by S Lawrence
I take a step toward him.
“Seriously. Right now, you two are going to act like a couple idiots?” She steps around me between us and looks up at Arkyn. “Of course I will help you. I just didn’t think.” She waves her hand around us, reminding us that she is not used to carnage. “Just let me focus.”
She turns in a slow circle with eyes closed, trusting us to keep her safe. Her head tilts and her brow furrows. Finally she stops shaking her head.
“They are spread out all over the city.” Suddenly she spins, looking down the strip. “I recognize that one.” She’s talking to herself more than us. “Where is she?”
She starts walking and then it turns into a jog before morphing into a flat out sprint.
My heart stutters as I see where she is running.
Eden, that fucking whore of Babylon. The cats. The Mirage looms in front of us, and people are pouring out of it, making us have to fight to get in.
“They are killing the animals,” I yell as I pass her.
My suspicions are confirmed as we race through the glass tunnel and the normally brilliant blue water is red with the dolphins’ blood.
Fucking hell.
Arkyn is running behind Charlie, his wounds not healed and blood running from his chest. Now he pushes past her with a burst of speed. We rush through a set of doors and into the tigers’ garden.
Pristine white fur coated dark red is the first thing I see. We are too late.
“Hello, Dagen.” Ever smiles and it is a thing of pure evil. “Eden is busy elsewhere, but I had this idea for a present for her.”
Arkyn screams and rushes forward, but she knocks him aside, his strength waning from blood loss.
I decide to keep her talking. “What is the present? Killing the tigers and dolphins? Why would she care?” I ask as Charlie steps up beside me. I look over and see her cheek wet with tears.
“Oh, no, nothing that trivial.” She shifts and waves her hand. Armed men pour from some unseen room.
Weapons are raised and pointed at us.
“I’m going to finish what she started so long ago. I’m going to kill you again in front of your beloved animals. Tie you to this fake tree and slit your throat, and then I’m going to kill her.”
Charlie’s eyes narrow. “I don’t think so.” Ever smirks at her until those beautiful badass wings unfurl from my woman’s back.
“Ooo, look who has gotten some new wings,” she sneers. “Wings can’t stop me.” She flicks her hand and the men open fire. The bullets hit me and Arkyn but not nearly as many as should have.
Fire shoots across the room as Charlie flexes those wings and they light up with fire. The room goes silent as the men are reduced to ash in seconds.
Damn, that was a thing of beauty. She learned more than flying up there in Heaven.
Ever realizes her mistake and tries to leave, but I grab a hold of her with my power.
I want to kill her instantly, but Arkyn gasps and the sound is loud in the silent area. I turn to look at him and he has sunk to his knees.
“Moll.” I get Charlies attention. “Get Arkyn out of here.”
She shakes her head. “I’m not leaving you.”
“Save him. Please.” She’s torn but finally crosses to Arkyn, trying to pull him up.
“I didn’t get super strength with these,” she grumbles, struggling. Finally, she gets him to his feet with help from him. “YOU better come back to me.”
I nod as I fight to hold Ever, who is struggling to break free. Opening my mind, I call the rest of the tigers, who stalk out of the vegetation like the predators they are. I let them see what she has done.
I hold her and her power frozen as the chuffs of big cats fill the room. I smile as they circle her, swiping her with razor sharp claws. The blood dripping from cuts sends the beasts into a frenzy, and they leap on her, biting and clawing until she is nothing but a bloody corpse.
Releasing her from my hold, I watch as the final bit of life drains from her body.
Ever no more.
Chapter 29
CHARLIE
I barely get him out of the room and through the macabre tunnel of blood when the medicine woman appears.
Her eyes are shimmering with tears as she holds out her hand. “Let me take him, heal him.” I shake my head but then I remember her cryptic message of why she had helped me.
“Arkyn.” I glance over at his drooping face. His song grows just as faint as Dagen’s had. “Can you save him?”
She nods but I can see the uncertainty in her face. She isn’t sure. “How will we find him?”
“His song.” I focus on the drum beats and nod.
She comes in front of us and wraps her arms around him gently but firmly and then she disappears. Medicine woman, my ass.
I’m not sure how she plays into all this, but she does, I’m sure of it.
I turn back and run into Dagen; I hadn’t heard him coming.
“Where is he?” He looks around, and I can feel his fear.
“The one who took me came for him.” I hold up my hand as he draws a breath to, I assume, berate me. “She came to help.”
“How do you know that?” I shrug.
“I just do. There’s something about her.” I shake my head. “She... I don’t know... She’s important.”
He shakes his head. “Trust me, babe,” I whisper.
“I do but…” I know just how he feels. I step into him, putting my body flush against his, and stand there until his arms come around me. I let my heat sink into his skin, warming him.
“Is she dead?” I ask, not looking up.
“Yes.” His voice is filled with fire and satisfaction.
“Good. She was a real bitch.” A chuckle vibrates his chest beneath my ear. “I can’t believe this is my life now.”
“I’m sorry it is but glad you’re here.” His arms tighten around me.
“Me, too.” I rise up and kiss him on his neck, drawing his scent.
Gunfire cuts through the quiet. I sigh. I wish we could ignore it but I know we can’t. His arms drop away slowly, and I know he wishes the same thing.
We walk hand and hand out of the casino. Sirens and flashing lights are cutting through the night, but the police aren’t anywhere I can see them.
“We need to get in the air.” I glance over as his ebony wings flare out high above him. “No sense hiding now. The Fallen have made the world aware of the war.”
“But does everyone know the war is between two groups of supernatural beings?” It’s his turn to shrug.
“Maybe it is time for the humans to know.” I’m not sure he’s right but I don’t argue.
Following him into the air, we climb higher and higher. We search over the city. It soon becomes clear that things are dying down. The military is rolling through the streets, aiding the police.
It looks like a scene from some post apocalyptic movie below us. The streets are filled with bodies and blood. I feel the sadness of it deep in my soul.
Suddenly, Dagen turns north, flying fast away from the city, driven by something I can’t see or hear, but I follow, unwilling to lose him again.
We leave the city behind, and the night grows dark without the lights of the city. Just as I’m about to yell at him, to ask where we are going, I hear it. Another song that is familiar and with it, the screams of animals.
Eden.
She is sitting on a low branch of a tree, a tiger cub held tightly in her arms. It is mewling for its mother.
“I knew you’d come. I was growing tired of waiting though.” Her eyes dart to her side.
There, the mother of the cub lays dying in a puddle of blood. She had left it to suffer as it bleeds out.
Dagen is stiff beside me but doesn’t react the way she hoped.
“Sorry, Eden, it took longer to kill Ever than I thought.” His voice is level and calm as he delivers the blow.
Her screech echoes around us and the animals roar. “You will pay for that.”
“I don’t think so,” he murmurs softly as he glances at me. “Charlie, protect the animals.”
As soon as the words die on his lips she twists the neck of the cub, killing it and tossing it at its mother. The poor animal struggles to reach her baby dragging her tongue over it before she joins it in death.
Something inside me snaps at that last act of love from the mother. I turn my head, slowly locking my eyes on the bitch as she stands and draws her angel blade.
My flames burst to life, covering my wings and lighting up the night around us.
“Oh, someone has gotten her powers,” Eden sneers. “Your flames don’t scare me, little girl.”
“They should,” I say as I smile.
“Oh, Dagen. I’m going to enjoy this more than I did the first time. Now I can kill the animals and this stupid human. She is not protected like the others that lived in the Garden.”
“Others?” I don’t want to ask but I do, curious.
“Adam and Eve.” I frown at Dagen’s answer. Adam and Eve had been kicked out of the Garden.
“But?” He looks at me and smiles.
“Haven’t you realized not everything you’ve read or been told is true?” I just stare at him.
“So many lies.” He nods.
She takes advantage of our distraction, and I almost miss her. I almost let him die once more.
But like before, the flames have a mind of their own. Flaring up, they form a wall in front of Dagen, one she flies through. He steps to the side, and we watch as she falls burning.
Her screams are both terrifying and satisfying.
Dagen turns to leave, but I stay, staring down at her, and I have an idea. I change my flames and let them flick over her. I show her what she could have had, what she missed, what she will never have now.
I show her my love for Dagen, how it burns brighter then even the fire that burns her now. Her screams die away as the flames kill her nerve endings and now only the sound of her crying reaches my ears.
After only moments, those die away also as her life leaves her.
“I could have handled her.” His mumble is so low, I almost miss his words.
“I know but...” I huff out a breath. “I just couldn’t stand the thought of her hurting you or another animal. So many lost because she was evil.”
He stops, turning back to face me, and his face has softened. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”
I draw him to me, pulling his face down to mine. He kisses me deeply as the sounds of big cats chuffing surrounds us. I stiffen, remembering we are surrounded by predators.
But he only kisses me deeper, and I feel his power wash through me as he connects with the animals.
When we finally break apart, we are surrounded. I can only see their eyes shining in the darkness as they watch us.
Chapter 30
LUCIFER
New souls pour into Hell.
Both those used by the Fallen and those killed by them.
I should be above helping but the screeching coming from behind the door I’m leaning on keeps me here.
I can’t control her, and she cannot control herself. She only calms when Lillian is around. Calms in the sense that she isn’t in a full rage. Her eyes have never changed from the crimson of the demon half of her.
I’m running out of time. Sooner rather than later, Lillian will tell. Although I’m positive Dagen has half figured it out. I’ve seen the way he studies our every interaction.
I can’t let Evander find her like this; it will kill him all over again. Destroy him. She would destroy him.
Lillian and I discovered that even just saying his name sends her into a frenzy. I can’t tell if she’s mad at him or that she was ripped away for a second time. Or hell, she might be pissed that I brought her back.
“I’ll kill you.” Her voice is singsongy as she taunts me through the door. “I’ll kill all of you.”
I shake my head. Why has this happened to her? A punishment for me or just thousands of years of rage that she had shoved down breaking free?
I hope it is the latter. I can’t stand the thought of her being punished for something I’ve done or not done.
“Grace?” I whisper, hoping she doesn’t hear, but her growl lets me know she did. “Do you feel any better?”
“I feel great.” She laughs.
“The war is raging. The Fallen are no longer hiding.” Maybe this will shock her back to herself. “We haven’t lost anyone yet, although Arkyn is hurt. Dagen almost died, but that was the new descendant we found. His chosen. She is amazing. A fighter. She has angel fire, Grace.”
A low rumbling vibrates the door. She is listening, at least.
“Lillian has Michael’s sword.” I sigh as I continue, “Charlie, well her actual name is Thea but she goes by Charlie, has Gabriel’s staff. It saved her.”
A thump startles me. “We can win this war, Grace. You can join us. Fight them. Stop them.”
“NO.” The anger has returned. “I will not see him.”
“Who? Evander?” She screams at his name. “I’m sorry, Grace.” She most likely doesn’t hear my apology over the crashing of furniture.
Reminder: bring in more. Honestly, I already have sets waiting to be moved in. My phone dings and I glance down. S.O.S. Shit.
“I’ll be back, Grace. I can bring Lillian again.”
“No.” This one isn’t as forceful as the first, and I’ll take what I can get at this point.
I leave in the next instant.
The city is on fire. Literally. Half the casinos on the strip are engulfed in flames, and the streets are littered with the dead and dying. I wish I could stop it all, but the world isn’t ready for Lucifer to save them.
The door slams open, and Dagen and Charlie glide through it. Dagen has bullet holes in him but he is healing. Lillian comes through the front door with Torryn right behind her.
The others, including Evander, trickle in over the next few minutes.
“They have fled. Their human puppets are either dead, dying, or captured by the police or military.” Evander’s voice is flat.
He’s sounded like that since Grace. Defeated. Tired. Lost.
Lillian glances at me, and I shake my head slightly. The tiny flame of hope in her eyes dies out.
When I look away from her, I see Dagen watching us once again, eyes narrowed. Then he glances at Evander. I watch as the pieces fall into place and click.
His mouth opens, but I shake my head. ‘Not now. I will explain. Later.’
He glares at me for a moment but finally lowers his head. Charlie is watching closely. Great, someone else is suspicious.
“Where’s Arkyn?” He’s not here, and I feel a moment of panic.
“The medicine woman took him,” Charlie says, like it makes perfect sense.
“Took him?” Evander growls, and it’s good to see some emotion in him.
“I know.” Charlie starts talking over the growls of outrage. “I trust her. She cares about him, about the outcome of this war.” She has more to say but doesn’t.
“How did she get him?” I ask.
“She appeared in front of me and then disappeared after asking me to let her take him, to heal him.”
“Appeared like how?” Victor’s voice is low and thick with the Russian accent he has picked up over the many years.
“Well, like Luc and Caliel.” She frowns, as if saying the words out loud just made her realize the implications.
“Another player in the game.” Dagen glances around the room. “Is she friend or foe?”
“Friend,” Charlie says with certainty.
“Why hasn’t she been helping us before now then?” Victor points out.
It’s a good question. “Charlie, do you hear music with her?”
She jerks her eyes to my face, and her mouth opens to answer then closes. She repeats the motion a few more times with a confused look in her eyes.
“No. Well, yes. No.”
<
br /> “Which is it, girl?” Evander snaps, causing Dagen to straighten. The temperature drops ten degrees instantly.
“Don’t talk to her like that, Boss.” Evander takes a step forward.
“Both of you calm the fuck down.” I leave no room for argument. “What do you mean, Charlie?”
“Just she doesn’t have a song, but there is like this hum coming from her.” She frowns. “Sorry, I don’t know how to explain it exactly.”
“No reason to be sorry, moll.” Dagen wraps his arms around her.
“I promise all of you, she doesn’t mean Arkyn harm. She had mentioned him when she had me.” I frown at that revelation.
“She’s been watching us?” The others shift, not liking the idea.
Who could watch us without us being aware?
“I don’t know if she watches all of you but I’m pretty sure she has watched Arkyn. She seemed sad that he was losing hope.” She swallows hard, almost choking on the last word.
“Where did she take him?” She shakes her head. “How are we supposed to find him?” Another shake of her head.
Victor curses, the words sounding much worse in Russian.
“I’m not a crazy bitch.” Charlie surprises me, and I raise my eyebrow as she shrugs. “Russian roommate in New York.”
Victor stomps out onto the balcony, mumbling under his breath. I hear a multitude of Russian curse words.
With the doors open, the smell of the city burning blows in and reminds us what we fight for. Charlie looks out the doors and closes her eyes. When she opens them, she turns back to us.
“I can’t hear any of them.”
“They’ve left, just like they did in New Orleans,” Torryn grumbles. “Cowards.”
“Well, Charlie did light Eden up, and I killed Ever.” Dagen grins at the memories, and his eyes flash red, showing his demon’s pleasure.
“No fucking way. You burned her with angel fire?” Torryn sounds practically giddy at the idea. Charlie nods once.
“She killed a cub.” Her voice is filled with grief. “She planned on killing them all.”
“Shhh, moll, you stopped her.” Dagen kisses the top of her head. “They’re gone for now.”