Cody caught the insinuation just as I did. "You think Erik's doing it."
"He's the strongest suspect," admitted Carter apologetically. "He's been here for decades, and he has the talent to sense immortals."
"And to think, he spoke so well of you," I murmured, feeling aghast. "Well, you're wrong. It's not him. Not Erik."
"Don't get huffy about it now, Georgie. He's not our only lead, just the most likely."
"And I don't like it any more than you," the angel added. "But we can't dismiss any possibilities. We need to neutralize this nephilim threat soon. It's out of hand; we'll get outside involvement before long, and that's always a pain."
"Then why aren't you letting us help you?" I cried. "Why all the secrecy?"
"Are you deaf? It's for your own protection. This thing could blast you to Armageddon!" Jerome downed the rest of his gin in a flurry.
I didn't buy it. There was more than just our safety at stake here. Jerome still hadn't come clean. "Yes, but - "
"The committee meeting is over," he interrupted me icily. "Would the rest of you excuse Georgina and me?"
Oh shit. I looked desperately at my friends, hoping they might stay and defend me, but they all scurried out. Cowards, I thought. None of them would cross Jerome when he spoke like that. Okay, I wouldn't have either in their shoes.
Carter, I noticed, did not leave. The directive apparently did not apply to him.
"Georgie," began Jerome carefully, once the others were gone, "you and I seem to be facing off more often than not lately. I don't like it."
"It's not exactly facing off," I noted, squirming uneasily, recalling his display of power at the hospital and threat to "stash" me somewhere. "We're just having differences of opinion lately."
"Differences that can get you killed."
"Jerome, this can't possibly just be about - "
"No more."
A wall of power slammed into me, throwing me back against the couch. It was like one of those carnival rides where people stand along the sides of a round room that spins faster and faster until inertia pins everyone's limbs to the walls. Moving became agony. Even breathing was a struggle. I felt like Atlas, bearing the brunt of the world's weight.
Jerome's voice boomed inside my head, and some brave part of me cursed his parlor tricks, even as the rest of me recoiled.
I need you to listen to me for once without constantly interrupting. You cannot keep poking around here. Doing so calls attention to yourself, and you already have a lot more of it on you from this nephilim than I would like. I neither need nor want a new succubus. I've grown accustomed to you, Georgina. I do not want to lose you. I am more lenient with you than I should be, however. You get away with things no other archdemon would allow. I haven't minded indulging you thus far, but things can change - especially if you continue to be insubordinate. I can have you transferred somewhere else, away from this cozy delusion of a human life you've established. Or I can call Lilithin and report your behavior to her directly. I'm sure she'd he happy to do a little retraining with you.
My heart stopped at the mention of the Succubus Queen. I had met her only once, when I first joined the ranks. That encounter, rather like seeing Carter in all his angelic glory, was not an experience I wanted to repeat anytime soon.
Do you understand?
"Y-yes."
Are you sure?
The pressure increased, and it was all I could do to manage a weak nod. The psychic cage abruptly dropped, and I slumped forward, taking in deep breaths. I could still feel where his power had touched me, rather like a tactile version of the afterimage one sees with a camera flash.
"I'm glad you understand, and I'm sure you'll also understand if I don't entirely believe you. It's part of the nature of our side."
"Is this... is this the part where you stash me somewhere?"
He chuckled softly. Menacingly. "No. Not yet at least. Frankly, I think you just need a little supervision to stay out of trouble. I'm also not entirely convinced you and the nephilim merely have a passing relationship."
A retort was on my lips, but I bit it off, my skin still burning.
"I'd have one of your friends do it, but I don't doubt you could wrap any of them around your smallest finger. No, you need babysitting by someone who won't bend, who won't fall for your tricks."
"Tricks? Who then?" For a minute, I half thought he referred to himself until I noticed Carter's smug smile. Oh man. "You can't be serious."
"It'll ensure you toe the line, Georgie. What's more, it will keep you alive."
"You're practically our best lead at the moment," Carter explained. "This nephilim has some interest in you, even though that interest seems to have shifted a bit from note-passing to assault."
"Carter will be ready if it tries to finish what he interrupted. He can also shield your apartment from prying eyes."
"But it'll sense him when we go out - " I tried weakly.
"No more than you can now," Carter reminded me. "And I'll be invisible. A ghost at your side. An angel on your shoulder, if you will. You won't even know I'm around."
"Jerome, please, you can't do this - "
"I can, and I will. Unless, like I said, you want me to have a chat with Lilith ?"
Damn him. The threat of Lilith was stronger than any potential stashing, and he knew it.
"Good. If there's no further discussion then, I'll take my leave and let you two get situated." Jerome glanced between us, dark eyes resting on me a moment. "Oh, by the way. Do check yourself out in a mirror at some point."
I scowled, thinking of Cody's scrutiny of my injuries. "Thanks for reminding me."
"What I'm reminding you of is that you're a succubus. Those bruises are a manifestation of believing you're human. You are not. You have to feel them, but you don't have to wear them."
With that, the demon vanished in an eye blink, leaving a faint smell of brimstone in his wake that I suspected was pure showmanship.
"So, do I get the couch?" Carter asked me cheerfully.
"Go to hell." I left the room to go check out my reflection.
"Hardly a nice way to treat your new roommate."
"I didn't ask for your - "
I stopped halfway down the hallway. I'd spent the last couple of weeks suspecting Carter of murder and other terrible things; I'd spent the last half-century hating him as a person. Yet he'd just saved my life, and I hadn't uttered one word of thanks.
I turned toward him, dreading what I now had to say.
"I'm sorry."
He wore a look similar to the one Jerome had had when I asked his permission earlier. "Really? For just now?"
"For not thanking you earlier. For saving me out there. I mean, I'm not happy about you shacking up here, but I am grateful for what you did then. And I'm sorry, too, if I haven't exactly been... nice to you."
The angel's expression was unreadable. "Glad to have helped."
Not knowing what else to say, I turned and kept walking.
"What are you going to do now?" he asked.
I paused again. "Look at the damage and then go to bed. I'm tired. And I hurt."
"Aw, no slumber party games or popcorn? No makeovers?"
"Don't take this personally, but you could use a makeover. You look like a refugee. Why..." I swallowed and rephrased my words as I studied him. "When I saw you out there, on the street, you were... you were so beautiful. The most beautiful thing I've ever seen." My voice came out as a whisper.
Carter's face turned grave. "Jerome's the same way, you know. In his true form. Just as beautiful. Angels and demons come from the same stock. He chooses that John Cusack wannabe shape by choice."
"Why? Why does he do that? And why do you choose to look like a junkie or a bum?"
The edges of the angel's lips turned slightly upward. "Why does a woman who claims she wants to avoid the attention of nice men choose a form that makes everyone around her do a double take and stare?"
I swallowed again, lost in the far reaches of his eyes, but not in the same way I had been lost in Roman's or Seth's eyes. It was more like the angel could see all the way through me, through all of my facades, down to my soul or what remained of it.
With great effort, I broke that scrutiny, turning back toward my bedroom.