Free jinn 03 - vestige by Liz Schulte Page A

the witches,” Femi said, heading for the door with Corbin on her heels.
    “Phoenix, find Sybil and bring her here,” Holden said.
    Phoenix stood up. When he got to me, he stopped. “For what it’s worth, if anyone was going to take my soul to the underworld, I’d want it to be you.” He smiled a little and left.
    Holden scowled at the door. “Like a moth to a flame,” he muttered to himself.
    “Do you want me to go too?” Maggie asked.
    I shook my head and sat down next to her and the girl. “Why did you try to become a vampire?” I asked. “I mean, didn’t having to live by feeding off of others bother you?”
    She took a deep breath. “I didn’t think about that part. Knowing this whole other world existed, and I was defenseless against it, scared me. This was the only thing I could find that offered me a chance to control my life again. As a vampire I could take care of myself and—” She shrugged.
    The little girl, bored with us, went to Holden and tugged on the bottom of his shirt until he picked her up.
    “Be a part of Baker’s life,” I supplied. It wasn’t a stretch. It was the exact same reason I’d been willing to become a jinni. “I’m sorry for your loss,” I said.
    She pressed her lips together, her red eyes filling with tears. “I think Baker would understand if you didn’t want to be a reaper,” she said. “He would want you to be happy. He was kind of great like that.”
    Tears prickled in my eyes, too. “He really was.”
    The door slammed and Holden was gone. The child dropped her beaten-up doll, lip quivering.
     

 
     
    You want a fight? Here I am,” I shouted into the wind and the rain, standing in front of a boarded up, former synagogue Hell was using as a base. “You fucking cowards.”
    They always went after the weak, the ones who couldn’t defend themselves. Marge, Maggie, Baker, and now Olivia. They chipped away at you and set you on edge until bad decisions were the only ones you had left. I was done playing their game. If Olivia wasn’t surviving this then who the fuck cared if I did. She didn’t have any business being a reaper any more than I had being an angel.
    No one came out, so I went for the door. “So you want to die, just when you’re getting interesting?” a woman’s voice said behind me.
    I turned, expecting to find a demon. Instead two women stood leaned against a car parked on the street. One had long coal black hair and wore sunglasses, though it was overcast and storming. The other had long white-blond hair that fell in cascading waves. They definitely were magical, but I couldn’t place what they were. I turned back toward the building, taking a few more steps.
    “We just want to help,” the other one called out. “We knew Baker.”
    I made it the rest of the way to the door in a blink, and yanked it opened. Three demons tumbled out. One took a knife beneath the chin (the same blade we used to kill the angel), and I pounded the next in line, while the third made a grab at me. The first demon blew away in a cloud of ash. Fire erupted all over my body and spread to the demon trying to restrain me from behind as I took out the second one. He released me and stumbled back. I smiled and tossed the knife aside. I didn’t need it.
    The demon’s black eyes darkened and it charged, knocking us both to the sidewalk. He grabbed my head and smashed it against the sidewalk, cracking the concrete. My vision blackened for a second, but I swung anyway. My fist smashed into the side of its face. The jaw gave way. I hit him again and again, and the human shell broke beneath my hands. The demon only laughed, catching my fist in the air, squeezing it and twisting until my wrist shattered. White-hot blinding rage took over. I screamed and focused on my good hand. Soon it was engulfed in an inferno of flame. I shoved my burning fingers through his chest. The fire spread throughout his body, undeterred by the rain. I knocked him to the side and