Martinis with the Devil, Part One

CHAPTER SIX

  I had to give him credit, Eli didn’t flinch once, though I was trying my best to scare the shit out of him with my infamous driving. He didn’t even look like he was concentrating hard on keeping a calm expression. Damn angels.

  The guards outside HR headquarters, however, did give me the satisfaction of whipping their heads around when the Porsche came flying into view. I spun up to the base of the marble stairs leading up to the building and jumped out.

  “That’s not a parking spot,” Eli said through gritted teeth. In the twinkling of the glass lamplights surrounding the building, I could see the indignation on his face.

  “Gotta give these guys something fun to look at, right?” I grinned at the closest guard, who now stood still as a statue. But unlike the stuffy ones in London, these guards wore gray brushed silk tunic tops over loosely fitting pants of the same color. No weapons were visible, just their wings, folded tightly behind their backs. “Besides, they must be bored. I can’t imagine there’s a lot of drama around here after one in the morning.”

  Unsurprisingly, I’d never been to HR headquarters. It was located in South Lake Union, out of the way of the core metropolitan area. The gleaming white marble of the steps continued in tall columns that rose to a triangular roof. For a moment, I felt like we’d stepped back in time to ancient Rome. Glancing behind me, I saw that Quinn bore an anxious look like she was definitely remembering all those witch burnings. Riley was checking out the human scenery. Well, angelic warrior scenery.

  An enormous set of silver double doors greeted us at the top of the stairs, every inch covered with ornate designs. Two impassive guards stood on each side, and as we approached they hauled the doors open. It’s pretty impressive when you can see someone’s muscles under clothing that loose. Yeah, Riley wasn’t the only one looking now.

  We entered a large room of the same white marble with silver accents and a ceiling with designs that matched the doors. It contained sparse but lavish furnishings, along with statues, and large vases of fresh cut flowers, a type I’d never seen before. “Pretty ostentatious,” I commented.

  “All of this was donated,” Eli said, his tone a bit tight. “Further, we insisted that the donor make a cash donation of equal size to world hunger projects.”

  “Wow. Somebody’s got some serious dough,” Riley said, his eyes wide.

  We crossed the room and headed down a long hallway lined with doorways on both sides. Like the first room, this space had dim, golden lighting coming from some unseen source. I guessed the lights never went fully out in this place. Heaven was open 24/7, after all. Eli opened a door on the right about halfway down the hall, which led into a small room with cushioned benches, a couple wingback chairs, and the ubiquitous flowers. “Quinn and Riley, I’m sorry, but you’ll need to wait here. I don’t have authorization to take you beyond the security checkpoint.”

  “That’s okay,” Quinn said. I could tell she didn’t want to go any deeper into this beehive of ultimate authority.

  I cast them an apologetic look before I followed Eli back into the hallway. We walked to the end, where we came to another set of silver doors. But these had no pretty designs. Just smooth, polished metal, probably titanium or something else indestructible. And instead of two guards, there were twenty. The guard closest to the door stepped forward, hand up. “State your name and title.” He held out a small device that looked like a high-tech cell phone.

  “Elijah Whitesong. Commander of Special Security.”

  As Eli spoke into the small device, it turned green, and an electronic voice said, “Voice recognition verified.”

  My turn now. The guard held the device up towards my mouth. “Zyan Star. Soul thief, kickass bartender and occasional bounty hunter.” I said it deadpan, no hint of humor in my voice. Not a one of them cracked a smile. Seriously?

  The light on the device turned blue this time, and the robot voice said, “Voice scan obtained and stored.”

  The metal doors whooshed open like elevator doors, but faster, like on a spaceship. Pretty cool. We passed through into a narrow hall. This hall was cylindrical and lined with shiny white panels. We had taken not two steps when all of the panels turned a dull red. I froze. “Weapons scan initiated,” said an electronic voice. A humming filled the hall. Eli didn’t pause, so I started moving again. After a few seconds, all the panels turned purple and the voice said, “Bomb scan initiated.” One more time, the panels changed, this time to a pale blue. “Mind scan initiated.”

  “Mind scan? What the hell is that?”

  Eli glanced back over his shoulder. “It reads your intentions. So, if you’re here to assassinate the HR, we’ll know about it. The entrances to this hall will be locked, and they won’t be so friendly at the next checkpoint.”

  “I didn’t even know the technology existed for something like that,” I said, truly awestruck.

  “It doesn’t, at least not for society as a whole. Not even the government has this stuff. Well, this exact method.”

  I wondered what he meant by that, and what depth of knowledge he possessed about the governments of the world, but before I could ask the doors on the other side of the tunnel slid open and we emerged into a small room. “I guess you passed,” he said, a slight smile playing on his lips. He was enjoying my discomfort.

  Another twenty or so guards crowded the next room, a large, white rectangle that reminded me of a psych ward. The guard closest to the door approached me. “Your katana, and your hira-shuriken, please.”

  “My throwing stars? I’ll get them back, right?”

  “Of course,” he said, face expressionless. Eli rolled his eyes at my wistful expression as I handed over my weapons. “You may proceed,” the guard said, bowing slightly and indicating a door on the opposite side of the room.

  “Is the HR even awake at this late an hour?” I whispered to Eli, but he ignored me and opened the door.

  Stepping through the door, it seemed we had moved through a portal to another world. Darkness lay beyond, a purple twilight hue, lit only by the flickering of candles and lanterns. An elegant Japanese-style garden lay before us, complete with reflecting ponds, bamboo and pagodas. The ceiling twinkled faintly like the light of a thousand stars, though I knew we were deep within the headquarters and only impenetrable metal and a bomb-resistant forcefield lay above us. An earthy incense floated on the air, and somewhere in the darkness I heard the bubbling of water from one of the ponds.

  Eli led the way across the garden, pebbles crunching beneath our boots. We walked over an arched bridge and into a large pagoda. A single lantern cast light on a figure sitting in the far corner, cross-legged in meditation. His eyes were closed, and I took a moment to observe him. He looked younger in person than he did on TV, forties maybe, with golden skin and soft black hair. I imagined it must be a heavy burden being one of only eleven HRs in the entire world. And being the only human in this building full of angels.

  “A burden I shoulder gladly,” the man said, opening his eyes and smiling at me.

  I froze in place. Unnerving much?

  “I apologize if I’ve made you uncomfortable, Ms. Star,” he said. “Please, have a seat.”

  “Call me Zyan,” I said, lowering myself onto the cool tiles across from him. Eli did the same.

  “Certainly,” the HR replied. His voice was incredibly soothing, as one might expect from someone sitting in a pagoda, in a Japanese garden, probably communing with God. “Undoubtedly Eli has told you of our problem, and subsequent request for help.”

  “Yes,” I replied, glancing sideways at my grumpy angel companion.

  “And there has been another development, your Grace.” Eli bowed his head towards his master.

  The HR was silent for a moment, extracting the thought from Eli’s head I presumed. I shivered. “I see,” he said. “So, your—ah—old acquaintance is the one trying to assassinate me.” He said this with extreme aplomb, as if discussing his next choice of outfit.

  “I’m su
re of it,” I said. “I found out earlier tonight that he’d come to town. He’s nearly two thousand years old—more than skilled enough to break through your defenses.”

  “This is quite fortunate,” the HR said with a smile. I frowned, puzzled, as he continued. “We know who we are dealing with now, and you perhaps know his weakness. That is, of course, if you are willing to work with us in light of this change in circumstances.”

  He waited and allowed me to speak, instead of doing the creepy mind reading thing, which I greatly appreciated. “I hold no love for Alexander,” I said. “And I want more than anything to see him brought to justice.”

  “About that…” Eli began.

  “Your Grace,” I interrupted, fixing my gaze on the HR. “Before I agree to help on an official basis, I need to know what you will do with Alexander when we catch him.”

  The HR returned my gaze with a steady one of his own. “He will be imprisoned and an attempt will be made to rehabilitate him.”

  I shook my head back and forth fiercely. “That won’t work. You can’t keep him locked up. He’s too strong and too smart. One day, be it a week after we catch him or fifty years from now, he’ll escape.”

  “I will not condemn any being to death,” the HR said calmly. “And beyond this one vampire, I am more concerned to discover the deeper reason for these attempts. Someone is trying to unseat the stability of the HRs, and therefore Heaven, and I need to know why.”

  I decided that we could negotiate Alexander’s punishment at a later date. Like, after I’d killed him. “I will help you find Alexander and bring him to justice,” I said, wondering if the HR had caught that last little tidbit. “But I’m not interested in getting involved in some Holy war.”

  The HR smiled serenely. “I appreciate your honesty and directness. It’s not something I receive often.” He paused. “Do you know why I asked for your help?”

  I leaned forward slightly. “No. But I’ve certainly been wondering.”

  “You have quite a reputation in the supernatural community, and I’ve followed your exploits.” He interlocked his fingers loosely and set them in his lap. “You are extremely well known in the supernatural community and have achieved wealth from your bounties no doubt. But you do not sit on The Assembly. You do not use your money to affect political debates. You pursue what you want to pursue, with no thought as to power. You could wield great influence if you wanted, but you choose not to.” The man paused, lowering his gaze for a moment, his black bangs falling into his face. When he looked back up, his eyes shone. “In a world where most people seek only to climb as high as they can, regardless of the impact on others, this is a rare trait. As you can imagine, someone in my position is almost constantly being asked to shift the balance of power for one purpose or another. I need someone who sees beyond all that. Which is why I asked for your help.”

  I cast another glance in Eli’s direction. Maybe if Wings had told me that from the beginning, he’d have gotten a warmer response. “It doesn’t bother you that I’m technically under the jurisdiction of Hell?”

  The HR raised his eyebrows. “Do you believe you are a minion of Hell? Does Hell exert control over you?”

  “Well, no, but The Agreement—”

  The HRs face clouded for a moment. “The Agreement has… imperfections. It cannot change the free will of the inhabitants of this dimension. Each individual chooses his or her own path, be it light or dark.”

  I frowned. My path had definitely dipped into a dark area a few times. While I churned that around in my head, Eli interjected. “The Agreement was deemed necessary when the supernatural races began to come out of hiding, and the realms of Heaven and Hell were revealed as the closest dimensions to the Earth dimension. The supernaturals were divided up between the two realms based loosely on their general tendency towards light or dark, good or evil. It doesn’t mean that either realm has more power over you than the other.”

  I sighed. I was still destined for Hell when my existence came to an end. But that was a topic for another day. Today’s topic was whether or not to work with the HR to bring down Alexander. My idea of bringing Alexander to justice was a bit more extreme than the HR’s. But if I didn’t work with them, I knew Eli would try to block me out of the hunt altogether. It was tricky business either way. Another sigh. “Okay. I’ll help you. Officially,” I said.

  “I’m glad to hear it, Zyan,” the HR said with one of his beatific smiles. “And I don’t expect you to become ensnared in any Holy wars.”

  “One more thing,” I said. “I’ve enlisted help from some associates of mine. They’ll need to be compensated.”

  “Of course,” the HR said, nodding his head. “As will you.”

  I stood up. “A friend of mine lost his bar in a fire tonight. You can donate my pay to him.”

  Eli raised both brows, lavender eyes wide with surprise. The HR just smiled. “As you wish.”

  We nodded to the HR and began to walk towards the exit. I heard a buzzing sound, and turned. The HR’s wrist comm glowed bright red. He pressed a button and raised it to his mouth. “Go ahead, Gabriel.” A holographic image of an angel popped up from the wrist band, about ten inches high.

  “Your Grace, there’s been another dimensional breach,” said the angel. “Ninth level demons this time.”

  “Another dimensional breach?” I asked Eli quietly. “Those don’t happen very often do they?”

  “No,” Eli confirmed. “Every few months there’s always some demon faction or another popping through to cause trouble, but the portal police catch them quickly and vanquish them. But there have been three this week.” He scrunched up his brow.

  The timing of this was most interesting. The assassination attempts alone could be any of millions of citizens tired of the government controls ever since Evo. But demonic invasions as well? “Seems to be another attempt to destabilize the HR’s power. Remember that demon spawn outside Noir, with his creepy little Doomsday message?”

  “Yeah, the one I took seriously and you laughed off?” He crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at me smugly. “I remember.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Well, you think maybe we should check out these portal openings, then?”

  His eyes smoldered into mine for a moment. “Yes, I think that would be prudent.”

  “Did you really just say ‘prudent’?” I grinned at him.

  “Your Grace, Zyan and I are going to check into the situation at the dimensional breach,” Eli said to the HR, turning his muscular back on me.

  The HR had just ended the transmission with Gabriel. THE Gabriel, I wondered? “Yes, I think that is a wise choice. I am disturbed by the sudden intensity of these attacks.” His gray eyes flickered. “Zyan, step forward please.” With hesitance, I did so. The HR rested a palm on my shoulder and Eli’s, closing his eyes. “May the grace of Heaven be with you both.”

  I felt an aura of calm wash over me. Psychosomatic, surely? “Thank you,” I said, and followed Eli out the door. A little blessing couldn’t hurt when you were on your way to a demon brawl.