Michael was still strikingly beautiful and as fit as a warrior. His long raven-black braid swung as he walked, and Alexa could see the P-like sigil of House Michael on his collarbone. He was the mortal she’d first blamed for the deaths of all those girls. She flushed with the shock of seeing him now. He was covered in blood, and it wasn’t his. The look of loathing he gave Alexa now almost made her change her mind about speaking. But this wasn’t the time for regrets.
Alexa focused on Valerie.
“The Legion didn’t do this. You have to believe me.”
Milo didn’t help her. He just stared at the large puddle of human blood on the floor. Alexa looked away from him and addressed everyone.
“Listen. I don’t know if the Legion told you, but Ryan’s in league with Hades. He’s the one who raised the pagan god from the Netherworld. He betrayed us. He betrayed the Legion. Milo and I had nothing to do with what he did today. I swear.”
Valerie was still angry and skeptical. Alexa could feel she was losing her.
“I know you’re upset, and you have every right to be. There’s nothing I can say that’ll make this any easier,” said Alexa gently. “But I promise you—he’s going to pay for this. But to do that, I need your help. Please, tell me what he took.”
Valerie hesitated before she trusted Alexa with the information.
“He took the Deus Septem, our most sacred books,” she said finally. “I don’t know how he knew where to find them, but he did.”
Alexa shook her head. “But that doesn’t make any sense. What would Hades want with these books? Aren’t they just the book of rules that the archangels gave you to follow?”
“They’re much more than that.” Valerie looked exhausted, but she continued, “In addition to our history they contain extraordinarily powerful spells and secrets. People have been looking for them for a very long time. These books could do serious damage in the hands of the wrong people.”
“But wouldn’t it have been easier to crack the Elder Codex?” asked Alexa.
When she saw Michael’s eyes widen she added, “Daniel showed me the program when I asked him to help me with the Hellgates.”
“Not all the contents of the books were transferred into the program,” said Michael bitterly. “That’s why the books were kept safe and secret.”
“And somehow Ryan knew this,” Alexa wondered out loud. “You said there were secrets in these books. Let’s say that somehow he did find out where the books were hidden. Do you know what specific parts he’d be interested in? Which secrets? Can you think of anything that Hades might want from them?”
She couldn’t help but wonder if these books had anything to do with The Crowns of the World who had been murdered. Maybe they had everything to do with it.
“I don’t know,” said Michael, frowning. “But he killed the innocent for those books.”
“What if they come back?” asked a woman Alexa had never seen before.
Michael’s eyes darkened, and his fingers grazed the hilt of his sword. Alexa wondered if he was planning on using it on her. But then he said, “Angels can’t stay in our world indefinitely, Tara. They’ll weaken if they can’t return to Horizon. They’ll weaken, and when they do—we’ll kill them.”
Milo’s head snapped up, his jaw clenched, and Alexa knew exactly what he was thinking because she was thinking it too.
Alexa wasn’t about to tell the Sensitives how Ryan and his minions could extend their stay on Earth by ingesting the souls of mortals. She was still having a hard time believing it herself.
The tension around them worsened. The Sensitives watched the angels. They were still twitchy with adrenaline from the attacks, and it was clear from their unguarded expressions that they wanted to slaughter the angels. They were waiting for the order from the heads of their houses.
Valerie and Michael exchanged glances, and she could have sworn Michael’s hand twitched toward the hilt of his sword again. All the Sensitives were casually reaching for their weapons. They wanted to kill the angels who’d slaughtered their families. She saw the challenge in Michael’s eyes. This is where it stopped. The Sensitives had drawn a line.
For a long time, no one said anything.
Valerie finally turned around. “You should leave. Now.”
Her voice was harsh and impatient, the voice of someone talking to a child.
“But we want to help—”
“Leave. And I wasn’t asking.” Valerie’s tone was final.
Alexa opened her mouth to protest and felt a hand grip her elbow.
“Time to go, Alexa,” said Milo. His breath brushed her neck. “A good angel always knows when to leave. Especially when they’ve outstayed their welcome.”
Alexa tried to wiggle out of his grip, but he just tightened it more. She looked at him and said in a low voice, “I want to help,” she pleaded. “Why can’t they see that?”
“Look at them,” he whispered so that only she could hear. “Look at their eyes. You’ll find no love of angels there. We need to leave before they decide to kill us. This is a fight we cannot win. Come now, we’re leaving. We’ll help them in another way. Come.”
Alexa had seen mistrust in the eyes of the mortals before, but it was nothing compared to the rage she saw now. It seeped from the very core of them, like a sword that had been drawn.
If they didn’t move away now, the Sensitives would slaughter them.
With a final glance at Valerie, Alexa stopped resisting and let Milo drag her away.
CHAPTER 11
THE HALLWAYS WERE ALREADY BEGINNING to clear of people as Alexa and Milo hurried towards the pool. Through the tall windows, Alexa could see snowflakes falling like feathers outside. The hallway seemed small and suffocating.
How quickly things can change, Alexa thought. One minute she was a guest in Hallow Hall. The next minute the hostess was going to kill her.
Alexa knew Milo was right. If they hadn’t left when they did, the mortals would have taken their vengeance on them. She wished Lance were here. He would have known how to sweet-talk them or at least smooth things over.
Every mortal they passed had a weapon drawn and was ready to seek vengeance for whatever horrors had befallen them. They made sure she and Milo knew they were no longer welcome.
Alexa yanked her arm from Milo’s grip. “Why didn’t you help me back there?” she said through gritted teeth. “You left me there to face them alone while you watched from a safe distance. I could have used your help. What happened to all this ‘you’re my charge’ business?”
Milo looked straight ahead as he spoke. “There was nothing I could have said that would have changed their minds. You’re lucky they even shared the information about the books with you.”
“Still,” she said, “it would have been nice to have had some moral support, to have known that you had my back. I looked like an asshole back there.”
To her surprise, Milo said, “I always have your back.”
Strange. He had hardly shown any interest at all in her before. She had to crane her neck a little to see his face clearly. But he only looked drained, as if something bad had happened to him in the past, something he deeply regretted.
She couldn’t stop wondering about the books. The Sensitives hadn’t wanted to share whatever dark secrets were kept in the Deus Septem.
Why had Hades sent his dog Ryan to fetch them?
The more she thought about it, the more she felt there must have been a connection between The Crowns of the World and the Deus Septem. She just didn’t know what it was yet.
The smell of salt filled the air as they neared the pool area, their ticket home. Her chest was tight with anxiety but not because of her fear of water. She realized this might be the last time she walked the hallways of Hallow Hall, the last time she might see…
Alexa halted. “I can’t go yet.”
Milo whirled on her. “Are you mad?”
He looked over his shoulder. Four operatives were walking behind them.
“We’ve got escorts, and I’m pretty sure they’re here to make sure we do as we’ve agreed. Haven’t you heard a thing I’ve said? These people are hurting. They’re scared, and in my experience when you combine the two—bad things happen.”
Alexa wasn’t listening to him. She was staring in the opposite direction. “There’s something I need to do first. It’ll only take a minute—”
“Alexa, don’t,” warned Milo.
Alexa turned and looked at him. “You can deal with these four. Call it payback for abandoning me earlier.”
Before he could stop her, Alexa bolted. She barely gazed at the surprised mortals as she blurred past them. She heard Milo calling out her name behind her. He hadn’t followed. Good.
She knew she was defying him and the Legion, but she just had to see Erik again. The look of hatred on his face would haunt her forever if she didn’t speak to him. She would make him see the truth, make him understand that these attacks had not been her fault. She might never see him again. They couldn’t part like this.
She moved like a gazelle as she sprinted urgently through the lobby and hurled herself down the stairs to the medical wing. She had to see him.
Alexa landed on the bottom floor and looked around. The air was cooler here, as though a window was open. A long black tunnel with concrete walls stretched in front of her. While the hospital was white and stank of disinfectant, this old place was gray and smelled of mildew and death. It wasn’t the rancid smell of death that followed the demons and devils, but the smell of mortal deaths. She felt them all, and there were many.
While she knew the medical facilities were down here, and this was where the healers and doctors of House Raphael worked, this tunnel was silent, serious, and eerie. It was damp and very cold. The bowels of the old hotel felt like the dungeons of a medieval castle. A faint yellow light was visible at the tunnel’s end, and Alexa followed the light.
Always follow the light.
Water trickled down the walls, and the concrete was slick with fungus.
Why had the Sensitives chosen this place for their medical level?
Perhaps they didn’t have a choice.
The darkness was suffocating and cold. She hurried along, images of Erik carrying a limp Rachel flashing in her mind’s eye, and she moved faster. Alexa hadn’t liked Rachel. The girl had been a queen bitch and had hated her from the beginning, but she didn’t want her to die.
How would Erik react if she did die?
Alexa had seen firsthand how angry and closed off he could be towards her, but she understood it when she learned what had happened to his parents. He blamed the angels and the Legion for their deaths, and maybe he was right.
She remembered the hatred in his eyes the first time she’d met him. Go back to where you belong, stiff, he had said to her. He had hated angels. If Rachel died as a result of Ryan’s treachery…
Alexa started to run. She saw trails of maroon spots leading away down the tunnel. Blood.
With her chest tightening, Alexa followed the blood. She hurried because she knew Milo would be after her soon. She heard voices that got louder and louder the farther she went. She could make out the grunts and moans of those in pain and the barking orders of the healers.
The stench of blood hit her when she peered inside the first door. Bodies lay on the ground. Some of them were covered with white sheets, but most were simply piled together. Their clothes were as torn and bloodied as their faces. Alexa saw a young woman about her age who was curled up on her side. She might just have been unconscious, but Alexa felt her death. She stepped carefully between the bodies, pulling up sheets, and checking for Rachel. But she was not here.
She saw piles of human bones in the far corner. Only dental records could identify them now. The horror of what had happened shook her. She felt dizzy and nauseated by the cruelty of ghoul demons and the traitorous angels. She jumped over the bodies and dashed out of the room.
More moans and cries came from the next room. She halted next to it and pressed her ear to the door. She could hear the incessant beep of monitors, the squeak of clogs on the tile floor, and more moaning. But the voices were unrecognizable.
And then she heard Rachel and Erik’s voices through a door that stood ajar at the end of the corridor.
Alexa smiled and hurried over to the door, but she froze when she got there. She flattened herself against the wall until she felt the cold stone through her shirt. A knot of dread tightened her throat.
What was she going to say?
She couldn’t just barrel into the room. She’d look like an idiot. She bit her lip, trying to calm herself down, but her skin was prickling all over.
She listened carefully. She could hear other voices. She leaned around the corner and peered inside. Four beds were side by side in a room the size of a living room. She could see that two of the patients were males who appeared to be sleeping. A young family with two kids was huddled around the bed directly across from her. Rachel was in the fourth bed.
Her head was elevated, and even though Alexa could see that Rachel’s fair skin was bone-white, and that her lips were pale and gray, she was still beautiful. Tubes hung from an intravenous pump next to her bed, and Erik sat next to her. Alexa couldn’t see his face, but she saw that he was holding Rachel’s right hand. Her stomached knotted.
Matt stood with his back against the wall on the opposite side of Rachel, as though he was giving them privacy. He was staring at the ground and hadn’t noticed Alexa.
Rachel turned in Alexa’s direction, and Alexa flung herself backwards against the wall again. She immediately felt like an idiot.
Why did she feel she had to hide?
She could hear Erik speaking, “Healer Robert says you’re going to be okay. Says that you were lucky. The stiff missed all the important stuff. He’s calling it a miracle.”
The stiff.
Alexa winced. She never thought she would hear him say that word again.
“It was you, Erik,” Rachel’s voice was strained. “It wasn’t a miracle. You came and saved me. You saved my life.”
Alexa felt a cold sweat form on her brow as she listened. The longer she stayed out here, the harder it would be to break free. But still, she couldn’t move.
“The stiffs are going to pay for what they did,” said Erik, his voice trembling with rage. “I promise you, even if I have to kill them myself. They need to be taught a lesson. I was an idiot to think things would be different this time. But it’s just like it was with my parents. We won’t stand for this. It’ll be the end of our alliance with them. It’s just like they’ve always done. It’s like I’ve always said—the Legion’s vile and corrupt.”
“But why would they do this?” Rachel’s voice cracked. “Why did the angel try to kill me? I thought—I thought it was impossible for them to harm a mortal?”
Alexa’s chest tightened at the confusion and sadness in Rachel’s voice. Her eyes burned.
“I’m not sure,” Erik’s voice was low and filled with bitterness. “That’s what I thought, too. But ever since what happened to my parents…”
He sighed as though he was composing himself before continuing. “Healer Robert said they took something out of the Savior’s Vault.”
“What?”
“I don’t know,” said Erik, “but I’m going to find out.”
There was silence and then Rachel said, “I thought I was going to die, you know. And what was worse was that I saw the smile on that angel’s face when he was stabbing me. Erik…that stiff was happy to see me die. He was enjoying it.”
“Don’t think about that now. Just rest. You’re safe now. You’re safe with me. I’m going to take care of you.”
There was another pause, and then Rachel said, “How many did we lose?”
“I’m not sure, but I know it’s a lot,” said Erik. “Too many. It’s going to take a long time to recover from this. But we’ll never forget those we’ve lost…or what the stiffs did. I’m go
ing to kill the one that did…that did that to you. I promise. If I see one of those stiffs set foot in our home again—the last thing he’ll see is my knife before I cut off his head. That’s a promise.”
Alexa felt the walls and ceiling closing in on her. Her vision blurred as the tears spilled down her cheeks.
“I love you,” said Rachel, and Alexa stilled as she listened. “I’ve always loved you.”
Alexa felt her knees buckle.
And then Erik replied, “I love you too.”
If Alexa hadn’t been leaning against the wall, she would have collapsed.
I love you too.
She moaned quietly and turned to leave, but Milo was standing right behind her.
“Mortals and angels don’t mix,” said Milo coldly. He stared at her face and saw the tears on her cheeks.
“Why are you torturing yourself over this mortal. If I were you, I’d forget about him. The sooner the better.”
Alexa wanted to tell Milo that she had never sold her soul to Hades, but the words wouldn’t come.
“You heard him. He hates angels. It can’t be any clearer than that,” said Milo. “Even if the attack had never happened, he would never care for you the way you want him to. He can’t.”
“Leave me alone.” She pushed past him, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her around to face him.
“Nothing good can come of this. You have to forget him. Do you understand? You’d shed tears for a boy who calls you a stiff? Wake up. They’re not like us, and we’re not like them.”
“You don’t understand,” said Alexa. Her voice shook. “He’s…he’s…” she trailed off. She couldn’t finish.
“He’s a mortal,” Milo finished for her. “What did you think would happen, eh?”
There was a sharp edge to his voice that surprised her. He leaned over her and said, “Did you think you’d get married? Is that what you thought? What did you think would happen in ten, twenty, thirty years when he had withered away, and you were exactly the same as you are now? Did you think he would still love you still? He won’t. He’ll grow bitter, and he’ll hate you for it.”
The Helm of Darkness Page 9