jinn 01 - ember (15 page)

OLIVIA WOULD TAKE care of Holden.

Letting a woman fight my battles for me might not seem like the noble thing to do, but who ever said I gave a fuck about being noble? When this thing, whatever it was, with Maggie started, I knew it couldn’t last. Even if I opened the gate, we might not make it far, but Olivia stepping into my corner was a good sign—if I were the type to believe in signs, that is. I wanted a piece of what Olivia and Holden had, and why not have it with Maggie? She was good people.

I dialed her number. She picked up just before the fourth ring. “Hey, ba—” I cut myself off, clearing my throat. I had technically broken up with her. Probably shouldn’t call her baby.

“Baker.” Icebergs were warmer than her voice.

“I’m sorry, Maggie. I have a lot of explaining to do. I know that.”

“And are you ready to talk? Really talk? No more bullshit, Baker.”

“All my cards on the table.”

She was quiet for a few moments. Then she sighed. “Fine. Where do you want to meet?”

“How about your place?”

“Fine. How about seven p.m.”

“I’ll be there.”

I switched back to my normal look and headed home. I could catch a couple hours of sleep before I had to go over there. As soon as I lay down, though, my brain kicked in. Shape-shifting demons could pose a definite problem. I didn’t know if I could recognize one if it approached. Maggie went “missing” the night before, but I actually wasn’t sure she was really
missing
. I had done my best to steer Holden and Quintus away from any of the places she went to think. I didn’t want them to find her. I’d expected her to be mad for at least a few days, but today she’d called, wanting to talk. That was a pretty quick turnaround. She knew where I lived though I’d never told her. Pieces weren’t adding up. What if it wasn’t her? They had already come after me once. I couldn’t wait. Maybe Maggie really was missing.

My insides hardened. They would kill her. I couldn’t just lay here and do nothing. I had to know. I went to her office and waited outside for her. I didn’t see any reason why a demon doppelganger would go to work in her place. Four minutes before five, people began coming out of the building. I watched the people trickle out like sheep, but she wasn’t among them. I called her office line, but it went to voicemail. I tapped my foot on the sidewalk. I went into an alley and shifted into a messenger. I jogged up to the building then rode the elevator to her floor. Her chair was pushed against her desk in her cubicle and the computer was cool to the touch.

“Can I help you?”

I turned to a cute girl with a stack of files in her hand. “Is Maggie Edwards in?”

“No.” She gave me a suspicious look.

“I have a package for her.” I held up a blank envelope I’d picked up from her desk.

“Maggie was out sick today.” She reached for the envelope. “My name is Tina Tolles. I’m the office manager. I can take it if you want.”

I held it just out of her reach. “I’m afraid I have to deliver it directly to her. Will she be in tomorrow?”

“Oh, okay. Well, as far as I know, she will be here.”

“Great. Thanks.” I headed back for the elevator. I went directly from her office toward the lake to the spot along the jogging trail she liked. Her spot was empty. I blew out a breath and went to the last place I knew to look for her, besides for her apartment—the Velvet Cupcake. Maggie’s sweet tooth knew no end, especially when she was upset or stressed. She wasn’t there either, but I picked her up a raspberry and white chocolate swirl cupcake. Strolling toward her apartment, I shook my head. I really hadn’t thought any of this through. I still had no way to know if the Maggie I was meeting was really her. Then again, maybe I was being paranoid.

I knocked on her door. She opened it, wearing slouchy sweats. Her eyes were puffy and she had a spoon in her mouth. Immediately the paranoia was replaced with guilt. I gave her the bag with the cupcake. She looked at it for a moment, her tongue darting out over her lip. I could see the internal debate of her not wanting to take anything from me, but she eventually did and walked away. I followed her inside, shutting the door behind me.

I stood there awkwardly. I didn’t know what to say to her. “You didn’t go to work today.”

She glanced back, eyebrows pulled together. “I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

I nodded. “Where did you go?”

Her hand paused, reaching into the bag. “What makes you think I wasn’t here?”

I gave her a tight smile. While I felt guilty and was eighty-five percent certain it was her, I had to be certain. “You weren’t, were you?”

She pulled out the cupcake and scooped a bit of icing onto her fingertip. “No,” she said before licking the icing off her finger.

“Where did you go?”

“How is that any of your business, Baker? You broke up with me.”

“I need to know, Maggie.”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, there are a lot of things I need to know from you. So why don’t you start. Why did we break up?”

“Please, Maggie. I will tell you everything, but first you need to tell me where you went last night.”

Her eyes met mine. “Driving. I was driving and thinking.”

I wished I could believe her, but it was all so convenient. I needed a test. I could take her to a church, but given that they were using an old church as their headquarters, I doubted that would do much good. I could take her to see Olivia, but that would mean exposing this to Holden. It took a half a second to realize that it was only a matter of time before a demon exposed this relationship to him anyway. I had a better chance of keeping his trust if he heard it from me.

“Earth to Baker. If you aren’t going to say anything then leave.”

“Sit down,” I told her. She shuffled over to the couch and flopped down, pulling up her knees to her chin. “I’m not a doctor.”

“Yeah, pretty much figured that out last night.”

I had lived a long time without ever having to reveal myself. In fact, I would have rather had some big oaf take me for a ride than do what I had to do. I didn’t really know where to start. “Do you believe in ghosts?”

“What?” She brushed her hair behind her shoulders.

I shook my head. “Maggie, there are people who want to kill me right now.”

She quirked an eyebrow. “Ghosts?”

“No. Never mind about the ghosts. The world I live in isn’t safe for you. Right now in particular. Baby, I think you should leave.”

She stared at me. “You came here to tell me you can’t be with me? That was your grand plan? Now you are making up something about ghosts trying to kill you? Get out, Baker.”

“I’m trying to explain—”

She held up her hand. “What’s really happening? No more farfetched stories. Just tell me the truth.”

This wasn’t really going well. I took a couple steps toward her and sat on the edge of the coffee table. “Look at me.” When her eyes met mine, I changed my face into Holden’s.

I’d expected her to jerk away from me, but she stayed still. She blinked and reached toward me slowly, her finger trailing down my cheek. Maybe I should have picked someone less attractive than Holden.

“How did you do that?” she asked softly.

“There’s a whole world you don’t know about. One I can’t even begin to explain.”

“Can you turn into anyone? Like even celebrities.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

She took a deep breath and nodded, taking this all incredibly well. “And they want to kill you?”

“There’s a faction.”

“You were trying to…protect me?”

I put my hand on her cheek and went back to me—or at least the me she knew. “Yes.”

“Okay, well, show me.”

The nagging feeling that all of this was too easy wouldn’t subside. “Show you what?”

“Your world.”

“You aren’t freaked out?”

She shrugged. “I’ve read books like this. Granted they were all fiction, but I accept that there are more things out there than I understand. I have an open mind.” She smiled a little. “This is sort of cool. What are we dealing with? Vampires, werewolves, demons? What are you?”

“Huh.” She smiled at me. I didn’t see this reaction coming at all. “I have somewhere I want to take you.”

“I’ll get dressed.” I watched her go to her bedroom. She was seemingly completely over everything that happened the night before. There was no way she was taking all of this so well. Either the realization was going to hit her and she would scram or she would slip up and reveal herself for what she really was—a demon. There was only one thing I could do: take her to Olivia.

OLIVIA DIDN’T COME back with Baker. I knew I should have gone. Some days Baker was nearly more trouble than he was worth.

“He says I can recognize a demon. No amount of masking can hide one from me,” she said, splaying her hands and shrugging. “So at least there’s that. He had something he needed to do right now. He’ll be back.”

Femi produced a bag of corn nuts from her skin-tight leather outfit and tossed a handful in her mouth, crunching loudly. “What if Baker never came back to us? What if he is already a demon and he is just telling you that to give you a false sense of security?”

“Baker’s not a demon,” Olivia said calmly.

“How do you know?” Femi asked. “I would have sworn that other Olivia was you. Everything was right about her. The voice, the smell, the speech patterns, the memories, everything.”

“Then how did you figure it out?”

Femi looked at me. “I didn’t. He did.”

“We didn’t have the connection,” I said.

“So you couldn’t tell it was a demon by sight either?”

I shook my head. “How do you do it?”

She tilted her head to the side. “I can see souls and life forces.”

Femi’s eyes contracted. “So no shifter can trick you?”

“I wouldn’t say that. When Baker shifts, it’s hard to find him in the new identity. I haven’t dealt with any other shifter, so I don’t know if that is normal or not.”

“So it is reasonable to say you might not recognize one?” Femi said.

Olivia shook her head. “A shifter and a demon are two different games entirely. Demons don’t have souls or life forces. They are a void, a parasite in the world around them. They don’t belong here and they can’t hide that.”

Femi nodded, but I still wasn’t convinced. “What if they possess someone and they are hiding inside the person? There would still be a human soul. Could you really distinguish?” I asked, thinking about Malphas. She’d been every bit as much of an angel back when Juliet was dating a demon and she’d had no idea.

A cloud passed over her face. “That isn’t fair. I couldn’t see souls then and the angel was hibernating. I don’t know how I could have recognized him then. I saw the demon possess the man in the bar. I felt the ungodliness in my marrow. I believe Baker is right.”

I drew in a deep breath. Feeling and believing in something never made it true in my experience. “We need to test this before we trust it.”

“How?” Liv’s hands perched on her hips. “Do you want me to go find you a demon?”

I smiled. “No need. I know where one is.”

“You aren’t serious. You aren’t taking her back to that church, are you?” Femi asked.