I didn’t have water, but was able to scoop up enough Snallygaster spittle and slime to splash onto Chapelwaite’s face now that we had the tables turned. He shot upright, awake and spitting. Gagging soon followed, and I couldn’t stop my smile.

  He fought against the ropes, but I tied those sons of bitches tighter than a dollar whore’s corset.

  “Welcome back to the land of the living, Marshal Chapelwaite.” I tapped his face a few times, then smeared the goop off his eyes so he could see. “Don’t feel too good, them ropes, huh?”

  “You heartless swine!” he hissed.

  “Now, now. While I may be heartless, the only pig here is you.”

  He spat at my face.

  “I’m gonna ignore that one, because I know it isn’t you,” I said.

  He spat again.

  This time, I biffed him right across his jaw, knocking him onto his side.

  “Only God and fools forgive twice,” I said as I wrenched him upright. “Do it again…” I pushed him against the stage wall with my hand clenched around his jaw so it couldn’t open, “…and we’ll be having this conversation with a bullet. Hear me?”

  His hard glare stuck, that is, until Rosa started pacing behind me. When he saw her, he went all goo-goo-eyed. He slowly nodded.

  “Oh, I see. I get the prick; she gets the gentleman. Fair enough.” I released him, and as promised, he kept his saliva to himself.

  His head fell back, resigned to his situation as he watched her. “Forgive me, madam. Had I known a lady were present—”

  I snorted. “If you think she’s a lady, you’ve got another think coming.”

  Rosa exaggerated an offended gasp.

  I turned slightly toward her, careful to keep a watchful eye on the marshal. “I’m just saying, I’m not the one he ought to be afraid of.”

  A glimmer touched Chapelwaite’s eyes. “I know that.”

  “See…” I flicked him on the chest. “You say that like you know something about her.”

  He shook his head. “No, sir. I can just tell who’s in charge.”

  “Yeah. Not you.”

  “T’ch. You’re her plaything, Crowley. She’s got strings on you like a marionette. It’s pathetic, really, to see how useless you’ve become. How weak. And you…” He turned his attention to Rosa. “Do you know the kind of animal whose company you keep? This hound? This murderer?”

  “Shut. Up!” Now it was her turn to drive a fist into Chapelwaite’s face.

  It was quite a wallop too. Cracked his nose at the bridge and sent blood pouring down.

  “I know who James is,” Rosa said, “and so do you.”

  I straightened Chapelwaite out, wiping a bit of his blood off my glove and onto his robes.

  “The only one being played here is you, Chapelwaite,” I said. “Ace Ryker must’ve gotten to you before you left Crescent City. You’d never forget him. Grin like he shit in your stewpot. Blue eyes like a devil.”

  He coughed up a gob of blood. “How many times do I have to tell you? I don’t know who that is!”

  Drawing one of my Peacemakers—which I’d reclaimed from him—I put the barrel right in front of his left eye. “Don’t make me keep hurting you!”

  “Only He can hurt me.”

  “Wanna bet?” I pulled my gun’s hammer and shifted to aim at his kneecap.

  Rosa stayed my hand. “Let me try.”

  “He’s trained well, but I can break him.” I pushed against her with the gun.

  “Maybe. I know what he’s been through, though. I didn’t realize it at the time, but back outside of Revelation, when Ace cornered us with his crew… He got into my mind too.”

  I made a real show of being about to shoot, and Chapelwaite didn’t even blink. He was a tough son of a bitch, that’s for sure. She was referring to when Ace—mortal, breathing, very much alive, Ace—had gotten ahold of the cursed harmonica I’d taken from a goat Nephilim. He used it on Rosa, played her like the proverbial fiddle, and weaseled his way into her head.

  “Fine. Be my guest.” I moved out of the way and Rosa stepped up.

  “I’ve endured my share of seductresses,” Chapelwaite said. “You’re wasting your time, darling.”

  “You’ve never dealt with me.”

  She kneeled directly in front of him and gazed straight into his eyes, taking the more tender approach. Personally, I thought things would be moving faster minus a kneecap.

  “He did this to me too,” she said. “It was terrible. I wasn’t in control, but I remember all of it. Remember what he wanted me to… to do to him. I would have done it too. It was awful.”

  “Then you have my sympathies,” Chapelwaite said. “Such is the nature of men in the West.”

  “It seems like his influence is stronger now. Like claws in you.” She clutched both sides of his head with the tips of her fingers. “I can still hear the notes, I think.” She closed her eyes and hummed a haunting note. Chapelwaite’s own eyes flickered.

  “He made you think you have enemies here in this room,” she continued. “You don’t. James brought us all the way here because he trusts you. And despite all this, he still does.”

  I scoffed. “Debatable.”

  Her glare stole the hot air right out of me.

  “We trust you.” Again, she hummed that short, melancholy note. “Think of your true loyalties. It’s not to him. Not to Ace. He is the true monster. He tried to rape my mother, me, your mind. He is evil and darkness. You don’t have to be.”

  Chapelwaite’s head twitched. Then— “I will kill the bastard who killed him!” He screamed like a lunatic and threw his body at me, like a zombie trying to gnaw at my ankles.

  Before I could kick him away, Rosa pushed his chest with enough force to crack the back wall. She was seething. All I could hope was that she’d remain calm and not liquify the one man who might know anything that could help her.

  “You won’t kill anyone!” she boomed. The air fizzled with energy. I hurried to her side and gripped her arm. Not hard, just to show her I was there. She drew a deep breath, and the chaos waned.

  “You’re a decent man,” she said once she was properly composed. “I can see that in your eyes. See through Ace’s lies the way I do.”

  Chapelwaite’s head twitched from one side to another, and he started to mutter to himself in what was starting to seem more like an exorcism than anything else. Ace had done a number on the fella. I stood tall and proud beside Rosa and joined the fun. Maybe she was right. Some problems can’t be solved with blood and iron.

  “Remember Judas, who you love and serve,” I said. “We fought Heaven and Hell together, my friend. Let’s face them again.”

  “Fight through this,” Rosa implored.

  More twitching. His upside-down cross drooped out of his shirt, which gave me an idea.

  “Remember this!” I dug mine out as well and held it before him. “We’re on the same side now. In between their war. Survivors.”

  He went still, blinking so slow as he beheld the cross, as if opening them for the very first time. His entire countenance shifted, like a weight lifted off his soul. His gaze went to Rosa, and then to me. Tears welled in the corners of his eyes, mingling with the blood from his battered nose.

  “James Crowley?” he said softly. The way he spoke my name was different this time. More statement and less accusation.

  I kneeled. “It’s nice to see you again, Marshal Chapelwaite.”

  A very relieved-looking Rosa rushed around to his back to untie him. I stopped her. “It might be him, but better not to take any chances. I’d rather not get skewered again.”

  Rosa’s lip twisted, then she nodded her assent.

  “Sorry does not begin to atone for what I have apparently done,” Chapelwaite said, looking around at the wreckage.

  “If it’s all the same to you,” I said, “we’ll just blame Ace for it all.”

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  “If anyone found out why I sent those men west after you… All we’ve worked for, getting me where I am. It would all be lost. My master—”

  “Not a soul will ever know.”

  He let his head relax against the wall, inhaling deeply. He looked like a man freed of his demons, but Ace is a trickster no different than the demon after me, and I’d learned well.

  “I remember Ace now,” he said. “Caught us in our carriage heading east from Crescent City. Slaughtered my men—every one of them. Gave me orders against you. In my head, he was Judas, except…”

  “I understand,” Rosa said. She may not have untied him, but she did offer him a consoling touch. “It’s overwhelming.”

  He nodded.

  “And I suppose Ace had you wanting to capture Rosa too?” I asked.

  “No. His only focus was you.”

  I chuckled.

  “Serves him right,” Rosa said.

  Well spoken. That’s what Heaven gets for entrusting a wretch like Ace with their holy crusade. In a battle between vengeance and loyalty, a man like him will choose the former every time.

  “Yes, well… I will earn forgiveness in whatever way I can, Crowley. My master let you go. He saw something in you, and I have betrayed that trust. If He were here, my very heart would be forfeit, and I would invite such a fate.”

  “Now, don’t get all soft on me. What’s done is done.”

  “Then let us at least destroy Ace, together, for what he’s done,” Chapelwaite said. “I can have the entire marshal service and more after him. He’ll never be able to hide.”

  “As much pleasure as that would bring me, that ain’t why we’re here.”

  His brow lifted. “Oh?” He searched my face for answers, and I guess I had a tell, because he looked at Rosa, who couldn’t control her nervousness. Or eagerness. Maybe fear. “Ohhh. Her.”

  “Her,” I confirmed. “Back in Crescent City, Judas was ready to name me a new prince of fangs, and then all of a sudden, he saw Rosa, tucked tail and ran. I could tell he knew something about her, but I never got the answer before things went to shit.”

  “There’s a word for it.”

  I got closer. “What did he tell you?”

  “He has no responsibility to share with His disciples. We serve at His whim.”

  “Don’t gimme that shit. He trusts you with the capital and an army of feds. I’m sure he told you something before he split.”

  Chapelwaite eyed Rosa, and almost seemed sad. I’m pretty sure I could hear the thumping of her heart, she was focusing on us so intently.

  “Ignore her. Look at me,” I said.

  “He shared a theory,” he admitted. “Judas had to travel east to consult his elder children and more texts to be certain. Myths and truths blend so seamlessly over millennia, you see, and so many had been created by Him to remain hidden. The real answers can be difficult to discern after so many years.”

  “Tell me.” I pointed at Rosa. “For fuck’s sake, tell her. She’s got angels and demons clawing after her, and powers budding in her that can level this whole damn city. Tell her.”

  Chapelwaite hesitated, igniting a fear in me that maybe he hadn’t been fully purged of Ace’s influence, when finally, he budged. “My master believes that she is a direct descendant of Lilith.”

  My brow furrowed. Rosa’s did just the same.

  “You’re gonna have to shuck that cob down a bit more,” I said.

  “Most churches wouldn’t teach of her anymore. Its better mistakes be forgotten. Long before my master graced this Earth, before Eve, Lilith was created by the Almighty to stand at Adam’s side—the first of humanity.

  “There are many versions of what became of her, but as my master believes it, Lucifer tried to seduce her with powers never meant for mortals, and thus, take ownership over humanity. She rejected him, though not the power. And for this impurity, she was destroyed. Eve, created in her place.”

  “Hate to break it to you, Chapelwaite, but you can’t be the descendant of someone who was, how did you put it, ‘destroyed,’” I said.

  “You can if they never were.” He wiped his nose with the back of his sleeve, winced, then tested the bridge like it might be broken. “If out of love for his firstborn, she was merely exiled by the White Throne. That, or she escaped and hid. If her line continued in secret for all this time, it’d be a line blessed by Heaven itself, and the power of the first demons to fall from the White Throne.”

  I found myself at a loss for words. And poor Rosa. I couldn’t even tell what was going on behind that blank look of hers.

  “You saying she’s an angel?”

  Chapelwaite shook his head sternly. “No. Something in between, just like my master, only older and with purer blood from the Creator himself. Whatever happened in Crescent City, when the hellmouth opened, my master believes it unlocked powers which had long been dormant.”

  “Cute theory,” I said. “But is it true?”

  “Perhaps. Perhaps not. Only God or Lucifer themselves could tell. It is an answer that explains why they both desire Rosa now that she has been discovered. A line dating back to the Originals—what a weapon she could be.”

  “It don’t make sense,” I said, shaking my head. “If she’s some great-great-great-times-a-thousand descendant of Lilith, then why would Judas leave her?”

  “Taking her in would risk exposing him to both enemies. A choice that would require more than a moment’s thought. The world may remember him as the Betrayer, but Lilith was the first traitor of all. This is not his war, Crowley.”

  “It’s not her war either!” I yelled. I found myself holding Chapelwaite by the collar, ready to fight a war myself. Then I noticed Rosa. She needed the wall for support. She stared at her hands, completely bewildered and terrified.

  Curse me for ignoring what mattered. I hurried to her and took her hands in my own, making sure she knew I wasn’t afraid.

  “None of this makes any sense…” she stammered. “My mother, she couldn’t be… she wasn’t…”

  “She spent a lifetime running,” Chapelwaite said like he knew. “Blood runs thick. It’s likely she didn’t know from what, or why, but still, in her soul, she knew she had to keep moving. Just as I’m sure her parents did. And you always did.”

  He pressed against the wall, using it to help him rise.

  “Don’t you move,” I barked.

  “Relax, Crowley. I just want to stand.” He took a step toward us.

  “I said don’t move!”

  “Fine. Fine. Rosa, that tattoo. Did your mother have one as well?”

  She nodded slowly.

  “Do you know what it represents?”

  “It’s a family tradition,” Rosa said, not fully believing the words, I could tell.

  “The snake,” Chapelwaite said, “that one is easy. We all know that Satan appeared as a serpent in the Garden. And the dagger? What better tool for a traitor to use—”

  “That’s enough out of you!” I barked.

  “You asked me what I know!”

  “Just give her a minute,” I said.

  “No, it’s fine. I need to hear.” Rosa’s words came out shaky, like she was short on breath.

  “Some truths are better buried,” Chapelwaite said. “But that changed in Crescent City. They’ll never stop coming for her. She’ll belong to one throne or another, or she’ll belong to neither and meet her end.”

  “I said, give her a goddamn moment!” I stormed toward Chapelwaite to shut him up, but Rosa pulled me back into her embrace. I couldn’t fight it. I gave in and held her there, knowing what it was like to have your entire sense of being shattered.

  “It’s okay, sweetheart,” I said. “It’s just a guess. They don’t know nothing. Not for sure. All you need to know is that you’re you. You’re Rosa Massey, and this world’s long been trembling from your glare, ungodly powers or not.”

  “He’s right, James.” She shook her head.

  “Who knows?”

  “Me. I know. I can feel it.”

  “You’re you,” I said, trying to make sure she didn’t forget that. No matter what else she is… “That’s what matters.”

  “I can’t run from this. How can I run?”

  “We will. Together.”

  “You can run from outlaws and bandits, but family always catches up.”

  “She’s right,” Chapelwaite cut in before I could respond. “They’ll never stop.”

  I whipped around, peeling free of Rosa. “You don’t fucking know that!”

  “Oh, but I do. It’s why my master spends eternity in vigilance. They can’t stop. In every war, there is something that turns the tide. It could be Rosa, could be someone else; all potential advantages must be seen to their ends. General Washington would not have rejected the help of the French, nor could he solely rely on it. War is options. It is choices. It is weapons.”

  “I won’t let her be a weapon, you son of a bitch.” I shoved him. “You couldn’t have told us this back in Crescent City?” I shoved him again, harder. “She didn’t choose this.”

  “I never said she did.”

  My next shove sent him right back onto his rump. Rosa shouted my name, but I was too heated to stop.

  “It’s all secrets and hiding with you people.” I heaved Chapelwaite back to his feet. “I refuse to believe there’s no way out of this!”

  I went to push him again, but this time, he caught my arms. I guess all the jostling and falling on his back loosened his bindings, because the rope dangled free. Our hands battled, and a few seconds later, I had one of my Peacemakers aimed at his temple, and he had the other—stolen off my waist—aimed at mine.

  “C’mon then, Marshal,” I growled. “Let’s see whose bullet sticks.”

  “James, enough!” Rosa pulled my free arm back. I kept my gun hand planted right where it was. She let me go and groaned in frustration, pulling on her frizzled, messy hair.

  “It’s not his fault!” she shouted.

  “Well, he ain’t helping neither! What would you have me do?”

  I could hear her pacing. “I don’t know, okay? I don’t even know who I am anymore.”

  “Yes, you do.”

  “No, you do.” That tone of hers. It compelled me to give in to her pulling and let my guard down with Chapelwaite. Luckily, he didn’t shoot. Silver against the hands and belly was one thing, but a silver round to the brain? That would do a lot more damage.

  “I know you want to protect me,” Rosa said, soft. “But, James, you can’t change this. I have no clue what to do next, and fighting him isn’t going to solve anything. I just want to stop hurting people, and if that means—”

  “Don’t say it.”

  “If that means I—”

  “Don’t you fucking say it. Not after all this. You ain’t giving up. You’re gonna have a life. It may not be what you expected or what you wanted, but we both know that went out the window a long time ago.”

  “I…” Her lip trembled. “I just don’t know…”

  She looked so utterly defeated. They say the truth sets you free… In her case, I think it was a prison. Sometimes, being special ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.

  It broke my heart, being so helpless. Children of God and whatnot, it was well above my pay grade. I was only a Hand. As Wendigo said, a tool. A weapon. Just as it seems they thought to make her.

  And that was it. My answer. I wasn’t the only weapon in the room.

  “Let me talk to Judas, Chapelwaite,” I said.

  “He’s a continent away by now,” he said.

  “And you’re telling me the vampire king has no means of reaching his underlings except by what—mailed post?”

  “I am merely stating a fact.”

  “You said you’d do whatever it takes to redeem yourself for what you done. Well, this is it. All I ask. Let me talk with Judas on her behalf.”

  “You don’t need to do that, James.” Her words said one thing, but the tone said another. She had some hope, just as I did.

  “Trust me just this last time, Rosa. He can help you.”

  Chapelwaite sighed. “He won’t intervene.”

  “Bullshit,” I said. “He understands how important this is. He can teach her about her powers. About how to stay hidden in this world from all the righteous creatures that watch. One betrayer to the kin of another. Let him give her the shadows in a way I can’t.”

  Chapelwaite stroked his chin. “And if he refuses?”

  “He won’t. There’s too much at stake.”

  “And if he does?”

  I let out a groan. “Then it’s up to Rosa. Whatever she wants to do.” I gave her a frail smile. “At least give me this shot. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that neither the ones above or below deserve her. I’d travel there right now if I could so they could look me in the eye while I spit in their faces.”

  Chapelwaite considered things for a moment, then flipped my pistol and handed it to me grip out. As I took it, he regarded Rosa with visible caution.

  “I can grant you audience with my master,” he said to her. “Will you accept? To reject him is to forfeit living. That is the way of our survival.”

  “Hey, he let me go,” I said as I holstered my firearms.

  “There were extenuating circumstances.”

  “Just saying.”

  Chapelwaite approached Rosa. “Will you accept his answer, Rosa?”

  She looked at me, then back at him, and nodded. “Why not? What’s one more immortal being trying to kill me?” She let out a chuckle, though it was underscored with dread.

  “Then we must move quickly,” Chapelwaite said. “If you’re here, Ace won’t be long behind you.”

  “Or the Horsemen,” I remarked.

  Chapelwaite went pale. “You’re serious?”

  “As the grave.”

  “Then perhaps I misspoke.” He wrung his hands. “Quickly is not soon enough.”

  He wasn’t joking. Man started walking like the Devil was in his pants, leaving Rosa and me to pick up the pace. I caught her attention as we fell in step, unable to imagine what was going on in her head.

  An encouraging nod was hardly a large gesture, but it was all I could manage.

  She, in turn, took my hand and squeezed.