted. “It isn’t physically possible. The longer Evangeline lives with us, the more her snark grows. Like necrotizing fasciitis.”
That earned her an eye roll. “Thanks, Liss.”
Okay, subtlety wasn’t working. Zavier just went for it. “I’m not implying that you’re BFFs with the dude. I need to pin down his location. To know how hard-slash-impossible it would be to get to Aamon.”
“Why?”
“I want to kill him.” There. He’d said it.
He couldn’t look at Liss. Too big a chance there was revulsion painted across her pretty face at his announcement. Because his desire, no, need to commit straight-up murder would no doubt erase any feelings of tenderness she thought she held for him.
Evangeline crossed her arms. “ Nephilim fight to defend and protect. They don’t hunt. Or kill without reason.”
“I’ve got plenty of reasons.” There was a moment of silence.
A heavy silence that was practically visible. The flare of Evangeline’s eyelids told him when she’d finally clued in to Aamon being the one who’d captured and tortured him.
“It’d break all the rules,” she finally murmured.
From his peripheral vision, Zavier caught Liss inching closer to him. Or closer to the door to get away from him. He put the odds at fifty/fifty for either one.
“Hardly. The guy’s a Grand Marquis of Hell. The sort of creature we kill every damn day to keep the human world safe and Heaven with one extra tick in the score column. He’s no angel.” At least, that was the rationale he planned to use with Rhys and Gideon.
A hand at her throat, Eva said, “Neither are you, if you do this. Isn’t that why you haven’t pursued revenge in all this time?”
“Yeah.” Not really.
You didn’t just wander through Hell. Nephilim could get there. They were far from welcome, however. He’d had no way of tracking down Aamon’s location until Eva arrived.
Zavier also hadn’t wanted to leave Rhys and Gideon. They were a team.
As for how the killing would impact his soul? Full-blooded angels already viewed his kind as an abomination. The angelic forces saw Nephilim as utterly disposable fighting machines.
Rhys and Gideon both had women they loved now. They’d miss him, but they’d be fine. So if he sought a little long-overdue vengeance and lost his wings and his soul as a result, would it really matter?
“Then why now?” Eva pressed.
That one was easy. He tossed his crust—why did anybody bother with those dry and sauce-free edges?—into the box and nabbed another slice. “As I’m constantly reminded, the world may be about to end,” Zavier said with a quick glance at Liss. She wrinkled her nose at his quote. “Figured it was time to seize the day.”
“You shouldn’t indiscriminately kill anyone right now. Not until we get answers. We need the combined efforts of everyone to chase down every avenue. We’ll need your strength, your powers, and your decades of experience to have any chance at coming out on top.” Eva was still in lecture mode. It reminded him of when she did her actuary thing at Metafora. Boring as fuck, super specific and detailed in her pursuit of information.
“Nothing would give me greater pleasure than digging up an entire forest of answers.” He gestured to the spade-shaped artifact on the big wooden desk. “Maybe that one’s enchanted. Stick it in the dirt, make a wish, and all is revealed,” he said with a mystical wave of his hands.
“Don’t be a snot.”
“I genuinely don’t think I’ve ever been called that before. Guess the world really is about to end.”
“She’s serious, Zavier,” Liss said. “Hear her out.”
“It is just the six of us.” The shadow, the mere idea of Eva’s wings flared a little, which showed how upset she was. “Blindly trying to stop an unknown number of full angels— each vastly more powerful than all of us put together—and an unknown number of demon lords, who are possibly more powerful, from unleashing unknown chaos on the world. Our best guess is that they plan to free the Titans. The original gods. War would break out above, below, and on the earth. Millions of humans would die, at a minimum.”
“When you put it like that, it sounds bad.” Zavier knew this wasn’t the time for joking. How the hell did you respond to the fate of the world being presented so bluntly?
“You can’t let a thirst for vengeance mess up the whole investigation. Not with humanity at stake. And Heaven. And Hell. And all the other dimensions and phases we barely understand.”
“I won’t.”
It wasn’t an empty promise. Zavier had no intention of doing anything that would screw up their mostly impossible—definitely improbable—plan to thwart a joint angelic/demon coup. It’d been a momentary weakness, thinking he could abandon Rhys and Gideon in the middle of this mess.
It’d been stupid.
It’d been impossible not to ask, after being so close to someone who could finally present him with the answer after all this time.
But if they were on the brink of Armageddon…well…lots of shit would go tits up. And in the middle of that mess, nobody would notice a prince of Hell getting his due. After he finished all of his duties.
He just didn’t know how to convince Evangeline of that. His ability to wait until his actions wouldn’t impact his friends.
“You need to tell him.” Liss walked right past Zavier without a glance to stand in front of Eva.
“Why?”
“It’ll focus him for this investigation and fight.”
“That sounds like a stretch, Liss.”
“He’ll feel better. Knowing that, when the time is right, he can act. Zavier would never leave any of us in the lurch. He’d never put this final battle on hold for a personal vendetta. Having that information, though, will get him through all of the rest of it.”
How…how did she know? How could a barely thirty-year-old human understand his decades of stored bitterness?
Resentment.
Rage .
How did Liss see inside his skull to feelings he’d never shared with anyone?
Plus, the entire Order of Nephilim abandoned him when he was held prisoner. They refused to let anyone search for him—which was why Rhys and Gideon dropped out to find him. Liss was the first besides his two brothers-in-arms to stand with him unconditionally.
“Yes,” Evangeline said in a low, hollow tone. “I know where Aamon’s castle is. And that it is too well guarded to be breached. Especially by an obvious angelic warrior. You’re a flashing neon sign for the side of Good.”
Please. He’d been toying with this plan for-freaking-ever. Zavier had already thought of every possible scenario and come up with at least three ways to deal with each one. “It won’t be that well guarded in the middle of an apocalypse.”
Eva pointed at him, frustration etched in the lines around her mouth and eyes. “If we’re in the middle of an apocalypse, you’ll be too busy fighting at our side for a side quest to Hell.”
Liss wrapped both her hands around Eva’s. “Tell him. Please.”
Zavier was not used to someone fighting his battles for him. It felt a lot like doing a shot of tequila. A pack of heat followed by soothing warmth.
She bit her lip for all of five seconds before capitulating. “I’ll draw you a map. It’ll be basic. I’m not buying pastels and making an art project out of this thing, so don’t tell Maisy.”
“Fine.” Zavier couldn’t believe it’d worked. It was the first step down a road he’d been envisioning since the first moment he’d been chained up in Aamon’s dungeon.
“If this ends up biting us in the ass, I’ll blame you,” she said to Liss.
“Doesn’t matter,” she said cheerfully. “If it does go sideways, as you so darkly predict? No doubt I’ll be dead already.”
And the righteous joy Zavier had been nursing at the thought of finally having a shot at Aamon disappeared.
…
“I’m both psyched and scared to be here,” Aradia said as she ground something squishy, wet, and smelly with a mortar and pestle.
Liss looked around the lab in the armory underneath Metafora. Sure, it was the guys’ domain, but it wasn’t a messy frat house. Each of the weapons, from guns to knives to chains, sparkled. You could eat off the floor of the training area, and it didn’t have even a hint of a gym smell. The lab was ruthlessly organized and spotless. “Why?”
“The fact that Rhys and his friends let me into their secret Batcave proves that it really is almost the end of the world.”
Liss had gotten the impression that the witch had helped the Nephilim multiple times. She’d also thought that, in the paranormal world, the half-angels were an open secret. “You knew all about them before I came along.”
“Knew, sure. Worked together when it was mutually beneficial. Hooked up with Gideon—at my place.” Aradia used her forearm to brush a thick swoop of bangs to the side of her forehead. “Nobody knows where the most powerful Nephilim in the world live. The fact that they told little ol’ me means that they’re desperate.”
Part of Liss agreed. That super-scared part that woke her up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat about what she’d gotten herself into.
But every time, she got herself back to sleep with the reminder that the Nephilim had kept humanity safe through literally eons of demonic attacks. They got this.
Probably.
Liss continued filling the sink with soapy water to wash vials. “Mmm, not desperate. Ultra strategic. They use potions against certain demons. They use a heck of a lot of ’em to heal. We don’t know how many other Nephilim we’ll get to stand behind us, but we’ve got to be prepared. Your vast experience with potions makes it an obvious choice to invite you to the potion party.”
“They did not call it that.” Aradia’s tone dripped with disbelief.
Rhys had actually volunteered for a mission so that he wouldn’t have to participate in something that sounded like it “should take place in Barbie’s dreamhouse.” Zavier had been none too pleased to draw the short straw and stay with the women.
“Well, no. I named it. Why can’t things be useful and fun?” That earned her a friendly shoulder-bump from the witch.
“I like your approach,” Aradia said.
Excellent. Liss had been waiting for the right moment to ask Aradia a question. Plucking off hell-toad scales had required too much attention to allow for random conversation. Stirring the sacred fire had just been terrifying. This was her opening.
“Quick question for you.”
Aradia emptied her mortar into a pot. “We’ve got at least another two hours ahead of us. Give me the long version. Or turn on some music.”
“May I join your coven?”
Dammit. Liss’d started in the wrong place. Especially since Aradia was the leader of her coven—this wasn’t a low-level, under the radar request. “I mean, how does one go about becoming a witch? Is it like a sorority—do I have to be voted in and invited?”
“Whoa.”
“Too many at once, right? I guess I’d have to become a witch before joining a specific coven. How do I do that?” Liss lifted a soap bubble–covered arm. “But I wouldn’t want to cheat on you. Your coven would definitely be my first choice.”
Aradia held up both hands, palms up, to stop her. “You’re not a witch.”
“I could be, though, right?” She’d do the homework. Put in the time and practice. Liss had a master’s degree—research wasn’t a new concept.
“No.” Aradia’s tone bordered on pitying. “You could become a follower of Wicca. That’s a religion. They call themselves witches. But they’re not the real deal.”
“I don’t need a new religion. I’m good with the standard ham-on-Easter, carols-at-Christmas version I’ve got going on now.”
“That’s the thing. Real witches have real power. It would’ve been apparent as soon as you hit puberty, if not before. If nothing unexplainable’s happened to you by now, you’re not a witch.”
Hardly. Nothing about her life had made sense for the past six months. “I had a demon show up at my best friend’s thirtieth birthday party and threaten to eat us. That’s pretty inexplicable.”
“Have you channeled any spirits? Of the dead? Seen any glimpses of the future? Tried to wish a flower back to life and it actually worked?”
“No.” She’d bought that Secret book and worked for six weeks on manifesting Carlos Ramirez into noticing her. Liss had stopped when he did finally notice her…slipping on the ice in ridiculous boots and flashing the entire quad her Grinch underwear.
“Then why do you want to be a witch? Because you can come to our solstice celebrations without joining, you know.”
Their Beltane party had been very, very fun. But that wasn’t it. “I’m currently useless—as far as saving the world goes. I’ve spent my whole life being told in subtle and obvious ways that I’m useless. My parents flat-out told me. My school district let me go. Now I’m a daily liability to all of you. I want to contribute.”
“You are, right now.” Aradia nodded at the brimming, bubbled sink. “You’re helping me.”
“I’m a dishwasher. There’s literally a machine in every house and apartment that could do what I’m doing.”
Aradia wiped her hands on the towel tucked into the wide leather belt cinching her jeans. She always looked amazing. To spend a day merely brewing potions, she’d paired skinny jeans with a chunky crop top that showed off her crescent moon belly piercing. Knowing this would be the case, Liss had spent an extra few minutes perusing her own closet. Nothing wrong with healthy competition. Her forest green turtleneck hugged her breasts before tucking into black jeans.
Okay—that was probably more for Zavier’s benefit than Aradia’s. Because, for whatever reason, the two of them hadn’t been alone together since their epic night in Brazil. Liss knew and accepted that there were no expected or automatic do-overs when it came to a hookup.
She also knew that she hadn’t gotten nearly enough of him.
And planned to re-seduce him at the first opportunity.
“I’m not the touchy-feely type. Your aura tells me that you aren’t, either.” Aradia reached out to give Liss’s elbow a gentle squeeze. “But…do you need to talk? Get some things off your chest?”
Yikes.
It was like going into a job interview and accidentally getting the HR director to awkwardly pat your back as you spilled all the personal tea.
“No. Thank you, but no. You were right with your initial instinct. I don’t wallow and sigh dramatically while finger-combing my hair.” In fact, Liss hated watching others do that. “I move forward. Which is what I’m trying to do right now. Taking a positive step toward addressing a need. A total lack in the special skills that all of you have.”
“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” Zavier stomped in from the elevator area.
Liss took a split-second to register how good he looked—especially now that she knew everything hiding under the gray fisherman’s sweater and black jeans. Then she went with her gut and got pissed.
“I may not need to be hugged and soothed right now, but I sure as hell don’t need to be yelled at, either. Why were you eavesdropping?”
“Attempting to be polite. Which has now bitten me in the ass, so see if I ever try that again.”
“Now’s not a great time, Zavier.” Aradia made shooing waves with both hands. “We’re in the middle of something. Go practice throwing or stabbing or whatever and come back in ten minutes.”
Even worse. Aradia thought it’d take ten minutes for Liss to get herself emotionally buttoned back up? Showed how little she knew. Liss had spent most of her life repressing and hiding her emotions. She could do it in less time than it took to fasten her bra.
If she couldn’t be a witch, she still wanted to be Aradia’s friend. She didn’t want to be seen as a mess/disaster/burden. Zavier’s interruption couldn’t have been more poorly timed.
Liss shook her hands off over the sink, then marched over to him, dripping on the concrete floor and not giving so much as an eighth of a fuck. Then she poked him in his belly. Her knuckle almost jammed against the hard-as-steel abs, but the zing of pain was worth it, given how his eyes widened until those impossibly and unfairly long lashes hit his brows.
“Nobody asked you to skulk around.” Another poke. “That same, unanimous group of freaking nobody asked for your opinion.”
He bared his teeth in a half grimace, half super-scary smile. “When did you ever get the impression that I waited for permission to do whatever the hell I want?”
Absolutely never. Plus, she couldn’t ask him to leave, since this was his building. Liss decided letting him rant would end this whole thing faster. “Fine. Why did you call me dumb?”
“Didn’t. I called what you said dumb.”
She raced her mind backward. “I stated that I don’t have any special skills like the rest of you. Which is a matter of fact, not opinion.”
“You don’t need any. You’re special enough as you are.”
“What?” Was he really leaping to her defense? Sort of?
“You’re tough. Tougher than the scales on the worst demon in Hell.”
“Be still my heart. All this flattery will make me swoon.”
“You’re stubborn. As much as me, which is saying a lot. You’re caring. That’s way more than most people have going for them. Play to the strengths you’ve already got. You, Liss Jemison, are special, and don’t you fucking dare think otherwise.”
Then he stormed back into the elevator. His clomping still echoed off the walls when the doors dinged shut to whoosh him back upstairs.
Zavier really had complimented her. So well that Liss did, indeed, feel a tad woozy from the onslaught. He’d protected her from her own insecurities. Wow.
Aradia let out a low whistle. “What just happened?”
“I think Zavier perhaps let the genie out of the bottle. For the first time in a very long time.” And it was fascinating that the first thing to burble out hadn’t been that rage and darkness he always warned about.
“No kidding. Lotta feelings got unleashed. I should probably smudge this place with sage before we continue.” Aradia started rummaging through the nooks and crannies of the apothecary cabinet. “What was that outburst really about?”
“I couldn’t say.”
Liss could guess, though. And her guess was that it was going to be easier than anticipated to get Zavier naked again…