Hardest Fall

by Juliette Cross

  “Let’s go,” I grumbled and headed for the door.

  Dommiel said in a low, but not low enough, tone, “They’re lovers, those two.”

  “Fucking Blackheart,” I turned and leveled a death-glare at him, which only seemed to make him grin wider.

  “Nice, bruder,” said Wolfrick with a fiendish but approving nod and smile.

  Gustav frowned as he eyed me and gulped down a swallow of vodka from the bottle. “Why him? She’d never give me the time of day,” he said in his thick German accent.

  Wolfrick took the bottle. “He’s much prettier than you.”

  Shocked, Gustav said, “I’m pretty.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  “Girls fall into my lap all the time.”

  “Ya. They fall in your lap for your cock, not your face.”

  Smiling, he said, “Now, my cock is definitely pretty.”

  “I don’t think it’s his face she’s interested in either,” added Dommiel. “Well, maybe parts of it,” he grinned. “I’m sure she finds his mouth useful.”

  “Fuck off, Blackheart.” I headed out the door.

  He caught up to me with a clap on the shoulder. “Don’t be sore, Goldilocks. It’s not your fault. You couldn’t help it.”

  “How’s that?”

  “You want a lady on the streets, but a demon in the sheets.”

  I did laugh at that. “What a fucking wanker you are.”

  “But you love me anyway.”

  Strangely, I did. How I had become friends with this one-eyed, one-armed, snarky-as-fuck demon, I had no idea.

  We made it outside of Cargo as dusk was settling over the city and sifted in unison to the gates of Thornton Hall. Immediately, we sensed danger. George, Kat, and Anya drew blades. I pulled a Glock from my holster. Uriel pivoted, facing away from the gate, and scanned the perimeter.

  “Here,” called Dommiel, kneeling on a pile of snow soaked and stained with blood.

  The drops of blood crossed the warded gate. Up the long path, Cooper and another of his soldiers, Deacon, stood over a body next to the servants’ entrance. Without saying a word, we all ran forward. Uriel and Anya flew above us, beating us in half the time. Cooper was talking when we ran on the scene to find Hannah—glassy-eyed and pale from death—staring up at nothing. Deacon was unfolding a sheet and spreading it over her body.

  “But we have no idea who or how or why she would’ve crossed outside the gates.” Cooper’s cheeks were splotched with red, and his hair was spiked up from running his hand through it too many times. He clenched his jaw as he stared down at Hannah’s body, now covered with a sheet.

  Kat ran up behind us, later than the rest of us. “It doesn’t look like a struggle took place at the gate. It’s like she was just laid down there.”

  My heart slammed against my rib cage. “Where’s Carowyn?”

  “Who?” asked Cooper. He glanced frantically to me.

  “Bone,” corrected Dommiel. I couldn’t even form words, panic spiking up my spine like a battering ram. “Where’s Bone?”

  Cooper shook his head. “That’s what I was just telling him.” He waved at Uriel. “She’s gone. Maddie, too. We don’t know—”

  I couldn’t hear another fucking word. I sprinted like mad back down toward the gate. Had to get beyond the wards and check her shop. If she’d somehow gotten into trouble… If Maddie was in danger… She’d likely go there and get weapons or hide or something. It’s just the only fucking thing I could think to do.

  I was nearly at the gate when Uriel landed beside me, catching me by the shoulder.

  “Hold, Alexander.”

  “No!”

  I barreled past the wards and sifted, but he gripped my shoulder again. We crossed through the Void together and snapped out onto the empty street outside Carowyn’s shop.

  “Wait,” he whispered, his deep voice wielding power in the command.

  The door to her shop was partly open. Someone left in a hurry. Or was still inside.

  “I know you’re upset,” he added. “But let’s be cautious.”

  Struggling not to lose the contents of my stomach at the thought of her in danger, I nodded stiffly.

  “Good.” Uriel edged forward carefully.

  I flanked him with my Glock up and ready. I swept right then left, finding no one hovering in the shadows. I reached out, trying to find any otherworlder in the vicinity. Nothing.

  “I don’t sense anyone.”

  That also meant Carowyn wasn’t here. Still, I needed to see if she had been. Maybe she found a way to hide Maddie here, if she was forced to get out, and was able to sift away from…well, from fucking Rook, because he’s the only one who’d be after her.

  “I don’t, either,” said Uriel.

  He was far more powerful than I was, so it must be all clear. I holstered my gun and barreled through the basement corridor to her shop. Again, the door was open. She must’ve come here.

  Once inside, I marched through the large warehouse to her inner sanctum. The forge furnace was still hot, sizzling with orange coals. Uriel entered behind me.

  “She forged something.” I gulped hard and turned to him. We both knew what she forged.

  Uriel stepped toward one of the monitors where a note was taped to the screen. He pulled it off, read it in two seconds, then handed it to me with his dark shield in place. I yanked it from his hand, tearing the bottom half in my urgency.

  Dear Xander,

  I should have known Rook would find a way. He used Hannah to bring Maddie beyond the wards. He got to her somehow. I can’t believe I didn’t realize before that he might do something like this. I’m so sorry about Hannah. About everything. But I’m going to try to make things right. I’m going to get Maddie back.

  You were right, you know. Not taking sides is taking a side. I’ve been on the wrong side for far too long. Been in the dark too long. You showed me that. Thank you. Thank you for showing me who I could be, who I should be…again. And no matter what happens, even if I lose my life, please know that you have saved my soul.

  I love you.

  Always,

  Carowyn

  I didn’t realize I was shaking—with fear and fury and the pain of what she’d done, but also with the joy of her final words—until Uriel steadied my hand with his own.

  “Come now. Let’s go.”

  If he meant to prevent me from going after her, he was completely mad. I let him know in no uncertain terms where my mind and heart lay.

  “She is everything to me, Uriel. Everything.” I choked on the last word. “I won’t abandon her. Just like you didn’t abandon me.”

  His steely facade cracked, compassion shining through like the old Uriel, the one who I’d known for centuries. Not the one shrouded in ice.

  “I know that, Alexander. That’s why I’m telling you, it’s time to go. To go and get her. She’ll surely die on her own.”

  Relief washed over me so fast I nearly blacked out. My heart—the heart she’d mended and made beat again—pounded a hard drumbeat, agreeing with Uriel’s plan for action.

  We turned together, hurrying for the exit.

  “We need to alert George,” he said.

  I pulled out my phone and started texting.

  “And I have one quick stop,” he added.

  Looks like we’d be implementing his big surprise a day early. Fine by me. I was ready for fury and fire, my trigger finger yearning to blow a hole in Rook’s head. And with Uriel’s plan, the demon princes had no idea what kind of hellish wrath was about to descend on their doorstep.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Carowyn

  I waited. Standing in the frigid air outside the Gothic wrought iron gate—dragon heads roaring upward on the tallest pikes—I watched and waited as shadows lengthened along the empty road. I noted the hundreds of red priests lining the long drive to the mansion, two rows deep on either side. Their gaunt faces, jet black hair, lithe figures, and long-distance stares in stoic silence
raised gooseflesh on my skin. Torches lined the drive as well, casting flickering shadows on the priests. Several furies stood at attention at the entrance of the gate, their monstrous forms adding to the eerie silence. As I’d thought, hellhounds—their gray-black fur spiked on their spines, fangs sharp, and red eyes gleaming—snarled and gnashed along the perimeter. At least twenty paced within sight of where I was standing.

  Finally, three figures emerged from the mansion. Two tall and one short. Rook and Simian flanked Maddie, holding her hands. The sickening display of care for the girl made me want to throat-punch them both. I gripped the object that spawned this nightmare, which was wrapped carefully in a green scarf, tightly against my chest.

  As they drew closer, Simian grinned like the demented maniac he was, but Rook didn’t. I’d seen that look before. When someone passed some transgression against him, intentionally or not, he cemented into a glacial, menacing creature. Like a viper, he coiled with calculating intent, preparing to strike where he thought his venom was most warranted.

  I cringed but held my ground, focusing on Maddie. Her eyes, round and dark, widened at the sight of me.

  “Hello, Maddie,” I said gently. “Are you all right?”

  She nodded as they stopped a few feet inside the gate. “I’m scared.”

  “I know, darling,” I replied with tenderness. “We’ll be going home soon.”

  “That depends now, doesn’t it?” Simian jeered.

  “Fuck off, Simian.”

  He tossed his head back with a throaty laugh, revealing his fanged teeth, before whipping his attention to his brother. “She’s so testy, your girl.”

  His girl? What the hell was he smoking? Was he daft?

  “Shut up, Simian,” he ordered, tugging Maddie forward two steps.

  Simian crossed his arms and hissed at me through fanged teeth. Such a bitch.

  Then my attention was only for little Maddie, her sweet round face so pale. Rook maneuvered her in front of him, keeping his hands on her shoulders, his clawed fingers holding gently—but firmly.

  “Did you bring it?” he asked.

  I laid my arm flat, gripping one edge of the torque as it balanced on my arm in the scarf. Unwrapping the folds, I revealed the brass ornament Rook wanted with such dire lust it unnerved me beyond reason. Simian jumped up and down and clapped his hands like a child. I kept my focus on Rook. He reached out a hand and curled his fingers.

  “Give it to me.”

  I shook my head. “No way. This is a trade.”

  Angling his head, he said condescendingly, “You can’t expect me to leave the protection of my wards?”

  “And you expect me to step inside without the ability to sift away?”

  “You could sift away with the child and the torque.”

  “You could have your guards attack me, and I’d be helpless to escape.”

  “I promise I will not harm you.” His brow furrowed in a semblance of pain. It was almost convincing. “Have I ever lied to you?” His gaze softened, making my heart hammer with unease.

  Had he? When he’d told me I would regret becoming his lover? When he’d told me I would miss him when he was gone? Or that my body would crave him in the lonely dead of night? Or that I’d hate him one day? No. Rook had never lied to me. All had come true. And all had been swept away. He was a nonexistent blip on my radar. I never truly realized it until now. Until I’d made the choice to take a side. Until Xander.

  Like Judith, I stepped across the boundary into his lair. But also like the biblical heroine, I didn’t walk into this tent of death unarmed. I thought of her, holding her head high, proud of the risk she took, of the danger she welcomed, all to save the ones she loved. For what else was there, if not love?

  I knew. I’d been imprisoned in my cell of isolation for centuries, pretending the world didn’t need me, pretending I didn’t need the world. As long as I could continue on in my dreamlike state, creating weapons for the wars, I could convince myself that this was enough. But then a half-dead hunter was brought into my shop and laid upon my table. My first instinct was to run and hide, to deny Dommiel his request and deny that I had the power to save him. But something, some long-gone thread of light inside me, whispered in the dark, yearning for the light, and coaxed me with soft hands to use my gift for something other than forging a weapon. And so I did. I mended that man’s heart. Then he awoke. And he mended mine.

  So here I was, taking a stand. Fighting for an innocent who didn’t deserve a ruthless, bloody end like Abram. So strange. I thought I’d be terrified at this moment of crossing over from solitary indifference to bold aggression against one of my own kind. Hell, who was I kidding? Rook wasn’t one of my kind. Yes, I’d fallen from grace, but I sure as shit could pick myself up again. Rather than feeling trapped by stepping into the arms of a monster, I felt liberated. Having finally found myself. Having finally freed Carowyn.

  I dropped the scarf and balanced the shining torque in my palms, torchlight flickering on the surface. Though not entirely dark, the sky was an eerie blue-gray. Power hummed within the cold metal, vibrating into my skin.

  Rook stared covetously and took a sudden step forward, now only about five feet separating us. I didn’t smile as I watched his gaze shift from the torque to me then back to the torque.

  One thing I’d learned in my time with Rook was his tells, and when he planned nefarious deeds for those around him. I’d sensed it the night of the masquerade when he demanded I make the torque. It triggered me again when he killed Hannah. And now, I was sure of it. I knew exactly what he planned to do with the torque all along. While forging the torque, I’d recalled the conversation I’d had with Xander that day at the beech tree. I’d practically told him the answer when I’d warned him to keep Maddie’s power a secret. Rather ridiculous I didn’t come to the right conclusion sooner.

  I held out the torque in one hand. He moved forward, shuffling Maddie with him, and then reached out a hand to clasp the other side of the collar. I refused to release it, locking eyes with him. He smiled down at the object, sensing the vibration of power trembling through it. That would have to be enough.

  “Give me the girl.” I held out my free hand. “Give me your hand, Maddie.”

  She did. I tugged her closer and released the torque. Simian giggled like a girl again.

  “Now you have what you want,” I said, pushing Maddie backward toward the gate.

  When Rook’s sinister gaze lifted from the torque to me, a grin creasing his face, I pushed her faster. In three large steps, he gripped me by the hair and fastened the torque around my neck.

  “There now, sweetheart,” he whispered, his black eyes sweeping down to my lips. “This is where my crown belongs. Now, you’re mine. And you”—his fingers lingered on my skin next to the torque—“will make me as many crowns as I tell you to.”

  When I imagined this moment, I pictured myself trembling with fear. And yes, I was shaking with absolute terror. Even so, hysterical laughter bubbled up my throat. Rook frowned. Not exactly the reaction he was expecting.

  I released Maddie’s hand. “Go, Maddie. Run.”

  “No,” she cried. “Not without you.”

  This, I hadn’t expected. I glanced behind me and gave her a sharp look. She seemed to catch on and started for the gate. I needed her to leave before Rook realized what I’d done. I put a hand on Rook’s shoulder and tried for docile. “Let’s go inside, shall we?”

  The fact that he’d let her go told me he had no idea she was half seraph. I glanced quickly toward the road as I faced him. Maddie was running into the woods beyond the road. Heaven knew where she’d end up. But she had a better chance of living anywhere outside these gates. Rook started to turn, but then froze and pulled away from me.

  “Wait.”

  I stopped. He’d given me a command. I had to obey to keep up this pretense.

  “Come here, Simian.”

  A chill skittered up my spine.

  “Give her a command, bro
ther.”

  Rook watched with unnerving scrutiny.

  “On your knees and kiss my feet, demoness.”

  I dropped to my knees and kissed his filthy fucking shoes, the snow seeping through my jeans and making me shiver. Simian cackled like a maniacal witch. “Good girl.” He patted my head like I was a dog.

  Then Rook nudged his brother aside to tower over me. He lifted my chin and stared into my eyes. I kept my expression as placid as possible, but then his burning eyes glinted with swift fury.

  “Get the girl!” he snapped to the priests at his side.

  “No!” I screamed, lurching to my feet.

  I took two steps before a hand wrenched me back by the hair. I fell into the vise-like arms of Rook, who clamped my back to his chest, my arms immobile at my sides. Then he whispered in my ear, rage vibrating in his voice.

  “In my mind, I ordered you to drop your top and suck my dick. But you didn’t obey. You didn’t even hear my command, did you? You know why?” He squeezed like a boa constrictor. I gasped in pain. “Because you didn’t put my essence in that torque.”

  I watched with horror as two priests dragged back a kicking and screaming Maddie. “No,” I whispered.

  He jerked me around, his claws digging into my arms as he shook me. “Whose essence is in this thing? I can feel the power.”

  I shook my head on a laugh. He hauled back his arm and backhanded me so hard against my cheek, I spun down into the snow, my vision blackening for several seconds. Then he kicked me in the stomach. I lost my breath.

  “Bone!” cried out little Maddie as they dragged her closer.

  “Hold her down, Simian,” Rook bellowed with fiery rage. “We’re going to show her what happens to slaves who don’t mind their masters.”

  Simian was suddenly behind me, hauling me to my feet. I’d barely caught my breath from his kick to the stomach.

  “Bring her here.” Rook summoned the priests who were dragging Maddie back.

  “Oh, God, no.”

  Not Abram again. Not again. I couldn’t bear it.

  “Please, Rook. I’ll do anything you ask. Anything. I promise.” My voice trembled.