by Jana Oliver
“Well, gotta go,” Beck said. “You keep an eye out for trouble.”
“I will. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
She ended the call and waited for her apprentice to catch up to her.
“Have you had a chance to talk to Eslee yet?” she called out.
No reply.
A profound sense of wrongness embraced her. Her apprentice was usually in a good mood, and even when he’d broken up with his girlfriend, he’d talked about it.
The wrongness continued to grow as Kurt came nearer. On her chest, Ayden’s amulet began to grow warm as Riley sensed darkness, the kind Hell fosters. Careful to get every word correct, she slowly wove the spell Mort had taught her, the one that stripped away a glamour.
Kurt’s form wavered, then slowly peeled away like a skin from a rotten apple. What remained wasn’t her apprentice, and wasn’t a necromancer or a witch. Those last two, she had a chance with. This thing was much worse.
Archfiend.
Riley swung her backpack off her shoulder, pulled out the sword, and let the scabbard fall at her feet. There wasn’t time to call for backup, but if she could stall for a few minutes, other trappers would be arriving. Beck, Jackson; any of the masters would be great. At this point, she wasn’t fussy.
Riley took a step back, then another. Holy ground lay behind her, at the entrance to the church, because no one bothered to ward a parking lot. A car pulled in, one that she recognized. Doors opened and all three of her apprentices exited.
No!
“Why are you doing this?” Riley asked, trying to draw the demon’s attention her way.
“Because you took what was mine,” the fiend replied flatly.
The last vestiges of the glamour fell away, revealing something unusual. It was certainly an Archfiend, with that domed head, the multiple eyes, the bat wings with claws that could rip out your guts before you even felt the slice. This one was clothed in not only a loincloth, but in black chest armor, armor that molded across breasts. A female? She’d never seen an Archfiend like this before.
With a leap, the she-fiend was airborne, shooting straight up with astonishing speed, a fiery curved sword in her hand. The demon pivoted mid-air and sent her gaze toward the three newcomers.
“Get back in the car!” Riley cried. “Go!”
The trio stood rooted in place, stunned by the monstrosity hovering in the air.
There was no way she could reach them in time. “Get out of here!”
They sprinted for the vehicle and had just flung themselves inside when the she-demon landed on the hood, its fiery sword poised to carve a hole in the roof. Kurt threw the car into reverse, dislodging the fiend, then turned and spun gravel out of the parking lot.
Which left her alone to face this thing.
As long as they’re safe, it doesn’t matter.
The demon flew back toward her.
“Yeah, that’s right. You want me, not anyone else.”
“Tonight you will die.”
“What, no ‘give me your soul’ offer?’”
“Not for you, Blackthorne’s daughter.”
Whatever was driving this thing, it was personal.
“What did I ever do to you?”
“You took everything from me,” the fiend said as she winged closer.
“You were at the college, weren’t you? You were the one who put that message on the computers.”
“Yes. You deserve torment.”
Riley knew better than to run. The thing would just swoop down and grab her with its claws, or cut her in half with that blazing sword. The only way she’d defeated Archfiends in the past was by outsmarting them, because they were faster and stronger than she’d ever be.
Instead Riley slowly backed up, step by step, trying to get closer to holy ground. That was what had saved her in Edinburgh—that and a statue of Abe Lincoln.
“Were you in Hell when I was down there?” she asked, buying time.
“I saw you in front of my master. I tasted your fear.”
A few steps back. “I felt yours too.” Which wasn’t a lie.
The fiend snarled. “We all fear in Hell. It is the way of things.”
Her voice was smoky, dark, and full of hate.
“What if all you guys stopped doing your master’s bidding?” It was a silly question, but it bought her a few more steps toward survival.
“He would only kill us and make more.”
“So you’re slaves?”
That made the fiend snarl louder. Maybe antagonizing this thing wasn’t the smartest tactic.
“Look, I’m sorry for whatever I did to you, but killing me is not going to be a good move. I know of at least two grand masters who would hunt you down and make sure you die slowly.”
“Death does not matter,” the fiend said, moving nearer now, her wings causing the dust to swirl beneath them. “It only matters that you die.”
“You have a real one-track mind, you know that?”
A quick glance over Riley’s shoulder revealed that she was at least forty feet short of her goal. Still, she kept taking one cautious backward step at a time. The fiend’s armor was going to make killing it nearly impossible.
Buy more time. That was the only real defense she had. “Did you call up that Five in Demon Central?”
The fiend grinned as its wings fanned the air in front of her. “Yes. It was easy to appear like a summoner. But you did not die.”
“Sorry I didn’t cooperate.”
“Now I know I want to kill you myself.”
“Why? After brownie points with Lucifer or something?”
Thirty-five feet now.
“No! I hate our Prince,” the Hellspawn replied, wings beating faster in agitation.
“So why do you want me dead?”
All of the fiend’s eyes narrowed in hatred. “I will kill you, I will scatter pieces of you all over this accursed town. Then I will devour that grand master of yours. I will take everything from you as you did from me.”
Beck. At least this thing had come after her first.
“What did I do to you?” she demanded.
Far too short of her goal, Riley’s time ran out. With a cry, the Archfiend flew straight at her, its sword slashing through the air. On instinct, Riley dove and rolled out of the way, feeling the heat of the blade as it sliced into the ground where she’d been standing. Dirt flew into the air. She jumped back onto her feet and ran for the steps, knowing she had only one chance.
The beat of the wings drew closer, and she ducked as the blade swung in what would have been a decapitating blow. Riley stabbed upward as the fiend passed overhead, slicing into a foot. The demon howled as black blood sprayed into the air.
Riley’s fingers were nearly numb; she was grasping the sword too tightly. On her chest, Ayden’s amulet had grown so hot, she feared it would burn her.
The demon was on the ground now, limping toward her, its armor glistening in the night. The many eyes glowed red, the fangs dripped saliva. This thing was going to rip her apart and leave her dismembered corpse for her fellow trappers to find. One of whom would be the man she loved.
“No way,” Riley said, shaking her head. “I’ve got too much to live for.”
The fiend laughed, a sound that made her heart triple-beat. “As once did I,” the she-demon replied.
This particular Archfiend would be difficult to kill, as the armor reached from her neck to her groin. But unlike human armor, it couldn’t wrap around the body, as it had to accommodate the wings. Which meant the sides and back of the creature were vulnerable, if Riley could get close enough without being clawed to shreds.
Without warning, the demon pounced at her, just like a cat would at a mouse. All Riley saw were wings and fangs as it closed in on her. Ori’s relentless train
ing kicked in, and she shifted to the left at the last possible moment, striking at the fiend with her sword. It scraped along the armor, then nicked one of the wings. The fiend cried out and raked her with its claws, flinging her across the parking lot.
Riley struggled to regain her feet, then reclaimed her blade, which had landed nearby. Her left shoulder screamed in agony, and she forced back the tears. Then it hit her. She was going at this like a trapper, but she was much more than that, just as Beck had said.
Mort’s glamour spell filled her mind. As blood ran down her chest and arm, Riley stammered through the incantation and felt it fail.
“You are weak,” the fiend said, as it pressed a clawed hand to its wing. “I do not know how you killed him.”
Riley repeated the spell, and this time she felt it take hold. Her sword began to change, glow, catch fire just like the one Ori had “loaned” her during their training. Now if she could just keep the spell in place long enough . . .
The fiend reared back, shocked. It knew angel fire when it saw it. Or at least, the illusion of it.
“How can you do this? Your demi-lord is dead.”
“Maybe he’s not,” Riley said. At least not in her heart.
“No. The Archangel Sartael killed him.”
“Not before Lucifer’s executioner taught me how to kill you.”
With a shout, Riley charged, knowing it was probably suicidal. The fiend struck at her with its sword, but Riley evaded the sizzling blade. After feinting a jab to the fiend’s throat, she pivoted and drove her sword deep into the thing’s side. As she pulled the blade free, the Archfiend reared back, catching her with a wing. They landed in a heap in the dusty parking lot. As the fiend’s claws searched for her throat, Riley frantically pushed the creature off her.
“Die!” the demon screamed, its talons digging at her. “Die!”
Riley slammed the blade’s pommel against the fiend’s head, breaking her hold. Once free, Riley backed away, foot by foot, sword in hand. The spell had vanished when she’d lost her concentration. Behind her, the fiend dug her claws into the dirt to propel herself forward. From all the blood pumping out of the demon’s chest, Riley knew she had hit something vital.
The church steps were within reach. As Riley forced herself up onto the first one, she felt a wave of nausea strike her, the Archfiend’s venom beginning to overwhelm her body’s defenses. With what little remaining strength she possessed, she pulled herself up three more steps. No more.
With tortured gasps, the fiend halted just shy of holy ground. She stared up at Riley with clouding eyes, her lips moving, whispering. Some of the words were in Hellspeak, as if she was praying. Others were in English.
“Dying . . . ” the fiend said. “Be with him . . . again.”
Him? Did she mean Lucifer? No, Hellspawn hated him too much to worry about that. Perhaps it was another demon. “Was he an Archfiend?”
The she-demon nodded weakly. “You killed him . . . on the burning ground . . . ”
The only place Riley had killed an Archfiend on holy ground was at the Old Calton graveyard in Edinburgh.
“Mine. You took him . . . from me,” the fiend whispered, her wounds bleeding profusely now. Two of her eyes slowly closed.
“You were . . . ” Riley wasn’t sure exactly how to ask the question. “You and he were together? A couple?”
“Forever, but not . . . forever. Now we . . . no revenge.”
Revenge?
That was why the demon had tracked her down; Riley had killed her mate. She hadn’t even considered that there could be such a thing as love—or whatever was Hell’s equivalent—between fiends.
“You did what I would have if one of you had killed Beck,” she said.
The demon nodded. “Lost without . . . him.”
“I am sorry, but he was slaughtering people.”
“Doing . . . what we must.”
Doing what Lucifer ordered them to do, just as the angels did what Heaven ordered them to do. Like in any war, there were always casualties on both sides.
“Will you see him again?” Riley asked.
In the tiniest of moments, she saw unfamiliar hope in the Archfiend’s eyes.
“May . . . be.”
“Then go find him. Stay with him forever. Be free of Hell’s chains, if that’s possible.”
“May . . . be.”
Then the demon took one last shuddering breath and died, the remaining eyes closing forever.
Tears gathered. If anyone had told her she’d cry over the death of an Archfiend, she’d have told them they were mad. Yet the tears fell for a creature that had known love and had lost all that mattered in her life.
Riley’s father’s voice came into her mind. Now you understand. It’s not as simple as it appears. It’s never simple when pride is involved.
This war would continue because Lucifer and the Archangel Michael were too damned obstinate to step back. Lucifer would never admit he was wrong, and he’d continue to play his endless games against Heaven. For whatever reason, God would allow that. Countless generations of humans and Hellspawn would sacrifice their lives and those they loved, all in the name of stubborn angelic pride.
“Rest in peace, demon,” she whispered. “Find the Light. Because if it’s not there for you, it’s not there for the rest of us.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
One of Riley’s apprentices had done exactly what he’d been taught: He had sent out a text letting the trappers know there was an Archfiend at the church. Beck knew who it was after.
He ran stop signs, speeding his way to the church, fearing tonight would be when he lost the woman he loved. When he lost everything. How could he face each morning if she was gone?
Now, as he slammed the brakes on his truck, throwing it into park in the church lot, he uttered a single prayer.
Please God, let her be alive.
He flung himself out of the vehicle and sprinted as fast as he could, backpack on his shoulder and sword in his hand.
He was too late. The battle was over. But instead of finding Riley dead, he found her sitting on the stairs that led to the church’s double doors, her bloody sword on the step next to her. Lying just off holy ground was the body of an Archfiend. One clad in armor.
Sweet Jesus.
Beck called out her name, but she didn’t look up. As he drew nearer, he saw tears on her cheeks.
“Riley?” he said, skidding to a halt and going down on his knees.
Her jacket was shredded on the left side, bright-red blood seeping into the fabric. The blood on her hand and on her chest was black. Demon blood. It was too much like that night in the Scottish graveyard.
“Hey, ya with me?”
She looked up at him through the tears, then nodded. “I killed the one she loved. In Edinburgh. So she came to take her revenge.”
She? He looked over at the corpse and confirmed it was female.
“The thing told ya that?”
Riley nodded. “I didn’t know they could fall in love. I thought they weren’t capable of that. Not like us.”
It was one of the things he’d learned as a grand master, and it had surprised him as much as it had her.
Beck sat on the step next to his fiancée.
“Demons can grow close to each other. Sometimes it’s what we’d call love, but mostly the relationship helps them gain more ground in Hell’s power structure. Either way, ya kill one of them, the other suffers.”
“When demons die, are they free of Hell?”
He shrugged. “Don’t know. I hope so.”
Riley looked over at him now, revealing a line of her own blood along the side of her face. “I hope so, too.”
“How bad are ya hurt?”
“It’s the usual for tangling with an Archfiend.”
That didn’t sou
nd good.
“Let’s get some Holy Water on those wounds, then we’ll take the demon to Fireman Jack.”
Riley wiped away the tears, smearing blood on her face. “Yes on the Holy Water, no on moving the demon. I’m staying here for the meeting.”
He studied her face and saw the determination in her eyes.
“I know that look.” He smiled, feeling his pride grow for this remarkable young woman.
“Seen it before, have you?”
“Oh yeah. So whose ass are we gonna kick tonight, Princess?”
She smiled back at him.
“I’ll give you one guess. It’s time to light a fire under National’s butt, and this demon is going to be the gasoline.”
*~*~*
After Beck had sent out a text to let the other trappers know the Archfiend was history—carefully avoiding any mention of who’d killed it—he poured Holy Water on her wounds. They pounded like someone kept thumping her shoulder with a sledgehammer. The wet jacket and shirt should have made her shiver in the cold night, but the heat of the poison in her wounds easily counteracted that. It was like being frozen and broiled at the same time. Riley really wanted to vomit, but taking small sips of water seemed to help. Another intense shiver overtook her and she groaned.
“You sure yer up for this?” Beck asked, sitting on the step next to her. “Because you look like crap, darlin’.”
She sent an irritated look his way. “You know, sometimes your honesty is not a good thing. I’m staying, no matter what.”
“Stubborn, just like yer momma,” he said, shaking his head. “So what’s the plan?”
“Just watch my back.”
“Always and forever.”
She took the bloodied sword and laid it across her lap as the first car screeched into the parking lot. Newly minted Master Remmers trotted toward them. When he reached Riley, he checked her out, then Beck, and finally the demon.
“Somehow I do not think tonight’s meeting is going to be boring,” he said, grinning.