Authors: Holli Bertram
“What are you smiling about? Don’t you realize the trouble you’re in?” Harry stood in front of her, looking down at her in much the same way he’d looked at the demon in Starbucks.
“Harry, have you ever been mad with lust?”
His jaw went rigid, and his gaze seemed to burn like molten gold. For a long time he just stared at her. Then silently he nodded.
The air poofed out of Julie. She actually felt herself shrivel and deflate. She’d wanted him to say no. She didn’t want there to be a woman in the world who drove him crazy with longing. “She’s not dead by any chance, is she?” she asked hopefully, despising herself. What kind of sick person was she turning into?
His lips twitched. “No. But she’s currently driving me insane because she won’t focus on the problem at hand.”
She closed her eyes for a moment, savoring the hot flow of joy that coursed through her. She wanted to be honest with him, since she might not see him again. “Sometimes I can’t stop thinking about you, Harry. You’re in my head like Marguerite is in yours, only I don’t want you to leave. Will you be all right when I’m gone? You’re sure that you’ll be able to stop Marguerite from placing the second tie?”
His jaw worked for a moment, and then he nodded stiffly. “The Council is set to gather and weave a protective ring. I’ll simply stay in the circle from sunset to sunrise tonight and Marguerite will not be able to place the second tie. The spell will be broken.”
“Tonight! With everything going on, I’d totally forgotten the new moon was tonight.” How could she have done that? “What time is sunset?”
“7:32 pm here in Chicago.”
“You should go to the Council circle, now! What if she travels somewhere in the world where sunset is a different time?”
“This is a powerful spell. Distance will weaken her ability. She’ll want to be as close to me as possible.”
Julie glanced at her watch. “We have about ninety minutes until you need to get in the circle.” She would know he was safe before the demon came and got her. “After, when the curse is blocked, will you keep an eye on Mom and Tasha for me, make sure they’re all right?”
“Stop talking like you’re actually going to go to Gehenna. That is not going to happen.”
“Okay, but in case it does, I need to do three things. I’m going to call Joe and let him know I might not be at work for a while—okay, for eternity. Then I need to call Dorie and tell her what’s happening. Otherwise, she’ll have my face on milk cartons and every social media site around the world. Then I want you to take me to whatever Gehenna Gate Mom is at so I can say goodbye to her.”
He lifted her off the couch, his grip hurting her upper arms. “You are not going to Gehenna. The very fact that demons hold your daughter constitutes duress. Your statement was not made with free will.”
She blinked at him. “That argument makes a lot of sense.”
“I’m the Balance.” He reminded her, voice dry. “I always make sense.”
“So how do we keep Jeffrey from transporting me to the hot place?” The hands on the clock seemed to be moving abnormally fast.
“We go directly to his boss, Abigor.”
“And how do we go directly to Abigor?”
“Through the silver phone, his private line.”
“You have a silver phone?”
“No. Bas does.”
“Why don’t you have your own phone?”
Harry took a deep breath. “I have never heard anyone ask as many questions as you.”
“How else am I supposed to figure things out?”
He seemed to gather his patience. “The Balance has never had a direct link to the immortals. We keep separate as much as possible.”
“That’s a great non-answer. Right along the lines of my favorite parental response—‘Because I said so.’”
“We’ll get into the history of the Triad and its relations with immortals another day.” His patience hadn’t lasted long. “I need to find Bas. Now.”
“He left after the last batch of cookies came out of the oven. He didn’t say where he was going.”
“Bas comes and goes as he pleases. Sometimes years elapse between visits.” His grip had loosened, but he still held her securely. His gaze seemed riveted on her mouth.
“Will you be able to find him before you need to get in the circle?” She found it difficult to focus with him watching her. She licked her dry lips.
“Yes,” he answered absently, as if his mind were already flitting toward Bas. Not a shred of doubt marked his face.
“Will Abigor release Tasha and Luc today?”
“Probably. He’s played his game. He’ll let them go before there are lasting repercussions.” Harry’s gaze shifted to her eyes. “I have to leave.” He didn’t move.
“I know.”
“If Tasha and Luc aren’t returned before I need to get in the circle, Bas will deal with Abigor.”
“Good. That’s good.”
“Yes.” Still he didn’t leave.
“Well, bye. See you soon.” She didn’t move, either.
“Did you mean what you said?” The question pushed out from him, like he hadn’t wanted to ask, but couldn’t hold back the words.
She crinkled her brow, not sure what he meant.
“About me being in your head. About not wanting me to leave.”
She lowered her eyes to his chest level, embarrassed that she’d let him know how much she cared. He’d already told her that they didn’t have a future because he was the Balance, not to mention she was a Dancer. If she were of a romantic nature, she’d envision them like Tony and Maria from
West Side Story
, kept cruelly apart by a bigoted society. Except, of course, Harry was a leader in that bigoted society, so the comparison didn’t fit. And they were a lot older than Tony and Maria. In fact, she could be their mother, which was a sobering thought. And she didn’t want to think about the tragic end of the movie, even though she didn’t believe in happily ever after.
“Where do you go when your eyes glaze over and you seem to sink inside yourself? I want to know what’s going on in your head.” Harry pulled her closer, bringing her back to reality.
“No you don’t. I was thinking about
West Side Story
.”
His lips touched her neck. “I’m talking about our relationship and you’re thinking about
West Side Story
.”
Her pulse skipped. “Great movie. I have it on DVD—”
His lips silenced her, making her forget all about Tony and Maria and causing beautiful music—of course by Leonard Bernstein—to fill her.
He lifted his head. “Did you mean it?”
“Yes.” She could barely speak.
His muscles relaxed and he just held her, enveloping her in his arms. A bird tweeted six times in the kitchen.
“That’s Mom’s bird clock.” Julie didn’t want to be reminded of reality, or of how fast time was zipping by. “You only have an hour and a half until sunset.”
Harry took a step back, his arms dropping slowly. “I’ll find Bas,” he said. Then he smiled slowly. “I liked the music.”
He popped out of the room, quicker than a heart beat.
At least it hadn’t been fireworks. Mom would have been upset with scorch marks on the ceiling. Julie sighed and looked around. Even with all the warm, familiar clutter, the room felt empty with Harry gone. She picked up a green and yellow knit afghan from the back of the bright red couch and wrapped herself in it. What if something happened, and Harry couldn’t find Bas? What if he didn’t make it to the circle in time? What if the demon came and whisked her away?
She headed for the purse she’d left on the small lacquered table just inside the door. She pulled her phone from the outside pocket and searched inside the purse for the note Joe had handed her. Surprisingly, given the internal state of her purse, she found it.
Sitting back on the couch, she covered as much of her body as possible with the afghan and dialed Joe’s number.
Chapter Thirteen
“Y
es?” Joe answered, his voice distracted. The noise in the background made it very hard to hear him.
“Joe? Where on earth are you?”
There was a pause on the line, then “Julie?” The background noise—it almost sounded like a lot of people moaning—dimmed as if he’d walked into another room.
“Are you at the scene of an accident, or did I interrupt something I shouldn’t be asking about?”
“No, that’s just the, uh, wind. I stepped in from outside. We should be able to talk now.”
Writers have described the wind as “moaning” since the first rock scratches on stone. Not until today had Julie understood why. “Sorry to bother you, Joe, but I don’t have Phoebe’s phone number with me and I want to let you both know that I may not be able to make it into work for a while.”
“Does this have to do with your daughter?” Joe’s voice sharpened.
“I’ve found out where Tash is. I think she’ll be okay, but I may have to leave the country,” not to mention the known world, “and I’m not sure when I’ll be back.”
“Don’t go anywhere with anyone but me!”
“Why not?” That was a weird thing to say. Was he going all alpha male possessive on her after one kiss? When he didn’t respond, she continued. “I’ll be okay. It’s not a sure thing that I have to go, but if I do, would you please explain to everyone at work that I need to take some time off?”
“Julie, I think I can smooth things out.”
What was he talking about? “What are you talking about? And answer my question this time.”
Silence on the line. She could almost feel the air shimmer with his emotion. “I know who took Tasha. I’m trying to help free her.”
Whoa. “Joe, have you been drinking?” She’d never once seen him with alcohol, even at the winter holiday party at work (formerly known as the Christmas/Hanukah party, until Kwanzaa came along and the combined name became much too unwieldy. Some enterprising soul had tried to get everyone to call it the Kwistmaskah party, but that had just offended everybody). In fact, the only drink she every saw him with was his ever-present cup of latte.
Latte. Oh. My. God.
“Joe.” A horrified whisper dribbled from her mouth. “You’re a demon.”
She hoped he’d laugh and accuse
her
of drinking. Instead, he said nothing, though she could still hear the faint howls of the wind, so she knew he was on the line.
Moans and howls. Oh. My. God.
“That isn’t the wind, is it? Joe, you’re in Hell!” Goosebumps formed on the back of her neck and she almost dropped the phone. Then she remembered. This was a good thing. Tasha was in Hell, too. “That’s not Tash making that noise, is it?”
“No. Tasha is in a holding area. She’s fine.”
She closed her eyes, thankful for that brief bit of news. A totally tangential question occurred to her. “They have cell phone towers in Hell?”
“We don’t need towers to make the phones work. And we call our home Gehenna.” Did his voice sound more menacing now that she knew he was a demon, or was that her imagination?
A shiver worked its way down her back. Joe was a demon. She’d kissed a demon. That couldn’t be good. She cleared her throat. “I have several questions I’d like to ask you.”
Her voice sounded calm and in control, which worried her. Any normal person would be either catatonic or screaming like a banshee. She felt icy, and angry. “But first I’d like to warn you, if you don’t get your butt over to that holding area and get my daughter out of that place, you are dead meat.”
“I’m immortal, Julie. You can’t kill me.”
“Okay. I’ll do something even worse.” Like what? Think, Julie, think. “If you don’t bring Tasha to me, I’ll make you regret every day of eternity. I’ll make you suffer in ways you’ve never imagined.”
“I’m in Gehenna, Julie.” He said the words almost gently. “How are you going to top that?”
Okay, gloves off. What’s the worse that could happen to an evil demon? “I’ll petition God to have you sent to Heaven.”
“Like that will ever happen.” He didn’t sound worried.
“I’ll tell everyone at work who you really are.”
“Will that be before or after I tell them who you really are?” Now he sounded amused.
“How about bamboo under the fingernails or rolling you down a hill in a nail-studded barrel?” She knew the threats were weak, even as she said them.
“Baby leagues, Julie. You’ve been watching old movies haven’t you? Modern human torture techniques are much more sophisticated.”
“Okay, look. So I’m lousy at torture. Joe, please. For the sake of our friendship. Get Tasha out of there. And that Luc person, too,” she tacked on, not wanting to leave anyone in Hell who didn’t belong there.
“It’s not that simple, Jules. There will be a cost to you if I do.”
Julie went on high alert. Harry’s warning about deals with demons made her wary. “Abigor doesn’t have a choice. The angels will attack if he doesn’t let Tash and Luc go. He’s not allowed to take Triad members.”