Lexi swallowed back the bile rising in her throat as she fell forward, the blood rolling down her chest into the snow. Her body would soon pick up on the healing. She had already healed from the wounds Richard had inflicted on her earlier. This would be gone within the hour. It still hurt like a sonofabitch though. She just had to remember to breath.
“Auntie Lexi? Where’s Mommy? Is she okay? Are the babies okay?” Annabelle’s little voice was filled with worry, her eyes glittering with unshed tears.
Babies? Oh geez, could this get any worse? “I’m going to get her now. Stay here, Belle. I mean it. If you move from this spot I swear I will tan your butt black and blue, missy, get me?” Of course she wouldn’t do it, and she was pretty sure Annabelle knew it, but the little girl nodded quickly.
Lexi took in a deep breath and got to her feet. She was starting to shake from exhaustion, losing control of her legs. The mix of using her powers and her body trying to heal all her wounds—mingled with the cold—was taking its toll on her. She forced it all back and moved to the edge of the forest. Her eyes went wide as she saw Deus and the hound fighting. Meanwhile, her sister was forcing Michael to his knees in a fiery barrage of light and flame. Go, Layla.
“Tanus, you bastard! It’s me, Asmodeus. I swear to Hades, if you bite me I’m going to shave you!” Deus knelt in the snow as the white and blue hound snarled at him with eyes that didn’t seem to see him at all. He didn’t understand what this Seer had done to him, but this being before him was not the brother he knew.
He had always been able to get through the rage before. But this was something new. Okay, time to try a new plan. He was going to get bitten for sure. The hound lowered his body, making sure to keep himself between his target and the person he was protecting, which happened to be the female Seer.
He charged and Deus turned himself to shadow. The hound passed right through him. At the last second, he turned solid, wrapping the shadows around the beast like tethers. He sent out branches of shadow to the tree-line, tying the hound down to the snow using the shadows as bonds.
The beast struggled against the tethers that held him. Deus hissed at the stabbing now ripping through his head. This was not a form of shadow manipulation he used very often. Abbadon was much more proficient with shadow control than he was.
“Okay, bro, we have been looking for you for months. I am not about to let you go now. We’ve got an angel ten feet away attacking your woman. You need to snap out of it, get me?” He locked eyes with his brother’s.
The hound growled, snapping his jaws together violently, pulling at the shadows. Deus felt his nose begin to bleed, then out of the corner of his eye Lexi walked past him. She was bleeding from her arm and panting hard. For a second his mind went black as if he passed out, then he was back. What the fuck? Blinking, he shook his head to clear his vision. He watched as she walked right up to the hound and grabbed his muzzle in her bloodied grip.
“Listen to me, you asshole. That’s my sister over there. Whatever that spirit power has done to you, get the fuck over it! Layla needs you now. Not this spirit beast she summoned. She needs the demon, you need to bring her back. Your daughter needs you! Your babies need you!”
Babies? Tanus was a father? This day was turning into a mind fuck of royal proportions. Deus would not let these shadows weaken now. Not when that hound, spirit, beast thing, was so close to Lexi. It didn’t matter that his brain felt like glass was bring ripped through it.
Babies, who had babies? He didn’t have babies! Tanus’ vision flashed, the white haze clearing for a second. He saw Lexi, and Asmodeus? He felt like he was pulling himself out of a thick fog that had wrapped itself around his mind. Someone said babies? Plural?
He tried to pull away from the blonde woman holding him, but her words broke through anyway. His daughter needed him. He could smell blood, Lexi’s blood, someone else’s, someone he knew. Brother, Asmodeus. Young girl’s blood, a scent that enraged him, his daughter’s blood. Annabelle!
He struggled against the bindings that held him. He needed to find her, something was wrong. He was desperate to reach her. Layla, she needed him. He needed hands, legs. To be a demon to find her. The moment his mind locked on what he wanted, the power that held him rushed off him like water.
In a blinding display of flame and light the power poured from his body back into the ground, leaving his human form kneeling on the ground, panting hard in the snow. He lifted his head, blinking back the black dots from his eyes.
“Where…” His throat was hoarse, he could barely form words. “Annabelle, where?”
“She’s safe, she’s fine. Bring my sister back to me, demon, now.” Lexi pointed behind him and he turned his head.
The woman he saw looked more like a goddess, the power pouring off her sinking into the earth then circling back into her body. It was a continuous cycle that would not stop. He needed to stop her, he could not see anything of the woman he loved before him right now.
“Tanus?” He turned his head. Asmodeus walked toward him slowly. He looked just like the man he had seen in his memory, his first form. He wondered if his brother even knew this was his original form?
“Brother, it is good to see you. We have much to catch up on. But I must see to my female.”
“Go get her, bro, I’m just gonna pass out right here.” Deus waved him off with a grin and put his hand to his temple, leaning forward.
“You do that. But don’t expect me carry your heavy ass inside later. Lexi, get Annabelle, and get his lazy butt inside. Stay there. I’ll be back.”
“Great, he is doing his Arnold Schwarzenegger. Ow, Lexi!” Deus rubbed his chest where she hit him. He scowled at her and she ignored him.
Tanus paid them no mind and headed toward where Layla and Michael traded bolts of deadly light. With Michael’s attention squarely on Layla, Tanus was able to move directly behind him. The irony was he felt totally calm, he gave off no emotional haze that would have usually given him away. He lifted his foot and kicked Michael hard on the back of his knees, causing the angel to collapse to the scorched earth. Tanus wrapped his arm around the angel’s throat, keeping his body flush to Michael’s back so he couldn’t use his wings as a weapon. He brought up his other arm, holding his head in a neck-snapping grip. If not for Layla, no way would he have been able to walk up and just calmly grab him. He tightened the grip. The angel hissed, struggling against him.
“I doubt this will kill you, and frankly, at this point, I don’t give a shit. I just want you gone from our lives. I have no doubt it will take you a while to heal, Michael. Either way, it is going to hurt like a sonofabitch. Goodnight, motherfucker.” With a sharp twist of his arm and the sound of snapping bone, Michael’s body went limp as his neck snapped.
Tanus was right, it took all of five seconds for the bastard to begin to twitch. A low rumbling came from the body. Tanus saw those copper eyes narrow on him, promising retribution. Then the angelic form glowed and he vanished into an explosion of tiny lights.
The mountain rumbled and Tanus lifted his eyes to his female. She glared at him. The thing he saw inside was not the woman he loved. He turned to fully face her, this spirit that had taken Layla’s body.
“Give her back. You have done what you needed. You used me, you came when she needed you. But you can go now.” The wind around Layla rose again. The hairs on his arms stood on end, and he knew the strike was coming. Jumping forward and rolling, he got to his feet and ran toward her. The Source, or Earth spirit, or whatever the hell it was that Layla usually kept at bay didn’t seem willing to let go of the body.
She called the flames again. White hot, they burned his flesh as he neared her. Fuck this crap. She could burn him alive for all he cared, he was getting his woman back in his arms. The flames from the Source blistered his skin. He hissed, calling on his own fire, bringing it to his flesh.
Tanus pushed the flames out, building them like a raging wall against her swirling maelstrom. It did not give him much protect
“Give her back to me! I won’t let you keep her!” White fire snaked up his arms.
The voice that came from her mouth was haunting. “I summoned you, Sin of Wrath. You are mine to command.” He felt those tendrils of mastery trying to wind their way into his mind and he shook his head.
“Only one woman commands me, Source, and you are not her.” Tanus reached for Layla, pushing the burning of his skin to the back of his mind. He pulled her into his arms, covering her mouth with his. He was determined to consume her, make the woman he loved remember why she lost control around him.
The fire enveloped his body, swamping the blue of his own flame, trying to dowse it and regain control over him. He was not about to let anyone steal his mind from him again. The deeper he kissed, the harder the Source pushed back. It did not want to give control back—it had a form now, it held fast to Layla’s body.
Then he felt it, the timidest of responses. A soft flutter of her tongue against his. He growled into the kiss, sinking his fingers into her hair and pulling her hard against his body. He tilted her head to the side and plundered her mouth until she whimpered, trembled in his arms, and melted against him. The white flames began to recede into her body. Her arms moved around his neck and she began to kiss him back, tears spilling from her eyes and mingling in their joined lips.
Tanus pulled back. “Come back, Layla, don’t leave me to raise our daughter alone. You know I will fuck it up. I will end up teaching her hand-to-hand combat and how to shoot a gun or something.”
Layla began to sob in his arms, tears leaving her eyes in streams. “Where is she? Where is Annabelle?”
“She’s fine, Lexi is with her. I swear she’s fine. Look at me.” He lifted her face so he could see her eyes. “Lexi has her.”
Layla closed her eyes, her whole body giving out. Whatever power remained inside her rushed from her like a shockwave, sending the branches of the trees bending to breaking point, and the snow blasting away from them. Then she cried out to the mountain, the pain she couldn’t feel when she had seen her daughter struck down by Michael. It came rushing out. Tanus went down with her to her knees. Pulling her into his lap, he began to kiss her softly, over and over. He held her tightly and took in the scene around them—how had such a battle taken place? He could only remember a small amount of it. The macabre scene of two dead human bodies lay by a truck, and the burn mark where Richard’s charred body still smoldered stood out like a mark against a soul. It seemed so out of place with the pristine snow marred by splashes of dark red blood, and beautiful sunshine illuminating it all.
“Mommy!” Tanus looked over as Annabelle ran from the cabin, dressed in fresh clothes, Lexi and Deus following close behind. Layla lifted her head, seeing her daughter as the girl ran to them both. In a second the pair were crying in each other’s arms.
Tanus felt his heart tighten. This was his family, these two females. One second… he remembered something Lexi said earlier. Suddenly, all the color drained from his face. Wait, babies?
CHAPTER FORTY
Michael hissed as Zadkeil strapped the neck brace around him, tightening the Velcro. He growled low, his copper eyes smoldering as the angel backed up a step and adjusted the front.
“Looks real good on you, Michael. Might make the sexiest man of the week,” came a voice from the far side of the room.
“Fuck off, Raphael.” His voice was hoarse and broken, he could barely make a sound. Unfortunately, that was making Raphael bold. The light in the room dimmed and the angel laughed, pushing off the wall.
“Sorry, illustrious leader. I am just glad it wasn’t me getting my ass handed to me by a woman this time. I was getting tired of it.” Michael narrowed his eyes at his subordinate. Raphael suddenly gasped for air, his hands gripping at his throat, eyes wide, staring at his captain.
“Do not mistake my lack of voice for weakness, Raphael. I assure you I am in no mood.” He managed to wheeze out the words, sucking in air and letting it out.
“Michael, you need to stop speaking. You will have more trouble healing if you keep this up.” Zadkeil tried to be stern with his leader but Michael just growled at him. Or attempted to anyway.
“How is Chamuel? The fool let that demon Lust get too damn close.” Yeah, like he did any better. He touched the neck brace with a scowl.
Zadkeil looked at Raphael, who was still trying to get air in his lungs, then back to Michael. “He is… I don’t think he is quite all there anymore. He won’t let me remove his severed wing. He sewed it back on, the thing is going to rot. It’s like he can’t accept that he has lost it.”
“Would any of us? Take that dead thing away from him before he kills himself with infection. I don’t care if he screams this place down. Get Uriel to help you—about time he stopped sulking. It has been months since I punished him. What of the mark Chamuel placed? Is it active?” He could taste blood as he spoke, his throat protesting his continued speech.
“Yes, although with him losing his mind, I don’t know how much longer he will keep control over it. I will ensure Chamuel is taken care of, Michael. Now you need to rest your throat.” That earned Zadkeil nothing but a cold glare.
“I need no rest, and where in the seven hells is Gabriel? Bastard has been gone for a week. I won’t have my second gone for this long!” Michael began to pace, wincing as his neck twitched.
Raphael, still gasping in the corner, now on his knees, tried to speak. Michael looked at him and curled his lip, gesturing with his hand. Raphael was released from the power that held him. He sucked in a huge breath, coughing until he was no longer turning a funky shade of blue.
“He is. With his. Daughter.”
The silence in the room was palpable. Michael moved, his body turning to face Raphael slowly. His gaze pinned the kiss-ass member of his team.
“What did you say?” It can’t be true. Gabriel would not have left him for something like this, would he? Had the last job with the children been too much? Had he driven his men too hard? If he could have growled he would have. Gabriel, how could he have left? Traitorous bastard!
“He has a daughter, a half-breed. With a human Seer. He is with th—” The lights in the room exploded, showering the occupants with glass and sparks.
“Get out. Get out NOW!” His voice failed him on his roar. His throat filling with blood, he coughed, gripping his desk as his men vacated the room. Michael spat his blood on his desk as the coughing fit continued. This could not be true. How could his second have betrayed him in such a way? With a human no less. The idea sickened him to his core. A child? He had begotten a child upon a human woman, allowed it to live? Nephilim. It had to die, it could not be allowed to live in this world. It was an abomination to all the gods, to nature herself.
Leaning against his desk, he took slow breaths. His head was pounding. His neck would take a month to fully heal after that bastard Wrath broke it. He was done with trying to recruit or take a Seer. He already had one, Eviee. He would break her soon, and when he did he would make her his slave. If she proved to be too stubborn, however, he had found a rather interesting manuscript on ways to summon the souls of the dead. He knew of one Seer spirit with more than enough residual power to complete the task. All he needed was a suitable body for her to reside in.
Layla watched the flames roaring in the hearth. She had a sleeping Annabelle in her arms, refusing to let her go for a second. Tanus and his brother, Deus, had been outside cleaning up for the last few hours. Lexi had vanished to her room. Every so often she would come downstairs with an armful of her clothes and burn them. She said she didn��t know what that pervert James had touched, so she was just burning it all. Tanus had apparently seen their bedroom, and refused to allow her anywhere near it. She didn’t ask why, but trusted his judgment. So here she was watching the fire, hoping against hope that her daughter would not have nightmares after the horrors she had seen today.
Another wave of sorrow hit her, tears welling up in her eyes. Richard hadn’t been a good man, he had not even been a nice man, but no one deserved to die that way. The things Michael had done to him, the things he had been about to make Richard do to Lexi. Even if those desires had been in Richard’s soul before, it didn’t make it right to drive the man to madness by ripping his soul open like that.
She didn’t even want to think about what happened to her—the Source. The woman she had become, what had that been? Was that someone, or something? She had seen it all, like watching a movie from the couch. What had that woman turned her demon into? Some kind of spirit hound? All because of the sorrow she felt at the idea her daughter might die. Layla tightened her hold on Annabelle and lowered her head, breathing her scent in deeply. It soothed her soul a little. What scared her most was the idea she could become that woman again. Was it possible?
Tanus patted down the last shovel of earth and leaned on the handle, looking down at the mass grave he’d just filled with three human bodies. There had been a time he would have just ignored them and left them for the animals somewhere in the woods. He hated to admit it, but before Michael fucked with his head his concern of what happened to mortals after death had been less than stellar.
-->