Angel in Chains (The Fallen 3)

This guy was creeping her out. “So I hear.”

He bolted the doors and headed for a rickety staircase on the right. “Come.”

Jade glanced at Az. He shrugged and started following Mateo.

“There will be a fee, of course,” Mateo said without glancing back. The staircase squeaked as they headed upstairs. Nothing was on the bottom floor. Well, an old desk. Two chairs. Nothing else.

Mateo opened another door at the top of the stairs. This doorway led to an apartment, or at least what looked like an apartment. The whole place had been redone. Kitchen. Den. The room sported a giant flat-screen TV. Not what she’d expected. It just looked like any other guy’s bachelor pad. Had witches gone mainstream?

But Mateo walked past all that. He headed down a hallway. Opened yet another door.

Ah . . . and this was where the magic happened. She saw the carvings on the wall. The black and red chalk that had been drawn carefully on the floor. A black table sat in the middle of the room, and she could see the gleaming surface of a mirror resting on the top of that table. A mirror, and a knife.

“Been scrying lately?” Az asked, voice flat.

So Heather wasn’t the only one who liked to gaze into the future.

“Sometimes you need to know what’s coming.” Mateo stopped next to the table. His fingers were just inches from the knife. “You got to be prepared for the enemies who’ll be at your door.”

“We’re not your enemies!” Jade said, the words bursting from her. She reached for the small black bag she’d knotted at her hip. “We just . . . we need your help.”

“Sí, everyone needs something.”

Az took the bag from her and tossed it to Mateo. The witch caught it with one hand. “Had to bleed for these, didn’t you?” Mateo asked.

“It was a small price to pay.”

Mateo laughed. “So different now, aren’t you? Not like the angel I met before.”

Jade glanced between them.

“She thinks she knows you,” Mateo said to Az. “Thinks that she can trust you to be there for her in the end.”

Yeah, she was in the room. “She does,” Jade snapped.

Mateo’s dark eyes found hers. “But does she know that what you want the most in this world . . . is to leave this place? That you want to get away from the needs and lusts and emotions that swamp humans?”

Jade wouldn’t look away from Mateo. “I know I can count on Az.” She could. No doubt. From the first moment, when he’d come charging in to save her . . . no doubt.

No one had ever tried to save her before Az.

“He ruled in heaven, now he kills for you on earth.”

Wait, ruled?

“But death has always been his business,” Mateo continued, voice rolling lightly. “It is what he does best.”

Anger stirred inside of her. “He’s more than death.”

Mateo nodded. “And you . . . you are more than human.”

And there they went again. Was more demon talk coming?

Mateo opened the bag and pulled out the claws. His fingers traced over the razor-sharp edges. “So you think you’ll be able to take out the earthbound angel with these?”

Az stalked forward with a ripple of muscle and menace. “I think I’ll be able to take out the psycho killer on our trail.”

“Sammael’s woman was earthbound, too. When one form ended, she was just born again.”

Jade stepped to the edge of that table. The mirror’s surface wasn’t gleaming now. It was pitch black. “Brandt isn’t an angel.” More like a devil.

Mateo shook his head. “He has the blood. You need to know that killing his human form may just unleash something. . . else.”

What? “You’re saying we can’t kill him?” Not the news she wanted. I’ll never be free.

Mateo placed the claws on his mirror. “I’m saying you both might not survive the battle that comes.”

She put her fingers on the mirror and was shocked by its icy feel. “Is that what you’ve seen?”

He slowly glanced up at her. “To know what I see, you have to pay a price.”

Jade swallowed as fear trickled through her. His stare . . . how could dark eyes seem to blaze?

“I’ll pay,” Az said immediately.

“You can only see my future.” Jade spoke quickly, too quickly. “You can’t know about Az because he’s—”

“I’m not some dime store witch.” Power vibrated in Mateo’s words and in the very air around her. “I can see beyond earth, beyond heaven and hell. When I call, the dead answer me.”

Um, right. She slanted a glance at Az.

“But it’s not his payment I want first.” Mateo’s voice was calmer now, a good thing, or good until he said, “It’s yours.”

“No.” Az grabbed her hand and yanked it off the mirror. “I’m the one who’ll pay. Tell me what you want. Tell me the price for those bullets and—”

“You have no wings to trade me. I won’t be getting any Angel Dust from you.” He shrugged. “It’s a pity. An angel’s wings contain such powerful magic. They can bind just about anyone.”

This was the guy who was supposed to help them? No wonder Az had given her so many warnings about him. And, as she watched, the tattoos on his head seemed to alter, just a little. As if they’d just moved a few inches.

He smiled at her. “Now are you ready to pay my price?”

The claws waited on the mirror. “What do you want?”

“A debt.”

Uh, huh. “You’re gonna have to be a little more specific than that.”

But he shook his head. “Not the way it works. I do this for you, and you promise that when I come to call on you in the future, you’ll do what I want, no questions asked.”

Did she look insane? She must if he thought she’d offer him anything.

“No deal,” Az growled.

“Then I can’t help you.”

“You mean you won’t.” Now Az slapped his hand down on the mirror. “But what you don’t understand is that I’m not leaving here without those bullets.”

The mirror’s surface began to swirl beneath Az’s hand. “Az . . .” Jade began.

“I’ll bleed for you,” Az told him. “I’ll give you a pound of flesh, if that’s what you want. I’ll agree to be in your debt, but you leave her out of this.”