Hopes rose and fell at once. They’d come back! But how could they possibly fight and win against such a powerful monster? At the moment, it didn’t look good at all. A quick flick of Eddie’s wrist and another lash-strike landed hard on her shoulders. The sound of wailing surprised her. He’d given her voice back.
“Listen, Brethren! Hear the lilting music of torture only I can deliver!”
The whipping increased in intensity and frequency. Knowing her voice had returned, she refused to utter another sound and feed into his sadistic plan. She might not be in control of the situation, but she sure as hell was in charge of her reactions. Skin on fire, she could actually feel blood trickling down her back from open wounds. One distinct voice amongst the many broke through her agony and touched her heart. Nathanael.
“Tonight, Murati, you die!”
He roared and descended to the ground. Taking one ominous-looking step after another toward her, his sword blocked and batted away the incessant barrage of destructive energy focused directly on him.
“Hold on, Red,” he shouted. “I’m coming for you, as I promised. Brethren! Swords together!”
As they changed formation and brought their swords up, all the bolts blended into one, and the wall of metal reflected the massive energy, sending sparks shooting high into the sky and back at Murati’s palms.
“Ahh!” Satan’s lackey buckled under the strain and dropped to his knees.
The lightning show ended, the lashings stopped, and her bindings faded away. She crumpled to the ground, but in spite of the pain managed to crawl to a relatively safe area by a raised flower bed, where she watched in horror as her uncle transformed right before her eyes.
Buttons popped, fabric ripped under the strain, and then, along with an ungodly scream, the very skin itself tore away as a grotesque creature emerged. An oily black sheen coated his scaly body. Howling, he stretched to his full height, dwarfing all of the Brethren present. Two red, curling horns protruded and elongated from his temples, and his clawed hands fisted in the air as though announcing he had arrived—whatever the hell he was.
“Brethren, be warned! Your existence is meaningless, and I shall take pleasure in meting out your death! I am Abaddon. Look into my eyes and you shall see your end!”
Unable to take in the unfolding scene any longer, she shrieked and backed up even farther, but as she did so, something glinted from the ground by what used to be her uncle’s body. The Elixxir! She had to get to it somehow and keep it secure.
The Brethren were up to their eyeballs in scary shit and she needed to pitch in, terror be damned. She monitored the situation for a few moments and saw the demon’s attention rested fully on the angels. Seeing her chance, she scrambled over to grab the flask, and found herself looking right into the eyes of what nightmares were made of.
Evil took all shapes and forms, but in the millennia of fighting and warring, none had ever materialized such as the one that now stood before the Brethren Warrior. He wouldn’t have the chance to deal out justice to Murati like he’d wanted; but then, Evil had taken care of that for him. So he would take care of the Evil that stood before them now. The familiar endorphin rush had coursed through his veins like a spark in dry brush as he’d flown over to save Ariana. With Michael’s talisman around his neck, no darkness could penetrate his soul, so he now gave free rein to the fire, the rage, and his desire for justice.
The coordinated efforts of all Brethren would be necessary here. He knew that. Understood the protocols. But when he saw her, battered and bleeding as she scrambled out of her hiding spot and retrieved the Elixxir, all reason left him. She’d caught Abaddon’s attention and now stared, terror-stricken, into the demon’s eyes.
“Michael, protection! Now! Ariana’s got the Elixxir!”
Michael extended his left hand toward her, but his attempts to protect her were flicked away like a gnat by this demon from Hell.
“Shit, Gabriel! Urie! Help him!”
All the Protectors combined their energies to wrap a protective dome around her and the Elixxir. The demon trudged right through it. The Warriors laid in their attack with jabs and slices to his scaly skin, but the wounds instantly healed, just as their own skin did. All efforts were ignored.
“Ariana! Toss me the Elixxir. It’s what he wants.” But she remained frozen in her place. “Toss it!”
No response, and Abaddon closed in on her.
The entire team raised their swords and flew over to defend her, but couldn’t get close enough. The behemoth batted them away as if they were toy action figures.
“The Elixxir will be mine, mortal.” His razor-sharp claws loomed ever closer to her and he plucked her right from where she’d been sitting like a stone figure.
He lifted her high in the air and she came to life, wriggling and protesting, hurling curses.
“You will never have it!” She opened the flask and poured the liquid down her throat. Coughing and gagging, she lost control and her hands let go of the flask. Nathanael looked on in horror as a greenish glow formed around her and beams of light shot out of her eyes. Her body shook like a tree being uprooted in the midst of a tornado. An inhuman screech threatened to deafen them all.
Abaddon was not a happy demon.
Normalcy seemed to return to Ariana as the light show receded, but as it did so, she stretched her arms out wide, grabbed hold of each horn, and pulled his face down to meet hers. “You’ve met your match, demon!”
Pulling those horns down even farther and twisting with the power of a legion of immortals, she wrestled the demon to the ground and stuck the tips into the earth. Nathanael looked on in amazement and pride at his woman, now an immortal with more strength then that of all the Brethren put together. “Warriors! Come deliver your Brethren justice!” She stood before them, a warrior in her own right.
Pulled from his stupor, Nathanael charged straight in like a bull, with Kemuel and Yofi joining him on both sides. Kemuel stuck Abaddon through the chest, deep into the earth, while Yofi skewered his gut on his blade. Nathanael severed his legs and arms and raised his sword to deliver the final blow. The inscription on the blade blazed. His eyes glazed over, ready for the execution, but he caught sight of Ariana and stopped. He wanted to do it. His body thrummed with the need for the kill. But would he cross a line he could never cross back over again?
“Do it, Nate. I’m here. I’ll bring you back. Look to me for your safe place.”
He nodded, and with the force of ten warriors, swung his sword. Light splayed out from Abaddon’s neck and he ceased to exist. The sword absorbed the demon’s blood in a brilliant display. Nathanael shuddered, closed his eyes, and fell to his knees, groaning. Sticking the blade into the ground before him, he anticipated the pain and hunger for more.
Look to me, Nathanael, for your safe place.
She had spoken to him in his mind and he took a shaky breath. Hanging his head, he extended a trembling hand. A warm, soft hand closed around his. He grabbed her to him in a fierce embrace and drank in her unique essence, something he hadn’t noticed about her before. It damn near intoxicated him, and he smiled for the first time since…he didn’t know when. He nuzzled her hair and then held her from him, leaning his forehead against hers.
“My God, Ariana, you crazy fool!” He raked his hands through her hair to cradle her head and placed a crushing kiss on her lips. He tasted the salt of tears, not knowing whether they had been his or hers. “I almost lost you! Do you realize what that would have done to me? Whatever possessed you to drink the Elixxir?”
“Nothing was working, Nate. The Brethren were completely outmatched by that…that thing.” She caressed his cheeks and shook her head. “I don’t know. I guess I thought that maybe with the power of the Elixxir I could help in some small way. There seemed nothing left to do. And…I couldn’t bear losing you. You need me too much. And, hell, I need you more.”
Chapter Seventeen
Nathanael brought Ariana back to Emma and Michael’s house.
Emma greeted them in the foyer.
“Nathanael.”
He nodded. “Emma, good to see you.”
“Good to see you, too. You have a healing session with me after you debrief with the boys, and Ariana, I’d like to meet with you now. You’re not the only one here who’s been transformed from mortal to immortal. We’ve taken different paths but it all ends at the same point, immortality. I think we should take advantage of the gathering in there, don’t you?”
“I guess so. I’ve got questions. Lots of questions.”
“And I’m sure the Brethren would like to know how your newfound immortality has manifested within you. What, if any, special powers you may have acquired. So, you, head on into the study there. The boys are already debriefing. Ariana, follow me, please.”
He leaned down and kissed her lightly on the lips, cupped her cheek, and smiled. “Hey, I’ll see you soon, Red. Be good and play nice.”
“You, too. Stay cool, calm. If things get dicey in there, think of me.” She ruffled his hair and followed Emma down the hall.
Nathanael entered the study, or lion’s den, since it sounded like a lot of snarling and arguing going on. He took a deep breath and joined the fray.
“What’s all the shouting about?”
Kemuel spoke up first. “What the hell happened back there? That’s what all the shouting is about. How the hell did things go so wrong? Why?”
“E.L. is fucking around with us again. He did it before, with Emma and me, remember? And he did it again today with all of us.”
“There’s got to be a way to circumvent his ability to screw with us, Michael. How can we do our jobs here if our powers can be dampened or made null and void at his will?”
“Kemuel, he’s always got a plan. You know that. We do what we think we should do in a given situation. If he has other designs, well, he lets us know by limiting our capabilities.”
“I get it, but what I have a problem with is that he made us all ineffective. None of us could do anything to that demon until Ariana drank the Elixxir and turned immortal on us. Speaking of which, we were supposed to deliver it back to the Beyond. What are we gonna do now? Deliver an empty flask?”
Nathanael sat on the floor by the fireplace. “Good question. I wonder what E.L. will have us do. I’m sure he’ll weigh in any time now. Technically, it no longer exists.”
“Technically, it exists inside Ariana.” Gabriel tapped a finger to his chin. “What will he have us do about that? Speaking of the enigma himself, he’s buzzing me right now.” He took out his cell phone and answered the call. “Sir? Yes, sir.” He put his phone away.
“That’s it?” Michael shook his head. “Three words and two of them were the same.”
“Well, we have one of our questions answered. You’re to escort Ariana Kupi to the Beyond. You have twenty-four hours to get her there.”
“Wow.” Cassiel whacked him on the arm. “Nice of him to give you a chance to recuperate a bit.”
“Is he for real? I’m beginning to question our fearless leader’s sanity. What the hell good does it do to bring her there besides freak her out?”
“I don’t know, but you gotta do it. Twenty-four hours.”
Nathanael threw back his chair upon standing and stalked out of the meeting. He needed some space and time to think.
***
Ariana’s head buzzed. Ultra-sharp, brilliant colors flooded her vision to the point of pain. She could hear her heartbeat, and noticed it had slowed considerably. Blood cells shushed through her veins and arteries, and the sensation of tiny worms crawling under her skin rattled her. She hadn’t felt this way earlier. Maybe she’d been too keyed up to notice. Now, with each step she took toward the bedroom, she wanted to chop her head off more and more: a high-pitched incessant ring had begun, and showed no signs of stopping.
“Hey, Emma, do you have any aspirin or something stronger? My head is exploding, and it’s like I’ve been infested by creepy crawlies. I can’t take it anymore.”
“We don’t need aspirin around here, so I’m sorry, I don’t. But let’s get you settled in here and I’ll check you out. Okay?”
“Yeah, sure, fine.” She lay down on the bed.
Emma closed her eyes and rubbed her hands together. When she opened them, she put one hand on Ariana’s forehead and one on her heart. Emma grunted, furrowing her brows. Her breaths came in shallow huffs. When she removed her hands, her composure returned.
“What the hell’s wrong with me?” Ariana slowly sat up on the bed.
“You drank the Elixxir?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Whatever was left in the flask.”
Emma sighed and rubbed her temples. “This isn’t good, I gotta tell you the truth. Not good at all.”
“Great. Am I gonna turn into one of those grotesque demons, like my uncle did, or something horrible like that?”
“No, nothing like that.” She shook her head and patted her arm. “And from what I’ve been told, your uncle’s soul was taken over by Satan, who craves power of any kind. The problem lies with the fact that the Elixxir is not meant for human consumption. It’s for immortals whose host bodies have incurred an injury that cannot be healed through human medicine or by a Savior’s hand. It’s long since been lost to us, until now. Since you’ve ingested it, along with gaining immortal powers, it’s behaving like an allergen or toxin in your system. I’m concerned that in a worst-case scenario, it could kill you.”
“Well then, how the hell do we get it out of me?”
“Good question. I don’t know. But what I think I can do is slow down your body’s reaction to it so that you can manage until we figure something out. Lie down again, and I’ll see what I can do.”
Emma rubbed her hands together and began a slow progression of touches and hovering of her hands over Ariana’s entire body, from her toes to her head. Once finished, she had to admit to feeling somewhat better. The ringing had faded and she couldn’t hear her inner workings as loudly as before. The crawling worm sensation provided only a faint distraction.
“Wow. You’re good. Thank you.” She sat up and hugged her. “I hope we can figure out what to do about me permanently, though. I’m not ready to die just yet. I’ll put up a helluva fight.”
“I would expect nothing less from Serena’s best friend.” She offered her a warm smile.
“You know, I’m concerned about Nathanael. I’d like to go see him.”
“Well, we’re all done here for now, so let’s go have a look.”
She put her arm around her shoulder and squeezed as she shepherded Ariana out of the bedroom. They entered the study together and all Brethren conversation ceased as one by one they stared at her. She took a deep breath and stared right back at them. Never one to let anything stew, she broke the silence.
“Listen guys, I know you don’t like me much. I know you blame me for Nathanael going off the deep end. But let me say that—”
“We don’t blame you. We actually would like to thank you.” Gabriel approached her and extended a hand. Her jaw dropped at the unexpected gratitude. “It’s customary to shake hands when one is extended.”
“Oh, right! Yes, well, you’re welcome, I guess?” She shook his hand.
“We thank you for saving Kemuel’s and Yofi’s lives earlier today. We haven’t seen such selflessness in a human in centuries. Some of us, not at all. So consider yourself an honorary member of the crew.”
“Oh, I’m no angel. I mean, uh, ha. Well.” Caught completely off guard, she shook her head and laughed. “Aw, hell. I appreciate the honor. So where is he?” She looked around the room, frowning, and then back at Gabriel.
“He stepped out for a few minutes.”
“What’s wrong? I know something’s wrong. I can see it in your faces. It wasn’t only blame I thought I saw when we came in. It was pity. What gives?”
“Our boss called. He wants to see you.”
“Oh, is that all?” She la
ughed. “No biggie. I’m a charmer. He may be angry with me for drinking the Elixxir, but when I walk out of his office we’ll be making plans for a family dinner together.”
The Brethren exchanged dubious looks.
“Oh, come on! What can be so bad?”
“It’s not so much the ‘who’ you’re going to see, as the ‘where’…along with the ‘who’.”
“All right, Gabriel, you’re making me dizzy here. I’m going to go look for Nathanael and find out what’s really going on.”
She turned to leave the study and stormed out the front door. “Nathanael! Where are you?”
“Over here, by the swings.”
She raced to the side of the house where a child’s swing set stood dwarfed by the mammoth angel leaning against it. “Hey, how are ya?”
“Just dandy. More importantly, how are you?” He offered her his hand. She took it.
“I’m fine, for now. Emma shared some scary stuff with me that I don’t even want to think about right now. So, stop deflecting, and tell me what’s bothering you. Does it have anything to do with this trip I gotta take to your boss?”
“It has everything to do with it.” He grabbed her to him and held on as though he’d fall through the earth without her there to anchor him. She rubbed his back and leaned into the embrace.
“Why? Tell me. If I know, I can work through it, but ignorance will only make me very afraid.”
“I have to bring you to the Beyond within twenty-four hours. E.L wants to see you.”
“Okay, so where is this Beyond place? Should we be going now? Is it far from here?”
“Nope. It’ll only take a few minutes to get there.”
“Uh huh. And are we taking your bike or do we need to borrow someone’s car?”
“No, we don’t need the bike or a car.”
She shrugged away from his warmth and glared. “Nate, enough already. I’m through with playing twenty questions and you don’t usually beat around the bush.”
“The Beyond is where we, the Brethren, come from. It’s not a place for mortals. I know you drank the Elixxir and you’re nearly immortal now, but you are still very much a human in most ways. I’m concerned that going there could prove to be too much for you.”
Elixxir (The Brethren Series) Page 16