„So, just you and Magda."
„Yes."
„Well, I"l leave it to you."
„What are you talking about?" he asked as he watched me grab my bag, and head for the door.
„You and Magda obviously have things under control and I just remembered Steph is staying at my place tonight, so I should probably get back and have dinner with her. I might see you tomorrow."
„Wait. Violet!"
I slammed the door on my way out.
CHAPTER TEN
„The heart is perverse above all things, and unsearchable.
Who can know it?"
Jeremiah 17:9
Steph came around after I called her, and begged for company. After her afternoon playing with Salvatore, she"d been planning on popping into Hades to see her brother but after I pulled the best-friend card she promised to be over in twenty minutes.
Steph brought pizza and got comfortable for what she knew was going to be a long night of me retelling the evening"s conversation and analysing why Lincoln would suddenly only trust Magda.
„Vi, you don"t even know if something is going on between them."
„Yeah, well, he didn"t even mention what Nyla and Rudyard had said about the soulmate thing after they left."
It was even harder to understand since I was sure Lincoln had seemed genuinely intrigued and, even excited.
„From the sound of it, he didn"t even have a chance."
„Steph!"
„Sorry. I think he was totally in the wrong and you have every right to be pissed with him.
And no one likes Magda anyway – she"s a cow.
I threw a pillow at her.
„What? Too much?"
I was just getting up for more ice cream when I heard a thump outside on the balcony.
„What was that?" Steph asked.
„I don"t …" But I didn"t get a chance to finish my sentence before someone (or something) was knocking on the glass doors.
„Steph, get back! Behind the couch!" I ordered, slipping into fighter mode.
„What"s wrong?"
I raised my eyebrows. „Apart from the fact that someone or something is knocking on the balcony door to the apartment that is twelve storeys high?"
Steph"s face paled in the same time it took for her jaw to drop and to catapult herself behind the couch.
I switched off the lights, pulled out my dagger and moved to the wall beside the balcony door. In one quick movement I yanked the curtain back. My heart leapt into overdrive and I let out a squeal when I saw the figure standing outside the glass door.
„Jesus Christ!" I yelled, jumping up and down to shake out the fear as I opened the sliding door, frowning when I realised it wasn"t locked.
„Nope, but you"re not the first to make that mistake," Spence said, grinning mischievously.
Steph stood up from behind the couch. Spence burst out laughing.
„Seriously. Girls."
„What are you doing here anyway? How are you here? I mean, did you scale the walls or something?" Steph snapped.
I bit back a smile. Not many people throw Steph off-balance.
He shrugged. „It was easy, and anyway I"m here to collect you, Violet. In fact, we were hoping you might both be here. It saves the extra trip. You"re just lucky it was me that came up. Zoe wanted to use the tree outside as a slingshot."
„We?" Steph"s eyes lit up. „Who else is here?"
„Slingshot?" I asked, a lot more interested in how that could have worked.
Before he could answer either one of us there was another thud on the balcony. Spence groaned and spun around.
„I thought I told you to wait!"
Zoe pranced in, hands on hips. „You were taking too long. Plus, you"re not in charge."
„You know, I do have a front door," I offered.
„Aw – that"s no fun, and anyway, Steph told Salvatore you were under military watch or something," Spence said, shrugging as both he and Zoe laughed. They knew Steph"s description of the doorman keeping an eye on things had been lost in translation.
I looked at Zoe. „Did you slingshot up here from a tree?"
„From the tree, you"ve only got one outside, and yeah. I would"ve landed sooner but I overshot. Had to drop down from the roof. The guy in the penthouse looked pretty freaked."
„Where"s Salvatore?" Steph asked.
I looked at her with wide eyes.
Did she just miss what Zoe said? She flung herself onto the roof! THE ROOF!
Zoe"s eyes narrowed in on Steph. „He"s waiting downstairs like a good puppy. You"re welcome to go hold his lead."
„We"re going out, we came to get you," Spence butted in. A good decision, if the look on Steph"s face was anything to go by. „Anywhere good to go around here?" he continued, exploring the living room, taking time to look around the corners and down the hall, checking out my place.
„What about Nyla and Rudyard, won"t you get in trouble?" I asked, half expecting theirs to be the next dramatic entry.
Spence shrugged as he walked back. „We slipped out. They don"t real y expect us to be in bed by eight every night, they just … prefer not to know, you know."
„Oh, well, I can"t go. My Dad"s away but he calls every night at a different time after ten.
It"s the only rule he has but I have to stick to it. I barely made it home in time last night. But Steph can go," I offered. I knew Steph had wanted a night out anyway and judging by the eager expression she was flashing the entire room, I wasn"t wrong.
„What number does he call you on?" Spence answered, walking up to the phone that hung on the wall. „This one?"
„Yeah," I replied suspiciously.
„Do you have a mobile?" he asked, condescendingly.
„Yes," I said, getting aggravated.
He lifted the received from the wall, started pressing numbers, then looked up, „Cellphone number?"
„Huh?"
„Cell-phone num-ber, Brains?"
I gave it to him and watched him punch in some more numbers. He hung up with a dopey smile on his face, „Let"s go."
„What did you do?"
He rolled his eyes at me. „I diverted your home phone to your cell. When your Dad calls you can just go somewhere quiet and pretend you"re at home. Easy."
It was easy. I couldn"t believe I"d never thought of it before.
„Great!" Steph called out, already at the front door. „Let"s go to Hades. I"ve been waiting to go there all day. I"l go and wait with Salvatore." She slipped out the door and that was that.
Spence and Zoe seemed to agree with her suggestion. We were going to Hades. I guess I"d get that chance to check in on Onyx after all.
-
Zoe sauntered into Hades as if she went there every night and claimed a table right by the dance floor. Steph and I spotted Steph"s brother, Jase, who was working in the DJ pit.
He"s four years older than Steph and works the bar scene all around the city, but he was Hades as much as he could manage. The DJ pit there was a fit-out to the extreme.
He gave us a sly look that melted into a smile when we approached, but he was mid-set and couldn"t real y stop. He motioned for us to wait for five and I think, yelled „Hi," but Steph blew him off. She wasn"t about to wait that long to get back to Salvatore.
When we made it to our table Zoe was enjoying the music and Salvatore jumped up to get more seats. He really was sweet. Steph beamed every time she looked at him. I noticed that he seemed equally smitten.
Oh well, good for them.
„Where"s Spence?" I asked.
„Getting jugs," Zoe said, bopping in her chair.
„What?"
„Drinks. Jugs of shots."
„Oh. It won"t work. The bar staff here are pretty by the book and he"s stil seventeen, isn"t he?"
„Yeah, but the boy"s got skil s." Zoe gave me a wink and went back to watching the dance floor. I didn"t imagine she would stay siting for long.
Sure enough, Spence c
ame back balancing a stack of five shot glasses and a jug of something that looked so naughty I caught myself grinning stupidly. I"d forgotten how much fun it could be to just do something normal. And when that annoying voice from within cried out – That"s because you"re not normal! – I tuned it out.
„How?" I asked.
Dapper was a strict licensee. It was an all-ages bar and restaurant, but he kept a good eye on things. The only luck we"d ever had at drinking alcohol there was by smuggling it in.
„Glamour. It"s my thing." Spence waggles his eyebrows.
I laughed.
„Speaking of which," he said. „We," looking at Zoe and Salvatore, „were thinking it"s time to introduce ourselves properly. We figure since Steph already knows about you, we"re okay with her knowing about us too."
I saw Salvatore nodding – he clearly understood most things - as Zoe just rolled her eyes.
„Okay," I said, not sure where this was going.
„Alright then. I"l start." Spence mockingly out his right hand in the air. „Hi! My name is Spencer and I am an angel carrier."
Zoe wacked him on the arm so hard it would have broken if he weren"t Grigori. Spence rubbed his shoulder and looked at her ruefully. „You know I do bruise and I am stil breakable until I have a partner, as everyone keeps reminding me, so careful with the merchandise."
Zoe motioned as if she were about to hit him again.
„Okay, okay," Spence said, smiling but also shifting away from Zoe. „I"m from a Dominations Angel. I"m lacking in the parent department since they gave me up when I was born so I don"t know which one died, not that it matters. I have all the normal gismos, my sense is taste – and I"m never going to eat apple again – plus I can “glamour”. So far, just myself and things that I can touch but I"m working on pushing it further." He laid his arms wide to finish.
I couldn"t agree more on the apple comment. I didn"t think I would ever like them again either, which was a shame since I used to love the apple pie from McDonald"s.
„See, was it so hard to just get on with it" asked Zoe. „I"m from an Archangel, I"m minus a father and haven"t seen my mother in over three years. I have normal, my sense is hearing, plus I have an affinity with nature. I can manipulate it to assist me, mostly with motion.
Wow, I"d never heard of that. „That"s how you used the tree as a slingshot?"
„Yeah. I"m stil ironing out some of the kinks, but that"s the general gist."
I was surprised to hear that neither Spence nor Zoe had parents. I"d though things were tough for me with Dad, but at least he was there and I knew – as dysfunctional a family as we were – that he loved me,
„So, I guess I"l fil you in on Romeo, here, as well," Zoe went on.
Steph put her hand up. „Wait! He can speak for himself. I can translate for him." She looked at Salvatore and he nodded.
I was starting to gather that he could understand most things he heard in English. His difficulty was mainly just speaking it himself.
After he spoke for a moment to Steph in Italian – which sounded lovely, just hearing him speaking comfortably and in a normal tone – Steph turned back to the rest of us.
„Salvatore is by a Virtue Angel, his father died of …" Steph"s eyes opened wide as Salvatore went on. „Oh, I"m sorry," she said to Salvatore before looking back at us. „His father died when he was five days old in an aircraft crash – he was a pilot. He has all of the normal gifts that come with being Grigori, his sense is sight and he is a … seeker of lies. He says it is like what Griffin can do, but where Griffin it totally in tune with truth, in identifying its presence and delivering it, Salvatore is dialled into lies – to the layers of deceit that construct and surround them. Eventually, through his gift, he will be able to see the threads of one lie that has led to another and another." Steph looked to Salvatore nervously and he nodded in approval of her explanation.
„So to sum up," Zoe said, rolling her eyes and pointing at Spence, „Glamour." To herself,
„Nature." Then to Salvatore, „Lie Detector." Then she looked at me. „So? What"s your deal?
We already got the inbuilt wristbands figured out – what about the rest?"
I suddenly had stage fright. Not because I was scared to say but because I now had to admit that I didn"t know.
„Well … I … I stil don"t know much about my angel giver. My guides didn"t ... wouldn"t tell me. Griffin says I may never know."
I didn"t go into the other option Griffin and I had discussed – the possibility that I had come from an angel so high in rank that its identity could be withheld as its wish.
„I … well … My mother died giving birth to me. She was Grigori, too." I swal owed through the lump in my throat. „I have all five senses and I can sense exiles from a long way away if I"m trying," I said self-consciously, aware that I was editing as I went along. I hadn"t even mentioned to Lincoln and Griffin that on a couple of occasions, the airport most recently, I"d suspected my senses extended to something else. The night Onyx and Joel had attacked Hades was the other time I"d felt it. The only person who knew about that was Phoenix.
Salvatore moved forward in his seat, straining to understand everything I was saying. Zoe gave Spence an „I told you so," look.
„And," I went on," as for gifts, some of that is stil a little unclear too. I seem to be able to stop exiles from a distance – put them into the kind of lock mode most Grigori require contact for – more than one at a time, and when I was injured and didn"t have my dagger, I
… I was able to strip an exile"s powers even when he did not wil it."
Zoe, Salvatore and Spence exchanged glances. Steph"s gaze, like mine, was flitting between them, trying to work out what they were thinking. She was nervous for me, too.
Spence poured the lethal concoction from the jug into the five shot glasses and slid one out towards each of us. He looked at Zoe again and she shrugged and grabbed hers. He looked at Zoe again and shrugged and grabbed hers. We all followed.
„Well," Spence said, „fuck me." He drank.
With one more shrug from Zoe and a sigh of relief from me – we all drank … and drank.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
„For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright, who art as black as hel , as dark as night."
William Shakespeare
When I spotted Dapper working behind the bar, I excused myself. From the moment we"d entered Hades I had sensed at least one exile. He wasn"t as obvious as most and I got the feeling he was trying to be inconspicuous. The others hadn"t said anything, so I wasn"t sure if they could sense him.
On my way up to the bar, I walked right past the exile. He had ginger hair and a slim frame hidden beneath a well-worn leather jacket and was lounging on one of the sofas. I tensed instantly, bracing for the flight that should have been guaranteed, but the exile just watched me walk by and didn"t even flinch. In fact, he didn"t seem surprised to see me at all.
By the time I reached Dapper, I was a bit stunned. „Dapper!" I called, waving him over.
He rolled his head back and sighed when he saw me.
I leaned over the bar. This wasn"t the kind of stuff you wanted everyone to hear. He moved marginally closer after a moment.
„Have you had many exiles in here lately?" I asked.
He shrugged, moving back a bit.
„You do realised there"s one in here now?"
His eyes darted out towards where I"d seen the exile.
He knew exactly who was in his bar.
„There have been a few lately," Dapper admitted. „They don"t bring their troubles here and I don"t cause them any either. You make sure it stays that way!" He moved back, but not before adding, „And if I catch you drinking in my bar again, I"l take pleasure in barring you."
I gave him a sheepish grin and decided I could pick up this conversation later at a later, more sober, time. „I"l umm …" I started retreating.
„You and your friends!" he called out after me.
Unexpect
edly, I was starting to like Dapper. Even stranger, I had the distinct impression the feeling was mutual.
Who would have thought?
-
I made my way back through the press of drinkers and past the ginger-haired exile again, still sitting back, sipping his drink. I couldn"t work out why he didn"t attack. I wondered if he was playing a game or is he had sensed other Grigori in the room and decided the odds were too strong in our favour.
Or … maybe he"s just having a drink.
But I didn"t believe that. There was something else, something I couldn"t put my finger on.
I considered approaching him, but fear of Dapper following through on his threat saw me return to our table instead. Spence was sitting alone, throwing back another shot. When he spotted me he wiped his mouth and smiled.
„Just in time," he said, lining up another.
„Okay, but last one," I said, increasingly woozy. „Have you sensed that there is at least on exile in here?" I asked.
Spence nodded. „Was just about to mention that," he said, slurring a little himself. „You wanna hunt?"
I shook my head. „We have an agreement with owner, no hunting on his property without life-and-death cause and," the part that had me so baffled, „the exile didn"t look like he was here for trouble."
Spence shrugged. „We have a few places like that in New York. They"re called “Sites of Neutrality”."
I turned around to check whether the exile was stil on the sofa, but couldn"t see him. I pushed my senses out and felt them drifting further away. He"d gone.
„Where is everyone?" I asked, refocusing on our table and realising we"d been deserted.
„Zoe"s gone to hit on the DJ. She has a thing for musicians."
„Oh my God," I said, laughing. „Does she realise the DJ is Steph"s brother?"
Spence, who was knocking back another shot, burst out laughing, spitting it all over himself. I jumped back to muss the splash.
„No way!" he laughed, wiping himself down. „Oh, this is so great. You couldn"t have planned it better."
I had to agree.
„How about Steph and Salvatore?"