After putting bifocals on and peering at the spot I pointed at, he nodded. "Sure, that's a fast ride. Hang on."
When the old man put the cab into drive, it made a horrible clunking sound and the engine died. I chuckled as I choked back a squeal of hysteria. Of course, the cab had engine trouble. "Sorry, kids," the cabbie said. "Looks like you'll have to call another cab while I deal with this."
We thanked him for his trouble. "Give him some money," I told Lucifer. His cab never would've died if it hadn't been us he picked up.
Luc rolled his eyes but pulled a bill out of his wallet. The cabbie looked at us with amazed eyes as I glimpsed a hundred-dollar bill as it disappeared into his jacket pocket. "You a bunch of angels?" he asked.
"Hardly," I said darkly as I slid out of the back of the vehicle. "Come on." I looked at my mates, each as frustrated as I was. "Let's just walk."
Without waiting to see if they agreed, I set out to walk five blocks in the direction the first map-reader had indicated. In seconds, they'd caught up to me. Luc took my hand and walked beside me while Michael led the way and Gabe brought up the rear. "Are you protecting me?" I asked. "This is how you'd form us up if we were headed to battle.
Gabriel chuckled behind me. "With all the effort Raph is exerting to delay us, we better keep you safe."
"I don't think he'd hurt her," Luc said. "He knows that would be his death sentence."
"Taking my daughter was his death sentence," I replied. And as I said the words, I knew they were true. I'd kill him for this.
We worked our way up the busy city streets, the grass warming in my hand the whole way until a snarl caught our attention. We'd broken out of the crowd and had walked an entire block without seeing another living soul. "Something is weird," I whispered.
My guys had gathered close. Lucifer sucked in a deep breath. "Do you sense that?" he asked.
As soon as the words left his mouth, I did. "Why is there a Djinn in New York?" I whispered.
Lucifer shrugged and stepped forward. "Reveal yourself," he boomed. Hopefully, the Djinn wouldn't be able to sense how little power Luc and I had.
The small, multi-colored demon popped into view, prostrate on the ground in front of Lucifer. Djinn were not automatically demons, but over the years most had proved their loyalties and been shifted from a neutral being to either a demonic or angelic one. This one was, of course, demonic. Angelic Djinn were typically regarded by humans as guardian angels. They liked to interfere in human lives to keep them safe from harm, and on occasion helped them acquire wealth or worldly power.
"Why are you here?" Lucifer asked. We kept a close reign on our demonic Djinn, only allowing them short stints on Earth, and never when Luc and I were in our Earth cycles. My brother, Asmodeus, who kept things running smoothly in our absence, never would've sanctioned any demon's visit to the Earth realm while we were there.
"My lord, I went for a walk near the gates as I want to do in the evenings, and what surprise did I see but a hole there! When I walked through, I was transported here. How may I serve thee, great Lord of the Dark?" His squeaky voice negated any real respect he tried to infer with his words. He didn't mean a word of it.
Luc and I exchanged a long look. "Djinn," I said in a harsh voice. "Lead us here." I held out the map and pointed to the spot we needed to get to. By my estimation, we still had two blocks to go before we reached the spot the man had said to get off the subway. He'd advised us to walk the rest of the way.
"At once," he said. "That is easy." He scurried in front of us, and when we left the quiet area of the neighborhood, he darted between the feet and legs of the humans, but they never noticed him.
"Do you recognize the Djinn?" I whispered to Lucifer.
He nodded. "Yeah, I've used him before."
"He needs to go back to Abaddon."
Luc grunted. "At once."
We followed the colorful demon for another four blocks before he darted into an alley. "This is the spot on the map," he said. "May I be of service?"
"No," Lucifer said. "Not here. Go back to Abaddon and do everything in your power to close or hide any holes or cracks in the wall."
A look of disgust passed over the Djinn's face, but he bowed low. "As you wish."
"He didn't want to leave," Michael said after the small demon disappeared.
The grass was nearly hot in my hand. "We're close," I whispered. "This thing is getting hot."
Michael held out his arm. "Lead the way."
I started forward, but the grass didn't heat and fade very quickly. It took a while to be sure I'd gone too far or not far enough based on how it heated.
By the time we were pretty sure we'd found the right street, the sun had begun to peek through the buildings.
