The old man shook his head, picked up my gun, and came over beside us, his leather face serious. “I’ve done all I can for now. You’ll have to do this without me.” He handed the swords to me, and then my pistol.
I accepted them and slipped my gun into my waistline as I thanked him, glad to have them all back. No point in arguing with the angel, we just said our goodbyes. He disappeared in a golden flash.
Once he was gone, I shrugged at Rahim. “I’ve recruited Alexander Poe to help us, Baalth’s mentalist, who just happens to have a little magical aptitude. It’s not much of an addition, but since we’re looking at a smash and grab, followed by a suicide run, I think we’re as ready as we can be.”
Rahim groaned and rolled his eyes. “Sounds charming. Where is the key piece?”
“It’s just outside one of the gates.” My insides feeling like an overripe tomato, I waved him on and headed for the portal room-or what was left of it. On the way, I laid out our plan of attack. Grim-faced, Rahim listened. As the gate powered up and we were whisked away, the wizard werebear sighed.
“Suicide run it is.” He grumbled deep. “Seems a waste of a good disease.”
Just a minute later, we exited the door into the alley. Well, I exited the door. Rahim kind of had to go through the wall because he wouldn’t fit. I could see a bunch of remodeling in DRAC’s future, if we made it through the day.
Once the dust cleared, I pointed to the roof where I’d tossed the bag and groaned. Rahim’s eyes snapped upward.
“Friends of yours?”
Tired, hurt, sad, and sick and tired of getting my ass kicked, I snarled at Jonas Black and Ethan White. “What the Hell do you guys want?” With Rahim there, I knew we could take these guys easy. It’s easy to be confident when you have a bad ass to back up your smack talk.
Black grinned like he was gonna sell me a used car and wiggled his reattached arm for me to see. “You got us good last time, Trigg. Sneaky.” He gave a shallow nod. “We still need you to come with us though.”
White held my pillowcase up and shook it gently. While it sucked they had the bag, I was glad to see there weren’t any stains on it and I hadn’t heard the distressing jingle of broken glass. That meant the vials were still intact.
“Seriously, guys, I don’t who you are or what you want, but I really don’t have time for this.”
Rahim growled to reinforce my point, posturing up to his full height, red energy glistening at his paws. Courage warmed my heart as I saw he still had his magic.
“Then I suggest you make time,” a cold, steely voice said, its source appearing beside Black, out of nowhere.
My senses shrieked and I nearly fell, emanations of power washing off the figure like a nuclear detonation. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rahim flinch and his stance became more defensive. His face drew back in a wary grimace, his eyes narrowing. The courage I had a second ago yipped away like a frightened Chihuahua.
Dressed Jedi-like in a long, flowing black robe with its hood pulled up, the figure stared down at me through mercurial eyes. A black mask covered everything from his nose down, so there wasn’t much in the way of identifying features. The only thing I knew was that it was a he, the voice giving that away, and that he was super powerful. My shriveled nut-sack confirmed that.
His point made, the stranger reined in his essence. It felt as though the sun had been ripped from the sky, the sudden release of pressure immediate. I looked to Rahim and his eyes told me we were screwed. Now, here I was without any lube.
So, fighting out of the question, we’d have to reason with the guy. That meant Rahim would have to do it. I nudged him in his furry side. He glared at me, then looked back up, swallowing deep.
“Who are you and what is it you want?” There was the slightest hint of a tremble in his voice.
“This does not concern you, wizard. It is to the demon I wish to speak.” The glare of his silver eyes settled on me. “Come, Triggaltheron. I am Xyx. I have been sent to retrieve you and I will not fail my master.”
Though I obviously couldn’t see my face, I figured it looked a lot like Rahim’s; slack-jawed and incredulous mixed with a little bit of holy shit. Having felt the guy’s power, to hear he answered to someone else, and that someone was looking for me, made my knees weak.
No clue who this guy was, or his master, I couldn’t for the life of me think of what I’d done to get their attention. I thought I knew all the major players in the world, but I was drawing a big blank on this one. Unsure of what angle to play to get a rain check, I took a chance on the truth.
“I have no idea what’s going on, but if you haven’t noticed, we’re having a bit of a world crisis here. The longer we’re delayed, the worse it’s gonna get for all of existence. I’m needed somewhere else right now.”
“I care not for your problems.”
“Does your master?” It was a long shot, seeing how the guy was coming off as a serious hard ass, but I had to try. I didn’t know where cloak boy came from, but for his boss to need me, for whatever reason, he probably had to have some kind of investment in the world I resided in. It made a weird sort of sense.
Xyx’s eyes shimmered gold for a second, then returned to silver. He stared at me a moment before speaking.
“My master offers you one opportunity to avail yourself to him of your own free will.” Before Xyx, a demonic contract appeared in the air. It fluttered down to me. “Agree to surrender to me three days hence and we will leave you until then to resolve your issue.”
The contract in my hand, I looked it over and saw it had been marked by Xyx, not his master. It was your standard demonic contract. Signed in blood it meant a couple of things. The first one was, once I committed to it, I either had to follow its demands to the letter or I forfeited my soul to the contract holder. The second thing was that it confirmed Xyx was a demon, though certainly not one I ever met, or even heard of.
That in itself was quite a surprise.
I glanced at Rahim and there weren’t any answers in his expression. He was leaving this one up to me. Great. That never worked out well.
My thoughts on Abraham and how I’d let him down and couldn’t do it again, I bit my hand and made my mark in fresh blood. Once I finished, the contract drifted back up to Xyx. He glanced at it for confirmation, then it disappeared.
“You have three days. I will come for you then, regardless.” He motioned with his hand and White tossed the bag down to me.
Terrified I’d shatter the vials, I caught it as gentle as I could, grabbing it high and letting its momentum play out a little. Bag safely in hand, I looked back up and all three of them were gone.
“Any idea what that was about,” Rahim asked, worry in his voice.
My hand in the bag snatching up a vial, my eyes checking to make sure everything was still there, I shook my head. “No clue, but I guess I’ll find out in a few days. Of course, I could be dead by then.”
I tried to make light of it, but the truth was I was more than a little worried. There weren’t any guarantees of success against Azrael and his fuzzball minions and their undead entourage, not to mention the Nephilim. Even if we did win out and manage to make our way into Heaven, we were only leaping from one deadly conflict to another. With no way to awaken Metatron, we were stuck killing ourselves on the front line or dying when the Tree of Life gave up the ghost.
Bleak didn’t begin to describe our chances.
Then, to top it all off, if by some miracle we did win out, I’d be stuck handing my ass over to who-knows-who for who-knows-what. It was like being told you were cured of cancer only to learn the world is gonna end in three days.
Let’s face it, life is morbidly cruel.
A couple of sips of Lucifer’s blood whizzing its way through my veins, I reminded Rahim that we needed to pick up Poe and we were on our way.