One

Everyone needs a vacation now and then, and angels are no exception. It was a concept that seemed to elude the Fates. My annual stint as a celestial bounty hunter was supposed to end last week, but complications had arisen, as they so often did. Retrieving hell-doomed souls and hunting down unruly demi-demons isn’t a nine-to-five job.

But now I was finally finished. Kristof didn’t know I was back yet, so I thought I’d get ready for our holiday trip and surprise him. I was looking in the mirror, making a few last-minute adjustments, when my house vanished and I found myself staring at a mosaic of a wedding, with lots of garlands, flowers and flowing robes. The bride began to turn, so slowly it seemed a trick of the light. Over her head, a dove’s wings moved, just a fraction. The mosaic of life—always changing, always the same. Deep.

I turned and glowered into the white marble cavern that was the Fate’s throne room.

“Hey!” I shouted. “I’m on vacation here!”

The floor began to move, as slowly as that damned mosaic. Atop the dais, a middle-aged woman with long, graying blond hair pumped a spinning wheel, gathering the thread as it wove. I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to cut anyone’s life unnecessarily short. Anyway, she knew I was there. She paid me no heed, though, until she’d finished. Then she looked up, and gaped at my outfit—low-cut, laced white bodice, skin-tight calfskin breeches and knee-high boots.

“It’s my vacation outfit,” I said. “We’re going to La Ceiba, so I have to look the part.”

“La Ceiba?”

“The pirate town. Kris likes playing pirate.” I paused. “Kris really likes—”

“Enough.” The old Fate had appeared now, taking her sister’s place. She had wiry gray hair, a bent back and shriveled face made even uglier by her perpetual scowl. “Wherever you’re going, Eve, I hope that’s not part of your costume.”

She pointed a wizened finger at the four-foot angel sword slung across my back.

“Er, no.Of course not. That would be wrong and inappropriate.”

She waited for me to correct the oversight. Damn. Once I disenchanted it, I couldn’t get it back until my next tour of duty. I pulled it off my back, the etched metal glowing, murmured a few words and it vanished, replaced by a boring—if more thematically correct—cutlass.

“There,” I said. “Now, I’m sure you already know Trsiel and I finished the demi-demon contract. I’ve submitted my report. If there are any questions, he’d be happy to answer them. If that’s all, then, I’ll see you ladies in six months—”

“We have another job for you.”

I stared at her. She stared back.

“You forgot to flip the calendar again, didn’t you?” I said. “I’m off-duty now. Technically, I was off-duty last week, too. Not that I’m complaining about the delay…”

“You already did. Repeatedly.”

The middle-aged Fate took over. “You’ll get your break. As soon as you do this last thing for us. A group of djinn have been tormenting people who summon them.”

“Um, yeah, because that’s what djinn do. According to the ancient treaty of something-or-other, they’re allowed to toy with anyone who breaks the summoning contract. Screw them over and they’ll screw you back. Fair is fair.”

The youngest appeared—a pretty little girl with bright blond hair, so tiny she had to stand on tiptoes to see me over the wheel. “Have some experience with that, Eve?”

“With the summoning contract, sure. That’s what puts the dark in dark witch—we use whatever’s available, including djinn. But I was never stupid enough to break a contract.”

“Neither were these people. They’re all supernaturals, too. Dark magic practitioners, like you, who know how to do such things safely.”

I leaned on my cutlass. “Or so they think. That’s the problem, as I always told my students. A djinn wants you to break the contract; otherwise, where’s the fun in it? They’re tricky little bastards, so you have to be careful.”

“This group recently entered into a contract with a young witch. When it came time for her to fulfill her end, they bound her and left her that way, without food and water, for two days, until the contract expired, when they were allowed to begin tormenting her for real.”

“That’s not fair.”

“We thought you might agree.”

Damn. They knew I hated hearing about witches getting screwed by demons—well, metaphorically. If they want the literal sort, that’s their choice, one my own mother had made and I appreciated the extra powers that came with being half-demon.

Still, a vacation was a vacation.

“Trsiel can handle it. Pair him with Marius or Katsuo—they’re always up for a little extra adventure.”

The middle-aged Fate returned. “I’m afraid they’re busy, as is Trsiel. Now, we believe the problem with the djinn is lack of leadership. With their demon master unavailable, they’re testing the boundaries.”

“Who’s master of the—?” I stopped. My grasp of demon politics wasn’t what it should be, but this one I knew. “Dantalian? Um, he’s been unavailable for five hundred years, and the djinn just realized he was gone?”

The old one now, fixing me with a glower. “Naturally, he has under-demons handling his affairs during his exile. We believe one has finally decided to stage a coup.”

“Dantalian’s not going to like that… Ah, now I see. That’s why you want me—I know the old guy. So I just pop over to Glamis, tell Dantalian about the evil scheme afoot, and he’ll get his other flunkies to stomp it out. All right then. Consider it a favor, but since it’ll be quick, I’ll do it.” I lifted my hands for a teleport spell.

“Angels do not negotiate with demons.”

“No, but they do tattle on them. Just not usually to other demons.”

“You are not going to Glamis, Eve. You are not consorting with demons. You have not seen Dantalian since that unfortunate business with the Nix five years ago. Correct?”

I didn’t even bother to answer. They knew full well that I’d been cultivating the exiled demon as a source. But God forbid they should admit it, because then they’d need to admit they thought it was a good idea.

In the beginning, I’d played along, happy to lie by omission as long as they didn’t interfere with my methods. I love an underhanded authority-subverting scheme as much as the next person. But when I was continually expected to provide results and lie about how I got them, the bullshit started to stink.

“We all want this resolved quickly,” I said. “So you give me the job, and I’ll run off and fix the problem—”

“You are not going to Glamis, Eve. That is a direct order.” The old Fate’s gaze bored into mine, telling me she meant it.

“Fine. You don’t want Dantalian to fix this? Then you don’t need me to handle it, do you. Get one of the others.”

“They aren’t available.”

“Well, neither am I.”

“You are now.”

She waved her fingers and the throne room vanished.

Two

The Fates teleported me to the ascended angel staff lounge. It wasn’t called that, naturally. We weren’t staff. This wasn’t a job. It was a calling. An honor. A noble mission.

Bullshit.

It was a job—the first I’d ever held. I’d spent my life avoiding exactly this, responsible only to myself and, later, my daughter. After leaving the Coven, I’d spent years traversing the country, learning the kind of magic that gave the Coven Elders vapors. Before long, I’d been a renowned teacher of the dark arts. Then I met Kristof, got pregnant, left Kristof, had Savannah, and continued on, building my reputation, teaching my craft, staying one step ahead of the interracial council and my growing number of enemies until, one day, I hadn’t been fast enough to avoid the fate some would say I’d been running from all my life.

I’d been thirty-eight when I died. Ask me, though, and I’ll say I was forty, just to avoid that “wink-wink nudge-nudge, sure you were thirty-eight” shit. I have my faults. Vanity isn’t among them. With me, what you see is what you get. No excuses.

One fault I will admit to is an overdeveloped sense of loyalty. I do stupid things for people I care about, and that’s what got me here. I made a deal with the Fates to protect my daughter. Now I spend six months a year with Kristof as a ghost, and six months as an ascended angel. Like Persephone banished to heaven instead of hell. Someone else’s idea of heaven, I should say, because this sure wasn’t mine.

I made the deal, and I don’t regret it. I don’t try to wiggle out of my responsibilities. Sure, I bend the rules, but that’s why the Fates chose me. I was their fixer, the one they sent on jobs that required a less than angelic touch. My success rate matched that of ascended angels who’d been on the job for centuries.

If this was a real job, they wouldn’t just grant me vacation, they’d send me an all-inclusive trip to the Elysian Fields. But that wasn’t the way it worked. With other angels, maybe. Not me. I was the bad girl, no matter how hard I worked, how much good I did. It was just like when I’d been alive—all anyone saw was what I did wrong. Back then, I hadn’t minded, because my bad-ass reputation kept Savannah safe. Here, it was starting to piss me off.

“You do realize that’s not how real pirates dressed,” said a deep voice behind me. Marius—another ascended—walked around me, slouched on the sofa, and paused to give me a slow once-over. “Which is really a shame.”

“Hey, angels can’t ogle,” I said, pulling my legs up primly.

“Can’t or shouldn’t?”

I shook my head and cast a spell to change into my usual attire—a blouse, jeans and boots. Marius looked like he was getting ready for a costume party himself, dressed in a toga and sandals. But he had an excuse. Most ascended angels were warriors in life. Marius had been a gladiator. He didn’t need to keep wearing the same clothing, but he viewed pants much the same way I saw skirts—a fashion torture to be avoided at all costs.

Marius had been about my age when he finally lost a bout. He looked at least a decade older, though, with graying hair and a leathery, square face. The scars didn’t help, but as with most warriors, they were marks of pride, and not something he’d consider having magically removed.

“I hear you got the djinn contract,” he said. “I thought you were on vacation.”

“So did I.”

“Shit. Damn Fates.”

I’m sure he didn’t say shit, damn or any such Anglo-Saxon curse. That’s what I heard, though. With angelhood we get a few powers, and one is a built-in universal translator. Marius spoke first-century Latin and I heard twenty-first-century English, which could be a little odd, like watching a badly dubbed movie, the lips rarely matching the words coming from them.

“If you need help, I’ve had plenty of experience with djinn,” he continued.

“You aren’t on assignment?”

“Nah. I finished early and the Fates don’t have anything for me yet, so I’m just kicking back…” Seeing my expression, he stopped. “The Fates told you no one else was free, didn’t they?”

“Uh-huh.”

“What is their problem with you?” He shook his head. “Well, if you need help, I’m around. Seriously. Just ask.” He grinned. “For me, demon butt-kicking is a vacation.”

So the Fates put me on this assignment knowing not only was Marius cooling his heels, but he had more experience with djinn? Enough of this bullshit. I wanted out. Time to stop moping and bitching about it and get out.

Three

Before you take action, you need a plan. That’s the part I’m not so good at, and there’s no reason to do it alone when my trusted partner-in-crime was a consummate schemer. It also gave me an excuse to go see him. Technically I was still on angel duty—no conjugal visits allowed—but after the first year, I’d found a back door into our dimension of the ghost world. I didn’t use it more than once or twice a stint, though, and only for very short visits or they’d figure it out and plug the hole.

I slipped through to our dimension. Kristof wasn’t at his houseboat or the courthouse. Yes, we have courts in the afterlife. Ghosts have disputes like anyone else. Kris was a defense lawyer.

The third place I checked was the hockey arena. I popped in behind the bleachers. A middle-aged guy sitting at the back turned and smiled.

“Hey, Eve. Welcome back. Looking for Kris?”

I nodded. “If you’re here, then Brianna’s playing, meaning Kris is playing.” I scanned the ice. “But where…?”

“Do you really need to ask?” He pointed.

I thanked him and headed for Kristof, waving to Brianna as I circled the rink. In the afterlife, all teams are co-ed. I’d played a few times myself, but I’m not good at games with rules. And I wasn’t the only one.

I slowed as I approached the penalty box. It had been two months since my last stolen visit. Kristof hadn’t changed, of course. Ghosts don’t. He’d never pass his death age of forty-seven. His blond hair wouldn’t continue thinning… nor would he regain what he’d lost. And no amount of hockey would tighten the slight paunch around his middle.

He still cut an imposing figure—broad-shouldered, six-foot-three, with a handsome face and piercing, icy blue eyes. He also cut an intimidating figure, having inherited his full genetic allotment of Nast arrogance, with a glare that could freeze a witness mid-sentence.

He wasn’t glaring at anyone now, though, despite his exile to the penalty box. In life, no one would have dared impose such a petty punishment on Kristof—he was too rich, too privileged, too powerful. In death, it was a welcome change of pace. Not that he ever learned from it, the punishment only increasing his resolve not to get caught the next time.

“Hey, you,” I said as I walked up behind him.

He turned, smiled, grabbed me around the waist and swung me over the boards. No mean feat, I might add—I’m six feet tall. Nor was plunking me on his lap any easier—I’m not the lap-sitting type. When I resisted, though, he only held me tighter, his mouth coming to mine in a kiss that made me stop struggling.

If there was one mistake I made in life, it was running away from Kristof. Too bad it had taken death to make me realize that.

He slipped his hands under my blouse, grinning as his cold fingers made me jump. “So, are you ready to start that vacation?”

“It’s been postponed.”

His fingers stopped. “Let me guess. The Fates.”

I waited for him to finish cussing them out, then explained.

“Yes, they screwed me over,” I said after I told him everything. “But this is the last time.”

“I doubt that, whatever they might say.”

The referee whistled, telling Kristof his time was up, but he waved him off.

“When you’re done, we’ll discuss how to handle it,” he said. “I’ve had a few ideas.”

“Oh, I already know how to handle it. I’m going to get myself fired.”

I expected a hearty “about time.” Instead, Kris frowned, as if he hadn’t heard right.

“Fired?”

“Let go? Pink-slipped? Sacked?”

He studied my face, as if not sure I was serious.

“I’ve had enough, Kris.”

“I know. Let’s— This isn’t a good place. Hold on.”

He gestured to his captain, telling her he was taking off. Then he led me out of the arena to a playground behind it. There were few ghost children to play on that equipment—children continue aging until they reach adulthood—but most afterlife cities are exact replicas of human ones, stuck in a particular time period.

“You have every right to want to quit right now,” he began.

“Hell, yes. I had every right years ago. I’m pissed off.” And not just at the Fates. I’d expected Kristof to jump in with schemes to free me from my obligation. One look at his face, though, and I knew what was coming—some variation on “slow down and think about this.”

We might share the same “get the job done at any cost” mentality, but while I’d plied my trade alone on the road, Kristof had plied his as the second-in-command and heir apparent to his family’s multinational corporation. That meant we had very different approaches. He’d plot and plan, and proceed with care. I dove in where, well, where most angels feared to tread.

Sure enough, he started telling me to do this one job, then we’d discuss the situation when I returned. For now, I should simply make it clear to the Fates that this was a favor, and demand that I get twice as much time added onto my ghost leave.

“Which is exactly what I’m sick of doing,” I said, striding to the swing set. “Bitching, complaining, negotiating little concessions from them. It’s not enough anymore.”

“I know, but just slow down and—”

“So you’re not going to help me?” I said.

“Of course, I’ll help you. Just do this one job first, then we’ll have six months to plan—”

I teleported out before he could finish.

Four

Without Kristof’s help, I could forget any sophisticated exit strategy. That was fine, because I don’t do sophisticated. I like plain and simple, and there was a plain and simple way to get myself fired. Fast, too, which was a bonus.

I recovered my sword and set out, transporting to a field in living-world Scotland. Distant castle spires shimmered in the early morning sun. I told myself, again, that I really needed to find a teleport code to get me into the castle, but using this one was safer, though it did mean tramping through a field of cow shit. Even Trsiel—who’d given me this code—didn’t dare pop straight into the castle, for fear of alerting the Fates. As for why my full angel partner had this code at all, let’s just say there was a reason the Fates had paired us up.

I looked at the castle.

“Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be what thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature.”

One of the long-haired Highland cows rolled her eyes.

“Hey, it’s the only Shakespeare I remember. I’m damned well going to use it every chance I get.”

I started tramping. The cows lumbered aside. Like most animals, they could hear and sense ghosts—they just didn’t realize that getting out of my way wasn’t really necessary.

So I trekked over the field, across the castle grounds, through the big doors, up the winding staircase… I really needed that direct-pass code.

Finally, I heard a tour guide ahead.

“And another Glamis ghost is believed to peer out that very window,” she was saying. “The White Lady, Janet Douglas, widow of the sixth Lord Glamis. A witch they say. She was burned at the stake for conspiring to poison King James V. Historians have never found any evidence she was part of the conspiracy, though, and her death is believed to be simple political revenge. Her ghost is said to haunt this staircase, constantly watching for the men who came to kill her.” She led the group around the corner, her voice fading. “And so, with all the stories I’ve told so far, you can see why this is considered the most haunted castle in Scotland.”

Actually, it was the least haunted. Having a high-ranking demon walled up here tended to scare off the regular spooks. I could see the White Lady, though, standing just where legend placed her, endlessly watching. She wasn’t a ghost, but a residual—an imprinted image.

I cut through the polyester-clad tourist brigade and stepped through the wall, coming eye to eye-socket with a silently screaming skeleton. It never failed. There were only a half-dozen of them along the wall, but I always smacked into one.

In the corner were more bones, piled up and covered in gnaw marks. Old bones, from a Scottish clan walled up in here for pissing off their lord. Still, knowing their souls were long gone didn’t keep a chill from going through me each time I saw them and tried not to picture the story the skeletons told.

The chill didn’t last—the room was like a sauna, dry heat enveloping me. Dantalian was at home. Not that he had much choice. He’d been walled up here himself, for pissing off his lord. The story went that the Lord Glamis responsible for these skeletons had been, like me, the half-demon offspring of a lord demon, in his case, Baal. He’d offered the sacrifice of these men in return for a boon. Baal accepted. But the boon required Dantalian’s powers of transmigration. Dantalian refused, for reasons known only to him and his lord, and ended up walled up with the clansmen, sentenced to remain there for five hundred and fifty-five years.

“Yo, Dantalian!” I called. “We need to chat.”

A sigh whispered through the room, carried on a current of hot air that tickled the back of my neck. I didn’t bother looking over my shoulder. I wouldn’t see anything. In the living plane, even the lord of transmigration can’t manifest without a body to possess.

“A little respect, perhaps, my lovely demon-angel?” he said, his voice deep and resonant.

“Sorry. Yo, Uncle Dantalian. We need to chat.”

He sighed louder. It was his own fault. During one of my regular visits, he’d tried to curry favor by pointing out that my father, lord demon Balam, was his older brother, meaning we shared a blood tie. It hadn’t gotten him what he’d wanted. Nice try, though. And now I was never going to let him forget it.

“There’s a problem with your djinn,” I said.

“It’s nice to see you, too. You look well. Still carrying that unfortunate sword, though, I see.”

“Yep, want a closer look?”

I swung the angel sword off my back and sliced it through the air. He only chuckled… from the other side of the room now, out of its reach.

“I’m interrupting my regularly scheduled visits to bring you an important message, Dantalian. I have a problem and, as it turns out, my problem is also your problem.”

I explained the situation.

“I suppose it was only a matter of time before one of my underlings sought to take my place,” he said. “The biggest surprise is that they haven’t tried before now. This is easily handled, though. You’ll simply need to take a message to one of my demons.”

“And hope he’s not the one staging the coup?”

“He isn’t. He’s an excellent soldier with no aspirations to be a general. He knows I’ll reward him for his loyalty when I’m free, and he prefers his recompense to come without any pesky political responsibilities.”

“Where do I find him?”

That, apparently, was going to be a bit of a problem.

Five

The best part about this scheme for getting myself fired? Not only was I not shirking my responsibility to stop the djinn, but I was earning a shitload of gratitude from a very powerful demon. I’d still be drawing on this bank after Dantalian was free.

Now if only I could just pop over and deliver the message as quickly as I’d done with Dantalian. But not surprisingly, demons don’t hang out in the same dimensions as angels. To find Armaros—Dantalian’s trusted soldier—I had to go someplace I’d really rather avoid.

I teleported into a desert, hot wind buffeting me, hair whipping my face, sand blasting my eyes. When I squinted, I could make out the hulking figure of an enormous slavering dog blocking my path. Cerberus. Contrary to myth, the guardian beast didn’t have three heads. Like a lot of legends, it’s a fanciful version of the truth. Not three heads, but three dogs—the Cerberi, each facing a different direction, blocking all points of entry to Hell. Well, actually, it’s a library, but close enough.

I pulled out my sword. Cerberus One sat, then stretched out, head on his paws, whimpering softly. Two and Three did the same, maintaining position, guarding the west and east.

“Good girls,” I said as I walked up.

I paused to scratch behind One’s massive ears. She made a deep noise in her throat that Trsiel insisted was a growl, but I knew was more of a purr, her big head tilting, giving me better scratch-access. The other two looked over hopefully. I patted them, too. I’m not really a dog person, but it’s wise to befriend the gatekeepers, especially when they have fangs the size of my forearms.

“You gals still going to let me past if I don’t have this?”

I waved my sword. Cerberus One chuffed and grumbled and prodded my hand for more ear-scratching. I took this as a positive sign.

Returning my sword to my back, I headed up the vast marble steps of the Great Library of Alexandria. Yes, that Great Library, the one Caesar accidentally torched while burning the Egyptian fleets. Whoops.

As I said, though, in the ghost world, areas are sometimes frozen in periods of time, usually their zenith. So we still had the Great Library, though, as the monster guard dogs might suggest, it’s not open to the public.

I have an uneasy relationship with the Great Library. It really can be my version of Hell—endless aisles of moldy books that the Fates banish me to every time I get a new assignment. As a kid, I hated it when teachers told me to go look something up, and I appreciate it even less now. When I want answers, I like to track them down through my network of contacts. The Fates don’t like that, which probably has something to do with the suitability of those contacts.

But books have their place, namely as repositories of arcane spells, and for that, nothing beats the Great Library. I can find more here in an afternoon than I could in years hunting through black-market grimoire shops. The Fates themselves didn’t know all the books these vast halls contained, meaning I often found real dark magic gems.

Within these walls I could also find books on demonology that would lead me to Armaros. That would take hours, days even. Instead, I walked through the special reference collection, past all the marble-topped tables and gray-haired scholars, and slipped into a secret passage to the very special collection, one that contained a single, priceless reference.

The hall was a typical government office corridor, lined with unnamed, locked doors, guaranteed to convince any wanderers that they’d taken a wrong turn. A little farther along, though, and the faint perfume of tropical flowers wafted past on a mist-laden breeze. The burble of running water, growing louder until a waterfall blocked the passage. I kept going. I got soaked—the water was real—but a quick spell dried me off, and I found myself in a grotto filled with flowers and birds and butterflies. Don’t ask me to name any of them—I know only that they were spectacular enough for me to slow down and admire, and it takes a lot to slow me down.

In the center of the grotto, a dark-haired man sat under a tree, poring over a stained book. He didn’t glance up as I approached, simply lifted a hand, waving as if in greeting and I smacked into the invisible magical barrier he erected. He finished his page, then glanced over.

“Ah, Eve. Come in.” Another wave and the barrier vanished. “Here to see Delphia?”

“I am.” I reached into my pocket and took out an amulet.

His gray eyes widened. “Is that—?”

“Uh-huh.”

A grin creased his face and he took the amulet from me gingerly, as if it might shatter on contact. Then he waved me in, gaze fixed on his prize. Suck up to the gatekeepers. Works every time.

I passed through another waterfall into yet another grotto, this one extending as far as the eye could see, and far too large to actually be contained within a building, even the Great Library. It was an illusion, of course, but indistinguishable from reality. I couldn’t even imagine the amount of magic that would go into this. The ultimate gilded cage… for the ultimate songbird.

Nymphs frolicked through the glade, splashing in the pools, chasing each other through flowers, and doing what I suppose comes naturally when they catch one another. I stepped over one entwined couple. They didn’t notice. I didn’t blame them.

Nymphs look human. They are human, as much as any other supernaturals are, except that nymphs are drop-dead gorgeous, every one of them. In modern society, that’s the only power they have—the ability to stop traffic with a single smile.

I passed a trio engaged in a more cerebral pastime—some ancient board game. They glanced up and smiled, giving no sign they’d seen me here before. If they had, they wouldn’t remember it. Nymph ghosts clamor for stints in this paradise, but it comes with a price. While here, they lose their long-term memories and most of their short-term ones. By the time that game ended, they wouldn’t remember who’d won the last. They lived in the moment and for the moment. To me, that’d be hell, but for some, it’s one chance at ultimate happiness, with the added bonus of serving Delphia, better known as the Delphic Oracle.

I found Delphia sitting in a swing, watching a trio of Adonis lookalikes weave her a garland of flowers. The flowers were the only thing she wore, and she was as beautiful as any nymph in her garden. When she saw me, she leapt from the swing, startling her suitors as she clapped in delight.

“You’ve come again. How lovely.”

“You know her?” one of the young men asked, frowning at me.

“Of course. We met in Sparta, before the Peloponnesian War. Or was it Britannia?” She studied my face. “Perhaps we haven’t met yet? Yes, that’s it. We don’t meet until after the third Great War. If there is one, that is. If there isn’t, we may not meet at all. That would be a shame.”

Memory.A blessing and a curse. For Delphia, definitely the latter. In her head, she holds the memories of all times that have passed and all times to come. Except that, because the future isn’t written, she sees only the times that could come. All of them. Everything that was, and everything that could be. That’s why the nymphs here must live in the moment—so she can, too, giving her the closest thing to peace she can find.

“Was it Britannia?” she asked. “Or America? No, neither. It was—”

Delphia stopped as I held up a pearl-like stone. She stared at it, then threw her arms around me.

“Eve! How delightful. It’s been too long.”

“Five months.”

“And eight days, ten hours.”

She was right, of course. In myth, the Delphic Oracle spoke in riddles. In reality, she just gets very, very mixed up, with all those memories stuffing her head. To fix that, you need a focus stone. It’s temporary, unfortunately. It also needs to be used sparingly, which is why the Fates make angels spend days digging through the reference stacks instead of just queuing up outside Delphia’s grotto.

To get access to Delphia, angels had to plead their case to the Fates, then be given temporary custody of a focus stone and an escort to get past her guard. As for how I got my own focus stone, let’s just say it wasn’t easy. But it did save me countless days of research.

Did I really think the Fates didn’t realize I had a stone and access to Delphia? Of course they did. They just looked the other way… until I got caught by some higher deity, and then they’d claim to have known nothing about it. Yet another game I was sick of playing.

Once Delphia knew who I was, we talked. Just social chit-chat. Not my thing, but she liked it, and I wouldn’t begrudge her those few minutes of lucid conversation. Then I told her I needed to find the demon Armaros and she looked deep into her crystal ball brain, dredged up a current location and told me.

“When you find him— Oh!” She stopped short, blue eyes going wide and blank, her mental gaze turning inward. “Armaros. The djinn. You’re going to…” She blinked, eyes filling with alarm. “Oh. No, Eve. You mustn’t—”

She blinked. Then those big blue eyes unfocused, her mind slipping away again. She smiled and touched my hand. “We’ve met before, haven’t we?”

“We have.” I squeezed her hand. “Take care, Delphia.”

I started to leave. She smiled and fluttered her fingers in a wave, then leapt to her feet. “Wait! I was going to tell you…” She frowned. “I was going to tell you something, wasn’t I?”

I was sure I knew what she’d foreseen—my plans to quit the angel corps, meaning I might never see her again. I managed a smile.

“Nothing important,” I said, and left.

Six

Armaros was hanging out in the human world, as demons are sometimes wont to do. According to Delphia, he was running some scheme in Tangiers, which is one of those places I’d heard about, but wouldn’t have a clue where to find on a map. For that, I did crack open a book. It was the fastest way to get the teleport code.

Tangiers was in Morocco, another place I was a little fuzzy on. Northern Africa, apparently, with Tangiers smack dab at the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar.

I was going to miss this part of being an angel. I loved the PI work, tracking down ghosts and demons and humans to the far corners of all the dimensions. Even more than the hunt, I loved the chase. And even more than the chase, I loved the big fight at the finish. I’d miss all this, just like I’d miss Delphia, and my all-access pass to the Great Library and…

But I wasn’t going to think about that. I wanted out. No time for second thoughts. Plow ahead to the finish line.

I got to Tangiers. Cool city. I’d have to save the code and bring Kristof back for a trip, though I suppose it wouldn’t be that much fun without my built-in universal translator, letting me slink down exotic back alleys and eavesdrop on clandestine conversations. Maybe I’d learn French… or whatever language people spoke in Tangiers.

Speaking of clandestine conversations… Using a few spells, I tracked down Armaros and found him in a sidewalk café drinking a huge, steaming cup of coffee with some very shady fellows. Armaros fit right in. He’d possessed the body of a blond guy who looked like a modern-day Indiana Jones villain—shaggy blond hair, old army jacket, aviator sunglasses, a few days of scruff. Carefree adventurer turned dangerous gunrunner.

And gunrunning did seem to be the order of the day. Supplying arms to some rebel faction. Typical. In the movies, demons are always trying to overthrow the world. In truth, they’re not much different than the thug on the street corner who gives kids free drugs in hopes of turning them into regular customers. The drug dealer wants cash to feed his habit; the demon wants chaos to feed his.

People try to say there’s no God, because if there was, He wouldn’t let shit like this happen. He’d stop the demons and then humans, free of temptation, would live happily ever after. Bullshit. Armaros wasn’t forcing his guns on anyone—he was just facilitating a process humans had already started, and reaping his chaos rewards.

When I walked over, he glanced my way, frowning. I pulled out my sword. He flinched, lips forming an oath. Then his eyes narrowed and he settled back into his seat, scowling at me. Everyone else kept haggling over prices, even when I plunked myself down on the table’s edge and started polishing my sword on my shirttail.

“What do you want?” Armaros growled under his breath.

“A fair deal,” one of the men said. “That is all I ever want, Charles. A fair deal.”

“World peace, too,” I added. “He says he wants guns, but what he really wants is world peace. Kill everyone and things will be very, very peaceful.”

Armaros glanced from them to me, then muttered, “I need to take a piss. Work it out while I’m gone.”

I followed him to an alley. “I’m—”

“I know who you are. Balam’s traitor whore daughter.”

“Well, I can see why Dantalian said you make a better soldier than a politician.”

His head jerked up. “Dantalian?”

“I’m playing courier angel today. I’d deliver it as a singing telegram, but I can’t pronounce these lyrics.”

I handed him the note Dantalian had me write out. It had taken forever because the words weren’t words at all. They were symbols. Some demonic language my angelic translator didn’t include. Not yet, at least. I’d made a copy of the note for my own research later.

“Huh,” Armaros said after he’d read it. Then he fixed me with a quizzical look. Wondering why I was helping Dantalian, I was sure, but I wasn’t explaining myself. Dantalian said Armaros would know the message came from him, and wouldn’t challenge it, and he didn’t.

“Everything clear then?” I said.

“Yeah. Can you take a message back to him for me?”

Another example of the language for my research?Couldn’t argue with that. I conjured up a pen and paper, but Armaros waved it aside.

“Just relay a verbal message.”

I motioned for him to go on. He said something in a language my translator didn’t cover—the same one as the note, I presumed.

“Got that?”

I handed him the paper and pen. Again, he waved it off.

“Just pass on the message. Get it close enough and he’ll understand. You need it again?”

“Uh, yes.”

He said it, then made me repeat it. When I got it wrong, he said it again. I repeated it back and—

The alley disappeared.

Seven

I expected to arrive in the Fate’s quarters. Instead, I teleported into an empty room, in what seemed to be a vacant house prepped for sale. I’d moved often enough in my life to recognize the look—the faint coating of dust on the window sill, the walls gleaming off-white, new paint quickly slapped up. I walked to the window, but the sun shone too brightly for me to make out anything beyond it.

As I headed for the hall, I cursed Dantalian for a fool, but not before leveling the same curses at myself.

“Couldn’t Armaros be the one betraying you, Dantalian? No? Okay, sure, I’ll just go chat with him then, and when he asks me to repeat a line in demon tongue, I’ll do that, too. Why not? It isn’t like he’s going to zap me to another part of the country, rally his djinn troops and warn them that Dantalian knows all about their evil scheme.”

I tramped down the hall, threw open the front door—and stared out into the blinding white light of nothingness. I cursed some more, then slammed the door.

“Better yet, zap me to another dimension. That’ll slow me down.”

I cast a teleport spell. Nothing happened. Tried another, and another, feeling my power level drain as my panic mounted.

“Cool it,” I told myself, speaking aloud. “You’ve been dimension-zapped before.”

And that was exactly why I was panicking. Spells didn’t work well in empty dimensions like this. It could take days to escape or be found. On my first case, the Nix I’d been chasing had teleported an ascended angel to another dimension, where she’d stayed for what had been—to her—centuries. She now lived in a padded room, raving mad.

“And that’s exactly the sort of thinking that’ll help you get you out of here.”

My voice echoed through the empty hall. I turned into a room and sat cross-legged on the floor. When my powers had recovered, I’d try a few other things—

“Mom?”

I jumped up so fast my legs tangled and I fell backward, nearly impaling myself on my sword.

“Mom? Is that you?”

Savannah’s voice drifted from somewhere above me. I hurried to the hall.

“Savannah?”

Her laugh tinkled down. “That is you. Where are we? One second, I’m typing a stack of invoices for Paige, then next…”

Her voice drifted off.

“Hold on. I’ll come find you.”

Damn Dantalian. Damn him to a thousand hells. I strode down the hall, searching for the stairs. But the hall just kept going, an endless corridor of doors.

“Mom?”

“I’m coming, hon. Just sit tight.”

As I strode past a room, another voice stopped me.

“Yes, if you can find her again, I’d appreciate that. No, don’t do anything. Just let me know where she is. Let me know she’s all right.”

“Kris?” I said.

I turned into a furnished room. A home office. Kris sat behind the desk, slumped forward, forehead resting on his hand.

“Daddy?” Across the room, a door opened and a blond boy of about five poked his head in.

When Kris lifted his head, I saw the face of the man I’d left twenty years ago. I looked at the boy—Bryce, Kris’s youngest son, as he would have looked back then.

Kris managed a tired smile for his son.

“Hey, bud. I was just coming to—”

“Was that your witch girlfriend?”

The venom in Bryce’s voice made Kris flinch. “Girlfriend? No, I don’t have—”

“Not anymore. Uncle Josef said she dumped you.”

Kristof blinked back his surprise. We’d worked hard to keep our relationship a secret. “Okay, bud. How about we grab some ice cream and talk—”

“That’s why mom left, isn’t it? Because of your witch girlfriend.”

Kristof’s surprise turned to shock. “No, that’s not—”

Bryce ran off. Kristof hurried after him.

So Bryce had known about us? Blamed me for his mom leaving? Not true—she’d abandoned them before I met Kristof.

That’s why Bryce hates Savannah, a voice whispered behind me. He hates that Sean treats her like a sister. He hates that his father died trying to save her. He’s never gotten over it, and it’s all your fault.

I wheeled. No one was there.

Djinn.

As Dantalian’s soldier, Armaros, would command the djinn. And what was their specialty? Driving people insane.

“Mom?”

“Savannah?” I called cautiously now. She was probably just an illusion, but I couldn’t be sure. I continued down the hall.

“—bunch of stupid bitches—”

“Savannah, please,” a familiar husky voice answered. “I know you’re upset, but talking like that—”

“I’ll talk any way I damn well want. You aren’t my mother, Paige.”

I followed the voices to see Paige’s old living room. Her house in East Falls, seven years ago. Savannah was there, thirteen again, pacing the floor. Paige sat across the room. She leaned back in her chair, long curls spilling over the top as she stared at the ceiling as if praying for guidance.

God, Paige looked young. I’d forgotten how young she’d been.

Twenty-two when you got yourself killed and dumped your daughter in her lap.

“You think my language is bad?” Savannah said. “You should have heard what they called my mom. Stupid little Coven bitches. My mom was smart. She left.”

“You need to ignore what they say about her, Savannah. Don’t pay any attention—”

“Just let them say those things? You’re as bad as they are, Paige. As stupid, too. I hate them and I hate you!”

Savannah stormed off, smacking the wall as she went. A piece of molding popped free. Paige slowly got up and tried pushing the molding back into place, hands shaking, blinking back tears, muttering under her breath.

Cursing you, Eve. You know she was. Tell her not to bother fixing that—her house is going to burn down in a few months. That’s what she got for taking in your kid. It destroyed her house, destroyed her reputation, destroyed her life. But at least Savannah didn’t need to worry about the Coven after they kicked Paige out for keeping her.

“I screwed up, okay? You think I don’t know that?”

I tramped down the hall.

“You killed her!” Savannah’s shriek echoed through the house. “You promised Paige would be safe and you killed her!”

I broke into a run. This time I almost passed the room, stopping only when I heard her scream again. I wheeled and saw a furnace. Savannah kneeled on the other side of it, facing the wall, sobbing.

I looked at that room and my gut went cold.

“No,” I whispered. “Not this. Come on. Don’t—”

“I’m right here, Savannah,” Paige’s voice drifted from behind the furnace. “Nobody killed me.”

“Oh, thank God.” Another voice I knew so well. Kristof’s. “See, sweetheart? Paige is fine.”

“You killed her!” Savannah screamed. “You killed her! You promised! You promised and you lied!”

Savannah’s head dropped forward, tears streaming as she sobbed. Kristof stepped forward, arms opening to embrace her. Paige yelled for him to stop. He didn’t.

Savannah turned fast, hands shooting up. Kristof sailed off his feet. His head hit the concrete wall with a horrible crack. His eyes went wide. Then they closed. And he slumped to the floor. Paige ran over to check for a pulse.

There wouldn’t be one.

She was calling for you, the voice whispered. Before he came.Screaming for you. But you didn’t come. And he did. Do you really think she doesn’t know what happened? Doesn’t know she killed her father? She knows, Eve. She knows.

If you’d told Savannah about Kristof… If you’d let her know he was a good man, let her know you loved him, none of this—

“Do you think I don’t know that?” I snarled. “I know every fucking mistake I made in my life and I don’t need to be reminded.”

How many people did you kill, Eve? Not just tangentially, like Kristof. But actually sent to the afterlife yourself.

“Oh, no.” I gave a harsh laugh. “Now you’re getting desperate. That I don’t regret. I never killed anyone that wasn’t just as big a threat to me and wouldn’t have done the same right back. I don’t feel any guilt over them.”

“No?” said a young voice behind me. “What about me? Do you feel guilty about me?”

I turned to see a boy of about ten. “I don’t know you.”

“I’m Terri Blake’s son. My mom double-crossed you. You killed her. Do you know what happened to me?” He met my gaze. “Do you care?”

“Look, I—”

“What about me?” A woman stepped from another doorway. “John Salton’s wife. Widow, I should say, though I never realized that. I thought he’d left me, me and the kids. Did a good job of hiding his body, didn’t you?”

“He’d have done—”

“The same to you,” the boy and the woman chanted in unison, their voices joined by others, more people stepping from doorways, the endless hallway filling. “Had to kill them. Didn’t have a choice. Kill or be killed. The law of the jungle.”

John Salton’s widow leapt at me, teeth bared. “Welcome to the jungle, Eve.”

Eight

I don’t know how long I spent in that hell, tormented by the ghosts of those I’d wronged. I didn’t curl up and take it. I defended myself—verbally, physically, whatever it took. When that didn’t stop it, I walked away, only to step into another scene from This is Your Life.

I fought. I resisted. I raged. But eventually the djinn won. And I don’t remember anything after that.

Nine

The next thing I heard was a voice whispering, “Shhh, shhh, it’s okay,” as a hand stroked my head. I opened my eyes. I was in one of those empty rooms, curled up on the floor, my head cradled on a lap.

I twisted to see Kristof.

“Hello, gorgeous,” he said.

I stared at him. Then I blinked and pulled away. “It’s not really you.”

“No?”

“Prove it.”

He paused, considering, then said, “And how would I do that?”

I sat up. “What do you mean?”

“Well, the usual way would be for me to tell you something only I know, which would work if you suspected I’m an imposter. But if, as it seems, you’ve been hallucinating, then I could be a product of your imagination, meaning I’ll say whatever you want me to say, which doesn’t prove anything at all. On the other hand—”

I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him.

“Proof enough?” he said.

“It is.” I pulled back. “How did you get here? Wherever here is…” I looked around.

“Tangiers, it seems.”

“No. I was in Tangiers, and then… You said I was hallucinating. I’m still in Tangiers, aren’t I?”

“Apparently. You’re trapped in some sort of mental construct. A typical djinn trick.”

“Which I’d know if I’d done my research. But how’d you find me?”

“You called, I came. As for how I got here, as you know, I’m a master of teleportation.”

I laughed and settled in, hugging my knees to my chest. “Like the time you tried taking me to the beach and ended up in the Sahara?”

“It had sand. I only appear to have trouble teleporting because I need to conserve my powers to properly fulfill my role as the hero’s wise and nurturing girlfriend.”

I sputtered a laugh.

He continued. “Every hero needs a sidekick. I’m the wise and nurturing girlfriend, who sits on the sidelines, counseling him to make better choices, and picking him up when he invariably ignores her advice and falls.”

“Ah, but if you were a real hero’s girlfriend, you’d be the one needing rescue.”

“True.” He sighed and stretched his legs. “It’s the one part of the role I’m finding difficult to fulfill. But I’m working on it.”

“Are you working on the girl part, too?”

He arched his brows. “Do you want me to?”

“Never.”

We sat in silence for a moment. My hands started shaking again, and I shoved them into my pockets.

“I screwed up, Kris. Big surprise, huh? You tried to slow me down and I ignored you, and only made things worse. But you won’t even say, ‘I told you so.’”

“You beat yourself up enough, Eve. You don’t need anyone else doing it for you.” He pulled me onto his lap. “We can fix this. Just tell me what happened.”

“I—” I glanced around and shivered. “I will. Just— I want to get out of here and clear my head first.”

“A distraction? Now that is definitely one of my sidekick specialties.”

He murmured a teleport spell. The house evaporated and I dropped a foot onto a soft mattress. I looked around to see Kris’s houseboat.

“Nice aim,” I said.

“Did I mention those expert teleportation skills?”

“I believe you did. And those expert distraction skills?”

“Coming right up,” he said, his mouth lowering to mine.

Ten

A half hour later, I was telling Kris everything. I was still in bed, covers entwined around me, talking as I watched him fix me a snack. Ghosts don’t need food any more than they need sleep or sex, but an afterlife without passionate nights, lazy mornings and breakfasts in bed isn’t the kind of eternity I want.

Ghosts do the things they enjoyed in life, necessary or not, and for Kris, one of those things was cooking. His ex-wife took off when their boys were little more than toddlers, and he’d been determined that they’d never suffer the lack of anything for it. Including homemade meals.

Today he was keeping things simple. When he brought over my tray, it held a glass of milk and a peanut-butter-and-jam sandwich. My ultimate comfort food.

“You really do this nurturing thing well, you know,” I said as I took a sandwich quarter.

“It’s a front. Underneath, I’m a cold, ruthless bastard.” He sat on the end of the bed and pulled my legs over his lap. “So you think this Armaros is behind the coup?”

“Of course. What else—?” I caught his expression. “I’m missing another possibility, aren’t I?”

“You could be. Dantalian perhaps?”

“Overthrowing himself? That makes no sense. Why would he stage—? Wait. Key word there? Stage. You think it’s a setup. If the djinn cause enough trouble, the easiest way to subdue them would be to grant Dantalian early parole. And the last thing he’d want is me poking around. So he sent that coded message telling Armaros to distract me. That double-crossing son-of-a-bitch. I’m going to—”

Kristof didn’t cut me off. He didn’t need to. I might not be Ph.D. material, but I am occasionally capable of learning.

“That’s exactly the attitude that got me into this mess in the first place, isn’t it?” I said. “Dantalian will only deny it, so I’m wasting my time, which is better spent stopping Armaros and his djinn before they do more damage. Then I can deal with Dantalian.” I glanced at him. “Right?”

He smiled. “Right.”

* * * *

We had to plan quickly—I’d already spent too much time in the ghost world. So twenty minutes later, I was back where I’d started, in the ascended angel staff lounge, where a stocky, dark-haired guy cursed as he tried to get the coffee maker working.

I conjured a fresh cup for him.

“Show-off,” he said.

Katsuo was another ascended angel, a former samurai who looked more like a college student, right down to the jeans, fitted tee and sneakers.

“Can’t stay away from us, can you?” he said.

“Actually, I’m still working.”

“Yeah, I heard that. Something to do with the djinn, right? Marius has been moping around, waiting for you to call him in.”

“That’s why I’m here. I need to pick his brain.”

“Research?” Katsuo made a face. “I don’t think that’s quite what he had in mind.”

I wasn’t the only ascended who preferred swinging swords to reading books. I might not have been the usual recruit, but in some ways I fit right in, and I’d made friends here. Good friends, like Katsuo. Would I even see them again after I quit?

I turned away. “I’d better go find him.”

“He’s in his quarters.” Katsuo snagged my elbow before I could walk away. “Eve?”

“Hmm?”

He lowered his voice. “He’d never say this himself—he’s too proud—but he really wants to help out. He— He’s had a few assignments lately that didn’t go too smoothly.”

“Got it. I’ll do what I can.”

“Great. And if you need more help—of the ass-kicking sort, that is…”

“I’ll give you a shout.”

* * * *

“How to summon a djinn?” Marius said, frowning.

We were in his private quarters, which looked like the quarters of any career soldier—a small room, simply appointed.

“Multiple djinn, if possible. I knew how to do it when I was alive but…”

“That doesn’t work after you’re dead.” He sat on the edge of his bed. “Usually I just hunt them like any other demi-demon. I suppose you could try to find a living supernatural who’s already attempting to summon one.”

“That could take days. Same as hunting one down.”

“Hmm. How about you leave it with me? You’re supposed to be on vacation, so take a short one, and go see Kristof.” He smiled. “I’m sure you know how to sneak into the ghost world.”

“I might, but right now, I need to work. I have an idea of my own, so I’ll pursue that while you look into alternatives. When I’m ready, I’ll call you and Katsuo in to help with the collar. If I can get as many as I’m hoping for, I’ll need the help.”

Eleven

I did hope I could help Marius. He’d done a lot for me. But I couldn’t involve him until it was time to take the djinn into custody because to get them there, I had to walk a less than angelic path.

My first stop was a theater where, according to my “Jaime beacon,” I could hope to find my living world liaison. Jaime Vegas is a necromancer, meaning she can see and hear ghosts. We have an agreement—I scare off unwanted ghosts for her and in return, she does the stuff I can’t, like getting information and contacting people in the living world. The Fates are fine with the relationship, it’s what I was going to ask Jaime to do that would be a problem, which was why I was keeping Marius out of it.

I was walking backstage when I saw a familiar figure in the wings. He was a few inches taller than me, slender, with an angular face and black hair threaded with silver. He watched the show through the curtains, hands in his pockets, gaze fixed on Jaime out on the stage.

As I approached, he stiffened and glanced over his shoulder.

“Hey, Jeremy. Good to see you.”

He didn’t answer. Not being a necromancer, he couldn’t see or hear me. He sensed me, though. That could be the wolf in him… or the fox. Jeremy is another dual-parentage supernatural: werewolf on his father’s side, kogitsune on his mother’s. Until Jaime told me a few months ago, I’d never heard of kogitsune, a very rare, almost extinct type, the offspring of humans and kitsune—Japanese fox maiden demi-demons. Unlike half-demons, kogitsune were a magical race, and seeing Jeremy there, I also saw a shortcut to the djinn. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be just the Fates who’d balk at this idea.

* * * *

Applause still thundered as Jaime left the stage. Her assistant, Tara, swooped down with ice water and a clipboard full of messages. As fans broke through the curtains, calling after Jaime and snapping pictures, two security guards slammed shut the gap behind her. Jaime got about ten steps—out of groping range—then turned, smiling and waving. She motioned for the guards to let one besotted middle-aged admirer stumble through the line and give her a bouquet of slightly wilted lilies.

With long, tousled red hair, toothpaste ad smile, and legs that go farther than my best teleport spell, Jaime looks like a lounge singer. Her true claim to fame?

“Jaime!” a woman shrieked from the crowd. “Did you see my father tonight?”

Jaime waved for the woman to come forward. The guards bristled and glowered, moving closer to their charge.

Jaime clasped the woman’s hands. “No, I didn’t, hon. I’m sorry. It can be difficult for spirits to cross, but I can sense him here, with you. I know if he could get a message through, he’d tell you—”

I repeated the words with her. “—he misses you, but he’s happy and he’s in a good place.”

Jaime’s head whipped around, eyes meeting mine.

“Jaime?” someone called from the crowd. “What is it? Do you see something?”

She shivered. “I’m not sure. I sense… trouble.”

“Ha-ha,” I said. “I’m behaving myself, aren’t I? Just standing back, another of your adoring fans.”

She rolled her eyes, gave a few more smiles, signed a couple of autographs, then discreetly signaled Tara, who stepped forward to stage-whisper to Jaime that she had an appointment. Jaime apologized to the crowd, then the guards closed the gap and she walked away, Tara trotting at her side, giving her a rundown of real appointments, attendance figures, technical glitches, all that boring post-show stuff. Jaime answered, but her gaze flitted across the face of each passing crew member, searching for one and, when she found it, lighting up like a kid spotting a “free ice cream” sign.

She waved Jeremy over, and he fell in step beside her, murmuring “good show.” Tara said something about checking the schedule and hurried off.

“Eve’s here,” Jaime whispered, jerking her chin at me.

“Ah,” Jeremy glanced over as I fell in on her other side. “Hello, Eve.”

“Tell him I said hi.”

She did, and we continued in silence to the dressing room. As much as I longed to start explaining—it’s not like the security guards would hear me—I’d learned not to talk to Jaime when she was around humans. She can’t help listening to me and making some response.

Once in the dressing room, I dropped into the nearest chair and rested my boots on a magazine-covered table. Jeremy glanced at Jaime.

“She’s there,” she said, pointing.

Jeremy nodded and took another chair.

“Welcome back,” Jaime said as she plucked pins from her hair. “You’re just in time. I have a favor to ask.”

“Actually, I’m not quite back yet. I will be soon, though. What’s up?”

“Nothing that can’t wait.”

She forced a smile and grabbed the cold cream. In other words, some bastard was haunting her. There was no sense pushing her to admit it. She knew what I did on my “walkabouts,” and she’d never let her own problems distract me from my higher calling, no matter how hard I argued.

“So what do you need?” she asked.

I told her. Her smile froze halfway through, then dropped from sight.

“You want Jeremy to do what?”

Jeremy looked up from the paper he’d been reading, brows arching in question, too polite to interrupt.

“The answer is no,” she said. “Absolutely not.”

A moment’s silence, then Jeremy cleared his throat. “As that refusal concerns me, may I ask what it’s regarding?”

“No.” She flushed and murmured an apology before turning on me and snapping, “No.”

Jeremy folded his paper. “I’d like to know.”

The murderous glare she shot my way would have worked much better on someone who could be murdered.

“Yes, I’m putting you in a bad position,” I said. “Now you have to tell him, and he’ll consider doing it. But I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important, and you know he’s not in any danger as long as I have this—” I pulled out my sword.

“So it’s… that kind of a job.”

“If it wasn’t, do you really think I’d ask? I need to get answers fast, and this is the best way to do it. I’d planned to get you to ask Paige or Savannah, but that means another step, and another delay.”

Again, Jeremy cleared his throat. Jaime tried to ignore him, but his patient, direct gaze eventually wore her down. “She wants you to summon a djinn. But I think Savannah is much better suited for it.”

“Because you need a spellcaster to summon one?” he asked.

“A human can if they know the ritual, but they’ll come faster for someone with magical abilities.”

“Like me. And, all things considered, I’m probably a safer choice than Savannah.”

He had a point. Savannah might not be in any danger from a djinn but… let’s just say Savannah’s safety wasn’t always the main concern. My daughter was an adult now—twenty in a few months—but in some ways she’s still very young.

Jeremy glanced in my direction. “Tell me what I need to do.”

Twelve

We didn’t have all the ingredients necessary for a proper ritual. It didn’t matter. When Jeremy summoned, the djinn came like starving curs smelling raw steak. I was sure they’d never been summoned by a werewolf let alone the Alpha of the American Pack and the member of a nearly extinct race. They were dying to see what he wanted.

I’d barely had time to send up a mental smoke-signal for Marius and Katsuo when the djinn started appearing. By the time Marius arrived, I already had three djinn skewered on my sword.

“I need a bigger sword,” I said.

Marius grinned. “We’ll have to requisition one for you.”

I glanced behind him. “Is Katsuo with you?”

“Haven’t seen him, but I’m sure we can handle these three.”

The djinn looked human—or close to it. Unlike most demons and demi-demons, they can manifest in the living world. And like most who can manifest, they bore some resemblance to their mythical counterparts, in their case, the genies of Arabian lore.

The djinn were bald and muscular, and wore only billowing pants. Their yellow eyes and copper skin glowed. They were barely five feet tall, but I’m sure to humans who summoned them, they looked much bigger.

Skewering them on my sword didn’t kill them. Stung like a son of a bitch, but that wasn’t what really pissed them off. I don’t know what makes an angel sword glow, but it’s like celestial Krazy Glue for demons. Once they touch it, they aren’t going anywhere, no matter how much they curse and struggle, and believe me, these djinn did plenty of both.

“Want me to take these guys into custody?” Marius asked. “You can wait and see if more show up.”

“First I need to interrogate them and find out exactly what Dantalian was up to.”

Marius shrugged. “I say don’t bother. You’ve done enough. Let the Fates handle interrogation while you head off on your overdue vacation.”

Tempting.Very tempting. But any thought of getting myself fired had faded under the need to finish this job. So I asked him to stay and watch for more djinn, then I thanked Jaime and Jeremy, and hauled my captives off to a dimensional holding cell.

The djinn didn’t want to talk, naturally, but I can be very persuasive, especially when I’ve called in Kris to help me play bad cop/psychotic cop. This was another reason why I’d left Marius guarding the arrivals gate—I don’t mind breaking the rules, but I won’t let an angelic colleague be party to it.

Kris had been right. Dantalian was behind the scheme. The djinn were only foot soldiers, so they knew little about the overall plan, only their small part in it, which was to work overtime responding to all summonings and give the summoner an automatic pass to crazy land.

When the divine powers realized the djinn were breaking their contract, they’d send in the angels, who’d find the problem spreading like eldritch fire. The lord demons would see the angel troops being marched out and they’d get involved—not to muster their own troops, but to stamp out the fire fast.

The battle between good and evil is really a cold war. Each side makes small forays against the other, struggling to keep the power balance tipped a little to their side, both knowing they don’t have the martial supremacy to risk a full-blown attack.

So the lord demons would want a quick resolution to the situation. That’s where, presumably, Armaros would suggest a surefire way to end the conflict. Release Dantalian. After all, he’d served most of his sentence. He’d learned his lesson. Grant him early parole and he’d be eager to prove himself by stopping his djinn. Then, the moment he gave the word, the djinn would fall in line. Problem solved.

I was still finishing the interrogation when Marius popped in. No more djinn had appeared and he was eager to hand these three to the Fates. I let him handle that. I had a more pressing appointment to keep.

* * * *

“Yo, Dantalian!”

I strode through the wall, narrowly avoiding a skeleton. The oath beside me said Kristof hadn’t been so lucky.

“Jaime and I talked about having her do a ‘special broadcast’ here, sensing the spirits and breaking down the wall to put these poor buggers to rest,” I said as we walked into the room. “Great publicity for her, but we didn’t want to take the chance of freeing Dantalian.”

“Oh, I’m sure that wouldn’t happen,” Dantalian’s voice slithered past.

I snorted and strode to the couch.

“I see you brought your boyfriend,” he said, a petulant note creeping into his voice.

“No, I brought my lawyer.”

Kris walked to the center of the room. “You had a binding agreement with Eve, Dantalian, and you’re in violation of section three, clause two, which means—”

“I like the lawyer even less than the boyfriend. I’m quite sure you and I can work this out, Eve.”

“He stays. Kris? Continue please.”

“You’re in violation of section three, clause two of Eve’s agreement to visit you biannually in return for services already rendered. Therefore, she is now free of her obligation and you may consider this your last visit from her.”

“Perhaps we can renegotiate.”

“You’re not even going to deny what you did, are you?” I said.

“I respect you too much to engage in such petty machinations—”

My burst of laughter cut him short.

He started again. “It was business not personal, and I’m sure of all people, Eve, you understand that. I’m really very fond of you.”

“Fond? Your djinn tried to drive me crazy.”

“Only temporarily, and I assure you that when I was freed, I had every intention of compensating you for that inconvenience.” His voice slid around me on a warm breeze. “You’d find me much more useful as a free demon.”

“Nice try. But you’re staying here. I captured three of your djinn. They told me everything.”

“Ah.”

“They’re on their way to the Fates now, and when they hear the story and relay it up the food chain, then over to Lord Baal…”

“Ah.” He sighed. “I suppose I’ll be serving my full sentence then. Pity.”

My eyes narrowed. “You don’t seem very upset about that.”

“No sense raging against fate. Or the Fates, in this case. As you so quaintly put it, it was a nice try. Now, about our contract. I believe renegotiations are in order.”

“You really aren’t the least bit worried about what Baal—” I stopped short. “Shit!”

I spun on Kris. “Can you get yourself back home?”

“Go, I’ll wait here.”

Thirteen

I popped into the Fates’ outer chambers first, in case I was wrong, but as I feared, there was no sign of Marius. I returned to the theater. Jaime and Jeremy were long gone and, again, there was no sign of Marius, but I searched the building and finally found him backstage, sitting on the floor, shell-shocked.

When I shook him, he didn’t respond, just kept staring, unblinking. I shook him harder, calling his name, and was about to resort to a magical wake-up call when he jumped, right hand sailing to his sword hilt… only there was no sword there.

“Marius?”

He looked up at me, blinking. “Eve?”

“Where are the djinn?”

“Djinn?” His lips formed the word as if he didn’t quite recognize it. Then he leapt up, looking about. “No. No, no, no!”

“What happened?”

“I—” He blinked hard. Then he looked up at me. “I don’t know. I had them on my…”

He glanced down at his empty hands, then into his empty scabbard, and he swore, the end of the curse rising in panic. Outstretched fingers trembling, he stammered through the incantation. When the sword appeared in his hands, he tottered with relief. I didn’t blame him. For an angel to lose his sword to a demon? Let’s just say it was one of those things I’d heard about, but I’d never met anyone it had happened to, and suspected there was a good reason for that.

“You must have unconjured it and they escaped,” I said. “Do you remember anything?”

He gave a slow, mournful shake of his head. Then his eyes snapped wide. “I remember…” He glanced down at the sword still lying across his palms. His voice dropped to a whisper. “I saw an angel sword. Then everything went dark.”

An angel sword meant an angel, which meant his attacker was one of us. A traitor. And what surprised me most about that was my own reaction—I wasn’t shocked. I’d already considered the possibility when Dantalian hadn’t seemed too worried about his djinn being hauled before the Fates. He knew that would never happen. I should have guessed that for an operation this important, he’d need an angel in his pocket.

What surprised me was my gut reaction. Grief, and outrage. A little voice reminded me that I’d planned my own treachery, but even in my betrayal, I’d only used a demon to finish an assignment. Not finishing it had never occurred to me.

“I think I know…” Marius swallowed. “Katsuo. He didn’t come when you called for help, but he must have heard the summons and knew you had the djinn. He knew where we were.” A sharp shake of his head. “No, I’m sure I’m wrong. Katsuo would never…”

He trailed off uncertainly.

“Either way, we need to get those djinn back,” I said.

“If… if it was Katsuo, I might know where he’d take them.”

“Lead on.”

* * * *

Waves battered the rocks, drenching me with each crash. I squinted, but even my Aspicio powers didn’t help me see through my hair, whipping in front of my eyes. I licked my lips, tasting salt. The ocean. A ghost world version, if I could feel and taste the water.

I tied my hair in a plait, hands moving automatically, gaze still traveling around me, Aspicio powers kicking in, letting me see through the mist. I stood ankle deep in water on a rock that jutted from the stormy sea. It was a small outcropping, barely big enough to pitch a tent on. Beyond that, there was no land as far as my bionic eyesight could see.

“—down—cave—”

Behind me, Marius shouted to be heard over the crashing waves and howling wind. I turned to see him hunched against the water’s blast, one hand shielding his eyes from the wind, the other pointing down to a narrow hole in the rock, descending into darkness.

“Katsuo—we found—assignment last year—said—perfect place—”

I didn’t catch the rest, but could fill it in. That cave on this forsaken outcropping was the perfect place to stash a prisoner—or three.

“I’ll go down,” he yelled. Then he grimaced in what would probably be a wry smile if not for the icy rain pelting his broad face. “—your job—you want to do—I’ll stand watch.”

“No, you need the collar,” I shouted back, moving closer so he could hear me. “You go on down and get them. I’ll stand guard out here.”

He sluiced water off his face as he shook his head. “No, it’s your job. You should—”

He jerked back, my sword point at his throat.

“Eve?” His eyes widened. “You?”

“No, not me and not Katsuo, but you know that. I’d ask you why, but the truth is, Marius, that I don’t give a shit why you did it. There is no excuse.”

“You think I’m the one who—?”

“Am I wrong? Great. Go on down there and prove it.”

He didn’t move.

“So where does that lead?” I asked, nodding at the hole. “A cave? A portal? A hole to the center of the—”

He kicked my shins. I staggered back, but recovered in time to leap out of the way. He lunged for me. I danced around him, blade flashing. He ducked and charged. I sidestepped. My foot slipped on the rock. He dove at me, knocking me toward the hole. I tried to stop, but couldn’t get any traction. My sneakers hit open air. I dropped my sword, rushing through the incantation to unconjure it as I grabbed the hem of Marius’s toga. I fell into the hole… and he came with me.

We seemed to fall forever, grunting and kicking and punching, into a darkness even my Aspicio vision couldn’t pierce.

I landed flat on my back with a bone-jarring crack that left me dazed.

I listened, but of course heard nothing. Ghosts—even angels—don’t breath. Marius could be right beside me and I wouldn’t know it. Beneath me the ground was slick and cold. Rock? Marble? Glass? I had no idea.

I could conjure a light ball, but that would only show him where I was, so instead I struggled to see. My powers, though, like any night vision, need a light source, however faint, and here there was none. When I did make out a faint glimmer, I leapt to my feet, spinning as Marius’s glowing sword sliced toward me.

I dove into the darkness. My sneakers squeaked. Hearing that, Marius flew at me. I raced out of the way, then hopped, yanking off my shoes as I went, too hurried to unconjure them. When I pitched one, he tore off that way; I ran the other direction, then hunkered down.

He picked up my shoe, cursed and whipped it into the shadows.

“You’re too good for this job, Eve,” he said. “We both are.”

I bit my tongue against answering.

“They don’t treat you right and you know it. It’s your demon blood. They can’t get past their prejudice. You could be the best angel they’ve ever had, and they’d still treat you like shit.”

I could faintly see him by the glow of his sword. He walked carefully, chin up, listening for any sound that would give me away, still talking.

“Can you imagine how the demons would treat you? Daughter of a lord demon? Master of the dark arts? Former ascended angel? I’ll be well paid for my part, but I’d be lucky if they’d even let me be your bodyguard.”

My socks whispered against the ground as I moved. He stopped, head jerking to follow the sound. I crouched and threw my other shoe, letting it skip lightly across the hard ground. When he turned that way, I scampered in, coming up behind him—

He wheeled. I fell back.

He chuckled. “Nice one. Not quite quick enough, though. Do you forget my claim to fame, Eve? I’m a gladiator. I’ve fought giants and dwarves. I’ve fought wild animals and savages. I’ve fought one, two, a dozen at a time, but what finally killed me? My partner. Stabbed me in the back. I learned my lesson. Do unto others before—”

I rushed forward, straight on, catching him off-guard. He stumbled back, sword flashing. I grabbed the blade. Felt the pain, searing, unbelievable pain, but I held on. I wrenched the sword from his hands, spun and threw it as far as I could.

And we were plunged back into darkness.

I pounced. We fought. It wasn’t easy—he was as good as he thought he was. But he was fighting blind and the distant glow of his sword was enough for me to make out his figure, duck his blows and deliver my own. Soon I had him pinned.

“Need some help?” asked a voice behind me.

“Took you long enough.”

Katsuo laughed and took out his sword, waving it so he could see by its glow. “You’re lucky I could follow your beacon down here. And you’re lucky I brought a little magic dust to get us out of here. Ready to go?”

I was.

Fourteen

Katsuo and I took Marius into custody. The Fates were shocked and overcome with gratitude. They saw the error of their ways, and promised me a permanent extra month of ghost-time each year.

Right.

We handed Marius over to the guards outside the Fates’ throne room. One took a message in and returned to say they’d be with us shortly. After sitting in the waiting chamber for an hour, I told Katsuo to cover the meeting—I was starting my vacation.

I found Kris back where I’d left him, with Dantalian. I told him what had happened. I didn’t say a word to the demon, but he could hear, of course, and knew his plan had failed. He cursed—some serious cursing, too. None of it, though, was directed at me. As he’d said, betraying me had been purely business. I did understand that.

When I left, he was already making offers to renegotiate our contract. I ignored him. I would listen, but only when he’d had a few months to stew and panic and get very, very lonely. Then I’d make damned sure he paid me well for my continued social visits.

I teleported us back to Kris’s houseboat, still explaining how I’d figured out it was Marius.

“I knew something was up when Katsuo didn’t answer my page. If it was him, he’d have come. And there’s no one less likely to betray us than Katsuo—samurai loyalty and all that. The guy loves his job. Marius…” I shrugged and tried to ignore the stab of pain. “It was a possibility.”

“He blocked your signal to Katsuo?”

“Apparently. Luckily my follow-up call worked or I might still be in that hole.” I slumped into a deck chair and sighed. “I can’t believe it that when Dantalian’s goons went looking for an ascended to turn, they didn’t even try me. Some rebel angel. I’m a fraud and everyone knows it.”

“I hope you don’t expect me to respond to that,” he said, slanting me a look.

He was right, of course. I wasn’t a fraud. One thing I always prided myself on was keeping my word. Granted, I didn’t give it very often, but if I did, I kept it. That was the key to success in the dark underbelly of the supernatural world. You can be as bad as you want to be, but if you expect to survive and thrive, people have to know that if you agree to teach them a deadly spell, you won’t turn it on them and empty their bank account.

“I don’t want to quit my job, Kris. But you knew that all along, didn’t you?”

He didn’t answer that either.

“As much as I love it, though, I can’t take the bullshit. I just can’t.”

“I know.”

I looked over at him. “I need your advice.”

He smiled. “I thought you’d never ask.”

* * * *

The Fates summoned me within the hour. When I arrived, Katsuo was gone. This was a private audience. And if I expected a hero’s welcome, well, let’s just say it’s a good thing I didn’t.

The youngest Fate was at the loom, weaving. She didn’t even glance up when I arrived.

“You guys knew there was a traitor in the ranks, didn’t you?”

She looked up, bright eyes dancing. “We know everything.”

“Then you didn’t need me to find him.”

“Almost everything.”

“Why did you pick me? Because you thought one troublemaker would recognize another?”

The middle-aged Fate took over. “No, dear, because we knew if there was a traitor, you wouldn’t quit until you found him.”

“And I did, so now I can start my vacation, right? And on that subject—”

“You want an extension,” she said with a put- upon sigh.

“No.”

“No?” The old Fate appeared. “You’d better not want anything else, Eve Levine. We don’t grant favors to angels for doing their job. We’ll give you exactly the number of hours you lost, because that’s fair, but don’t you dare push—”

“I wasn’t going to. I’ll take compensation for the hours I lost. I know I don’t deserve special treatment.”

Her eyes narrowed.

I continued, “I figured a few things out while I was gone. At first, I was mad as hell, ranting about how unfair it was. Then I realized you guys aren’t being unfair at all. I’m a celestial pain in the ass, always sneaking around, getting into trouble, breaking the rules. If I want to be treated better, I need to act better. I need to be a proper angel.”

She eyed me, waiting for the punch line.

“When I come back, I’m going to follow the rules. All of them.”

“No one asked you—”

“I get that. You’ve been very patient with me, but it’s been five years and it’s time for me to shape up and toe the line.”

The three Fates morphed in and out, as if clamoring to speak. Then the old one returned and, for a minute, there was silence. I met her gaze, mine as open and guileless as I could make it.

“Fine,” she harrumphed. “Take an extra month, but don’t—”

“No, I’m serious. You want the Good Witch? I can be the Good Witch.”

“Six weeks.” She scowled. “And that’s my final offer.”

“Wow. Well, okay, I guess. But you do want me to behave myself, right? That’s what you’re always getting on my case about: my misbehavior. Ergo, you must want—”

“We want you to do your job.”

“And I want to do it.” I locked gazes with her. “I want to do it right. My kind of right. And if you want the same thing, then you need to back off and let me work.”

We stood there a moment, staring one another down. Then she pulled back, grumbling under her breath before saying, “Go. We’ll talk when you get back.”

I turned away, smiled, and teleported off to meet Kris in La Ceiba. Time to play pirate.