Wayward Devils (Souls of the Road #4)

Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

I had lost count of how many times Lula and I had driven Route 66. We’d been down this section of the road hundreds, if not thousands of times.

Still, the Route always looked different in the dark.

Felt different too.

Out here in the nothing lands between McLean and Amarillo, there were no lights to interrupt the night, nothing but a faded moon to pencil-sketch the plains rolling by on either side.

Raven was silent, watching the land slide past like he’d forgotten what the earth looked like at eye level.

I’d tried to get words out of him, but he’d only smiled, shook his head, and said, “Wait.”

Twenty minutes in, we’d passed Allenreed and two rest areas.

Finally, Raven spoke. “Up there,” he gestured north, “is where the coven’s land ends. McClellan National Grasslands, or there about. And this…” he waited until we’d gone a bit farther, another five minutes or so, “…this is where the vampire territory begins.”

Lula caught her breath, and I grunted like someone had just popped me in the sternum.

Like I said, we’d been down the Route hundreds of times. I’d been in spirit form for most of it, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t feel the living world.

Lula had been in flesh driving the Route. Being thrawan meant she was hyper-sensitive to vamps.

But this stretch of the Route had never felt so thick with the presence of vampires.

It was as if an invisible barrier had been pulled back and a hook had caught in my chest, dragging me backward, urging me to leave before the sharpened fangs got too close to my heart.

At the same time, all I wanted to do was go forward, lean into it, lean into that pain until I bled dry.

“What is that?” I asked.

“That,” Raven said, “is a problem.”

Lula slowed the truck, had been slowing it for some time. She pulled onto the shoulder, dust and gravel crunching under the wheels.

Her hands were locked on the wheel, knuckles bone white. She bit at her bottom lip, and the smallest drop of blood formed there.

“I can block it.” Raven snapped his fingers, and I heaved a huge breath as if I’d just come up from the bottom of the ocean too quickly.

“Damnit,” I coughed, “warn a man.”

Lula swallowed, and swallowed, then wiped at her mouth with the back of her trembling hand.

I was shaking too.

“Sorry for the drama,” Raven said, “but I needed you both to experience it so you would believe what I’m going to say next. You felt that, didn’t you? You felt the beacon?”

“The hell kind of beacon is that?” I asked.

The hook in my chest, the call, the desire had been almost physical. Even though I hated the minutes I’d been in contact with it, it left an ache behind. An ache that made me want it again.

Fucking vampires.

“It’s a…I suppose geis would be a good term,” Raven said. “Compulsion works too.”

“A compulsion from whom? To do what?” Even as I said it, I knew the answer.

It wasn’t Raven who answered, though. It was Lula. “To fight Dominick for territory and power,” she said. “Or die trying.”

“That’s correct,” the god said. “Only other supernaturals can sense it. But really, it’s a call to one person.”

“Variance,” Lula said.

Raven nodded. “Variance.”

“Why is Dominick trying to lure him into a fight?”

“Variance was turned by Dominick,” Raven said, “but Variance refuses to fall under his heel. Vampires—most—become less reasonable as time passes. Dominick is very old and has been ruling over the vampires in his territory for a very long time. With Variance on his side, Dominick would move into the witches’ territory, turning them and creating a powerful, new supernatural.”

Vampire witches. The thought of magic-wielding vampires made chills run down my back.

“Does Dominick know that Variance is coming for his head?” I asked.

Raven nodded. “He’s counting on it. He wants to break him, destroy the man who won’t worship at his throne.”

“Why wait for Variance to come to him?” I asked.

“He needs the power of his own territory,” Lu said.

Again, Raven nodded.

“Does Dominick know we’re here? That I’m here?” Lula asked.

“I don’t think so,” Raven said. “Not yet.”

She shivered, her entire body shaking with it, but her gaze when she turned to look at Raven was steady. “Why is Dominick’s call so familiar to me?”

Raven scrubbed a hand over his short hair and muttered under his breath.

His eyes seemed to dance with fire, with stars, with deadly, bright sparks of power. “Because he was turned by the monsters who attacked you nearly a hundred years ago.”

For such a bombshell revelation, it was very quiet in the car.

Lula’s only reaction was to lick the blood off her bottom lip.

I couldn’t process the information, my brain too scrambled with noise. So, I closed it off, pushed it away. Ignored it.

“Will Dominick’s blood heal Rhianna?” I asked, needing something concrete on which to focus.

“It might ,” he admitted reluctantly. “I don’t have a say over that outcome—by which I mean it is not strictly within my power to affect that outcome.” He tapped his thumb on his knee.

“The witches are a wild card,” he said. “They have very powerful magic on their hands in Bun Bun. She’s good at this kind of thing, elixirs of life and whatnot.”

“Then they don’t need us.” My voice was too loud in my ears. I wanted out of here. Wanted Lula out of here before she confronted Dominick—

— without me—

— before she fought him alone.

“You’re a god,” I went on. “Why don’t you fly in there and steal back Rhianna? Why don’t you take the vampire’s blood?”

“Brogan,” Raven said gently, as if he were trying to set me down carefully, trying to keep me from breaking along shattered lines where the glue wouldn’t hold. “I am doing more than I should. I am meddling in something that Fate has set into motion. I am using my powers in a way…in a way that will almost certainly cost me.”

Lorde got to her feet and put her head on my knees, looking up at me and whining softly.

“It’s not the first time I’ve put a stone on the scales to make it tip the way I want,” Raven said, “but this involves the spellbook. Anything— everything —to do with that book comes with consequences. To humans, supernaturals, gods, the universe.”

“So, you won’t get involved?” I said, “What good are you?”

“I never said I was good,” Raven said. “But you’re right. Someone needs to save the child. Variance can’t. He’ll be chewed up and spat out into little gobbets of flesh if he fights Dominick. He shouldn’t leave the protection of the coven.

“But the book has resurfaced. Gods are battling on this earth. All wheels spin, and the beginning will always become the end. Dominick might have lost all sanity, but he has not lost his will to survive.

“It was always going to come to this,” he said. “You’ve spent years searching for the monster who destroyed your lives. This is the beginning of that hunt’s end. Through Dominick, his blood, his death, you will find the bindings that tie him to the monsters who nearly killed you both.”

Lula closed her eyes and swallowed. “You’re a trickster god,” she said. “We can’t take you at your word.”

“No, you cannot. Whose word would you take?”

She shook her head.

“We need some time to think,” I said. “Away from vampire territory.”

Raven grinned. It was boyish and wicked. I had a moment to be glad he was on our side, or might be on our side, or at least wasn’t currently against us.

“I know a place. Hang on.” He snapped his fingers.

Nothing happened. It was still dark out. We were still in the truck.

But the air had changed. It smelled sweeter, for one thing, and more humid. Also, the wrong bugs were singing.

Lorde got up so she could look out the window, and woof ed.

“I would have done this earlier,” Raven said, “but Bathin is a real pain in the ass, and wanted to meet you in Texas.”

“What’s the demon have to do with this?” I asked.

“Nothing if I have any say over it. But he has more contacts in Texas and likes doing business there.”

“Brogan.” Lula pointed.

A figure strode our way. She was at least six feet tall, wore overalls and a tank top. Her bare bronze skin absolutely glowed with tattoos.

Magic tattoos, because she was a Crossroads.

“Lula, Brogan,” Ricky called out from a distance. “Would you like me to forcefully uninvite that god off my property?”

She rested the sledgehammer she carried on her shoulder. It glowed too.

“Ricky,” Raven shouted. “Is that any way to say hello to an old friend?”

“Nope,” she said. “Offer stands.”

“It’s fine,” Lula said.

“We’re in Missouri?” My brain hadn’t caught up with reality. “Why are we in Missouri?”

“Are you hurt, Lula?” Ricky asked.

“She’s fine,” I yelled, “and so am I, thank you so much for asking.” Yes, I was annoyed.

Lula pressed her palm over her mouth, and I thought she might be smiling. I wanted to keep that smile there.

“Did you just snap us across an entire state?” I demanded.

Raven wiggled his fingers. “Little bit of a rule breaker. You should see my dating profile. “Open the door, Brogan, the dog wants out.”

“Lula?” Ricky said again.

Lu dropped her hand. Yeah, she’d been smiling.

Good. If we could laugh about this, we could maybe get back to calm heads and making solid plans.

“I’m fine, Ricky,” Lu’s voice was tinged with laughter. “Please tell me you have tea on.”

Ricky hesitated, but only for a second. She was used to supernaturals showing up at her property at all hours asking for refuge.

She was one of the few supernatural neutral zones on Route 66. Being a Crossroads meant her home was a place where monsters and gods and mortals all played by the same rules.

Her rules.

She had a massive supply of magic and magical items stuffed into her near-sentient house, and usually spent her time negotiating peace between creatures that desperately needed it.

She was also Lu’s best friend and someone I had been working hard not to think of as a rival for her affection.

While I sat there scowling, Lula opened her door.

Lorde took that as an invitation to jump up on my lap, then walk across a chuckling Raven and bolt out of the truck. She ran around Ricky’s yard, dodging between Lula and Ricky, and getting pats as she zoomed by.

“All right then,” Raven said. “This is our stop.” He scooted across the seat to the driver’s door.

“Why?” I asked. “Why here?”

“You trust her. Well, Lula trusts her. They’re friends.” He tapped the steering wheel, looking out into the darkness as if he could see universes. “I think she needs a friend right now. Especially if you two are going to do what has to be done.”

I opened my mouth, but he nodded.

“Fight Dominick,” he said, “save Rhianna. If we have any luck at all, we keep Variance alive and find that damn book so we can lock it away before it blows holes through everything we know about reality.” He patted the steering wheel one last time and glanced at me. “Good talk.”

With that, he slipped out of the truck and walked around it with his hands up and to his sides, as if showing the law he wasn’t carrying any weapons.

“Ricky,” he called out, “did you get taller? You’re looking tall, my friend.”

“You stole my hat, Raven. Don’t think I forgot.”

“Hat? What hat? Can you describe it?”

“Sure. It’s felt, red, and has a brim you adjust with this finger.” Ricky produced her middle finger, which made Raven hoot.

“I’ve missed you, Ricks. But I didn’t take your hat.”

He’d reached them, and they started across the yard to the house, which was now—magically—in view, every window glowing with light.

Lula had her arm across Ricky’s back, leaning into her as they walked. Ricky’s arm was around her shoulders.

Maybe Raven was right. Maybe Lula needed a friend now more than I knew.

“You comin’ Brogan?” Ricky asked, as they reached the porch. “I’ve got pie.”

I got a move on and strolled across the yard.

“I like pie,” Raven said.

“Pie’s only for nice people,” Ricky said.

“Hey, I’m people.”

“Oh, you very much are not.” She stepped up to the porch and the whole house lit up with neon whorls and glyphs, the fire rippling down her arms. She held the door open, and Lula walked into the house past her.

Lorde zoomed by me, a wooly black shadow in the night. I reached down, only brushing the end of her tail before she rocketed away.

Ricky turned to Raven who had stopped at the foot of the stairs. “You know my rules,” she said, “or do I need to remind you, god, of who and what I am?”

“I know your rules. No rocking the boat—any boat. All peace, love, and compromise. I know who you are, Crossroads.”

“Neutral ground,” she said. “No matter who shows up, no matter what shows up, this remains neutral ground. If you break that, the house will conjure up a cliff and I’ll toss you out the window.”

The house seemed to glow a little brighter. Lorde made another pass by me, this time slowing so I could run my fingers down her back.

“You should meet the Reed sisters,” Raven mused. “I think you’d all get along great.”

“That’s not an agreement.” She put her hands on her hips. “You will follow my rules, Raven.”

“Yes. Agreed. Fine.” Raven waved her words away. “I will follow your rules. While I’m in your house or on your property.”

Ricky’s tattoos flared soft pastel, and the house went back to a gentler glow. “All right.” She gestured at the door. “Welcome to the Crossroads, Raven.”

He grinned and mounted the stairs. “It’s been a minute, hasn’t it?”

“Since you’ve been hiding out? Yes. Why are you out in the world again?”

He pointed vaguely ahead and behind him. “This Route 66 thing needed attention.”

Her gaze ticked up to me, because, apparently, I was this Route 66 thing.

“Something new I need to know?” she asked.

Raven paused before entering the house. “Old things. Very old things. But we need new solutions now.”

Ricky made a sound that might have been agreement. She knew about the book, and knew we were looking for it. Raven slipped past her into the place.

Lorde had finally run herself out and stopped next to me, panting happily.

“Go on in, girl,” I said.

Lorde stopped for a quick head scratch from Ricky, then entered the house.

“Why are you here?” she asked me.

“That was Raven’s idea.”

“Oh?”

“He showed up at a diner with a demon. They were all about promises of a place where we can hide the spellbook. He said it would be safe. Out of the reach of gods and other supernaturals. Some library in Ordinary.”

The house shivered, and I swore I heard a sweet little cooing sound.

Ricky smiled. “We like that library.”

The cooing got louder and the scent of tea leaves, vanilla, and something that somehow smelled like lace doilies, wafted through the night.

“Is your house in love with a library?” I asked.

Ricky chuckled, almost too quietly to hear. “A little. It’s okay. It’s more of a long-distance relationship. They make it work.”

And there was a new thing I’d just learned about the world.

“You okay, Brogan?” she asked, pointing at my braced arm, and then searching my face.

I pressed my good hand against the back of my sweaty neck. “We need to talk about Lula. I think I’m…I think something’s wrong. Something I don’t know how to fix.”

“Are you coming in?” Raven asked from somewhere inside the house. “Or are you two going to spend all night gossiping and exchanging recipes?”

I heard something slide, like a book or a pot pushed off a shelf, then Raven yelped, and the item clattered to the floor.

“It wasn’t an insult!” he yelled to the house. Something else skittered and slid. “All right, settle your shelves. I’m not touching anything. Ricky, talk to your house.”

“Is she hurt?” Ricky asked me, ignoring the god.

I huffed out a breath, but I didn’t know what to tell her. Yes? No? I met her understanding gaze and told her the truth. “I don’t know.”

She nodded once. “Come in, Brogan. Get something to eat and drink. Take your rest here. I can look at your arm if you want. We’ll figure this out.”

And with that welcome shepherding me, I walked past her into the quirky old building, and hoped she was right.