by Diem, J. C.
“I took a sample of your blood after you were shot and had it tested on a hunch. You all look very similar and, just as I thought, you’re from the same bloodline as these girls.” He gestured at the most recent victim. “Why are they cutting their hearts out? What was he doing with the bottle?”
I bent to pick up the vial and handed it to him. “What do you see?”
He examined it, uncaring that we were getting our fingerprints all over it. He was beyond the need to preserve any evidence. “It’s just an empty bottle.”
“It isn’t empty,” I said and took it back. I couldn’t let the demons get their hands on it again. I hadn’t saved her life, but I could at least save her essence. “The girl’s soul has been trapped inside it.”
“So, demons really do steal human souls?”
“You believe that demons are real now?” Sam asked.
“Son, right now I’ll believe just about anything.” Reynolds realized he was still holding his gun and put it away.
“They don’t normally bother with human souls,” I told him. “They usually only harvest angel souls.”
“Why? And why did they take hers if that is the case?”
“Angel souls are powerful,” I explained. “They took her soul because they thought she was me. Remember when I told you that I was different from everyone else and that I’d been chosen to save humanity?” He nodded warily. “It turns out that my soul is the reason why. It’s unique and I think the Hellmaster wants it.” That was the only reason I could think why he wanted me brought to him. It now seemed that some demons wanted what power I had for themselves. Little did they know that my essence was gone and that there was nothing left for them to harvest.
Sirens sounded, snapping Reynolds out of his daze. “You two had better get out of here before my backup arrives.”
“You are not going to arrest us?” Sam asked in astonishment.
Taking a good look at the imp’s misshapen face, he shook his head. “I’m not going to be responsible for ending the world. Violet can’t fight the demons if she’s locked up. From what I’ve seen, you’re her friend and I assume she needs you.”
“I can’t do this without him,” I confirmed.
“Then go. I’ll come up with a plausible story for what happened here.”
I didn’t envy him trying to explain any of this to his colleagues. Sam didn’t need any more urging. He took my hand and we limped off towards the exit.
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Chapter Twenty-Two
Keeping to the shadows, we hurried as fast as we could back to the store. Sam didn’t heal as quickly now. It would take at least a full twenty-four hours for him to recover from his wounds. Leaving a trail of blood behind that eventually began to peter out, he walked in a pained hunch. I linked my arm with his so he didn’t keel over. For once, I hadn’t been hurt, at least not physically. Mentally, I was in turmoil.
Leo and Nathan were sitting at the table when we slipped in through the back exit. The door to the front room was open and Leo sent us an accusing look. “Why don’t you take a shower?” I said to Sam.
“I have ruined another set of clothing,” he replied with a sigh.
“It was for a good cause.” He hadn’t managed to save the girl, but at least he’d tried.
Closing the door, I locked it then went to face the music. Nathan couldn’t even look at me when I sat down across from him. His arms were tightly folded and his lips were pressed into a grim line.
“Where did you go?” Leo asked. “Why did you two sneak out like that?”
“Not for the reason you think,” I replied. Nathan cut a disbelieving look at me then looked away again.
“Did you meet Zach?” the teen asked. He was almost as annoyed as my guardian was.
“No. I only saw him from a distance. I went to the dance his school was hosting, but I wasn’t there to see him.”
“Then why exactly were you there?” Nathan asked coolly. “What could be so important that you would risk your life by creeping away without our knowledge?”
“I needed to see someone else and I knew she was going to be at the dance,” I hedged.
“Who is she?” Leo asked. “Is she tied to your mission?”
“No. She has nothing to do with any of this.” They waited for me to fill them in and I really didn’t want to tell them why I’d been there.
“If you do not tell us, I will ask Samuel,” Nathan said. “I can assure you, he will tell me everything that I want to know.”
My eyes narrowed at the implied threat. “Leave him out of this.”
“How can I when he is the one who aided you?”
“He was just being a good friend.”
“It was reckless and stupid,” he said heatedly. “This stunt has proven that he cannot be trusted to look after your welfare.”
“It wasn’t a stunt. It was just something I needed to do. Sam knows me well enough to realize that it’s pointless to try to stop me when I’m determined to do something.”
“Even when it puts you in danger?”
We had a staring match that was charged with anger rather than desire for once. “I wasn’t in danger until the demons kidnapped another girl,” I snapped.
“Another teen was killed?” Leo asked. “What happened?”
I looked at him, glad to break eye contact with Nathan. “Sam and I were on our way back here when we passed a pack of demons. We walked around the corner and came face to face with a girl who looked a lot like me. The demons thought she was me and took her. I knew they had to be somewhere close by and we started searching.”
Closing my eyes for a few moments, I saw the girl die again. The water shut off upstairs and I knew Sam was listening in. “We found them in an underground parking lot, but we were too late to stop them from harvesting her soul.” I took the vial out of my pocket and put it on the table.
Nathan’s expression changed from angry to thoughtful as he picked it up and examined it. “Is that why they are cutting the girls’ hearts out?”
“Yeah. The captain took her soul and he was angry when he saw that it was normal. They seem to think alike because he was so furious that he carved her heart out and crushed it in his fist.”
“Did anyone else see any of this?” Leo asked.
“Detective Reynolds just happened to show up when all this was happening,” I confirmed. “He was surprised to see me up and about.”
Sam entered the room wearing a fresh set of clothes. I was relieved to see that his bleeding seemed to have stopped completely. “He was also surprised when I did not die from being stabbed multiple times,” he said then took the seat next to me. He shifted closer so our arms were touching. I needed his comfort right now and huddled close to him.
“The detective witnessed the girl’s murder?” Nathan asked.
“He saw the whole thing. He saw Sam try to stop her from being harvested. He saw the minions stabbing him and then he saw me take on the captain and lackeys and kill their vessels. He knows that demons are real now. He also confirmed something that I’d been suspecting for a while.”
“What is that?” Leo asked.
“All of the girls who have been murdered are related.” I met Nathan’s eyes and saw that his were full of dread. He knew what I was going to say next. “Reynolds told me that I’m related to them as well.”
“No,” he whispered in anguish.
Leo and Sam looked confused, so I explained it to them. “I think that the girls who have been murdered are the same ones that Nathan watched over when we were young.”
Understanding dawned and Leo’s mouth dropped open. “What are they all doing in New York?”
“I don’t know,” I said with a weary shrug. “Maybe Sophia might be able to come up with a theory. We’ll have to ask her when she returns.” She’d be here sometime in the morning. I just hoped she wasn’t as disappointed in me as the two angels were. “What are we going to do with the girl’s soul?” I asked and pointed at the vial.
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“I will release her,” Nathan replied. He unscrewed the lid and I tensed in dread as the pale white substance oozed out of the vial. Instead of being drawn to me, it became insubstantial then faded completely. “She has gone to heaven,” he said with a faraway look in his eye. Leo sent him a sorrowful glance. They both missed their home and they had no way to return there with the gates of heaven locked . Obviously, human souls could still pass through the gates. Only angels were barred from passing in or out.
Fighting the urge to cry, I headed upstairs, took a long shower then dried off. I looked down at the thick black scar that ran across my abdomen. The tendrils were longer now and moved as if a gentle breeze was blowing them. Tearing my gaze away, I examined my reflection. Without my makeup, I was wan and my cheeks were slightly hollow. Dark circles were forming beneath my eyes. I looked like I hadn’t slept in days.
Dressing in my pajamas, I entered my bedroom to find Nathan standing beside my bed. He was holding a small blue rock in his hand. A rune had been carved on it that enabled demons to identify angels as well as their own kind. He’d carved it himself and I’d taken if before Hagith and her cohorts could steal it from us. I didn’t know why, but I’d wanted it for myself.
Sensing me watching him, Nathan put the stone back on the nightstand where I’d left it and turned to face me. “I should not have left you and Sam behind. I allowed my jealousy and anger to rule me and I put you in danger.”
“You had nothing to feel jealous about,” I replied and stepped into the room. I pushed the door shut until it was only open a couple of inches. Sam and Leo were just downstairs and would be up here in a flash if they thought we were doing anything inappropriate.
“You truly were not meeting with your beau?” he asked.
With an internal sigh, I knew I had to tell him the full truth. He deserved to know even though he’d be even more disappointed in me. Taking a seat on the bed, I fished my cell phone out of the pile of clothes in my arms. “Zach didn’t go to the dance alone,” I said, knowing Sam and Leo would be able to hear me as well. “His Dad is forcing him to date a girl whose mother will bring a lot of business to his bank.”
Nathan’s brow drew down in a frown. “You went to the dance so you could see his date? What could you possibly gain from that?”
“I’ve seen her before,” I said sourly. “She saw Zach and me together in a café. She was the one who tipped off the cops.”
His expression cleared when he realized what I was saying. “This girl is the one who had you arrested?”
“Yeah. It was thanks to her that I was almost abused by Bob.”
“What did you do to her at the dance?” he asked ominously.
“I didn’t do anything,” I said with a smirk. “Sam did the honors.” I pulled up the photo that Zach had sent me of Candy’s stained dress and showed it to him.
Nathan looked at the image and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly. “You went to the dance with the sole intention of gaining revenge on this girl?”
I braced myself and nodded. “Yep. That about sums it up.”
Huffing out a sigh, he handed the phone back to me. “It would be very hypocritical of me to chastise you for this,” he said quietly, “when I feel the same envy for your beau.”
“You’re not going to track Zach down and spill punch on him, are you?” I joked.
He met my eyes and his expression turned serious. “If I were to ever meet him face to face, I would have to restrain myself from pulling his insides out.”
“I haven’t broken my promise,” I told him in a bare whisper and his tension drained away.
“Were you injured during the fight?” he asked. I shook my head and saw fleeting disappointment cross his face that he didn’t need to heal me. “You should try to sleep,” he said. He leaned towards me, but instead of kissing me on the mouth, he pressed his lips to my forehead.
It took every shred of self-control that I possessed not to wrap my arms around him. I savored our moment of closeness. Then he was gone, leaving me feeling bereft and alone.
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Chapter Twenty-Three
Dreading falling asleep, I wasn’t drawn into a nightmare this time. Instead, I ended up in the shadowlands of my mind. Morax, the head honcho of my legion, spied me and strolled over. The rest of the Demon Lords and other assorted hell spawn stayed put. The newest arrivals stood apart from the others. They were trying to come to terms with being assimilated by me.
Morax stopped right in front of me and I had to tilt my head back to see his face. “What were you thinking sneaking out at night with only the imp for company and putting yourself in danger like that?” he snarled.
With his hideous face, long fangs and horns that curled halfway to the back of his head, he was fairly intimidating. Or he would have been if he hadn’t just been an insubstantial phantom. His leather armor was functional rather than decorative. Metal braces were wrapped around both of his wrists. The captains wore slightly plainer armor. Soldiers wore similar armor, but lacked the braces. Lowly servants were at the bottom of the hierarchy. They wore black sackcloth and frayed rope for belts. Instead of wearing boots like the others, their feet were bare.
They’d obviously caught glimpses of my recent escapade. “You already know what I was thinking,” I replied. “I wanted payback for what Candy did to me.”
His upper lip curled in a sneer. “Is revenge so important to you then?”
“Are you trying to tell me you wouldn’t have done the same thing?” I countered. “Would you have let her get away with it without retaliating?”
Taken aback, he crossed his arms and glowered down at me. “I would not have resorted to something as petty as pouring punch on her dress.”
“It was either that or pull my dagger out and gut her in front of hundreds of people. Sam thought his way was better than mine.”
He couldn’t argue with that logic and shook his head. “I hope you have gotten this out of your system now and you can concentrate on your task.”
“You’re getting as bad as Hag and Orifice at nagging me,” I complained. “We only returned from hell six days ago.”
“Your health is failing,” he reminded me curtly. “We need to find a way out of this prison before you expire.”
If I died, we figured the demons would die with me. I was the prison they were trapped inside. “It’s good to know you’re concerned about me,” I said mockingly. It was a reminder that the legion were only reluctantly my allies. They didn’t care about me. They were only keeping me alive in the hopes that they would find a way out. If that ever happened, they’d turn on me in an instant.
Since I was here, I paid a visit to Heather. Willing myself over to the small white house that I’d conjured up for her, I didn’t need to knock. She pulled the door open before I could lift my hand and ushered me inside. Her face was drawn and pale. “What’s wrong?” I asked when I shut the door.
“I saw what happened to that poor girl,” she replied. Her eyes were red as though she’d been crying. Sy was sitting on the floor in the living room. He glanced at us then went back to working on his runes.
I’d modelled the house around the apartment that I used to share with my mother. The couch was dark green and comfortable, if a little overstuffed. The walls and curtains were in shades of cream. I’d tried to make the place as soothing as possible since Heather was stuck in my head indefinitely. Movies and books were her main source of entertainment. I knew I’d go crazy if I had nothing to do so I’d provided her with a means to keep herself busy.
Leading her over to the small table, we sat down. “How did you see it?” I knew they sometimes saw what I did when I was under stress, but I’d never questioned exactly how it happened.
“Whenever you’re dealing with something traumatic, we can see through your eyes,” she explained. “We saw the demons take the girl and everything that happened up until Nathan made you and Sam walk back to Sophia’s place.”
It was embarrassing to know they’d seen his disappointment in me. “Then you know that I’m related to all of the murdered girls?”
She nodded and used her sleeve to wipe away fresh tears that welled. Taking a breath, she took my hand and gripped it tightly. “I’m pretty sure I’m one of the girls Nathan used to watch over.”
A chill went down my spine. “Why do you say that?”
“My Mom traced her ancestry and she found out that her early relatives came from Greece. It was surprising, since she’s blond and has green eyes. She always thought Greek people had dark hair and eyes.”
“Where were you when the Prince of the eighth realm kidnapped you?” I asked, knowing what her answer would be.
“I was in New York,” she confirmed. “My Mom is a nurse. She was transferred to a hospital in Manhattan. We’d only moved into the apartment a week before I was kidnapped.” Tears welled again and I shared her grief. She’d disappeared without a trace and her mother would never know what had happened to her.
“I’m so sorry, Heather,” I whispered.
“I would have died anyway,” she said with a forced shrug. “I’m like all the other girls who’ve been slaughtered. You are the chosen one. The rest of us are just extras in the movie of your life. We’re expendable.” Her tone had turned bitter and my guilt rose. Her expression softened when she saw my distress. “I’m not blaming you, Violet. This isn’t your fault.”
“I know, but I still feel bad that you’re all dying. I wish I could stop it, but I don’t know how.”
“I don’t think there’s anything you can do,” she said forlornly. “This is how it was meant to be.” Her desolation settled around us both and I had no comforting words for her.
Sensing that now would be a terrible time to interrupt us, Sy didn’t ask if he could test out one of his runes. He hunched over his sketchpad and tried to pretend he wasn’t even there.
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