Kingdom of Lies (Imp Series Book 7) (25 page)

“One is about six inches into the cement. The force of impact drove it into the floor. The other is flush with the ground.”

I was naked anyway, so I took the gem pouch from around my neck and looped it loosely over my arm. Then I changed into my dragon form, careful not to knock anything over that would destabilize the building or add to all the shit on top of Beatrix. Wrapping my forelegs around the one flush with the ground, I unfurled my wings as far as I could.

“Cover your head and brace.”

I heaved, using my wings to help me lift. Dust flew everywhere, but I managed to lift the metal off her and place it to the side. Now came the hard part.

“This is gonna hurt like fuck,” I warned.

“I know,” she panted. She hadn’t moved the wing I’d freed, her face creased in pain.

I removed the second roofing strut with the same process. Beatrix screamed as the weight left her wing. She flailed around as I put the metal next to the other.

“Careful. Can you at least heal your physical damage? Do you need help?”

She’d managed to get to her feet, leaning heavily against a sideways display case. Her wings were hidden, but I still saw the gold tracings of them twisted as they arched from her back. “I’ll be okay. Where are Grial and Mizan?”

“Who?”

“The two enforcers. Once I realized what was coming through the gate, I called for backup.”

Shit. I was getting that heavy feeling of dread. “That mid-level greed demon? He used the gem on himself.”

“By all that’s holy, I thought I recognized his energy signature, but he was so much more powerful than before that I thought I was mistaken.” Her eyes met mine, and even with all the blood and dirt, I could see she was worried. “That’s not just one level up, Sam. The kitten—now that was some crazy stuff—but this? It’s unbelievable that that could have been the same demon.”

Yeah. I didn’t want to think about that until after I’d spoken with Gregory.

“Are you okay enough to help me find your buddies? Where did you see them last?” I was hoping they were pinned or trapped somewhere else in the mall but doubted it. Gate guardians weren’t very strong. An angel powerful enough for Gregory to appoint as an enforcer wouldn’t be held down by a few metal beams. No, those angels had mandates to go down with the ship. If they were alive, they were pursuing Avarnak. Otherwise they were dead. And if the latter was the case, I’d rather Beatrix remain behind. Beyond a few that I’d become rather fond of, and one that I loved with all my being, dead angels didn’t mean anything to me one way or another. Beatrix had probably known them for millions of years, though. She’d worked with them this past century, no doubt had the angel equivalent of coffee and bagels with them, chatting around the water cooler.

“No. I can help find them. I know their energy signatures.”

She knew. She knew that this was most likely body retrieval.

“Okay. Take your time. We’ll rest if you need.”

Beatrix lifted her chin, set her jaw, and marched forward. I admired her resolve. We’d developed a strange sort of friendship over the last few years, mainly bitching about management, discussing which lunch specials in the food court were the best bang for the buck, and drooling over expensive shoes at Nordstroms. In spite of that, I hadn’t ever known her name. I knew so little about the angel, beyond her love of sweet-and-sour sauce. How many friendships are like that, skimming the surface, satisfied to never look too deep into another’s joy and pain?

I reached out and grabbed her hand, helping her over a two-feet-deep pile of scented moisturizer. “Do you ever get out of this mall? Ever?”

“No. Never. I guard the gate twenty-four/seven. When my century is up, I’ll return to Aaru.”

It was like a prison sentence—one where the inmate could clearly see all the pleasures of the world just outside the barbed-wire fence. My heart hurt for her.

“At first, it was amazing—the challenge of guarding the gate, the novelty of the humans and their quirky lives. I loved it, but there’s only so much food-court food an angel can eat before going a bit crazy.”

She gripped my hand tight, leading me past the Hallmark store, cards like confetti all over the floor. “I know every piece of merchandise in this mall. That’s why I call you when the fall line-up comes in and there’s a shoe I know you’ll love. I’ve been here since before the mall was built. I can tell you’re feeling bad for me, but it could be worse. Now I’m guardian over a gate in a pile of rubble. I’ll walk around all day in the ruins of what used to be a lively area for humans to shop and congregate. I’ll watch bulldozers, if I’m lucky. Twenty more years. I hope they rebuild. I hope it only takes them a few years. Funny how three-million years goes by in a blink of an eye, but a century crawls like a spider caught in molasses.”

I let her ramble, holding her hand tight and envisioning the desolation of her assignment. Trapped in a mall for decades and having that be the most interesting part of her century here. We demons vacationed among the humans when we wanted a break from Hel. Beatrix needed a vacation too. As did the other angels. They all needed to realize how amazing the human world was, how, in spite of their obvious issues, the humans lived lives full of promise. How terrible would it be for her to return to Aaru and not know the good that happened down here as well as the bad?

“Here. Turn left.”

Sunglass Hut. The floor was littered with broken glass from the display cases, twisted, shattered, and melted designer shades. And feathers. It looked like a pillow factory had detonated inside the store.

“Beatrix, you should stay here—”

“No. I know they’re dead. I felt their loss, the passing of their spirit-selves. I just need to confirm it, let my eyes see what my heart knows.”

I held her arm to steady her as we picked our way past the sea of feathers, glass and plastic crunching beneath our feet. The bodies were toward the back of the store, one seemingly glued to the ceiling, the other quartered, his sections stacked neatly against a wall.

The gate guardian swallowed hard a few times, nodded, then turned her back on the bodies. I wasn’t sure what to do. Any kind of physical comfort from me would seem hollow and hypocritical.

“What happened?”

She shuddered. “The demon came through the gate. I felt his power and knew I was outclassed, so I called for an enforcer. The Ancient Revered One sent two to assist.”

“Why didn’t he come himself?” It had been puzzling me. Gregory with his big-ass sword was the one who usually came to take care of the high-level demons.

“This demon wasn’t an ancient. His power was high, but he didn’t read anywhere near the level he actually was in terms of ability. One enforcer should have been sufficient. Two should have easily been able to take him down. And instead... .”

I waited while she regained her composure.

“In these instances, I stay to watch the gate because sometimes another demon comes through. The enforcers... I heard silence, I felt the souls of my brothers leave, and when I saw the demon, I knew. What I’d felt had been confirmed.”

“He came back for you?”

She nodded.

“Why didn’t he kill you?” It sounded harsh, but I couldn’t understand why he would come back for her and
not
kill her.

She paled and clutched her hands together. “Because he wanted me to pass along a message.”

I would have thought two dead enforcers were enough of a message. “To me?”

“No, to the angelic host.” Her eyes focused on the bloody feathers scattered across the floor. “He said to tell them ‘It’s mine. It’s all mine’.”

I
was speeding down I-70 in a stolen Mazda. Beatrix rode shotgun, and what seemed like half the surviving products of Columbia Mall were in the backseat and trunk. All that junk in the trunk was the reason for my grand theft auto. Normally we could have teleported ourselves to my house, but Beatrix refused to leave without her ‘stuff’—way more stuff than the pair of us could hold while transporting ourselves. The only benefit in waiting for her to gather all her stuff together was that I’d had time to pick through the ruins of the mall and find myself some clothing.

Not only was this journey taking us an extra half hour to get home, but I’d need to dump the stolen car later too. My new, angelic, method of transportation was far more convenient than the old human-vehicle one. Even if I didn’t always get where I wanted the first time, teleportation still saved time.

Beatrix sat beside me like she’d been turned to stone. I knew her wings still hurt, but probably not as badly as her heart.

“Do you have a cell phone?” I never took mine into Hel anymore. Either the insides fried during the trip, or I exploded it by accident when I changed form.

The gate guardian turned her head, her eyes dull. “Sure.” She passed it over, and I dialed.

“Bea?” Nyalla’s cheerful tone didn’t quite hide her concern.

“No, it’s Sam using her phone. I’m bringing her to the house. Can you order some food? Sweet-and-sour pork, extra sauce.”

I took the exit, figuring we’d probably get there before the delivery guy. I didn’t want to stop for carryout though. Beatrix was so... . numb. I wanted her in a comfortable, friendly environment, not a war-zone of a mall where two of her angel coworkers had just been brutally murdered and she tortured.

“Sure.” Nyalla paused. “Gregory’s here. He’s waiting for you.”

I clenched my jaw and tried not to let Beatrix see how angry I was. Now. He was there now, but he hadn’t been available when his gate guardian needed him. “I’m almost there.”

I stomped on the gas and handed Beatrix her phone so I could keep both hands on the wheel. I’d come into that mall and heard his gate guardian, my friend, crying out for help. I freed her mangled wings. I helped her load twenty fucking tons of clothing, purses, and shoes into this stolen car. Me. Where was her boss? Where was the angel who was supposed to come help her when she needed it?

I spun the car into the driveway and got out, trying to calm myself and walk slowly with Beatrix into my house. Nyalla greeted us at the door and enveloped the gate guardian in a tight hug. Pushing past her, I felt my simmering anger flare as I headed toward Gregory.

“Where were you? Where the fuck were you?”

He didn’t answer, didn’t even look at me as he walked past. I felt ready to combust with fury. “Get your ass back here and talk to me!”

I was talking to blank space. Or maybe Nyalla, who was hugging nothing but air.

Bastard. I was tempted to chase him down and yell at him further, but Nyalla’s hand on my arm stopped me.

“Don’t. He’s known her a long time. Beatrix and the angels that died were all his responsibility, and he feels bad enough. Let him talk to her in private, angel to angel. He’ll be back, and you can yell at him then.”

She was pretty wise for a young girl, even one with the gift of reading the emotions and intentions of others. So instead of racing off after Gregory, I paced. The Chinese food arrived, and I stared at it, feeling sad just looking at the containers of sweet-and-sour sauce. I’d driven to the mall so many times to meet Beatrix for lunch, do a little shopping and a whole lot of gossiping. I know she’d probably be happy to go back to Aaru, but I’d miss her. I hoped she’d miss me too.

I was halfway through a container of pork lo mein when Gregory returned. My rage had boiled down to a low simmer of bitterness and hurt mixed with anger.

“Where were you? What exactly was so important that you sent two of your angels to their death and almost got your gate guardian killed?”

I know my words hurt, but I couldn’t help myself. I was angry at Gregory, angry at myself for not being able to stop Avarnak back in Hel, angry at Gareth and that stupid elf for creating that damned gem. My hand reached up to touch the pouch under my shirt, wondering what would happen if I smashed it into a million pieces.

“I was dealing with a dragon. I felt that was more of a priority than a mid-level greed demon. If I had known how powerful he’d become, I might have let the dragon burn Prague to the ground and answered her summons myself.”

I winced at the sarcasm. A dragon? No wonder he’d sent two other angels to handle Avarnak. I would have done the same.

Gregory paced as I’d done earlier, a muscle in his jaw twitching as he saw the containers of sweet-and-sour sauce. He was just as upset and pissed off as I was. Neither one of us was really angry at the other, but with everything going on, we needed an outlet, and both of us knew the other could take it. But right now, I felt we needed each other’s support more than acting as a punching bag.

“Dragon, huh?” I swallowed the anger and extended the olive branch. “What happened? How did you manage to find the gate to close it without me?”

The angel sat and pulled a container of Hunan bean curd towards him. “It took us millennia to get rid of the dragons before. We finally found and killed the last one three-thousand years ago. They’re worse than gargoyles when they get a territory—greedy, possessive, and they’ll eat anything. I managed to kill the one in Prague, but I’ve no idea how many came through the gate before we closed it.” He glanced at me. “Terrelle is good. She helped me close the gate in your absence. I think Sauriel may be in love.”

Damn. So much for planning a potential romance between Terrelle and Gabe. I was glad to hear an angel actually praise a demon for once. Hopefully Sauriel would spread the word in Aaru that we were awesome in spite of our psychotic tendencies.

“How do we find the other dragons? Assuming there are other dragons.”

The angel shrugged. “We wait. The only reason we caught this one is he staked a claim right next to the gate and immediately began ridding his new territory of humans. If they hole up in a remote area, it might be a few thousand years until we know we’re there.”

“So burning down towns, killing humans, and hoarding treasure?” I’d never met a real dragon before, even though my first demon form was based on a three-headed one.

“Not all of them spew fire, and they have different preferences as far as ideal territories. Beyond that, yes, killing humans or other beings they see as a rival predator, and hoarding.”