whiskey witches 01 - whisky witches (42 page)

She couldn’t blame him. Not really. All she had to do was look at the carnage to see why he’d reacted the way he had. “I understand.”

He released an embarrassed breath through his closed lips. “How’s Dexx?”

“They told me. I didn’t understand any of it. They’re taking him to Baton Rouge.”

He winced. “I need your help.”

She couldn’t say she was interested. Her only friend was being carted off to Baton Rouge. She’d lost her only lead on the key. Her demon shield was gone, who knew where. She was out of her element and no good for anyone. “Why? What happened?”

Brian’s jaw clenched. “That symbol Sven carved on your chest?”

Paige nodded.

“It’s on all the victims. And . . .” He let out a long breath, his head tipping to the side. “Mike escaped.”

Paige frowned. “Without Malika.”

Brian massaged his forehead. “Yeah. I need help, Paige. I can’t let you leave yet.”

Roxxie leaned to the side, her hands clasped behind her back. “I think you might need me after all. What do you think?”

R
OXXIE RAISED HER
hand. “I know where Mike is.”

Paige stared at the angel and sighed. If ever an angel was born she could deal with, Roxxie was it. She acted normal, didn’t look down on her. “Okay. Are you going to make me talk to thin air, or can you reveal yourself to everyone?”

“You might want to prepare him.” Roxxie shrugged deeply, a cherub-like smile on her otherwise pixie face.

Paige met Brian’s gaze.

He raised his eyebrows and lowered his chin, his hands open at his waist.

“Angel.”

He pulled the corners of his lips down, then nodded.

“Okay, Roxxie. I think he’s ready.”

Paige didn’t see anything different.

Brian took in a sharp breath. He released the air out of his lungs, his fingers flexed. “Chief Brian White.”

Roxxie beamed at him. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. You may call me Roxxie.”

Brian cleared his throat. “Murdering demons and guardian angels.”

“Don’t think all angels are guardians.” Roxxie scuffed her toe. “We’re not.”

Balnore narrowed his eyes, rising to his feet. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”

Roxxie beamed a smile at him. “We haven’t, but I’ve heard all about you. You’re quite a rebel, you know.”

“I hope you haven’t heard too much.”

“Well, no. It’s not like we have a demon news station or anything.”

“Demon?” Brian asked.

Things were getting way too complicated. Paige held up her hand. “He’s a demon. We can trust him. Roxxie, you said you knew where Jones is.”

“I do.”

“We need to catch him before he kills again.” Brian ran his thumb along his eyebrow. “I don’t know how he escaped.”

Roxxie tipped her head. “He’s an angel. He was sent here to protect Malika, and to make sure the key didn’t fall into the hands of the demons. You can’t jail an angel. At least not in any confines you have.”

Paige took in a breath, held it, and tried again. “An angel?” Suddenly, too many things made sense. Gabriel had bound Lucius between the planes and killed Sven two hundred years ago. Sven had been reborn in New York almost a hundred years ago. The key fragment had been passed down from one Moore witch to the next until it got to Malika. Mike was her protector in the same way Balnore was Paige’s.

Gabriel had helped Rachel take Leah. Raphael was Paige’s guardian, though, somehow Balnore had beaten him out. Paige had been needed to pull Lucius from the in-between. Sven needed Lucius’ soul to morph with the other guardian souls in the key.

Sven was merely a pawn in this whole game. He probably wasn’t even supposed to be on the board. Mike Jones was the true master mind behind all of this. He’d gotten Malika involved. He’d gotten Paige involved.

She snorted. The mystery was solved. Now all she had to do was to keep the key from being powered up, from being used. How could she do that, though, if her shield had run off?

Mike Jones was an angel. He needed the key. To follow Sven would be to go in the wrong direction. Mike’s first priority would be to retrieve that key, to get it out of demon hands. He knew Lucius was no longer harbored inside of Paige’s body—and now it made sense why he’d known. An angel would.

But would he necessarily hide behind demons?

To get away from her? Maybe.

Damn it. She needed her shield. “Bal, do you have any idea where Lucius is?”

His expression folded in consternation. “Why would I know? Am I his babysitter?”

She released a frustrated breath. “Roxxie, where’s Mike Jones, and has he retrieved the key?”

“The key?” The angel glanced at the ceiling. “I do not know. But he is at the junk yard on the other side of town.”

Paige closed her eyes, her wounded arm shaking. She banished the pain to the back of her mind, but that was going to stop being enough soon. “Reality check. How likely is it that he’s housed with demons?”

“He does know how to play them.” Roxxie jerked back, staring at her bleeding arm. “Raphael will have my wings.” She rushed to Paige’s side, wrapping her lithe fingers around Paige’s arm.

Paige batted her away.

Warmth flowed over her, taking the fight right out of her. The tight pain in her arm, her hip and her side disappeared.

Roxxie stepped back with a huge grin. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go.”

Paige stared at her as she inspected where her wounds had been. “What did you do?”

“I . . .” Roxxie tipped her head to the side, the tip of her tongue sticking out. “I healed you. That seemed like the right thing to do. Was I wrong? Were you meant to suffer?”

“No, um. Thank you.” Paige released a frustrated sigh. “Chief, if there are demons, I can’t help. Lucius is gone. I have no other protections. We’re down to the demon hunter. It’s just you and Balnore. Not good odds.”

Brian threw his hands in the air, his fingers splayed. “That’s not good enough, Paige. He’s a known murderer.”

“He’s an angel, sir.”

“He was on my team!”

Paige advanced on him. “He’s an angel probably hiding behind demons and we don’t have a good enough offense!”

“What if,” Roxxie said, her voice small, “I shielded you?”

Paige and Brian faced the angel.

“An angel?” Balnore asked quietly. “If you don’t know what you’re doing, you could scar her.”

“She’s already scarred.” Roxxie bit the inside of her lip.

“Are you serious?” Paige glanced at Brian. “If you are, we have a chance. A chance. If you’re not, though, we’re all dead and that gate opens whatever Mike has planned comes to pass.”

“Right. I know. No. I’m serious. I can do this. I can help you.”

Balnore grimaced at Paige. “It’s imperative we get that key.”

“And what do we do with an angel?”

“If you can handle the demons,” Balnore said, nodding in thought, “I can get Mike.”

Paige thought about it for a second. “Okay. Okay. Let’s go.”

The junk yard was located out in the middle of nowhere. The flat, barren land was broken only by piles of old, junked cars and a single trailer sitting perched on the edge. Several police cars with several different markings parked along either side of the highway.

Not a single person was anywhere.

Paige parked Jackie behind Brian’s car and turned off the car. “Roxxie, tell me why you’re helping.”

“Fun factor?”

Paige scanned the area. Where was everyone? She didn’t appreciate being blind. She got out of the car, closing Jackie’s door quietly. “Don’t reach into me and start using my gift. Okay? I know how to do it just fine without you.”

Roxxie nodded over the hood. She glowed softly in the pitch black of night.

Paige walked up to Brian. “Did you call this in?”

“And risk endangering them to fight demons?” He pulled his gun out and checked the safety. Shaking his head, he pointed his gun to the ground. “Another ploy?”

Roxxie lifted one shoulder, glancing at Balnore. “Humans are fodder to angels.”

Balnore raised a dark eyebrow.

Paige steadied her screaming nerves. “Roxxie?”

Roxxie closed her eyes, biting her lips. She spread her hands in benediction and floated off the ground by about two inches.

Brian blinked, but otherwise didn’t react as he kept his eyes on the junk yard.

Paige’s nerves settled as though someone had taken a silk brush to them. She took in a deep breath and released it.

“Better?” Balnore asked.

She nodded. “It’s working. Brian, stay here until I clear the scene. You go in there before I clear it, you’re as good as fodder like everyone else.”

Brian’s jaw clenched.

“Good. Bal, you ready?”

The demon shrugged with his eyebrows. “After you.”

Paige approached the chain-link fence. The gate stood open. The sun crept into the sky, shooting small knives of light into the inky blackness.

Great. Dawn. She wasn’t sure how time had passed so quickly, but it couldn’t have come at a worse time. She needed to be able to see.

A thick bank of fog rolled in as they made it past the first pile of cars. It swung out of the way, like a flimsy curtain moving in the breeze.

Demons. Five of them. They laughed, slapping each other in praise.

Three cops writhed on the ground at their feet. She could barely make out the sounds of their cries as the fog parted, could barely discern the howls of laughter from the demons.

“You sure you can do this?” Paige muttered.

Roxxie squared her small shoulders. “Only one way to find out. Go get them.”

Paige called up the power of Hell. She formed it into ethereal clawed hands. She grabbed each of the demons’ souls, maintaining her hiding spot behind the junk cars.

Fear covered their nearly human faces as they turned to face her. They fought bought back, throwing his soul energy at her arms.

Curling her lip, Paige tugged on the flow of power from Hell. Her heart asked questions her mind couldn’t translate. Curiosity. Question. In her mind, she asked one question. Do you want them back?

A portal opened beneath her feet, one her gifted eyes could see. A thinning of the veil between her world and Hell as it answered back. Yes.

She flung them through the portal.

Hell reclaimed them with unabashed glee.

Roxxie cried out.

Power flowed through Paige. Hell beckoned like a lover. “What’s wrong?”

“It—it’s not—” The angel waved Paige on. “I’m fine. I can do this.”

Paige’s nerves went raw, as if she were standing in the middle of a fire. Then they calmed just as suddenly. “Are you sure?”

“No.” The angel’s voice was small.

Paige had to hurry, and she had to figure out how to do this without Roxxie if the angel failed. She breathed. This was her gift. It was a part of her. She could do this. She had to. Sounds grew distant as she concentrated her will, turning off all other distractions.

She had to.

O
NE OF THE
men on the ground scrambled to his feet.

A woman ran out from behind a pile of cars. Demon.

Its soul called to Paige, but not as though it were trying to push her out. The way demon souls had always called to her. She reached for it.

The man pulled out his rifle, and blasted the demon.

It laughed. With a flick of the woman’s wrist, the cop fell to the ground.

Paige raised an eyebrow and released her power.

The demon froze, unable to disperse, to move.

“Talker,” a loud, multi-toned voice shouted behind her. “Talker!”

Paige banished the first demon, then reached toward the one that had raised the alarm. With a wiggle of her fingers, the demon returned to the loving arms of Hell.

Her power slithered outward, hunting. In her mind’s eye, the cars, the fog, and the destruction became diaphanous. She saw demons, not as red dots in a globe. She saw their faces, what they were doing, where they were.

She raised her head and walked to the next batch of them, ripping from earthy existence.

“Detective?”

She paused and focused on the man at her feet. “Duke?”

He scrubbed his face with the back of his arm. “What’s goin’ on?”

“I’m doing what I do best.” She jerked her arms back, bringing two more demons to kneel beside the police officer. “Be gone.”