Celestial Ashes: The Celestial Marked Series: Book Three

by Adams, Emma L.

  He shook his head. “You won’t be permitted entry.”

  “You know I can take you into any realm through that glass, don’t you?” I asked. “Any realm in the netherworld. I can think of a few demons who are dying to meet a celestial. Did you know I’ve actually met an arch-demon?”

  He breathed shallowly. “The realm… you can’t go through the ceremony here. It doesn’t take place in this realm. It’s…”

  “Go on.”

  “Purgatory!” he gasped. “The ceremony takes place… it takes place in Purgatory. Any pentagram will give you access if you ask to speak to the angel’s representative.”

  “Now we’re talking. So I go there and ask, and they’re obligated to give me a trial?”

  “No. Nobody ever gets in there who isn’t invited. They’ll kick you out, or kill you for daring to steal an angel’s power.”

  “We’ll see,” I said. “So there’s a test, right? You meet a representative of the Divinities who gives you your new powers?”

  “Yes! What more do you want, woman?”

  I had the information I needed, even if I didn’t know what the Divinity’s representative would do to me. I did know they couldn’t knock me any lower than they already had. Purgatory sounded like a breeze in comparison to the demon realms.

  “Leave him here,” I told Rachel.

  “Or feed him to the vampires,” she suggested. “They’re interested in fresh blood.”

  “Nah, celestial blood tastes foul to them, and his is probably worse. Tell you what,” I said to him, “I’ll toss you back to the guild. Let you see what a state it’s in.” I nodded to Rachel. He’d break the ropes eventually, and I had no interest in supervising him forever.

  I grabbed his hands, pulled him towards the demonglass, and yanked him through with me, into the ruins of the former inspector’s office. The combination of the thrashing worm and the magic I’d thrown at it had blasted the roof off this part of the building, leaving shattered brick, broken furniture and little else.

  Farrell stared at the blackened ruins of the celestial guild like he’d never seen it before.

  “It’s gone,” I said. “Thanks to your boss. Believe me now?”

  “No,” he snarled. “Aren’t you going to untie me?”

  “Oh, I’m not feeling that sorry for you.”

  And I jumped through the glass again, landing on my feet beside Rachel.

  “Mission accomplished,” I said. “He was really understanding in the end. Nice guy.”

  “You call me scary,” Rachel said. “So what’s the plan? Talk to the Divinities? I’d come with you, but I don’t want to get burned to a crisp for being a warlock.”

  “It’s okay. I should probably talk to them alone. I mean, I don’t know if it actually is the Divinities, but I’d like to have words with them either way. They let this Lythocrax guy put a mark on me—two marks. What do you think the endgame is here? Because I don’t see it. The Divinities must know.”

  “Most likely, they probably don’t care,” Rachel said. “I wouldn’t know.”

  “Nor me, but I think you’re right.” My memory of the fallen trapped on Babylon was clear enough. “The Divinities don’t give a crap. The demons see it all as a game. Maybe they took Nikolas because he’s powerful and might get in their way. Same reason they took out my powers.” I took in a breath. “I need to set up a pentagram. A regular portal won’t do, and I’ve no clue if there’s any demonglass in Purgatory.”

  Now to ascend… and hopefully not end up eternally banished to hell. I didn’t know what happened to the people who failed the tests. Maybe this wasn’t such a great plan. It’d seemed much simpler than dealing directly with the arch-demon who apparently hated me so much, but he’d marked me for some purpose so he probably wouldn’t kill me right away.

  The Divinities were a different story.

  Between the two of us, we created a crude pentagram in the room’s centre, using Nikolas’s store of ingredients. He’d taught Rachel well. My hands shook when I used my celestial light to ignite the marks around the edges. I half expected it to burn my hands, but with the demon mark deactivated, the pentagram’s blazing edges caused me no pain.

  The arch-demon had been sending a message, for certain. He’d been saying that he had the run of this realm all along. All the realms. And me. I wouldn’t take it. I’d scream the truth in the faces of the divine overlords.

  The pentagram flared up in white light. I gritted my teeth, not switching off my hand.

  “I am Celestial Devina Lawson, and I wish for access to Purgatory in order to take the test for ascension to a Grade Four celestial soldier.”

  Silence reigned. Then a cold voice resonated through my bones: You are not welcome here.

  “I’m qualified,” I said loudly.

  A blast of cold air blew at me, and the curtains fluttered, the furniture shaking. I inched closer, and met a solid barrier. A human-like form appeared in the pentagram. Winged, deadly, and shrouded in light.

  My skin broke out in goose bumps, and a primal fear shook me. I’d seen demons of all levels. Angels, though? I wouldn’t describe him any other way. Feathery white wings at his back, and an indistinct masculine form. Achingly bright light haloed his body, too bright to look directly at. Another blast of cold air numbed my hands. The gates of heaven were as cold as the ninth circle of hell, apparently.

  “YOU ARE NOT WELCOME,” said the angel. I didn’t have a clue what language he’d spoken, but I understood clear as day.

  And I wasn’t having any of it.

  “Tough shit. I summoned you.” I folded my arms, my hands so cold they burned. “And can you turn down the air con? It’s not necessary. Neither is the shouting. There are a bunch of sleeping vampires upstairs I don’t want to wake up.”

  He didn’t respond. Just hovered there, feathery wings glowing faintly.

  I peered past him into the light. “Interesting. That’s Purgatory? We’re between heaven and hell?”

  “It is the grounds of the testing,” he said, in a slightly quieter voice. Still no distinct language. I’d heard the tongue of the angels was universal. Holy crap indeed.

  “Neat,” I said. “That’s exactly where I was trying to go. So if you don’t mind, I’d like admittance to your testing. I’m a Grade Three celestial soldier ready to advance to Grade Four.” I held up my left hand to clearly display the arrowhead mark. He scrutinised it with narrowed eyes.

  “Your aura is marked.”

  “We all have our demons.” I shrugged. “Doesn’t erase my mark. According to the rules, I’m allowed in.”

  “No demons are, and you are tainted.”

  “Ooh.” I looked into the light. “The fallen. Heard of those? If you don’t want word about them to spread amongst all your soldiers, I’d suggest you do as I say. I need access to ascension. I’m more than qualified according to your system. You remember Babylon?”

  Cold fury flashed in his gaze. His aura was too bright—far too much to look at. Wrathful and terrifying—yet he’d recognised the name. I’d guessed right. The Divinities knew about their fallen kin. This guy surely wasn’t one of the supreme overlords, but I didn’t know if you could grade angels on the same level as demons.

  “Then come.”

  Pain ignited in my left hand. Then light swarmed over my body, bearing me away into the pentagram.

  Chapter 20

  Silence and emptiness descended. I stood, or hovered, against a white backdrop the colour of pale clouds on a summer’s day. Except bloody freezing.

  Was this death? Had I walked into the afterlife? Surely not… but the celestials confided nothing about the ceremony. Shivers ran down my back. My bravado only went so far. If I was about to face an interrogation on all the times I’d broken the celestials’ rules, there wasn’t a whole lot you could hide from an angel.

  “Hello?” I called. “Angel?”

  Crap. The pentagram had gone. Wherever I’d come, there was no visible way out.
/>   His voice echoed—“You’re no true celestial.”

  Two small lizard-like demons jumped out of the clouds at me. I raised my celestial hand in defence, automatically. The Grade One demons were no danger to me. I’d seen this before, in my first test in celestial training. Light flared up and the demons dissolved into ashes.

  There was a moment’s pause, then two biter demons appeared in their place. This is the test? Child’s play.

  I spun around, guiding the light to burn every demon that crossed my path. My body fell into familiar movements, the weightless sensation of standing on empty air receding as instincts took over. Time became meaningless, the demons disintegrating to ashes the instant I killed them. Nothing in this realm existed but me and my celestial blade.

  Then an armoured body appeared, a vaug demon. The beast which had dragged me into a demon dimension for the first time. Did the angel know that? Maybe. But I had no reason to fear it. Thanks to that realm, I’d become something the demons should fear. Arch-demons included.

  And I will get my demon mark back.

  My sword materialised in my hands again, and I charged. The vaug demon’s earth magic was useless in this between-realm, but its armoured body deflected my attacks. Still, I’d faced it before, and knew its weak points.

  My blade came up, shattering the armoured scales over the weaker joints in its arms. Slamming the sword to the hilt under its arm, I withdrew the blade, pivoted around its back and stabbed the back of its neck. The vaug demon crumpled into ashes.

  A shadow appeared. Another demon. After Grade Three… I knew what was coming. It must be a Grade Four. To ascend, I needed to beat the demon of the same level I wanted to be. Without my demon magic. My heart skittered in anticipation.

  The demon revealed itself, emerging from the clouds like a beast from a nightmare. Sharp bones covered its body in a ghastly exoskeleton, while beneath were what looked like dark-coloured scales.

  The demon towered over me, and I faltered. Its aura was a vivid blue, like the overwhelming sky on a day too hot to breathe.

  He was one step below an arch-demon. I’d never faced one like it. Never alone, armed with a Grade Three weapon and nothing more. Oh… crap.

  The demon raised its hands and I was lifted off my feet, slammed into the cloud-like floor. My ears rang, my body contorting in pain, and for a second I lost myself in agony. When the pain pulled back, I scrambled to grab my sword.

  The beast jabbed at me with a bony hand. I rolled out of reach, sweeping my celestial blade, but it bounced off the creature’s site. I swiped high and low, trying to get an opening. Its bone-like armour was tough as rocks, and I didn’t know its demon species to guess its weakness.

  Blade-like wings poked from its back like a mockery of a fallen angel. Even in imminent danger, the trained celestial part of me was trying desperately to categorise him, to remember the files… but there was no information on any creature like him.

  “It doesn’t have to be this way, Devi,” the demon whispered. “It’s oh so easy to fall…”

  I beat him back, blade smacking off its armour. It’d be just like the angel to assign me an impossible task. Kill a demon far beyond my level. My human spells did nothing. Not that it hurt to try. Grabbing an explosive in one hand, I threw it. The charm bounced off the fallen angel’s face. So much for that.

  I kicked it instead. Pain exploded in my foot where it made contact with the demon’s armour, while my blade glanced off no matter where I struck. Is this really the test? I’d never heard of any Grade Fours failing, so there must be a way to win. Unless, of course, they wanted me out of the way.

  “Tell me,” I growled. “Was that the plan? Wear me down and lock me up in this world forever? I’m not letting that happen, demon.”

  Light burst from my palm, flooding the celestial blade, and I whirled around the demon, slicing across its back. My blade caught the tips of its dead, blackened wings, and it hissed in anger. Another strike, and I thrust the sword through its spine.

  The demon gave a coughing laugh. “I can’t die by any physical blow, celestial.”

  Another figure walked into view beside the demon. Despite myself, I glanced up—and froze.

  Rory watched me with sad eyes, standing beside the demon. Unmoving.

  I couldn’t move. It’s a trick. The demon must be using some sort of illusion magic.

  “Give it up,” I said. “I know it’s not actually him.”

  “But I can make it so,” purred the demon’s voice. “I can give you whatever you desire. Life and death are immaterial to me. I am a god.”

  “You can’t do that. Never. You’re a liar and a cheat. And I’m not afraid of you.”

  I whipped the blade from the demon’s back and threw it at the illusion of Rory.

  The spinning sword went through his chest. He looked down, still wearing that same sad expression, and something fractured inside me. It’s not him. It can’t be him.

  “Devi…”

  I screamed in rage, summoning the blade to my hands again, and cut off the demon’s head.

  The demon and Rory disappeared at once, leaving nothing behind but silence.

  I breathed in and out, blinking tears from my eyes. Had I done enough? I didn’t know. I wouldn’t go a day in my life without mourning Rory’s loss. It was unthinkable to forget him—and unwise to trust in a demon’s illusion. They couldn’t bring him back.

  The demon reappeared, standing up. I jerked backwards. His head was back in place, not at all like I’d dealt him any wounds, but he didn’t move to attack me. Instead, the demon regarded me with disconcerting intelligence. Wings flickered behind his back in the place of the blackened stumps, and his aura softened a little, lightening.

  The angel looked at me, as golden as before, but without the achingly bright light.

  “You?” I asked. “You were—you’re fallen?”

  “This is my fate.” He dropped his gaze. “I’m no longer fit to set foot in heaven, so here I remain.”

  The angel facade had been an illusion. Of course it had. That’s why he was stuck here in Purgatory, testing celestial soldiers… and I couldn’t help wondering if he’d ever shown himself to the other Grade Fours in the same way.

  “Do I have to kill you?” I asked.

  “No. I think you’ve proved your worth. I really did think you’d say yes.”

  “You don’t know me.”

  “I suppose not, Devi,” he said. “You see me as I truly am, as you will anyone you come across, in any realm. Your weapons will never fail you from now on, no matter where you are.”

  Wow. No wonder the Grade Fours thought they were the centre of the universe.

  “Lastly, I will grant you one favour of your choice. You saw what I’m capable of.”

  Rory’s face flashed before my eyes, his expression pleading. Desperate. Oh no.

  I saw what he would do. He’d raise Rory with a sting in the tail. Half dead, or a demon. Or not as himself but as someone else. Not my best friend who’d died in that cave. The real him was dead and buried. They would create a copy, a fake, and not the person I’d once loved.

  Pain twisted in my chest, a knife opening wounds that would never heal, only fade with time. Nothing would erase my memories of his death—but this was all a lie. A demon lie.

  The demon’s whisper caressed me. “If you don’t want to save him, what about the city you love so much?”

  Rory disappeared, and a new vision overtook me. Startling, bright images. Fire ripped through Haven City, tearing off roofs and devouring everything in its path. Roads split and demons crawled out, small and big, tearing through shrieking humans. The screams and the smell of burning and brimstone caught my senses and held them captive. Nikolas fought, snarling as the demons tore at his wings and dragged him into the earth.

  Fiona walked, Azurial’s fire blasting from her hands and obliterating everything in her path. Rachel dissolved in fire, screaming—and then Fiona turned to Nikolas.

&nbs
p; Cold sweat trickled down my back. Sure, I knew it wasn’t real—but it could be. The demons were setting things up that way. And the message was clear… if I said no, they might die.

  Visions continued to parade before me. My friends dying in any of a hundred ways. Humans burning. The celestials falling. Earth becoming like so many other demonic dimensions—uninhabitable, ruled over by amoral fiends who cared nothing for the destruction they wreaked.

  With one word, I could ensure my world was safe forever.

  But if my own realm was safe, others wouldn’t be. The demons would find another target. I wouldn’t stop them from achieving dominance, and innocent lives would be lost one way or another. They might kill a thousand worlds to keep their word. They would cause as much destruction as possible. I wouldn’t be responsible for that.

  No… there was one remaining question to ask, and if the demon was honest…

  “The name of the arch-demon who marked me,” I said. “I need the name. His true name. I need it to summon him, don’t I? The name Lythocrax isn’t enough.”

  The demon stared at me for a moment. “What possible reason would you wish to summon him?”

  “He and I have a score to settle. You promised me one favour… and I ask for his name. If you lie, I’ll come back and make your life more of a hell than it already is. You can give me the name or I will stay here until you do, and it won’t be comfortable for you. Haven’t we spent enough time together?”

  “One name, celestial. The demon’s true name is Altheare.”

  The word resonated somewhere inside me, and my demon mark shivered. Not quite alive, but not dead, either.

  “Thank you.”

  The light backdrop faded, the clouds brightening until nothing but dazzling celestial light filled my vision. Then the pentagram reappeared around my feet, and the glow dimmed, revealing Rachel perched on the sofa, gawping at me.

  “Whoa,” Rachel said. “Your eyes are glowing.”

  “They are?” I looked down at the pentagram, and the lights went out.

  “So you’re one of them?” she asked, her voice slightly awed.