Key of Solomon: Relic Defender, Book 1 (31 page)

After keying in the combination she’d memorized, Lexi stared at the safe. The dull quiet in the church surrounded her, not so much leaving her with a feeling of solitude but more as if the world held its breath. Waiting for what rested in the safe. Waiting to see what she’d do with it.

While Mikos had chatted with the rector to gain them access to the safe—she didn’t want to know what he did to show they were legit—she’d stared at the metal box.

Mindful of Mikos’s alert attention behind her, she grabbed the handle and turned. Not even a click or squeak of metal on metal disturbed the silence.

She slipped her hand into the safe and her fingers touched upon a silky material. She held her breath as she pulled out the Key. Her first sight of the relic that had caused so much suffering was unlike anything she had anticipated. That’s if she had actually anticipated something. She hadn’t really known or thought about what the book would look like. Just a book.

Loosely wrapped in some kind of animal hide stretched as fine as thin silk and just as soft, the book seemed incongruously light for all its supposed power. As if something that held so much power should be too heavy to lift.

Her fingers gently separated the edges of the silken substance, revealing the
Clavicula Salomonis
, the
Key of Solomon
, the book with spells and incantations to control seventy-two spirits. Demons.

Lexi brushed a finger over the ancient tome’s surface, tracing the symbols etched onto the leather binding. Inside, the pages were of an unrecognizable material. Something this old should have been made of papyrus but it wasn’t. She couldn’t tell what it was.

Whispers of sound seemed to dance up and down her spine leaving behind echoes of ancient promises. While she didn’t actually feel herself do it, she felt the press of the book against her chest as she clutched the priceless object to her.

So this was it then. This was the reason her life had changed. This was the reason her parents had died. Why Devyn had died. Why she no longer had a life to go back to.

As she stood there clutching the book, her mind searched her emotions. How did she feel? A sense of relief, maybe that it was over with? A hint of anger that such a small thing had caused so much pain? Maybe even sadness that something she had shared with her parents would soon be gone. Like the picture.

“Lexi, we must go.”

Mikos’s calm words, spoken in a hush to match the quiet of the church, washed over her in a soothing touch of empathy. Of understanding. Yet, behind that gentle touch, she also heard the slight edge of urgency as if Beliel could any moment appear.

Folding the hide back over the book, Lexi tucked the precious object into her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. The rector was nowhere to be found. It was just her and Mikos in the darkened church.

“Now what, Mikos?” She kept her own voice hushed, not wanting the soothing quiet of the church to be broken. She didn’t turn to face him. Didn’t want him to see the longing in her for what the whispers under the cover promised. Had her ancestors felt the same pull?

“You destroy it.” His reply, also pitched low was exactly what she knew he’d say.

Even without turning around, she could feel him close the distance until he was right at her back. Two hands came down gently on her shoulders. Heat seared her skin, the heat of his flesh, a remembrance of her being with him in what felt like a very short time ago. Every atom screamed at her to lean backward into his embrace. To let him take away the temptations. But she didn’t. That would have been too easy and she never took the easy path.

“Lexi, let’s go. We are running out of time.”

She nodded. Yes, they were. Only six hours until midnight. All Hallows Eve, Halloween, or Samhain. Didn’t matter what it was called. It was the night spirits walked. If she didn’t destroy the Key, it would also be the night demons were set free.

Making sure the backpack fit snugly on her back, Lexi followed after Mikos.

The trip back to Mikos’s mansion had seemed a bit surreal. The anxiety over what she carried mixed with the excitement of the evening.

Halloween.

The streets were mobbed with pirates, princesses, witches, monsters and the occasional space alien. Predominant theme this year? Harry Potter of course. Between the fictional wizard and his friends, she also saw a couple of Dementors, Voldemort and even a toddler dressed as Hedwig, Harry’s owl.

So she liked Harry Potter. In this case, she definitely went with the masses.

For all of the children, their parents in tow, this was just another Halloween. A night for fun, jokes and eating too much candy. A night where, for just this one time, you could be anyone, or anything, you wanted. The masks and make-up shielded the wearer from truth. Much like the mask which Lexi wore every day of her life.

The one she could feel cracking and peeling away bit by bit. And now, she stood in front of Mikos’s fireplace, the Key of Solomon held tightly in her hands feeling as if her very identity lay between the pages.

This book was very different from the
Pseudomonarchia Daemonum
, the one she’d seen knock-offs of on bookshelves innocently hiding among harmless ghost hunting and tarot reading books.

The Key didn’t identify the spirits, it told the conjurer how to invoke and control spirits. And how to punish them when they disobeyed. King Solomon, of the Bible King Solomon, had used the book she held in her hands to summon the demons. To make them work for him.

Who knows how long he would have let the spirits free if people hadn’t started dying? Despite the power of the Key and its invocations, many of the demons had proven powerful enough to shake off their bonds at times. When one of Solomon’s closest friends was killed by a demon, he’d made the decision to imprison the spirits.

Now it was up to her to destroy the Key so that neither Beliel nor any other demon, could use the spells to free the spirits.

Mikos, Mari and Rocky stood behind her in some kind of weird ceremony while they waited for her to toss the Key into the fire. Seemed odd that such a powerful book could be destroyed in such a simple manner. By fire.

She stretched out the Key to the fireplace. Her fingers wouldn’t let go. The whispers she’d heard when she first took the Key came back, louder and louder until that’s all she could hear. So many temptations were offered. It was as if the Key had looked deep into her soul and plucked out all the things she wanted. Those she admitted. And those she didn’t.

To get them, all she had to do was use the Key. To free the bound spirits. Was she tempted? Hell, yes.

“Alexandria.”

Like nothing else would, Mikos speaking her full name tore Lexi’s attention away from the temptations the spirits represented. She scowled over her shoulder at the unrepentant angel. He met her glare with a blank expression. No disapproval, anger or fear. As if he knew she’d make the right decision.

He was right.

Lexi moved closer to the fire, stretching her hand out over the flames. The heat licked at the top of her hand, not uncomfortable yet.

“I’m thinking you don’t want to do that, missy.” The masculine drawl startled her. Her fingers convulsively clutched the book, halting her from releasing the Key into the fire. At the same time, a few other things happened.

Mikos swore, a pretty strong swear word considering he was supposed to be an angel. A loud hiss sounded from his other side as Mari joined him. From Rocky—was that stone against stone grinding a growl?

Lexi spun around. Jackson McKay, the man from the bar who seemed to have control over her boss, Howard, leaned nonchalantly against the doorjamb. His crooked grin didn’t mask the tension showing in the lines at the corner of his eyes.

Before anyone could react, Mari leaped at Jackson. His wide eyes flashed alarm before she was on him. Her fingers wrapped around his throat as she shoved him against the now closed door to Mikos’s library. Jackson winced when his back slammed against the wood.

“Way to go, doll!” Rocky cheered.

From a safe distance atop the desk.

Away from Jackson.

Chicken, much?

“Mari!” Along with her name, Mikos snapped out a command in that old language. Was it to hold back the vampy demon or encourage her to continue?

Her fingers still tight on Jackson’s throat, Mari looked back over her shoulder. Despite seeing the demon in her fight mode before, Lexi felt a flash of primitive fear sweep through her at the raw power and rage in the demon’s expression.

Mari hissed something back at Mikos. Not in Latin. Something that even to Lexi’s untrained and inexperienced ears sounded very old. Ancient even. Maybe even something never spoken by humans before.

“This is the human I told you about,” Mari said, this time in English.

Lexi stared at Jackson, noting his bluish face. “Ah, Mari, you’re killing him.”

Mari looked back at him. Her lips were curled back from her teeth, the long fangs looking even longer. As if he were a fly and she was the little boy looking to squash him. Forget pulling off his wings. Mari wanted the crunch of Jackson’s bones under her heels.

“Mari, let him go.”

With one final hiss at Jackson, she released the tight hold she had on his neck, and took a few steps back. He rubbed his neck, his lips twisted into a wry grin.

“Remind me never to make you mad,” he quipped.

Mari snarled, but didn’t move or say anything.

“Tell me why I stopped her from killing you,” Mikos spoke, his tone cool and impersonal. Lexi knew from past experience, this was Mikos at his angriest. He may have interceded, but he was furious.

Jackson jerked his head at Lexi. “I have a message for her.”

A brow arched. He had a message for her? “What,” she said, “did your, uh, employer want to make me another offer?”

A crooked grin pulled at his lips. “I know, dumber than a box full of hammers, isn’t it?” He shook his head. “Actually, he sent me to tell you he offers you a trade.”

“Your employer.”

“I think you know him as Beliel.”

Lexi sucked in a deep breath, but before she could respond, Mari hissed again. Swinging her gaze over to the demon, Lexi’s own eyes widened at the flaming red of the woman’s eyes as she glowered at Jackson. Who appeared totally unconcerned he was inches away from a rather violent death.

“You work for Beliel?” Again Mikos’s calm tone spoke volumes for someone who knew him. Or bothered to listen.

Satisfaction filled Lexi at the expression on Jackson’s face. The cocky cowboy had the pinched look of worry lining his face. She gave him props for being smarter than he’d recently appeared if he recognized the danger he was in. About damn time.

He shrugged, a hitch of his shoulders that tried for unconcern but settled for stiff. “That’s the name he gave me.” Jackson cocked his head. “You know him?”

“What a naïve human,” Mari sneered, her fangs retracted but the gleam of her teeth shone through her lips. “You have no idea who you work for. What you work for.”

She turned her head to face Mikos, her body still pointing toward Jackson as if he so much as twitched in a bad way, she’d be all over him. And this time, Lexi didn’t think Mikos could stop her.

“He could be linked.”

Mikos nodded. “Show me the back of your neck.”

Jackson choked. “The back of my neck?” he parroted, his gaze shooting between the three of them. “You want me to show you the back of my neck? What the hell for?”

“Just do it,” Mari snarled.

Jackson crossed his arms over his broad chest and lifted his chin. “Listen, you may be a looker, but if you take one step near my neck, I’ll…”

“You’ll what?” Mari interrupted, curiosity gleaming in her red gaze.

“I’ll be forced to kiss you.”

Lexi broke out into laughter. She couldn’t help herself. Mari’s face had paled then flushed with red. Almost enough red to overshadow those scarlet eyes. Even though she hadn’t known the demon long, she’d figured not much could disconcert the lovely redhead.

And now this. Even in this tense situation, Jackson was cocky enough to tease the vampy demon. The cowboy was either stupid or clever. She was beginning to like him. Unless he was possessed by a demon. In which case, what she liked wouldn’t matter. If Mari didn’t kill him, Mikos would. So much for angels being peaceful.

“Enough.” Mikos snapped out. “You will show me the back of your neck. If you don’t, what Mari could do to you will be the least of your worries.”

Glares clashed as both testosterone-laden men—one angel, one human—glared at each other. Finally, Jackson shrugged again and turned around. “Fine, don’t have a conniption. Makes no difference to me.”

Sandy brown hair brushed the color of his shirt, he pulled it aside. Mikos jerked his head at Mari. At Jackson’s side, she grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked it down ignoring his exclamation of protest. But he didn’t move.

Not stupid then.

Smooth tanned skin beckoned their attention. Lexi had no idea what Mari and Mikos sought, but to her eyes, Jackson’s skin appeared unmarked and unbroken.

Mari looked back at Mikos. Was that disappointment in her expression? Good Lord, the woman was ruthless. It was almost as if she wanted Jackson to be possessed by Beliel.

“Are you done?”

Mikos nodded, and Mari stepped back. This time, she went over to stand closer to Lexi. Great, now she had a bodyguard.

Jackson jerked his shirt back in place. “Now that the fun and games are over with, can I give my message?”

“Yeah, yeah, the trade.” Lexi snorted. “What does Beliel have I could possibly want? He’s already offered me a new life.”

“I’m pretty sure he hasn’t offered you this.” Jackson’s mouth took on an unpleasant twist.

He reached inside his shirt’s breast pocket and pulled out a picture. “He said he wanted the object you took and he’d give you,” Jackson turned the picture around to face Lexi, “her.”

For a minute Lexi’s mind seemed to play tricks on her. The full-figured blonde, her arms wrapped around a boy and girl appeared familiar, yet not familiar.

“Who is…?” her voice trailed off when it suddenly hit her between the eyes with the force of a hammer who the woman was.