Chapter Nineteen
Liss sat next to Maisy on a very small, very pointy rock. “This place is beautiful, but not at all comfortable,” she groused.
Taranaki Falls in New Zealand was stunning, even in the two a.m. darkness. It cut through craggy volcanic cliffs with at least a sixty-foot fall of water. At the bottom was a pond-sized pool, completely surrounded with a wide moat of rocks. The only full-sized boulder that was truly flat and wide was being used by Aradia.
“You’re cranky because you don’t want to be here, aren’t you?”
Liss finished French braiding her hair and tied off the ends. “Why are you asking? Can’t I just be uncomfortable? These rocks are even worse than a bicycle seat.”
“I’m asking because you’ll be around a minion of Hell for the first time since Aamon put a price on your head. Minus the Loogaroo , of course, but the guys could never really pinpoint if that was an ordered hit or coincidence.”
Huh? “What price?”
“Sorry—it just sounds medievally cool to use those terms. You know, the demon that’s threatened to kidnap and torture you.”
“What demon?” Nothing Maisy said made sense. It did, however, sound completely awful.
“Uh-oh. Why does it feel like this is the first time you’re learning this information?”
“Because this is breaking news to me. Explain,” she demanded.
“Short version? Aamon’s spies told him about you being Zavier’s girlfriend. They saw you with him the first time we visited the Stronghold and leapt to the assumption that, well, we wanted them to. Aamon believes that taking you will be the proper punishment for Zavier getting rescued back in the day.”
Liss swung around, looking wildly at the supposedly empty landscape. “When is this supposed to happen? What should I watch out for?”
Maisy flapped her hand. “It’s just a threat. Aamon’s messing with his mind. Nobody believes he’ll act on it before this whole Titan thing comes to a head.”
“Nobody? You just said that Zavier did.”
“No, I said he was probably overthinking it. How being with him puts you in danger. You know he does an excellent noble martyr.”
This was why he’d been so reluctant to have sex after the first time. It made their relationship more real—and thus made the threat more real. To him, at least.
Son of a bitch . It was hard to tell if she was more mad or scared.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“We figured Zavier would. He certainly acted all constipated around you, switching from hot to cold. It seemed obvious that he’d told you, there’d been a fight, and he was pulling the martyr shtick instead of living fully in case the world ends.”
Yeah.
That tracked. It simply shifted her focus from the anger to the fear. “Go over again how the other guys aren’t worried at all about this threat?”
“It took Aamon months after you two being spotted together to issue his threat. Time works differently for eternal beings. He won’t actually hire someone to snatch you for a while. In the meantime, there’s the whole Titan coup to overthrow Good and Evil. In a perfect world, he won’t survive.”
Still…
Even if they won the big battle, Aamon might survive and come gunning for her. And her friends had blithely agreed to go ahead and kick that can of worry down the road?
“You’re saying it’s a matter of prioritization? Worry about the end of the world first, survive it, and then maybe worry about my imminent kidnapping and torture?”
“I knew you’d understand. Take it in stride.”
Maisy was right. Objectively. Liss knew that it was the decision that allowed all of them to focus. Plus, she was almost always with one of her super-powerful friends in this run-up to them forestalling the coup.
They believed she was safe.
She was safe. Here. Now. That’d have to be her mantra.
But she was also still a little bit mad at Zavier for keeping this from her when she kept asking him for honesty.
“We’re about to summon a demon over here. Do you two want to start paying attention maybe?” Gideon yelled from across the pool.
Maisy held out her hand. “Our life is weird, but wonderful.” They both stood.
Liss gave it a squeeze. “And very, very interesting. Plus, you and I handled high school boys. Pubescent boys. This demon doesn’t stand a chance against us.”
They picked their way gingerly across the rocks. Gideon and Evangeline were hovering overhead, the beat of their wings impossible to hear over the rush of water. Rhys had a dagger in one hand and a potion bottle in the other.
Aradia stood on the boulder, along with a candle at each compass point and a chalk triangle in the center. There wasn’t any wind, but her hair was whipping as she called in the elements. By the time they got close, she’d evidently finished most of the spell.
I name you, thirty-fourth spirit of the Ars Goetia, Earl of Hell of twenty-six legions,
Fallen Angel,
You cannot ignore my summons in body or spirit,
Furfur, you will appear here for me
As I will, so mote it be!
She pointed a wand tipped with a dark crystal in front of her. Black smoke filled the entire area between the candles, obscuring Aradia momentarily. Both Maisy and Liss leaned forward with a gasp.
Immediately though, the smoke disappeared, replaced by a column of flame. When it winked away, a deer with a fiery tail stood on the boulder.
Zavier sprang into action. He put the tip of his sword to its neck. “Back up. Don’t make me ask twice.”
Its hooves sharply clanked on the stone, drawing sparks. As soon as it fully crossed into the chalk triangle, it transformed into a man.
A take-your-breath-away, stunningly handsome man. This was his true form—that of the angel that he’d been. Tall, with a sweep of long blond hair in waves that hit his broad shoulders. A flowing white robe clung to model-like perfection of his muscles, splitting on the sides to reveal his skin.
What was shocking were his wings. They’d all met Evangeline’s aunt—a Fallen who’d stayed on the side of Good throughout her incarceration in Hell. She had kept her beautiful wings, only losing her halo.
Furfur’s wings looked…diseased. They were a sickly orange. Mottled. More full of holes than Swiss cheese. Patches of feathers had fallen away. No way could he still fly. It must be a side effect of becoming a full demon after his Fall.
“This is unexpected.” His voice was smoother, more plummy than a radio announcer. “What does a common witch want with me?”
“If I were common, I wouldn’t have managed to summon an Earl of Hell.” And yeah, Aradia gave a twitch of her wand that was so smugly badass that it made Liss snicker. “Let’s start with the ground rules. You’re here to answer our questions. Period. We already know that you can’t lie in this form while imprisoned in the magician’s triangle. Don’t bother attempting to be cryptic.”
“Forgive me. It has been a long time since I spoke with a human.” He raised his head to take in the Nephilim overhead. “I see that not only are you powerful, but so are your friends. What do you need of me?”
This was where it could get tricky. Furfur was required to answer questions. But they had to ask the right questions. They’d all spent days researching and checking to narrow it down to the most useful question. Because while they all agreed Aradia probably had the strength to summon him, they had no idea how long they could keep the demon on this plane.
Rhys stood with one foot slightly in front of the other. As if ready to leap into the boundary of the elemental circle and attack the demon if he so much as blinked wrong. “The Tree of Life. It exists in many myths and religions.”
“That is not a question. It is a fact.”
“So it’s real?” They’d found lots of mentions. References. But nothing anywhere close to concrete. And it was disconcerting that the foundation of their plan had been, until now, a big fat maybe .
“Of course.” Furfur looked both flabbergasted that they didn’t know and yet also patronizing at their lack of knowledge. “It connects everything. Time, place, dimensions.”
“Could it be used to bring back something long hidden? No matter how big?”
“Yes.”
Hands still clasped, Gideon and Evangeline floated down to just outside the circle. “Can we use it to bring back Atlantis?”
He blanched. The extreme pale discoloration of his face was, in fact, creepy. “You know.”
Aha! Confirmation that they’d pieced everything together correctly. This was exciting.
“Answer the question. You know what happens if you don’t,” Zavier said grimly.
They didn’t know what would happen. But if Furfur was magically compelled to answer, it stood to reason that the consequences would be lousy if he didn’t. They’d also unanimously decided that Zavier would do best at the threatening—despite his cheery wing-blood-essence high.
“Yes. The Tree of Life is the only way to bring Atlantis back into this dimension. Even a Nephilim , with your limited power, could do it.” Then Furfur fell to his knees, wings puddling on the rock. “I beg you, don’t send me back to Hell.”
“You’re an Earl of Hell. You command legions of demons. Why aren’t you insisting that there’s no place like home?”
“They’ll know. Aamon and Astaroth could discover that I was summoned. They’ll know I told you about Atlantis. I’ll be tortured forever.” He shook. His teeth chattered. Fear roiled off of him like sweat off a third-quarter hockey player.
There it was. The confirmation that both demons were in on the coup.
“Aradia, can you soundproof his binding?” Eva asked.
“I can do the whole elemental circle and everything in it. Not just his triangle, though.”
“Okay. Zavier, come on out. Aradia, we’ll have to fill you in after the fact. Do it.” She waved the rest of them into a cluster. “I think we should protect him. He’s giving us intel. And we don’t want anyone finding out that we questioned him. It could move up their timetable.”
Gideon crossed his arms as his brows knitted together. “If we do hide him somewhere, they’ll notice he’s gone. It’ll definitely move up their timetable.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Rhys double-thumped his sternum. “We’re the good guys. We can’t send him back to a certain death. We’ll just have to get ready to roll ahead of schedule.”
Zavier casually shrugged with his giant broadsword still in an outstretched arm. “We’ve got Hariel holed up in the WatchTower. What are we supposed to do with an ex-Fallen demon lord?”
With a smug I’m way ahead of you smirk, Eva said, “We send him to my grandfather.”
It still sent a chill through Liss every time Eva mentioned her grandfather. Liss had a deep-seated bitterness and lack of respect for her own family. But their selfish antics didn’t hold a candle to having the ex-most powerful angel and now ruler in Hell as the trunk of Eva’s family tree.
Gideon folded his arms. Gave her the closed-off, don’t-even-think-about-it glare. “It’s too dangerous for you to go back to him now. Lucifer said that more visits weren’t in the cards. You don’t even have an excuse to be in the compound of the Fallen anymore.”
“That’s why I said we’ll send him.” Eva glared right back. “Words matter, Gideon. Don’t shirk on their specificity.”
Zavier and Rhys smirked at his smackdown. Liss just thought how much she positively adored the backbone of her new friend.
“I don’t know how you’ll do it, but I can see the outline of your plan.” Maisy dug in her backpack to pull out a notebook and pen. “You want to send a message to Lucifer, don’t you?”
Eva beamed at her. “I should’ve known the Keeper would keep up with me. Yes. We ask Lucifer to give him amnesty—sanctuary—whatever. For helping us . He’ll understand the import. The impact of my ask.”
Zavier glanced back, checking on Furfur. Probably Aradia, too. But for all her nerves prior to this trip, she was standing up to the demon as though it were her fave new hobby. “Yeah, yeah, you’ve got your big, bad grandfather wrapped around your little finger. That doesn’t solve the problem of how we get him to Lucifer.”
“An Agni . All we have to do is build a fire and I can get one to appear.”
Rhys scratched at the back of his neck. “Why would a random Indian fire spirit blindly go with our request?”
“ Agnis are psychopomps.”
All this Nereid power and yet Liss still couldn’t interpret some of their lingo. There should be an expansion pack that clued her in. Maybe another few tubes of Zavier’s blood? She raised her hand. “A little explanation for the humans in the crowd, please.”
Maisy squeezed her a thank you .
“Psychopomps guide souls to other realms. For the dead. In every religion.” Eva ticked them off on her fingers. “Valkyries in Norse mythology; Charon, the boatman of the River Styx. The Aztec Xoltl and Hindu Yama. An Agni is literally the embodiment of fire. Nobody can see past his flame, which will shield Furfur, and nobody will think twice of him traveling to Lucifer. He’s neutral. Like an Amazon delivery guy for the dead.”
Gideon planted a loud, smacking kiss on her cheek. “You’re our very own supernatural Wiki.”
Maisy thrust the notebook at her. “Don’t forget to mention that it’s only a short-term request. It’ll only be for a few days or…well, it won’t matter.”
Yeah. They were all saying that a lot .
Zavier flew up to stand on a branch of the nearest tree, just past the moat of rocks. Then he jumped on it a few times until it cracked off.
Again, oh-so-sexy to watch. That casual display of powerful thighs picked up Liss’s heart rate waaaaay more than the powerful (albeit whimpering) demon a few feet away.
“Summon the Agni now,” Rhys ordered. “We don’t want to start losing our grip on Furfur before he arrives.”
“Meanwhile, we’ll keep grilling him.” Zavier finger-gunned at Eva—an embarrassing relic of the previous decades he’d lived through. “Great idea.”
“Wow.” Liss gave him a slow clap. “Look at you giving positive reinforcement. You are still high off the wing blood, aren’t you?” She couldn’t yell at him when he was riding an angelic high. Waiting for the right moment would have a bigger impact. Guilt him enough to make him realize the error of him underestimating her.
He swiftly broke the enormous branch into pieces and built them into a triangle. “I can praise a person for a worthwhile idea without being accused of turning into a sap.”
“No, I can. You? Not so much. I kind of miss you growling at everyone.”
“Oh, I’ll still growl. Just for you.” Zavier tugged at her earlobe with his teeth. Simultaneously, he channeled enough heat into the wood to start a fire. Then he walked away.
It felt like a metaphor to Liss. It was the same way that he heated her up…and then was apparently willing to walk away.
Ironic how she’d been the one pushing for no-strings, end-of-the-world sex from the jump and—wasn’t satisfied now that he’d given it to her.
The potential apocalypse made her yearn for that deeper connection with him even more. It made her want to throw her arms in the air and scream how she felt at the top of her operatically trained lungs.
But that wouldn’t matter if Zavier didn’t feel the same way.
Liss squinted. Aradia was doing a pretty great job of hiding her fear of being locked in a binding circle with Furfur.
Liss hoped that her own attempt to hide her fear of losing Zavier—could you lose what you never really fully had?—was as believable.