Fallen Rebel

by C. G. Blaine

  “Hannah.”

  Cass’s voice is calm, carrying through the silence Samy’s left us in. He’s no longer restrained by Rosdan and Chaz but standing in the middle of the sanctuary with them behind him, faces solemn. He stares up at me like he has so many other times, eyes soft just for me.

  Then he says the last thing I expect—“Read the book.”

  “What?” I wait for one of the other two to jump in to tell him he’s out of his mind, but they don’t react in the slightest. “Cass, no. I can’t. I won’t—”

  “Hannah,” he says again, not a hint of suggestion in his tone. “Read the fucking book.”

  The second Samy said her name, I knew. The sadness that edged its way into his eyes, I recognized it all too well. Not only did I see it from afar in Hannah every day for five years, but I’ve been up close and personal with it in the mirror every damn day I’ve spent without her.

  Samy loved Chloe. He loved her, and he’s lost her forever. And I’ve never understood him more.

  Hannah’s staring at me like I’ve lost my mind—so are Samyaza and Abaddon. The only ones who know better are behind me. Our plan was to find a way to put a crack in Samy’s plan, no matter the cost, and now I know how I can split the fucker wide open.

  He said it earlier, “I’m finally setting everything right.”

  He couldn’t save Chloe, and he can’t save himself; the only ones left to save are us. The brothers he blames himself for being cast into the darkness. He wants to spend his eternity of punishment knowing we have our light.

  At least, that had fucking better be what this is about, or what I’m about to do will suck so much worse than just letting Samy trigger the apocalypse.

  “Plan?” Chaz whispers in the Angelic language.

  Being mortal now, Samy lost the perk, so even if he’s using magic to listen, he won’t understand.

  “He wants us all to live happily ever after in Heaven, so I’ll give him an ending he doesn’t see coming and make him choose.”

  “You think he’ll choose you?” Rosdan asks.

  I shrug with one shoulder and look over the other. “If not, I’ll be with Hannah.”

  Donny smirks when I bring my head around. “Well, you heard him.”

  Samy watches me, trying to figure out my play, but he’ll have to wait a little longer. Right now, I need to focus on convincing my girlfriend to trust I’m not insane. I reach in my shirt and pull out Brice’s wedding band. The light she gives off changes when she sees it, the one that feels like Heaven. Home.

  I force a small smile to further reassure her before I step forward. “Not so fast, Abaddon. I want to make a deal.”

  “What are you doing, Kasdaye?” Samy says, but I ignore him.

  Abaddon quirks a brow. “I’m listening.”

  “You turn her into a demon after she reads.”

  Even though Hannah’s light flips to terrified, she keeps a poker face. Samy, not so much. But Donny … he doesn’t even think about it.

  “Done.” He shakes his head and slaps a hand on her shoulder. “I get the Dimming Blade, so I can hunt down Chazaqiel at my leisure and a new pet? Best apocalypse ever.”

  He positions Hannah, her panic growing, and I have to bite the inside of my cheek, not daring to utter another word until she’s opened her mouth. The second she does, I hold up my hands.

  “Wait. There’s one more condition.”

  “He’s playing you, Abaddon.” Samy shifts around beside Hannah and clings to his stupid fucking amulet. “There’s nothing he could possi—”

  “After you get the Dimming Blade, you turn me too.”

  Hannah gasps before she catches herself. She presses her lips together to regain control of her outward reaction.

  “No,” Samy commands. “You’re going home, Tamiel.”

  “She’s my home. If I can’t be with her in Heaven and I can’t be with her here, then we’ll make fucking adorable Nephilim-demon babies in the pits.”

  He glances between the three of us on the ground, his disbelief on full display. “You two are just going to stand there? He won’t be in darkness … he’ll be the darkness.”

  I don’t need to check; both Rosdan and Chaz are staring at him, expressionless. We’re in the highest-stakes game of chicken in the history of everything, and not one of us can chance swerving. The muscles of Samy’s jaw work beneath the skin, his knuckles losing color the tighter he clutches the clear quartz. He’s hauled it around since creation. By now, the power of it is enough to rival an Upper on their best day.

  “I’ll do it,” Donny says.

  “What?” Samy turns back to him. “That’s not part of our deal.”

  “It’s not against it either. Light or dark, we’re all big fans of the free will. Now”—he snaps his fingers, and a dozen Lowers teleport in around us—“every being in this room has trampled over my patience, and if the Nephilim isn’t reading in the next thirty seconds, I’m killing anything mortal.”

  His hand bears down on Hannah’s shoulder, making her cry out. I have to fight every urge inside me to drop up there and rip him to shreds.

  “Careful, Donny,” I call through clenched teeth. “She’ll be one of you soon.”

  He squints for a moment but then relaxes, and his obnoxious smirk is back in business. “You know, it’s always been between you and Armaros that I would spare. I’m glad it’s you.”

  I monitor every movement Samy makes next to Hannah while Donny fiddles with the book. I see my twist ending working its way through him—the doubt sinking in, the worry over my soul. I don’t care how lost he is; compassion is a part of him. His default setting.

  Donny turns a page, and a familiar shadow rises from the book.

  “How much can she read before we’re fuck-fucked?” Chaz asks.

  “To the end of the first line,” Rosdan answers. “That’s when the Abyss will be fully opened. And once it is…”

  “There’s no resealing it,” I finish.

  No going back.

  I tuck the ring in my T-shirt before all Hell literally breaks loose. “Well, boys, it’s been real.”

  Hannah looks down at the words and then peeks up at me, waiting for confirmation. I give it to her, and Samy curses my old name. She hesitates, the light thrashing through me, fierce and pounding as fast as her heart, and then her eyes fall back to the page in front of her.

  It’s not a slow-growing tremor like they would portray in a movie. You don’t need to build suspense at the actual end of the fucking world. So, with the first syllable out of her perfect mouth, the ground erupts in a violent earthquake. The walls shake, and a giant fissure cracks through the floor in front of me. After all the structural damage I caused, the church will be nothing but a pile of holy debris by the time the real action starts.

  Darkness floods from the book, encircling Hannah and Donny. I hate to do it, but I shift my eyes from her to Samy. I need to know if I’ve sentenced her to an immortal existence of damnation. He grips his crystal, staring down at me. I stare right back, refusing to blink first.

  “Come on,” Chaz grinds out behind me.

  “She’s almost there,” Rosdan says. There’s not the slightest emotion to his voice. Just a fact.

  They’re probably thinking the same thing at this point; that if Hannah hits the end of the line, they have to get to the dagger in the Abyss before Donny. Then, I have to do everything in my power to get it back from them. Because I wasn’t lying. If Hannah’s a demon, I’m a demon. Even if it means I have to kill them to make it happen.

  The crack in the floor busts wide open to make room for whatever the book will release once the Abyss fully unseals. That’s the fun thing about the BOSG. You never know what annihilation it will unleash.

  Even as the ground erupts in front of me, I don’t take my eyes off Samy. But I do take a casual step back to get out of the way, and because no matter what I am—angel, human, demon—I’ll forever be
a defiant asshole, I arch my eyebrow in a final challenge.

  And that’s when he blinks.

  His eyes dart to the side, and a flare from his amulet knocks Donny away from Hannah, her lips forming around a word she never finishes. I get about two solid seconds of sparkling relief before the Lowers attack from all sides. I dodge a few poorly aimed fireballs and drop to the balcony. Samy’s magic bounces me right back, almost landing my ass in the gaping hole that leads straight into the pits.

  I shoot off an arc at a brave demon and look for another point of entry. Donny’s regained his bearings, the darkness churning around him. It’ll be a race to the book—and Hannah. She glances between him and Samy on either side of her in a standoff. The blue flame overtakes Donny’s palm, and Samy holds out his amulet.

  A bolt cracks a support beam overhead, and a rogue fireball slams into it right after, crashing it to the ground. It inspires me, and I drop. I hit Samy’s barrier, as expected, but this time, I barely feel the ground beneath me before I drop to bash into it again. I go a few more times, only pausing long enough to see his brow pull in. His attention is split, not sure which direction he needs to focus his power—Donny’s cyclone of shadows or my attacks.

  The plan to break through with brute force works, getting me farther with each drop. Until Donny catches on. He times a step with each of my strikes. Samy matches every one. And now every time I get closer to Hannah, so do they. They’re closing in on her. The flame grows, and the light brightens. I can’t even tell her to run because of the invisible cage she’s stuck in.

  Two arcs collide with the barrier at the same time as my next attempt. Rosdan and Chaz provide some much-needed backup and return to the Lowers still pouring in.

  The unexpected voltage causes Samy to fumble with his amulet. As soon as it’s not pointed at him, Donny lunges for Hannah and the book. He lands a hand on her wrist, but before he can teleport, Samy floods the balcony with light. It throws Donny against the wall on one side, and in the same breath, Samy turns the magic on me.

  When he brings me down, I narrowly miss the rift and slide across the floor. A busted pew stops me, and I push up, ready to go right back. Except I can’t. I can’t drop. Not even my wings can unfold.

  “Samy,” I shout up at him. “Let me go!”

  I strain against the invisible weight bearing down on me, struggling until I reach my hands and knees and can see him on the balcony. He has the book cradled in one arm and the other wrapped around my world. Tears stream down her face as she twists at her finger where her ring should be. The first thing I’m doing when I get us out of here is tracking down where Samy stashed it.

  I reach for my own ring beneath my shirt. Hannah sucks in a breath when I do, the sharp rise of her shoulders visible. The light shifts all over the place. I can’t tell what she feels. She closes her eyes, and when she opens them, she grabs Samy’s amulet, breaking the chain as she rips it from his neck.

  Without direct contact, the effects of his magic begin to fade. I fight my way forward, crawling through the middle of a war zone. Fireballs fly, and bolts retaliate while Hannah struggles against Samy for the crystal. She manages to throw it away from them. He pushes past her for it as Donny gets up. His flame is as furious as his darkness, igniting whatever he touches.

  I’m clawing at the boards, drawing on the light to break the hold that’s lessening by the second.

  But I’m out of time.

  Even with all the threats around her—an Upper ready to fire, an inferno engulfing the church, a raging Hell pit below—I zero in on a random fireball. A misfire that ricochets off the last standing column and soars straight toward the balcony.

  “Hannah!”

  She turns, and everything slows as I watch, battling against the magic binding me and helpless to stop the fireball from barreling toward her. It’s worse than any ending I could have imagined. Being right here. Witnessing Hannah die in front of me. On my hands and knees in a church when I lose everything. When I lose her forever.

  It’s simultaneous. The magic releases me as Samy collides with her. The impact knocks her off the balcony, and I drop with my wings spread behind me. I catch her midair directly over the mouth of Hell and land on the other side with her in my arms. Where she’s staying until they pry my cold, dead human hands off her in fifty to seventy years. Then I’m starting all fucking over for forever.

  Hannah’s taking short, shallow breaths, her eyes clamped shut. She realizes she’s not falling anymore, and she peeks to see who’s holding her. Fuck if I haven’t missed the rush I get when she sees it’s me.

  But no amount of light has anything on how she feels, scrambling around and wrapping her arms and legs around me. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” She smashes her lips into mine. “I love you. I want you.”

  The woman chooses a hell of a time to make up, and while I’d give up existence to do it a little longer, I pry my mouth off hers. “We’ll fight about it later.”

  She huffs out a breath, relieved or looking forward to it.

  With the fallout of a near-apocalypse left to handle, I set her down.

  Her feet have barely touched the ground when Chaz shouts, “The book!”

  I look up just before Donny teleports across the balcony. Chaz beats him there and strikes him with a bolt when he reappears. Not sure where Samy went, I tuck Hannah against my side and drop to give backup. We land beside the book as Chaz dodges the blue flame streaking toward him. The second Donny’s outnumbered, he stops his advance.

  His gaze falls on each of us and then to the floor behind us. “So,” he says, his mouth hooking up, “think I can get to the Dimming Blade?”

  Chaz growls and hurls a bolt, only to hit empty air. “Fuck.” He looks at me, more than a little panicked. “Does it work like that? Can he squeeze through the cracks or something?”

  I shake my head, not having any idea. The Abyss has never been partially opened. It’s usually an all-or-nothing sort of thing. But if he does get to the blade, there is no question he’ll come after Chaz first.

  With Donny gone, all falls quiet, except for the crackle of the rapidly spreading fire. I’m unsurprised his posse bails as soon as he does, but there’s still no sign of Samy and his amulet. I expected a final showdown, one last stand.

  “Guys,” Rosdan says behind us.

  We turn, and Hannah clamps down on my bicep. She brings a hand to her mouth while Chaz, Rosdan, and I stare at Samy on the floor. Darkness escapes the massive wound to his chest that rises in quick, ragged breaths.

  “The fireball.” Hannah looks up at me. “It must have hit him when he shoved me out of the way.”

  Chaz kneels next to him. “His crystal should have protected him.”

  “He never made it to the crystal,” I say.

  My eyes land on the amulet, still on the floor where Hannah threw it. Where he was heading when I yelled her name.

  Samy turned back for her without it. He saved her when I couldn’t.

  “What do we do?” Rosdan asks with the same emotionless tone from earlier. Distant. Which is what all three of us need to be right now.

  I rub a hand over my face and give one last glance at the church, somehow still standing despite our best efforts. “We need to go.”

  I lower next to my dying brother and drop him and Hannah to the park. Rosdan and Chaz are right behind us with the book and amulet. Across the street, the flames flicker through the hole in the roof with smoke billowing out.

  Samy’s breathing has slowed, his skin graying. Fireballs take very little time on humans.

  Holding on to my anger toward him should be easy. An hour ago, I was in Ros’s kitchen, planning to kill him myself. But seeing him weak and broken, all I can think about is what made him this way. How easily our roles could have been reversed if I wasn’t as lucky as I’ve been with Hannah.

  I hold out my palm over the wound and emit enough light that the shadows disperse, so he’s not suff
ering. His eyes open once the pain eases. They hold the guilt they always have. His cold hand grips my forearm. I know he’s about to try and choke out a deathbed apology, and I shake my head.

  “Don’t. The moment you saved her, you set everything right between us.”

  His gaze travels to the other two behind me and then lands on Hannah, offering each the same silent apology before he closes his eyes again. The crease in his forehead smooths when his chest stills. I move his hand to the grass. It’s the most peaceful I’ve seen him since our beginning.

  As I get up, Rosdan steeples his fingers, pressing them to his chin, and Chaz hangs his head. Samy’s the first of us to fail, and we’ll all mourn him in our own way. I’ll down a bottle of whiskey and prattle on about the universe, Rosdan will pore over the scrolls and spells Samy left behind, and Chaz will find a cliff to dive off with his charge.

  “We’re not leaving him on a mountain,” Rosdan says.

  Chaz nods. “He deserves better than that.”

  “Find out where Chloe’s buried,” I tell them.

  I don’t know if it’s what he would have wanted, but it sounds like him.

  Hearing the first sign of sirens, I haul Hannah to her feet. She sees the still-very-much-on-fire church and takes a few steps toward it, which is all the farther I’m letting her go.

  “How long do we have?” I ask no one in particular. “A few minutes?”

  Chaz snorts. “Sounds like plenty of time to close a massive gateway to Hell.” He dangles the amulet between the three of us. “Anyone know how to work this thing?”

  “In theory,” Ros says. “It will drain all of its power, though, and even then, it might not be enough to completely close it.”

  And then we’ll have a swarm of mortals buzzing around and have to suggest they all forget they’ve seen into the depths of Hell. The three of us go quiet, trying to think of a backup plan in case it doesn’t work. Or at least a Band-Aid to slap over this until we find one.