Immortal (Fallen Angels #6)(8)
Author: J.R. Ward

Like bats out of Hell itself, memories of Jim’s own time down there swarmed and descended, clouding his brain. He knew exactly what Ad was talking about. He’d been on that table, too.

That was how his path had first crossed Sissy’s.

After he’d found her body, that was.

“I thought I was okay.” Ad shook his head. “I wasn’t. I lasted about a week, made some excuse to Eddie about going somewhere. I was going to shoot myself, but I’m an angel, right? I wanted to die flying. So I jumped and did nothing about it … the canyon was about seventy feet deep. I hit hard and that was all it took. Split second later—shit, I thought I’d survived. I woke up in Purgatory—I thought it was gray because of moonlight or some shit.”

Finally, Ad dropped his arms. His eyes, both of them, were red ringed from tears he refused to let fall.

“Eddie went there because of me, but he was also the reason we got out. The Creator has a thing for love.” Ad stared at his own hands, watching them shake. “I mean, Eddie sacrificed himself for me, and that’s love, right? Not the dumb-ass romantic kind … but the real shit. So yeah, when Nigel went to the Creator and argued for us—that was what worked. Nigel was able to strike an arrangement that freed us about a month before you came along. If we see you through this war? We’re free. It’s our penance.”

“So you can help me find that archangel and get him back.”

“Maybe Devina is talking out of her ass, though. Not like that bitch has a problem lying—”

“So you can help me,” he repeated.

Ad shook his head again. “Jim, this is a really bad idea.”

“But you can get me there, can’t you.”

“No, that’s on you.”

As their eyes met, Jim knew exactly what the guy was talking about. “But you can help me out of there.”

“No, I can’t. Didn’t you listen to me? It’s not up to us, buddy.” Ad looked up at the ceiling. “Your exit visa can only be issued by the Creator.”

Jim could sense the guy retreating—and that couldn’t happen. “Listen, this is an extraction. Nothing more, nothing less. You think I haven’t done one of these before? I’ll go in, get him, bring him out—”

“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

“There has to be a way.” Jim curled up a fist and banged it on the table, making the plate and fork dance. “Even if Devina is wrong? Heaven is stronger with Nigel back up there. Colin’s head is completely fucked with the bastard gone, and right now, Bert and Ernie—”

“That would be Albert and Byron.”

“Fine, whatever. Call ’em Mozart and Beethoven for all I care. The two of them are holed up in the Manse of Souls, stuck there, while Colin is disintegrating. And this is not a hypothetical. I went up there after I got home last night. All it’s going to take is for Devina to get a hard-on to hit the place, and then we got another set of problems we don’t need. Hell, the Creator can’t even control her, and she sure as shit doesn’t follow the rules. What do you think is gonna happen.”

“But what if I can’t get you back? Then what? Or haven’t you thought it through that far.”

“Then you take over.”

“Not in the rules.”

“Fuck the rules. You’ll handle things because that’s what men like you and me do.”

“On that logic, you could just go up and be Nigel now, and let me take care of the next schlub who fills your shoes. Save the trip to the other side and skip the risk that you’re going to get stuck there.”

“But I’m the reason Nigel’s gone.” Jim jabbed his thumb into his own chest. “I did it. It’s my fault. If I had done shit different … except that doesn’t matter anymore. I want to make amends for the death, and the only way to do it is to bring him back. I settle my debts, Ad. You hear me?”

Adrian scrubbed his face. “I don’t know. I guess there might be a way to get you out.”

“See, I knew this was going to work.”

“I did not say that.”

“Whatever, I’m not a quitter. Even if Devina wasn’t a liar, I’m not quitting this. I’m marshaling my weapons and moving forward. First, we get Nigel back. Then we’re going to hunt down Devina’s lair, we’re going to take that mirror of hers, and we’re going to win these final two rounds. That is our plan. We are going to execute it.”

“What about the next soul?”

Jim opened his mouth to reply—but didn’t get that far. The back door to the mansion blew wide open like it had been hit by a gale-force wind.

“You’re fucking her?!” Sissy spat.

Chapter Four

Sissy was breathing hard even though she’d run only the fifteen feet between where she’d parked the Harley and the back door to the old house. Then again, she’d had to hang onto the bike’s handlebars with a death grip on the ride back. It was either that or lose total control.

Or had that already happened, even though she’d made it here in one piece?

“Well?” Like Jim hadn’t heard her. “You’ve got nothing to say?”

Jim reached forward and calmly stamped out his lit cigarette. “Sissy—”

“She had you raped!” As Jim’s face went ashen, she slammed the door behind herself, shutting them all in. “Did you think I don’t know what she had done to you? We all saw it from the walls! I watched when they … hurt you. How do you—” Her voice cracked. “How can you be with her after something like that?”

At that moment, she wanted to weep, but she didn’t give in. How could she? This wasn’t a safe place for her, even though the two “men” who were at the table, both so silent and still, were supposedly angels.

“Whose side are you really on?” she demanded.

Jim put his palms on the table and braced his arms. As he stood up, it was clear he had an iron lock on his temper, and for a split second, she felt a flash of fear.

But she’d already faced off with the devil herself. So she wasn’t about to be frightened by him.

“Fine, forget about what she did to you—she murdered me!” Sissy barked. “That bitch took my life away from me. She ruined my family’s lives. Nothing will be the same and nothing will ever be right—and you’re sleeping with her?”