Forged by angel and hell.., p.36
Forged by Angel & Hellfire, page 36
“She will never understand that. I’ve tried, Violet. Caleb has tried. Leia has tried. Glenda, with all her motherly coddling, has tried. Tabby doesn’t get it.” He’s looking at me in his usual unnerving way. “I know that look. You’re thinking you’ll be the one to change her mind.”
“I have to try.”
I hold Albert’s hand and pull him into the shed, feeling a guilty rush of relief when I realise Caleb’s not here. Tabby’s sitting up in bed, looking tired but otherwise chirpy while Leia chatters happily. They both smile at us, and Tabby fiddles with the headphones on her lap.
“Leia was just telling me about the time she got a disastrous haircut and you chopped all yours off to match.”
I groan, and Albert lifts our joined hands with a chuckle and kisses my knuckles. “You must be a very good friend to inflict such monstrosities upon yourself.”
“We were only ten.” I turn to Leia. “If you do it again, you’re on your own.”
She grins. “Noted.”
“Remember when you got your Taylor Swift bob and spent the whole day walking around on stilts?”
Albert’s confusion has Leia in fits.
“Taylor Swift has got really long legs,” I explain.
“And this is someone you went to school with?” Albert is very confused.
Leia cackles her head off, while I bring up the Shake It Off video on my phone, so Albert can see the gazelle in action.
Now, everyone’s laughing.
Albert’s cheeks go rosy. “I think I need some lessons. I haven’t bought any new music for quite a while.”
I offer a quick kiss. “When we get back.” I nod at Tabby’s lap. “What’s with the headphones?”
Leia’s blush goes radioactive.
Tabby says, “Leia brought me some playlists. Seems she has an unappreciative best friend.”
I huff. “For When You Cry Over the Ginger was my all-time favourite.”
Tabby laughs. “I could’ve done with that thirty years ago. The coven always came first with Sean.”
Albert says, “Well, I’m lost.”
“Music playlists with a theme,” I explain.
Albert still looks lost.
“Like a mix tape, Albert,” Tabby says, and he gets this lightbulb expression.
Leia goes all nostalgic. “She sang Chain Reaction at me for two weeks straight to get me to stop when I made For When Science Makes No Sense.”
“Did it work?” Tabby asks, eyes gleeful.
“No,” I say. “She just started bombarding me with songs from musicals instead, so I sent her a playlist of my own. For When Life is a Cabaret.”
Leia huffs. “You have no idea what cabaret means.”
I cackle. “I filled it with carny music.”
“You should’ve called it Music for Making Nightmares,” Leia says. “It was the musical embodiment of clowns hiding in accordions.”
“You forced my hand,” I argue.
Leia rolls her eyes for Tabby’s benefit and squeezes her hand. “I’ll be back in a bit, alright?”
Tabby nods, but she’s staring at me and Albert, at our joined hands, smiling and looking like she might cry.
“Can I speak to Tabby alone?” I ask, once Leia’s gone.
“Remember what I said,” Albert warns.
He wanders over to the bed he only vacated a few weeks ago, and sits in one of the chairs. His hearing isn’t as good as mine, so I know he won’t hear us from there.
Tabby holds her hand out. “I’m glad it’s you, Violet.”
I hold her hand. “Glad what’s me?”
She shakes her head and reaches for my other hand. “This.” She runs her thumb over the fluorite stone on my wrist. “You’re good for him, and you don’t stand for his nonsense. And he doesn’t stand for yours either. I’m glad he found someone to give this to, and I’m glad it’s you.”
I try not to smile too hard. “Thanks, Tabby.”
“I bet he didn’t tell you a damn thing about it, did he?”
“He said it was a gift from his sire, that he used to wear it around his neck, but he was babbling. It was like he was trying not to make a big deal of it, but it feels like a big deal because… Well, he doesn’t seem the type to give presents. Am I right?”
“Yes. Rad always worried about Albert. He considered him his son, they were so close. He thought Albert was lonely, that he should have a wife, and every few decades, he’d try to force the issue. He tried to push Albert and me together several times, and when that didn’t take, he introduced him to one woman after another.” She smiles wistfully. “Albert always said he didn’t believe in love, that he wasn’t interested in having a wife… that he wasn’t lonely. Rad gave Albert two stones… long before I came along. He wears the first around his wrist. Rad put the second stone around his neck and told him to give it to the woman he loves. Apparently, Albert laughed and brushed the whole thing off. He still doesn’t know why Rad listened when I urged him to stop presenting Albert with women.”
My heart is pounding. Is Tabby really telling me Albert loves me? Why doesn’t he tell me himself? Am I supposed to guess?
“Why did he stop presenting him with women?”
“Because Albert gave him hope that he’d find someone himself. You see, Albert, who insisted he didn’t believe in love, never took the stone off. He’s been wearing this thing around his neck for over five hundred years.”
She drops my wrist, and I stare at it. Albert loves me. My eyes feel prickly, but I can’t cry. Not when I need to focus on talking Tabby out of dying. I still don’t know what I’m going to say.
“Tabby, I…”
“Out with it,” she says softly. “I know he put you up to it.”
“Albert?” I shake my head. “He didn’t want me to say anything. He thinks I should respect your decision even if it’s stupid.”
A small laugh bubbles out of her. “You don’t know when you’ve been had, Violet. He knows damn well the best way of getting you to argue is to tell you not to, so say your piece, then I’ll say mine.”
“I don’t want you to die. None of us do. We’re going to get the triblade. Today. We can make you better, Tabby. We don’t want to lose you. Caleb—”
“Caleb will get over it.”
“You can’t believe that. How can you believe you’re not important to people? How can you have lived so long and still be so fundamentally stupid about human nature?”
“It’s been hundreds of years since I had a human nature.”
“That’s the biggest load of bollocks I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth.”
“That’s what your sister said.”
“Well, you can tell her how right she was when she gets back.”
“I won’t be here when she gets back.”
“For God’s sake, Tabby. Don’t do this.”
“Fane will keep coming after me, and he’s not the only one.”
“He’ll think you’ve passed your secrets on to someone else. He’ll keep looking until he finds them. You said it yourself; he won’t stop. And Caleb won’t stop hunting Fane. He’ll do anything to avenge you. Or die trying. We’ll get the triblade, and we’ll get Fane. We can protect you.”
“Let me do the protecting for once. Your family is strong, Violet. You’re strong, and you’ll get your chance to protect, but I don’t need it. I need your understanding, and your promise to guard Albert’s heart.”
“How come you and Albert never…?” I scrunch my face up, not wanting to just blurt it out.
“I never thought of him that way, and he’s too precious to play with.”
I sigh. “The first time I met him, he smelt so divine, I thought I was gonna pass out. The second time he was… so arrogant and rude. And the third time, he was shitting himself.”
Tabby laughs her tinkly laugh.
“Shut up. I mean he was scared. Then we fought on opposite sides. Honestly, I would’ve kicked you in the eye if you’d told me I’d ever find him attractive. I mean, how come I didn’t notice?”
“Obviously your nose noticed, and it took the rest of you a while to catch up.”
“We’re still going to try,” I tell her. “You know that, right? We’re going for Amethyst and the triblade.”
“Promise you’ll be careful. Fane… he hides himself between skin and bone. He weaves shadows beneath his skin.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means he doesn’t want to be seen for what he is. I should be able to see him, Violet, but I can’t. And he knows I’m a seer. He can tell.”
“How?”
“Seers are rare. It’s almost impossible for us to hide our reactions when we see people for what they truly are, so we’re easily rumbled. We all have targets on our backs. I haven’t met a single seer who wasn’t kidnapped for their abilities as a child.”
“Could you do it before you became a vampire?”
“Yes, even as a child. It’s how I got myself locked up. Twice. Three times if you count that bloody convent.”
“Do you think there’s anyone out there who can figure out what Fane is?”
“None that aren’t already in Fane’s house or protected by the might of angels.”
“Cascade?”
She nods and whispers, “I’ve been banned from saying that word in this place. I need to tell you something about Albert.”
“Tell me when we get back.”
“Violet,” she whispers. “He doesn’t know.”
“Is it important?”
“Vitally so.”
“Good. You can tell me when we get back.” That’ll stop her getting any stupid ideas into her head before we can fix her. “How did you end up owning a club with Lucifer?”
“This distraction won’t work. I need to tell you now.”
“Just answer the question, Tabby.”
She sighs. “I’m rubbish at poker.”
I laugh, considering her answer. “Did I ever tell you I dreamed about you once? Not a normal dream. Sean and me… we were connected by blood. I had dreams about his life, and in one of them, there was you. You were playing poker with Sean, Albert and Rad. And you were winning.”
Tabby laughs bitterly. “Fine. So, I let him win. I needed his protection.”
“I knew it,” Lucifer blurts from behind the curtain.
It swishes aside. Tabby barely gets a laugh out before she grabs her throat, her smile faltering. Lucifer stands over her, checking behind her hand while she looks up at him in panic. Then Albert’s beside her, calming her down.
“Mr Harvey called,” Lucifer tells me. “He wants you to go to the club.”
“What for?”
“Magnus is waiting for you in the drawing room. He’ll explain. You should go anyway. It won’t be long before the bleeding starts.”
“I’ll get Seth and Leia,” Albert says, heading out of the shed.
Lucifer goes to the sink to wash his hands.
Tabby reaches under her pillow and stuffs an envelope into my hand. “Give this to Mr Harvey. Tell him I’m sorry I gave him the slip and, uh… drugged his dinner.”
I stash the envelope in my hoodie pocket. “You drugged his dinner?”
She frowns. “He didn’t notice? What did he think happened?”
“That he was hungry and distracted.”
She laughs awkwardly. “Maybe don’t tell him about that, then.” A smirk twitches at her mouth. “I feel like I should make some kind of deathbed confession.”
“Don’t be morbid.”
She sounds weaker when she says, “I told Caleb that Sean was the love of my life.”
“That’s your confession?”
“No,” she whispers, tears glittering in her eyes. “My confession is that it was a lie.”
37
Things That Rise From the Dead
When I get to the drawing room, it’s clear Mr Harvey’s invitation to the club is anything but casual. Kite is pacing and chewing her nails, Albert’s biting a hole in his lip, and Magnus and Daniel are staring at the floor, hands linked behind their necks.
Daniel reaches me first. “You don’t have to go.”
“What’s going on? Lucifer said Mr Harvey called.”
“He asked specifically for you and Kite,” Daniel says.
I glance at Kite when she stops pacing. “What does he want with me and Kite?”
Kite shakes her head and starts pacing again. “Stop being so fucking vague, Daniel.”
Daniel sighs. “Not Mr Harvey. A man called Halston Lazarus is at the club. He says he has information about Fane’s plans.”
Halston Lazarus? According to Shanti and Bod, he’s the guy who keeps stealing Tabby’s work.
“Why does it have to be me and Kite?” I ask, grateful nobody noticed my misplaced gasp.
“He asked for Shanti and Bod as well,” Michael says, striding into the room. “I just spoke to Uriel.”
“You don’t look happy about it,” Magnus says.
“He says I must stay behind tonight to help Gabriel.”
“What’s Gabriel doing?” Kite asks.
“The same thing he did the last time the Bishop was distracted by Violet.”
“Moving the archive?” I guess.
“Using it to Cascade’s advantage,” Michael corrects. “Not everything is about the archive, and nobody said Gabriel moved it in the first place. You just have a hyperactive imagination, young lady.” I take a deep breath, but before I can speak, he carries on. “But Uriel did say something else… something about you, Violet.”
“You gonna make me guess, old geezer?”
Michael smirks. “If she talks, he will sing.”
“I thought Uriel was supposed to be some kind of master communicator. What does that even mean?”
“It means Fane is fixated on you. He sent you a dress.”
“To get in my head. To show me how easy it is for him to get in here. To show me how powerful he is… how easy it is to intimidate me.”
“He could’ve left a dead rat in your bed for that,” Michael says.
“I’m supposed to be grateful he intimidates me with pretty clothes instead of dead things?”
“He wants to extend his rapport with you. Knowing that puts us at an advantage. He’s using Amethyst to get to you.” Michael sighs. “He has her. He could just keep her.”
“But he wants me?”
“Make him sing, Violet,” Michael repeats, like it wasn’t gross enough the first time. “That is Uriel’s advice for you.”
I’m so busy trying to figure out how to use Uriel’s advice that I almost don’t hear Lucifer’s comment. Almost.
“I didn’t think it was time for that yet.”
He made it sound like a joke, but all I can think about is how the blue book said there was a time for everything, and how all of it sounded like a dire warning. And how it was the same phrase they used when they discussed summoning Astaroth: it’s not time. When Michael glares at him, Lucifer holds up his hands in surrender.
“Am I ever gonna meet Uriel?” I ask.
“I’ll introduce you one day,” Lucifer promises.
“Probably best not to introduce him all at once,” Glenda adds.
Michael snorts. “How’s Tabby?”
“Seth and Leia are with her now,” Lucifer says. “She started bleeding out a few minutes ago.”
I sigh. “We going to the club, then?”
“You don’t have to go,” Magnus reminds me. “You have enough on your plate today.”
“It’s not that simple,” Kite says. “This Lazarus guy has got Mr Harvey.”
“Maurice Harvey can handle himself,” Lucifer says.
“And what if he’s got information about Amethyst that’s really useful?” Kite asks. “What if he knows exactly what the Bishop wants with Violet?”
“I don’t care what he wants. I want to go,” I say. “I can’t stand all this waiting anyway.”
“I’m going with you,” Lucifer says. “Just need to make a quick stop on the way.”
The club is dark and empty. Lucifer leads the way with his usual swagger, which means one thing: he doesn’t feel threatened by whatever is on the other side of the door at the top of the stairs.
Bod looks like a feral cat. “Whoever came up with the idiot suggestion that my little sister should come along to check on this guy’s status,” she grumbles, “can kiss my arse and die.”
“Your sister’s a seer?” I whisper.
Bod growls, even though there’s no sign of her little sister.
Lucifer’s palm slams against the door, and it crashes open. Every head in the room turns languidly in our direction. There are many heads.
Two men step down from their bar stools. One is all vampire goth in a slim-fitting gangster suit. The other is boxy and chesty, like cartoon Bruce Wayne, but with a Captain Haddock beard. Neither of them say anything. I try not to stare too hard because my sketching fingers are already getting twitchy. I recognise two of the other guys lounging in club chairs as the government pissants from the last time I was here with Shanti. Neither of them are the guy who threatened Tabby.
My eyes are drawn to a guy lying across a padded bench in front of the window, a lanky pimp with a glittery suit, copper eyeshadow, and cherubic golden curls. I can’t decide if he’s the most or least likely to be Lazarus. Either way, he doesn’t move.
The door to the corridor accessing the private rooms swings open, and a man backs into the bar, tattooed arms loaded with snacks. He’s everything I thought Lucifer would be before I met him and realised he was a surfer wizard. His face is all pout and angles with catlike green eyes beneath a nest of dark hair. I’m glad Albert’s not here because I’m pretty sure I’m drooling.
“I hope everyone likes Hula Hoops and peanuts,” he says, turning to the pissants. Then he tosses the packets in the air like he’s in a ball pit.
The other men snigger and shake their heads, but two of them rise wearily to pick up the mess and hand out the bags.
The goth at the bar smirks. “Your guests have arrived, Hal.” His voice is mesmerising and beautiful, like starlings in the rain.
