Across the way, Adrian went into a slump, his body landing badly on the rug, all arms and legs going everywhere. Sissy was the only one of the three who remained exactly where she was, a crystal dagger in her hand, her arm up and ready to stab. The girl’s eyes were wide as headlights, though—no doubt from her first fight, and maybe, probably, because of what Devina looked like.
But again, the demon didn’t care about appearances. No more than somebody who, having been in a motorcycle accident, gave a shit that ambulance people had to strip them naked to save their leg.
“What did he do?” Devina heard herself ask. Gone was the voice of the seductress, the luscious, affected American pronunciation lost in favor of a sandpaper rasp that had the accent of the ancient.
The three of them were heaving to get breath into their lungs, and just as she was about to scream for one of them to quit the panting-dog bullshit, Adrian cleared his throat.
“He went over to get Nigel back.”
Devina felt her own lid-less eyes get large in their sockets. She’d been hoping there was another explanation. “Not … possible.”
“Has happened,” Colin said. “Purgatory.”
“That’s not…” She didn’t bother with the “possible” again. She was holding the evidence in her own hand. “But why…”
Adrian said something. Then Colin. But none of that registered against a flush of warmth and love that spread throughout her whole body. “Oh, Jim … you’re so romantic.”
Of course he’d go over there and risk his eternal existence. It was the only way the pair of them could be reunited: If he could find Nigel and bring him back, then Jim didn’t have to go up to Heaven—and the two of them could be together regardless of the war. They could either quit and start enjoying their eternity side by side now. Or they could know the exquisite pain of battle for one last round, have Devina win, and rule Hell as one.
Win-win-win-win.
Instantly, her hideous true self disappeared and the plump young flesh of that model she’d killed back in the eighties sprouted from every atom of her disgusting form, her biddable-beddable-beautiful mask back in place again.
“Oh, Jim,” she whispered. Tears were still flowing, the red drops falling onto his cheeks, but now she knew nothing but joy. “My love … you’re doing it for us.”
God, this was such a poignant moment, she thought, bending down and sealing his warm lips with her own. And how fucking great that it was happening in front of Sissy.
She glanced up and smiled at the virgin. “To think he would risk so much just to be with me. Love is so inspiring.” Then she focused on Colin and ditched the Barbara Cartland moment. “So you’re saying he needs help getting back with Nigel in tow?”
“No.” The archangel’s oddly colored eyes narrowed. “I do not believe he can get back a’tall.”
“Excuse me?”
“No one passes from Purgatory without the permission of the Creator. You know that. Whether or not he can find Nigel is the least of his concerns.”
Cue a dose of cold, hard panic. Which was absolutely, totally not relieved by the silence that followed.
After a long moment, she glanced at Adrian. “You have something of mine.”
“Do I.”
“A book,” she muttered grimly. “Your friend Eddie took it from me—by the way, how is he doing? Still hoping for some kind of an Easter miracle? A risen-from-the-dead deal for him?”
The goddamn angel gave her nothing. Not even a facial tic. “Easter’s long over. And what book are you talking about? Our Bodies, Ourselves, maybe? No … in your case, probably a Walking Dead comic, right.”
“Fuck you, Adrian.”
“We tried that a couple of days ago, and it didn’t work for me, did it.”
The memory of her on her knees, trying to suck off his limp dick, made her snarl. “Maybe you’ve just lost your edge.”
“More likely your appeal is up in smoke. But we digress. What book are you talking about.”
The way he arched a brow was such disrespect. And she almost went at him with her bare hands, but she didn’t want to disturb her lover—
“I have the book.”
As Sissy spoke up, everyone looked at her. And Adrian started cursing. “Sissy, shut the fuck up—”
The demon smiled. “Yes, you know the one. Don’t you.”
As the demon and Sissy locked eyes, Adrian dragged himself off the floor, his body aching like he’d gotten a hot-stone massage using a tire iron. “Sissy,” he hissed. “Do not—”
But he couldn’t get across to her fast enough.
Sissy went over and picked up the ancient tome from where it had fallen, righting its pages and reclosing its cover from having been blown open.
“So this is yours,” she said.
Devina’s black eyes sparkled as she stared up from her Mary Magdalene-with-the-dead-Christ routine on the floor: With Jim’s head in her lap and his body splayed out, she had arranged herself with portrait-like precision—but he could give a shit about her Agnolo Bronzino moment.
“Sit down here,” Devina purred, indicating the floor beside her.
“Sissy,” he snapped. “Don’t go over there.”
“There’s nothing in here about Purgatory.” Sissy didn’t look in Devina’s direction and didn’t make a move toward her. Thank fuck. “Nothing.”
“You’ve been reading my work?” the demon asked.
“No one else knows Latin.”
“It’s not written in Latin.”
Sissy shot a glare over. “Fine, whatever, I’ve been able to make it out, okay.”
“Interesting.” Devina leaned down and whispered something in Jim’s ear. Then laughed as if she and the dead guy had shared a private joke. “And as for Purgatory, I haven’t been there, so of course I didn’t write anything about the place.”
Man, Adrian was thinking seriously of throwing himself out the nearest window. And he got sick at the reminder that Sissy had had that thing in her hands for how long today?
“You wrote all that,” he muttered.
“Yes.” The demon frowned. “And I seriously did not appreciate Eddie stealing it from me. He thought he could use it to get you back. Didn’t work then, did it.”
But Eddie had ended up saving him in the end. Still, “If that’s true,” he said, “why do you need it now?”
Colin spoke up, his English accent clipped. “Because she’s going to try to create a portal. Aren’t you.”
Devina shrugged. “You were the ones suggesting we work together. Do you have another solution in mind?”
“Shit,” Adrian breathed.
“What’s a portal?” Sissy looked over at Ad. Stared at Colin. “Well?”
When no one spoke up, Adrian did his best to pace around the parlor. It was like trying to motivate a Model T with a broken axle, but staying still wasn’t an option. And he wasn’t the only one getting serious, either. Colin had braced his head in his hands, and even Devina had dropped the petting act with Jim; the demon was as motionless as a statue, staring off into space like she was doing long division in her head.
Or maybe calculating the very good odds that this was going to fuck all of them in the ass.
As nobody else was going to answer the question, Adrian figured, What the hell. “There are two portals that we are allowed to use—and both were brought into existence by the Creator. One leads to Heaven, the other to Hell. They’re how we go back and forth—how she gets down and back.” He stopped and faced the fireplace even though there was no flame in it. No logs to watch as they were consumed. No heat to warm his cold hands and feet. “For us to try to make one? For our own purposes? It’s a violation of the laws of the universe.”
Devina shrugged. “What’s the Creator going to do to us?”
“Not sure I want to find out,” Ad bit out. “Not sure we got a choice.”
“This could indeed get us into serious trouble,” Colin tacked on. Then he looked at Ad. “It’s on a magnitude of the stunt you pulled that got you punished.”
“Which one.” Adrian shrugged. “And I don’t know why you’re giving me the hairy eyeball. I don’t have that kind of power—that shit is going to need to be between you and her.”
Colin glanced at the demon and muttered something unintelligible under his breath. And yup, she looked equally disenchanted.
At least they were taking the risks seriously.
Devina nodded over at Sissy. “Open to page three hundred forty-one and a half.”
Sissy flipped pages back and forth. “Okay.”
“What does it say?”
“Which passage?”
“Start from the top.”
Sissy opened her mouth and started reading … but fuck all if Ad could understand what she was saying. The words were gibberish—and not any kind of Latin he recognized. Hell, he’d even been around when the guys in togas and sandals had been doing their jam, and whatever was coming from between her lips? Not it.
When she finally stopped, Devina nodded. “So I’m correct.”
“Yes,” Sissy said. “I think you are.”
In the silence that followed, Colin looked over pointedly, but Ad had to prioritize panic buttons at that moment—he couldn’t worry about whatever connection the two females in the room might be forging. “Look,” he cut in, “I don’t have a clue what you just read. But the portal idea, while batshit crazy, is probably our only option. If we can create a portal and keep it open long enough … maybe Jim can jump back.”
“But wait,” Sissy said. “If he killed himself to get over there, doesn’t one already exist?”
“It’s not one that is open to free use,” Colin said. “That particular portal is regulated by the Creator, and He has been very clear about its purpose and its restrictions.”
Ad glanced at Sissy. “Yeah, the Big Guy ain’t too happy with the idea that someone would disrespect the gift of life. You take your own? You’re going to get a proverbial slap on the wrist. Purgatory’s also where righteous souls who can’t let go of something or someone they left behind end up because their sorrow won’t let them transition upstairs. Not a pleasant place. It’s like Hell.”
“Fuck that,” Devina bit out. “Hell is much worse.”
“True. You’re there—”
Sissy interrupted. “So how do you make a portal?”
There was another long silence, and again, Adrian was surprised Devina didn’t jump in with a whole lot of chatter—and he wasn’t sure whether the fact that she didn’t was a good or a bad thing.
“Well,” he prompted the demon. “What do you think?”
Devina’s black eyes ceased to glitter, and her expression, for once, grew remote. “We’d need a tremendous amount of focused energy. Colin and I could face off and each cast an attack spell. In theory, assuming we are of equal strength, the opposing forces will become so great, this plane of existence will not be able to support them, and a tear will be created in the veil between here and there.”
Sissy frowned. “How can you be sure the door it opens will be into Purgatory?”
Man, she was no dummy, Ad thought. “We give it a tracer.” He glanced over at Jim’s motionless remains. “Yeah, maybe if we give it a direction…”
Devina bared her teeth like a dog growling. “You’re not throwing his body in there. It’ll be destroyed and he’ll have nothing to return to.”
Right, right, right. And if this didn’t work, she wouldn’t have a new toy to play with.
Ad shuddered at the thought of how she’d use those remains. “Blood, then. His blood.”
Colin nodded. “That is logical. The death, such as it was, was very recent. As a soul passes unto another plane, it is never a completely clean transition. Tracers remain in the flesh. In the blood.”
There was another long silence as the magnitude of what they were all thinking hit home.
“How can we trust you?” Sissy said to the demon.
“You can’t.” Devina shrugged. “But Colin would jump at the chance to destroy me—isn’t that right, archangel?”
“Oh, aye.” Colin’s eyes narrowed. “The satisfaction would almost make up for my loss.”
Devina’s mouth lifted in something close to affection. “And I will never let myself get hurt. So when he hits me, I’ll hit him back. Likewise, he won’t fail to defend himself either. Satisfied, little girl?”
To Sissy’s credit, she didn’t take the bait. She just nodded.
After which there was still more silence, which Devina filled by murmuring to “Jim.” Shit, considering how well the demon was getting along with the corpse, you had to wonder why she wanted him to come back.
“There’s only one remaining problem,” Ad said. “Aside from the whole what-if-this-doesn’t-work.”
“Agreed.” Colin scrubbed his face. “In fact, I shall be more concerned if this does function according to plan. It is precisely how the Dead Sea was created.”
Sissy glanced over at the archangel. “I thought that was from tectonic plates shifting or something.”
“Lassiter,” Ad and Colin said together.
At the sound of the name, even Devina rolled her eyes. “Oh, Christ. Him again.”
But again, the demon didn’t care about appearances. No more than somebody who, having been in a motorcycle accident, gave a shit that ambulance people had to strip them naked to save their leg.
“What did he do?” Devina heard herself ask. Gone was the voice of the seductress, the luscious, affected American pronunciation lost in favor of a sandpaper rasp that had the accent of the ancient.
The three of them were heaving to get breath into their lungs, and just as she was about to scream for one of them to quit the panting-dog bullshit, Adrian cleared his throat.
“He went over to get Nigel back.”
Devina felt her own lid-less eyes get large in their sockets. She’d been hoping there was another explanation. “Not … possible.”
“Has happened,” Colin said. “Purgatory.”
“That’s not…” She didn’t bother with the “possible” again. She was holding the evidence in her own hand. “But why…”
Adrian said something. Then Colin. But none of that registered against a flush of warmth and love that spread throughout her whole body. “Oh, Jim … you’re so romantic.”
Of course he’d go over there and risk his eternal existence. It was the only way the pair of them could be reunited: If he could find Nigel and bring him back, then Jim didn’t have to go up to Heaven—and the two of them could be together regardless of the war. They could either quit and start enjoying their eternity side by side now. Or they could know the exquisite pain of battle for one last round, have Devina win, and rule Hell as one.
Win-win-win-win.
Instantly, her hideous true self disappeared and the plump young flesh of that model she’d killed back in the eighties sprouted from every atom of her disgusting form, her biddable-beddable-beautiful mask back in place again.
“Oh, Jim,” she whispered. Tears were still flowing, the red drops falling onto his cheeks, but now she knew nothing but joy. “My love … you’re doing it for us.”
God, this was such a poignant moment, she thought, bending down and sealing his warm lips with her own. And how fucking great that it was happening in front of Sissy.
She glanced up and smiled at the virgin. “To think he would risk so much just to be with me. Love is so inspiring.” Then she focused on Colin and ditched the Barbara Cartland moment. “So you’re saying he needs help getting back with Nigel in tow?”
“No.” The archangel’s oddly colored eyes narrowed. “I do not believe he can get back a’tall.”
“Excuse me?”
“No one passes from Purgatory without the permission of the Creator. You know that. Whether or not he can find Nigel is the least of his concerns.”
Cue a dose of cold, hard panic. Which was absolutely, totally not relieved by the silence that followed.
After a long moment, she glanced at Adrian. “You have something of mine.”
“Do I.”
“A book,” she muttered grimly. “Your friend Eddie took it from me—by the way, how is he doing? Still hoping for some kind of an Easter miracle? A risen-from-the-dead deal for him?”
The goddamn angel gave her nothing. Not even a facial tic. “Easter’s long over. And what book are you talking about? Our Bodies, Ourselves, maybe? No … in your case, probably a Walking Dead comic, right.”
“Fuck you, Adrian.”
“We tried that a couple of days ago, and it didn’t work for me, did it.”
The memory of her on her knees, trying to suck off his limp dick, made her snarl. “Maybe you’ve just lost your edge.”
“More likely your appeal is up in smoke. But we digress. What book are you talking about.”
The way he arched a brow was such disrespect. And she almost went at him with her bare hands, but she didn’t want to disturb her lover—
“I have the book.”
As Sissy spoke up, everyone looked at her. And Adrian started cursing. “Sissy, shut the fuck up—”
The demon smiled. “Yes, you know the one. Don’t you.”
As the demon and Sissy locked eyes, Adrian dragged himself off the floor, his body aching like he’d gotten a hot-stone massage using a tire iron. “Sissy,” he hissed. “Do not—”
But he couldn’t get across to her fast enough.
Sissy went over and picked up the ancient tome from where it had fallen, righting its pages and reclosing its cover from having been blown open.
“So this is yours,” she said.
Devina’s black eyes sparkled as she stared up from her Mary Magdalene-with-the-dead-Christ routine on the floor: With Jim’s head in her lap and his body splayed out, she had arranged herself with portrait-like precision—but he could give a shit about her Agnolo Bronzino moment.
“Sit down here,” Devina purred, indicating the floor beside her.
“Sissy,” he snapped. “Don’t go over there.”
“There’s nothing in here about Purgatory.” Sissy didn’t look in Devina’s direction and didn’t make a move toward her. Thank fuck. “Nothing.”
“You’ve been reading my work?” the demon asked.
“No one else knows Latin.”
“It’s not written in Latin.”
Sissy shot a glare over. “Fine, whatever, I’ve been able to make it out, okay.”
“Interesting.” Devina leaned down and whispered something in Jim’s ear. Then laughed as if she and the dead guy had shared a private joke. “And as for Purgatory, I haven’t been there, so of course I didn’t write anything about the place.”
Man, Adrian was thinking seriously of throwing himself out the nearest window. And he got sick at the reminder that Sissy had had that thing in her hands for how long today?
“You wrote all that,” he muttered.
“Yes.” The demon frowned. “And I seriously did not appreciate Eddie stealing it from me. He thought he could use it to get you back. Didn’t work then, did it.”
But Eddie had ended up saving him in the end. Still, “If that’s true,” he said, “why do you need it now?”
Colin spoke up, his English accent clipped. “Because she’s going to try to create a portal. Aren’t you.”
Devina shrugged. “You were the ones suggesting we work together. Do you have another solution in mind?”
“Shit,” Adrian breathed.
“What’s a portal?” Sissy looked over at Ad. Stared at Colin. “Well?”
When no one spoke up, Adrian did his best to pace around the parlor. It was like trying to motivate a Model T with a broken axle, but staying still wasn’t an option. And he wasn’t the only one getting serious, either. Colin had braced his head in his hands, and even Devina had dropped the petting act with Jim; the demon was as motionless as a statue, staring off into space like she was doing long division in her head.
Or maybe calculating the very good odds that this was going to fuck all of them in the ass.
As nobody else was going to answer the question, Adrian figured, What the hell. “There are two portals that we are allowed to use—and both were brought into existence by the Creator. One leads to Heaven, the other to Hell. They’re how we go back and forth—how she gets down and back.” He stopped and faced the fireplace even though there was no flame in it. No logs to watch as they were consumed. No heat to warm his cold hands and feet. “For us to try to make one? For our own purposes? It’s a violation of the laws of the universe.”
Devina shrugged. “What’s the Creator going to do to us?”
“Not sure I want to find out,” Ad bit out. “Not sure we got a choice.”
“This could indeed get us into serious trouble,” Colin tacked on. Then he looked at Ad. “It’s on a magnitude of the stunt you pulled that got you punished.”
“Which one.” Adrian shrugged. “And I don’t know why you’re giving me the hairy eyeball. I don’t have that kind of power—that shit is going to need to be between you and her.”
Colin glanced at the demon and muttered something unintelligible under his breath. And yup, she looked equally disenchanted.
At least they were taking the risks seriously.
Devina nodded over at Sissy. “Open to page three hundred forty-one and a half.”
Sissy flipped pages back and forth. “Okay.”
“What does it say?”
“Which passage?”
“Start from the top.”
Sissy opened her mouth and started reading … but fuck all if Ad could understand what she was saying. The words were gibberish—and not any kind of Latin he recognized. Hell, he’d even been around when the guys in togas and sandals had been doing their jam, and whatever was coming from between her lips? Not it.
When she finally stopped, Devina nodded. “So I’m correct.”
“Yes,” Sissy said. “I think you are.”
In the silence that followed, Colin looked over pointedly, but Ad had to prioritize panic buttons at that moment—he couldn’t worry about whatever connection the two females in the room might be forging. “Look,” he cut in, “I don’t have a clue what you just read. But the portal idea, while batshit crazy, is probably our only option. If we can create a portal and keep it open long enough … maybe Jim can jump back.”
“But wait,” Sissy said. “If he killed himself to get over there, doesn’t one already exist?”
“It’s not one that is open to free use,” Colin said. “That particular portal is regulated by the Creator, and He has been very clear about its purpose and its restrictions.”
Ad glanced at Sissy. “Yeah, the Big Guy ain’t too happy with the idea that someone would disrespect the gift of life. You take your own? You’re going to get a proverbial slap on the wrist. Purgatory’s also where righteous souls who can’t let go of something or someone they left behind end up because their sorrow won’t let them transition upstairs. Not a pleasant place. It’s like Hell.”
“Fuck that,” Devina bit out. “Hell is much worse.”
“True. You’re there—”
Sissy interrupted. “So how do you make a portal?”
There was another long silence, and again, Adrian was surprised Devina didn’t jump in with a whole lot of chatter—and he wasn’t sure whether the fact that she didn’t was a good or a bad thing.
“Well,” he prompted the demon. “What do you think?”
Devina’s black eyes ceased to glitter, and her expression, for once, grew remote. “We’d need a tremendous amount of focused energy. Colin and I could face off and each cast an attack spell. In theory, assuming we are of equal strength, the opposing forces will become so great, this plane of existence will not be able to support them, and a tear will be created in the veil between here and there.”
Sissy frowned. “How can you be sure the door it opens will be into Purgatory?”
Man, she was no dummy, Ad thought. “We give it a tracer.” He glanced over at Jim’s motionless remains. “Yeah, maybe if we give it a direction…”
Devina bared her teeth like a dog growling. “You’re not throwing his body in there. It’ll be destroyed and he’ll have nothing to return to.”
Right, right, right. And if this didn’t work, she wouldn’t have a new toy to play with.
Ad shuddered at the thought of how she’d use those remains. “Blood, then. His blood.”
Colin nodded. “That is logical. The death, such as it was, was very recent. As a soul passes unto another plane, it is never a completely clean transition. Tracers remain in the flesh. In the blood.”
There was another long silence as the magnitude of what they were all thinking hit home.
“How can we trust you?” Sissy said to the demon.
“You can’t.” Devina shrugged. “But Colin would jump at the chance to destroy me—isn’t that right, archangel?”
“Oh, aye.” Colin’s eyes narrowed. “The satisfaction would almost make up for my loss.”
Devina’s mouth lifted in something close to affection. “And I will never let myself get hurt. So when he hits me, I’ll hit him back. Likewise, he won’t fail to defend himself either. Satisfied, little girl?”
To Sissy’s credit, she didn’t take the bait. She just nodded.
After which there was still more silence, which Devina filled by murmuring to “Jim.” Shit, considering how well the demon was getting along with the corpse, you had to wonder why she wanted him to come back.
“There’s only one remaining problem,” Ad said. “Aside from the whole what-if-this-doesn’t-work.”
“Agreed.” Colin scrubbed his face. “In fact, I shall be more concerned if this does function according to plan. It is precisely how the Dead Sea was created.”
Sissy glanced over at the archangel. “I thought that was from tectonic plates shifting or something.”
“Lassiter,” Ad and Colin said together.
At the sound of the name, even Devina rolled her eyes. “Oh, Christ. Him again.”
