jinn 01 - ember (10 page)

“Who will hold them responsible?”

I took a deep breath. “We will.”

She stared into my eyes. “You want to lead the jinn?” For a moment I thought I had her, but she shook her head again.

“We can’t win without them,” I said.

“We can’t sacrifice everyone else just to save ourselves. We’ll find another way or we will die trying, but I won’t damn the human race to do it.”

There was no point in arguing further. She wasn’t going to budge. She was going to toe the Heaven line on this. That was fine. I had wondered many times why, if angels had always possessed the power to free us, did they allow the demons to keep us hostage. Perhaps it was punishment for our sins. For playing fast and loose with the souls we had been granted and they had denied. I didn’t have to talk her into anything tonight. I’d introduced the idea and planted the seeds. Olivia would come around or she wouldn’t. Either way, I wasn’t prepared to die, and no matter what she said, neither was she. Worst-case scenario, I would just string along the jinn, making them think Olivia was on board, and keep her away from them until she changed her mind. If she didn’t change her mind, we could deal with those issues when they came up.

“How did you find out they were looking for a weapon to kill angels?” I asked.

She smiled. “I talked Baker into being a distraction and sneaked one of his burner phones into the back room of the church they are soiling. I listened from my phone. Speaking of that, I need a new phone. If Mom tries to call, she won’t be able to get me.”

I had to hand it to her—she was resourceful. “I’ll get you one. Did you get Baker to talk to you? What was going on with him?”

Her eyes widened and she shrugged. Always a terrible liar. “I think he was just tired and irritable. What should we do about Mom? The guardian is watching her, but maybe staying in the house isn’t a good idea.”

“We should probably move her at least.”

Olivia nodded. “Where?”

I wasn’t sure there was a place out of Hell’s reach if they really wanted her. “Do you think she would agree to become a nun?”

Olivia laughed. “Somehow I doubt it.” Her face went serious and her tongue darted out, wetting her lips. “Do you think we should have the guardians move her? Somewhere neither of us knows about?”

That idea wasn’t my favorite, but I followed her logic. If we were captured at some point, we could give up her location, but I didn’t trust the guardians. Sure, things had been fine for a while now, but it wasn’t that long ago they were in shambles and one of them was betraying the others. “I think she is safest with us, but if you don’t want to bring her here then we should definitely be the only ones who have contact with her. I don’t trust anyone else. I don’t want that guardian watching her to ever leave her side.”

She took my hand. “He won’t. No matter how much I complain, I love it that you take care of both of us.” Her lips brushed my cheek. “Let’s go.”

She transported and I followed her to St. Louis. She traveled faster than I did, so she made it to her mother a good five minutes before me. The guardian was stationed outside of her house. He nodded to me and I nodded back. Most of the guardians knew who I was now. They may not have liked me, but they respected Olivia.

Marge was in the kitchen, no doubt making her something to eat because she was wasting away, even though food made no difference to her outward appearance. It was just a motherly thing to do. It was hard to remember my mom most of the time, but being around Marge brought back pieces of her every now and then. I would get a flash of a memory. They were so distant, so foreign, that it almost felt like they were coming from someone else’s life. Marge also reminded me of Olivia in a lot of ways.

“Holden,” she said brightly. “Olivia informs me I have to leave again. I am sure you can’t imagine bossing your mother around in such a manner.”

A smile ticked at my lips. “I’m afraid she’s right. It would be for the best, if you don’t mind.”

She huffed out her breath as she set two sandwiches on the counter in front of us. “And are either of you going to tell me why?”

“It’s dangerous here, Mom.”

“Well if it is dangerous, honey, don’t you think you should come too?” she asked.

Olivia rolled her eyes. “You know it’s not the same.”

“Then I’m not going either. I really don’t have time. I have bridge and the Red Hats. Really, I can’t just drop everything.”

Olivia made a face at me and I smiled wider. Yes, Marge was quite a bit like dealing with Olivia. It was good for her to experience this. “The two of you are really so much alike,” I volunteered.

“You aren’t helping,” Olivia said.

“I wasn’t trying to.” I looked down at the church bulletin lying on her counter. My eyes scanned it as I listened to them talk.

“Honestly, dear, you always send me away and nothing ever happens. I think I would be fine staying here or I could come visit you.”

“Nothing happens because we send you away. Please stop arguing and just go.”

“Where would you have me go?”

Olivia threw her hands up. “Wherever you want. Just not here.” She thought about it for a moment. “Preferably somewhere religious.”

“How about somewhere like this?” I picked up the bulletin and point to an advertisement.

“Perfect,” Olivia said. “A Catholic retreat, Mom. Doesn’t that sound fun?”

Marge gave her a dubious look. “No.”

“Come on, it will be. You can get three of your friends to go with you, and I am sure you guys will have a great time. By the time you come back, everything will be back to normal here.”

“They probably all have plans.”

“I’ll make sure they go,” Olivia tried.

“They can’t see you, dear. You know the rules.”

Olivia laughed. “No one will see me. We’ll just do a little nudge.”

Marge frowned, and Olivia gave me a pleading look.

“It really is important, Marge. If we have to worry about your safety, it will be harder to guard ourselves. Neither of us would ask if we thought there was another way.”

She finally nodded. “I guess. When do I need to leave?”

Olivia made a face at both of us. “Seriously? Holden says one thing and you agree? I would have had to talk to you all night.”

“Don’t exaggerate, dear.”

I chuckled. “Tomorrow morning would be great. I’ll call the retreat for you guys to let them know to expect you. Who else is going?”

“I supposed Sheila Forest, Peggy Grindstaff, and Georgia Clemmons.”

I punched the number into my phone and went to the living room to book her stay. Next I called the airline and booked all three of them on an early morning flight. When I went back into the kitchen, Olivia was doing her trick and getting each of them to drop whatever plans they had to go. Once everything was arranged, I glanced at my watch. I needed to get back to Chicago. I put my hand on the small of Olivia’s back. “You ready?”

She shook her head. “I’m going to stay here tonight, just to make sure Mom gets on the plane okay,” Olivia said.

“Okay.” I ran the back of my hand down her cheek. “See you in the morning.”

I went home and called Baker. He needed to be brought up to speed, but just as I was about to hang up, the damn guardian showed up.

“Quintus.”

“Holden.” He nodded. “Olivia is not here?”

“No. What do you want?”

“I can’t find the human girl.”

I raised my eyebrows. “What human girl?”

“Maggie.”

I froze. “I thought Olivia asked you not to watch her.”

“She did. Then she called me back today and said she changed her mind.” He looked confused. “Did she not tell you?”

“Must have slipped her mind.” I knew she had been hiding something when she came back, but why would she change her mind about that? What had she found out? I pushed the questions from my mind. “What do you mean you can’t find her? How hard is it to find a human girl?”

“I have been to her house, her office, and she isn’t anywhere. I wanted to see if Olivia could track her.”

I nodded. “She can’t tonight. She’s with her mom. I’ll help you. We can pick up Baker on the way.”

Quintus gave a half smile, looking entirely too pleased. “You want me to come with the two of you?”

“For fuck’s sake, you’re as bad as a woman. Do you want to come or not?”

Those dimples only got deeper on his face. “I’d love to come.”

I locked the door behind us. Quintus stayed quiet for a total of four seconds before he started talking.

“What happened to Baker?”

“The jinn beat him up to get my attention.”

Quintus shook his head. “What do they want from you guys?”

I gave him a hard look. “My attention.”

“Olivia was worried this morning…”

Not worried enough to take the deal with the jinn, but worried enough to have Maggie watched behind my back. I had apparently been asking her the wrong questions. I was tempted to go back to her mother’s house and talk to her, but I knew the time with her mom was important to her.

“I know she doesn’t think guardians can fight, but if you guys need me for anything, I’ll help.”

I nodded. “Thank you.” Quintus might not have been quite the pious asshole he used to be. The events last year had changed us all. He’d had to make some hard decisions, but in the end, he’d come through for Olivia and for me. “What would you think about freeing the jinn?”

“In exchange for what?”

“For their allegiance.”

He thought for a moment before shrugging. “It might not be a bad idea.”

I stopped. That wasn’t at all what I’d expected. “Olivia doesn’t see it that way.”

“That’s not really surprising. We work every day to combat what the jinn do. It’s hard to see past that.”

“You did.”

“She’s an angel. I’m a guardian. I see and experience them differently than she does.”

Yet she was the one who’d taken a chance on me.

Quintus smiled. “Last year at the trial, you changed a lot of guardians’ opinions of jinn.”

I didn’t say anything for the rest of the trip to Baker’s house. Quintus kept talking until I could feel a vein twitching in my forehead. I had never been so happy to see Baker in my life than when his house finally came into view. Baker sat on the porch drinking a beer. He nodded to us but didn’t say anything. There was a wary look in his eye as he watched us approach.

“How are you doing, Baker?” Quintus asked.

“Peachy.” Baker watched me.

What was wrong with him? I frowned at him.

His mouth twitched down and his jaw tightened. “I know. But it’s over now,” he said.

“What’s over?”

His mouth snapped shut. “Why did you want to see me?”

“To talk about the jinn originally, but now Quintus can’t find Maggie, so we are going to help him track her down. Liv is with her mother. What were you talking about?”

“Oh. Nothing. Where have you looked for her?”

Quintus rattled off all the usual places. “Who is she? How do you guys know her? What does she have to do with any of this?”

“She’s just a girl Olivia knows,” I said. I might have been willing to share some things with him, but under no stretch of the imagination did he need to know that she was my family.

“WHERE’D HOLDEN GO?” Mom asked.

“Home.”

“Oh. I wanted to see if he would re-caulk my bathtub while he was here.”

I could feel my forehead wrinkle together and my lip curl. What on earth made her think Holden would caulk anything, I had no idea. He never did anything remotely handy at home. I used my angel magic or Holden would just move or buy something new. He didn’t waste his time with domestic. “Holden doesn’t do home repairs.”

“Of course he does. He’s very useful.”

I laughed. My mother was strange, but at least she had taken to Holden. Half the time I thought she might be willing to trade me in for him. “I’ll fix it.”

I headed toward her bathroom with her behind me. “Don’t trouble yourself, dear. You aren’t handy at all. Never have been.”

I ignored her and closed the door before she could follow me in—it weirded me out to go all angel in front of my mother. Moments later, her bathroom looked good as new. I opened the door and she stuck her head in. “You changed the wall color.”