The hall was empty. The doors to the throne room were closed, and the sounds of a loud and raucous party drifted out.
So Azazel was likely too distracted by his guests to notice my arrival. Good.
“Although that seems like a pretty big security hole,” I muttered. “Not that it’s my problem, but still…”
Gabriel came through a second later, followed by J.B., Samiel, Jude and Wade. They all had their battle faces on and seemed as surprised as I was that no one was waiting for us.
We didn’t speak. We all understood what was about to happen. It was not very likely that Azazel would allow us to quietly take Nathaniel away.
I pushed open the doors to Azazel’s throne room for the second time that week, and the others arranged themselves around me.
A slow wave of ceased conversation started from the individuals closest to the door until everyone in the room had stopped what they were doing and turned to stare. Several angels cleared a path out of my way, leaving a direct line between my father and me.
Azazel stared. Nathaniel stood beside him, looking haggard. I didn’t feel in the least bit sorry for him.
I stalked forward. Azazel made a motion at a couple of his bodyguards, who moved to block my way. They were both quite a bit taller than me, but I looked between their shoulders at my father.
I ignored them, addressing Azazel. “We have come for Nathaniel ap Zerachiel, to charge him with the crime of stealing humans’ memories and selling them to vampires.”
Nathaniel started next to Azazel. It was small, it was subtle, but it was there. That was all the confirmation I needed.
Azazel gave Nathaniel a sideways glance. It was hard to read.
“You have evidence of this?” he said.
“Yes,” I said. “He was witnessed speaking with the ghost of Amarantha, the faerie Queen.”
“And was he simply witnessed in her company?” Azazel asked. “There may be many perfectly innocent reasons why Nathaniel was speaking with her. He has long been an associate of Amarantha’s, serving as a trusted negotiator on behalf of Lord Lucifer.”
“So what if no one actually heard Nathaniel plotting?” I said. “He was consorting with a known traitor to Lucifer’s kingdom.”
There. I said it. The T word. Azazel surely wouldn’t want the taint of rebellion on his court.
Nathaniel assumed a familiar expression of arrogance. “How dare you enter Lord Azazel’s court and cast aspersions on my character? You should not even be permitted in this place. You have behaved shamefully toward your father.”
“Don’t try to wriggle your way out of this one. I’m not afraid of you.” I looked up at the two lunkheads blocking my way. “If you don’t get out of my way, I will blast you into the next millennium. And don’t think that you’re faster than me. You’re not.”
I don’t know if my reputation preceded me or if Azazel’s bodyguards are just that cowardly, but they both stepped aside. I strode forward until I was within a few feet of Azazel. The shiny pink mark from Lucifer’s sword marred his handsome face.
“Nice scar,” I said.
Gabriel gave an almost inaudible sigh next to me.
Azazel’s mouth tightened. “One day someone will teach you to respect your betters.”
“You’re not better than me,” I said. “And this scumbag is definitely not. Now, we’re taking Nathaniel, and you can either cooperate, or you can suffer the consequences.”
I really had to stop throwing the gauntlet down in front of these immortals.
“Guards!” Azazel roared.
There was a flurry of activity from the sides of the room. Several of the partygoers jammed toward the exit. Everyone in my group quickly turned around so that we formed a loose circle, back-to-back.
“I thought we were going to try to limit casualties,” J.B. said. “Why do you have to provoke everyone you meet, Maddy?”
Azazel smirked as about three dozen soldier-angels surrounded us.
“Now, what was that about suffering the consequences?” Azazel said to me, and then addressed his guards. “Take the thrall first. Whoever kills him will be rewarded.”
“Apparently you haven’t learned your lesson,” I said to Azazel. “I’ll raze the whole building before I let you harm my husband.”
“She will, too,” Beezle said from inside my jacket. “Do not underestimate Maddy’s ability to destroy real estate.”
The soldiers inched closer. A winding coil of tension built in my stomach. No one wanted to make the first move.
I was heartily sick of fighting. I’d done more than enough of it in the past week to last me until the end of my days. But I would not allow Nathaniel to roam free, and I would not let Azazel harm Gabriel. So my options were fight, or surrender.
I don’t surrender well.
I felt the shimmering of magic on the air that meant that Jude and Wade had turned into wolves. I didn’t turn to look behind me, but kept my eyes on Azazel and Nathaniel. The others would take care of the soldiers. These two were mine.
To my left, one of the soldiers feinted forward with a blade that looked like it was made of lightning bolts. J.B. blasted the guy with his stave, something red and sizzling.
And just like that, it had begun.
I moved forward to engage Azazel for the second time, but Nathaniel stepped in front of my father, blocking my sword with a blade of his own. Azazel perched on the edge of his throne like a child enjoying an entertainment prepared just for him.
“Fine,” I snarled. “You’re the one I came for, anyway.”
I thrust upward, aiming for his throat. He deftly parried the stroke and swung back at me, lightning-quick. I barely had time to block him before he attacked again.
I had two distinct disadvantages. One was that Nathaniel was a little more than a foot taller than me, and thus his reach was longer. He could slash at me all day long and effectively keep me blocked from reaching him.
The second disadvantage was that I was only half-angel, and Nathaniel didn’t have my mortal weaknesses. I would tire a lot quicker than he would, so the faster I took care of him, the better.
Even with the unnatural boost that I got from Lucifer’s tattoo, I was a far inferior swordswoman. Nathaniel slashed and parried with the elegance of a dancer. I could feel my anger rising as sweat dripped in my eyes and made my fingers slick on the hilt of the sword. He was toying with me.
Well, there was no law that said I had to play fair.
Nathaniel obviously expected me to fight him sword to sword. He didn’t expect me to blast him in the face with nightfire.
He threw up his arms and flew backward, landing on his butt. Behind me I heard the cries of angels, the howls of the wolves, and the crackle of magic flying everywhere. I couldn’t check to see if everyone was all right. I had to make sure Nathaniel didn’t wriggle off the hook.
I threw nightfire at him again, but he blocked it with the sword and the spell came flying back at me. I ducked, the nightfire singeing my hair. I sincerely hoped I did not have a reverse Mohawk now.
I didn’t wait for him to start generating magic of his own. I pushed the fire spell through my heartstone and sent it singing along Lucifer’s sword so that it focused the fire in a long stream at Nathaniel.
Nathaniel dove out of the way and the fire blasted into some of Azazel’s Baroque furniture.
Beezle poked his head out of the jacket. “I smelled smoke. What are you burning now?”
“Stay down!”
I shoved him back inside as Nathaniel loosed a fiery ball of what looked like lava at me. I ducked to the side, but not quick enough to keep the stuff from grazing my shoulder. My jacket ignited from the heat. Rather than mess around with a flaming coat I tore it off, shouting at Beezle.
“Get out, get out!”
“Stay down, get out—choose, why don’t you?” he shouted back.
Beezle clung to my T-shirt as I flung the coat away from me and blocked another flaming lava-thing Nathaniel
shot at me. The shot hit the sword and bounced off, but the edges of it sprayed back onto my cheeks and chin and I screamed. My face burned where it touched. I could almost feel the skin melting.
To the left of me Gabriel dueled with two soldiers. He was handling them easily, and several more were already on the ground. Jude leapt toward the neck of another soldier. I didn’t stop to see what happened, because Nathaniel was stalking toward me again.
“Get high,” I said to Beezle, and he flew off.
I ran at Nathaniel, sword upraised, attacking furiously. He blocked my blows, but as I grew angrier and angrier it seemed he was having more difficulty keeping me away. His arrogant mask slipped and for the first time there was a trace of alarm in his eyes.
I pressed forward, sensing weakness. Nathaniel stumbled backward. I slipped the blade into an opening and it slid into his shoulder.
There was no time or chance for mercy. I ripped upward with all of my strength, and Nathaniel howled. The cut exposed muscle from his collarbone to the shoulder joint, and blood spread everywhere, staining his white wings. He dropped his own weapon and staggered backward, snarling at me.
“You are hell’s own bitch,” he said, his face white.
“Thanks. I hate you, too,” I said, and blasted him in the face with nightfire.
He fell to the ground, out cold.
“That’s one problem taken care of,” I said.
I nudged his ankle with the toe of my boot to see if he was playing dead. He didn’t move. I picked up his sword, which was a lot longer and heavier than mine and felt significantly less friendly in the hand.
I turned back to the battle to see my little band of brothers finishing off the last of Azazel’s soldiers.
We were bloodied and bruised and burned. Samiel bled from a gash in his forehead. Both wolves had small cuts and burns in their fur. Gabriel looked pretty good except that several of his feathers had been torn from his right wing, giving him a slightly lopsided appearance.
I rubbed my hand over my face, felt the long, tender marks where the lava had burned my skin.
We turned as one toward Azazel’s throne.
He wasn’t there.
17
“THAT SNEAKY COWARD,” I SWORE.
Beezle fluttered down from his vantage point near the ceiling. “He snuck out when it became obvious that you were going to win. He went in there.”
Beezle pointed to a back door behind the throne room. I knew that there was a kind of parlor back there, and doors to other parts of the castle.
I started toward the door, but Gabriel grabbed me around the wrist.
“There is no point in pursuing Azazel through the castle,” Gabriel said. “He knows this place far better than you do.”
“Besides, we came for Nathaniel,” J.B. said.
We all looked toward Nathaniel’s still form.
“I guess we’re going to have to carry him out of here,” I said.
That was when the room exploded.
The windows crashed in, glass flying everywhere. Gabriel pulled me toward him, sheltering my face as hundreds of charcarion demons came pouring in like clicking beetles, over the walls, up to the ceiling, and surrounding us. Everyone assumed the back-to-back position again, protecting one another. Wade snarled at the demons as they came closer. I brandished the two swords in front of me.
The demons circled us, careful not to come within reach of a blade or a wolf’s jaws. J.B., Samiel and Gabriel seemed to be holding their spells back, waiting to see if the demons attacked.
There was the sound of applause from near the main doors, and a path materialized in the horde of demons.
Azazel stood there, and beside him—Antares and Focalor.
“You?” I spluttered. I was well aware of the fact that I sounded like I spoke dialogue from a bad movie. “You and Focalor? You and Antares?”
This last was practically a shriek. Antares had tried to kill me more times than I could count, and he’d nearly succeeded twice.
Antares smirked at me from behind his father. Focalor could not hide his delight. The three of them walked toward us, the charcarion demons bowing low as they passed.
“Yes,” Azazel said silkily. “A Grigori does not give up his children, no matter what provocation.”
“What about me, then?” I said angrily. “You seemed pretty willing to sell me to the highest bidder.”
“Antares has demonstrated his loyalty to me time and again,” Azazel said. “He has put his own life at risk on numerous occasions as he pretended to be a traitor to the court.”
“I thought Focalor was your sworn enemy,” I said.
“It has suited us to pretend thus,” Azazel replied.
“So it’s been you all along,” I spat. “You created the technology. You set up the operation. You sent Nathaniel to recruit Amarantha.”
Azazel nodded, as though I were a good pupil.
“Why?” I said, thinking of the cubs, all the humans, who’d lost their memories. “You have broken the laws of Lucifer’s kingdom. You’ve harmed humans for your own gain.”
“Do not quote chapter and verse at me,” Azazel said. “You, who defy Lord Lucifer and the Grigori at every turn. You, who cleave unto the laws only when it suits your purpose.”
“I’ve never killed an innocent for money,” I said. “Don’t compare my actions to yours. I thought you were the right hand of Lucifer, his most trusted advisor.”
“I have played that role for centuries untold,” Azazel acknowledged. “But I have waited, always waited, for my opportunity. And now it has come.”
“You’re crazy,” I breathed. “Open warfare against Lucifer? Do you really think you can seize power?”
“I do not think,” Azazel said. “I know. You cannot comprehend how many of the Grigori have longed to be rid of him—his arrogance, his changeability, his cruel whims. We have been at his mercy since time untold. And now we will band together and overthrow him, and a new order will begin.”
“A new order in which humans are subservient to angels?” I guessed, and seeing the answer in his eyes I felt anger pushing at my skin. “You would turn humans into nothing more than slaves, to be used by vampires and faeries and demons at will?”
“Yes,” Azazel replied. “And even you, Madeline Black, cannot prevent this. All over Lucifer’s kingdom the dominoes have begun to fall. And there is no savior to come for you now, no ally that has not sacrificed himself already to stand at your side.”
I felt a trickle of dread. Not for myself, but for Beezle and Gabriel and Wade and Samiel and Jude and J.B. I’d thought I’d assembled a pretty badass collection of backups, but all I’d really done was gather all my friends in one place so we could be killed together.
“And what of the Morningstar?” I said.
“You may have noticed that Lord Lucifer has been out of touch of late,” Azazel said. “Wherever he may be, he is not available to answer your cries for help.”
“You think I care about me?” I said furiously. “I’m talking about the complete and total destruction of you and your stupid plans. Lucifer is stronger than all of you put together. He won’t allow you to enslave humans.”
“You are overestimating Lord Lucifer’s strength,” Azazel said. “He has survived thus far on cunning and guile, two qualities that he has used to manipulate us against one another for centuries. He has maintained absolute power by playing the Grigori and the other supernatural courts as if we were nothing more than pieces on a chessboard. No more.”
“You’ll lose,” I said with certainty.
“And you will die regardless,” Azazel replied. “You shall not leave this court alive.”
Beezle tightened his claws on my shoulder. The rest of us pressed together more tightly as the demons inched closer.
“Don’t bother trying to fight off the demons,” I said to Gabriel in a voice barely a whisper.
I felt rather than saw his nod. I knew he understood.
Azazel and Foc
alor turned to leave the throne room. Antares gave me a cruel smile.
I blasted him with nightfire and he fell to the ground screaming. The demons descended on us. I dropped Nathaniel’s sword and scooped up Wade under one arm before he could attack. Gabriel grabbed Jude, and we all took flight. I passed Wade to Samiel in midair. Several of the charcarion demons that clung to the ceiling released their hold in an attempt to fall on us and knock us to the ground. J.B. blasted them out of the way with his wand.
Azazel and Focalor had stopped and turned to see what was happening. Azazel seemed amused as he looked up at us hanging near the ceiling.
“You will have to come down eventually,” Azazel said.
“Everything does,” I agreed. I felt the buildup of power inside me, and I dug deeper than I ever had before. I would get only one shot, and I needed it to count. “Gravity is a powerful force.”
I blasted the electricity spell out, and it exploded in a torrent of lightning from my hands. But I wasn’t aiming for Azazel or Focalor, as much as I would have enjoyed frying them both. I aimed for the ceiling.
There was a terrible crack, and half the ceiling came down.
Electrical wiring sparked, and wooden cross beams ignited.
Charcarion demons cried out as they were crushed. The ones that were not turned into mosquito splats rushed toward the door. Azazel and Focalor shouted at them to stop, blasted the demons for disobeying, but their desire to live overrode their instinct to obey. The two Grigori were overrun by the panicked horde.
Samiel’s shoulder was hit by falling debris and he lost his grip on Wade. The wolf tumbled toward the floor, barking and howling.
I shot downward to Wade, heedless of the falling chunks of ceiling, and grabbed him out of midair. The others followed me as I swooped through the room. I aimed for one of the broken windows, thinking it would be safest to get out of the throne room.
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