Dominion: Zoë Martinique Investigation, Book 6 (39 page)

Dags realized this was Inanna, and
Daniel was dead.

"What did you do to him?" came a voice
I never wanted to hear again.

Inanna/Eshe vanished, called back to
my soul.

Nothing could stop me now. No one was
strong enough to hold me back. No Society. Not a damn thing. I made
sure Joe was on his back before I moved with lightning speed from
where I was to directly in front of Rhonda Orly.

My hand was once again at her throat,
my wings unfurled as my teeth extended and I bared them at her. I
lifted her off her feet and delighted in watching her dangle. And
then, just to have a bit more fun, I hovered a few feet off the
ground just to see what would happen.

And I was not disappointed. Her damned
eyes were twice their size in fear. Her hands grabbed and pulled at
mine as I watched her try to squirm her way away from me. She made
gestures, but nothing happened.

Then I saw it.

A ghost of something around her. I
thought of the whirling Veil I'd seen that day in the infirmary,
the one encircling Joe.

Of course! Zacharel had nested himself
inside of her Veil, and when I touched him, that's where he
retreated. Back to his physical tether.

I felt incredible power surge forward
as I reached in with one hand and grabbed at his essence. He
squirmed and fought back. I remembered that night in the club when
I'd shoved my hands inside of him to release those
souls.

But there were no souls in him
now.

Rhonda screamed.

I didn't care. I pulled harder and
harder, yanked again and again until I pulled him free.

That's when he turned on me and tried
to envelope me. I dropped Rhonda and used both of my hands. He
wasn't a solid form now, but more of a silvery essence, maybe even
what a ghost might look like without making a body. And everywhere
I touched him, a little piece of him became a piece of
me.

Don't torture him, Zoë.
Just take him. Devour him!

"He tortured Joe!" I screamed, and
continued picking off little pieces of him like eating a stick full
of cotton candy. "He cut off his hands. He murdered
him!"

I sensed TC near me but ignored his
presence, promising myself if he tried to interfere then I'd go
after him as well.

But he didn't.

In fact, no one came to Zacharel's
side.

And I took him, piece by piece, until
there was nothing left.

When it was done I found myself on the
ground, still Wraith, and pulsing with energy as I digested a First
Choir, a Dominion, my equal.

A slow clapping sound echoed in
Between, in the building that held too many bitter memories. I
smelled her, caught her essence tangled in senses I'd never
experienced before. Those of a First Choir.

Gabriel.

"That was most excellent, Abomination.
I always knew it was better to arrive for the finale and not bother
with the middle."

I looked to my left to see her there,
aglow in her Ethereal power. All white, just like my dad had been
so many times as he'd stood outside the Abysmal Throne and watched
me. Dags had moved into the shadows, having witnessed me nearly
kill his girlfriend. And Rhonda? Looked like TC had caught her. She
was on her ass to my right, her hand around her neck and her
expression—terrified. "I say cowards only come after the fight.
Didn't want to get your hands dirty getting rid of that ass, did
you?"

Gabriel continued to smile as if she
were having a grand old time. "No. I didn't. Zacharel was never a
favorite of the Seraphim. Your great-uncle and he just never got
along. But then, Zach never got along with anyone. He and Raz were
a pair. You defeated Raz, and now you've helped us by getting rid
of Zach. So…" She clapped her hands together and looked at Dags. "I
see you're up and out now. That pesky Familiar still up
front?"

Maureen materialized in front of Dags,
in full red-and-silver armor with her sword drawn. "Fuck yeah. You
wanna piece of me? I'm damned tired of all you assholes trying to
control something that doesn't belong to you."

Gabriel started for Maureen, a huge
crystal sword in her own hands. But I moved between them and
parried the Cherubim's sword away with my own. "Knock it off, Gabe.
They're not why you're here."

"Well, of course they are.
You give me the page so you can keep your foot, and then I can use
the page to destroy the
Grimoire
."

"What?" Dags said from behind me.
"What's she saying? What's wrong with your foot—why is one of them
white?"

"Can it, Darren," Maureen hissed.
"Zoë, are you talking about the page I kicked out?"

I nodded, but kept my eyes on
Gabriel.

"No!" Maureen burst out. "You can't
give her that page!"

"Yes, she can." Gabriel held out her
hand, her sword gone. "Time to pay up."

"I destroyed Zacharel. Isn't that
enough?"

"For your great-uncle, but not for me.
The page, please, or I take the foot."

I moved away from her to the cell
where Joe lay alone. "I want to change the deal."

"No can do."

"Then no can have."

"I'll take your foot back, Wraith. And
it'll be painful."

Fuck.

You.

I literally growled at her, and was in
her face in the most delightful way. "You really think I fucking
care right now, you bitch from hell?" My voice echoed inside that
damned infernal building. "Daniel is dead because you killed him.
My mother is in the hospital because she—" I pointed at Rhonda
without looking "—allowed Zacharel into her house. Joe is at
death's door because Zacharel took him and thought he'd make a
great piñata. So right now, you bitch, do you really think taking
my foot is going to slow me down when I come after every goddamn
Ethereal in the universe and eat them alive?"

She blinked. And then blinked again.
She never lost that arrogant look plastered across her face. "What
exactly did you want me to do?"

"I want you to repair Joe. Give him
back his hands."

Her eyes widened, and she took a step
back. "I can't do that! Zacharel removed them! I don't have flesh
to work with."

"Flesh? All you need is
flesh?"

"I need a piece of what was taken. But
if I know that bastard, he destroyed both of the hands."

Really? I reached out once again and
slipped my hand into the Box. My fingers closed over the cold, dead
finger and I pulled it out. When I offered it to Gabriel, she made
a face. "Make him whole, and the page is yours."

"But Zoë—" TC took a step toward
me.

I shook my head. "No. It has to be
this way."

"But you'll lose—"

"I know, Azrael, I know. And it's
okay. I can't let Joe die." I looked at my Phantasm. He stared back
at me, and after a few seconds he nodded. And I knew from that
moment, in my heart, TC would always get my back.

Always.

Gabriel picked the finger up between
the index and thumb of her left hand. "Gross. But okay. I'm gonna
need a bit of that juice you got flowing in you right
now."

"I'll give you as much as you
want."

I followed her into the cell and
watched her lean over Joe. She reached her left hand out to me and
I took it, and she immediately started pulling energy.

She pushed the finger at his
chest.

Light illuminated the cell. I closed
my eyes and felt the pull on my energy. I got tired and went down
on my knees as my own defense kicked in and started pulling back
from Gabriel.

The light vanished.

Gabriel sat back and supported herself
with a hand on the cell wall behind her. "Wow. I haven't done that
in a while."

"Mend a human?"

"No. Done something nice."

I think she was serious.

When she moved out of the way, I
crawled on hands and knees to Joe. The bandages were gone and in
their place were hands. I pushed back his sleeves to make sure they
were actually attached.

"They're human hands. He can feel. And
he can use them like he always could."

"What about his magic?" TC
asked.

Shit. I hadn't thought about
that.

Gabriel shook her head. "I don't have
any control over that." She slowly got to her feet and held out her
hand. "Page."

I put my ear to his chest to hear his
heart. And after I heard it beat, I realized I wasn't pulling his
energy from him. When I looked at my hands, I realized I was
human.

"Sorry. Took a lot out of you." She
snapped her fingers. "Page, now."

"Zoë, no—" Maureen said.

I saw Dags stir and come to the cell
doorway. He looked so much like a little boy. "Zoë, what is
it?"

And Rhonda?

She was still there, standing as far
from us as she could.

I pushed myself into Wraith again and
it tired me the hell out. I put my hand again into the invisible
box and pulled out the page in the plastic bag.

Gabriel snatched it away and
disappeared.

Chapter Forty-Two

"That's Gabe. Rude as ever." TC moved
around Dags and stepped into the cell. He knelt beside me and moved
my hair from my face. "You want to put yourself back
together?"

"I need the last one."

"Joe has it?"

"Yes."

He looked down at the still cop. "I
think we can wait for Destruction, don't you?"

Yeah. I think so.

I leaned over and pressed my lips onto
Joe's. His were warm again, and I wished he'd kiss me back. I had
no right to him. Not after the way I'd treated him all this time.
But I'd realized that when it came down to the finer points of
trust with someone, besides TC, Joe was closest to my
heart.

"I don't understand what's happening,"
Dags said. "Maureen said that page is what will release Alice and
Geist."

Geist?

I narrowed my eyes at Maureen. "What's
he talking about?"

"I tore a page of
the
Grimoire
to
cause a rift that Alice and I could climb through to get away from
Rhonda's page in the
Grimoire
. The last time she got in
the book, I got out and Geist got in, and even though I've been the
one in control all this time, Alice and Geist have been on the
opposite side of Rhonda's magic to buffer it."

"So Rhonda hasn't been in control at
all," TC said. "Not since you disappeared from the Society
House."

She turned to look at him. "When it
was obvious that Rhonda and Nona were going to destroy each other,
I took command and shut Dags down so I could take him and her away
from there."

"I didn't know you could do that," I
said as I reached into the box again and pulled out the two
stones.

"Geist did it, not me.
Unfortunately, not long after we got away, Zacharel took a stronger
hold over Rhonda and since there was no access to the
Grimoire
, then we were at
hers and Zacharel's mercy. In a sense, Dags just woke
up."

I felt awful for him. And my heart, in
its own way, ached. The poor guy didn't have a clue what was going
on. But at the mention of Alice and Geist, I got the feeling
Maureen had filled him a bit, or Jason and Nick had when they took
him away from the house.

Something touched my wrist and I
looked down to see Joe's hand. His full hand. My gaze traveled up
to his face. His eyes were open and dull, but he was
alive.

He was alive!

"Hey…" he croaked.

"Sshh," I said as I crawled back to
him and ran my fingers through his hair. "You need to rest. I'm
going to take you out of here."

"Oh no, you mean like
before?"

"Yes. I need to get you to a
hospital."

He blinked at me. "I dreamed you
kissed me."

"Yes, I did."

"Can I dream it again?"

I smiled. "Later."

With a quick kiss to Joe's cheek, I
grabbed hold of the nearby cell wall and pulled myself up on my
feet. I was still Wraith, and I held the stones in my hand.
Possession, Creation, and Command. Their colors were bright against
my ashen skin.

"Those are Eidolons."

Everyone turned to see that Rhonda had
moved to the cell wall. She stood near TC, but not beside him. He
stepped back to give her room.

Zoë, are you sure about
this?
TC's voice echoed in my
mind.

"Are you reading my
mind?"

You kind of think out
loud.

"I'm sure."

I looked at her and found
nothing but hate. "I figured out what these are, and where they
came from. They're me, Rhonda. They're all facets of me that my
father removed and hid from my great-uncle after I was born. He
tried so hard to protect me in the only way he knew how. These are
the parts of me that Domas wanted to keep apart, the things he's
afraid of. He's not terrified of the
Grimoire
.