Immortal (Fallen Angels #6)(51)
Author: J.R. Ward

As Jim stared across at his remaining wingman, he was having a hard time hearing anything over the pounding rush of blood in his ears. Except … no, this was wrong, all wrong.

He shook his head back and forth. “No. She’s not involved in this. Sissy’s not a part of this. I got her out and she’s okay and now we move on to the next soul.”

“Go talk to Nigel if you don’t believe me. Go up there and ask him if she’s allowed behind the castle walls. Why the hell do you think she’s down here with us? It’s because she doesn’t belong anywhere anymore.” Ad cursed and sat back down. “I’m not saying any of this is her fault—shit happens, and she just got dealt a really fucking lousy hand. But let’s not have your emotions get in the way here, k?”

In response, all Jim could do was pace around the kitchen, shaking his head some more and trying to find holes in Ad’s dumb-ass, misconstrued, cocksucking idea.

“She can’t be the soul,” was all he came up with. “She just can’t.”

Ad took a deep breath, like he was about to re-explain particle physics to a lay person. “Don’t be naive, Jim. Every round has had an internal logic to it, a way that you found the soul, a progression from one to another. Sissy’s been there from the start—and your reaction to finding her dead way back in the beginning … shit, that’s like the first clue. It’s as if she’s been precisely made to trigger shit for you, and you’ve followed the whole thing through—from meeting her down in Hell, to finding her body, to getting her out. And now she’s here with you and you’re falling big-time for her—it’s all adding up.”

“No.”

That was all he had. Just … no.

“The stakes are getting higher, Jim. Not just for the war and all of us, but for you. That’s why it has to be her. This is a big test for you.”

His hands shook so badly that when he tried to get his half-empty pack of Reds out of his pocket, he dropped them on the floor.

And like they were trying to point him in the same direction, too, they landed right next to all the shit he’d swept off the counter when he’d started working Sissy out.

So good. She was so fucking good—the way she touched him, the way she felt, everything from her taste to her smooth skin to the way she came for him.

It was the opposite of Devina. Everything about Sissy was the opposite of that devil.

“It’s just not possible,” he mumbled as he struggled to light up.

“The Creator engineers everything.”

“She’s not evil.”

But … she had lied to him. About why she’d looked him up. Although, shit, maybe not. Maybe that was just paranoia talking on his part. Hell, it was entirely possible that she’d left to come home just because … and she had looked him up just because …

Stop thinking with your dick.

With a sense of utter dread, he went over to the table and looked down at that horrible fucking book. Ad had opened it in the middle, and as Jim forced his eyes to focus … he tried to find Latin in what was written. Tried desperately to see something he recognized.

Except God only knew what the wording was. It seemed like some combination of symbols and the Russian alphabet.

But it was not … Latin.

“Let me tell you what the endgame looks like,” Ad said grimly. “Sissy’s infection gets worse … and that’s how Devina infects you. It’s going to be through Sissy that this fucks you up.”

The logic of it all started to scare him. “But I’m not one of the souls. And Sissy can’t be. She’s already dead.”

“I didn’t see an exemption in the rules for that, did you?”

Well, no. He hadn’t. But …

“Okay, fine,” Ad said, gesturing with his hands. “Say neither one of you can be a soul in the war. You’re still supposed to be fifty percent evil, right—that’s why Devina agreed to your being the savior. The more angry, the more infected, you are? The better it is for her. And I should know, because I got the cancer, too.” The other angel pointed to his own chest. “It’s in me … too. Eddie was the only one out of the three of us who was pure, because he’d never been with Devina, even after she went for him. That’s why she was so afraid of the guy. That’s why she took him out.”

“I’m not gonna lose Sissy to that bitch again,” Jim said numbly.

“I know, and I can’t decide whether that works in our favor—or against us. And speaking of the devil, Devina came by just now.” Ad said the second half carefully, like the guy knew Jim was two inches from a very steep cliff. “She told me you were looking for her.”

Jim ran through the math again, step by step. And he hated the conclusion he came to. There was nothing in the rules that stated someone like Sissy couldn’t be the soul … and Ad did have a point. The internal logic to the war was undeniable, but only the kind of thing he could recognize in hindsight.

Shit, he thought. He hoped Ad was wrong, he really did.

“Stay here.” He put out his cig. “And watch Sissy for me, okay. I’ll be back.”

“Don’t do anything stupid.”

“You just worry about her. I’ll take care of everything else.”

As he strode out of the kitchen, he could hear Ad cursing, but he wasn’t going to worry about that crap. He needed to take care of business—and that meant taking a little trip upstairs.

And not to the second floor of this house.

Chapter Twenty-six

When Jim arrived up in Heaven, he found the place was still lush as Central Park in the summer, the ground green, the sky blue, the castle walls the color of coffee with three creams in it. But the fact that there were only two flags flying up on the parapet was a painful sight.

Jim thought back to the first time he’d woken up with his back flat on the perma-lawn, the sizzle of the electrical shock that had toasted him still coasting through every nerve ending in his body. At least now, he’d made the trip here enough times so that he landed on his feet.

Before he went off looking for the archangels, he turned to the Manse of Souls … and imagined his mother in there. Safe. No longer in pain. Nothing to weigh her down or worry her. He hadn’t seen her since the day she’d died, and, man, he sure could have used a ten-minute TO in there with her. Even if neither one of them said a thing, it would be good to see her one last time in the event he lost this fucking war—