Rebellion

Mallory ignored him and turned his attention to Xaphan. Both Castor and Pollux had dropped back as Vin dragged Alice away, leaving them alone.

“Is this the part where you threaten me? Or are you going to just shoot me?” asked the Fallen.

“If I wanted to shoot you, you’d have been shot.”

“No doubt. Perhaps you’re planning to torture me first, then shoot me. I hear that’s more your style.” He tipped his head on one side and looked up at Mallory. “Of course, I’m forgetting. You’re on a shorter leash these days, aren’t you? Descendeds aren’t supposed to get their hands dirty; at least, not as dirty as you like to. Earthbounds, on the other hand...” He gestured to the spike sticking out of his leg. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think your boy rather enjoyed doing that. Well,” he mused, “what do you expect from the police?”

Mallory struck him across the jaw, knocking his head violently enough to make the bones of his neck click. He crouched down in front of the Fallen and levelled the barrel of his Colt directly between Xaphan’s eyes. “Now, I’m only going to ask you this once, so if I were you, I’d pay attention.” The gun twitched as he spoke; Xaphan’s eyes followed it. When Mallory leaned forward, his next words were little more than a whisper. “Where’s your girlfriend?”

Xaphan smirked, and Mallory’s finger tightened on the trigger.

“Stop. I’m here. I’m here, Mallory.” The woman’s voice came from thin air.

Satisfied, Mallory lowered the handgun and rocked back onto his heels. “Of course you are, Florence. Why don’t you join us?”

A way off to his left, the air shimmered and a young woman appeared. Her hair was almost entirely white, except for a streak of black, although her face was young. There were dark circles beneath her eyes, and she looked tired and pale.

“Let him go. Please.”

“Let him go? One wrong word and I’ll get Alice back here before you can blink, and then you’ll be begging me to shoot him in the face, never mind what she’ll do to you, Florence.” Alice had made it clear she would kill her if their paths crossed again. Kill her very, very slowly. It was Florence who had helped the Fallen get their foothold in the world; Florence who was largely responsible for them tracking Alice through hell, and Florence who had stood by as Alice was locked in a cage and forced to watch an old friend murdered by Xaphan. Alice had thought of Florence and her brother Jester, both half-borns like her, as friends... making Florence’s betrayal even harder to take. And yet here she was, on Alice’s doorstep, waiting for her. Why?

Florence took a step forward. “We... I... It’s Jester. He needs your help.”

ALICE WAS TOO angry to do anything other than let herself be led. Eventually, Vin decided he had got her far enough away from Xaphan and settled himself on the back of a gravestone. “You know,” he said, “I read this book once. It had a line in it about someone getting ‘incandescent with rage.’ I thought it was a stupid line, but you’ve got pretty close to it, haven’t you?”

“Only the one book, Vin?” The fire dimmed slightly.

“Yeah. It didn’t have any pictures in it, kind of put me off.” He shook his head, but kept half an eye on her all the same.

The fire fell away as Alice laughed. He looked so serious that there wasn’t much else she could do, and she settled herself on the next grave along, belonging to ‘L. Harris.’ She didn’t think they’d mind. Vin peered over his sunglasses at her.

“Holding up?”

“Not really.”

“What did he do? Not... back there. Now. This time. Why the pyro?” He was edging around what had happened in hell. What had happened when Xaphan had locked her in that cage in his lab. She shook the memory away.

“He came to say hello earlier, out in the street. And he wasn’t alone.”

“Lucifer?”

“And a rope.” She rubbed at her neck again.

“You alright?”

“Fine. It’s nothing.”

“Nothing. Sure. I wish I could say I was surprised, but these days, they just won’t stay down. And you’ve not told Mallory yet. Why?”

“Because he doesn’t need to know.”

“Uh-huh.”

“What? I can take care of myself!”

“Sure you can. The way I heard it, that’s absolutely true.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, nothing. Except that I heard you’d got yourself beaten half to a pulp taking on Murmur.”

“Won, didn’t I?”

“Sometimes, Alice, it’s not about the winning.”

“Never thought I’d hear an angel saying that.”

“Yeah, but I’m not just any old angel, am I?” He winked at her.

“So now I have to sit here with you until the grown-ups are finished?”

He looked wounded. “Don’t make it sound like a chore.”

“You could at least tell me what you’ve been doing for the last six months, seeing as you seem to know everything about my life. How’s Sari?”

“Next subject.” Vin’s voice took on a hard edge, and he turned his head away.

That was a shock. The last she’d heard, Vin was besotted with Sari. For him to react to her name like that...

“You want to talk about it?”

“Let’s just say ‘no’ and leave it at that, shall we?”

“If you change your mind...”

“Yeah. Thanks.” And that was that.

Except it wasn’t. She could feel it, even from here. He hurt. He hurt so very much. And even though he knew that she couldn’t help but feel it, he was still trying to hide it. “I mean it.”

“I know. Thanks.” He relaxed and the cold edge melted from his voice. “But you don’t want to hear about my love life. I, however, want to hear about yours...” He shot her a grin and waggled his eyebrows, and even though there was nothing to tell – even though he was obviously teasing – she felt her face flush. His grin widened.

“Oh. Really?”

“Shut up, Vin.”

“No, go on.”

“Shut up!”

He swiped at her shoulder, and she swiped back, and that was the exact point at which Mallory walked around the corner.

“Are you kidding me? I can’t leave you two alone for a minute. It’s like being a bloody teacher. Worse: a nanny. For fuck’s sake.” He was less angry than he was trying to sound, but something was definitely bothering him. “Inside. We need to talk,” he said, “and you’re not going to like this. Either of you.”

CHAPTER TWELVE Where Angels Fear to Tread

ALICE SHOULD HAVE known what was happening: from the way Castor stood just inside the door, from the way Pollux watched her as she stepped inside, from the way Mallory kept a hand resting on her back as he ushered her ahead of him. All this, and still she didn’t see it coming. Not until she walked into the sacristy and saw