Rotting flesh. That was what the djinni smelled of. Rotting flesh and too much cologne, an attempt to cover up the other smell. It made Grace want to gag and run out of the room, but she needed to be there. She had a promise to uphold, and this was the only person that could help her find Lucifer. At least, he better be able to help. If not, rotting flesh was going to be the least of his worries.
“Did you find him?” Grace asked, staring Iblis down. He was pale and his breathing heavy. It looked as if he were about to pass out, but that wasn’t her problem. All she wanted to know was where she had to go and who she had to kill. Though, from the looks of it, she was going to have some issues with that. Iblis was a great fighter, she had heard countless stories from Lucifer about him, and whatever he went up against had nearly killed him. She doubted her and the hounds would fair any better.
Iblis gave a weak smile. “Did you doubt me?” No, she never did. If Tony said he could find Lucifer, then she believed it. The demon has never once lied to her. He might not tell her everything or skirt over certain details, but he never lied, as far as she could tell.
Grace stayed silent, waiting for the djinni to continue. When he realized she was not going to say anything, he sighed. “Yes, I found him. I didn’t visually confirm he was there, but my source is never wrong.” Even as sickly as he looked the djinni exuded such confidence that Grace found it hard to doubt him.
Tony, on the other hand, could. “What do you mean, you ‘didn’t visually confirm?’”
“There were… complications.”
“Complications that resulted in you doing a half-assed job?”The demon tapped his finger against the wooden arm of his chair. “How do you know for sure Lucifer is there, and how do we know your source can be trusted?”
Grace was about to tell her friend to chill out, not understanding why he was so upset, but Ashtat interrupted her. The young woman had been so quiet Grace had nearly forgotten she was there. “My magic doesn’t lie,” she hissed. Someone didn’t like to be doubted, very much.
Iblis visibly wince. Obviously, he had wanted to keep that a secret. The cat was out of the bag now, so he went with it. “Ashtat can use blood magic.”
That seemed to impress Tony. “A rare trait.” He turned to her. “I apologize for insulting you.”
Ashtat held her hand up in an “it’s fine” gesture. “You didn’t know. And I still don’t know why you keep it a secret,” she directed at her father.
“Because people would try to use you.”
“Just like you do,” Grace shot at him. Probably not the best thing to say at that moment, but it was out of her mouth before she had even finished thinking it.
Some color came back into Iblis’ face. “I do not use my daughter!” It was not a shout, but there was heat in those words. The erratic beating of his heart filled Grace’s ears.
“Uh-huh. Yeah, whatever. Calm down before you give yourself a heart attack.” Grace didn’t want to be the reason the djinni keeled over. They could argue all they wanted when he was well. Not that she really wanted to come into contact with him again. Their relationship was strained enough that one of them, most likely her, might die if they were in the same room together. “Where is he?” she asked in hopes of changing the subject.
It seemed to work. Iblis’ face turned back to pale and he relaxed heavily in his chair. “In an abandoned warehouse in the southern part of town. I’ll give you an address.” He leaned forward and quickly wrote down the address on a scrap piece of paper.
“It’s always an abandoned warehouse,” Grace muttered under her breath as he wrote down the address. Tony snorted. Then cleared his throat and reached for the proffered piece of paper, taking a quick glance at the address. “So, are you going to tell us what the ‘complications’ were, or are we just going to have to find out ourselves?” Grace didn’t hate surprises, but that one she might.
“It was a witch.”
Grace stared at him blankly for a moment, trying not to laugh. “You mean pointy hat, fly on a broomstick, black cat kind of witch?” Even she knew it was a stupid question, nothing was the same as the stories, but sometimes acting stupid got her the answers she needed. The stares she was receiving from everyone in the room, on the other hand, made her feel as if she should have kept her mouth shut. “Why don’t we pretend that I’m new to the supernatural world and don’t know what you’re talking about.” Snapping at them made her feel better.
“A witch,” Iblis started tiredly, “were humans that made a pact with a demon for magic. Over the years, they start to lose their humanity and turn into beast. Each witch is unique in looks, but they all have one thing in common. Poison.” He held up his bandaged arm. “If not treated in time, it is lethal. I got lucky. Very lucky.” The djinni put a lot of emphases on the last sentence.
That was good to know, but how exactly would the poison effect Grace? Most of her body functions no longer worked properly. If she had no circulatory stream for the poison to get into, would it still kill her? And the hounds, how would it affect them?
Some of our kind have died from a witch’s poison, Mother informed her. Terrible news. Just meant Grace wouldn’t be able to use them in the fight. She was not willing to risk their lives. Ha. As if we would allow you to fight alone, Alpha. All hounds were in agreement. Even Pup, though he would definitely not be joining in the fight. He was currently at home, guarding Jane. Grace didn’t trust that Beth would force James to leave. He would probably be back that night. Beth was terrified of her, but she was probably more afraid of James, who was an immediate threat. Pup was under strict orders to kill the man if he went near Jane. Grace hoped he tried. It would be better for everyone if he was dead.
A smile lit Grace’s face. “Well, thank you for the information. It’s been fun, but I had a fallen angel to save.” The sooner she got it over with, the better. There was a chance she would die that night, but if she didn’t save Lucifer, there was higher probability that she would die.
Iblis returned her smile with a grimace. “Please, never show your face here again.”
“Believe me, if I do, it won’t be by choice.” Grace stood and headed to the door. “Also,” she turned to the djinni, “you might want to get whoever took care of that to look at it again. Your flesh is rotting.”
Iblis’ eyes widened. “How?”
“The nose of a hellhound.” She walked out of the room after that, not bothering to check to see if Tony was following her. He would catch up eventually.
She felt the demon’s presence beside her. “You know, you’ll have to see Iblis again. It’s inevitable.”
“I know, but that doesn’t mean we have to like each other.”
“No, but you could have left on better terms.”
“I did. I let him know his arm’s about to rot off. I think that was pretty better of me.” No one wanted their arm to fall off. The disappointment was radiating off of her demon friend, but there were other things for her to focus on. “Where are we going, exactly?”
“The industrial park. It’s about an hours walk from here. Do you want a ride?”
“In a cab, yes. Not what you’re thinking.” A multi-person jump was not something Grace wanted to experience again. They had made it to the empty dance floor when she stopped. “He hasn’t called me.” It had been so long since he last had, she had almost forgotten he had the ability. “What could stop him from calling me?”
Tony started to head toward the front door, Grace followed closely behind. “Magic. It’s one of the few things angels, and demons, are weak against. It’s the only way he could have been captured.”
“So, the witch caught him?”
“No. If it has a poison strong enough to knock down a djinni, it’s more beast than human. Someone must be using it as a guard dog, so to speak.”
“Can only demons use them?” It would be reasonable to believe a demon would use a witch since they are the ones that created them.
But Tony shook his head. “Anyone dominate enough could get a witch to work with them. They would just have to prove they’re stronger than the witch. Most witches have the same mentality as pack animals, but you hardly ever find more than one. Fortunately for us.”
That was good news indeed. “Who would use the witch?” Grace shook her head. “Never mind.” Lucifer had a lot of enemies. Too many to list. With so many possibilities, they had no idea what they were going to walk into when they got to the abandoned warehouse. At least, they had been warned about the witch. Thank God for small favors.
When they reached the edge of the sidewalk, Tony hailed a cab. Several of the yellow and white vehicles hovered around the nightclub like vultures. One noticed the potential customers and quickly whipped his car around and slammed on his brakes in front of him. With the whorl of the mechanics in the window it rolled down. A jovial man bared his teeth in a smile. “You need ride?” asked in a thick Russian accent.
Tony smiled nervously. Even demons feared bad taxicab drivers. “Yes. We’re going to this address.” He handed the driver the piece of paper.
The man snatched and hardly gave it a glance. “No problem. Jump in. I get you there quick.”
An unsure look came across Tony’s face as he glanced as Grace. She just smiled at him. “Get in, Tony. We got somewhere to be.” Sometimes, the demon needed a little push, which she gave him, toward the car. He gave her a killer glare before getting into the backseat of the vehicle, she followed closely behind him.”
“Seat belts, please,” the driver said to them. Grace was mildly surprised. There weren’t many taxi drivers that asked their passengers to wear seatbelts. And he didn’t move until they were both buckled in. “Thank you,” he said before slamming his foot on the gas.
The last time Grace had rode in a car was the day that she had died, and she had no idea how much it had affected her, until then. Every little turn or stop sent her heart racing. There were several times she believed she was going to die again. She found herself gripping Tony’s arm for dear life. Then again, it could have just been the terrible driving since Tony was just as frightened as she was.
When the vehicle finally stopped, Grace had to peel herself away from Tony. She got out of the car, her knees and hands shaking. Next time, no matter how long it took, she was going to walk. Even jumping with Tony would have been more relaxing than that car ride.
While she calmed herself with slow, deep breaths, Grace took stock of her surroundings. There wasn’t much there. A fence with barbed wire at the top, with the intention of keeping people out, with no such luck; someone had cut a hole in the fence. A field of gravel and dust laid beyond the fence, leading up to a darkened building with broken windows and graffiti.
If this had been her old life Grace would have walked away. There were sirens going off in her brain screaming at the possible dangers that laid in there. Not just the witch, but broken down machinery that was strewn about and rocks and empty spray cans with it. There would be plenty of rust, but tetanus was something she no longer had to worry about.
And humans. There could be people in there, squatting in the hopes of having a roof over their head.
A small tug in her mind told her a hound wanted her attention. There are no humans in that building, sister assured her. Out of all the hounds, she had the best nose. Grace could trust her assessment.
What about anything else? She was trying to get into the habit of not speaking aloud to them, especially in public.
There could be deeper in the building, but the witch’s stench is too strong to tell. Great. They had no idea what they were walking into. Anything could be waiting in there for them. She was just going to have to trust that her, Tony, and the hounds were enough to take care of it.
After paying their fare and watching the cab driver take off, Tony joined Grace. “Ready for this?”
Grace turned and smiled. “Not one fucking bit, but let’s go.” And together they moved toward the building neither of them were sure they would ever come out of.
Sin Eater 