by Kristie Cook
Lucas glanced Tristan’s way and rolled his eyes before bringing them back to me. “You should have come to my side when you had the chance, and none of this would be happening. You, Seth, your boy …” He twirled his wrist, swishing the point of the knife in the air as a gesture toward each of them. “All of you could have been together, pleasuring yourself with everything you’ve ever wanted. With me, you could have had it all. And look at you now. Don’t you wish you would have embraced my offer?”
As he intended, his words brought my Ang’dora freshly to mind, with its vision of the mountains and the valley and the lake. And the one tree, half of it covered in sparkling ice and half of it blooming with golden leaves. Half of the landscape frozen and dead, like Hell, like Lucas, who’d been beckoning me with those same empty promises. The other half warm, soft, and summery, where Mom and Rina proposed love, life, and goodness.
He snorted, as though I’d made a profound mistake. But I’d known what I was doing then, just as I did now.
“Never,” I whispered through clenched teeth. “Never you.”
“Oh, really? Are you sure about that?” he taunted. “I’ve heard rumors that Katerina and … others … believed you to be a better leader for this final battle. That you would do what was right for the world.” He traced the tip of the knife over my jawline, and I tensed my muscles, refusing to flinch. “But they were wrong, weren’t they? You don’t have it in you to choose the greater good over your own flesh and blood. Because you’re too much like me.”
I glared up at him, looking him in the eye again while I let out a humorless chuckle. “What you don’t get, you unwitting asshole, is there doesn’t have to be a choice. That’s why I’m here and not anyone else.”
He straightened up, bemusement and anger flashing in his eyes. Both hands closed over the hilt of the long knife, and he raised his fists above my chest. A warm tingling ran across my shoulders and down my back. Without breaking the lock of our eyes, I proffered a small smile.
“I’m nothing like you, you arrogant fuck. And do you know why? Do you know what sets us worlds apart? You do everything for greed and power. For control and everything evil. I do it for my family, yes, but also for my people, for humanity, and even for your people. Because I do it for love. I always have and always will. Choose. LOVE!”
His eyes tightened and clouded over with more confusion than ever. But after a moment, they cleared, and he let out a nefarious laugh. And when the knife plunged this time, I simply closed my eyes.
God, I trust you.
Chapter 29
My muscles froze, and my heart stopped its frantic pounding—stopped beating altogether as Alexis shared with her mind what she felt in her heart before she’d said the words aloud. My fists dropped to my sides, no longer banging and pulling at the iron bars that refused to budge. I stared at the girl, at the woman, at my woman, bound to the dais in front of Hell’s lake of fire, the dagger hovering above her heart, held by her own father’s fists. My jaw slackened with wonder and awe and a whole dynamic of surprising emotions.
Because everything I thought I knew about the world, about life, about Heaven and Hell and everything in between, turned upside down at that very moment.
In my hundreds of years of roaming the Earth as a Daemoni warrior, I thought I’d learned all there was to learn. I thought I’d experienced everything I’d ever need to. And then I realized that there was more, a different view, a different perspective of life and the world. A different way of living that I wanted. So I converted to the Amadis. For years, I experienced more, learned more, until I reached the point where I truly believed nothing could surprise me, let alone teach me.
Then came this girl. This woman. My woman. And every time I turned around, she surprised me. She taught me lessons I’d never realized I needed to know.
Most of all, she taught me love.
Only because of her did I know the joy and pain of love. I knew how to love, what it felt like to be loved. The love of a soul mate, of a child, of family and friends.
But one lesson hadn’t been learned yet.
The one lesson she taught me now.
The real meaning and power of love.
Guilt for my past actions did not equate to love. Constantly trying to right all the wrongs I’d done in the past had nothing to do with love. Doing the right things for the wrong reasons was not only irrelevant to love, but spat in its face. Those were all about me.
Love was this. This girl. This woman. This beautiful creature displaying love in all its powerful glory. Showing her faith through her love for not only me, our children, our family and friends, and our people, but for everyone—good, evil, and everything between. And showing her love through her faith.
Because they belonged together, love and faith.
All this time we’d been fighting each other, her following her heart and me following my soul. Her believing in love and me in faith. And neither of us was wrong. Neither of us was right. We’d needed to bring those two powers together.
And my girl, my woman, my wife, was doing it.
Her voice rose with her conviction as she glared at Lucas. “I do it for love. I always have and always will choose LOVE!”
Her words, her commitment, the strength of her meaning flooded over me like a bucket of warm water. I soaked it in, understanding for the first time ever the extent of her feelings. Experiencing for the first time in my long life what she did—an unselfish love that surpassed the easy kind and expanded to the hard stuff. Love for those who were difficult to love, who refused love, who pushed it away, who thought they were above it. For those who so many would think didn’t deserve it—like me … like our enemies. The kind of love we were meant to have for all other souls. The kind of love we were given by the One who created love in the first place.
Love and faith—an invincible combination.
Her love flowed into mine to give us strength. My faith streamed in with hers to give us power. And that was everything we needed.
The skin on my shoulders and down my spine prickled and tingled, and I recognized the sensation. My wings exploded from my back. A roar tore out of my chest.
I would be what she needed. Always.
Chapter 30
Rather than pain stabbing into my chest, my back and shoulder blades tingled again, and at the same time the blade should have plunged into my heart, the crunching sound of metal and a terrifying roar filled the air. My eyes popped open to find Lucas’s hands paused with the tip of the knife pressing into my leather vest and his eyes darting wildly. A large, dark streak came at us, and in a blur of motion, Lucas disappeared and the stone dais I lay on collapsed like a house of cards. My freshly grown wings burst free, each purple and black feather hard and sharp as a double-edged sword. They cut through the magical bindings holding me, and I sprang from the broken platform.
Tristan paused long enough to check on me as his own new wings spread wide, and then he flew after Lucas. Swiping the edges of my wings across the iron, I cut through the bars between my son and me, and sprang inside for him. I’d planned to slip my arms under his shoulders and knees and lift him up like I’d done so many times before, when he was little. But one look at him, and I knew I couldn’t do that. Like I’d had to do with Tristan, I circled my arms under his, clasped my hands together over his chest, and launched myself upward into the darkness.
“I lost him,” Tristan said as he soared up next to me. “Let’s just get to the Earthly realm.”
Hold on. I need you to light up.
A flame suddenly appeared in his outstretched hand, lighting our way, and I led him upward, hoping to find the faeries. At least a dozen cells like the ones that had held us were perched at the top of narrow pillars that rose hundreds of feet above the lake of fire. I flew by each one, using my wings to cut through the iron, and Tristan followed, pushing the bars out of the faeries’ way. Flying bodies with colorful, butterfly-like wings suddenly surrounded us.
“We’ll free t
he others,” Stacey said, and she, Debbie, and Baby Cakes flew off into the darkness.
My focus centered on saving my son in my arms and the babies in my belly before something worse happened, and Satan was the one who was freed. “Let’s get out of here.”
I shot upward with Tristan, Bree, and many other faeries behind me. Half a dozen Demons swarmed in on us.
“Go, Lex!” Tristan yelled at me.
“We can take care of these,” Bree confirmed.
With a glance over my shoulder, I saw that the faeries could indeed. Unlike when they were attacked and picked off one-by-one, now they severely outnumbered the Demons. Holding tightly to Dorian, I jetted upward, swerving around the evil winged spirits that tried to block me. I couldn’t fight with my son in my arms, but if a Demon came close enough, they received a swipe of my wings that sent their heads plummeting back to Hell, where they belonged.
Fighting continued behind me. Lucas’s mind signature came back into range as he attacked Tristan, who blocked his way to me. I opened my mind to Tristan, sharing Lucas’s thoughts while I continued toward the surface. But then evil slithered into my head.
“Where are you going, Alexis?” Satan asked, his voice clear and smooth … sexy and alluring. “This is where you belong. Here, with me.”
I paused, hesitating, drawn to his glamour. Nightmarish visions flashed in my mind—Mom’s death, the Normans I killed, the children on the train—and their screams filled my ears.
“You knew you belonged here before,” he taunted. “Nothing has changed.”
I gave my head a shake. No, I was wrong then, and you’re wrong now. Forgiveness has been granted.
“Go, Alexis!” Tristan bellowed again from below me. He must have heard Satan in my mind. Lucas laughed. He must have, too. But I suddenly worried about Tristan … about leaving him in Hell again.
You need me, I said to him.
“I’ll be fine. My faith—and my love—are where they belong.”
Although my stomach knotted, I continued upward, leaving him behind once again as I accelerated. I held Dorian’s large body close against me as we flew through the fiery tunnel, toward the pit and the surface of the Earth. With a shaky heart, I shot us up and out.
And into chaos.
My ears rang with grunts, yells, roars, and the clanging of weapons. The odors of baby powder, sulfur, iron, and blood wafted in the air. Lightning streaked webs across the clouds above, thunder rolled overhead, and fat snowflakes glowed orange like embers as they fell. My breath came out in icy puffs in front of me. Faint little streaks slipped through Dorian’s lips, too.
I landed near the rim of the pit and laid him out of the way of the warriors, then soared high into the sky to gain a view of the battle. For as far as I could see in every direction, Angels clashed with Demons in the air. On the ground, more Angels helped the Normans and Amadis who fought Daemoni and Demons with human bodies. Thousands of dead and injured lay scattered about the Earth. Black, silver, and crimson stained the snow as weapons, claws, and fangs sliced through flesh and blood spurted.
I tried to find my team, my mother, and my grandmother, but it was impossible in the bedlam. To add to it, several figures shot out of the pit.
The faeries came first, including Bree, Stacey, Debbie, Baby Cakes, Lisa, and Jessica. I dipped down closer as more flew out after them, followed by all kinds of supposedly mythical creatures, some whom I wasn’t sure should have been freed. I dropped back down to Dorian’s side in case something tried to attack him, and each time a figure emerged, I held my breath, waiting for Tristan. My chest began to tighten as I thought about him being left behind last time, unable to fight his Demons. He defeated them. They no longer have power over him. I tried to calm myself, but not until he came through the flames did I finally believe it.
Tristan rose from the pit, along with Lucas. They fought each other on a fiery tentacle so fat, it looked like a snake or eel. When the thing lifted itself higher and twisted, it exposed what looked like a yellow blazing eye in the orange and red magma. And I swore it searched for me, because as soon as its gaze landed on me, it zipped in my direction. Tristan and Lucas flew up in the air when it did, and they continued their hand-to-hand combat.
The snake’s flame of a tongue lashed out at me, and I flattened myself over Dorian's body, keeping us protected with my wings. When it pulled back, I jumped up and shot an electric charge at it, but the power had no effect. This was a beast from Hell. My sword and guns were gone, taken when I’d been captured, leaving me with my hidden dagger and knife—both too short to reach the snake’s head without my skin getting burned. I had my wings, but I couldn’t leave Dorian, unconscious and helpless.
The fiery serpent charged at me again. I rose up just high enough to pull it away from Dorian, my wings hard and lifted, ready to slice into the thing. Tristan saw it charging my way, though, and abandoned his fight with Lucas. He flew over the snake, banked into a turn with his wing angled down, and severed it in half. At the same time, a green light streaked toward us, slammed into the fiery pieces, and they disintegrated into black smoke that wisped downward, into the flames. On the far side of the pit stood Owen.
I lowered to the ground to check on Dorian when someone’s power blasted into me, knocking me sideways. As I tried to catch my balance, Lucas landed nearby, his hands out toward me, and wave after wave of power slammed into me like knives blazing with Hellfire. Burning cold sliced into my flesh, oozed into my blood and bones. I lifted my wings to block it and shot Amadis power back at him, but he was so strong, so dark.
Since he had no use for Dorian anymore, I took the chance and launched myself upward, drawing him away from my son. As expected, Lucas tried to follow, lifting himself several feet above the ground, his power still blasting at me. Until a white and black streak knocked into him, tackling him to the ground. Vanessa’s fists pummeled Lucas’s face several times and then her head dove down before he threw her off of him with his power. He launched himself into the air, blood pouring out of the side of his head. Vanessa spit Lucas’s ear to the ground. I soared after our sperm donor.
His power pushed back at me, a force that slowed me down as I flew against the resistance. Two Angels swooped at him, long swords out—no, not Angels, exactly, but Mom and Rina. Each of their blades glinted in the light of the fire as they swung toward him, carving a bloody X into Lucas’s chest. He lurched backward before hanging in midair, his expression wild and confused as his power stopped blasting at me. His red eyes filled with flames when they found Mom and Rina who hovered above me now. He yelled something unintelligible as he tried to lift his hands toward them, but I could feel their power storming down at him.
I took the opportunity and sped toward him. He laughed at first, then smirked, which was followed by a cry to his people for help. Nobody came. Except Vanessa, who sprang up and grabbed him from behind, pulling him to the ground. And Tristan, who paralyzed his body. I stopped several feet in front of this man who was supposed to be my father, pausing only for a second to relish in the terror shining in his eyes.
Then I whipped my right wing out.
The feathers’ edges swept across his throat.
A sound like “no” gurgled through the gash.
Then his head rolled off his shoulders and toppled, blood spurting from the stump of his neck like a fountain. Snowflakes descended into his empty, icy eyes and gaping mouth.
And everything around us fell still.
The fighting ceased. Battle cries silenced. Nobody moved so much as a finger. Everyone simply stared at Lucas’s beheaded corpse.
The fountain of crimson ceased as shards of bright blue light flared from his body. They twisted together and grew into tentacle-like forms and curved upward and high above the gruesome form that had once been a man. The light gathered together, spiraling into a glowing ball that pulsed out a beat as it grew.
The blackest of all magic soared over my head, sending an eerie tingle down my spine. The ball of l
ight absorbed it, expanded and brightened.
It throbbed one more time.
Then it whizzed toward Dorian.
“No!” I dropped to my son’s side.
But I couldn’t stop it. The ball circled around me and plunged into his body, and a moment later, he gasped awake, clawing at his chest. My head snapped up toward Mom and Rina.
“His soul?” I shrieked. “Did Lucas’s soul just possess Dorian?”
Mom’s blade plunged into Lucas’s torso again. She twisted it around, and then yanked it out. On the silver tip was a white gauzy substance, thin and smoky—like Kali’s soul when I’d removed it from her physical body.
“No, not his soul.” Mom flicked the essence into the fiery pit.
The edges of the sinkhole instantly began closing in. The flames dimmed and lowered. Vanessa flung Lucas’s body into it, and Tristan picked up his head by the hair and tossed it in, too. My sperm donor, body and soul, disappeared into Hell. As if being sucked down by a vacuum, thousands of evil souls in their Demon forms sailed into the pit, screeching in protest. The fire immediately extinguished, and the ground closed up.
“What was it?” I asked desperately as I turned back toward my son, my hands flitting over him, checking him for injuries. Specks of dried blood clung to his neck, but that was all.
He rolled away from me and pushed himself to his feet, drew in a deep breath, and glanced around. His resemblance to Tristan still blew me away.
“He has Lucas’s power now,” a cloaked figure from the side of the pit hissed. One of the Ancients. “Which means he has ours.”
My poor heart stopped once again. “He … he has the power of Lucas and the Ancients? What does that mean?”
In answer, the remainder of the Daemoni roared in some kind of evil cheer. And then they attacked again. The fighting resumed.
Magic spells and powers shot from the Ancients toward Tristan and me. We both flew at them, swooping by them, but when we thought we’d severed their heads with our wings, they disappeared into black smoke. Cowards, I thought as I swept around to view the battle.