Chapter 15 #2
Scotty’s eyebrows shot up. “No way! The Archangel?”
“The very halo.”
Blade, his dark eyes as wide as Scotty’s hazel ones, paused with his bottle of water halfway to his lips. “But angels can’t enter Underworld General.”
“They can if they’ve lost their wings.”
Shock lit their expressions, making the freckles on Scotty’s cheeks stand out like a dusting of cinnamon on cream. “What? He’s fallen now?”
“Unfallen, but yeah.”
“Holy shit.” Absently, she reached up to twirl her hair around her finger.
She’d fidgeted with her hair since she was a kid.
He’d thought it was cute when they were younger, the fierce little wildcat with a sword in one hand and a finger wrapped in a curl on the other.
Now, he couldn’t look at her doing that without thinking about how her ponytail had felt in his fist while his teeth were in her throat.
“Was it because of what went down on the oil rig?” She gave her ponytail a frustrated tug.
“I knew he killed Hutriel. No way a demon did it the way he claimed.”
Mace had similar thoughts about Gabriel and the other angel.
The battle scene on the helicopter pad, littered with demon and angel parts, had been sketchy as hell.
The cut that had severed Hutriel’s head had been oddly clean, unlikely to have been made by a demon’s claws or teeth. But Gabriel’s sword could have done it.
“Gabriel didn’t say why,” Mace said, “but it sounds like he got the boot right after that. And get this… Lilith caught him and held him prisoner. It was Raika who rescued him.”
“Lilith.” Scotty sank onto the couch as if her legs had given out.
Her grandmother was a heavy subject. Blade moved as if to lay a hand on her shoulder, but seemed to think better of it at the last second, snatching his hand back like she was a hot stovetop.
Made sense. Sometimes, Scotty was as prickly as her father when it came to physical comfort.
Pricklier when it came to her demon granny.
“Did Raika get her? Tell me she got her.”
“Nah. Bitch got away.” Mace threw his aching leg up onto the ottoman. The throbbing eased, but it only made the growing throb in his pelvis more noticeable. He needed an injection. Soon.
“Where was Lilith keeping him?” Scotty’s eyes were bright now, the flecks of emerald embedded in the hazel depths having turned to shards, lit by the fire of hatred. “Where can we find her?”
“Chill, Scott.” Mace fell back against the cushions.
“It’s not like I interrogated the guy. I didn’t even see him.
Just heard it through the FGC.” The family gossip channel had a lot of fodder lately.
“That’s all I got for catch-up.” He slumped as he thought of one more thing.
The worst thing. “Did Ky tell you about Eva?”
“Yeah.” Scotty stood again. She seemed oddly restless, more than usual when someone brought her grandmother up. “I’m going to help my sister find Harvester’s blood as soon as I leave here. She thinks she’s close.”
“Let us know if you need help,” Blade said.
“Will do.”
The situation sucked, and Mace didn’t like being mired in suck, so he changed the subject. “So, how did you guys get the wendigo?”
Blade snorted. “It wasn’t just one. We took out six of the bastards in their lair.”
“Six?”
“Plus demons.” Scotty popped her foot onto a chair and bent to tie her sneaker. Mace forced himself not to stare at her legs. Toned and smooth, made to squeeze a male between them. He’d gotten a taste when he fed, and now he couldn’t stop thinking about it. “Low-level hordes.”
The hordes were the worst. Whether in video games or real life, he’d rather fight one powerful demon boss than a dozen scrappy minions bent on overwhelming their opponents.
“Where was their lair?”
“A cave system,” Blade said. “The demons were coming through an incursion deep inside the mountains. We think it happened during a recent earthquake that awakened the original wendigo.”
Scotty nodded. “Kynan’s going to ask StryTech to seal the rift the way they did with the one at the oil rig.”
“It’s weird that we’re suddenly finding a bunch of these things.” Most rifts had existed for thousands of years, but for various reasons, they couldn’t be easily used by most species. But when the veil was extra thin or torn, it allowed for demons and malevolent energy to pour out uninhibited.
Blade’s voice took on the gruff tone he always used when his brother was the topic of conversation. “That’s what Kynan said. He’ll talk to Stryke about that too.”
“Did you catch any demon souls with the new weapon?”
Blade glanced over at Scotty again. This time, Mace absolutely knew Blade looked contrite.
“I kinda lost the Reaper,” he muttered. “We got caught in a flash flood and sucked down into a tunnel. Kynan was not happy.” He glanced up the stairs to the second floor and their private living quarters. “Have you seen Crux yet?”
“Nah, like I said, I just got here. You might want to go check on him. He’s probably in his room.”
“I hope he’s been eating,” Blade said. “He needs to pound the calories before the transition starts, or it’s gonna wreck him.”
“Masumi will make sure he eats during it,” Mace assured him, but they both knew the reality. A Sem’s transition was a dangerous time, full of pain, dehydration, starvation, and, potentially, death. Crux needed to be as nourished and strong as possible before it began.
A few heartbeats passed. Then a few more. Then things got awkward. Which never happened. And was it his imagination, or did Scotty and Blade exchange a few more furtive glances? Nah. He was probably still suffering the effects of his injury and its subsequent, painful cure.
But he had to be sure. “Okay, guys. What’s going on?”
This time, their looks lingered. He wasn’t seeing things. Something definitely wasn’t right.
“Stop fucking around. Talon says I can’t let my heart rate get above sixty heartbeats per minute, or I’ll die. And you’re starting to stress me out.”
Blade fumbled his water, spilling some onto the floor. “What’d you say?”
“You’re kidding, right?” Scotty gaped at him. “Tell me you’re kidding.”
“Nope.” Now that he had their attention, he folded his hands across his abs and soaked it in.
Side of drama and all that. If he hadn’t joined DART, he’d have been an actor.
In school, drama class had been his favorite.
Screw math. And science. And pretty much everything else.
“He’s making me sit around, because if my heart rate gets too high, it will stop.
It’s a side effect of the injury. Or of the cure.
I’m not sure. They both sucked. But the cool thing?
It’s a prescription to play video games until I’m healed. ”
“What the fuck, Mace?” Scotty practically yelled. “Why didn’t you say something sooner? We could have killed you with—”
“With what?” He scoffed. “Your wendigo hunt story? Come on.”
“No, it’s just…” Scotty’s cheeks flared pink, and she averted her gaze.
Mace glanced down at his heartbeat monitor. Forty-three. “Just what?” Mace pressed.
Blade swore. “It’s nothing.” He shot Scotty a look that dared her to argue. Which made Mace even more curious. It also made his pulse pick up. Forty-seven. The alarm would sound at fifty. He could die at sixty.
Chill. Breathe.
“It’s obviously something.”
“It’s about Skoll,” Scotty said quickly. “I made a date with him.”
Her words made his heart skip a beat. Which was probably better than the alternative.
Skoll? Mace knew something like that would happen, but he didn’t want to have to think about it. Now, he had to pretend everything was totally cool when his only consolation was that at least it wasn’t Jon.
“That’s great,” he said, all cheery and full of lies. “Why did you think that would upset me?”
“See,” Blade said, giving Scotty the side-eye. “Told you it was nothing.”
“Yeah. Totally cool.” Mace fidgeted with his water bottle. “Skoll’s a decent guy.”
Fuck that. No one was good enough for Scotty. But he couldn’t say that, and he had to stay calm, so he just took a gulp of his water and kept his mouth shut.
“Okay, then.” Scotty hefted her bag to her shoulder. “I’m taking off. I’ll see you guys later.” She jabbed her finger at Mace. “You. Take it easy.” She rounded on Blade. “You. Get some rest. We pushed some limits this week.”
“Limits? You?” Mace asked, teasing. He knew how hard she pushed herself. “Never.”
Usually, when he teased her, she fired back at him, even if it was just to shoot him the finger. But this time, her face turned red, and she stammered.
“I—I mean, not too bad. We just…we took a fall, and I was kind of out of juice when we fought the wendigo…and I’m going to go. See ya.”
She rushed out of the house, and Mace looked over at Blade. “That was weird. What was that about?”
“You know how she is,” he said with an exaggerated shrug. “She hates when she fucks up.”
“How did she fuck up?”
“She didn’t. Not really.” Blade shifted his weight from one leg to the other as if dancing around the subject. “She was tired and worried about you. That’s all. At times, she struggled to maintain her summoned sword.” He gestured to the stairs. “I’m going to scoot too. See you later.”
“Wait,” Mace said, and Blade froze mid-turn. “Don’t forget Amber’s birthday party tomorrow. The decorators will be here in the morning.”
“The party’s still on?” Blade swung back around. “Even with what’s going on with Eva?”
That had been Mace’s concern as well. “Amber wanted to cancel, but Eva made her swear she wouldn’t. She wants to be there if she can.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Blade said slowly, “but we need to cancel. They can have the party somewhere else. Your heart rate—”
“Talon says it’ll be back to normal within about twenty-four hours. I’ll be fine by then. And if I’m not, I’ll just hang out in my bedroom. We’re not canceling.”
Blade scowled. “I just don’t know why we’re having it here instead of at Than’s place. Or at any of the Horsemen’s places.”
“Amber wants to swim.”
“Ares and Limos have miles of warm beaches.”
“You know she hates the ocean. And we have an Olympic-sized pool.” He grinned. “Come on, you know you love parties.”
Blade still seemed troubled.
“Okay, man, what’s wrong with you? You’re like Mopey Mike at the HQ café.”
Blade snorted. “I’ve never seen that guy smile. Scotty calls him Eeyore.”
“Yeah, well, you’re not Eeyore. So, spill.”
“Nothing’s wrong,” Blade said, forcefully enough to be convincing. “Just tired. Some of us didn’t get to lie around in bed for a couple of days.”
Mace smiled, relieved to see his buddy back. “Go get some rest. And some Masumi.”
Blade raised his hand in a brief wave and mounted the stairs.
Everything was back to normal.