“Go set up the rift,” I said. “I need to round up the troops. It’s time to retreat.”

  Charis and Alichino headed off to the basement. I ran back out to the front and got Izak’s attention. “When I come back, head for the basement. We’re getting out of here.”

  He responded with a short nod. I looked through the hole in the front, finding the glow of the Deliverer in the distance. Then I ran to Father Tom’s office.

  The priest was still at his desk, his head in his arms, a wet spot spreading from the arm of his vestment. He hadn’t stopped praying and crying since the fighting had started. Sarah was there too, her head straight forward, her body stiff. I imagined she was watching as much of the battle as she could through Izak’s eyes.

  “Sarah,” I said. A slight tremor in her form, and then she turned her head.

  “Get down to the basement. Charis and Alichino are there. We’re leaving.”

  She got up and ran out the door.

  I walked over to Father Tom, knelt down, and took his arm.

  “Father, it’s time to go. The demons are going to take the church.”

  He lifted his head and looked at me. His eyes were bloodshot and puffy.

  “I could have been Touched,” he said. “There was an angel once, she was such a beautiful lass. She offered to give me the power, because of my piety and faith. I turned her down. I said I couldn’t continue to touch humanity with His word if I wasn’t fully human myself. If I had been Touched, I think I could have saved this place.”

  I put my other hand on his back, and started lifting him from the chair. “You saved something a lot more important, Father,” I said.

  His eyes caught on mine. “Only if you win. Otherwise, we’ll all be nothing more than a blip in time. A quickly forgotten blip in time.”

  The games of gods. It was a game I was determined to win. “Come with me,” I said. Plain, old mortals couldn’t go through the rifts, so I would need Adam to get him out of here.

  I led him out into the nave, where Adam, Obi, and Melody were doing their best to hold off the hordes of demons pouring in from all sides. The altar of the church had been desecrated in the fighting, crucifix shredded by angry Hell spawn. I heard Father Tom gasp beside me, and I had to grab his arm to keep him standing.

  “Time to go,” I shouted from the back of the nave. Obi turned to acknowledge they had heard me. I couldn’t help but wince when I saw the deep cut across his face. I couldn’t be sure if his left eye was still functional or not beneath the torn flesh. “Adam, I need you.”

  The angel shoved his blade into a demon and hopped backwards, his body launching the full length of the nave. He spun as he landed in front of me.

  “What do you need?” he asked.

  I pulled Father Tom forward. “You need to get him to safety. Then, find Fredeline and tell her to bail. This isn’t the fight we need to worry about right now. If you can get to Mumbai and scout the place out, great. Otherwise, meet us in Moscow. Oh, and see if you can get me a sword.” If we managed to find a way to extract Ulnyx, I was going to need one.

  He nodded, and took hold of Father Tom’s shoulder. “Come with me, Father,” he said, his voice gentle as he Calmed the priest. Father Tom followed without complaint, out to the stairs and up towards the hole in the church’s roof. He had to fight through a few demons to get there, but he dispatched them without trouble.

  I ran back out of the nave to the front of the church. Izak had retreated closer to the doors. “Come on,” I said. He backed out with me, and we met up with Obi and Melody near the stairs.

  The demons were still pouring into the building, overrunning the spaces we abandoned. I’d never imagined how much force they could actually bring to bear, if they had enough of a motivation to work together to do it. That none of the archfiends could manage the singular sense of purpose that the Beast had told me a lot.

  “I can heal that, when we have a minute,” I said to Obi when we reached the bottom of the stairs. Izak took up the rear, and held the flood of Hell from reaching us.

  He wiped some blood away with his hand. “Just the eye would be good enough. A scar might be sexy.”

  “You don’t need a scar to be sexy, mate,” Melody said.

  I looked to the back of the room. The rift was awash with hellfire. “Go. Now,” I said.

  Alichino went first, followed by Charis and Sarah, and then Obi and Melody. I tapped Izak on the shoulder, and motioned at the rift. We both made a run for it, and went through one behind the other.

  A few demons managed to get through the rift before Charis could disconnect it. They didn’t last long.

  “First stop, Moscow,” Alichino said, giggling.

  “You think this is funny?” Obi asked, headed for the demon.

  I put my hand up in front of him. “Let it go, Obi,” I said.

  He growled under his breath, and then lowered his guard. “So, what are we doing here?” he asked.

  “We need to look for a djinn,” Charis said. “That’s all we know.”

  “Seriously?” Sarah said. “Do the words needle and haystack mean anything to you?”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I said, stepping into the middle of the gang. “Everybody take a deep breath and chill out.” I felt the balance in my soul, resting on a cliff and inching towards the ten-million-mile drop with every passing second. “We’re all on the same side. Let’s get our crap together and come up with a plan.”

  “Okay,” Obi said, sucking in a mass of air with his nose, and blowing it out through mauled lips. “That hurts.”

  I put my hand to his face and closed my eyes, focusing on my palm, and his skin beneath it. I felt for the damage, and willed it to repair, demanding it to put itself back together. The act left me short of breath, but within a minute his face was as good as new.

  “Thanks, man,” he said, reaching up and rubbing the new, pink, skin. “You forgot to leave the scar.”

  “Shut up,” I replied.

  I needed some recharge time. Looking around, we all needed some recharge time. None of us were going to get it.

  “So, how do we find a djinn?” I asked. Between everyone present, we had to have nearly three thousand years of experience to go on.

  “Djinn are shape-shifters,” Charis said. “They can be anyone, anywhere.”

  “Are they good or bad?” I asked.

  “Nobody knows,” Ulnyx said. “Neither side wants to claim them.”

  “What do you mean nobody wants to claim them?” I said it out loud, so the others would know I was talking to myself.

  “Nobody likes to talk about the djinn,” Josette said. “They live like mortals, though with a much longer lifespan, but they have Divine power. Some have said that God created the djinn to keep an eye on humanity, because the angels were too busy with the demons. Others have said that Lucifer created the djinn to cause trouble for God’s creation.”

  “What do you think?”

  “I think it doesn’t matter. We just need to find the one that supposedly lives here.”

  “If somebody heard the the djinn could do extractions, then somebody must know how to find him,” Melody said. “Who in Moscow would be that somebody?”

  I knew the answer. So did Charis. There was an archfiend in Moscow, a ruthless, cold, violent, and powerful woman who went by the name of Darya. She wasn’t the most gifted with demonic runes, hellfire, or even personal combat, but in some ways that made her more of a challenge to deal with. She had risen to power through fear, intimidation, and manipulation, and held a tight grip over one of the most powerful vampire clans on Earth, as well as a pretty nasty pack of weres. The good news was that I knew where to find her.

  “Darya,” I said. “She should have a lead on any Divine stalking around the city, and probably anywhere in the former Soviet Republic.”

  “Great,” Obi said. “Where do we find her?”

  “We don’t find her anywhere,” I said. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but my tank is getting low, and I’d rather avoid another confrontation right now. Charis and I will go talk to her, and see what we can find out. The rest of you should go to Mickey D’s or something.”

  Obi sighed. “Yeah, I guess the whole lot of us headed for her HQ wouldn’t make the right impression.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell. “Who wants Starbucks?”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Charis and I split with the rest of the gang a few blocks before we reached the Stolnik building, leaving them to follow Obi to a nearby Starbucks. It was a shorter, older building that had been renovated recently to put a penthouse on the roof, a massive apartment that spanned the entire length and width of the building, complete with a pool, a yard, and, oddly enough, palm trees. The apartment had been paid for by a local architecture company, a front for the Stolyev family, a massive and far-ranging cadre of vampires who had been subjugated by the archfiend.

  “How are you feeling?” I asked her, as we treaded the block up to the building. I couldn’t throw my Sight out to check on the number of demons hanging out around us, so I was a little more tense than normal.

  “Tired,” she replied. “And a little apprehensive. Vilya and I have been together for some time. She gave herself up in Hell to be with me. Let’s say we find the djinn, and he can do the extraction. What’s going to happen to her?”

  “We find her a body to take over,” I said. “That’s how the whole thing usually works.” Ulnyx had tried to absorb my soul, and take my body after I destroyed his. He hadn’t known what I was, and had been caught off-guard, allowing me to turn the tables on him.

  Charis stopped walking and looked at me. “I know we can but… she defied Lucifer by helping me escape. Can you imagine what will happen if we stop the Beast, and the demons find out she’s vulnerable?”

  “You can still protect her.”

  “It’s not the same, and you know it.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, putting my hand on her shoulder. “We don’t have a choice.”

  She nodded. “I know. You asked me how I was feeling. That’s it. Neither one of us likes it, but we’ll do what we have to. Even if the outcome is scary, the Beast winning this thing is much worse.”

  We kept walking until we reached the entrance to the Stolnik building. There was a doorman standing outside, and a second man in a black suit standing behind him. I didn’t need my Sight to know he was a vampire.

  “Good afternoon,” the doorman said as we approached.

  “Good afternoon,” I replied. I looked over at the vampire and motioned for him to join us as we entered the lobby.

  He was short, but well-muscled, with cropped black hair and a thick face. “Diuscrucis,” he said. “I hadn’t heard the Mistress was expecting you. Either of you.”

  “She isn’t,” I replied. “We need to talk to her. To ask a favor, actually.”

  He smiled. “You need a favor? One moment.” He leaned away, reaching into the top of his shirt for the small microphone that would allow him to communicate with the security upstairs. “The Mistress will see you, on the condition that you make the deal in blood that you will come and go without a fight. She doesn’t want to waste so many of us stopping you.”

  Of course, she would never tell her subjects she was afraid of what the two of us together could do to her and her goons. She also didn’t know we’d lost a bit of our mojo since then, and that our worn state had reduced the juice further. I don’t know if we could have taken her if we needed to. I didn’t want to find out. I shifted my right index finger into a thick claw, and used it to slice open my left thumb, and then Charis’ left thumb. The vampire cut himself on a tooth, and we pressed our thumbs together.

  “Deal,” Charis and I both said. I felt the weight of the binding. It wasn’t that strong, but it was an act of good faith that would put the archfiend at ease.

  The vampire led us over to an elevator, separate from the rest. “It will take you straight up,” he said when the doors opened. We stepped in, and went up.

  We ascended to the penthouse, and the elevator doors parted to reveal a huge, open living space. It had lots of white leather furniture, some rare artwork, ancient Chinese vases, and some strange apparatus hanging from the ceiling. Attached to the chains and leather were two female vampires, both in skimpy leather something or others, their backs raw and bleeding.

  Darya stepped out from in front of them to greet us. She was an ugly one, with features too large for her head, straw-like black hair, and a gaunt frame that made everything on her face look even bigger. She was wearing a simple white frock, and red stiletto heels.

  “Charis, I thought you were on our side?” she reached up and unclasped the two vampires. “Go get cleaned up,” she Commanded. They rushed off to another part of the apartment.

  “I’m on my own side,” she replied. “And Landon’s.”

  Darya’s smile was crooked. “So the Demon Queen is who now, I wonder?”

  The question made me wonder too. It had been Charis, but that had been while her allegiance had trended evil. Then it was Rebecca, but she was dead. I imagine Ardat Lili could have made a claim, but she hadn’t survived either. “Maybe it’s you?” I said. “Although, I don’t know if you want the title. Demon Queens don’t seem to have much of a future lately.”

  She laughed. “Too true. Especially with the Beast making a mess of things.”

  “You know about the Beast?” Charis asked.

  “I’ve heard the news reports, and I’ve been in touch with some lesser demons from New York who told me about a massive battle over a church. A church that you were supposed to be holed up in.”

  “We had to abandon ship,” I said. “Anyway, the million dollar question is, where do you stand with the Beast?”

  “Do you mean am I a servant?” She scowled. “I serve none but myself, and the Beast is threatening to ruin my lifestyle. Why do you think I let you up?”

  “What do you know about a djinn who’s been rumored to be hanging out in the city?” I asked.

  “More than a little,” she replied. “What is it worth to you?”

  It was my turn to smile. “I think a better question is, what is it worth to you? That djinn may be our only chance of stopping the Beast from ruining your lifestyle.”

  She pursed her lips. “That is an enticing offer,” she said. “I’ll tell you what. You make a deal with me, in blood, that you’ll leave me to control Moscow and its surrounds, unimpeded, for a hundred years, and I’ll tell you everything I know.”

  “I’ll give you one hundred years, if you promise not to reach outside of your area for more power. Plus, I want fifty of your best fighters.”

  “You’re bargaining for my vampires?”

  “And your weres. The djinn is useless if we can’t get close to the Beast. If you’ve heard the news, you know he’ll have a possessed army in the thousands by the time we go after him.”

  “Fifty won’t be near enough to help you with that,” she said.

  “It will keep them busy. The possessed are mortal after all. Still, you’re probably right. Let’s make it a hundred years, for a hundred vampires and weres, plus everything you know about the djinn.”

  She looked down at her feet, and ground her stiletto into the floor while she thought. “Fine,” she said at last. “I’ll have them meet you at the rift in one hour.”

  She reached out with a finger and used her nail to slice open her arm. I cut my thumb again, and pressed it to her. “Deal,” I said. The weight of it was heavier this time.

  “His name is Kafrit. He’s been in Moscow since Stalin was running the place, though he doesn’t like to talk about those days. Before that, he spent a thousand years in Iran. You can usually find him in Solntsevo, running with the Brotherhood. He likes the high stakes games they play, and the men they can provide him. When he’s laying low, he usually takes the form of a big black dog.”

  “Do you know about the rumors?”

  “You mean soul extraction? I’ve heard he can do it, but I’ve never seen it done. Angels don’t take souls, and demons never want to give up the power they’ve gained willingly. You’d want to part with the power of the Great Were?”

  I didn’t really, at least not while we still had the Beast to stand up against, but I had no choice. “It’s complicated,” I said. “Lots of math.”

  She laughed. “Tell the Brotherhood that Darya sent you. It will make things easier.”

  “On us, or on them?” Charis asked.

  She didn’t answer. “Unless you’d like to stay and take a turn in the machine with me, I believe our business is done.” She motioned to the chains hanging from the ceiling.

  “I think we’re done,” I said. “Remember the deal. One hour.”

  “You remember the deal, diuscrucis. One hundred years. Not a second less… But maybe a little more.” She laughed, and walked away, headed in the same direction the vampires had gone.

  “So, Solntsevo it is,” I said. “Let’s go get Obi so he can Google it for us.”

  Charis nodded. I could see the apprehensiveness return to her expression. I put my hand on her face.

  “It’ll be okay,” I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt.

  She put her hand over mine and gave me a forced smile. “Thanks for trying,” she said.

  We made our way back to the elevator, and out onto the street. Obi had given me directions to the Starbucks from our current location, and I traced them in my mind as we walked, hoping I got them right. I was pleased when the little green mermaid-circle came into view.

  They were all sitting around a table, paper cups spread among them. Alichino was in the corner, looking impatient.

  “It’s about time,” he said when he saw us. He hopped over the table. “I don’t know how you stand this stuff. It tastes like somebody took one of my craps and let it soak in hot water for a while.”

  “Awww, man,” Obi said. “That’s disgusting.”

  The demon turned and picked up Obi’s extra-syrup, extra-espresso latte. “This is disgusting.”

  “Nectar of the gods, man,” he said, taking it from Alichino and downing the last swallow.