“Be careful then, if you pick off too many of them by the gate, they might send reinforcements.”
“Don’t worry, Mercy, I know a thing or two about not spooking my prey,” he chuckled, and I was reminded that he’d been fighting ‘the dark side’ for thousands of years. Sometimes I forgot how much life experience Sam had, since he was often clueless about the simplest of things. But maybe, as Daphne had said, he was really starting to embrace this century and understand the way the world worked?
“Maybe next time we capture a demon, we can ask them what it means, ‘The Honey Pot’?” he added with a beatific smile.
Maybe not.
Chapter Seven
It didn’t take long to track Remiel down once we knew what we were looking for. A short drive for me (and flight for Sam), and we found ourselves standing outside the aptly named Vagabond Inn in a rundown part of Tacoma. Despite the late (or early, depending on how you looked at it) hour, the light was on inside, and knowing angels didn’t need to sleep, I knocked boldly on the door.
“Somethin’ I can help you with, sugar?”
He was gorgeous, as all angels were, but something about him seemed… dirty. Not just because of the greasy blonde hair that obscured half his unshaven face or the soiled wife beater he wore with blue jeans so torn and faded, I could see through them in spots. His room was liberally strewn with garbage. Old pizza boxes, beer bottles, and more than one pair of lacy panties; it looked like a frat party exploded in there a few weeks ago and no one had bothered to clean it up.
I’m not sure what I expected to see, but that wasn’t it. Sure I knew he was Fallen, but so were Sam and Adam, it didn’t give them the excuse to live in a pigsty. When people talked about Adam living in debauchery for centuries, was that what they meant?
“We’re looking for Remiel,” I managed to get out, more than a little disconcerted. I might even have thought we had the wrong place entirely, but nothing could disguise the golden nimbus that surrounded him, or the bright (if bloodshot), blue eyes.
“Well, you found him,” he shrugged, squinting against the light. “Either one of you got a smoke on you?” His voice had a distinctly Southern twang to it, like he’d spent some time in Texas maybe, and the accent had stuck.
“I do not smoke,” Sam volunteered and Remiel cupped his fingers over his eyes to peer at him more closely.
“Oh, it’s you. Shit, I thought you got busted down like the rest of us? What are you doing working for the skirts upstairs?”
An interesting name for the heavenly host…
“He’s not working for them, he’s helping me. Do you think we could come inside maybe?” Not that I thought anyone might be watching us, but I didn’t want to linger outside in that neighborhood.
“You can come in anytime you want, sugar,” he leered openly, leaning against the door as he opened it wide. Sam strode in, immediately frowning in distaste over the filth.
“I will wait outside, if you don’t mind, Mercy.” Sam looked to me for permission and I gave him a nod. Remiel might be a pig, but I was pretty sure I could handle him.
“Mercy… mercy… mercy… ain’t you just the type to make a man sit up and beg for a little.” Despite the generally disheveled look, his teeth were even and white as he smiled. He might have been stunningly handsome if he made the slightest effort to clean himself up.
“Do you know who I am?” I asked, making sure, since it seemed like every other supernatural creature I ran into had my whole dossier memorized.
“You got a website, honey?”
It figured he wouldn’t notice anything through the hangover. “Take another look.” He wasn’t that bombed that he couldn’t see my Grace, was he?
“Well, hot damn, look at you…” his eyes widened in genuine surprise. “There’s somethin’ I don’t see every day.”
Glad I had his attention, I forged on. “I don’t know how up you are on current events, but we could really use your help.”
“What kind of help?” It didn’t take much to hear the skepticism in his voice, and I talked fast before his curiosity ran out.
“I understand you know how to get in and out of Midian without going through the main gate. I want you to show me how to do it.”
Remiel grabbed a half empty beer bottle off the counter and took a swig. “Shit, why don’t you slice open my belly and drag me around by my innards?” he replied sourly, sitting down on a beat up ottoman.
“Ah, I’d rather find out how to get into Midian.”
“Did it ever occur to you I might not want to have anything to do with those fuckers? I been tryin’ my damnedest to forget about them ever since…”
“Ever since Lysha?”
“Don’t say her name like you know me,” he growled, lurching to his feet and stretching to his full six foot plus height. My hands came up to press against his chest, and I sent out calming Grace, making my voice as soothing as possible.
“No, I get it, I don’t know you. I don’t know anything about you, except that you risked everything for her once, like I’m willing to risk for the man I love.” I don’t know if it was the Grace or my reply, but Remiel’s anger fizzled out, his eyes dropping to look where my hands laid on his chest before he cocked a brow at me.
“You want me to show you a way to get into Midian without getting caught. What for? Are you in love with a demon?”
“They’re holding my…” boyfriend seemed like a trivial word for what we shared, but I wasn’t sure what else to call him. “…Adamiel, do you know him?”
“
Your
Adamiel,” a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Sure, me and him have raised the roof a time or two,” he chuckled. “So, you’re one of Adamiel’s girls, are you?”
I ignored the dig, it didn’t matter what Adam had done in the past. I knew how much I meant to him without having to justify it to a broken down hick of an angel. “Can you help me get in or not?”
“Sure, I’ll help you, sugar.”
“You will?” My face lit up in a relieved smile, finally we were getting somewhere!
“For a price.”
Just like that my smile crumpled. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means, what’s in it for me?” He laid his hands on my hips and I shoved him away in disgust. Even if I wasn’t in love with Adam, he wouldn’t have been my type, even if he did have those little muscles on the sides of his arms that drive me wild.
“Ugh, no way.”
“Why not? I got needs too, same as anybody else. You might even like it,” he gave me a slow, sexy smile that was somewhat marred by the dirty hair hanging in his face.
“Not a friggin’ chance in hell.”
“I also accept cash,” he sat down on the ottoman again. “Twenty large.”
“As in twenty thousand?” My brows climbed skyward and he grinned at my reaction.
“I don’t mean twenty bucks.”
“Do I look like I have that kind of money?”
“That ain’t my problem. I’m sure there’s somethin’ you can do worth that kind of money.” His eyes traveled the length of my body and I felt the urge to shower. Or possibly delouse.
I threw open the door, gratified to find Sam standing right outside. “Isn’t there something you can do to make him talk?”
“I may not strike at another angel,” he shrugged helplessly.
“That’s something you could have told me before I took you along.” Somehow I thought Parker might have had less scruples about it. Then again, things had been a little weird between Parker and me ever since the detective’s visit, so it was probably for the best that we hadn’t had too much alone time together lately.
Turning back to face Remiel, I tried one last time to appeal to his sense of decency. “Don’t you want to help me because it’s the right thing to do?”
“Shit, I ain’t done the right thing since before you were born, sugar. Ain’t no reason to think about startin’ now.”
“But a terrible evil will be unleashed if we leave him down there.”
“Not my problem, gorgeous. If it’s as bad as all that, you might want to rethink my offer,” he slapped his thighs as if he thought I would jump on his lap.
God, we were so close, but I couldn’t give him what he wanted. Even if it meant setting Adam free, I wouldn’t be able to live knowing I’d debased myself like that. Frustration swept through me and I called the sword to my hand without thinking twice about it. Sam might not be able to strike at another angel, but I was under no such vow.
“Mercy, no, you mustn’t.” Sam’s hand caught my wrist before I’d even moved a half step.
“Let me go, I’ll make him talk,” I growled, shooting Sam a dirty look for stopping me.
“Damn, the kitty’s got claws,” Remiel chuckled, as if we were there solely for his entertainment. “Alright then, kitten. You decide you want to pay the piper, you know where to find me.” There was no mistaking the air of finality in his voice. I got the impression there was room for negotiation, but I would still end up giving far more than I wanted to in dealing with him.
“The next time I find you, you might want to reconsider that position,” I muttered, sending away my sword with a snick and tearing my hand free from Sam’s.
“I got a few positions you might want to reconsider,” he sniggered, and I decided that was it. I had to get out of there before I did something we might all regret. For the moment, there was at least a ray of hope that there
was
another way into Midian, we just had to find the right price to get access to it.
* * *
“I’m telling you, a bank heist is the way to go. You make yourself all invisible, and tiptoe in there, and no one will be the wiser.” Matty stretched out on my couch, beer in hand.
“For the last time, no, I will not be committing larceny of any kind to get the money to pay that hick off. Nevermind the fact that it’s plain wrong, I would hate to give him the satisfaction.” Any kind of satisfaction. There had to be another way. “Maybe you could go try to talk to him,” I appealed to Raziel, who returned from his trip without another shred of useful assistance.
“I would not be of help to you with Remiel,” he shook his head sadly.
“Why not?”
A pained expression flickered over his face. “I was the one who dispatched his lady love.”
“You’re the one who killed Lysha?” my mouth dropped open. Talk about a small world.
“In my defense, she was a demon, and as the Angel of Death it has fallen upon me to destroy many a demon over the years.”
“That pretty much leaves you out of the negotiating process then, unless we offer you up to Remiel to torture in exchange for the location of the portal,” I muttered, shaking my head when I saw the look of panic come over him. “Relax, I have no intention of turning you over to him or anyone else.”
“It does bring up a valid point though,” he considered aloud.
“What, that we should offer up some other person for Remiel to torture? Or hey, I wonder if we could hook him up with some other willing chick? Think he’d go for that, Mercy?” Matty perked up at the idea.
“We’re not offering
anyone
up to Remiel for whatever he wants to do to them.” My tone brooked no argument.
“Okay, okay, jeez, I’m trying to think outside the box,” Matty’s hands came up.
“Someone’s at the door,” Raziel announced seconds before the knock sounded.
“How did you do that?” I wondered aloud, rising to check it.
“I have excellent hearing,” he shrugged, obviously unconcerned over who might be there. Parker stood on the other side of the door, a wide grin on his face as I looked through the peep hole.
“I sure hope that smile means you have good news for me.”
“It so happens that I do,” he winked, striding past me and stealing my beer from the coffee table. Matty sat a little higher, making room for him on the couch.
“So? What’s up?”
“I heard from Luz, the witches are ready to go when we are for the binding.”
“She got it all together already? That’s fantastic,” I all but hopped up and down in excitement. Parker could have my beer any day if he kept bringing me news like that. “And they really think they can pull it off?”
“She seems to think so. Oh, but she said it’d be best if we could wait to do it on the Winter Solstice. Something about crap being aligned better… I don’t know, I wasn’t listening much.”
“Luz came to see you at the club?” I could imagine what he was paying attention to at the time, he’d done his share of staring the last time she dropped by.
“Ah, no… she came to my place earlier,” he answered, a flush of color creeping up the side of his neck, and I realized he was a little embarrassed. Had they hooked up?
“Oh.” I wasn’t aware that they’d gotten that close. “And here I was under the impression she thought you were a…”
“Pig?” he grinned. “There’s no accounting for a woman’s tastes. You can’t resist me either, can you, darlin’?” Parker nudged my shoulder with his, and I gave him a wan smile. While I couldn’t say it bothered me exactly to think of him hooking up with Luz, it definitely knocked me for a loop.
“Well, that’s cool, we’ve got the answer to how to help Ben, we just have to figure out how to get our hands on him,” Matty observed, oblivious to my train of thought.
“Right,” I nodded, trying to get back on track. “That means we have to step up our plans if we want to do this on time. It’s getting late. Why don’t you guys come over tomorrow night, we’ll order pizza and hammer this thing out. It’s time to get moving.”
“I’ll be here,” Matty drained the rest of his beer and slouched to his feet. “You coming?” he asked Parker.
“It’s not all that late… do you want me to stick around for a little bit? Catch up?” Parker looked to me, but I shook my head.
“No, you go ahead. We can talk tomorrow.” For some reason I couldn’t look at him, I wasn’t quite sure why. The last thing I wanted to do was catch up with him and hear all about his latest conquest, and all of a sudden I felt bone tired. “I’m ready to call it a night.”
“Are you okay?” Parker tipped up my face by the chin, but I turned away from his hand, not in the mood to be touched.