Genesis (The Legend of Glory Book 3) (18 page)

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Why would you do that?”

“Because of what Jesse’s going to become when he makes that deal with our father.”

As suddenly as I had found my breath, I lost it again. “Why would you care what happens to me?”

She shrugged. “I’d like to see you have an advantage. You’ll still fail, but it’ll be more entertaining to watch than the alternative.”

I thought about that. “If I have to go, I would like to go down fighting.”

“That’s the Glory I’ve come to know and covet.” She patted the couch next to her.

I sat down.

She snapped her fingers and disappeared. A moment later, she returned. “What do you sense?”

I closed my eyes. “I smell a hint of smoke and feel a shift in temperature. It’s colder.”

She smiled. “Very good. If you pay close attention, you’ll also sense those things right before manifestation.”

I recalled Lailah’s lessons in situational awareness. “So, I need to be alert for fire and ice.”

Nyx nodded. “The more powerful the demon, the stronger those sensations will be. The other tip I have for you is this: magic happens in the mind first, and then the results manifest. You don’t have to spar with someone.” She tapped her temple. “Use your imagination to run through your paces. Athletes do it, and their skills improve just as if they were physically practicing an equal amount of time.”

“It’s that simple?”

“Nothing simple about it.”

I allowed myself a hopeful smile. “So, now that we’ve had this super special bonding moment, I don’t suppose you’d let me keep my baby?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

Well, it had been worth a try.

Jesse manifested. I closed my eyes and reached out with my senses. Fire and ice.

He saw us and did a double take. “You two are sitting on the same couch now? Usually, you won’t even sit on the same side of the room.”

Nyx stood and walked over to him, leaned in, and sniffed. “Wine, women, and song. Work go well today, dear?”

“It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it.”

Nyx gently ran her finger down his cheek. “You make a mentor proud.” Her hand gestured toward me. “I’ve decided I like your choice in this one. She’s interesting.”

Instantly, he stepped in my direction and shielded me from her view. “You can have her baby, but that’s all. Glory’s not negotiable.”

“The path you’re headed down, she’ll likely come up for grabs. Be sure to revise your will and leave her to me.”

I leaned over to look past him, and she winked at me.

*          *          *

Later that night, Jesse and I were in bed together and I lay next to him while he sat and watched
TV
. Not many stations were back on the air, most of the shows were reruns, and he channel-hopped until I grew dizzy.

I closed my eyes and thought about everything I learned that day. I dissected, ate, and digested every morsel Nyx gave me. It wasn’t lost on me that her motivations for helping me were selfish. Expecting Jesse to die, she was setting me up—turning and mentoring demonic recruits was Nyx’s specialty. However, she had empowered me, and I decided to use that to my own advantage.

I pondered the looming threat of Jesse’s proposed deal with Lucifer. Nyx had been right to be concerned. Jesse was in way too deep.

I thought about how important Genesis was to the salvation of the human race. If Jesse or Lucifer took me out, how could I help her to fulfill her special destiny?

I had given Zane to Jinx in the nineteenth century and asked her to take care of him. She had done the job well. I realized he would be would be okay without me, and my heart shattered.

Dominic had given up his divine heritage for me. He was a wonderful man now, and there were already girls lining up for a piece of him. He’d be okay too. The loss I felt at that realization opened a black hole that sucked in the fragments of my shattered heart.

Now I needed to recreate that heart.

I glanced at Jesse and patted the rosary hidden under my gown. Carmela’s church taught that even souls in Hell could be redeemed. Maybe there was still hope for Jesse.

Startled, I heard a familiar voice and glanced at the television to see Evan doing a report on
CNN
about a new wave of global religious terrorism. Next to me, Jesse tensed. Evan had been at the bridge the night he threw Belle Starr over the side. He had reported Jesse’s role in the murder and declared him a fugitive.

I thought of my close circle of special friends and realized they would be okay without me, too. After all, they still had each other.

It took me a moment to find my voice. It had scampered off, afraid to say what I knew I must. “Could you turn that off?”

He snorted. “Why? Do you miss your friends?”

“Yes,” I said. “But right now I don’t want to be reminded of my old life.”

He turned it off and looked at me with surprise. “Well, that’s good to hear.” Reaching out, his fingers caressed my arm. “How shall we fill the time? I have some creative ideas.”

I turned on my side and faced him. “What if I said yes to that?”

His cocky expression disappeared in an instant. “What?”

I took a deep breath. “You’re after me all the time to jump my bones, so what if I say okay? That’s what you want, right?”

“Is that you want?”

“Do you really care about what I want?”

A flash of sadness crossed his face. “Glory.”

Nyx had said he could read my heart. I sat up and took his head between my hands. “Look at me, Jesse. Pull down the walls and really look at me.”

I felt his resistance, but after a few moments he relented.

Looking deeply into him, I no longer saw the fear that had been there on that awful Halloween night three years ago, but I did see the same desperate need for connection. I had come to understand that although horribly misguided, his intentions weren’t entirely selfish. He had been trying to protect those he loved in the only way his brokenness understood.

I centered myself and tried to speak truthfully. “We once made a promise to always take care of each other. Let me take care of you.”

“What is this, some kind of misguided pity-fest move?”

“You’ve never had my pity, only my love.”

He pulled away from me. “You don’t love me the way you do Zane or Dominic.”

“No, I don’t. I feel a different kind of love for each of you. Truth is, I never thought of you in a romantic way—that just wasn’t our thing. But I’m willing to surrender to this now and see what happens.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want you to make that deal with the Devil.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want you to go radioactive and melt down. I promised you I would always have your back, and this is the only way I know to keep that promise.”

“I suppose that, in return, you want me to renege on my deal with Nyx?”

“No.”

“You want me to believe you’re on board with that now?”

“No, because I’m not. When push shoves, I’ll move Hell and Earth to find a way to get my baby back. You can count on that.
You
made a deal with Nyx.
I
didn’t.”

“So, you’re down with me demonizing you so you can take her on?”

“Ask me later.”

He shook his head. “You couldn’t hold your own in my world. I have to demonize you.”

I swallowed my fear. “Ask. Me. Later. One step at a time. Please?”

I could feel some of his cockiness return. The demonizing was a point I knew he’d never get past, but I’d deal with it down the road.

“I don’t just want your body,” he said.

“Nyx helped me understand that. I get it now, Jesse. I really do.” I took his hand and placed it over my heart.

He stared at me for a long time, and I finally saw a softening. Tentatively, he slipped his hand inside my nightgown and touched my breast, but I grabbed his wrist. “I want to wait for that until after she’s born. I’m feeling so far from sexy right now. I have a watermelon in my uterus, a dagger in my back, my breasts are like these huge water balloons ready to pop, I’ve got to pee all the time, my—”

Laughing, he raised his hand to silence me. “Overshare.”

“So, you’ll wait?”

“I’ve been waiting for you my whole life.”

I leaned into him and pressed my lips to his. His were uncertain, but mine weren’t. I parted mine to invite him in.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

)o(       )o(       )o(

Rory and Kaia arrived at the Moonstone covenstead a few hours before dawn and quietly let themselves into Kaia’s small cottage. Although she had left last fall to live with Evan in Atlanta, the coven promised to keep her cottage available.

The covenstead was a rugged hundred and eighty acre spread located eight thousand feet high in Colorado’s
Sangre de Cristo
Mountains. Despite the deep snowfall, a clear path led to Rory’s front door. When they entered, a figure stirred in the shadows.

“Kaia, we felt you were on your way.” A match flared to life, a crystal lantern glowed, and shadows lightened.

“Aunt Brennan,” Kaia said with a weary voice.

A tall, dark-haired woman rose from a chair and moved to embrace her. “We’ve been worried. Our seers sensed you were in trouble, but we couldn’t connect with you. Not psychically or through technology.”

Kaia shook away Brennan’s arms and moved to stoke the fireplace. “Can we talk tomorrow after I’ve had a chance to come to terms with all that’s happened?”

Brennan, the leader of the coven, was a harsh mistress. “No.”

Rory sighed and knelt by the fireplace to help Kaia.

“Rory,” Brennan said.

“Brennan,” Rory said.

There was no love lost between the two of them. Rory never kowtowed to anyone, a fact that didn’t sit well with Her Highness.

Brennan sat back down and waited for Kaia to face her. When Kaia finally turned around, her aunt said, “There’s news I must tell you immediately.”

Alarm crossed Kaia’s face. “Evan?”

Last the girls had heard, Evan had been in Rome.

“As far as I know, Evan’s okay. No, it’s about Glory. Her people have been trying to reach you because Glory’s been kidnapped and they need your help.”

A shuddering chill blew through Rory and she scooted closer to the fire.

“Who kidnapped her?” Kaia asked.

“The demons Nyx and Jesse. All anyone knew of your whereabouts was that you two were on a road trip. Your cell phones seem to be out of order. No one at Haven has heard from you. Nor, of course, have we.”

Rory knew the edge in Brennan’s voice went beyond frustration at the current circumstances. The leader of the Moonstone coven had never hidden her displeasure about Kaia’s decision to move to Atlanta. It always confused Rory because Brennan had been so adamant about the arranged marriage between Kaia and Evan in the first place. Her motive in pressuring Kaia into the marriage had been to unite the Moonstone and Starlight covens. Had the woman expected that the couple would marry but never live together?

Kaia said, “The witch hunters who kidnapped us destroyed our phones, and we haven’t had time to replace them yet.”

“Witch hunters? However did you escape them?”

“It’s a long story, Aunt Brennan. Actually, the more interesting story is about a run-in we had a few hours ago with the Flanagans. You know the Flanagans? I understand they’re my mother’s people? It would have been nice if someone had given me a heads-up at
some
point in my life that half my bloodline was into the evil.”

Brennan paled. “I’ve spent my life trying to protect you from them. Not just by bringing you here when you were a child, but by magically shielding you from their knowledge. What changed to allow them to find you?”

Kaia didn’t answer, so Rory did.

“I’d guess Micah’s possession put Kaia on the Flanagan’s radar. It seems they now consider her primed and ready to go darkside. I think y’all did a piss-poor job at running interference.”

Brennan’s face went from white to red in a flash. She jumped to her feet and stormed to where Rory sat, then did her obvious best to lord her six-foot stature over the tiny girl. “You’ll show me respect or I’ll banish you.”

Rory’s mind picked up on Brennan’s unspoken words,
from my kingdom
, and burst out laughing. The woman always had an inflated sense of self.

“Banish away, sweetie. Right now, I’m tired and about to fall asleep. Kaia’s in worse shape than me, thanks to the Flanagans. Oh, and did I sense fae energy in their posse? They were rocking the Pictish thing, but I’d bet there’s changeling blood there too.”

Brennan’s eyes grew wide. “Don’t speak such things aloud.”

Rory kicked off her boots, crawled onto a big pillow by the fireplace, pulled the hood of her sweatshirt over her head, and hunkered down as close to the flames as she could. “Kaia, don’t let Her Majesty bully you. Get some shuteye. We’ll deal with Glory tomorrow. And we’ll deal with the Flanagans when we have to.”

Ignoring the sounds of Brennan’s outrage and Kaia’s amusement, Rory felt someone cover her with a blanket and then she lost herself in welcome darkness.

)o(       )o(       )o(

The next morning, Rory and Kaia managed to sneak away from Moonstone without any further confrontations with Brennan. They drove straight through to Denver, stopping only for a hot meal and new cell phones before driving northeast to Glory’s farm in Union.

The moment they stepped out of the
BMW
at the farm, Hallelujah rushed to greet them. She practically knocked Kaia over and welcomed her with a frantic tale of woe. At least that’s how Kaia translated Hallelujah’s nonstop whines and whimpers as she knelt in the snow and comforted the trembling dog.

Hallelujah wasn’t the only one beside herself with worry. When the girls entered Glory’s house, the doom cloud was suffocating. Rory had to throw up protective shields just so she could breathe.

Dominic and Sasha welcomed them with clingy hugs, and then Sasha introduced them to Lailah.

Rory had met a number of angels in her day, but none who radiated as much power as Lailah. “I’ve read about you in ancient Hebrew texts,” Rory said to her. “You’re the polar opposite of the demoness Lilith.”

Lailah cocked her head. “You are a smart young thing.”

“Yes, I am. So I gotta ask, if you’re that damn special why can’t you find Glory?” Rory ignored Lailah’s startled expression and Sasha’s shocked little gasp. “Ah, don’t get your feathers all ruffled, girls. It’s a straight-up question.”

Kaia and Dominic both tried to hide their amusement, and Raven offered her a surreptitious thumbs-up.

“Witches never fail to impress me,” Lailah said.

“Great, we’ll hug it out later,” Rory said. “In the meantime, sweetie, answer my question.”

“It is unanswerable. It is a mystery.”

“That’s why we reached out to you two,” Sasha said. “You’re the most powerful psychics we know. We’re hoping you can psychically connect with Glory, find out where she’s at, and help us rescue her.”

Rory looked at Raven. “What gifts do you bring to the party?”

“I’m a witch made, not born. But Lailah tells me my
DNA
is changing from human to witch. The powers that are opening up for me basically relate to energy: I can form energy balls, see auras, and manipulate energy fields.”

Rory asked Dominic, “You got any angel mojo left?”

He shook his head. “I asked for human, and that’s what I got.”

Rory closed her eyes and struggled to see the whole picture clearly. “Anyone contact the Caretakers?”

“For some reason, they can’t locate Glory either,” Dominic said.

“Where could Nyx and Jesse have possibly taken her that the friggin’ Caretakers of the friggin’ world can’t track?” Rory asked, her frustration growing.

“Somewhere outside the world?” Raven suggested.

Rory’s eyes flew open and landed on Raven. “Of course.” She thought about Nyx’s little demonstration of multiple intersecting dimensions. “They’ve taken her to Hell.”

Dominic slowly sank onto the ottoman. “Hell? Oh, my God.”

“You two do know about Spooky Baby and how she’s like the Holy Grail of humanity’s survival, right?” Raven asked.

Kaia shook her head. “We know Zane is Genesis’ father and that she’s got a significant destiny, but I guess someone better read us in on the details.”

Sasha related the facts about Genesis’s conception on a different level of that cosmic chessboard Nyx had shown Rory. Then she explained that the baby’s
DNA
would prevent global genocide. Rory thought about her mother’s warning that Mother Earth Herself was dying and realized that the
NWO
’s holocaust had impacted Earth’s lifeforce. She could see it clearly now.

Urgency flooded. Rory had to devise a plan to duel Sith Lords, rescue Princess Leia from the Death Star, and save this corner of the universe. All she had to work with was Kaia, who was teetering on the edge of a dark and mysterious precipice; impotent angels and Caretakers; a freaked-out dog; a newbie witch in transition; and a frazzled human who at this moment sat on the ottoman across from her, nervously fondling a baseball bat.

Where was Obi-Wan Kenobi when you really needed him?

*          *          *

Jesse left a vase of fresh flowers on the piano. He didn’t say they were for me, but they were. The vibrant, fragrant arrangement was a piece of the outdoors that I missed so much.

Nyx and I stood side-by-side staring at them.

She made a sound of disgust. “He’s not the demon I gave birth to. Try to feed and raise them right and this is what they do? Flowers? Really?”

Her woebegone expression made me laugh. “The horror of it all.”

“You did this to him.”

“I’m shameless.”

She shook her head. “I never thought you’d give yourself to him.”

“I didn’t either.”

She studied me. “The big surprise is that you’re sincere.”

“I am.”

“Just tell me why.”

I thought about how to explain. “He needs me.”

“But it’s not what you wanted.”

“Life isn’t all about me.” The pandemic had taught me that.

“There’s no room in Hell for saints.”

I chuckled. “I’m
so
not a saint.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“He’s a good kisser. I mean
really
good.” My belly burned thinking about it.

That made Nyx smile. “Yes, he is. There’s something terribly sexy about a man who can kiss like that.”

We both got lost in private thoughts for a few minutes. Mine drifted to the erotic, and I struggled to rein them in.

Finally, my attention returned to the flowers. “Why are you so upset about him doing something nice?”

“He’s not turning as many souls.”

I was glad to hear that.

“And I still feel that you two aren’t going to end well.”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” I tried not to look too far ahead, but how
could
this ever end well?

I had tried talking to Jesse about the possibility of his soul’s redemption and us returning to the world together with Genesis. The rage that concept evoked was something I never wanted to see again.

I patted Gen. She was restless. “I need to sit. Work on my sparring technique.”

Nyx gave me a curious look.

“Never know what the future’s going to hold. I want to be ready for whatever may come.”

“Good luck with that.”

I sat down in my chair, closed my eyes, and decided to pray. I hadn’t prayed since that night Jesse and Nyx took me.

I doubt if anyone is listening, or even cares, but I’m lost in Hell and could use some help here. I know my faith leaves a lot to be desired, I’m having way too many X-rated fantasies, and I am beginning to see the perks of going darkside, so will understand if you aren’t eager to help me. But please think of Genesis and the world she was put inside me to save. Oh, and Jesse needs help too, even if he won’t admit it. Thank you and here’s hoping.

I rubbed my belly.
Gen, let me bottom-line the situation for you—we are totally screwed. But if they take you from me, know I love you and will never stop trying to save you. No sacrifice will be too big, even my own soul. I’ll do whatever it takes—

Suddenly, I heard a voice in my head.

Glory?

I recognized that distinctive southern accent.
Rory
?

Gods, but your head is a tough nut. Kaia and I have been working our asses off to get through, and it just now finally cracked open.

I was praying.

Well, that’ll do it. Where are you?

In a section of Hell located in a penthouse in Denver. Very tall building. That’s all I know.

Good info. With that, we can scry and find you.

It’s warded against angels.

That explains a lot. Who else is there?