jinn 01 - ember (2 page)

I watched her calmly work as if this was something that happened every day. Her lack of panic indicated she truly didn’t understand the magnitude of the situation we were in. Last I had heard from Baker, he was taking the half-elf witch Selene to New Orleans for some hoodoo thing. That was about a week ago. Had he not said he had a message for me, I probably would have assumed he’d found his own form of trouble or let the half-elf drag him into more of her issues. But he had said he had a message...

“It’s happening.”

Hell was preparing to make a move. They knew where we were, and we’d flaunted our freedom, practically begging to have it taken away. A woman scorned had nowhere near the fury of Hell, no matter what conventional wisdom said. They were coming after us for what we’d done and they would never stop until she was dead and I was in their clutches again. Being a jinni wasn’t something you walked away from.

She glanced back at me. “What’s happening?”

Olivia had proven to me time and time again that she could not be controlled—not to mention, I had zero control over the angel half of her. She would do what she wanted, and I couldn’t risk it this time. Not until I knew what was happening. “Hell is making a move, which means they have a way to counter you. Baker and I can handle this. You keep working with the guardians until we get this under control.”

I could feel her stubbornness protesting no matter how she tried to hide it. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, her mind a silent, pouting void.

“What are you doing?”

“Texting Femi.”

“Why?”

“Baker isn’t going to be use much like this. His wounds aren’t life threatening, but he also isn’t going to be walking around for a few days if we don’t get him help. She can heal him.”

I narrowed my eyes, not believing she would agree to stay out of it. It didn’t escape my notice that she hadn’t weighed in on what I’d said at all, which meant she already had her mind made up. Olivia had a special knack for sticking her nose where it didn’t belong. We had found a rhythm to the sometimes overwhelming connection we shared, but there would always be times we didn’t agree. Olivia had a plan—she always had a misguided plan—and if she wasn’t talking about it then she knew I wouldn’t agree to it. “You aren’t going to do anything stupid, are you?”

“Well that depends. Are you going to make me do something stupid?”

“Give me today to figure out what happened and then I will tell you everything.”

She nodded. I sat on the coffee table across from Baker, my knee barely touching Liv, and leaned forward. “Baker.” I jabbed my finger into one of the wounds on his shoulder.

He gasped, his head craning up and his back arching. He opened the one eye he could and hissed through his teeth, “Fuck.”

When his eye cleared some from the pain, I asked, “Who was it?”

“Who do you think?” He flopped his head back down, breathing hard.

“Names. I want names.” Very welcome rage rooted in my abdomen and shot through the rest of me, numbing the softer feelings. To come after Baker was to come after me. If they wanted a war, I would give it to them.

“Jinn. Burly fuckers.” His voice was fading fast. I considered hurting him again, but Olivia scowled at me. I let him drift back off.

I took my time standing up. Olivia blocked my way to the bedroom and didn’t move to let me through, lost in her thoughts. She lit from within when I put my hands on either shoulder and kissed her cheek, which strengthened my resolve to keep her away from this. Yes, she could help me, but the risk was too much. “Stay with Baker.”

“Don’t boss me around, Holden.”

“Please stay with Baker.” I headed for the closet, feeling Olivia behind me.

“He’s my friend too,” she said, coming around me, planting her hands on her hips. “I want to help.”

I looked back at her. “Staying with Baker is helping.”

Annoyance flickered in her eyes.

“I know about as much as you right now. He obviously can’t take care of himself, and you can handle jinn if they come back. I need to you to watch out for things here so I can do what I need to do.”

She pursed her lips bit her lip and inspected me with her arms crossed over her chest. “What do you need to do?”

“Find who sent the message. I can do it faster on my own. I have a handful of suspects. I’ll talk to them then we can regroup.”

Finally, she eased her head up and down. “I’ll protect him.”

I pulled a black t-shirt over my head and laced up my boots. “We should bring your mother here too.”

“But don’t you think—” I raised an eyebrow and she stopped what she was going to say when she met my eyes. Her jaw hardened. “I’ll take care of it.”

She was trying hard not to be argumentative and I appreciated that—those moments were few and far between. Olivia wasn’t scared of jinn or demons—probably because she could annihilate most of them without breaking a sweat—but she wasn’t a killer either. She didn’t seek out fights; however, she wouldn’t back down if one showed up on our doorstep. That much I was certain of. We were still fairly safe here. I had made some modifications to the apartment, including a commercial-grade steel door and frame. Olivia should be able to hold the apartment if we were attacked.

Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that.

“Let me know if Baker regains consciousness for any length of time.” I dug out a pair of brass knuckles I hadn’t had a reason to use in a long time and slipped them into my pocket. The old, familiar calm smothered everything else in me. This was what I was good at. I headed for the door, Olivia on my heels. She wanted to say something, but she held back. There was another knock.

“Now what?” I grumbled. I pulled my gun off the bookshelf and answered the door. “What?”

“Might want to clean up the crime scene out here, chuckles.” Femi winked a cat eye at me then strutted through the door like she owned the place.

Her flippant attitude couldn’t hide the worry coming off of her in waves. I glanced down the hallway and she was right. There were drips and smears leading all the way to the door where a small puddle had soaked into the carpet, marking our apartment.

“I’ve got this. Just take care of yourself.” Olivia pressed her lips to mine. “You have nothing to worry about here.” I started to go and she caught my arm. “If you need me, Holden…”

I nodded and left without another word.

I STARED DOWN the hallway, giving Holden time to make it out of the building. After a couple minutes, I closed my eyes and released the energy coursing through my veins. I imagined my light spreading from me down the hallway and stairs, all the way to the front door. Once I made it there, I envisioned everything being exactly as it was before—well maybe slightly better than it was before, but I couldn’t help that. When I opened my eyes, it looked like we had new carpeting and freshly painted walls, but at least the blood was gone. At least it wouldn’t alarm people. I went back inside where Femi had leaned over Baker with her hands on either side of his head.

As I moved closer to them, I could hear her talking. “I should leave you like this for being a dumbass. Who in the hell did you piss off? And why didn’t you call for backup?”

“It’s not his fault,” I told her, though I couldn’t be positive that was the case. I had no idea what he’d done last night or if he had even been with Holden. The last time I had seen Baker, he was headed to New Orleans with Selene. I assumed he got back days ago, but honestly I had no idea.

Femi’s head snapped toward me as if she hadn’t realized she had been talking out loud.

“He said this was a message to us. If that’s true, you probably aren’t safe here either. Really anyone who associates with me or Holden probably isn’t safe until we figure out what’s happening.” All the people I knew and should warn came to mind. Mom definitely wouldn’t be thrilled about having to put her life on hold once again. I sighed.

“You almost sound as paranoid as Holden,” Femi said.

I shook my head, not able to manage a smile, and gestured to Baker. “Can’t really deny that. Holden kept telling me this was coming. They wouldn’t let him leave. I just want all of this to be behind us, but now”—I glanced at Baker’s battered face then back to the door—“it’s unavoidable.” I chewed on my fingernail. Surely Holden wouldn’t make a move against them without me. A protective urge he would have hated filled me.

The pupils in Femi’s bright green eyes contracted vertically. “Why would you want to avoid it? They attacked
Baker
. You need to come out guns blazing. Whoever did this just made the worst mistake in their increasingly short lives. I take it chuckles went to blow shit up and make people bleed.”

“Probably.” I sighed. “I know someone attacked Baker and we will hold them accountable. It’s been quiet, Femi. I just want to know exactly what is happening before we do anything rash. If we can keep from starting a fight, don’t you think we should?”

“No. They made a move against you and the ball is in your court. If you don’t come back with strength, you’ll be a target for everyone. Fear is the only thing you had going for you. The Abyss is eat or be eaten. Haven’t you figured that out yet?”

“That isn’t true. I have met a lot of nice people who have put their lives on the line for me and others even when it didn’t benefit them. I want all the facts before we start something we can’t take back.”

She shrugged. “Whatever you say. All I know is that Holden is right about this. And if Hell did this, you can be rest assured there is no redeeming value in them.”

The mention of Hell made my stomach roll. One thought trickled like ice through my mind. “If Hell is doing this, this fight is beyond anything Holden can do.” Words I would never dare utter in his presence, but they were true. He could fight jinn, but demons? The one time I saw him go up against a demon, he lost. He may not have wanted me involved in this, but I was the only chance he had at survival. I could kill a demon. The angel inside of me stirred at the thought.

“Don’t underestimate chuckles. I’ve seen him in action.” She grinned. “Look, if this comes down to a fight, my money’s on us. You with the angel mojo, Holden and his armor of angst, and me—I’m just awesome. Who could compete?”

Her confidence was tempting, but now was the time to be cautious. “You shouldn’t get involved, Femi. Please, help Baker then take a bounty far away from us. Demons aren’t the same as jinn.”

She snorted and refocused her attention on Baker, who was already looking better. “Believe it or not, there isn’t a single bounty that sounds interesting right now.”

“Femi—”

She held up a hand. “I don’t have a lot of friends. I’m not going to abandon the ones I do have.”

She may believe the Abyss was all a big power struggle, but here she was, risking her life for us with no benefit to her. I had the urge to hug her, but I didn’t want to break her concentration.

“Speaking of work, you should probably change before you go. You look a little like Lizzie Borden minus the ax.”

I looked at myself. I wasn’t quite that bad, but I did look like I had been in an accident. I headed for the bathroom where I showered and changed before coming back out. Baker was conscious but sounded weak.

“Don’t take any wooden nickels, doll. The angel’s right. You should get the hell out of Dodge.”

She jabbed him with one of her sharpened finger nails, making him jump. “Keep talking and I’ll kill you myself.”

He leaned his head back and chuckled hoarsely, perfectly relaxed. “You won’t kill me. I think you’re a little stuck on me. Why don’t you plant one right here.” He tapped his cheek with his index finger. Obviously Baker was feeling a lot better.

Femi laughed and kissed his cheek. “You couldn’t handle me. Not on your best day.”

He grinned up at the ceiling. “You’d be surprised what I can handle, baby.”

“You have teeth,” slipped out of my mouth. I knew Femi could assist in some minor healing, but I didn’t think she could grow back missing pieces. “That’s amazing, Femi.”

“It wasn’t me,” she said, grabbing his jaw to inspect him.

“Ladies, ladies, I’m a shifter. Teeth are no trouble at all.”