Armageddon Rules (42 page)

It was Famine that shocked me. He looked like the clerk at the local convenience store more than anything. He pulled up, hopped off, and gave War a high five. “Sorry I’m late. I was getting a really great workout, so we took an extra lap around the city.”

“It is time.” Malodin practically shrieked as he approached the harbingers. “Destroy the city.”

“I think not.” I walked a few steps forward to stand even with Malodin. “Contract says that your destruction ends with the third plague. The third plague ended a few minutes ago. I don’t think you are allowed to do anything without another third plague. Which would be a fourth plague, and I’m not agreeing to it.”

The harbingers conferred, whispering among themselves, while Malodin crackled and creaked with rage.

War stepped forward. “You sent us across the country. Made us ride back. And we don’t even get to kill anyone?”

“Sorry.” I hope my tone sounded sufficiently insincere.

“This doesn’t change anything, Marissa.” Death shook his head. “You still have to call down the apocalypse. It means a lot more people die by demons instead.”

Malodin turned toward me. “Yes. I demand it. You have robbed me of my plagues, but your world is mine.”

“Fine. I’ll complete my contract, but not here. We finish this deal where we started it.”

“I’ll see you at midnight.” Malodin erupted into flame, burning away.

I looked at the harbingers. “How do I send you back?”

War shook his head. “I’m sticking around. I’d like to see how this turns out.”

“I’m taking a few more laps,” said Famine, getting back on his bike.

“Marissa, do you remember what I told you about hate?” Death looked at me with crinkled eyes.

I nodded. “Pins you down. You saying I need to start building up some hate so I can haunt Malodin?”

Death shook his head. “No. You haven’t changed anything. But you might.” Then he faded out, leaving a perfectly good bicycle.

“You want me to ride that back?” Mikey approached it.

“No. Help Ari with Yeller’s body. I’m sure she’ll want to bury it.” When he’d gone, I sat down on the steps, pulled out my compact, and made a call.

“Grimm?”

He nodded to me. “Well done. Our gambit has paid off. But I question your decision to return to the dealing room. Would you care to enlighten me?”

I hunted down my purse, feeling the bulk of the vial I’d gotten from the angels. “You and Larry study that contract. Find out what happens if I kill Malodin for good.”

Thirty-Seven

I WALKED IN the door of my apartment and nearly collapsed. I’d helped Ari bury Yeller in the front yard, violating at least a dozen city codes and standards. I’d dropped off the bag of plague sand at the Agency, where Grimm had it sealed safely in our armament vault. On the way home, I kept wondering what it was I’d forgotten. Having the end of the world on your mind can do that.

“Marissa?” Liam stood in our kitchen, a half-eaten sandwich on the bar.

I sprinted for him. Nearly tackled him. Wrapped my arms around him and buried my head in him, soaking in his warmth. I won’t tell you I didn’t cry. It was like missing a piece of myself, and then finding it.

After he’d held me.

After I’d kissed him over and over, so frantic at times it felt like fever, after we’d found our way to the bedroom. After the frantic rush and eagerness, and the impatience, I began to settle. With his arms around me, rough and hairy, and his warmth radiating into my back, I finally found words.

“I’m sorry.”

He shushed me. “It will be okay.”

“No. Tonight I have to end the world.” I sat up, not bothering to pull the sheet over me.

“Shopping trip with Ari?” Liam almost sounded amused.

I explained. About the deal. About Ari, and Grimm. About the demons, and the plagues, and wishes, and poodles.

“Being separated for two weeks wasn’t supposed to be the end of the world.” Liam put his head beside mine, whispering into my ear.

I rolled out of bed and headed for the kitchen. “Let me get your sandwich. We can talk while you eat.”

Thing was, the sandwich wasn’t on the counter. I looked around, trying to figure out where it had gone.

“It is in the refrigerator. I did not want it to spoil,” said a woman’s voice. I nearly screamed, then spotted the bombshell blonde on my couch, in a tennis outfit.

Liam came out, a towel wrapped around him. “M, this is Svetlana. She came back to talk with Grimm about my contract.”

“Was she here when I walked in?” Part of me screamed that I was stark naked with a strange woman in the house. The other part of me didn’t care about the naked, but was carefully calculating a plan of attack on said strange woman.

Liam held his palms out. “Yes. You didn’t give me any time to introduce her.”

So she’d been sitting on my couch, listening the whole time. “I don’t have clothes.”

“Take my towel.” Liam started to unwind, and I fixed him with a stare.

“In the bedroom. Now.” I followed him in, scrambling to find my bra and panties. “What is she doing here?”

“I think we got attacked. Three, four times. Maybe more. They burned down the whole place, nearly made it to the coffin-atorium. So Grimm’s contract says I own pretty much everything. And trust me, we don’t really want it. The heating bill alone has to be atrocious, there’s not a grocery store for fifty miles, and it’s dark at three o’clock. So Grimm’s going to negotiate a deal. You don’t want a vampire kingdom, do you?” Liam came over and overcame my halfhearted effort to push him away.

“Already got one throne I don’t have room for. Queen Mihail—I mean Irina Mihail—got kicked out of the Court of Queens.” I meshed our fingers together, squeezing his hand.

Liam froze, his muscles going rigid. He ran his fingers over my ring finger and let go. “Why are you wearing that?”

For a man filled with fire, his tone carried pure ice. He tried to pull it off. Then tried harder, and harder. I’d seen him rip limbs off people as a dragon, but the silver ring on my finger resisted his grasp. Only when I cried out, afraid his pull was going to dislocate my shoulder, did he stop. “Explain.”

And I tried.

I told him about the dwarves, and how I felt when I saw the ring, and what it meant to never be burned. Then I told him about the court. About Mihail’s insanity. The thorn tree. The High Queen’s sentence. “I can’t take it off. But I don’t want to. I never want to take it off. If the world ends tonight, I want to be wearing it. If the Black Queen comes tomorrow, I want to flaunt it before her.”

He drew in a deep breath, his face unreadable. I’d stood in the office of the Adversary and not faced fear like this. I’d fought with demons and not felt such pain. Then he walked over and took my hand, and knelt. “Marissa Locks, will you marry me?”

There is a moment in a woman’s heart, when she hears that question, where time stands still. Sudden? Maybe. We’d only known each other a couple of years. But then again, love wasn’t known for gently knocking on the door of life, biding its time like an encyclopedia salesman. Love had a habit of backing a delivery truck through the barriers of my heart. That same buzz that filled me when I hit Grimm’s beam of light consumed me now.

“Yes.” Of course I said yes. My heart had answered before my lips could move. Yes, yes, and more yes. And then we celebrated, until nearly ten o’clock. The next time I left my bedroom, I did so fully clothed.

“We’re going out.” I pointed to the kitchen. “You can eat anything in there you can eat.”

“I must accompany you, if the liege goes.” She looked past me, at Liam, in a way that made me want to break a plate over her head.

“We’re going to see my best friend. Announce our engagement.” I tried not to let her ruin my mood. I didn’t have time to get it back before the world ended.

“Let her come. She can ride in back.” Liam put his hands on me and ushered me toward the door, and I didn’t feel like arguing. The backseat of my car would have been uncomfortable for a toddler, so I took some comfort in that as we drove over.

When I knocked the first time and Ari didn’t answer, I started pounding.

“Hold on, M. I can’t figure out how to work the peephole.” Ari’s voice sounded muffled by the heavy door.

“There isn’t much point. I already know it’s you, I already know you are there. Let me in.” I glanced over my shoulder, where Liam and Svetlana exchanged a private joke in whatever guttural language that was.

When Ari finally opened the door, I was surprised to find her wearing sunglasses. “We’re engaged!” I held out the ring as if Ari hadn’t seen it on my hand every time she’d seen me. After the requisite hugs, Ari invited us in.

“I guess you can come in. Who’s the model?” She peered through me to Svetlana.

“Long story.” I turned to glance at Svetlana. “You can come inside. It’s creepy, but safe.”

She gave me a smile that would have melted butter. “It’s cozy. Reminds me of home.”

That settled it. I wanted nothing to do with wherever she lived.

We bustled into the living room, where the slight hesitation I’d picked up in Ari’s invitation made all the sense in the world. On the couch sat Wyatt, his hands folded in his lap.

On the coffee table Ari had a pile of toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, and mouthwash. Even I could tell exactly how she intended to spend the last hours of her life. “You two communicating?” I watched her face.

Her lips turned down in a pout. “That’s all we were doing. Talking.”

Liam walked past me and grabbed Wyatt’s hand, shaking both it and him. Liam’s arms always seemed thicker than fire hydrants, but standing next to Wyatt, Liam looked like Mr. Universe. The two exchanged pleasantries and began to chat.

“My fiancé could snap your boyfriend in half,” I whispered to Ari.

“Please, M. I could snap him in half. Grimm called half an hour ago to announce your engagement.” Ari nodded her head toward the mirror over her mantel.

“My dear, if I may offer my congratulations, I’d like to.” Grimm faded into view.

“You can tell me you found out what happens if I kill Malodin. That’s a perfect engagement gift.”

At my words, the chatter in the background ceased.

Grimm’s face turned down, his eyebrows furrowed. “It isn’t clear. I believe ownership of the contract would fall into question, and only the Authority could resolve that. Normally, being demons, it would go to the Adversary, but since he stands to gain the apocalypse, he cannot mediate it.”

I nodded. So kill the demon I’d made a contract with, and I’d buy some time.

“However, killing him, particularly in a dealing room, is an act of war. You would unleash the vengeance of Inferno on the world.” Grimm shook his head.

Ari came over and put her hand on my shoulder. “Is that better or worse than an apocalypse?”

Grimm nodded side to side, thinking for a moment. “It’s hard to say, young lady. The situation hasn’t occurred within my memory.”

I planned on telling him I’d take
maybe
over
definitely
any day. I planned on taking my fiancé and going to kill a demon. Unfortunately, the front window picked that exact moment to explode in a hurricane of glass.

A snakelike head the size of a trash can poked through the window, looking at each of us, before locking onto Ari. It snapped forward, striking at her, and bounced to one side as she summoned a wall of purple power.

“I don’t get why you are so afraid of her.” Liam stood up, unbuttoning his shirt.

Ari’s body exploded into fire that leaped out from her, lancing through the eye of the snake demon.

“Or maybe I do. Impressive.” Liam walked forward, the skin on his chest growing bright red with each step.

“Hellfire won’t harm them,” said Grimm. A shard of glass had split his mirror, giving us two of him, and an echo.

In answer, Liam put his hand on the snake’s jaw, tearing off one side. The head recoiled into the darkness, and Liam ran out the front door after it.

“Preemptive strike?” I glanced back at Grimm.

Grimm shook his head. “Have you been respectful and businesslike in your conversations with Malodin? Or given him reason to hate you?”

I blushed like a schoolkid caught by the principal. “A little.”

Svetlana suddenly registered that Liam had slipped out the front door. “Excuse me. I cannot allow harm to my liege.” She hopped to the broken window, nimble as a bird, then out of it, disappearing into the darkness.

Outside, cars crunched and glass broke as something else approached. Grimm tilted his head to indicate the window. “They cannot harm Marissa, as signatory to their contract. On the other hand, you two,” he looked at Ari and Wyatt, “are under no such protection.”

“What about your mirror?” I expected Grimm to at least care about that.

He nodded to me calmly. “Let them try to break the mirror of a fully powerful Fairy Godfather. I am the reason most of the old stories exist. Let them try.” His confidence would have warmed me, if not for the fact that his mirror was in my bathroom, in my apartment, where my security deposit was at risk.

“We need to get to Mum’s home. It is safe from demons.” Wyatt spoke with surprising confidence, considering what he’d seen. And he was right. From outside came a roar I’d heard every time Liam smashed his thumb with a hammer, followed by the sound of more breaking glass.