Trinity: Feathers and Fire Book 9 Read online

  Then his foot slipped, and he squealed like a child as he fell from his lofty height.

  “Mommy!” he cried, lashing out for a handhold to catch his fall. He managed to grab onto one of the wings, hugged it like a spider monkey, and let out a triumphant shout. The statue wobbled violently, and I realized that his display of power had beaten the hell out of it, knocking it loose from its pedestal. The Divines tugged at their leashes in an attempt to get clear of the unstable statue. The force of their effort caused the wing to crack and fall, finally casting Lucky down to the pool with the rest of the statue toppling the opposite direction.

  The stone crashed into the fountain, sending a wall of water directly into the Divines, soaking them anew. Thankfully, it served to cool their tempers enough that they no longer looked ready to attack Ryuu. Lucky choked and coughed his way out of the water, gasping and wheezing like he’d survived a shipwreck rather than a middling fall into a pool. “I’m alive!” he rasped, swiping his soaked, long blonde hair out of his eyes.

  Ryuu was there, hoisting him out of the pool and onto the grass, laughing so hard that he could barely remain upright himself. “Diva,” he repeated, shaking his head and patting Lucky on the back.

  Lucky looked up with a proud smirk. “Diva,” he agreed.

  The Divines shook off their fur and feathers, spraying water in every direction. In the deluge, the magical leashes had winked out of existence. Zoe’s feathers sizzled and crackled back to life with puffs of steam, and Bai promptly began licking her leg, primping. As cats do.

  I let out a breath, shaking my head as I stared at Lucky, unable to fight the smile creeping onto my face at his grin. “Mommy?” I asked, trying not to laugh.

  He grinned as he wiped the damp hair back from his eyes. “Seemed fitting.” He climbed to his feet with the two Divines, ruffling Bai’s fur playfully—seemingly unharmed by her razor-sharp metal spines. Then he leaned down to peck Zoe on the beak with a loud smooching sound. The fire trickling back to life over her feathers didn’t appear to harm him; they even seemed to diminish under his touch, as if calmed by his gesture.

  “Does Xuanwu know you took them out in public?” I asked.

  He shook his head, not meeting my eyes. “I wanted to take them for a walk,” he said in a soft, compassionate tone. “Do something fun for them. They have been prisoners long enough. Changing their prison cell from Purgatory to their brother’s house and having everyone treat them like they’re made of glass isn’t healthy. They’re the strongest gals I’ve ever met,” he said, proudly. “Ain’t ya?” he asked, ruffling Bai’s forehead with his knuckles. She yawned, revealing massive steel fangs that I’d almost forgotten about.

  I pulled my hair back over my shoulder, using the motion to mask the tears that abruptly blurred my vision. That…was actually incredibly kind. Bai again shook her body and emitted a playful yowl, spraying Lucky, and then plopped down on the grass to lick her still glowing fur. She looked bigger and stronger than when we had first rescued her from Purgatory. I tried not to think about the metal spines and silvery tint to the Divine White Tiger’s fur.

  I decided to think of Zoe as a red phoenix rather than her official title, the Vermillion Bird. It sounded like a haughty, made up word for the color red, useful only in impressing colleagues who no one liked at art exhibits no one wanted to attend. And I was from Kansas City—we didn’t ever speak of the alleged St. Louis baseball team that shall not be named, so calling her Red Bird was off the table.

  They both looked much healthier than when I’d saved them last night, but they definitely still seemed thin and weak—malnourished and with severely atrophied muscles.

  One major concern was that their brothers, Xuanwu and Qinglong, could speak. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours yet, but I knew they were concerned that their sisters had not spoken yet. Was that a problem? Was something wrong with them, or was it simply because they had spent such a long time in Purgatory and weren’t in the practice of speaking?

  Part of me was concerned about the surprisingly strong bond they shared with Lucky. Maybe they recognized his Grace from Purgatory. It was entirely possible that they had formed their bond centuries ago, looking out for each other in the Neverwas. A gang.

  A Trinity, even. I still wasn’t entirely sure what that entailed, and I fully intended on grilling my godparents on the specifics.

  Originally, the girls had been bonded to Lilith in a Trinity. Much like Samael’s Trinity with Xuanwu and Qinglong. But Lilith’s bond had been a long time ago, and the last time they had seen her had been when she sent them to Purgatory. Had that broken their Trinity? Had Lucky’s Grace replaced Lilith?

  Granted, Lilith had only done so to keep them safe, but after a few hundred years, perhaps they had been driven to a state of madness where they now saw her act as a betrayal. I wouldn’t blame them. Purgatory was a world where souls eternally fed upon one another. One day you were the predator, the next day you were the prey. They definitely hadn’t shown any eagerness to leave Lucky’s side, let alone seek out Lilith. Xuanwu, Qinglong, and Lucky were pretty much their favorites—treating me like I hadn’t been there at all.

  Well, not really. But compared to the adoration they showed their brothers and Lucky, I felt a little jilted. Seeing an animal love on someone else over me—when I had been the key to saving them—felt like a kick to the teeth.

  But I had plenty of other things to focus on.

  The most important thing to me was the affectionate looks they gave Lucky. They loved him, dearly, and he obviously felt the same way about them. Their bond was definitely healing them.

  I hadn’t realized how much pain Lucky was in until he’d scared the living hell out of me with his display of raw power. Xanax could prevent the end of the world, apparently.

  I glanced up at the sky. The clouds were now drifting away, allowing the sun to shine through in places, but the freak storm and the now destroyed statue were going to draw attention. “We really need to get the hell out of here—”

  A winged man slammed into the ground with an earth-shaking thud, barely three paces away from me. Two Gateways screamed to life, one on either side of the angel as he rose to his feet. Two hardened warriors—Nephilim—stepped through.

  “Fuck this park,” I muttered, drawing my katana. “It’s literally the worst.”

  The Divines and Phix snarled in a spitting, coughing warning, agreeing with me as I glared at the new arrivals.

  Lucky cleared his throat, pointedly. “Do I need to put my pants on for this?” he whispered to Ryuu.

  Ryuu laughed. “Oh, I don’t know. This should be over fairly quickly.”

  Eae scowled angrily, and the Nephilim fingered the hilts of the two long daggers they each wore sheathed at their hips.

  “I’ll go ahead and put my pants on,” Lucky muttered. “It’s all fun and games until someone loses a testicle.”

  Ryuu laughed even harder.

  17

  Eae stared me down, his face blank and cold. But I saw a flicker of warning and apology in his eyes.

  “Not good odds, guys,” I said, slowly sheathing my katana. I patted the hilt with my palm and then lowered my hands to my sides. I focused my powers and felt my Silver claws slowly extend from between my knuckles—for when a sword wasn’t a personal enough touch. Also, it made angels and Nephilim nervous to see a reminder of my ties to Solomon.

  “I came to see if you had reconsidered my generous offer,” Eae said, curling his lip at my claws.

  My mind raced, knowing I needed to get Lucky and the Divines as far away as possible, before Eae or his Nephilim started asking difficult questions. “I’m a little busy,” I said, pointing a thumb at Lucky—who was struggling to put his pants on—and the two Divines, who were watching the new arrivals with barely restrained violence. “A witch tricked these three morons into drinking her potions and now I have to figure out how to return them to normal and wipe their memories.” I shrugged. “Seriously, though. Fuck this
park. I am never coming back.”

  The Nephilim eyed the two Divines and Lucky, apparently recognizing Phix and Ryuu by their looks or reputations. Probably both. I made sure not to stare, but in my peripheral vision it seemed like they bought my lie. As long as I could get my allies out of here before one of them overreacted and obliterated my witch potion story. I heard Phix calmly speaking to Zoe and Bai and I sent up a silent prayer that she was here. A fellow…creature was someone they could relate to, and it seemed she was keeping them calm. For now. But Phix was also a homicidal monster with an incredibly short fuse, as Eae had personally experienced just this morning.

  If the Nephilim showed any disrespect, the situation was going to get messy fast.

  I cringed to see Lucky stink-eyeing Eae as he zipped up his jeans. He had a mischievous smirk on his stupid face that I didn’t like at all. He was on the verge of doing something stupid to his little brother. I hoped Ryuu could keep him in line, but I knew he would be more focused on countering Eae if the angel decided to act his part too authentically for the Nephilims’ benefit. Ryuu was the only one who could kill an angel, after all.

  “I have not reconsidered your offer. I’ve barely even had time to think about it,” I said. “Give me until tomorrow to see what I can find out about your request.”

  “How many more of your followers must die before you do the right thing, Dracula?” one of the Nephilim asked.

  I slowly turned to look at him as Phix let out a long, slow whistle. He was about my height and had shaggy, light brown hair with pale blue eyes. His fellow Nephilim had sandy blonde hair with bright green eyes and was an extremely tall, broad-shouldered, Nebraska farmer type. His unassuming strength would be easy for most to overlook, but I could tell it had been earned by tossing hay bales at dawn while his pale-eyed buddy likely mastered the shake weight with a battalion of bros chugging Muscle Milk at his side, cheering him on. He just had that pompous little shit vibe to him.

  The two Nephilim did not wear a uniform or robes or anything that would make them stand out in a crowd. They both wore jeans, sneakers, and a plain white t-shirt and they would have fit in on any college campus in America. They each wore a thin metal band around their right wrist, reminding me of those copper bracelets some athletes wore. I tried to think back on the other Nephilim I had met, but I didn’t remember any of them wearing matching jewelry. And those Nephilim had worked for Nameless, a corrupt angel who had ultimately fallen from grace. Literally. I’d encased him in the Silver magic of the Solomon bloodline at the moment he fell. His statue now resided inside Roland’s church.

  Maybe the golden cuffs signified rank?

  I turned my nose up at the pale-eyed prick. “You look like you should be in a boy band. How about you remain silent while the adults are talking.”

  The muscles of his jaw clenched and his cheeks darkened. The farm boy’s eyebrows almost climbed right off his head as he coughed a laugh into his fist.

  The prick Nephilim took an aggressive step forward but the farm boy grabbed him by the shoulder and squeezed, halting the prick in his tracks. “She makes a good point, and your comment was cruel. Stand down, Quentin.”

  Lucky burst out laughing. “Quentin?” he hooted.

  Damn it.

  Quentin winced in pain but still managed to glare at Lucky. “Let go of me, Adrian,” he growled.

  Adrian waited a few more moments to make sure Quentin wasn’t going to do anything stupid, and then released his grip. He gave me a discreet nod and mildly apologetic frown.

  I dipped my chin back, respectfully. “Thank you, Adrian.”

  Quentin rested his hands on the hilts of his daggers, cocking his hips to stand in an arrogant pose as he chose to openly leer at Phix’s breasts with a wicked grin. Seriously? Where was Heaven recruiting the Nephilim from these days? A career fair booth in Hell?

  Preventing myself from committing murder had never been so hard.

  Eae didn’t visibly sigh in relief at Adrian’s effective diffusing of the situation, but his slow blink was proof that he was toeing a fine line in being my double agent. He had control, but not as much as he should have. Adrian the farm boy Nephilim had quelled the drama, not the angel. And none of them seemed disturbed about the upside-down authority structure. Who was pulling the strings upstairs? I really needed to talk to Solomon after this and get a refresher on the Archangel hierarchy.

  But I had to get us out of this confrontation without bloodshed, first. Thinking of the murdered ninja and vampire, I felt my own quiet, unquenchable rage flickering dangerously within my breast. Heaven had already spilled blood. Perhaps we were way beyond a peaceful compromise. A very strong part of me wanted to play tit for tat and kill the two Nephilim—even though I kind of liked Adrian—but that would put Eae in an impossible situation and ruin my chances at getting inside information.

  Adrian wore a pensive frown, shifting his gaze between the Divines, the ruined statue, and the retreating clouds overhead. “A potion did all of this?”

  Eae was studying the Divines now, and I watched as his face slowly changed to horror. “Daemons,” he breathed. Phix stepped in front of them, protectively. He’d recognized them for what they were. He turned to look directly into my eyes with a skeptical, suspicious stare.

  I kept my face devoid of all reaction. “That’s ridiculous.”

  Quentin frowned. “I thought the surviving Daemons were a turtle and a dragon?” he said, suddenly wary.

  Eae’s face had gone as pale as a sheet and I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there was no more room for peace. Angels feared the possibility of all four Divines existing, especially in the same place at the same time. I didn’t know why, but I knew Eae could no longer feign ignorance. He’d just caught me in a lie—one that had dire consequences for his kind. He couldn’t reveal our alliance in front of his Nephilim without being branded a traitor.

  In fact, this little revelation that all four Divines were alive and well would very likely change Eae’s opinion about working with me. I might have actually just become his enemy for my proven lie of omission. He’d seen how unsurprised I was to see Zoe and Bai, which meant I had known of their presence during our earlier encounter and hadn’t told him.

  Eae shifted his glare to Lucky and he was suddenly holding a gleaming, golden spear as thick as my forearm. “Who are you?”

  Lucky stared him down with his fearless smirk. “I’m not sure I like your tone, Eae.”

  The angel clenched his spear tighter, pursing his lips. Then he abruptly stiffened, his eyes widening slightly. “How…did you know my name?” he rasped.

  “I cursed your name under my breath the moment you arrived,” I growled. “Your problem is with me. My associates are not under your jurisdiction and do not have to answer your questions,” I said, gesturing for my allies to back up. “Right, Ryuu? We wouldn’t want them to feel threatened,” I said, meaningfully. “More than one diva can ruin a party.”

  Ryuu caught my meaning—don’t let the Divines or Lucky lose their shit. “Correct, White Rose. They are under the protection of the shinobi and the Black Tortoise.” In my peripheral vision, I saw him shoving Lucky back towards the Divines. Lucky was the only one who could calm them down and he was also too flippant for a tense situation like the one we now faced. And if Eae pressed him too hard, he was likely to hulk out into Anghellian mode and destroy anyone who looked at him sideways.

  Phix stepped up beside me, eyeing the two Nephilim up and down and licking her lips with a provocative smile. A wave of dizziness swept over me and I gripped her shoulder for support, blinking dazedly. I knew it wasn’t an attack because Eae and his Nephilim shot me suspicious glares like I was trying to deceive them. As I fought it off, I started feeling dull thuds all around me like someone was thumping a bass drum in a collection of steady, double cadences.

  Heartbeats. I was sensing heartbeats again.

  Ryuu’s was slightly faster than normal, likely since he was too far away from me and to
rn between keeping the Divines safe, Lucky in check, and protecting me from the angel. Phix’s heartbeat was light and quick, eager for action. She spoke, helping distract the Nephilim from my strange reaction. “The man who created it doesn’t need it, the man who bought it doesn’t want it, and the man who needs it doesn’t know he needs it. What is it?”

  Adrian and Quentin stared at her warily. “I don’t have time for childish riddles,” Quentin grumbled, shifting his attention towards Lucky and the others as if devising a way to reach them. Eae looked torn between hating me and wanting to flee, but not knowing how best to accomplish either. My dizziness had faded but I still felt…muted, as if everything was slower and more dramatic than it actually was.

  Adrian finally shrugged. “A riddle.”

  Phix grinned broadly. “No. But that was a very clever answer.”

  Eae leaned towards me, gritting his teeth. “Explain yourself. Now.”

  I shrugged, woodenly. “Dizzy spell,” I murmured, shaking my head.

  “What is the answer to the stupid riddle?” Quentin asked, absently, risking a quick glance at Phix’s chest when he thought she was focused on Adrian.

  “A coffin,” Phix mused, slowly turning to face him. “And if you stare at my chest again without my express permission, there won’t be enough pieces of you left to require one. A commercial trash bag will suffice.”

  Quentin snarled and lunged for Phix, pivoting on his feet and drawing both of his forearm-length daggers, surprisingly fast, in an attempt to murder the sphinx.

  18

  My strange perception vanished like a popped bubble and everyone froze, just like when I used my Horseman’s Mask or focused on speeding up my senses.

  Except…I hadn’t intentionally done anything. My gaze locked onto Quentin’s outstretched daggers. He’d actually thrown one at Phix and it was currently floating between them, frozen still. Once time resumed it would almost immediately sink into her chest, and he was already swinging his other dagger at her for a follow-up attack.