Embraced (The Eternal Balance #2)(22)
“We’ll go see Michael. Hunter’s Trail is six hours from here. That would still leave us with a full day. But if he can’t help us…” I shuddered. “How do we find Malphi?” The thought of cutting down random demons until we found the one we were looking for was oddly—not to mention disturbingly—comforting, but we didn’t have time.
Heckle shrugged. “No clue. That’s your job—but something tells me you won’t have to look hard. It’s going to want to get its claws in both of you as soon as possible. If you’re going to try Michael, make it to him before they find you. But be warned, if he can give you help, it will not come free.”
“So he’ll want, what? Like, payment?” Something told me the archangel Michael didn’t take credit cards.
“Yes,” Heckle said. “For Michael to grant you this favor, you will need to give something in return. Something to level the playing field.”
“To provide balance,” I finished. Jax was right. This balance crap was getting old.
“Why?” Jax barked. Fists balled tight, he slammed a hand against the roof of the car. “Why should she have to pay anything? This isn’t her fault. It’s not even mine. It’s yours. You threw us into this without warning. If you hadn’t killed her and brought her back, we wouldn’t be in this mess. They wouldn’t know who she was.”
Heckle’s expression darkened. For the first time, I saw real fury in his eyes. “I would advise you to watch your tone.” He took a deep breath and some of the tension left him. “And while that may be partially true, the situation with Malphi would have arisen regardless. Chase will always be looking for a way to get to you. Since demons recycle and are reborn into human bodies again and again, Malphi would be searching for you regardless. You were never free, Jax. Never safe. So long as a demon resides inside you, you never will be.”
“What kind of balance,” I asked, stepping between them. A fight between heaven’s original Balance Agent, and a demon royal was the last thing my frayed nerves needed. “I don’t have anything to give.”
Heckle held my gaze for a moment. There was a spark of regret, but it was there and gone almost too quickly to notice. “There is always something left to give, Sam.”
“This is such bullshit,” I spat, and while a part of me was horrified, another part felt exhilarated. The anger felt good. Like a warm blanket on a cold winter’s night.
Jax pushed harder on the gas pedal, and the speedometer passed sixty-five. We were well into Burke now, the map he’d picked up at the gas station wedged in the console between us.
“Sammy, please calm down. For one thing, getting pissed isn’t going to help the situation. And aside from that, I hate being the calm one. The voice of reason sounds f*cked up coming from me. Okay?” He looked like he expected me to go nuclear or something. “How about something to eat?” he asked, veering toward the ramp to exit the highway. There was a row of choices on the main road. All fast food. All greasy and disgusting. All sounding good.
“I’m starving,” I admitted. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten. It had to be yesterday, before work. Yesterday, when my world was less complicated. Or at least, slightly less. Ever since Jax walked back into my life, things had been a little rocky.
He nodded and pulled the car into the parking lot of a small deli. It was old, with peeling paint and huge potholes in the lot, but I didn’t care. I would have agreed to eat sushi if that was all there was—and I hated sushi. “Stay here. I’ll grab something and be right back.”
I waited until he was out of sight before pushing open the door and sliding out to stretch my legs. Everything had started to cramp from sitting still for so long. I’d never been good at extended car rides, and it probably didn’t help that I was wound tighter than fishing line.
Was this what my life would be like from now on? Dodging the greedy, grabby hands of heaven and hell? All because I was the unlucky recipient of Pure genes? I might not have it all figured out yet—as Aunt Kelly pointed out on a daily basis—but I knew damn well what I didn’t want. And that was to live my life running away.
“Excuse me.” A woman approached the car with a tentative smile. She came from the store next to the deli, a plastic bag in her hands. “Any idea what time it is?”
I pulled the cell from my pocket. “Just after one.”
“Damn it,” the woman muttered. “Late as usual.” She looked to the road. “Any chance you know a shortcut to Parker Avenue?”
“Sorry. Not really from around here.” I followed her gaze to my wrist, to the demon cuff. Every hair on my body jumped to attention. Oh, seriously? Some random person approaches and asks the time? The time? Really?
She came a little closer, squinting. “Wow. That’s an interesting bracelet.”
I reached behind me, feeling for the door handle. When I found it, I slipped my fingers beneath the latch and yanked upward, but it didn’t budge. Locked. Awesome. Mistake number two. I was batting a thousand today.
The woman shot me a deceptively warm smile.
“This thing?” I asked. “Junk jewelry. See that huge guy inside the deli? My boyfriend. He got it out of one of those vending machines. Kind of a joke.”
The woman set the plastic bag down on the blacktop by her feet and smiled. This time, it was predatory. Hungry and…wrong. She closed her eyes and gave a dramatic roll of her head. When she opened them, her dark brown eyes had turned blazing orange. “I know who he is.” Another step. “And I know what you are. You’re a wonderment.”