Key of Solomon: Relic Defender, Book 1 (23 page)

Oh boy.

The article made further, vague references to the Temple of Jerusalem having been built by demons, King Solomon’s supposed ability to perform magic, including allusions to a grimoire called
Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis
, the
Lesser Key of Solomon
, which contained the incantations and invocations used to summon and control the demons.

A niggling tickle of memory eased its way to her mind. She’d heard of the Lesser Key. Divided into five parts, the grimoire, or book on magic, essentially acted as a manual to invoke and oblige demons to do the will of the conjurer.

She’d flipped through a copy once. The memory of the uncomfortable, someone-walking-on-your-grave shivery feeling, at the listing of demons’ descriptions, their seals and details on how to prevent the spirits from gaining control over the conjurer still had the power to evoke that feeling.

Pulling her gaze from the jar, Lexi focused on the second picture. A ruggedly handsome man with sandy brown hair and green eyes stared back at her.

No, the picture was not in color. Yet, she knew the color of his hair and eyes because she knew the man. Or, at least had met him once. The caption below the picture gave the same name he’d given her. At least he hadn’t been lying about that.

She ignored the second picture and looked up at Mikos. “King Solomon? What’s the big deal?”

“Do you know this man?” His finger jabbed at the man.

For a moment, she thought denial sounded like the way to go, but then decided against it. “Yeah.” A hitch of shoulders. “I met him once.”

She glanced down at the picture again. McKay’s handsome face didn’t make her insides stand up and take notice the way Mikos’s hard lines and darkness did.

“When?” His voice, though quiet, had an ominous quality.

She raised her eyes to find him watching her. “The night I died.”

Despite being pleased with the serene tone of her voice, the knife-like pain cut deep. No matter how much she worked to keep that fact deep in her psyche, it couldn’t be denied. She had died and been brought back.

“So, I met him. What’s the problem?”

“He’s looking for you.”

Lexi felt her mouth drop open. Mikos laid a finger on the spot and right there, in black and white, was her full name. Not Lexi Harrison, but her full, long ass name for all of Chicago to see. How the fuck had they found that?

She could feel Mikos’s sharp gaze boring into her as she scanned the article. Jackson McKay offered a reward to anyone who could lead him to the location of one Alexandria Michaela Thermopolis Harrison, formerly of blah, blah, blah. Her whole life spelled out in stark black against brilliant white.

The amount of the reward left her reeling. One million dollars.

One. Freaking. Million. Dollars.

For her.

For that much money, she’d turn herself in.

Another fact leaped out, slapping her in the face. The bastard had listed the University and the location of Blush. She couldn’t ever go back there. Not unless she wanted to be the target of every fortune-hunting asshole.

A gut wrenching sensation of anger mixed with fear twisted her insides. She stared at the opposite wall, not really seeing the washed-out, beige surface. Instead, she saw an empty expanse, devoid of purpose. Under the mercy of someone else to make it complete.

Much like she felt at this moment.

What the hell was she supposed to do now? This little hiatus with Mikos was really all it was. She’d had every intention of returning to school and returning to work, yet, in a few printed lines, those options were gone.

All because of a supposed destiny she didn’t believe in. Where was her mind? The hope of something better? Something she could believe in?

Yeah, she’d made a promise to try. Big deal. It’d been made under false pretences and hopes. That meant she didn’t have to abide by it. Right? That feeling should have bolstered her resolve, but for some reason it only left her feeling hollow.

She lifted her gaze from the damning words and met the angel’s dark eyes, aware her expression must be as dull as she felt. Behind his glittering gaze, a note of empathy dwelled. Or pity? She didn’t care to see either.

“I can’t go back to my old life, can I?”

“No.”

One word. That’s all it took for her world to collapse. All her hopes, dreams and desires falling into a puddle of dirt to be swept away like so much other trash.

He held her gaze for a moment or two. He rubbed a hand across his chin. “Lexi, I am sorry.”

“You’re sorry?” A weak laugh escaped. “For what, Mikos? For ruining my life? Is that your fault or mine? Maybe mine. I’m not a woman to be pushed around and let others have control and yet, I allowed that from the moment I met you.

“So, sure I can blame you,” she paused. “Well, I actually, I do blame you, but not as much as I blame myself for being so weak-willed as to let these things happen.”

“I’d expected you to regain your knowledge by now.”

Whoa. She didn’t know what kind of response she expected him to make. At least an argument or denial. Not an off the wall type comment. “Regain my knowledge? That’s supposing I had it in the first place, right? What are you talking about?”

Mikos sighed. “The location of the Key. The things your parents should have passed on to you. We have less than a week to find it.”

“How’s that my problem? I told you I wasn’t who you wanted.”

His turn to scowl at her. “You are. Even after everything you’ve seen, you still insist on denying your heritage? Your faith?”

“Damn it, Mikos, don’t make this out my problem. I never lied to you about how I felt.”

“Indeed. Yet, you lie to yourself.” A frown set into his features. “Worse, you betray your father’s memory by your deceptions.”

“What?” Lexi blinked rapidly. Lies? Deceptions? Had Mikos lost it? “My father?”

Mikos scowled again. “Your father was a defender. He knew the importance of the Vessel and the Key.”

Her turn to scowl. “I was five when my father died. If he told me anything, I don’t remember.”

At the same moment the words left her lips, a wayward memory rose. Her father had whispered something into her ear the day he left. A phrase? A warning? Her five-year old mind hadn’t understood the words then, then promptly forgot he’d even spoken, beyond a promise to bring her something back.

When her parents never returned, everything disappeared in that one instance. Between the telling and the hurried rush by the babysitter to offload a precocious child, right into the not-so-welcoming arms of the State. Of course, she couldn’t remember. No matter that the words hung on the boundary of her consciousness, looking for a way in.

“Lexi.” Lost in her dark thoughts, she hadn’t heard Mikos speak. She lifted her gaze to meet his. “Do you have a memory?”

She opened her mouth to reply then snapped it shut. “I have lots of memories, Mikos, most of them bad. None where my father gave me any information about the Key and its location.” She shrugged. “Sorry, can’t help you.”

Shit, she sounded like a broken record.

Unwilling to see the look of disappointment in his eyes, Lexi dropped her gaze to the article. “So, what do we do about this?” She gestured, her finger unerringly pointing right at the reward. Talk about a Freudian slip.

“Do?”

“Yeah, do. McKay’s after the same thing you are, right? Any chance he can find it before you?”

“Not without your help.”

“My help?” She choked out a laugh. “If I can’t help you then I certainly can’t help him.”

Mikos tilted his head. “The reward is a significant amount of money. Enough for you to quit dancing. Do what you want. Live the kind of life you’ve dreamed.”

Lexi squirmed. Did he know her thoughts? “How do you know what life I’ve dreamed of?” She laughed again, the sound brittle even to her own ears. “I don’t even know what kind of life I want.”

A tiny voice scoffed. Of course, she knew what she wanted. Even if she wouldn’t admit it, the thoughts of family and a home were a niggling ache she couldn’t get beyond. Pushed aside, forced deep, sure, but never forgotten. If she held it so close, how could Mikos have found out?

“Sure, the money would be a help, but why would I want to work with another crazy person. One is enough for me.”

A dark eyebrow rose. Amusement flickered in the eyes that met hers. Had he actually ever smiled or laughed? She couldn’t recall a single time when he had. What would a full on, belly shaking laugh do for him?

“Mikos, you are needed.”

The musical voice, tinged with the hint of steel, broke into Lexi’s musings. She spun. Marisol stood just inside the room, her expression cryptic, yet knowing at the same time. No fangs protruded from behind her lips.

Today the striking redhead wore emerald green from head to toe. It should have looked ridiculous. It didn’t.

Damn it.

Marisol strode further into the room, keeping her gaze locked onto the Defender. From the amount of perspiration molding Mikos and Lexi’s hair to their skin, it was obvious the two had been sparring pretty hard. And from the pinched look in both their eyes, something else besides sparring had gone on.

Mari didn’t know what to think about the new Defender. Granted, she hadn’t but met her once before now. But that wasn’t it. She couldn’t read Lexi.

Defender or not, Mari should have been able to gain some sort of access to Lexi’s feelings. Her emotions. Mari found nothing when she probed. That’d had never happened before. It meant she would have to rely on her impressions.

A disconcerting thought.

“Something is amiss?” Mikos asked, pulling Mari’s attention from Lexi.

Mari hesitated, her gaze flicking between the two. When he bent his head in an imperceptible nod, she continued. “An unprecedented massing of Beliel’s minions. Michael would like us to convince them to return to Hell.”

Mari couldn’t help the grin that pulled back her lips. More than anything, she loved a good fight. When she and Mikos, after deciding to refute Lucifer, were recruited by Michael, she never had second thoughts about what she did. Her purpose.

Unlike Mikos, Mari knew she’d never be permitted to return to Heaven. And where Mikos felt an all pressing need to return to what used to be their home, she didn’t. Even before Lucifer had decided to rebel, she’d been restless. Seeking something. Something she didn’t find as a seraphim. And something she hadn’t found as Lucifer’s minion.

But now, fighting against the very legions she’d once been a part of made sense. Quite possibly a twisted sense, yet she was content.

For the most part.

“I must go,” Mikos said.

Mari focused on her fellow Fallen. He’d turned a rueful eye on the Defender. Mari’s heart stuttered at the contemplative look in his eyes. Fires of Hell, did he intend to take the untried woman with him?

“I will send for Rocky to return to keep you company.”

Blessed Light. So much danger in bringing an innocent along. Even if the innocent was destined to be a defender. And especially if said Defender didn’t believe.

Mikos had absolute faith in Lexi. In a way, Mari understood even if she didn’t share the same convictions. Her dark brother had a quiet belief in the greater good. Even when he’d joined Lucifer’s rebellion, it had been because Mikos had believed the Ruler of Hell’s path was the right one.

A mistaken belief, to be sure, yet the strength of Mikos’s conviction had shone like a beacon of hope even in the depths of Hell.

Mari often wondered what had happened to set Mikos on his current path. Much like her, he’d possessed a restless soul. Hers had led to rebellion. He’d walked a solitary path. Even more now since he was of neither Heaven nor Hell. Of the Fallen who had repented, he was the only one Lucifer wanted to see destroyed. Most likely because Mikos had been one of his generals, and most loyal.

He’d never told her why he turned his back on Hell. When she’d asked, when trying to decide her own way, he said she needed to make the decision on her own. An individual choice. She’d shrugged, comfortable with her path.

She focused back on the discussion between Mikos and Lexi.

“I must go,” Mikos replied, his expression, while still seeming aggravated, shuttered. “Rocky will keep you company.”

Lexi sat up straight. She’d wondered how she was going to get out of the house without Mikos knowing. Or coming. But, this thing with Rocky…

“Uh, huh. You mean babysitter,” Lexi countered. If Mikos was out of the house she had plans of her own and they did not include being hounded by a miniature lothario. She could hardly go off on her own if the shapeshifter chaperoned her actions.

Mikos cocked his head, a brow raised. “I don’t understand.”

“I’m not a child, Mikos. I don’t need someone to watch me.”

“Rocky is not a baby-sitter,” Mikos continued. “He is a companion. He will keep you company while I am away.”

Lexi nodded and heaved an inward sigh. Obstinate angel. What more could she say? She’d just have to find a way to ditch the shapeshifter. Shouldn’t be too hard. After all, she’d quickly discovered the little guy had a shallow attention span.

Smug approval glinted in his dark gaze. Thought he had her, didn’t he? Figured her capitulation meant he could now direct her every action. She couldn’t read his mind, yet she had a sneaky suspicion she knew what her easy agreement led him to believe. Worked for her.

“Rocky knows how to contact me if you require assistance. I will return as soon as is possible.”

Then without further comment, Mikos looked at Mari, nodded and both simply blinked from existence. Lexi stood still, feeling the silence surrounding her as a sort of warm blanket. It suddenly occurred to her just how little she’d been by herself these last few days.

For a brief moment, she allowed her body to relax, letting the tension from the past days roil out to dissipate into the air.

“So, doll, what are we going to do?” Rocky’s tone had a kid at Christmas inflection beneath the grating tenor.

“We aren’t going to do anything. I’m going to take a shower then take a nap.” Lexi slipped out from under the throw and stood.