“So he’s the rep the League sent,” I said. “I guess a million-dollar bounty would get their attention.”
“It’s gotten a lot of people’s attention,” replied Calli. “I’m sure this is only the first wave of bounty hunters to come here.”
As Nolan’s motorcycle passed by, several of the paranormal soldiers on crowd-control duty gave him cold, hard stares. The guys who knew Nolan must have seen his career switch as a betrayal. Maybe they needed to take Calli’s advice and not take things so personally.
“What did I miss?” Tessa asked as she climbed up onto the statue with me and Calli.
“You missed your boyfriend.” I indicated Nolan.
“I do not miss him, and he’s no longer my boyfriend,” Tessa declared.
Tessa had dated at least half of the paranormal soldiers in town at one point or another.
“Though I have to admit, the new outfit is very flattering.” She tilted her head to look at him from a different angle. “It’s so well-fitted.”
The buzz of my phone killed the laughter on my lips. I was really starting to dread any news.
“I have to go,” I told Tessa and Calli. “There’s been another killing.”
17
Fourth Dimension
Abyss was a place out of time, a vestige of an era that had long since passed into oblivion. It looked very much like a town in the old west. A dusty road cut through the settlement. On each side of it was a row of two-story houses with false wood fronts that made the buildings look far more imposing than they actually were. There were a lot of places to hide under and along those metal rails that held up the house fronts.
“At precisely ten-forty-one this morning, a stablehand discovered two witches dead in his employer’s barn,” Colonel Fireswift told me.
The Frontier town of Abyss lay inside the Central Territory, his domain. That meant I’d be working with him on this one.
I could hardly contain the joy that I felt.
“It appears the witches died by poison,” Colonel Fireswift continued as we walked down the dusty road.
I caught a whiff of something warm and sweet. I could have sworn it was those chocolate chip cookies again. But I didn’t see any cookies anywhere. Maybe it really was all in my head.
“Are you listening to me?” Colonel Fireswift demanded.
“Yes.” I tried to forget about the cookies that weren’t really there. “What kind of poison killed the witches?”
“Noxious Mist.”
“That’s a potion.”
“Very good.” His words were patronizing, his smile sardonic. “You have been doing your homework.”
I frowned, but the gesture wasn’t meant for him alone. “The witches in Abyss died from a potion. Just like the vampires in Purgatory died from drinking blood and the elementals in Beyond died from cold exposure and by burning. And the witches at Desert Rose were knocked out by overloading machines. They only survived by luck; had that shock been a tad stronger, they’d be dead now too.” I shook my head slowly. “Carver Spellsword has been very busy.”
“There’s no evidence Carver Spellsword is behind any of this.”
“Come now, Colonel. Cut the crap. I know you’ve sent a team of Interrogators to look for Spellsword. And I also know they haven’t had any luck whatsoever in finding him.”
Agitation lit up his halo like lightning. “I liked things better before you were an angel.”
I knew he wasn’t pleased that I was here, that my authority over the Frontier meant I could interfere in Abyss, which he still considered part of his territory. And, actually, it really still kind of was his territory. The area along the wall just happened to be mine too. He probably hated sharing Abyss with me even more than if he’d simply lost it to me outright.
“Well, I am an angel now, so you’re just going to have to get used to it,” I told him.
“So it would seem,” he replied coolly. “Though you cheated to become one of us.”
“I didn’t cheat. Athan the Everlasting slipped Nectar into my glass,” I reminded him.
“So you claim.”
“It’s not a claim. It’s the truth.”
“Truth or lie, it matters not,” he declared. “You became an angel without the gods’ permission. That is a crime worthy of death. The only reason you were allowed to live is because of who your father is.”
I looked at him in surprise. He knew Faris was my father. I saw it in the way he looked at me, in that uneven mixture of awe and disgust that flashed in his eyes.
“How did you figure it out?” I asked him quietly.
“That you are the child of Faris and Grace? I was there for the gods’ trials. I saw the memories of Faris’s affair. You were named the gods’ emissary to hell immediately after Faris became king, and he summoned you to train with Heaven’s Army.”
“That’s a fine piece of Master-Interrogator-ing,” I told him.
“That’s not a word.”
I gave my hand a dismissive flick. “Don’t be so inflexible, Colonel.”
“I prefer order to chaos.”
I smirked at him. “Is that why you’re so much fun at parties?”
His eyes narrowed to slits. “You might be a deity, Leda Pandora, but I still consider you a dirty street urchin.”
I chuckled. “I can live with that.”
Colonel Fireswift might have appeared to be nothing more than a grade A asshole on the outside, but I knew there was more to him. He did love his children. I’d seen that in the pain that had consumed him when his daughter died. He was torn between his determination to make his children strong, to live up to their family legacy—and his personal feelings for them. I knew those feelings were there. He just needed to accept them if he was going to become a better person.
I was a firm believer that enlightenment was only possible if you learned to lighten up. So I decided to do Colonel Fireswift a favor by teasing him further.
“Colonel, I heard you were on the Black Plains a few days ago. Your mission even brought you close to Purgatory.” I set my hand over my heart. “I’m hurt that you didn’t stop by my office to say hello.”
“Are you suggesting that I did not follow protocol?” he demanded.
“Well, protocol does state that when one angel is in another’s territory, he should stop by to pay his respects.”
Colonel Fireswift’s nostrils flared at the notion of paying his respects to me. “I was busy.”
I smiled at him. “A true angel is never too busy to respect protocol.”
Colonel Fireswift looked a bit indignant—ok, a lot indignant.
“I’m just teasing,” I chuckled.
“One does not tease an angel.”
“I have been teasing angels for years.”
He slanted a warning glare at me. “That attitude, Leda Pandora, is why you’re always getting yourself into trouble.”
“No, it’s that attitude that empowers me to get others out of trouble.”
We’d reached the barn at the edge of town. It was a large, red building with a bright blue rounded roof. Several rows of yellow tape blocked off the property, but that hadn’t stopped people from gathering just beyond the border.