"They have remorse for what they've done."
"I had remorse once. Where did it get me? Trapped in this world, doing His bidding. Trying so hard to be what He wanted me to be, and being turned away over and over again. Because of who I am? Or because of what I am?"
"You think God is shutting you out because you're a demon?" I asked. "That's ridiculous. He gave you a chance before you ever deserved one. You're the one making a mockery of it. You're the one who doesn't get it."
"But I will get it. With my dear Abelard's help, I will end this nightmare. He promised he would deliver me to Heaven, even if he has to destroy the entire world to do it. I'm holding him back to send a message to the angels. If they refuse? The world will shrivel up and die."
I didn't answer right away. Alyx was tapping her foot on mine. It was one of the signals we had decided on for her to let me know when Zifah had opened the window. She could smell the outside air coming in.
"No," I said. "You're going to watch your Abelard die."
Forty-Nine
Of course, there was no way I was going to be able to kill Abaddon that easily. It was a stupid, empty threat, and on its own it would have been laughable.
When I summoned the obsidian spatha and dove at the demon, any thoughts Rebecca had of laughing were put on hold.
I nearly managed to dig the blade into Abaddon's flesh before he could get his own, midnight dark sword up to parry mine. He did it smoothly, hardly concerned about the attack, the rest of his form remaining still, his dark energy staying under control.
That wasn't good enough. He had to fight.
I threw my power out at him, forcing him to unleash his own or fall back. Fear spread away from him like a cape, the darkness swinging out and back toward me like the tide. I held steady against it, letting it wash over me, showing him I could defend myself even at this close range.
"Good," he said, clearly impressed.
I punched him in the face.
He wasn't expecting it. Even I hadn't been expecting to connect. The force of the blow knocked him over, and I didn't waste any time charging again.
"No," I heard Rebecca scream. The shrillness of it distracted me, and I turned my head to see what was happening.
Jane had landed next to Alyx and had the box laid on the floor, the cover open. She was speaking in Seraph, an earlier form of Latin, her hands glowing as they touched the metal container. I saw Rebecca's spirit, being pulled toward it as though she were trapped in a vacuum cleaner.
"Abelard. Help me."
She sounded desperate. Our plan was working.
Abaddon grunted beneath me, hitting me hard with his power. He had been holding back, at least, a little. He wasn't now. The dark energy blasted through my defenses, sending needles of pain through my entire body and forcing me to shiver in sudden fear. His sword came up at me, and I barely managed to block it in time. He kicked out with a foot, hitting me hard and throwing me backward.
Jane wasn't done yet. I pushed out with my power, flipping myself over and landing on my legs. Abaddon was up, and his tendrils stretched out toward the angel.
Alyx changed, letting out a short roar and tackling the demon.
"Damn it, Alyx, no," I said, a new fear entering my heart. She managed to distract the demon, preventing his darkness from reaching Jane, but she wasn't going to survive his touch for long.
I reached out with my power, throwing her off him with enough force that she blasted through the wall and into the kitchen, a massive clatter of pots and pans following. I charged Abaddon again, replacing her in the melee, leading with my blade.
"I'll kill you," Abaddon said, his voice angry and raw. Before, he had been almost civilized. That time was over. The pure evil was pouring out. "I'll destroy this entire world."
"Not if I can help it," I said. "Jane, can you hurry up?"
I risked a glance to see what she was doing. Rebecca was gone. The lid was on the box. The scripture was glowing. She was rising to her feet, wings spreading to take flight, the trap in her arms.
"No," Abaddon shouted again.
The power of his voice sent a wave of panic through me, and my entire body went numb. Jane reacted the same way, her wings dropping to her sides, her hands slipping on the trap.
I forced myself to stay calm, letting my power dissolve the demon's. Tendrils of darkness spread out toward Jane once more. Too fast. I couldn't stop them.
Alyx burst from the kitchen in one massive, impossibly quick leap. Her arm was out to her side, and she barreled past me, catching Jane in her massive hand before the evil could reach her. Jane barely reacted to it, the fear still controlling her, and she would have lost the trap if Alyx's hand hadn't closed around it as well.
Then she was beyond us, tucking her head and letting all of her weight and power slam into the window, the same window I had used to escape from Reyzl years before. It crumbled beneath the force, and then she was out of the building, fifty-plus stories above the demonic slaughter below.
She disappeared a moment later, tumbling toward the earth. She was a Great Were. She would survive the fall, even if it hurt when she landed.
"What have you done?" Abbadon cried, getting his hand on my shoulder and throwing me back again.
I hit the wall hard, bouncing back and charging. He was going to the window, and I needed to buy Jane and Alyx some time.
I was almost on him again when something caught my eye from the corner. A dart, thin and long and dark. It buzzed past my ear, vanishing in the darkness of the demon.
Everything stopped.
Abaddon's tendrils dissipated. The dark cloak around him nearly vanished as well, leaving his human form momentarily visible. He was nude and black as night, even his eyes. He was lean and perfectly formed, as though he had been made from a Greek sculpture. He also clearly hadn't been a slouch in fulfilling his husbandly duty with the spirit of his dead wife.
One of Zifah's needles was poking from his neck. He pulled it out, examined it for a moment, and tossed it aside.
"What have you done?" he asked me again. Already, his power was returning, and his cloak began to reform. Zifah's poison had slowed him, nothing more.
It was enough. Jane flew past the window, holding the trap. Abaddon saw it, too.
"I will stop at nothing to get her back, diuscrucis. Nothing. I will destroy everything on this Earth, everything that you love, until you return her to me."
"She isn't your wife," I said, trying one more time. "She's using you to get what she wants."
"She is my Judith. It does not matter to me if she is the original. I care not for details. Long have I desired a reason to continue, as even you have been unable to end this existence for me. Now it is here, and you seek to take it away? No. I have purpose again, Landon. Do you not understand that? So many years and there is a point to the chaos and death and killing. There is fuel to my fire. You will die. This world will die. She will be free, and He will take her into His Kingdom. He will take me as well. That is the price."
I wanted to say something. Anything. That last statement put my ability to articulate anything on hold. Abaddon in Heaven? Even Archangel Michael would have to know how impossible that situation would be.
"If you want her back, I'll give her to you," I said. "Central Park. One hour. A duel. If you win, she's yours. If I win, you let me imprison you once more."
"I can end you now. This world cannot stand up against me."
"I know you. I know there's still a shred of honor in you, despite what Lucifer made you into. Central Park. One hour. I'll be waiting."
I felt Zifah's weight on my foot, though the demon was still blending with the surroundings. I reached into my pocket and double-tapped my phone, sending a prepared text.
Abaddon was seething. The tendrils of darkness had returned, and they writhed and twirled around him, snapping forward at me like cobras before retreating and undulating once more. I didn't know if he would attack, and I wasn't about to take the chance.
>
Dante appeared right behind me. His hand landed on my shoulder, and I felt the tug of his power as he pulled me away.
Abaddon would come.
He had to.
Fifty
We reappeared back in my apartment. Zifah immediately hopped off my foot, while I ran over to the window to look for Alyx.
She had to be okay. She was a Great Were. She could easily survive a fall like that, assuming she hadn't grabbed the side of the building and climbed down.
I timed it in my head, the distance and her speed. She should have been back.
A soft flow of air, and Jane landed on the fire escape in front of me, still clutching the trap with Rebecca inside.
"I can't believe that worked," she said, smiling at me. It was the first time I had seen her smile.
"Did you see Alyx?" I asked.
"She is fine, Landon. She was delayed killing some of the vampires that were attacking the people."
I felt my heart lurch. "Those vampires had Abaddon's power in them."
"She was careful."
Careful enough? I had to trust that she was. I didn't own her, and she was trying to do the right thing.
"Are you serious, Landon?" I heard Zifah say behind me. He hopped up on the window sill a moment later. "Challenging Abaddon to a duel? That wasn't part of the plan. He'll beat the living poop out of you."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I said. "I don't plan on dueling him. At least not to a finish."
"Oh. Cheat to win? I get it. I'll take one ticket to that main event."
"Zifah, you did well back there. Thank you."
The demon lowered his head. "I figured, what the heck, you know? But did you see that? Even Cain fell to my poison. Not Abaddon. He shook it off like a minor inconvenience."
I had seen it. It didn't make me happy.
"Jane, can you head up and scan the streets for Alyx?" I asked.
"She'll be okay," Jane said.
I was going to push when I saw her turn the corner. She was still in demon form, running hard. I made a quick scan of her for injuries. There were none.
She bunched her hinds and leaped up the fire escape, changing into human form midair and catching the railing as she hit. She smiled as she vaulted over it, leaning into the window to hug me.
"You're okay," she said. "I was worried about you."
"I was worried about you," I replied. "Are you hurt?"
"No. But Landon, something is wrong."
"What do you mean?"
"The mortals. They saw me."
"Some mortals will always Awaken when the Divine are right in front of them."
"No, Landon. Not some of them. All of them. There were police. They stopped their cars and shot at me."
I didn't know what to say. That should never have happened. It had to have something to do with Abaddon's power being siphoned into the vampires who were attacking the people in the streets.
"Did you kill all of the vampires?"
"I think so."
"Then it should be over. The mortals' Awakening, I mean."
"I hope so, for their sake. They were terrified of me."
"I would be too if you weren't on my side."
"Signore," Dante said, joining us at the window. "We don't have a lot of time."
"Jane, you need to hurry back to Heaven and warn Archangel Michael. Abaddon doesn't just plan to help Rebecca get a pass. He wants to join her there."
Somehow her pale face turned more pale. "What?"
"Exactly. We both know that can't happen. He won't be able to take her without him. He needs to know that."
She nodded, holding out the trap to me. "Very well. Take this."
I collected it in my hands, feeling the soothing warmth of the seraphim power against it. I could see Rebecca's soul inside it with the third-eye, bound to the consecrated soil.
Jane lifted her head toward the sky, vanishing in a beam of light a moment later.
"Dante, Alyx said the mortals were able to see her. All of them. Do you know why that would be?"
He furrowed his brow as if he were concerned, but shook his head. "No. It must be a side effect of Abaddon's power."
"That's what I thought. It seems strange though, doesn't it?"
"Perhaps not. Mortals who are exposed to the demon's power have always died in the past. It may be that one cannot be near it and survive without Awakening."
I got the feeling he wasn't saying everything, but I didn't dwell on it. We had little enough time to prepare for Abaddon to arrive in Central Park.
I pulled my phone from my pocket and called Rose.
"We've got the package. Are you in position?" I asked.
"Ready and waiting," she replied. "Not that I'm enjoying being stuck with Gervais for this. He's already made at least a dozen lewd comments about me and my sister." She made a sound of disgust. "I can't wait to be done with him."
"Just keep an eye on him. You know he can't be trusted."
"I know. I am."
"Great. We'll be there soon."
I hung up the phone at the same time Jane landed back on the fire escape. She didn't look pleased.
"It is up to us, diuscrucis," she said. "Michael will not allow Abaddon into Heaven under any circumstances. If we cannot contain him, he and the other archangels will attend to the matter personally."
That meant they would come down from Heaven and join the war between good and evil. One of the first things I had learned was that the archangels getting involved on Earth was bad. As in, Armageddon bad.
"Hey Landon, check this poop out," Zifah said.
I spun around. He had turned on the television. The news was showing a live scene of the carnage on the streets outside Rebecca's apartment. There was blood and bodies everywhere, though things seemed to have quieted down. The headline under the image said, "Are Monsters Real?"
"Shit," I said. "This is turning into a real mess."
"Yeah," Zifah agreed. "Look at that." He pointed to the lower left corner of the screen. "It's about to get worse."
I followed his finger. The camera was just barely covering the entrance to the apartment building. A flow of dark tendrils was just beginning to stretch out from it.
"Time to go," I said, feeling a chill at the sight. "He's on his way."
Fifty-One
We took separate routes to Turtle Pond. Jane carried the trap via air, while Alyx roamed the streets, in part to test if any other mortals were affected by Abaddon's presence, and in part to ensure there were no other pockets of vampires attacking the city. Zifah and I went with Dante, making the instant trip from my living room to the balcony of Belvedere Castle, where Rose was waiting for us, a pair of binoculars in hand.
"He's coming," I said to her.
She wasn't startled by our sudden arrival. "I figured he would be."
"Where's Gervais?"
She passed me the binoculars. "Near the pond, over at that tree. He's been doing something to it for the last hour. Scratching some kind of runes into it."
I took the gear and peered through them. I could see the demonic scratches covered the entire trunk of the tree. Whatever it was for, it was intricate, the kind of stuff only a former archfiend like Gervais could manage.
"How do we know those runes aren't meant to catch you?" she asked.
"We don't, but if he grabs me and not Abaddon, he's as good as dead."
"Don't get too close to it anyway."
"I'll try not to."
I handed the binoculars back to Rose. Jane came down next to us a moment later.
"Where do you want it?" she asked, holding out the trap.
"I'll take it," I said. "Stay back here, out of sight. If I look like I'm in trouble, do something to help me."
"That is all?"
"Unless you have a better idea."
She shook her head and took a couple of steps back.
"Signore," Dante said. "If you are in trouble, I can grab you and get you out, as I did before at the ap
artment."
"No. I need to stay close to the trap. I can't help Gervais with whatever he's doing if I'm too far away."
"Understood. Please accept my moral support if that is all I may offer."
"Thank you, Dante. I know we've had our moments, but I'm glad you're here."
The poet smiled, even though I wasn't sure how much of that I meant and I didn't know if he could tell I was lying somewhat. "Me too, Landon."
Alyx came bounding through the park less than a minute later, leaping up onto the balcony and returning to human form.
"Did you have any trouble?" I asked.
"No, Ma... My love." She smiled at her almost slip. "It seems normal where Abaddon's power has not been. I don't believe Rebecca had time to order the full assault."
"Score one for the home team," I said. "I'm going to check on Gervais and get in position." I opened my arms, taking Alyx in them. "I love you."
"I love you, as well," she said, nuzzling my neck. I closed my eyes, taking in the feel of the contact. "If you die, I will avenge you. Even Abaddon will not be able to stop me."
"I know." I backed away from her. Was that a tear in her eye? I hope she had more confidence in me than that.
"Good luck, Landon," Zifah said.
"Yes, Signore. Good fortune," Dante said.
"Godspeed, Landon," Jane said, handing me the trap.
"Thank you all," I replied, taking it from her. "Be ready for anything."
Then I pushed, leaping from the balcony and coming down a dozen feet from Gervais and his tree.
"Ah, Landon. You have finally arrived," the fiend said. "It took you long enough."
"What is that?" I asked, pointing at the tree.
"My special surprise for Abaddon. Believe it or not, I had prepared it way back when I freed him from Avriel's Box, just in case he was not as amenable to release as I had been hoping. It will distract him."
"Distract him how?"
"Does it matter? When you fight him, get him close to the tree. I will activate the runes, and you will use the few seconds you have to retrieve the Fist and put him in it. Yes?"
Execution (The Divine Book 6) Page 20