To: Eternal pain in my ass. Shukra.
Message: I’m in.
Epilogue
It took three long days to evacuate Manhattan. Dark days through which sunlight couldn’t penetrate. Days when hot sand fell from the sky and scorched the roads, filled rivers, turned Times Square red and buried Central Park. Later, ash howled through the streets, carried on endless desert winds.
Whispers in that wind said the sundering had come.
Old gods had woken. A new god had been born. And this world was not ready. But I was.
I stood at the edge of a flat roof, looking down Thirty-fourth Street toward the Empire State Building, and watched the few remaining lights snuff out one by one.
New York.
8.4 million souls. Fewer now.
Manhattan was silent and empty.
The streets were quiet. No sirens. Just sand hissing across asphalt.
I looked up into a starless night sky and smiled.
To be concluded in Edge of Forever, the final book in the Soul Eater series. Read on for an excerpt. Pre-order by clicking here now.
Edge of Forever, #6 Soul Eater - excerpt
By the time they brought the demon sorceress to me on the fourteenth day of the sundering, the days had died and the nights never ended. Manhattan was draped in darkness, and at its center, in what had once been a long-standing department store, I sat on a red throne made of glass and stone, courtesy of Seth and his sand.
I had begun to wonder if the drone of worshippers would ever end when the seething, panting, snarling woman was dragged to the bottom of the dais and dumped there by those I’d appointed as my High Priests.
“We found her stirring up trouble in the snake pits, my lord,” Aika said. It didn’t surprise me that Aika had been the one to find trouble. In the two weeks since the sundering began and I revealed myself as once again awake, throngs of people had lined up to worship in my name, mostly out of fear. They had all reeked of it. Aika was different. She hadn’t looked at me and seen fear; she’d seen opportunity. I admired that in a mortal.
I rose from my throne and walked to the edge of the dais. Hieroglyphs etched into the floor throbbed beneath my boots.
“You snake-sucking worm.” Shukra tossed her head back and threw out a hand. Her special brand of oily magic cracked outward with the speed and ferocity of a whip. I caught the invisible strike in my right hand without so much as blinking.
Shukra blinked. Fear flashed across her face.
The endless murmuring from the countless rows of people kneeling and kissing the floor ended, allowing blessed silence to pour in.
“Hello, sorceress.” I twisted my grip. Shu’s face crumpled in pain. It would feel like twisting a knife in a wound. I could do worse, so much worse. I had done much worse in the last few weeks. She writhed, teeth gritted. Sweat broke out on her face. Confident she’d had a taste of the power I held over her, I opened my hand, freeing her magic, and crouched at the top of the steps.
“What were you doing in my snake pits?” She must have timed her break-in when most of the snakes would be out slithering through the empty streets in search of food. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be alive to fling magic at me.
“Looking for snakes?” she panted. Her gaze flicked up and her eyelashes fluttered. Doubt riddled her expression. She wondered if she had ever known me, if I could have lied to her for so long. And she wondered if there was anything of Ace Dante left. I saw it all on her expression. Inside, her newly lightened soul shimmered. She’d clung to her newly acquired goodness.
“Ace?” she whispered.
My lips tucked into one cheek. “There is no one here by that name.”
I straightened and regarded the prostrate figures before me. A few hundred. There would be more in the building busying themselves like worker ants. All watching, all hoping I would protect them while their world crumbled to dust.
“This sorceress is not the first to break into my temple,” I said, addressing my acolytes. Fear quivered through them. They trembled like lambs. “I believe it is time I sent a message to those foolish enough to oppose Seth and me.”
My gaze settled on the four priests awaiting my orders. Dressed head to toe in black, they each bore the golden mark on their sleeves of the snake-headed jackal: Apophis.
My eyes caught on Aika’s. She lifted her chin, admiration and pride burning in her gaze. She had brought me the sorceress. She was in my favor. “Take her to the killing room.”
“Wait. What?” Shukra babbled. The priests scooped her up. “Ace? Wait! You… you… This isn’t right.” She struggled, but the priests began murmuring words to subdue Shukra’s magic. Words I had given them. “You said it would work—”
I waved a hand, cutting her off, and turned to my throne. “Cut out her tongue.”
“Ace! Ace, no! This isn’t you. You know this isn’t you!”
Coming to rest on my throne, I leaned back and watched. Aika freed a dagger from her belt. The others drove Shukra to her knees and pinned her there.
Aika tossed the dagger’s sheath aside. “Kur Apophis.”
Unseen power woke from the hieroglyphs covering the floor and walls, summoned by Shukra’s fear and by the promise of worship. My power. The endless chanting started up again, grinding against my skull and shaving off pieces of my thoughts.
Shukra stilled at the sight of the dagger. A priest yanked her head back and cupped her face. Another forced her mouth open.
“Kur Apophis, kur Apophis, kur Apophis, Rurd uk sra Dord,” the voices chanted.
Shukra’s wide eyes locked on me. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. Hatred burned in her gaze, hatred and regret. Like so many others, she had trusted me.
“Kur Apophis, kur Apophis!” The chants grew louder. My power filled the air, like rich spices on the tongue. It buzzed across my skin, electrifying, strengthening. It felt good to be worshipped once more. I had spent too long in the dark, too long forgotten. Nameless no more.
And there Shukra was, on her knees, prone and beaten. I had always wanted this, hadn’t I? The demon sorceress with a good soul. An intriguing contradiction.
Aika positioned herself in front of Shukra and lifted the dagger. “Kur Apophis!”
My power thrummed. The chanting thundered. Hieroglyphs glowed all around, their song beating in time with my black heart.
“Wait,” I said.
It all stopped. The noise, the fevered worship, the thrum of power.
Aika obeyed—she always obeyed—and lowered the dagger, though it was clear from her parted lips that the priest hungered for violence.
I leisurely descended from the dais and approached my priests. “This sorceress and I have history. It would be remiss of me to allow another to take my spoils.” I caught Shukra’s chin and peered into her eyes. She trembled at my touch, but not from fear. Rage burned white-hot in her eyes. “I have not forgotten how you betrayed me, Shukra. How you spied on me for my enemy, Osiris.” A snarl tugged at my lips. “Take her to my chamber.”
Defiance stalled Aika. She had the dagger in her hand and wanted to hurt Shukra, to make good on her promise of worship, and I’d taken that away.
“You will have your chance,” I told her. “Until then, the sorceress is mine and not to be harmed by any other.”
“Yes, Apophis.” Aika bowed her head and sheathed her blade. She yanked Shukra onto her feet and manhandled her out of the room.
Whispers filled the air. Kur Apophis, kur Apophis, kur Apophis. They hissed around me like sand and plucked at my patience. I swung my attention to the worshippers on their knees, all of them with their eyes cast to the floor. Anger simmered through my veins, heated by the power their worship summoned. I could kill them all with a click of my fingers, and they would thank me for it. My gaze traveled on and came to rest on the empty red throne.
You know this isn’t you.
More than darkness.
I left the throne room, my strides even. I mustn’t run. People fell to
their knees in front of me, toppling like dominoes. Don’t run. I climbed the motionless escalators two steps at a time and brushed by those who gasped at my passing. Kur Apophis, they proclaimed. For Apophis. For Apophis. For Apophis. Power crawled across my skin. Shake it off. Don’t run.
“Apophis.” Aika stepped in front of the door to my room, blocking me. “The sorceress is subdued.”
“Good.”
“My lord, I…”
I narrowed my eyes at the priest. She didn’t flinch. She rarely did. She held my gaze, her eastern eyes sharp and clear and penetrating. “I am at your service, always. Please, I… would you allow me to watch?”
The snarl was exactly what she’d expected, but for all the wrong reasons. I locked my hand around her throat and pinned her to the wall. Power slithered down my back, raw and intoxicating. I loosened my grip but didn’t back off. Aika glared, so fierce, so devoted. She would have killed the ones she loved at a single word from me. I touched her face, wondering how much pressure it would take to crush her skull. No, no, no… not me. Not me.
You know this isn’t you.
I hooked my thumb into the corner of her mouth, tilted my head as though I might kiss her, and whispered across her lips, “You walk a fine line, priest.”
The additional power the worshippers had summoned in me seeped from my skin and over her. She couldn’t see it, but I could. Black tendrils edged in fiery embers. Aika gasped, and her eyes unfocused. Her pupils expanded, and her body slumped in my arms. Godstruck.
We were being watched. I was always being watched. I handed Aika’s limp body off to Roland, another High Priest who had been observing. They were everywhere like damn roaches.
I pressed a hand to my chamber door. “I am not to be disturbed.”
Roland bowed his head. “Of course, my lord.”
He hurried down the hallway, Aika drifting beside him as high as a kite.
My chamber had once been part of a furniture showroom. The room had been cleared of sales stock, with only the grandest pieces of furniture remaining. Among the vast dressers, sprawling leather couches, and long oak tables, there was a huge four-poster bed. Not the old wooden monstrosities. This was a modern, wrought-iron piece. The iron filigrees had been modified since my arrival and now curled into snakes and scorpions. Strung to one such post was Shukra.
Pre-order Edge of Forever, the final book in the Soul Eater series, by clicking here now.
Also by Pippa DaCosta
The Veil Series
Wings of Hope ~ The Veil Series Prequel Novella Beyond The Veil (#1) Devil May Care (#2) Darkest Before Dawn (#3) Drowning In The Dark (#4) Ties That Bind (#5) Get your free e-copy of ‘Wings Of Hope’ by signing up to Pippa’s mailing list, here.
Chaos Rises
Chaos Rises (#1)
Chaos Unleashed (#2)
Soul Eater
Hidden Blade (#1) Witches’ Bane (#2)
See No Evil (#3)
Scorpion Trap (#4)
Serpent’s Game (#5)
Edge of Forever (#6)
The 1000 Revolution
#1: Betrayal
#2: Escape
#3: Trapped
#4: Trust
New Adult Urban Fantasy
City Of Fae, London Fae #1
City of Shadows, London Fae #2
About the Author
Born in Tonbridge, Kent in 1979, Pippa's family moved to the South West of England where she grew up among the dramatic moorland and sweeping coastlands of Devon & Cornwall. With a family history brimming with intrigue, complete with Gypsy angst on one side and Jewish survivors on the other, she draws from a patchwork of ancestry and uses it as the inspiration for her writing. Happily married and the mother of two little girls, she resides on the Devon & Cornwall border.
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www.pippadacosta.com
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Serpent's Game (The Soul Eater Book 5) Page 16