The crack slit wide. “What do you want?”
If only getting laid were so easy. “A truce of sorts.”
Scarlett shouted and stepped forward. Though Katon pulled her back, he looked a bit reluctant. He stared at me with questioning eyes, wondering what I was up to. Scarlett just looked like she wanted to kill me.
Venai shook her head. “Why? What do you get out of giving up your piece?”
“First off, I get to live. That’s pretty high up on my things to do list. I’m not gonna get to do it much longer if something doesn’t change soon.” I waved my hand in the general direction of Eden. “Second, your people aren’t looking to commit genocide like the weres. While it’s not the ideal solution, from our perspective, letting ya’ll win is easily the lesser of the three evils we face. We can always renew hostilities later.” My gun still trained on Jorn, I shook it to make my point.
Though she didn’t even blink, I could tell she was thinking it over. “So, you just hand the bone over and we go our separate ways?”
“Kinda, yeah, but I won’t be giving it to you, at least not here.”
The glare back on her face, Venai got to her feet. A finger of warning to Scarlett let her stay there.
“Then what do you propose?”
“You go back to your people and tell them I’ll be at the gate shortly to hand over the key piece. You have to make sure they’re ready to deal with the weres though, because the second I pull the piece out, it’s gonna rain furballs.”
“That’s it?”
I nodded. “I’m not greedy. I just want to wake up alive tomorrow.”
She looked to Scarlett, then back to me. It was clear what she wanted to know.
“I’ll never hear the end of her bitching, and you can guarantee she’ll be kicking down your door after the dust has settled, but she’ll go along for now. Won’t you, Scarlett?”
Venai looked to Scarlett again and I nearly disfigured my face trying to get her to agree with me. Scarlett went back and forth, glaring at both of us, but she finally relented. She knew me well enough to know I had a plan. Unfortunately, she also knew me well enough to realize it probably sucked and would likely end up getting us killed.
She was probably right.
A quiet sigh slipped from Venai as she looked to where Jorn kneeled, cradling Zellick’s body. “I’ll do this, but you and I aren’t finished. You will pay for Zellick’s death.”
A wise-ass remark hopped onto my tongue and I nearly choked swallowing it. Though I rarely listen to my own advice, it wouldn’t help things to antagonize. So instead, I took a handful of steps back and lowered my gun.
“I’ll be around.” At least I hoped I would be.
Venai didn’t waste any time. She summoned a portal beside Jorn and pulled it over them, Zellick still in the big guy’s arms. In just a second, all three were gone. Less than a second after that, I was on my ass, staring up at the spinning desert sky.
Scarlett stepped over me, a vicious snarl marring her beauty. “What the Hell are you thinking?”
“That this would be a lot less awkward if you weren’t trying to put your foot in my ass.”
She kicked me. Hard.
“How dare you give away Heaven.” She pulled her fist back to finish the job.
“Whoa, whoa, easy there.” I raised my hands in surrender. “I’m not giving anything away. Help me out, Katon.”
The enforcer walked to my cousin’s side and stared down at me. He didn’t look any more inclined to listen than she did. Rachelle came up behind them, and peeked around. It was hard to tell if she meant to rescue me or just watch.
“If you’ll stop beating me, I’ll explain.”
Scarlett growled, but she relented and slowly lowered her fist.
I climbed to my feet. “We don’t stand a chance against either army, let alone both. We got lucky here because they underestimated our abilities.” I pointed to the remaining members of DRAC who stood huddled together like refugees from a liberated concentration camp. “That won’t happen the next time. If the were-critters are busy fighting the Nephilim though, we can sit back and pick our moment.”
“Doing what?”
“Stealing the key out from under them.”
Scarlett drew in a deep breath and let it out slow as if I was starting to make some kind of sense to her. It’s happens every once in a while. “How?”
I nodded toward the mystic. “With Rachelle able to open a portal pretty much anywhere, we wait until the pieces are together, then port there and hit whoever has it with everything we’ve got.” A toothy smirk on my face, I continued. “Once we have it, we open the gate to Eden and make a mad dash for it, key in hand. As soon as we’re in, Uriel can seal Eden behind us to keep the rest of the clowns out.”
It was obvious Scarlett liked the idea, but she wasn’t sure. Katon voiced his concerns and Scarlett’s as well, no doubt.
“We’re not much in the way of reinforcements. Are you thinking we can turn the tide against Gabriel?”
“No, not really.” Scarlett started to complain, but I cut her off. “There is someone who can and he’s already there; Metatron.”
Scarlett whistled, a bemused smile crossing her lips. “I always knew you were crazy, but this plan of yours confirms it. Metatron has been comatose since God left.” The smile melted away as her voice hardened. “He couldn’t be bothered to help when Gabriel and Michael were slaughtering angels at the very heart of Heaven, so what makes you think he’ll care if a few more die?”
“You don’t think we can wake him?” I’d hoped for some optimism.
Scarlett shook her head, a tear rolling down her pale cheek. “It would take the return of God to draw him from his emotional slumber.”
That wasn’t gonna happen, but I couldn’t think of anything else we could do. “Do you have a better plan?”
Rachelle stayed quiet as Scarlett shook her head. I looked to Katon, who stared at the ground.
Sighing, I climbed up on my soapbox. “Look, I don’t want to die, but if I have to, I’d rather do it thinking we had a chance. Even if that chance is as slim as me getting to sleep with Megan Fox, it’s got to be better than nothing. The last thing I want to do is sit around and mope until the Winter Wonderland of Death comes to wipe me out of existence. Is that how you want to die?”
Katon raised his chin and met my eyes. There was fire there. “I’m in.”
Scarlett grinned at his approval and nodded. “If there is a chance I can spill Gabriel’s blood then I’m in as well.”
Rachelle just smiled. I’d probably have to remind her of what we decided later, but for now, her smile was good enough for me.
“Hey, Rachelle, I need a lift.”
“Where are you going?” Katon asked.
Scarlett looked at me, the same question etched across her face.
“I need to do a couple of things, plus I have to get Eve. Besides, somebody needs to tell the weres they’re invited to the shindig. You can’t trust those party animals to show up on time.” I smiled and waved. “Stay here and get the troops ready. I’ll be back in a bit.”
While Rachelle whipped up a portal, I grinned. “Take me to Hell.”
Chapter Seventeen
After a few minutes spent digging around in Hell, I’d rounded up Eve and confirmed a hunch. Finished with that, I used the gate in Asmoday’s cell to pop into Baalth’s office. Poe met me with a gun aimed at my head.
“I’m either experiencing deja vu or we’ve done this before.”
Poe growled and lowered his weapon. “You’ve been gone for hours. I was getting ready to come after you. What happened?”
“Got a little distracted. Oh, and I’d advise against using the gate anytime soon. In fact, I’d suggest locking it down. Turns out, you’ve got a pretty big varmint infestation down there.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Varmint?”
“Varmint, dread fiend, same thing.”
He stared at me a moment, no doubt waiting for the punch line. When he realized there wasn’t one, he sent a spike of mystical will toward the pentagram to seal the gate. Sparks glimmered along the golden lines and the lights flickered for second, then the star turned black. Finished, he turned back to me.