Chapter 22

When I entered the ballroom, the news was on the television, and five bounty hunters were watching the media's latest siege on my character. I caught a few choice phrases, including Betrayer of Humanity and Harbinger of the Apocalypse, before Calli turned it off.

I'd have preferred a less ominous start to our quest.

"They sure paint a pretty picture of you, Leda," said Gypsy, whistling.

"Eventually, they'll get bored of me and move on," I replied.

"Perhaps." Gypsy tapped her chin and her eyes lifted in thoughtful silence. "But just in case, maybe we should sneak into their houses, go to their garages, disassemble all their cars, then reassemble them inside out."

I laughed, even as Sagittarius said humorlessly, "You cannot reassemble a car inside out."

"You can the way I do it," chuckled Gypsy.

He frowned. "In a non-functional way."

"Exactly." Gypsy slapped him on the back. "You got it, grandpa."

He stiffened. "Young lady, I am hardly old enough to be your grandfather."

"Only someone who is old enough to be a grandpa would call a grown woman ‘young lady'," she replied with a smirk.

At that, his wife Gemini laughed. "She's got you there."

"Is there a point to this conversation?" Nolan Ash asked.

Of the five bounty hunters, he was the only one not sitting down. He stood stiffly. Like a soldier.

"You were less uptight when you were a soldier than you are as a bounty hunter, Ash," Calli told him. "Relax. Sit down. Kick up your feet."

He looked horrified by the idea. "One does not relax, sit down, and kick up one's feet in the presence of an angel."

"Leda isn't like other angels," said Calli.

"If she were like other angels, I doubt we'd ever be able to climb our way out of this pile of dragon dung that Spellsword shitted out of his magic wand," added Gypsy. "But as it is, she's going to lead us to salvation."

"Which brings us to the price attached to this salvation," said Gemini. "Calli said you had an offer for us."

"It had better be a good one to lure us away from the Spellsword job," added Sagittarius.

"My offer is as follows," I said. "You all help me track down the four mercenary shifters who worked as guards for Drummoyne's vampire nest."

"In exchange for what?" Gemini asked.

"In exchange for my letting you hitchhike with me on my airship instead of you chasing my shadow all the way to Europe."

Gemini frowned. "I was referring to monetary payment."

"I suggest that you accept my offer. Last time I checked, I was the only person in this room who can fly on her own. A flight across the Atlantic Ocean isn't cheap." I slid a wry smile Gemini's way. "And there's always a chance you get eaten by monsters if your airship isn't properly armed."

Gypsy laughed. "I told you guys she was one of us."

Gemini snorted. "Indeed."

"What about the one million dollars?" Sagittarius demanded. "That is, after all, why we are all here."

"If you do this, if you help me stop the curse, then I will split the one million five ways between you all," I promised them.

"Share it?" Sagittarius grunted like the grumpy old man that he obviously was. "Gemini and I would rather have it all."

"You can either share it with the others, or get nothing at all." I folded my arms over my chest and smiled at him. "It's your choice."

"Choice." He humphed. "You say it like we even have one. You could just commandeer our services under the Legion code."

"I could indeed." I allowed my smile to widen. "So best be grateful that I'm offering you any money at all."

"You are most generous, angel." Nolan bowed to me. Then he bowed again.

"Angel? You know her name, goofball," Calli scolded him. "And you knew her before she was an angel."

"And for that I am honored." Nolan just kept bowing to me.

"You should totally take advantage of his devotion, Leda, and make him fetch us all coffee," Gypsy chuckled.

"Enough smalltalk," Sagittarius said, his voice gravelly.

"So you all agree to split the money five ways?" I asked the bounty hunters.

"Make that six ways."

We all turned toward the new arrival. But I knew who it was before I'd even seen him. Jinx. He strutted across the room, plopped down on one of the chairs, and kicked his feet up on the table. Nolan Ash looked so horrified by his behavior that I thought he might faint.

"You weren't invited, Jinx." Calli swatted his feet off the table.

"I know." His grin was totally relaxed. "That's why I followed you and eavesdropped on your conversation. And I'm coming with you. You need me. It's as simple as that."

"No one needs your kind. You're a backstabber and a cheat."

Jinx set his hand over his heart. "Callista, I'm hurt that you see me that way. My kind is highly misunderstood. I'm actually quite noble at heart."

"I'm sure." She pulled him out of his seat. "Let's go, Mr. Noble."

"Wait."

Calli turned to look at me. "Do you want to throw him out yourself, Leda?"

"No." I sighed. "Let him stay."

Calli's dark brows scrunched up. "Are you sure? He's aggravated you more than he has anyone else here."

"I know. And, yes, I'm sure. Jinx is a hyena, but he did help me and Gypsy sort through some things earlier. He's not entirely useless."

"You heard her, Pierce." Jinx peeled Calli's hand off his arm. "I'm not entirely useless." He smoothed out the wrinkles in his leather jacket. As he sat down, he grinned at me. "Why, Leda, I do think you like me after all."

I scowled at him. "Don't push it. I don't trust you, Jinx, and I will be watching you. This isn't some low and dirty job to make some quick cash. The whole Earth is at stake. So if you try to stab us in the back, I'll string you from the wall by your ankles and see how long it takes the monsters to get you. Do I make myself clear?"

"Perfectly."

His grin didn't fade, but it did wobble. Maybe I was getting through to him.

"Good," I said. "Then everyone follow me, and I'll show you the way to my airship. We have a long flight ahead of us."

* * *

Shortly after weboarded my airship, I retired to my cabin to get some sleep. I turned on the news—then quickly turned it off again. It was just more of the same, and all it did was shake my faith in humanity.

Humans rioting against supernaturals, irrationally afraid that the magic curse would spread to people without magic.

Warring supernatural divisions each blaming the others.

And, to top it all off, rogue supernaturals screaming that this was all a conspiracy, propagated by the Legion to control them, to rob them of their magic and make them weak. Apparently, we'd created this curse in order to make them ripe for conquest.

I drifted off to sleep, my mind still buzzing with these images of strife and calls for war.

"You shouldn't listen to them."

I was already smiling before I'd turned around. "Nero."

He stood before me, lit up by white light, his dark wings fluttering in the breeze of my dreams.

"Fear has driven them to lash out at anyone or anything they can look to and blame," he said. "Their screams are loud, but you must remain focused on what's really important: ending this curse. Do that, and their fear will subside."

I took a step toward him. "I've missed you."

"I am always here, Leda. Always with you."

"But are you really here, talking to me?" I asked. "Or are you simply a figment of my imagination, given life by my own wishful thinking?"

"Does it matter?" He spread his arms.

I shook my head. "Not right now. I just want you with me, in any way that I can."

I stepped into his arms. They folded over me, holding me tightly. I sighed in contentment and melted into him.

"How touching."

At the crack of Faris's voice, Nero faded away. I reached out, trying to grasp at the dissipating smoke that had once been my husband, but it slipped right through my fingers. He was gone. Nero was gone.

I spun around and glowered at the God of Heaven's Army. "What do you want, Faris?"

His gaze slid across the fading smoke, then focused on me. "He's gone."

"Thanks to you."

"No, thanks to you, child. He's gone because of you. I had nothing to do with it."

A deep, penetrating chill took hold over my heart. He knew. Faris knew what I'd done.

"Windstriker is right to be angry with you for what you did," he continued, his words giving voice to my fears. "I'm angry with you too. You've delayed my plans."

I stared at him, allowing defiance to shine in my eyes.

"Don't look so happy about it. You might be able to delay the inevitable, but make no mistake that it is inevitable. My Orchestra has seen it. You and Nero Windstriker will have a daughter. And she will be magnificent, all that I ever hoped for. These petty delay tactics are only hurting you, Leda. You might as well accept your fate. You may begin by repairing your relationship with Windstriker and fixing this mess that you made."

"So Nero and I can get started making the baby you want to steal from us?" I shook my head.

His brows peaked. "So just to spite me, you'd rather deny your husband what he wants most: a child with you?"

"You really are an ass, Faris."

"And you are an ungrateful child. I'm offering to help you."

"Thanks for the relationship advice, but you don't know a thing about relationships."

"Go to Windstriker."

"And then do what? Beg for forgiveness on my knees? You'd not approve of that either."

"Of course not. A god does not grovel." He rolled back his shoulders and lifted his nose. "All you need to do is compel Windstriker to forgive you."

"Brainwash him with my magic?" I said drily.

"You do have the power. Do not underestimate your magic, Leda. An archangel is strong, but not as strong as you."

"Don't be so sure. Nero has Immortal blood, remember?"

"I forget nothing."

His words cut a shiver down my spine.

"Even Windstriker's Immortal blood is not up to your magic," Faris continued. "I've witnessed just what you can do when sufficiently motivated. Like when you compelled a horde of beasts, for example."

I was really getting sick and tired of Faris always knowing everything—and how he was forever ten steps ahead of me. At this moment, I had a fleeting thought that he'd unleashed this whole catastrophic curse on Earth to push me and Nero back together.

The more time Nero and I spent together, the more likely we'd surrender ourselves to the passion of the moment. We'd come pretty close to that tonight. I'd been amazed at how, despite our fight, we'd quickly settled back into our old rhythms. A day or two more of working together, and who could say what would have happened.

And the crazy thing was, a part of me didn't care what Faris might be trying to do. I just wanted to be with Nero, for things to be back to the way they'd been.

No, Faris couldn't be behind the curse. Even he was not that diabolical. Or wasn't he?

I took a deep breath, steeling myself against heartbreak. If Faris thought he could manipulate me, he had another thing coming. For someone who was a self-proclaimed expert in manipulating people, he sure didn't understand his own daughter at all.

"I will never use my magic to seize control of Nero's will," I declared.

"Why not?"

"Because that's not how love works," I told him. "You can't force someone to love you. And you can't force the one you love to do whatever you say."

He shook his head slowly. "You are very naive."

"No, you are jaded. And with your attitude, it's no wonder you can't have any real relationships."

Then I stepped off the invisible edge of the invisible floor we were standing on and woke up.

* * *

Now that I was awake,I decided I might as well get some work done. An hour later, I'd read through a sizable stack of reports and eaten an even more sizable amount of chocolate ice cream.

"No amount of ice cream will win you Nero back," Damiel commented.

I didn't even flinch at how he'd suddenly materialized in my cabin. That just went to show how weird my life had gotten.

"Maybe it won't help me with Nero, but it does make me feel better," I replied. "I like ice cream."

"Then you should really try ice cream on pancakes."

The grotesque idea of ice cream for breakfast was oddly appealing.

"I take it you're not here to give me culinary advice. So what do you want, Damiel?"

"I'm hear to train you, of course."

Oh, that.

"You haven't been practicing your telepathic resistance, Leda. You allowed Faris into your dreams."

So Damiel had been watching that. Great.

"I didn't actually allow Faris into my dreams," I protested.

"Weak mental defenses are an open invitation for any strong telepath to break in. You need to spend more time fortifying your defenses so this doesn't happen."

"I've had my hands full lately."

"With the curse? Yes, I know all about that. But it's no excuse."

"Thanks for the pep talk."

He smiled. "Any time."

"Speaking of keeping people out, any chance there's a way I can keep you from popping up on my ship?"

He folded his hands together. "Of course not. I can teleport."

I bet there was a way, and he just wasn't telling me.

"How about you use your all-powerful magic to save us a little time and teleport this whole airship to the Black Forest?"

"Intriguing idea. I've never teleported a whole airship at once." Damiel looked far too excited to test out his new powers. "However, I cannot guarantee that I'll manage to put you all perfectly back together again."

"Never mind," I said quickly, then glanced at the clock on the wall. "Anyway, we have only an hour until we arrive at our destination."

"An hour is plenty of time for some quick mental resistance exercises," Damiel declared.

That was all the warning I got before he unleashed his telepathic attack.

By the time our training session was done, I felt like I hadn't slept in days and rather than my mental defenses being fortified, they were as thin as a false promise. Damiel assured me I was growing stronger and that feeling like shit in the interim was just part of the process. I didn't even have the energy to lift up my hand and flip him off.

My feelings toward him softened slightly when he took a fresh tub of chocolate ice cream out of the freezer and put it into my hands.

"Once you reach the Black Forest, go to a town called Pandemonium," he told me as I replenished my energy with ice cream.

"Why that town?" I asked.

He only smiled, then vanished before my eyes.

"Leda?" Calli's voice spoke out of my cabin's wall speakers.

I hit the button for the intercom. "What's up?"

"We've reached the European wilderness. The Black Forest."

"I'll be right there."

I looked into the ice cream tub, congratulating myself that I'd already eaten through half of it. Then I put it away in the freezer and left my cabin to face our next challenge.