by Mandy Lee
Katia reached out and grasped Keir’s hand. As their palms connected a flash of light filled the room and the air around them electrified. Katia sucked in a sharp breath as she felt a strange power tingle up her arm and move through her body. Katia and Keir's eyes locked.
“What was that?” They said in unison, their voices in perfect harmony.
The siblings turned toward their father, their movements a mirror image of each other.
“Amazing,” Uriel breathed. “Keir and Elaina, two halves of the same soul, the dark and the light."
“We share a soul?” Keir breathed.
“The missing piece you have each felt is found in the other.”
“We’re part of each other.” The twins said, turning to face each other as they spoke.
“Yes,” Uriel replied. “Keir, I’m so sorry I was unable to come for you before now, and your sister has only just learned of your existence. I wish we had time to have a proper reunion so I could answer all of your questions, but we need to leave before we’re discovered.”
“Discovered?” Keir asked.
Katia squeezed her brother’s hand as she replied. “You were kidnapped as a baby and held here by Satan, essentially the root of all evil. Our father couldn’t come for you until today because he's an angel...it's a long story... "
“The Master is this Satan?” Keir asked incredulously.
“Yes,” Katia replied. “And he's stuck here too...in this castle...but he wants to bind our soul to him so he can leave...which would be really, really bad.”
Keir nodded to his sister as Uriel spoke again. “There is much more to tell you, but for now we need to leave. It is likely that he aware of an angelic presence in his realm and will be preparing for battle.”
Nodding in synch, Katia and Keir followed Uriel out of the cell, their hands still joined. Now that they had found each other they were never going to let go.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Luc cried out in pain as a fist connected with his jaw, snapping his head sharply to the side. He tasted copper as his mouth filled with blood. Tipping his head to the right, Luc spat the blood out onto the stone flags. Every nerve ending in his body was on fire; stars winked on the inside of his eyelids. His human body wasn’t meant to take this kind of abuse. For the first time, Luc understood the plight of the souls he brought to Halja. The only thing keeping him going was the image of Katia he held in his mind. Without it, he would have begged for death long ago. Luc cracked open his eyes to peer at his tormentor.
Satan stood before him with a self-satisfied smile playing over his youthful face, decorated in splatters of Luc’s blood. He had no idea how long he’d been tied to this chair, razor wire tearing his skin to ribbons as he was tortured. He had overestimated the capabilities of his human body. After successfully dispatching a couple of minions, he had ultimately been cornered in a narrow hallway. The minions that found him had easily penetrated his mind, rendering him unable to move, locked in a psychically-delivered nightmare. They had fed him image after image of every human and angel he had hurt or killed. The crushing guilt and self-hatred had left him paralyzed, making him easy prey. They had bound him and delivered him to their Master in short order. Now he sat here, unable to defend himself, and unable to help the woman he loved. Luc was humiliated and impotent. He only knew one thing to be true — he would be dead soon.
Luc dragged in a rattling breath. He was fairly certain most of his ribs were broken and one of his lungs was definitely punctured and filling with blood; he was starting to feel as though he were drowning on dry land.
He was in a modernized section of Halja with glass windows and a sliding glass door that were totally at odds with the gothic building, Luc craned his neck and peered out into the courtyard. What he saw made his heart stutter. It was happening again. Whipping his head back around, he searched the room furtively with his eyes, trying to find the minions that were feeding him these images of his own personal hell. Luc squeezed his eyes shut and willed his breathing to slow down. It was a hallucination. No way were there angels battling demons in the central courtyard of Halja, it was impossible. Swords clashed. Shouts and screams of pain split the air. It all seemed so real. He narrowed his eyes, trying to see through the blood that dripped down from a gash in his forehead. Bright flashes of light popped in and out as the angels moved around the courtyard at dizzying speeds with grayish-black puffs of smoke following closely behind, demons moving in their wake. It was lethal dance he remembered from his past. Luc saw two of his fallen brothers, Baal and Gadreel, facing off with a pair of demonic attackers. They fought back-to-back as they had always done in the past, moving in complete synchronicity. With swords flying they cut a swath through the demon horde that flowed through the gates of the courtyard.
“They’ll all be dead soon,” Satan’s voice cut through the confused haze in Luc’s brain as he continued trying to make sense of what he was seeing in the courtyard. Luc turned his head back around to look Satan in the eye.
“It’s real? How?” Luc asked.
Satan laughed and shook his head. “A loophole I hadn’t accounted for. The balance shifted, but it’s no matter. I have the Chimera and she’ll complete the binding to save your sorry ass. She’s here with that waste-of-feathers father of hers. Uriel was always a disappointment. Going from being a warrior to a desk-jockey scholar. Pathetic.”
Luc’s chest seized up in panic. Katia had been the bait for him and he was the bait for her…Satan was just dangling them like carrots. Luc knew Katia loved him, and she was the kind of woman who would sacrifice everything to save those she loved. She had already proven that by coming here for her brother. All Luc could do now was pray that Uriel got her and her brother out of here before she realized that he was being tortured. It would be easier if she found out after the fact that he had been killed, that way it wouldn’t rest on her conscience. Satan’s laugh rang out, malevolence leaking out with each note that cut through the air. “You’re hoping that she’s already gotten out. No such luck, my totally fucked friend. You see, once I realized the angels had gotten in, I set up some wards around the castle that will stop Uriel from poofing out of here from anywhere but the courtyard. You’ll be front and center when the little bitch makes her appearance, and we’re going to put on one Sheolfuck of a show.”
Luc's heart shredded in his chest. Katia would have to make a choice between saving someone she loved and the fate of the universe. The cost of that choice could break her. The chair he was in suddenly tilted back and was dragged roughly across the flagstone floor toward the glass doors. Every bump jolted Luc’s body painfully, the wire digging more deeply into his skin, his broken bones and open wounds grinding and pulling. He clenched his teeth to avoid crying out, no way was he giving Satan that satisfaction. As they approached the sliding doors, Satan muttered under his breath and suddenly the glass shattered outward into the courtyard. Luc heard shrieks and cries as projectiles of glass embedded in skin.
“Time to join the party,” Satan said with a joyous lilt to his voice as he dragged Luc out into the burnt-orange light of the Halja sky. The gargoyles let out an unholy screech as Satan emerged, welcoming their master. Feeding off Satan's power, the demons pushed their angelic quarry out of the way, parting like the sea. Luc could see the angels struggling, desperate to save him, but they were unable to break past the demons. They were losing this fight. This was Satan’s home turf.
One angel suddenly burst forward, nearly punching through the wall of demons. It was Michael; to his right was Leila. They struggled against the hold of the demons in a vain attempt to reach him. An arrow whizzed through the air embedding in Michael’s throat and he was thrown backwards. Leila reached for him and they both went down, falling out of Luc’s view.
Tears burned his eyes as he realized the risk they were all taking for him and Katia. No worse fate existed for an angel than to die in Halja. To be trapped in the abyss of souls for eternity was unimaginable. The sea of demons cl
osed in behind Luc as he was tossed, chair and all, up onto a dais. The battle re-commenced as though it had never stopped. He watched in pain as his brothers moved in and out of view, their swords glinting. Luc turned his head and caught sight of what was sitting next to him on the dais. His blood froze in his veins. An enormous inverted wooden cross, etched in demonic languages, ensuring that the souls who perished upon it would be reincarnated intact, and would burn eternally in the pits of the abyss as they were tortured by the spirits trapped within. Luc closed his eyes and took in a rattling breath. He was totally fucked.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Katia pounded through the hallways of Halja, hot on her father's heels, her brother at her side. Their exit strategy had fallen apart faster than the speed of light. Uriel had tried to spirit them out of the castle repeatedly...no dice. Satan must have put up magical wards to keep the angels inside. The only place they hadn’t tried to escape from was the courtyard. Keir and Uriel slowed their pace as they neared the hallway that would take them outside. Katia stopped beside them, marvelling at how fast and far she could run now without being out of breath. She seemed to have absorbed her father’s endless stamina.
“Something’s happening in the courtyard,” Uriel said with a worried look. “I can feel angels in distress.”
Katia and Keir turned to look at each other. “What does that mean for us?” Keir asked as they returned their mirror gazes to their father.
Uriel closed his eyes briefly as though in pain. “Satan may attempt to coerce you into a binding.”
Katia shook her head forcefully. “Not gonna happen. There's too high a cost. You said it had to be of our own free will, right?”
Uriel took a deep breath. “There is something you don’t know. Yes, he does need both of you to complete the binding, but it is not two of you that would be bound, it is only one.”
Keir frowned. “But how would that work? You said we each have half a soul...he would need both of us to be complete, right?”
“There have never been twins before – never a shared soul. One of you would have to give up your half to the other for a binding to take place.” Uriel replied quietly.
Katia shook her head. “That can’t be right. How could one of us live without a soul?”
Despair radiated from Uriel as he spoke the bleak truth. “You can’t. In order to complete a binding, one of you must die.”
Katia gave a strangled cry as her father’s words sank in. She spun to face her brother whose face was a mask of shock. On impulse, she reached out and threw her arms around her brother’s neck. This couldn’t be happening. She’d only just found Keir, and she wasn't about to lose him. “I won’t let anyone hurt Keir. He hasn’t had a chance to live yet, I don't care if it's the Devil himself!”
“I won’t consign you to death either, sister,” her brother whispered softly, comfortingly.
Katia stood staring at her brother with a great pain twisting inside her heart. That feeling of certainty that she would be with Luc again was crashing and burning up inside of her. It seemed less and less likely that they were all going to get out of this alive. Katia took a deep breath and turned to Uriel with a look of resolve. If she was going to go down, she was going to do it swinging and would take out as many of Satan’s minions as she could.
“So, what’s our next move?” Katia said with a level of steel in her voice that took her by surprise.
Uriel swallowed hard before he replied, his voice rough with emotion. “We have only one move. We fight our way out.”
“And if we’re captured?” Keir asked quietly.
“If you’re captured, you can refuse the binding. But be warned, if Satan has both of you, he will use the most heinous torture to bend you to his will,” said Uriel with a catch in his voice. “You must remember what’s at stake should he succeed.”
Katia nodded solemnly. “So we have two possible outcomes – escape or suicide. And suicide in Halja is the gift that keeps on giving, right?”
“What do you mean?” Keir asked.
Turning to her brother, Katia replied, “You die in Halja and your soul is stuck here eternally in a deep abyss with millions of other trapped souls with no hope of release.”
Katia watched as her brother sucked in a breath and held it for a moment before expelling it loudly.
“Yeah, not exactly the reunion any of us wanted, so let’s hope we can get our asses out of here in one piece.” Katia smiled wryly at her brother. “Welcome to the family.”
Uriel laughed as he reached out to rest a hand on each of his children’s shoulders. “Let’s hope this doesn’t become our regular family bonding activity.”
“No shit,” Katia muttered.
“Once we enter the courtyard, you two stick together.” Uriel said firmly. “I’ll provide as much cover as possible for both of you.”
“Sounds good,” Katia nodded.
“Daughter, you absorbed combat knowledge from the Jinn. I can sense it. You should pass that on to your brother.”
Katia turned toward her brother and reached out, placing her fingertips on Keir’s temples as Amir had done to her. “Okay, Keir, I need you to relax and clear your mind. Once you feel a connection, just try to zero in on battle tactics and weapons. You’ll know what I mean once it happens, all right?”
Keir nodded, unsuccessfully hiding his apprehension. Katia stared into her brother’s eyes and felt a pull like they were magnets being drawn inexorably closer. She was falling into a mirror that would surely shatter upon impact. A split second before she was certain she would break apart, Katia felt a buzzing power run through her. Her cresting panic began to subside as the warm electric current ran from her heart, up her chest, and down her arms. As the current reached her fingers, a bright flash lit up the dim hallway. Keir’s head snapped backward but his eyes remained locked on hers. The falling sensation returned, but this time Katia felt like she was falling directly into Keir’s eyes. The green and blue coming closer and closer until they swallowed her whole. And then it happened. They were connected.
Katia could sense her brother’s thoughts and feelings. The loneliness and sadness inside him almost brought her to her knees. Behind that was a bright flare of hope that made her smile. The world inside of him was changing and shifting, she could feel the positive emotions running through him, gathering momentum and preparing to crest like a great wave full of love, belonging, and peace.
When she had merged with Amir she had remained separate, had seen flickering images and fuzzy sensations from Amir’s life, this time she and Keir had merged into one. Katia could feel her own memories flowing through a separate part of her mind like sand through an hourglass as they trickled through her into her brother. They had completed some kind of circuit. Their soul was merging. Katia wondered what Keir was feeling as he stood witness to her life.
She had no idea how long they remained locked together, but suddenly the images stopped, frozen like a DVD put on pause. A blur of information flickered in her mind’s eye. Keir had found what he needed. Energy began to brew deep inside her, Katia knew what was coming and braced herself as a flash of power ripped her and her brother apart, flinging them onto the floor. Katia shook her head and blinked to refocus her eyes after the blinding flash. As her vision cleared, her brother's face came into focus, he was staring at her in wonder.
“You’ve lived a big life,” he said, awe lacing every word he spoke.
Suddenly embarrassed by the thought of her entire life being an open book, Katia blushed and looked down at the ground as she dragged herself to her feet, scuffing her boot on the flagstone floor. “Not really. The music was an outlet. I never planned on becoming famous...it just kinda happened.”
Katia peeked up at her brother and saw him shake his head. “It’s not just that. You’ve known the love of wonderful parents, the love of your music...you always felt like an outsider, but it didn’t stop you from achieving many things in life...and you’ve finally known the love of a man
who would risk his own life to save yours. Your desire to save me is so strong. I felt it hammering at me through our connection. You’re a strong woman. I’m thankful to be your brother.”
Tears pricked her eyes as Katia embraced Keir. “We can both live a big life now that you’re free.”
Uriel cleared his throat and the twins turned toward their father as one. “I’m sorry my children, but we cannot tarry here any longer. The battle outside is raging and the losses to our side are mounting. We must make our move now before it is too late.”
Glancing at each other once more, Katia and Keir nodded in unison and turned toward the door leading to the outer courtyard and their uncertain future beyond.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Katia burst through the doorway into the open courtyard and felt the breath sucked from her lungs at the sight before her. Blood streamed down the cracks in the stonework, the walls of the inner courtyard were painted red and black with the blood of angels and demons alike. The sounds of battle raged around her as swords clashed and angelic whips of fire cracked through the air. Screams rose above the sounds of weapons as combatants from both sides fell bloody to the ground. She swallowed bile as she looked at the carnage around her; her brother retched at her side. Battle tactics began to click through her mind as she palmed her gun. With any luck, the charmed rounds would allow them to cut a path to the center of the melee so Uriel could fly them out of Halja to the portal. A sudden cry at her side wrenched Katia’s attention away from her escape plan. Whipping her head to the side, she saw the agonized expression on her brother’s face. Keir lifted a shaking hand and pointed toward the far side of the keep. Katia’s eyes followed and her heart dropped — Luc. The world tilted as her legs buckled beneath her. She cried out when her knees connected painfully with the stones below. He’d come after her, and here he was, crucified in the depths of Halja on an inverted cross. Katia felt that strange coldness start to creep through her body as sadness and despair began to take over. The world before her distorted as ice formed over her eyes. Right before the world in front of her was about to wink out, strong arms circled her from behind and lifted her to her feet. The feel of warm fingers closing over her own began to melt the light layer of frost.