“Drop me into the portal!” I yelled, my words snatched away on the breeze. Rachel whooped as we flipped upside-down to avoid the fire, and Nikolas swore, lightning arcing from his fingertips. Azurial was too fast to hit, his fire just as powerful. Worse, it was fuelling the portal below both of them. And if just one of them got through to our realm, people would die.
Nikolas flew back above a castle balcony, yelling something to Rachel. I caught the gist—we needed to let go, before Azurial knocked one of us out of the air.
Someone slammed into my back without warning. I fell several feet, catching hold of the balcony high off the ground. Righting myself, I spun to face Damian.
“Watch it,” I said. “If I hadn’t landed there, we’d both be dead.”
“I can’t die. You know… even celestial vampires are immortal.” He laughed. “And I’m the first of my kind.”
“Watch your ego doesn’t pull us both into the inferno over there.”
Risking a look over the edge, I saw the portal directly below. Nikolas and Rachel had disappeared, fighting Azurial in mid-air, leaving Inspector Angler entirely unchecked. And this dickhead was between me and shutting that damn portal off before it unleashed hell on earth.
Grabbing a stake, I swung it at him, but he caught my hand in his, driving both of us towards the balcony’s edge.
“This ends for you, Devi,” Damian said. “If you’re not with us, then you’re our enemy.”
“Glad we cleared that up.” I twisted free, the inferno roaring from the portal making my hair stand on end. “You deserve to burn for what you did.”
“I offered the vampires a lifeline,” he said. “The guild has known for a long time about the potential for cures for vampirism in demon venom. But they hoarded that information for their own selfish gains. Isn’t anything worth being able to walk in the daylight again? The vampires I’ve spoken to certainly seem to agree.”
“Nothing’s worth having a demonic parasite in your head.” Fire sprang from my fingertips, narrowly missing him. He ducked, eyes widening. So he didn’t know I absorbed Azurial’s power?
“The demons will flood our realm either way, Devi,” he said, his words muffled by the crackling flames. “The celestials are built to fall, like the Divinities.”
“You know what happens when you’re idiotic enough to jump at someone on a balcony?” Fire leapt from my fingertips, driving him backwards to the edge. His eyes widened, but an inexplicable smile curled his lips. “See you in hell, Devi.”
A fresh set of flames roared from my hands, driving him over the edge and into a torrent of fire.
The portal had already opened.
Chapter 23
Damn it all. The former inspector had disappeared behind the surging fire, and I was still stuck twenty feet above it. With no way to shut it down. I had only one option remaining. Demon mark flaring, I stepped back through the demonglass wall.
Zadok didn’t flinch when I appeared in front of him on the carpeted floor of his tower. “Nice of you to drop in and visit,” he said.
“Don’t fuck around. Give me that device of yours.”
“This?” He tossed the pentagram between his hands, deliberately out of reach. “Now, why would I do that? You already turned me down once.”
Lightning spun from my fingertips. “Because things will get pretty uncomfortable for you if you don’t.”
He smirked. “You do have demon magic after all. Strange. It looks awfully like—”
I directed the demonic lightning at him, twin streams trapping him on either side. He glanced left and right, still grinning. “I like this from you, Devi.”
“Give it over. Now. I’m not playing your games.” Lightning struck inches from his feet. I could get used to this.
“Well, now, there’s no need to be hasty. You’re welcome to it. I think you could make good use of it, and I’m very much looking forward to watching the show.”
The pentagram flew from his fingertips and I caught it on reflex, demonic lightning still flowing from my other hand.
“See?” he said. “I’m no enemy of yours. I don’t particularly want the nether realms to flood this one, believe it or not. But you owe me for this, Devina.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.”
I stepped back through the demonglass and emerged from the outside of the tower, landing in front of the bridge—and its customary army of scorpion demons.
“Got something for you,” I said, holding up the pentagram. If it worked like any other, I knew how to activate it.
Fire shot from my hands, into the pentagram. Themedes’s fire—and Azurial’s. The essence of that dimension. The scorpions backed away as I threw it down, fire still surging within, raising an inferno. Within, all manner of horrors rose, demons of fire, and behind them… the shadowy outline of Inspector Angler.
I called my celestial blade and ran forward, hoping the combined power of heaven and hell was enough. We might bear the same mark, but he used his with more confidence. Had he had direct contact with the one who’d marked him? It wasn’t like I could stop our battle for a friendly chat, but still. It’d be nice to know why the Divinity who’d marked me was playing for the enemy team, too.
Lightning forked from both his hands, colliding with my own. Several smaller demons and vampires emerged behind him, surging towards me. So this was the army he’d planned to unleash on earth.
I waved a hand at the scorpion demons behind me. “Give them hell,” I said.
Enemies or not, no demon would let an attack on their own territory go by without punishment. As the venos demons lumbered out to meet their foes, I raised my hands and summoned my demonic power.
Fire surged past, barely ruffling Inspector Angler’s hair. Two grappling winged shapes appeared in the pentagram. It’s synced into that realm. The others must have flown close to the portal, and now they’d been drawn here, too.
Nikolas’s dark shadowy form clashed with Azurial’s bright one, neither giving ground. Hoping he had the situation in hand, I renewed my attack on the former inspector. Ducking another lightning blaze, I ran out behind the scorpion demons, my hand raised high. It didn’t respond to their closeness and I wasn’t stupid enough to stick my hand in venom, but apparently I couldn’t absorb their power. It must only take in powerful magic, then. Grade Three or higher. Right up to arch-demon level.
Inspector Angler faced me across the bridge, perilously close to the edge with no apparent fear of falling. Neither of us had wings, unlike the warring demigods above. And our power was entirely on loan. But the fire of an arch-demon, borrowed or not, was powerful enough to bring an army crashing to its knees.
Several larger demons leapt from the portal at me. I grabbed my celestial blade, severing heads and claws. As I did, he inched backwards, towards the portal again. Nope. Don’t you dare.
My blade came down and I jumped high, using my boots to catch my balance before the portal. “It’s no use,” I shouted above the crackle of flames. “The pentagram will keep summoning you back. You can’t run from me, Kenneth. You’ll never get your conflict with Inspector Deacon, but you’ll sure as hell get one from me.”
Lightning cloaked him on all sides, an evolution of Nikolas’s ability I hadn’t seen before. My attacks simply bounced off, even with a clear shot. As another bolt shot from his hands, the bridge trembled underneath. I stepped forwards, calling my demonic power again. Inspector Angler and I circled one another. Lightning speared from his hands, only to fizzle out on contact with me. I shot fire back, which he dodged. With the fire demon close by, he could keep siphoning off his powers—but so could I.
Lightning whipped from his hands, grabbing my ankles and pulling me over the edge of bridge. Below, waters surged, too deep to see what might be lurking inside. I kicked out, grasping the cold stone with my fingertips. No. I won’t fall. I can’t die here.
“Sure would help to be able to fly.” I didn’t think of something fast, I’d be on my way to a watery gra
ve.
Thick, dark shadows rose to bolster me, pushing me back onto the bridge, and I found solid ground beneath my feet. No way. That can’t be—
“You’re not done, celestial,” whispered Zadok’s voice from inside the shadows.
Seven hells. It really was him. But why save me?
“Thanks,” I said. “Any tips?”
“You’re still thinking of both hands as separate. That’s your issue. Even I can see it.”
Both hands? Celestial and demon. Wait…
Of course. The Divinity had fallen… but it was the same being who’d given me both marks. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to choose one over the other. They were reflections of one another. Celestial and infernal fire, one in each hand.
The shadows receded, leaving me on the bridge once again. In front of me, the former inspector stood cloaked in lightning and fire.
I pressed the marks together.
Fire surged from one hand to the other, both stemming from the one who’d given me the mark. An arch-demon. I was channelling his magic, and it was far stronger than Inspector Angler’s. After all, he’d entirely given up the celestial part of himself. Even if he still had it, I’d bet he hadn’t touched his celestial power in ages. He’d cast them off, utterly, turning himself entirely into a demigod.
Bright flames exploded from my celestial hand and demon hand both, clashing together in a torrent of light. Crushing his lighting and fire. Lighting up his expression of sudden terror.
He fell back, screaming, as the fire burned him. With a flying leap, he jumped into the portal again. Dammit.
Almost immediately, he materialised with darkness pouring from his hands. Darkness… Zadok. He stole his power. But I’d bet he didn’t know how to use it.
I, however, did. My ability wasn’t dimension-jumping or even fire—it was the power to take on any other demonic magic I encountered. I had his fire. I also had lightning.
And thanks to Zadok, I also had the power of the shadows.
I countered the enemy’s shadows with darkness of my own, pouring from my right hand, surrounding him in the terrifying manner Zadok had once done to me. The former inspector was completely covered in darkness so absolute, nobody could see through it. He yelled in surprise, his senses abruptly cut off. Doubtless he could break out if he wanted—but the bridge kept him above the ground. If he stepped too far the wrong way, he’d fall into darkness.
Now to finish the bastard.
Celestial light in one hand, demon light in the other, I called a fire that was both and neither. The inferno surged between my palms, crushing the darkness—and him—beneath it.
The fiery, shadowy mass fell over the bridge, dropping into the dark.
I watched, carefully, but he never rose again.
Then I stepped back, the god’s power still in my hands. Looking up, I saw Azurial grappling with Nikolas. Deliberately, I raised my hands, took aim, and fired light at Azurial’s wings.
The demigod dropped out of the sky like a stone. Nikolas flew down to meet him as he crash-landed on the bridge.
Azurial lay in a crumpled heap, unmoving. Nikolas looked at my hands. “What’s that?”
“The gods’ touch.” I grinned. “Want to let me finish him off?”
“I was more into the idea of letting him suffer for defying me, but I’m intrigued to know what you can do with that.”
“Watch and see.”
Azurial gave a shriek of terror and attempted to crawl along the bridge. The fire reached him first. The demigod lit up, consumed in the god’s flames, until nothing remained of him but ashes. Now I knew what could kill a demigod… the righteous hand of divine fire. It didn’t burn me, not at all.
The portal rotated, flames still whirling inside it. I approached the pentagram, extinguishing my demonic fire, though it still burned beneath the surface. Zadok’s shadows surged from my hands, blanketing the fire, switching off the luminous lights glowing around the edges. I waited, but it didn’t turn back on, and this time, Zadok’s voice didn’t speak from the shadows. It was Nikolas who put an arm around my shoulders, taking the pentagram from me.
I turned to Nikolas with a nod. “Let’s go home.”
Chapter 24
While Nikolas used his shadow power to remove every trace of the demons from the bridge, I stood at the side and tried not to look at Zadok’s tower. I knew I’d have to pay a price for him helping me out eventually, but I didn’t have the energy to feel anything other than glad to be alive.
“That’s the last of them,” Nikolas said, the shadows disappearing. “I assume their leader’s body fell into the river. There are enough demons in that water to strip him down to the bone.”
“Lovely image,” I said. “He won’t come back, anyway. He’s no demon, no matter how much of their magic he took.” Sure would be nice to know why the arch-demon had chosen to mark him, but it was too late to ask, and I’d had quite enough of arch-demon magic for one day.
First stop: check on Pandemonium. We found Rachel in a deserted corridor, in her human form and sitting on a heap of dead vampires. “There you are,” she said, picking blood off her fingernails. “I was starting to get bored.”
“All taken care of,” I said. “Both of our troublemakers are dead.” Still, the idea that the fallen Divinity would mark anyone else at all didn’t put my mind at ease. I was still for all intents and purposes a potential pawn in the war between heaven and hell.
But with the gods’ fire in my hands, maybe I could overcome that.
Next stop: Fiona, and the warlocks’ guild. My heart climbed into my throat when we passed easily into the demonglass room. My phone buzzed instantly, now the connection was back. Ignoring it, I walked out into the corridor.
“Fiona?” I called.
“I hid her upstairs,” Javos said from the open door to the living room.
I breathed out. “Thank you.”
His tone implied you owe me for this. He wasn’t the only one. I dreaded what Zadok would think I owed him for helping us out during the fight. For whatever reason, he’d sided with me over Pandemonium. Doubtless demonic scheming was involved, but I’d deal with that later.
Nikolas walked in behind me, with Rachel at his side. “Is this realm stable?”
“As much as you’d hope,” Javos said. “Looks like someone directed all the instability elsewhere.” His gaze lingered on me. Oh boy. Here goes.
Somehow, we got through the explanation without him blowing anyone’s head off. Fiona gawped at me through the entire thing, and even Rachel raised an eyebrow when I mentioned wielding the gods’ magic. When I finished speaking, silence fell.
“You’re a thorn in my side,” said Javos.
“Thanks.”
“You’re a menace, a liability, too damned dangerous to be allowed to wander off alone, and possibly the greatest asset we have in this realm.”
I blinked. “Thanks for laying it all out. Is there any reason you want me on your side other than my usefulness, and the fact that you don’t want the enemy getting his claws on me?”
“No,” said Nikolas. “Javos thinks in terms of assets only as far as everyone else is concerned. That includes me and Rachel, and every other warlock.”
“Then what incentive do I have to stay?” I asked. “I can use this power alone. I have done.”
“What you get is the best backup squad in any realm,” Rachel said. “Also, Javos might not like you, but I do. You’re a riot, and your friend’s pretty awesome too, for a human. And Niko—”
“Would like to add his own reasons at a more appropriate time,” he said, in tones that sent warmth tingling down my arms. It more than made up for Javos’s indifference. I didn’t need his approval, or anyone else’s.
Javos cleared his throat. “You’ll follow our rules, except in case of an emergency like this one.”
“I feel like it won’t be the last,” I said.
“No,” said Nikolas. “Babylon in particular is a target.”
&
nbsp; I frowned. “Why? We killed them.”
“We can’t erase evidence of the battle,” he said. “Even with the bodies gone. That there’s been a link between those realms at all… it’s not good for any of us.”
“Precisely,” said Javos. “Luckily for the both of you, that’s not my problem. I intend to report on today’s events to the warlock council and I expect all of you to be present when I do so. For now, you should lie low.”
No kidding. More like sleep for a week. But there was work to be done, and I doubted the Grade Four celestial soldiers would be leaving town anytime soon. The inspector and I would go head to head someday, even if he hadn’t guessed what I was yet, or just how close the enemy had come to destroying the guild.
Cleaning up took a long time, especially when we were supposed to be in hiding. Not only had the rogue vamps left chaos behind them, others had been driven to flee by the threat of being found by the celestials, who saw any unregistered new vamp as a potential threat.
One day, while the others and I were at the warlocks’ guild checking potential vampire hideouts’ addresses, I got a message from Alec.
Sorry I didn’t get back to you. Am on the run with the others. Our names are on the celestials’ wanted lists.
“Wanted lists?” I echoed, looking across the office at Nikolas. We’d gathered in there as we often did, working on whatever Javos needed doing. Mostly, it was to do with removing all traces of the vampires’ illicit activity and checking there were no more portals. The bloodstones’ power had mostly burned out. With all bloodstone trade under close watch, the warlocks would be able to get hold of anything dodgy before it caused any more damage. At least, I hoped so. Those who’d been bitten should recover, in theory, without turning into bloodthirsty killers. But for those already addicted, fully transformed, then there’d be no reprieve. The celestials would hunt them down.
Celestial Fire (Celestial Marked Book 2) Page 21