The Sweetest Burn

Maybe it was the fresh wave of grief I’d felt over my parents’ death, maybe it was my fear over what I knew I had to do. Either way, I couldn’t hold back my brusque reply.

“Remind me again why Archons would allow terrible things to happen to innocent people when they have the power to stop it?”

The gaze Zach turned on me was hard. “A better reason than why your race would rather assign blame to others than work on looking for solutions yourselves.”

Yes, humanity had its flaws, but that didn’t mean we weren’t worth saving, dammit! And I still couldn’t figure out if Zach even wanted us to be saved. Some days, he acted as if he did, yet other days, the Archon seemed just as happy to let humanity burn if it meant finally ending the war between Archons and demons.

“If you truly believe your race is worth saving, then you’ll be eager to get started,” Zach replied, using his mind-reading abilities. How could I forget about those?

I glowered at him. It sucked being reminded that in this case, “somebody” doing something really meant “me.”

“I’m ready,” I said, which was the biggest lie in the world, but what else could I say? We’re all gonna die! seemed too defeatist, even if it was probably true.

Zach rose with his usual grace, then cast a sideways glance at Brutus, who was in the darkest corner of the kitchen. He’d be in his room, if he wasn’t waiting for his breakfast of raw meat.

“Would someone explain why that gargoyle is wearing the stone of Solomon around his wrist?” Zach asked.

“The what of who?” Jasmine said.

I wondered the same thing, but Adrian replied to Jasmine before I could ask. “Ivy didn’t like her birthday present, so she gave it to Brutus,” he told my sister.

“Birthday? Oh crap, Ivy, I forgot your birthday!” Jasmine said with a gasp. Costa seemed shocked for a different reason.

“You gave a three-thousand-year-old diamond with famed mystic qualities to Brutus?” he asked me.

Zach also gave me a look that seemed to question my sanity. I shifted defensively even as this news rocked me. “I just thought it was a normal diamond,” I mumbled.

“It isn’t,” Adrian said, his arched brow implying that I should have given him a chance to say this earlier. “King Solomon stole this diamond from Asmodeus, a demon king, because it was said to shield its wearer from harm. After Solomon’s death, Asmodeus stole it back, and when I was a child, it was given to me because demons wanted to protect the last Judian.”

I was openmouthed discovering the diamond’s history, not to mention its protective qualities. Adrian hadn’t just been trying to buy my forgiveness with an expensive trinket. He’d given me the same talisman he’d had since he was a child. Damn him for making it harder to stay angry with him, I thought, my emotions wrestling anew at this.

“Very well,” Zach replied, although he would have overheard my inner battle. “Ivy, you will leave at once. Adrian and Costa will accompany you on your search for the staff of Moses.”

“Not Adrian,” I burst out.

“Yes, Adrian,” Zach said in his best don’t-argue-with-an-angelic-being tone. “Without him, you won’t discover the map.”

“There’s a map that leads to the staff?” That was a surprise. “One of those would’ve been helpful when we were trying to find the first hallowed weapon.”

Zach shrugged. “It’s a map of sorts, and perhaps if you would have looked closer, you would have discovered it when you were searching for the slingshot, too.”

Archons and their cryptic-speak, not to mention their lack of initiative that bordered on apathy. Figures there had been a map back then and Zach hadn’t told me. For all I knew, he had another map in his pocket now, yet couldn’t be bothered to mention that, either. “Or, why don’t you just tell me where the staff is, if you know?” I said to cut through all the crap.

“Because this is your task to succeed or fail at, Davidian,” was Zach’s inexorable reply.

Don’t hit the Archon, I reminded myself while clenching my fists. We still needed him.

Zach’s mouth twitched, as if he found my impotent rage amusing. “Adrian is coming with you, Ivy. Don’t bother to list all the reasons why you don’t want him to. The fact remains that he must or you will not only fail, you won’t survive. That’s why I rescinded his ban from seeing you earlier today.”

My gaze swung to Adrian. “What do you mean, he rescinded your ban from seeing me?”

A low, almost growling sound left Adrian. “Zach put a supernatural restraining order on me. I couldn’t get within a mile of you without suddenly becoming paralyzed, Costa supernaturally forgot every message I tried to send you through him, and if I attempted to call, text or email you, my phone would blow up.”

“Really?” Costa looked bewildered. “You and I have talked several times since then, and I don’t remember that.”

Adrian grunted. “Exactly.”

“Cock-blocked by an angel,” Costa muttered. “That’s new.”

I ignored Costa’s comment in favor of giving Zach a disbelieving look. “First you supernaturally prevent Adrian from so much as texting me, then you insist that he come along on the search for the staff. What kind of game are you playing?”

Zach’s dark brown eyes gave nothing away. “No game. Only fate.”

Fate. My teeth ground. I really hated that word.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this on the beach?” I asked Adrian, giving up on getting a more definitive answer out of Zach.

Adrian’s coloring was darker than normal, and when I caught the look he flashed Zach’s way, I realized why. Pride. He’d rather let me think that he was a total jerk than admit that Zach had shut him down so effectively, he’d been helpless. Yes, for longer than I cared to remember, Adrian had had both minions and demons scurrying to do his bidding. Plus, with his incredible strength, speed and fighting skills, almost no one had been able to stop Adrian from doing something he’d set his mind to. In that light, his bruised-ego silence about the way Zach had shut him down was almost understandable.

Almost. Adrian should have told me why he’d abandoned me when I needed him the most. The fact that he hadn’t only highlighted that he was thinking more about himself than me. Plus, if he couldn’t admit something so small to me, how could I trust him with the really big things, like our fates?

And Zach. He got the other end of my stink eye. He could have said something before now, too. Men. They were the same whether they were Archons, humans or Judians.

Something else occurred to me. “Zach lifted his restraining order on you the same day I came across the first minions and demon I’ve seen in months?” It couldn’t be a coincidence...

“It isn’t,” Zach said, using his intrusive skills again.

My irritation died away. His inconsideration paled next to making sure that I was still alive.

“Thank you,” I said, hoping for the hundredth time that Archons were more invested in the fate of humanity than they let on. Aside from my bloodline, I wasn’t anyone special, yet Zach had saved me more than a few times. I just wished I understood why so many other people had to suffer and die.

Zach inclined his head, which was his version of “you’re welcome.” “Preparations have been made. You are to start your search for the staff at once.”

“You’re forgetting one thing,” I pointed out. “We have no idea where Moses’s staff might be. This is a big world, and that’s not even counting all the demon realms in it, too.”

Zach glanced at Adrian, and when they exchanged a meaningful look, my hackles rose. “If either of you even think of hiding something from me again—” I began furiously.

“We’re not,” Adrian interrupted, his gaze piercing as it landed on me. “I told you, Ivy, no secrets and no holding back this time. Moses’s staff controls nature, which is why we need it to repair the realm walls and the demons also want it so they can use it to send those same walls crashing down. So, our best bet is to start with places that have natural anomalies. Even while dormant, the staff will affect what’s around it.”

That made sense, but, “I doubt it’ll be as simple as googling places that are known for large congregations of locusts, frogs, lightning bolts or partings of seas,” I said tartly. “If so, demons would’ve found it centuries ago.”

Adrian raised a brow. “They’ve spent a lot of time scouring places with unusual natural phenomena, but they can’t sense hallowed objects. Only you can. That’s why we’re going to find the staff and they’re not.”

He sounded completely confident. Then again, he was overlooking the most dangerous part of this mission. It wasn’t whether or not we could find the staff. It’s what could very likely happen if I tried to use it.

“I’m going with you, too,” Jasmine said, her words distracting me from a topic I didn’t want to dwell on.

I turned to my sister. “You’ve been through enough. We’ll find you another place to stay at on hallowed ground, so you’ll be safe—”

“You think I’ll ever feel safe again?” Her voice filled with more pain than any eighteen-year-old should ever have. “I’m barely holding it together with you and Costa around me 24/7. If you leave me by myself, I’ll lose it for sure. And I spent months trapped in a demon realm, so I know what we’re up against.”

“Jasmine,” I tried again.

“I’m going.” She cut me off with a flash of her old stubbornness. “Either help me pack or get out of my way, Ives.”

She hadn’t called me her pet name from our childhood since we’d rescued her. That, plus the glimpse of her former spunk, melted my resistance away. Who was I to lecture her? She was right. In some ways, she’d been through a lot more than me.

“Fine, then you can help me pack,” I said, trying not to think about how I was going to find the staff while not getting myself killed, my sister hurt or my heart broken again.

“I’ll pull our ride around,” Adrian stated.

I gave him a doubtful look. “You think we can fit four adults and a winged gargoyle into your vintage metal baby?”

His smile was threatening and promising, like a lion licking its prey while deciding whether to eat it now or later. “We’re bringing my Challenger, but we’re not riding in it.”

Huh? “What’s that supposed to mean?”

His smile widened into a grin. “Get packed and you’ll find out.”

CHAPTER FIVE

I DROPPED MY suitcases when I saw the bus. It was so long that it extended well past the driveway, and it had to be at least three feet taller than Brutus at his full height. Now I knew what Adrian meant about bringing his Challenger but not riding in it. The muscle car was hitched to the back of the bus, and though it wasn’t small, it was dwarfed by the black-and-gray behemoth that had the words Soul Smashers emblazoned across both sides of it.

Adrian jumped down from the side door, ignoring the steps that led to the bus. “Like it?” he asked, grinning at my expression. “It’s not much for speed, but when it comes to space and comfort, this thing has it all.”

“You don’t say,” I managed. “Where did you get this?”

He glanced at it. “This was the tour bus for a band that was trying to be the next Smashing Pumpkins. The Soul Smashers never made it past being a one-hit wonder, which is why they went broke and sold their tour bus to me a few months ago.”

I didn’t comment on the irony of the last Judian and the last Davidian traveling around in a bus labeled Soul Smashers while trying to prevent a demon apocalypse. Instead, I climbed the steps and peeked inside. Then I blinked, convinced that I’d been glamoured because this couldn’t be real.

Plush, black leather couches and a matching leather recliner chair made up what looked like an upscale living room. Mounted wall speakers surrounded a state-of-the-art entertainment area with a large flat-screen TV, and unless I was crazy, across from that was a minibar.

Beyond that, there was a kitchen with the works: granite countertops, a double-door refrigerator, stove, microwave, sink and dishwasher. A dinette area was across from that, with a half bathroom tucked into the corner. And on the opposite wall, right before a door that I assumed led to a bedroom, was a full bar complete with a lower cooler filled with wine bottles.

No wonder these rockers went broke, I thought. They’d been too busy drinking and riding around in style to perform.

When I slid open the pocket door in the back, it revealed a large, king-size bed, and I spied another bathroom in the corner, this one with a shower. The exterior of the tour bus might look at little beat up, but on the inside, everything was brand-new and top-of-the-line. Hell, it was nicer than the house we’d just left, not that I’d ever say such a thing to Costa.

“Better than my Challenger?” Adrian teased.

I turned around to find him standing behind me. He had both my suitcases, but really what caught my attention was his smile. It was almost impish, and the silver rings encircling his irises seemed to gleam brighter from mischief. I couldn’t remember seeing Adrian look so...carefree. Under the power of that infectious smile, I smiled back.

“You could fit several of my former dorms in this thing.”

He shrugged. “As you said, Brutus is too big to fit in any regular vehicle, plus in addition to the four of us, we also have lots of luggage and weapons.” Then Adrian cast an almost casual glance at the bedroom. When his gaze met mine, his smile had a decidedly wicked slant. “This will suit all our needs.”

Wow, he wasn’t even trying to be subtle! Did he really think he’d just walk back into my life and I’d greet him with open legs? Okay, so I’d come close to giving it up before, but I knew better now. We had destinies to fulfill—or in his case, to overcome—so any attraction I might still feel for him was irrelevant. Saving people was my top priority. Not getting sweaty with the one person in the world who was fated to betray me.

“We could also have just taken different cars,” I said, my chilly look telling him, It’s not happening.

The single arch of his brow said, We’ll see.

Jasmine and Costa climbed into the trailer, interrupting our wordless conversation. “Nice, bro,” Costa commented, looking around with appreciation, but no surprise. Maybe Costa was used to Adrian living large, even if that was a side of him I was just beginning to see.

“Is all this necessary?” was what Jasmine said. I frowned. I agreed, but she sounded snippy, which wasn’t like her.

“Our first stop is California,” Adrian replied, his new, neutral tone not fooling me a bit. He hadn’t done this just because we had a long way to go. “Since it will take days to get there, we all may as well be comfortable.”

Comfortable, my ass. His glance at the bedroom certainly hadn’t been accidental.

Jasmine shot a look between us, then she tugged on my arm. “Come on, Ivy. If the bedroom’s ours, let’s get settled in.”

I grabbed my bags and led the way. “The closet’s yours, and there are more drawers under the bed,” Adrian called out.

“Thanks—”

Jasmine shut the pocket door before I could finish speaking. When she turned around, her arms were crossed in a way that reminded me of our mother when she’d been upset.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“Yes,” she replied shortly. “You and Adrian are what’s wrong.”

I was so shocked, it took me a second to find my tongue. “Lower your voice, he can hear us,” I hissed.

Her blue eyes seemed to turn to ice. “I don’t care. He’s destiny-bound to betray you and everyone knows it. If it were up to me, he wouldn’t be anywhere near you, but Zach insisted.”

I didn’t know what surprised me more, the harshness in her voice, or this latest revelation. “Zach? When did you talk to him about Adrian coming with us? When I was packing?”

She gave an impatient swipe. “After you left to look for Brutus. Zach showed up and said that you’d be back with Adrian. I begged him not to lift his restriction on Adrian, but you can’t tell an Archon to do anything he doesn’t want to—”

“You knew about Zach supernaturally preventing Adrian from contacting me?” I cut her off. “And you didn’t tell me?”

Jasmine’s expression hardened. “Who do you think asked Zach to do it in the first place? Zach agreed that you needed time by yourself. I was hoping you’d get over Adrian if he was forced to leave you alone, but ever since he showed up, it’s obvious that you haven’t.”

I stared at her in disbelief. The blond-haired girl across from me looked like my sister, but the Jasmine I knew was sunny, playful and impulsive. Not manipulative, hateful and hard.

“Jaz,” I said softly. “What’s going on?”

She let out a sound that was half scoff, half sob. “You mean, why do I hate him? Maybe it was seeing my boyfriend tortured to death in front of me in Adrian’s former realm, or seeing how demons treat people worse than cattle, or being their caged trophy for weeks. Maybe it was finding out that minions murdered our parents while I was away, or maybe it’s the fact that both demons and Archons believe that Adrian absolutely will fulfill his destiny by betraying you! You’re all I have left, Ivy.” Her voice broke. “I can’t stand to lose you, too.”

I felt so ashamed. Here I’d thought that Jasmine had been doing better over the past several weeks. She’d seemed like she’d been coping after her ordeal, but she hadn’t, and I’d been blind to it. Seeing Adrian again must’ve felt like salt in her wounds, and she had already suffered so much.

“You don’t have to worry,” I told her, my voice rough from holding back tears. “If Zach hadn’t made him come, Adrian wouldn’t be here. Anything I felt for him before...it was just our supernatural tie because we’re the last of our lines. Adrian even warned me about that when we first met. It might have felt like real emotions, but it wasn’t, and I’m over that now.”

I managed not to choke on the lie. Oh, if only what I still felt for Adrian was the same emotions that had drawn Davidians and Judians together for over two thousand years! Those had been compassion, empathy and the need to save. What I felt was different—stronger and deeper—and as much as I might want to, I couldn’t blame any of it on my lineage.

“You don’t have to be afraid of Adrian betraying me again,” I went on. I won’t let him, I silently added, but Jasmine needed more reassurance than that. “The day I wiped out the Bennington demon realm, Zach told me that Adrian had a chance to beat his fate. So, the demons might believe that Adrian is their weapon, but when you take someone’s best weapon away from them, it just makes them easier to kill.”

I was paraphrasing Adrian’s words from this morning, not that Jasmine needed to know that. She just needed to believe it, and despite all my issues with Adrian, I still did believe that he could overcome his fate. I just wasn’t willing to bet my life on it anymore, let alone my heart.

I went over to Jasmine and took her hands. She couldn’t know that I still had doubts. She was too fragile. “I’m going to get Moses’s staff, use it to repair the realm walls and then laugh as the demons choke on their unmet expectations of Adrian,” I told her in a strong voice that belied my inner fears. “If you don’t trust that he has truly changed, at least trust that Adrian hates demons even more than you do.”

Tears welled in her eyes until one of them rolled down her cheek. “Then why do all the demons still believe in him?”

I kept my hands on hers, but my grip loosened. “They need to,” I said at last. “Aside from getting lucky and managing to kill me first, Adrian’s betrayal is their only hope.”

She smiled with more pain than anyone eighteen years old should ever have. “And your only hope is that they’re wrong. Someone’s going to lose this bet, and whoever does will die.”

The truth of that was like razors across my heart. I couldn’t show that, so I turned away, starting to unload the contents of our suitcases into the room’s drawers and cabinets.

“I know this is winner-take-all,” I said at last. “But only people who bet everything stand a chance to win it all. We’re going to win, Jasmine. I promise you that.”

We have to, I didn’t add. If not, and the realm walls eroded enough to fall, or Adrian did betray me to demons as his destiny predicted, then all the horrible things Jasmine had experienced would become everyday life for the rest of humanity.

I couldn’t let that happen. I wouldn’t.

CHAPTER SIX

ADRIAN TOOK THE first shift driving. He’d been tight-lipped ever since I came out of the bedroom, and it didn’t take my new, improved senses to figure out why. He’d overheard my conversation with Jasmine. Whether he was more upset at her low opinion of him or my assurance that I’d never felt anything real for him, I didn’t know and I wasn’t about to ask.

Costa seemed unusually subdued, too. Of course, that could be because of Brutus’s close proximity. Even though we’d shared a house, I’d kept the gargoyle away from Costa as much as I could these past two months. Costa might only see a seagull when he looked at Brutus because of the Archon glamour Zach used to disguise him, but Costa never forgot what Brutus was. Neither did Jasmine, although she seemed to have gotten past her initial trepidation over him. Maybe Costa had seen too much of what Brutus had done when the gargoyle had been the demons’ flying version of a guard dog to ever feel comfortable around him.

Because of Brutus’s fear of sunlight, we had him in the back bedroom with the windows and door shut. I only hoped he didn’t break the bed under his weight or get slime on the pillows; man, that gargoyle could drool when he slept! Costa, Jasmine and I were on the couch watching TV, although I don’t think any of us were paying attention to what was on the screen. We all appeared to be lost in our own thoughts.

“So, California, here we come,” I said, trying to break the new, pensive atmosphere. “Which part are we going to? The beaches, the mountains, Hollywood?”

The look Costa gave me said he knew what I was doing, and it wouldn’t work. “Death Valley. Shine that turd, Ivy.”

Okay, so I had my work cut out for me. Was it riding with Brutus that had Costa so grumpy, or was it knowing that our brief, demon-free interlude was over? “Sun and sand, what’s not to love?” I said, accepting his challenge. “Beats the hell out of a freezing, pitch-black demon realm.”

A smile ghosted across Costa’s lips. “You’re right—I would take scorpions, dehydration and heat stroke over the realms, but that doesn’t mean I like where we’re going.”

I remembered that Costa hadn’t volunteered to come with us. Zach had just stated that Costa was going without bothering to ask his opinion on the matter.

“Do you not want to be here? If so, we can drop you off somewhere, or...do something else?”

Costa’s pointed look stopped my awkward attempt at letting him off the hook. “I’ve come this far, Ivy. I’m seeing it through to the end or I’ll die trying.”

I flinched. Costa had been through enough to know that death was a real possibility. As he continued to stare at me, his real age seemed to creep into his dark brown gaze. Costa was a good-looking Greek guy who appeared to be in his late twenties, but time moved differently in the realms. In the one Costa had been trapped in, it had slowed to a near standstill. He’d be seventy-five on his next birthday, and every moment of those years filled his stare as he spoke again.