Kali Sweet Series, Three Urban Fantasy Novels (Boxed Set) Page 23

  He laid his other hand on my forehead, and a flood of memories swept through my frontal lobe. My immediate past, then the distant past, flipping fast in reverse. Rad, Cole, Di, my other friends. Damon and the Council. All the humans I had saved over the years. Before that, the ones I had tortured at Maria’s request. My family.

  The memory of my little sister lying in her own blood broke my paralysis. I lurched away from Lucifer’s touch. “Stop,” I whispered, losing my balance and falling backwards.

  Rad caught me. Tears trickled out and I damned my weakness. Rad’s arms encircled me as Lucifer frowned. He seemed surprised and annoyed I could break free from his grip. I was surprised myself.

  His voice was soft and almost reverent. “My God, do you not know who you are?”

  Cole moaned beside me. His eyes fluttered open, and I could see him struggling to remember where he was and what had happened. Relieved, I patted his arm.

  The lightness I’d felt while Lucifer touched me left and I coughed again, blood filling my mouth. I turned my head and spit, not caring how rude it was.

  Amy, being human, and a compassionate one at that, grabbed napkins from one of the table dispensers and handed them to me. The witch who was going to go ten rounds with me five minutes ago now felt sorry for me.

  Humans. Gotta love ’em.

  I thanked her for the napkins, cleared my throat and firmed my voice. “Of course, I know who I am. Kali Sweet. I run Sweet Investigations and work as enforcer for the Bridge Council.”

  Lucifer sat back on his haunches, staring at me as if I’d grown horns or was shooting tracker beams from my eyes. The intensity of his gaze unnerved me. “Spiritu sancto.”

  By the Holy Spirit wasn’t exactly what I was thinking. Of course, who knew what a fallen angel had in his head. “Look, Lilith is eating souls even as we speak. We need to send her back to hell, pronto. I had hoped she might go back on her own once I did this job for her, but now I doubt it. There’s a cemetery on my property in Chicago that will work for the exorcism. It’s private, inconspicuous, and a portal between worlds. I’ll get her there. All I need you to do is perform the exorcism.”

  For some reason, this seemed to amuse him. “Why do you not kill the witch who raised her?”

  “Because she’s human, just like yours.” I glanced at Amy, back to Lucifer. “I don’t kill humans.”

  “So I see. Do you know why you are compelled to protect humans? Why you were blessed with an aptitude for vengeance and have used it so competently all these years on Earth?”

  I shook my head, not giving a rat’s ass about the psychology lesson. I ached all over and my lungs still gurgled with blood.

  Cole tried to sit up and failed, landing face down. His eyes were cloudy and he was in pain. Lilith’s ability to torture and torment was unequaled by other demons, but Lucifer’s went way beyond that.

  The one stabilizing factor was Rad’s strong, solidness behind me. He kept me propped up, his arms around me, not in a suffocating manner, but in a supportive one. This hero complex was annoying but I sort of liked it.

  “I’m a freak,” I admitted to Lucifer. “A demon who would rather help humans than take them to hell.”

  While he didn’t smile, I could still see amusement in his eyes. What was so damn funny?

  “You are one of the vitiums of Mary Magdalena.”

  Rad sucked in a breath and swore softly. His supporting arms sagged for a second, then firmed once more. I didn’t know what it meant, but I did know Lucifer was smoking angel dust. “You saw my memories. I’m not that old. Mary Magdalena was way before my time.”

  “Do you remember anything before you were born to your earthly parents?”

  “Do I remember hell? No.”

  “Souls do not come from hell.”

  Of course not. Souls came from heaven. “I’m a demon. I don’t possess a soul.”

  “Mary Magdalena was possessed by seven demons. They were exorcised from her by Jesus Christ. She then became the most beloved disciple Jesus had on Earth.” He rose, removed a pen from the inside of his jacket, grabbed a napkin and wrote something on it with broad strokes. Holding the napkin in front of my face, he gave me another one of his intense looks. “Do you recognize this symbol?”

  My pulse skittered erratically under my skin. There were two V’s, one inverted over the other, forming a rough diamond. He’d drawn an eye in the center. I opened my mouth to answer, found my voice gone.

  Rad spoke. “It’s her family’s coat of arms.”

  There was more to my family’s coat of arms than the diamond-all-seeing-eye symbol. The sun, moon and nature’s elements. A rendition of the whip coiled around my arm and both my mother and father’s personal family symbols.

  “What about it?” I asked Lucifer.

  “These—” he motioned to the two V’s, “—represent Magdalena and Jesus.” He shifted the end of the pen to point at the all-seeing eye. “And this represents their bloodline. Spiritu sancto. You.”

  Amy frowned at me, then at Lucifer. “You mean, Jesus and Mary Magdalena did the nasty and had a baby? A demon baby?”

  Cole had finally managed to rouse himself from the floor. He gave me a perplexed look. Whether it was from the current conversation or over how he’d ended up on the floor next to a whole lot of blood, I wasn’t sure.

  “Jesus cast the vitiums, the vices, from Mary Magdalena with the purest form of heavenly magic possible.” Lucifer eyed me again with what seemed like scientific interest. “Kali is not a demon. At least not in the way Lilith has created them. Like she stated, she’s a freak of nature. A very powerful mix of good and evil.”

  A shiver ran from the back of my neck to my toes. The room swam again. My voice came out a whisper. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Lucifer tossed the napkin and pen on the table. “It’s not within my powers to send Lilith back to hell, but you don’t need my help. You can handle her on your own.”

  I would have laughed if I’d had the energy. First I was Jesus’ magical offspring and now I didn’t need help sending Lilith to hell. Lucifer had gone off the deep end. “If I perform the exorcism, I’ll wipe out any demon in the area, including myself. I’ll be in hell with her, which works great for you but sort of sucks for me.”

  “You won’t go to hell, Kali. The best way to fight the queen of hell is by asking the queen of angels and the powers of heaven for assistance. They’ll help you.”

  A large man walked into the shop from the back room, not seeing us as he headed for the ice cream freezer. A glamour had been placed over his wings, making them invisible to humans. They were massive, rippling and pulsing like a heartbeat. He glowed like Lucifer, only ten times brighter. I flinched and shielded my eyes, and the warning siren in my head went into full panic mode again.

  Gabriel.

  Rad and Cole recognized the Archangel’s eminence as well. Both stood, drawing me up between them, even though Cole wasn’t any steadier on his feet than I was. “Time to go,” Rad murmured in my ear.

  Damn. I didn’t want to leave without securing Lucifer’s help, but I didn’t want to stay either. I was going to fail at sending Lilith back to hell unless I went with her and it pissed me off that Lucifer was playing psycho angel when I needed him.

  My cell phone rang, the notes of Bad to the Bone identifying it as Damon. Gabriel’s head snapped up. Seeing us, he froze, one hand in the freezer digging out ice cream, the other holding a large plastic bowl. “How dare you,” he said.

  But he wasn’t looking at me. He was looking at Rad and Cole.

  His wings rippled with warning. “How dare you stand in my presence, demons?”

  Amy and Lucifer moved at the same time, one going to Gabriel’s left, the other to his right. “They were just leaving,” Amy said. “No harm, no foul.”

  Right. She wasn’t spitting blood.

  I thought it would be a cold day in hell before I ever begged a fallen angel for assistance, but what do you know
? Hell had frozen solid, just like Eden outside the shop’s front door. “Please, Lucifer. I’m begging you. I cannot handle Lilith alone.”

  Gabriel narrowed his eyes at me. He lifted a hand and pointed at me, but Lucifer placed his own hand on top of Gabriel’s and pushed it back down. “And you won’t have to if you call on the powers of heaven.”

  Rad and Cole awkwardly secured my cape around my shoulders. Cole grabbed me by the elbow and started forcing me toward the door. “Let’s go.”

  No, I wanted to say. Not until Lucifer comes with us. But I knew it was hopeless. I turned hard eyes on him. “I won’t forget this.”

  Threatening the fallen angel was sheer stupidity. I didn’t care.

  For the first time, he seemed to see me as the vengeance demon I was and not one of his imaginary beings. His black eyes locked with mine. “Dominus vobiscum, et cum spiritu tuo.”

  The Lord wasn’t with me or my spirit, and apparently neither was his enemy, the devil. I started to flip Lucifer the bird, but Rad caught my hand and marched me out the ice cream shop’s door.

  The storm had turned the sidewalks and roads into an ice rink. The strains of an electric guitar competed with the sound of sleet slapping the ground as Damon’s ringtone went off again. Lifting out my cell, I almost punched the “ignore” button.

  “Yeah,” I said, knowing he’d just keep bugging me.

  “Where are you? You haven’t checked in for hours.”

  The GPS on the Land Rover had a tracking system that allowed Damon to keep tabs on me. Another reason, I usually drove my own vehicle. My joints ached and the metallic taste in my mouth made me nauseous. Standing in a sleet storm, I wasn’t in the mood to play games. “You know where I am. What’s the problem?”

  His voice was hard but edged with true concern. Or maybe the connection was sketchy out here in the storm. “The coronation is a little over twelve hours away, Lilith is on the loose, you have a vampire king chained up in a torture chamber, and you’re in some small town on the other side of the state pissing off Lucifer. Where do I begin?”

  Pissing off Lucifer? What about him pissing me off?

  Rad, Cole and I started to cross the street. I ducked my head and ignored the blood on my cape. “I’ve got everything under control.”

  “Lilith has gone underground. Her current location is under a primary school.”

  So maybe I didn’t have everything under control. “Kids souls make a nice snack, but why isn’t she after larger game?”

  “Ask your boyfriend. He knows more about her than I do.”

  I glanced at Rad, who was keeping an eye on both me and Cole to make sure we were still recovering from Lucifer’s TKOs. “Do whatever you have to about the kids. Call in a bomb threat or a gas leak or whatever. Get them out of that school.”

  “What’s your plan for handling Lilith long term?”

  “Still working on it.”

  “What?”

  His indignation stung. “Lucifer’s a no-go. He told me to call on the powers of heaven, whatever the hell that means.”

  Long silence. We made it to the Land Rover and Rad crawled into the back with me. Cole climbed into the driver’s seat.

  Damon sighed heavily. “Means we’re screwed.”

  “No, Damon.” I shook from head to toe, a combination of adrenaline, lingering pain and the ice storm. “I’m the one who’s screwed.”

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  I got off the phone with Damon, promising I’d be back in town in a few hours. Rad was staring at me and Cole was staring out the windshield. The windows were covered in ice, but I had the feeling he hadn’t noticed.

  I’d never seen Cole silent, not even when I rescued him from the Erinyes. “You okay?” I said to him.

  He looked at me over his shoulder, gave me one brief downward nod. “You?”

  Hell, no, but warriors never admitted we were messed up. “Yeah. Fine.”

  “Kali.” Rad said my name with that we need to talk tone.

  I was so tired I could barely sit up. “Start the car, Cole. We need to get back to Chicago before Damon strokes out.”

  But Cole kept looking at me, his face conveying the same thing as Rad’s tone. “Kali, about what Lucifer said…”

  I hate it when I’m outnumbered, but it doesn’t stop me from arguing or fighting. “Lucifer was messing with us. You know who I am. What I am. The testa de cazzo doesn’t want to sac up and confront his ex, so he’s leaving me to clean up his damn mess.” I wiped cold water off my face and pushed my wet hair back. “Which is exactly what I’m going to do. Now, start the damn car.”

  Cole didn’t look happy, but he acquiesced. “You riding with us?” he said to Rad.

  “No, he’s not.” I made a get out motion with my hand. “You can follow us in whatever vehicle you came in.”

  He ignored my hand and my command to get out. “I took one of Nudra’s cars. We can leave it.”

  “Which one?” Cole was suddenly back to normal. “The Lamborghini?”

  “Sweet car, but drives like shit in this weather.”

  Cole started the Land Rover, put the defrost fan on high, and met my eyes in the rearview. “We’ll send one of your new Undead minions to get it tomorrow.”

  My minions. Funny how that had become the least of my problems. “If I live to see the coronation.”

  “Lucifer seemed certain you can handle Lilith,” Rad said.

  “Did you see him?” I shook my head and stopped when it felt like my brain was banging against my skull. Pressing fingers to my temples, I shut my eyes for a second. “He’s whipped by that witch and acting like a normal human being. Hard to believe he was once an Archangel.”

  The windshield wipers began to loosen some of the ice. Cole dug under the seat, found an ice scraper. “Be right back.”

  He dove out of the car and went to work chipping at the ice on the various windows, trying to speed things along. I was all for that, except the fact I was now alone with Rad.

  He opened his mouth and I raised a shaky hand. “Don’t start. I just survived a round of bubonic plague. I don’t want to talk. I want to sleep.”

  I laid my head against the cold window and closed my eyes. That lasted all of two seconds.

  Rad’s warm hand gripped mine, startling me. I resisted but he held firm. “The Noctifectors crucified your parents and little sister. It wasn’t Queen Maria, although she was the one who told them where to find your family. She told them you were all demons.”

  Crucified. The ugliest word in the human language.

  The memories of my mother and father nailed to makeshift crosses flashed across my mind. My baby sister’s small body spread-eagled on the floor, spikes driven into her tiny hands and feet. The blood…

  Hot, angry tears filled my eyes. “Stop. Please.”

  “You need to hear this. You need to know what happened that day.”

  “The past can’t be changed.” I shook my head as if I could shake loose the memories. “It was my fault. Their deaths. I should have been there.”

  The words came out herky-jerky between breaths. Rad drew me close. He hugged me to him and his warmth was a balm to my injured body. “It was not your fault. It was no one’s fault.”

  Of course he would say that.

  I struggled against his comfort, tried to wrench free of his strong arms. Here I was remembering my murdered family and allowing my sworn enemy to comfort me while he admitted his deceit.

  His hands tightened, trapping me against him. “The Noctifectors kidnapped me a few hours before our marriage ceremony, Kali. Maria had told them about me too. I didn’t betray you or your family. Maria sold us both out.”

  I stopped struggling. Hearing Rad confirm the fact the Noctifectors had murdered my family because of Maria’s betrayal made my skin crawl. “Porca miseria.”

  ”They knocked me out, hid me away inside the catacombs under one of the basilicas. They tortured me for several centuries, brainwashing me, and turning me into a t
ool they could use against other demons.” He squeezed my arm. “I was told you were dead. That they’d killed you along with your family. It was one more way for them to break me.”

  Cole was chip, chip, chipping away at the windshield and two small circles of ice had melted. He caught an edge with the scraper and tore a large chunk of ice away. A modicum of light filtered through.

  The storm continued to rage around us, though, while a different storm raged inside me. “That’s why I couldn’t find you.”

  Rad’s thumb rubbed my arm, slow, comforting motions. “When the Noctifectors finally released me, I went back to your house. I searched for your grave. There was nothing. No evidence that you and your family had ever existed. How did you survive their attack?”

  Wiping tears off my cheeks, I sat up. This time he released me. I stared at the ice covered window, seeing my dark past. “I was out looking for you. When I returned and found my family dead, I thought Maria had sent some of her mercenaries to kill all of us. You included. I burned with revenge and went to confront her.

  “She caught me and imprisoned me. Tortured me.”

  To his credit, Rad didn’t force a hug or other comfort on me this time. “How did you escape?”

  I stared at the seat in front of me, shutting down my emotions even as I opened up and spilled the facts. “The king was killed, a coup staged and Maria was forced to leave. Her successor ordered all the prisoners killed, but I was able to call up enough magic to break free and escape before they could behead me. I hunted Maria down. She was living in a convent in Milan. I took revenge on her. For all the things she had done. Then I went to Spain.”

  Cole was working on the ice on my side of the car. Rad shifted forward and caught my eye. “You can’t take personal revenge, Kali.”

  “I didn’t take revenge for me.” The ice on my window cracked and fell off. I glanced down at my hands, magic rising from them as my thumbs and ring fingers touched. “I took it for everyone else Maria had ever betrayed and hurt. All those humans she made me torture.”