by Amy Braun
He forgot that he had claws, and scratched her hard enough to draw blood. I changed the direction of my throw when I saw Josh’s bloodshot eyes widen at the enticing, tangy scent.
Josh couldn’t resist. He yanked Maddy up by her wrists, shoved her hair off her shoulder, and sank his fangs into her neck.
Her scream was a dagger in my heart, slicing into my core and twisting deeper when I saw the blood dribble down her back.
My shot was ruined. There was no way I could hit Josh without hurting Maddy. I was frozen in the entire chaos of Kade and Ciaran’s fire battle, and Maddy’s sudden, explosive pain.
The rush of heat from the firefight was the only warning I had before Ciaran’s demonfire launched in my direction. I dove to the side, missing the blast that swept over where I’d just been standing. I covered my head with my hands as the edges of the fire licked over my back, burning my machete’s scabbard and part of my shirt.
The second the heat was gone, I scrambled to my feet, lifting my hand, ready to draw on the locusts–
When a ruthless pain shot through my back. I staggered against the white-hot agony of a million blistering needles stabbing into me. I landed hard on my front, dark spots filling my vision as I tried to fend off the pain. Every time I moved, the needles stabbed deeper until I was immobilized.
Trickles of black and red demonfire ghosted over me toward Ciaran, who was throwing Josh off of Maddy. The pieces of demonfire that came off me were sent into Josh. The Soulless slave screamed in agony, but Ciaran wasn’t paying attention. Unable to twitch without torturing myself, I watched as Ciaran sent crackling, electric demonfire at my brothers. Someone who sounded like Simon shouted painfully.
It was just a distraction, however. Ciaran used his mental connection on all of his Soulless, including the agonized Josh. They snapped to attention and linked arms. Ciaran picked up Maddy and threw her over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. He shot out another electric wave of demonfire to keep us back, grabbed all of his Soulless, and disappeared in a haze of ash.
The pain in my back stopped, relieving my senses. But between that and the open wounds in my heart, I wasn’t able to stay conscious.
I didn’t want to.
Chapter 21
Waking up after that crushing defeat was the hardest thing I’d ever done. I debated asking Logan to save the world from me. Every time I tried to help someone, I ended up making things worse. I wasn’t good at saving lives. I was only good at shattering them.
But my oldest brother wasn’t feeling merciful. And even if he was, I knew I couldn’t just walk away now. Not when I knew what Ciaran’s plan was. Not when so many lives had been sacrificed for no reason.
Not when Maddy was a hostage, and about to lose her life.
Someone had healed me while I was passed out. Probably Simon. He was the one standing outside the door of the hotel suite when I finally dragged my ass out of the bed. I devoured every edible item of food he left me, only because I knew I would need all my strength for the final battle.
Because the next time I faced Ciaran, it would be for the last time. I was going to kill the greedy, business obsessed bastard, or he was going to do the world a favor and vaporize me.
Both options seemed appealing right now.
Simon didn’t say a word when I left the hotel room with my weapons and a moderately full stomach. He didn’t say he was sorry, chastise me, or give me sympathy. All he did was check on my wounds, and wrap his arms around his stomach.
“We should talk to Logan and Kade before we go,” said Simon.
The two of us were almost constantly fighting. We disagreed on nearly everything. We didn’t have that much in common. We’d ignored each other for months before I dragged him into my mess. Yet Simon didn’t try correcting what he said. He was willing to come with me, knowing I would never ask. His graphite eyes seemed clearer, the fear and nerves I so commonly saw in them nothing but distant memories now.
I’d never been so grateful to have a brother before.
I nodded to Simon, allowing him to lead me through the hall, down the stairs, and into a room near the lobby that looked like it held board meetings once upon a time. Nothing remained but the dull brown wood panels and stale smelling carpet. I’d barely stepped into the room when Simon was shoved roughly out of the way, and a massive fist made its way toward my head.
I turned away from Kade’s fist, watching it crack and splinter the doorframe. I tried to get distance, but his elbow whipped around and caught me in the side of the head. Hands clasped around my throat as I was staggering, and squeezed menacingly. Kade’s anger was beyond control.
“You did this, you little shit,” my brother growled. “Everything I worked for, all my people, are gone because of you.”
I didn’t point out that he found us. Reminding Kade of that would only make him snap my neck faster.
“You still love those humans, Pest? Still glad you saved them?”
All but one, I thought, since I couldn’t speak.
Red smoke floated toward me, Kade’s power ready to drive fear deep into my brain–
“Kade.”
I looked over his shoulder at the same time he turned his head. Logan stood in the middle of his room, still looking perfectly immaculate. Nothing indicated he’d been in a fight earlier. One of his gloves was off, pale smoke swirling hazardously around his hand.
“Enough.”
Had it been anyone else, Kade wouldn’t have listened. Logan was the one person stronger and deadlier than Kade. Being able to kill anything with a single touch kind of makes you superior, I suppose.
Disgruntled that I’d skip a beat-down for now, Kade unfurled his fingers from my neck and shoved me back. I coughed a couple times, rubbing my throat and feeling fresh contusions there.
“You can’t heap the blame on one person. Not when we’re all at fault.”
“Why, because we did what we were told to?” Kade snarked.
“Exactly,” Logan shot back. “None of you understood what you were doing the day we started, but I did. I felt all those deaths, all that pain. I tried to tell you all to stop, but you didn’t listen. All the three of you wanted was to use your powers. I took the hurt for all of you. I still do.”
We all fell silent. Logan never said much, but we listened when he did. Except for the time he was talking about. I remembered it, my oldest, strongest brother telling us we had to stop before we went too far and killed people who weren’t ready to die. He told us about the agony he felt as each death sank into him, like a layer of cement being poured inside his head and chest. He asked us to stop.
But we didn’t. We didn’t care. Not then. Not until it was too late.
“Every time anything with a soul dies on this damned planet, I feel it. Since I’m not in that much pain anymore, there isn’t a lot of suffering I can do.”
“Then you should be fucking ecstatic,” Kade pointed out. “No more owies for big brother Death.”
Logan stalked across the room, angrier than I ever knew he could be. Usually he hid whatever he was feeling, accepting what came his way. I didn’t understand what had changed him. Logan wasn’t afraid of his own death, despite what Ciaran was threatening to do.
Knowing I needed to stay in the moment, I turned my thoughts away from the demon who was tearing our lives apart.
“When are you going to realize we won’t last forever?” shouted Logan once he was in Kade’s face. “You’ve abused your powers for far too long, brother. How much longer can you keep up the charade of strength?”
Kade glared back. “It’s not a charade.”
“So you lie to yourself too, is that it? We’re all lying about something, it seems. You, thinking you’re invincible, Simon thinking he’s strong enough to fight on the front lines, and Avery for believing Heaven’s lies.”
I wanted to argue with Logan that he was being unfair with his temper tantrum, but he wasn’t spinning falseness. Kade held himself on a pedestal higher than the c
louds. Simon’s fear might have been lessened, but it was still buried just under the surface. And me, I was an idiot. I stumbled to do the right things, never seeing how much worse I was making them until it was too late.
Logan shook his head and turned away from us.
“We never should have listened to them,” he muttered. “Humanity would have found a way to destroy itself, but we should have left them to their own devices. They didn’t deserve this, and it’s too late to go back.”
After a moment, I said, “Then we shouldn’t.”
Logan turned to look at me.
“Go back, I mean,” I continued. “We can’t reverse what we did, but we can make the best of what we left behind.” I let that possibility sink in for my brothers before going on. “We need to stop Ciaran. If he lets the demons up here, it’s all over. They’ll get bored with the humans after a few centuries, and think they can get a higher throne. Heaven won’t put up with that, and will blast earth into oblivion the moment they try.”
“Did you forget that Ciaran’s power grows as ours lessens?” reminded Logan unhelpfully. “You can’t defeat him, Avery.”
“Why not? Have you seen me die?”
Logan’s dark eyes held mine, his jaw set in a firm line. Something flashed through his eyes, too fast for me to read. Then he turned into a stone.
Well… That doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.
“Look, none of you need to do this with me. But I’ve screwed things up too many times. I need to make it right, in a major way. None of this would have happened if I hadn’t released that Plague. So you’re right, Logan. I should have listened to you the second we came out of the ground. But I didn’t. Now I have to make do with what I have. So don’t come if you don’t want to. But don’t get in my way. I can do this myself.”
I looked at my older brothers quickly, trying to get a sense of where they stood now that my offer was on the table. Simon was nervous again. Kade was still angry, but he wasn’t running over to put my head through the wall. Logan’s expression bothered me the most. His dark eyes got that look again, the spacey one when he saw a death where he would need to be directly involved.
I didn’t waste any time, actually. When none of them answered me, I turned and left the boardroom. I walked through the grave-silent hotel, heading to the front entrance where the bridge was. I had no idea where to start looking for Ciaran and his goons. It was clear the campground in the Valley of Fire wasn’t their main base of operations. It had just been a lure to bring humans over to them. The big rig that carted the humans away in cages… wherever they were going was where I needed to be.
I hoped whatever car I found had a full tank of gas.
“Avery! Avery, wait!”
I stopped as I passed the pillars to the main plaza outside the Venetian’s front doors. Simon was jogging toward me, slowing down until he was face to face with me. My brother held my eyes and sighed, as though whatever he was about to tell me was going to be unpleasant. I waved my hand in front of him.
“Listen, Sime, if you’re going to try and talk me out of this–”
“What? No, I’m coming with you.”
I paused, lowering my hand to my side. Simon exhaled and ran a hand through his dark, shaggy hair. “Look, you’re not the only one who screwed up. We all did. I hated what I had to do, watching all those people die slowly, their bodies eating themselves to stay alive…” Simon shook his head, as if it could erase his own horrible memories. “I tried not to think about it. Pretending I didn’t care made it easier to survive. But you showed up, ready to throw yourself in the line of fire for humans you didn’t know, mortals that would hate you for what you’ve done, and I realized I wanted that too. A second chance. Something worth fighting for.”
Simon raised his head, his graphite eyes darkening, but not with anger or fear. With conviction. Strength. Confidence.
“I’m sick of being scared and paranoid all the time,” he told me. “This isn’t about us looking after our own skins. It’s about protecting everyone around us. That’s what you’re trying to do, what you’ve always tried to do. I get it now, and I’m going to be part of it.”
A wave of relief flooded my chest, unknotting the tension that had been building since I woke up, thinking I’d need to fight this battle alone. But here Simon was, telling me he was ready to face his fears and stand with me when I needed him most. Just like a real brother would.
“Well, this Hallmark moment is wonderful and all,” drawled a deeper, darker voice from the shadows beyond the pillars, “but I’m ready to just start killing things.”
Simon and I turned our attentions to Kade, who was strolling into the plaza with a smile on his face and murder in his eyes. The Kevlar laced body armor that covered him from head to toe looked pristine. Even his boots and the silver blockhead of his hammer looked polished, as though he hadn’t been knee deep in the massacre at his front door.
I tensed, shifting my weight in case he threw himself at me. Kade saw what I was doing and rolled his eyes.
“Relax, Pest. I don’t feel like killing you right now.” His black eyes narrowed on me. “But you are going to pay for what you did to my home one day. I won’t forget this.”
Trusting that Kade wasn’t going to stab me in the back, I glanced over my shoulder at the carnage we had created. The pile of dead Soulless and permanently dead Plagued was stacked so high it rivaled the height of Kade’s previous wall. The reek of burned, rotting flesh rode the wind, hitting my face and bringing tears to my eyes. I turned away, knowing I wouldn’t forget the carnage any sooner than Kade would.
“But right now, I think I’ll go on this hunting trip with you brats,” Kade said, sounding almost cheerful. He spun the war hammer in his hand, grinning malevolently. “Can’t pass up the chance for a fight, especially when Ciaran’s begging for it.”
I thought about reminding him of what Logan said, how Kade wouldn’t know his power was exhausted until it was gone and someone got a lucky shot in. Kade was good at what he did– the best, really– but he was becoming human. He’d never admit it, but lying didn’t alter the truth, not at its core.
Still, I would need all the help I could get. Ciaran must know I would be coming for him, and he’d have an army waiting to stop me.
But if anybody could take on an army singlehandedly with a smile and a song in his heart, it would be Kade.
“Okay,” I agreed. “We should head back to the Valley of Fire. The rig we saw would have left some kind of track. We can follow them there.” I started walking around the bridge, going back to the corner we’d slipped into during the battle. I had no desire to further desecrate the bodies of the dead.
“What makes you think Ciaran won’t have erased those tracks?” Simon asked as we briskly crossed the walkway and strolled through the patios.
“We don’t have anywhere else to start looking,” I pointed out. “He knew where both of us lived, but he wouldn’t put his base so close to us if we could find it through sheer dumb luck. He’d want somewhere with wide enough space to open a Hell Door.”
I cringed at the very words, but I knew that was what Ciaran was planning to do. A Hell Door was the only way to bring the heavy hitting demons out into the world. Though if a Hell Door opened, it wouldn’t just be demons coming through. It’d be their pets, their masters, their soul-slaves, their diseases and dementia, their fire and weapons… It would be a whole new Apocalypse, worse than anything we’d ever created.