Devils Inc.

by Lauren Palphreyman

  We stare at each other. Then we both exhale at the same time.

  “I know you’re sorry,” I say finally. “And I’m sorry about your wife. This situation. It’s just—”

  “Messed up. I know.”

  I sigh again. “Yeah.”

  He averts his eyes, nervousness making its first appearance. “Do you think—?”

  Before he can finish, something shatters. Crow lunges forward, knocking the air out of my lungs as he brings us to the ground, sheltering my body. Just past his head, I see the light of blue flame. White plaster rains down all around us. The Revelation Scroll rolls just out of reach.

  He raises himself on his forearms, my body caged within his.

  “Let’s put a pin in that,” he says. “Looks like we have company.”

  I scramble for my cell in my pocket, then glance at Afterlife. The map shows a cluster of about fifty black and red dots outside Adalind’s apartment.

  I turn it to Crow. “You think Adalind sent them?”

  “Aye.” His face darkens. “She has admin level on Afterlife—she’ll have seen we were here. Bit of an oversight, really.”

  “Shit,” I say under my breath.

  There’s another crashing sound as a new fireball hurtles into the wall. Crow stays on top of me, the falling plaster turning his black hair white.

  “Shouldn’t we get going then?” I ask.

  “Aye. Let’s.”

  I shove him off me and grab the scroll. After he helps to pull me to my feet, we run out of Adalind’s door. Footsteps echo up from the stairwell.

  My eyes lock on Crow’s, and he pulls me toward a wide window at the other end of the hallway. The lights flicker, and he uses the new shadows to pop the glass from its frame.

  We’re not high enough to die if we jump out, but we’ll probably break our legs.

  “Do you trust me, little Demon?” he says.

  “No,” I say. I don’t slow down though.

  “Probably wise.”

  With his hand still curled around my arm, he turns just as we hit the window, pulling me into him and locking my body against his chest.

  Revelation Scroll clenched in my fist and a horde of Demons racing toward us, we hurtle toward the earth.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  We’re falling.

  A ball of blue fire sparks out of the window above us, cutting through a sky filled with ominous clouds. The breeze whips my hair, and my stomach is in my throat. Even with Crow wrapped around me, the ground will be brutal.

  Then Crow twists the fingers of his free hand, and darkness rises around us—thick, and malleable, and suffocating.

  Our fall slows.

  But not completely.

  We thud hard onto the concrete. Crow grunts, a raw sound scraping his throat, as he takes most of the impact. We’re shrouded in shadow still, and all I hear within the cocoon of darkness is his low, hot breath against my ear. I gulp in smoky darkness.

  Then the shadows fade.

  Demons and Omens close in on both sides, a mass of black blazers and leather jackets.

  Crow’s black Mini Cooper is parked just down the road. We need to get to it. Fast.

  I wriggle away from him to take a better look. Shit. There’s a dribble of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth, and his face is contorted in pain.

  “You okay?” I ask him.

  He groans again, eyelids flickering. Then he rolls onto his forearms and spits out blood.

  “Crow?” I say.

  He makes another raw sound. I move closer, grabbing his shoulder.

  “Crow? Are you okay?”

  “Aye. Bid my tongue. Hurts like a motherfuc—”

  I slap his arm. “I thought you were dying or something! Jesus Christ. Can we save the dramatics and get going, please?” I jerk my head toward the pack of Demons headed our way.

  He looks over my shoulder. “Ah, shit,” he says.

  I see the reflection of blue flames in his eyes and throw him to the concrete just as the fireball smashes into the window of a first-floor apartment. Soon after, the door of the building crashes open, the Omens and Demons that were in the stairwell spilling out.

  “This isn’t good, little Demon.”

  “I noticed.”

  Another fireball crashes from our right, but Crow manages to fizzle it using the shadow from the traffic lights. When he cocoons us in another wall of darkness, I can’t see anything. Cold adrenaline drowns any heat in my veins. I’m breathing hard. There are so many of them. How can we beat them all?

  “Crow!” I yell.

  “I’m thinking!” he yells back.

  A screech of tires cuts through our panic. Crow drops the shield as a Honda Civic brakes on the sidewalk just in front of us. The door flies open, and Jonathon leans over from the driver’s seat.

  “Get in!” he yells.

  We don’t need to be told twice. Under the cover of Crow’s darkness, I throw myself into the passenger seat while Crow piles into the back.

  “Good timing,” I say, my voice breathless as we slam the doors shut.

  “Been keeping an eye on Afterlife,” says Jonathon, putting his foot down on the accelerator. “Noticed a load of Demons making their way here.”

  Under cover of shadow, the car lurches forward, knocking through a bunch of Demons who don’t see us coming. They yell and hit the car, creating a cacophony of fists against metal, before Jonathon breaks us free and we hurtle down the road.

  “Get off me, Omen,” a sharp female voice says as we swerve around the corner.

  “Evie. Pleasure as always,” Crow replies. “And with the hubby as well.”

  Eve, the bartender I met just before I signed away my soul, sits in the backseat, her black hair swept into a long ponytail that hangs over one shoulder of her green blouse. She’s perched stiffly between Crow and a man wearing a linen top. Adam. His skin is the same creamy brown as Eve’s, and he has beautiful dark brown eyes.

  Crow smirks. “How . . . awkward.”

  That’s when I notice their bodies are angled away from one another.

  The back window cracks, and we all flinch as a ball of blue fire bounces off it. When I peer back again, I see we have a new tail.

  “You got the scroll, sis?” says Jonathon.

  “Yep,” I say, holding it up.

  He nods, eyes wide, as he looks through the rearview mirror. “We need to get to Trinity Falls as soon as possible. Before Adalind realizes I’ve got Adam and Eve.”

  “Where’s Gabe?” Crow says, leaning between the seats.

  The question is casual enough, but I notice the knuckles of the hand on my seat are white.

  “Still at Halo Corp.” Jonathon overtakes another car. As the driver honks, Jonathon swerves onto the sidewalk to overtake a line forming behind a red light. “It’s pretty bad over there. But Gabriel tipped them off that the end of the world is happening. He’s pulling together a team to come over to Apocalypse and fight with us.”

  We dodge a fireball on our way onto the freeway. The traffic is bad enough that Jonathon has to slow down, dodging cars as we swerve across the nine lanes. Demons and Omens swerve with us. This isn’t good.

  Crow slumps back and looks through the rear window. “Come on, Gabe,” he mutters, then he yells for everyone to duck.

  This time, the back glass shatters, revealing a hatchback Porsche close behind. A blonde drives, while a girl with a brown pixie cut hurls blue flames from the passenger seat. The air is filled with the angry honking of a thousand innocent passengers’ road rage.

  The road beneath us trembles.

  “What was that?” I whirl in my seat.

  “She’s coming,” says Adam coolly. “She knows we’re not at Halo Corp.”

  “Thanks for stating the obvious,” snaps Eve.

  The momentary distraction stops us from seeing the red Ford Fiesta until it barges into us from the right side and manages to run us into a metal barrier. We jerk forward against our seat belts as sp
arks fly, and a number of cars have to swerve out of our path. As soon as we screech to a halt, a fireball hits the back of the car.

  “EVERYONE OUT!” yells Jonathon.

  Sweat rolling down my face, I stumble into the road still gripping the Revelation Scroll. Crow, Adam, and Eve fall out of the back as Jonathon hurries to my side. Flames roar behind us as cars full of Demons screech to a halt on all sides.

  “Shit!” I say.

  Adam pulls a dagger from his belt and twirls it with a performative air. Eve scowls, then she strides to the trunk of the car, making a low sound as she touches the scalding metal. Once it’s open, she pulls out a great-sword, flames dancing along the blade.

  The corner of Crow’s lip lifts. “Looks like your wife has the bigger—”

  “Oh, shut up,” says Adam. “I’ve only known you five minutes, and I already despise you.”

  The Demons have gotten out of their cars to form a circle around us. The floor trembles.

  The girl with the pixie cut steps forward, and I see she’s wearing a Devils Inc. blazer.

  “You’re one of us now, intern,” she says. “Give us the scroll, and you won’t die horrible, painful deaths. We don’t care about the Serpent’s gripe with humanity, but we can’t have you summoning the boss. He’ll be pissed.”

  “Any ideas?” I mutter, sliding my gaze to Crow, only to find he has his eyes closed and is muttering something under his breath, big hands clasped together. I nudge him.

  “Shh,” he says without opening his eyes.

  The Demon gives a twisted smile. “Oh well. Worth a try. I wanted to do it the murderous way anyway.”

  Heat hits us from all directions as the Demons draw their blue flames.

  The floor trembles again.

  That’s when Crow puts his finger and thumb in his mouth and whistles. A crow caws somewhere in the distance. Another answers it. And then the sky darkens as the sound of flapping wings fills the air. Big black birds nosedive from the clouds, tearing at our attackers. Adam and Eve join the fray, slicing down any Demon who comes close.

  “We need to get to Apocalypse!” I yell.

  “Don’t worry,” says Crow. “I called you a cab.”

  “Huh?”

  As if on cue, something hurtles through the black, cawing mass. A topless Gabriel skids to a halt in front of us, white wings shuddering behind him.

  “I got your prayer,” he tells Crow. “I’m surprised you remember how to do that.”

  Crow shrugs. “Never forgot, mate.”

  Gabriel spins on his heel to face me. Despite the fact he’s just been hurtling through a sky full of birds, his red hair is perfectly neat.

  “Rachel. You have the scroll. Excellent work.” He shifts from one foot to the other. “We should probably get going.”

  I stare at his chest. “Uh, so you mean, I should . . .?”

  He runs a hand through his hair. “Yes. Well . . .”

  I step closer to him, not really sure what to do.

  “Just put your arms around my neck,” he says.

  I do as he says, gripping my wrist to make a solid lock while also keeping hold of the scroll. As my knuckles brush against his wings, he tenses. I tense too.

  “Sorry,” I mutter.

  “This is uncomfortable to watch,” observes Crow over the murder of crows.

  “Yeah,” agrees Jonathon.

  “Oh, shut up,” I say.

  The corner of their lips continue to twitch until Jonathon’s eyes meet Gabriel’s over my head, suddenly fierce.

  “Look after her.”

  “Of course,” says Gabriel.

  Carnage rages around us, fireballs flying and swords flashing as birds swarm through the air.

  I look at Crow. “Look after my brother.”

  He inclines his head, his face unusually serious. “Aye. I won’t let anything happen to him,” he says, then he looks to Gabriel. “Good luck, mate.”

  “And you,” says Gabriel.

  “See you at the end of the world.”

  Gabriel nods back. Then he brings his gaze to mine, face close. “Ready, Rachel?”

  I suck in a breath. “Yeah.”

  Gabriel locks his hands around my waist as Crow whistles for the black, swirling mass of birds above to part. Gabriel bends his knees, and then his huge white wings make a strong, violent movement.

  And the road drops from beneath my feet as we start to fly.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  We leave the fighting behind in mere seconds. The cars look like toys from up here, and as my hair whips my face, I can taste the clouds.

  We’re so close together that I feel the toned muscles of his stomach against mine, but thanks to the elation—and terror—surging through my body, I’m feeling more at peace with the strange physical contact than expected. My eyes are entranced by his wings as they move behind him—slowly, powerfully, the hard feathers brushing my knuckles every so often.

  After five minutes, I ease my hold just a little. His embrace is surprisingly strong despite his slender frame, and I know I won’t fall.

  Soon, I catch the familiar white church surrounded by palm trees at the end of the Trinity Falls main street, and Gabriel starts to drop height. I feel a mixture of relief, dismay, and dread. The muscles in my arms might ache, and the Angel carrying me might not be enjoying the experience, but it feels good to be flying.

  Gabriel’s body suddenly tenses against mine, his arms tightening around my waist.

  “Gabriel? What is—?”

  My voice is drowned out as the churchyard below erupts in a volcanic burst of mud, stone, and bone.

  Gabriel swerves roughly, turning me away from the blast as dirt rains down on his red hair. My eyes widen when the Serpent’s head rears into the sky behind him with a thunderous rumble, fangs like knives, eyes like fire.

  “GABRIEL!” I yell.

  He changes course, narrowly avoiding impact with her wide mouth. But her black tail lashes out and clips his wing. He cries out, and we plunge toward the ground.

  He manages to gain control just in time, and we drop clumsily into the churchyard. Wind knocked out of us, we rest our weight on our forearms as we catch our breath.

  We’re trapped within a prison of green and black scales as her body coils around the perimeter of the church. Her large head has thrown the yard into shadow, and her sharp tail has broken the window by the arched door. I catch a scattering of old gravestones and the ripped wood of coffins, splintered like kindling.

  I shift, feeling something hard piercing my palm. When I realize it’s a fragment of bone, I fight a wave of nausea.

  Adalind lazily turns her head to look down, her amber snake eyes catching mine. Then her laugh fills the air, raspy and terrifying.

  “Nice try, intern,” she hisses.

  I swallow hard, holding the scroll. Even though adrenaline surges through my body, it doesn’t bring the heat I need to fight. I turn to Gabriel. He’s red-faced and muttering in pain. His eyes are squeezed closed. His wings are still shuddering behind him, and the hard feathers on his left one look ruffled and out of place.

  He’s hurt. Out of action.

  We’re well and truly doomed.

  Or—no, I can’t think like that. The nearest part of Adalind’s scaly body is thirty feet away, pressed up against an iron fence. If I could distract her, then climb it. . . God, I can smell the fried onions from Diablos’ hot dog stand.

  Apocalypse is so close. And yet so far.

  “It’s a shame,” continues Adalind, slowly dropping her head to our height. Her fangs are covered in blood. I can smell it on her breath, coppery and sour. “I actually kind of liked you, intern,” she says, forked tongue slipping out. “But you are becoming a pesssst.”

  “Says the big lizard,” I retort, not managing to hide the quiver in my voice.

  She laughs. “Any lassst words? No, never mind. I can’t be assssed with that.”

  She rears back to her full height, ready to lunge. />
  Figures drop down from the sky around us, ten in total. Angels. They wear white suits that must have some kind of slits to accommodate the great white wings that fold into their backs as they land.

  Gabriel lets out a relieved sigh. “The military department,” he says under his breath.

  Adalind’s eyes make a strange movement. If she wasn’t a giant serpent Demon, I’d think she was rolling them.

  “Oh. Some Halo Corp stiffssss. How sssscary.”

  She lunges at one of them, a muscular guy with dark skin, and he dives behind an upturned tombstone before throwing a ball of white light at her. There’s shouting and chaos and blurs of light as the Angels’ attacks bounce off Adalind’s scales.

  “You summoned them?” I ask Gabriel. “The Angels?”

  “Yes. By prayer,” he says. “But they’re no match for her.”

  Adalind’s tail whips out, hurling broken pieces of white wood from the church across the lawn and wobbling the cross on its roof. Gabriel and I roll and duck as a big gray boulder shatters inches from where we lay. Another Angel, a guy with blond hair, is hit in the head and rendered unconscious.

  Adalind laughs and begins to slither in a circle, drawing us all closer to its center.

  “We need to get out of here!” I tell Gabriel, pulling him to his feet. The barrier between us and Apocalypse is only getting higher.

  “If I heal my wing, I can fly us over her body,” he says.

  “Great!” I say.

  He stares at me. Nothing happens.

  “Go ahead and do it!” I say.

  “I can’t.” He thrusts a hand through his neat red hair. “I’m panicking.”

  I rub my face, aware of Adalind’s hissing laughter and the cries of more fallen Angels.

  “Okay, well . . . calm down, Gabriel. There, there.” I use my best soothing voice as screams and shouts fill the air. “It’ll be all right. We’re absolutely not going to be squeezed to death by a giant serpent monster.”

  “Not. Helping.”

  I’m about to try again when we’re interrupted by a loud whinnying sound. Something flies through the air over Adalind’s body. We both stagger back as a large, pale white horse skids to a halt in front of us, its eyes black as death. Its black saddle is adorned with silver markings depicting scythes.