by Emma Dean
Lucifer was livid, she could feel it rolling off of him. It made Khalida’s grip on her scythe tighten and Dagon growled slightly.
“I didn’t know how she could promise me Ashley, so I didn’t take her up on the offer,” Ryan explained.
The throne room was dead silent, even the burning brimstone seemed to quiet as they all waited for the prince’s decision.
“Look into his mind,” Lucifer told the Morrigan. “See if he’s telling the truth. Make sure he isn’t lying about not knowing who this god is.”
Mika flinched when the Morrigan stalked over to Ryan and grabbed his face, nails digging into his cheeks and forehead hard enough blood ran down his face. Her eyes were completely black as she stared into Ryan’s soul.
The Morrigan could read minds.
Mika pressed into Corbin harder, remembering when the goddess had rifled through her mind like it was nothing, leaving a nugget of information for Mika to learn when she’d needed it most.
Ryan cried out only once and then he stumbled backward when the Morrigan released him. “He is telling the truth. He has not seen this god and he doesn’t know who he is, but he hid the fact that this god was the one who locked me away.”
The Morrigan’s furious snarl made Mika’s blood run cold.
“You have kept your side of the bargain,” Lucifer said, walking toward Ryan. He stopped a few inches away and studied him. “Now I will keep mine. Ashley is free to come and go as she wishes, just as she was able to before you kidnapped my little sister.”
Mika’s nails dug into Lucien and Corbin’s arms.
Ryan’s mouth dropped open and Mika almost felt bad for him. He had bargained for nothing and now…now Lucifer could do whatever he wanted with him.
“You have trespassed in my territory, injured and kidnapped my family on top of withholding information you knew was vital. But I understand you love her, and that love makes us all do stupid things. So, I’m going to give you a kindness,” Lucifer stated.
Then his hand lashed out, so fast Mika didn’t even see it until it was buried in Ryan’s chest. The Morrigan grinned as Lucifer pulled out a squirming, glowing thing.
Ryan’s body collapsed and Mika realized she was looking at Ryan’s soul.
Lucifer had taken his soul.
33
Mika stared at Ryan’s body, feeling a strange mix of emotions. She was horrified, but she also felt sick satisfaction knowing this crazy asshole could never hurt her or anyone else again. He’d gotten Ashley killed in his search for power.
And he’d worked with Cassandra and Claire, continuing to summon demons despite what had happened to his girlfriend.
“You are free to be with Ashley now.” Lucifer released Ryan’s soul.
Then a male appeared with a rumble in the universe. Dark smoke billowed away from him, falling to the ground like black fog. He wore a heavy black cloak with the hood up to leave his face cast in shadow. In one hand was a black scythe that was twice as tall as he was.
Corbin cursed under his breath and the Morrigan gave the raven a wink before following Lucifer up to his throne.
Khalida knelt before the reaper before disappearing into shadow, and Mika knew then, this was Death. This was the first reaper – he who ruled over all reapers.
Death held out his hand for Ryan and Mika’s heart pounded as Ashley clung to Death like they were old friends, weeping as she watched her boyfriend hesitantly take his hand.
“Escort them to where the other souls dwell,” Lucifer ordered as he sat on his obsidian throne, waving his hand in dismissal. “They are free to pass on whenever they are ready.”
Mika’s gaze was fixated on Death and the golden crest on his cloak that looked so oddly familiar. He disappeared with the two souls before she could figure out why it was so familiar.
“No punishment, dear Lucy?” the Morrigan asked, perching on the arm of Lucifer’s throne. “You’ve lost your edge it seems.”
“Living without her was punishment enough,” Lucifer murmured, eyeing Mika and her boys.
“That was kind,” Mika said. “Well, in a way.”
“I’m not the evil creature your world likes to paint me as,” Lucifer snapped. “He would have ended up dead on the streets of the City of Dis in days with that attitude he has and the demons he’s summoned hunting him down. The witch did not possess the ability to travel between this realm and his without a very specific deal. He was stupid, and his stupidity got her killed in the first place. Ending his life painlessly was the best option he had.”
Corbin nodded in agreement, eyes on the goddess. Mika could feel Dagon at her back, but the heat she usually felt radiating off of him was muted here.
Then Lucien took out his phone and snapped a picture of Lucifer and the Morrigan.
“The librarians are going to be so jealous,” he said, taking more pictures of the blue flame. “Why is the fire blue?”
Mika closed her eyes, not sure if she should laugh, or strangle the fox.
“Brimstone and sulphur burn in the blue spectrum,” Lucifer stated, blinking once. He was just as shocked by the fox’s brazenness as Mika. “What am I supposed to do with them, Mor?”
“Don’t worry Lucy, I can handle this.” The Morrigan jumped off the throne and suddenly she was in front of Mika, staring down at her. “You cannot let Cassandra take you.”
Mika’s heart skipped a beat.
The Morrigan’s grin was sharp and feral and bloodthirsty. “Cassandra knows who locked me away. She knows that blood witches still exist, she remembers there are witch queens. She knows you are one. What are you going to do about it, witch queen? You outrank her, and you swore an oath to protect our kind.”
Even in hell, her blood turned to ice at the Morrigan’s words.
The goddess pressed her thumb to Mika’s head and a tingle went through her body.
Mika felt an ache in her arm and looked down to see the wound was completely healed. Another gift.
“Well?” the Morrigan asked.
Mika glanced back at the three males standing behind her. Her heart ached for Ethan and Malachi and Audrey, probably still wondering if she was alive or dead.
“I did swear an oath,” Mika agreed. “I won’t let her use me, and I won’t give her the chance to hunt us down.”
The Morrigan placed her hands on Mika’s shoulders and the weight of the dress was replaced with something heavier, oddly familiar but only in the way that she recognized it from the other witch queens.
Armor.
Thick leather with hell-forged iron plating. Mika felt the soft leggings underneath the leather pants. She felt the soft shirt under the leather and iron breastplate. It covered her shoulders and arms. The iron on her shoulders and over her breast was heavy and ornate, but Mika had been training. She had new strength gifted to her by the goddess.
Excalibur rested comfortably down her spine against the hell-forged iron that protected her vulnerable body. More iron wrapped around her biceps and over her forearms as gauntlets, another tool to shield with without giving up precious freedom for her hands.
Knives on her thighs and Mika felt the rubies like flickering flames on the hilts and around her throat.
“I will gather the Council,” the Morrigan told her. “But you will be the one to mete out justice. You have a claim.”
Her heart dropped and Mika glanced over her shoulder at Corbin and Lucien, Dagon behind them. Her throat closed when she realized the Morrigan had given them armor too. They matched Mika’s own. The hellhound though, he wore armor of black obsidian with accents of gold that somehow matched the molten fire in his eyes – Lucifer’s sigil on his shoulder to remind those he was a denizen of the hell realm.
“You always were dramatic, Mor,” Lucifer said mildly, inspecting his nails.
“As you once were,” the Morrigan scoffed. “Don’t you want to play?”
Lucifer’s eyes flashed into burning blue fire. “I’m not allowed to interfere thanks to the deal I mad
e with the Council, but I am definitely coming to watch. I just need to get my date.”
Fates help her.
“I still can’t shapeshift,” Mika confessed.
The Morrigan’s gaze softened and she caressed Mika’s cheek like a mother would. “It does not mean you are not worthy, only that you need to be willing to change – to accept chaos as your own. We are all made of chaos.” The Morrigan held up her hands, indicating the universe itself. “Life was born out of an explosion. How could we be anything else?”
“I don’t know if I can do this,” Mika whispered, leaning toward the Morrigan as if the goddess might shield her from what was to come.
“I removed the spell,” the Morrigan told her. “When you remind them, they will remember what we are, and they will see the truth. What they decide to do with it is up to them. But you will not be there to convince the Council of anything other than that witch’s guilt.”
The Morrigan snarled at the memory and suddenly her spear was in her hand. She slid the blade over her hand and smeared it across Mika’s face in specific patterns. “If they do not wish to make her pay for what she’s done, you will be the one to serve justice as the witch answers to you, not them.”
When the goddess stepped back, Mika felt stronger, less afraid. She nodded once, running her hands over the braids the Morrigan had put in her hair, feeling the feathers and trinkets woven into them.
She could do this.
“And the one who locked you away?” Mika asked.
“If she refuses to say, I will pluck the memory from Cassandra’s mind.” The Morrigan grinned. “Gather your allies, daughter. You’re going to need them.”
The Morrigan disappeared.
Mika looked up at Lucifer, his eyes still burning with brimstone and hellfire. “I’ll see you on the battlefield, Mika.” Then he too disappeared.
“Well…fuck.” Lucien adjusted his armor. “Though this shit is amazing quality and I’m not giving it back.”
Mika laughed, dispelling some of the nervous energy. “I’m sure she’ll let you keep it.”
“I’m calling my flock,” Corbin stated. “Mika?”
She turned to face her raven, knowing in her bones the real question he was asking her. “Technically, I guess it’s after Samhain,” she said, shrugging one shoulder. “Tell them and bring them to the Council chambers as quickly as possible, but…” Mika held out a hand before Corbin could demand Dagon take him anywhere. “Have them stay hidden until the last moment. You’ll know when.”
Corbin nodded once, and then grabbed her. He kissed her hard and long. Mika could feel his tinge of fear, his determination, and his apprehension for what the future would bring in that kiss. She could feel the panic he’d felt at her disappearance as it waned, and his fury at Ryan and Cassandra.
“Take me to my eyrie, if you please Dagon.”
The hellhound looked to Mika and she nodded. “Come back then, Lucien and I need a ride out of here too.”
“What about Ethan and Malachi? And Audrey?” Lucien asked, lacing his fingers through Mika’s. “They should be there too. We’re your court for a reason.”
“I will fetch them after I drop you two off,” Dagon said.
“Uh.” Khalida cleared her throat, becoming solid once again as she stepped out of the shadows. Mika had completely forgotten she was there. “I could take you and the fox.”
Mika stared at the reaper, wondering how she became shadow like that without stepping into the shadow realm. “Will you stay?”
Khalida twirled her scythe once before planting it on the ground. “Unless Lucifer outright orders me to leave, sure. I’ll stay. I rarely get to see your realm and it’s nice to get out every once in a while.”
Dagon snorted in agreement before planting his hand on Corbin’s shoulder. “We will meet you in the Council chambers, but you won’t see us.”
Then they disappeared.
Khalida did something with her scythe and it became a small stick that she clicked onto her belt. She took both Lucien and Mika’s hands. “Ready?”
Mika shared a look with the fox. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Then that nothingness wrapped around them and Mika exhaled into the darkness.
Embrace the chaos.
The doors to the Council building looked exactly as they had the last time she’d been here, when her name had been cleared and Corbin was dismissed from their service.
This time though it was dark and late. In a few hours dawn would come.
What would the world look like then?
If it weren’t for Lucien by her side, dressed in armor just like hers, Mika would have felt ridiculous.
“You can do this,” Lucien whispered, hand on the hilt of one of his swords. Both peeked over his back, and Mika wondered how the Morrigan had known what the fox preferred.
But she was a goddess. No doubt she knew far more about all of them.
“This is going to be a shitshow,” Mika muttered, walking toward those doors.
“No doubt,” Lucien agreed. “Let’s make sure the shit doesn’t land on us though.”
She pushed open the front doors and paused on the threshold. “I’ll do my best.”
Inside was black and inky.
The Council building was a lot like a coven building. The main path from the front doors led to another set of doors, but there were halls on either side that led to other rooms. Mika could see the potted plants lined along the walls, even in the dark thanks to her new eyes.
As they walked toward the oak doors, sconces burst into flame at their presence.
Shouts from the chambers before them could be heard and Mika shared a look with Lucien. It sounded like the Morrigan was popping each Council member in at a time and their confusion and fury were loud and clear.
“Worst case scenario,” Lucien murmured as they approached those doors. “You can challenge her.”
Mika stopped dead and stared at the fox. “I could. Why the hell didn’t I think of that?”
“Because it’s stupid and reckless,” Ethan said, appearing out of thin air with Khalida.
The reaper shrugged and disappeared again.
“You don’t know what kind of power that god gave her, or what she’s capable of.”
Mika hugged Ethan, admiring the armor that matched Lucien’s. “She got to you too.”
“Are you okay?” Ethan demanded, studying her face closely, no doubt making sure the blood wasn’t hers. “Did he hurt you?”
“Dude is super dead,” Lucien told him. “She’s fine.”
“Good,” Ethan stated. He didn’t ask how Ryan died, and didn’t seem to care. Ethan only cared that the threat was gone. “The reaper gave me the cliff notes version.”
“Same,” Malachi said, suddenly there. Khalida gave Mika a nod before disappearing one last time.
Even Malachi was wearing matching armor. Mika couldn’t believe the Morrigan had gotten to all of them, like some sort of fairy godmother but instead of ball gowns she handed out weapons and armor.
Fitting for the goddess of death and war, she supposed.
Malachi didn’t ask if she was okay. He just looked her up and down and nodded once, as if he hadn’t really been worried about her at all. “Did you make him suffer?”
“I broke his wrist, but Lucifer was the one to smite him.”
Then Khalida reappeared, an armored Audrey at her side.
Audrey took one look at those doors and grimaced. “Glad you’re not dead Mika.”
“Me too.”
Khalida spun the stick and it clicked into place, becoming the massive scythe Mika had first seen her with. “I’ll stick to the shadows, but I’ll be here if you need me.”
“If they get argumentative, you can make a dramatic entrance,” Lucien said, eyeing the reaper from head to toe. She was taller than Lucien, and nearly as tall as Ethan and Malachi. “I can’t wait to see their faces.”
The reaper grinned before she disappeared into black sm
oke. “I think I can manage that,” she murmured, voice echoing around them like something out of a nightmare.
It was creepy, but effective. Mika was grateful to have another ally.
She contemplated the doors that were no doubt locked. Beyond them, the Council members demanded answers from each other. Would Cassandra be there, waiting? What about the Morrigan, or Lucifer?
It didn’t matter. They were only there for support, to bear witness to the justice that was Mika’s duty to give. She was the one who needed to call in the blood debt Cassandra owed and make sure she never got the chance to hunt down any others.
Mika grabbed one of her smaller knives and carved the unlocking rune into her palm. She sheathed it as she slapped her hand to the doors. There was resistance at first, and then a groan as the lock gave way to her power.
The chamber doors creaked open where the Council was waiting.
It was time.
34
Every single Council member turned to her, all of them in various states of dress. Some of them wore ball gowns and tuxedos for Samhain, some of them wore dressing gowns and pajamas, and Samuel Erikson wore nothing at all.
He did not look pleased about it.
All of them stared at her like she was some figment of their imagination, but Mika didn’t let the looks on their faces affect her. She strode forward, strong and sure.
“Weapons aren’t allowed in the Council chambers,” one of the older male witches sputtered. “What is the meaning of all this?”
“Witches are weapons,” Mika said, not even sparing him a glance. “Assuming a blade is more deadly than a witch…what does that say about you, sir?”
The male sputtered again and some female chuckled as if she’d been waiting for the day he’d be put in his place.