Endless: Violet Eden Chapters: Book Four

by Jessica Shirvington

  Evelyn was there as well. She was chained around her waist to a pole. I let my dead gaze connect with her fire-blue eyes. I could see she, too, was trying to work out what was happening. She raised her eyebrows, questioningly. I gave her the smallest nod, letting her know I had a plan. It was a good thing such a gesture couldn’t also convey that she probably wouldn’t like said plan.

  Lilith took her time, sauntering up to Olivier and circling him, before her hand caressed his chest. Even now, she didn’t consider me a threat, not bothering to have me searched or further restrained. Her ego would be her undoing.

  ‘You told me you were strong,’ she said to Olivier, tenderly.

  ‘I am,’ he hissed, failing to disguise his contempt for her. Despite what he may be willing to do to destroy the Grigori, he was still once an angel of light and Lilith would always have been an angel of dark. They were not friends.

  ‘You told me you were the best of the light,’ she said.

  ‘I am.’

  Lilith took a deep breath, closed her eyes briefly and began to walk away from him slowly. Without turning back, a breeze began to stir around her, lifting her long golden hair out into needlepoints. She paused and suddenly, as if working like an extra limb, her tresses flew backwards and whipped Olivier across the face. His body flinched at the contact, his face turning a ghostly shade and sinking in on itself, as if a hundred plagues had infiltrated him in a matter of seconds.

  Lilith smiled at me, secretively. My stomach turned.

  She spun round – arm out and fingers extended – and drove her bare hand straight into Olivier’s chest and out again, just as fast, clasping his heart. Seeing Lilith, the bringer of death and disease, in action at any other time would’ve scared the crap out of me.

  Now? Not so much.

  ‘Phoenix, my son,’ she said, once Olivier’s body had disappeared and she had resumed her place on her throne. ‘You surprise me, again.’ She nodded in approval.

  Phoenix moved away from me and bowed before Lilith. ‘My place is to stand by you, always.’

  Lilith seemed happy with his answer and motioned for her son to take his place behind her. He did.

  ‘Violet, I confess you astonish me – for a mortal. Quite remarkable that you have found a way back to the living so quickly, but I am glad you have returned. I so wanted for you to see your love again.’ She tugged on the chain she held like a leash, connecting her to Lincoln, yanking so hard that his head jerked up.

  I didn’t move.

  Lilith sighed, looking over his body appreciatively.

  I gritted my teeth.

  ‘Alive. But not. The soul has more power than anything else. Wouldn’t you agree?’

  I focused my attention on her and not on the man I loved more than life itself. ‘I would. Now I have a question for you.’

  She laughed. ‘Yes?’

  ‘Did you really think you could beat me? Did you really think, even with all your power, that you could match the power of the Sole?’

  ‘I’m yet to see anything that proves to the contrary,’ she said, condescendingly.

  I smiled, the action showed only the emptiness that filled me. Lilith flinched. Closing my eyes, I delved deeper into my well of power than I had ever done before. I called it forth. Then I used my Sight, knowing now that it was so much more than its name implied. I lifted my consciousness from my body and, for the first time, took my power with me.

  Then I released it onto the room.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  ‘Adam’s wife, his first. Beware of her. Her beauty’s one boast is her dangerous hair. When Lilith winds it tight around young men she doesn’t soon let go of them again.’

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Dozens of exiles were instantly trapped by my power. I felt a surge of energy; it was intoxicating to know that each one was rendered motionless under my command. Every exile was now at my mercy. All but two.

  I deliberately left Phoenix untouched by my power, though he remained stock-still like the rest of them. Even if I hadn’t, I suspected he would be immune to it now, due to our new … relationship.

  Lilith, on the other hand, revelled in proving I could not disable her with my abilities. She walked through my amethyst mist, chuckling. But despite her boldness, her steps were slower; she was not as invulnerable as her angelic ego would have me think.

  ‘Impressive,’ she said, looking at my physical form and then to the ceiling, tracking my incorporeal movement easily. ‘You are indeed of the Sole. But you and I both know you cannot hold the room like this for long. You certainly cannot strip every unwilling exile of their powers.’

  It was true. It took all of my concentration to hold so many at once. But just to make a point, I honed in on one exile – one of the ones who had been so keen to beat Lincoln earlier – and stripped him of his angelic power, reducing him to only-human status, against his will. He dropped to the floor, screaming hysterically. With a look of disgust, Lilith flicked her wrist and sent out a gust of wind so powerful he was thrown into a nearby wall. He stopped making any noise.

  Reluctantly, I pulled away from my Sight and returned to my body, tugging at the tie around my wrists to release my hands. Keeping my hold on the surrounding exiles, I yelled, ‘Now!’

  At the same time as my arm went up, the holder carrying my two katanas flew into my hand and I pulled them both free.

  Thank you, Spence.

  Lilith threw her head back and laughed as I began to move towards her. She took a step to the edge of her stage, completely unthreatened.

  ‘You cannot break my shields, little girl. Air protects me. It loves me and I wield and replenish it faster than you could ever comprehend.’

  I took another step closer, feeling the crushing pressure of her force field. My grip tightened on the hilts of my swords.

  Lilith was so wrong.

  Thanks to Phoenix’s essence, I understood exactly how her shield worked – I could see the way the air solidified around her, becoming something entirely impenetrable.

  I stepped into the zone of her power and felt my body tremble under its oppressive weight.

  Lilith continued to give me her amused attention. ‘You are powerful to stay on your feet. But so human. So stupid. Is this all you have to offer? Is this your big moment?’

  I stared right into her eyes. I didn’t look beyond her. I didn’t give anything away.

  ‘No.’

  She shook her head. ‘You’ll never break my shields.’

  He struck.

  She gasped.

  Her chin jutted out, her mouth wide open as a blade sliced through her chest, from behind.

  ‘She knows,’ Phoenix said, at Lilith’s ear.

  Only now did I look to where Phoenix had moved and thrust the hidden blade into his mother. At her back and within her field, he had been in a prime position. And Lilith hadn’t even considered that he could be a threat. Pride had seen to that.

  Stunned, she stumbled forwards, turning shocked eyes on her son.

  Phoenix returned her look, his sadness evident. ‘I was wrong to bring you back. I’m sorry for my mistake,’ he said.

  Lilith reached behind herself and pulled out the blade, snarling at the pain. ‘You were wrong to try and betray me.’

  I moved slowly. Silently. Pushing through what remained of her shields. Just as Phoenix had planned, the injury had caused enough damage to weaken her defences.

  ‘You of all people should know that blade is not enough to kill me!’ She lunged, Phoenix’s dagger now in her hand.

  Frighteningly fast, she was in front of Phoenix, her fingernails digging into his neck, the dagger now in his stomach. She hissed and twisted the blade before ripping it out of him again.

  Phoenix fell to his knees, looking up at her with heart-wrenching understanding. And maybe it was true. Maybe there was a part in all of us that could not be denied. But Phoenix had already proved his nature was not set in stone and frankly, right then, I didn’t
give a damn.

  He shook his head. ‘I didn’t need to kill you, Mother, just weaken you.’ He sank to the floor.

  Realising her error, Lilith spun, blade in hand. She lashed out towards my side.

  But I was already through her shields, and I was fast, too.

  I forced both katanas, imbued with shavings from Grigori weapons, through her chest and released my power, pushing it all into her, letting go of my hold over the other exiles as I did. Something burned above my hip but I ignored it.

  She stumbled, grabbing at the blades, but the sheer force of my power weakened her so she could barely move. She finally managed to wrench the swords free, a clanking sound echoing through the hall as they fell. Even so, the arrogance in her eyes remained. She still believed she would kill me.

  ‘For my mother,’ I said.

  I pulled my Grigori dagger from behind my back. The blade was fast across my wrist, the cut deep. I didn’t care.

  ‘For your son,’ I said.

  Lilith watched as I let my angelic blood, marbled with silver, cover the blade.

  Her eyes widened. I half smiled.

  ‘Impossible,’ she whispered, managing to move a couple of steps back.

  I simply moved with her. ‘For those children and the parents you stole them from.’

  I took the final step and didn’t hesitate, thrusting the dagger, covered in my blood, straight into her heart.

  ‘For Lincoln.’

  Lilith fell.

  In that instant, before she could disappear, I felt the shift in reality. The air became thick and gravity’s hold seemed to falter. I closed my eyes and rode it out.

  When I opened them again, Uri and Nox stood before me – the rest of the room still. Operating on autopilot I bent, lifted Lilith into my arms and walked towards them, willing us into this in-between place I still did not fully understand.

  Uri nodded to me as I crossed the threshold and passed him Lilith, glancing at my bleeding wrist in the transfer. Even in this otherworldly place, the coldness came with me, eating away at me like defenceless prey.

  Nox took in the scene curiously and turned to me. ‘Surprises to be had all round, it seems.’ He nodded with satisfaction. ‘All is as it should be. The tilt has now been corrected.’

  ‘What tilt?’ I asked.

  Nox looked to Phoenix, who was barely breathing, then back to me. ‘It was never right that one as powerful as you should carry only the light. Now, you carry both light and dark. It is just.’

  It took a moment for me to process his words in my sluggish mind. But eventually … Oh.

  ‘My angel maker is of the light,’ I said softly.

  Nox snorted. ‘Did you think any self-respecting Angel Malign would embrace the image of the lion?’

  More pieces of the puzzle fell into place and fury raged within me. I spat blood at Nox’s feet, looking down and only now registering the wound in my side. Lilith must have done it. I vaguely remembered feeling something when I stabbed her.

  ‘This was your plan all along, wasn’t it? All of it! You wanted this to happen so Phoenix would give me his essence, because what? The Angels Malign were jealous?’ I was screaming. It wasn’t like anyone else could hear; we had stalled time around us.

  ‘It is as it must be. I neither wanted nor denied it.’

  ‘Nox,’ Uri interrupted, ‘we must go.’

  ‘And why is that?’ Nox sneered, challenging Uri. He wanted to stay and gloat.

  ‘Because we have shown her the tool to destroy any of us in physical form whenever she should so choose and right now she is not herself. It would not be wise to remain.’

  Nox looked at me properly for the first time. ‘True.’ He tilted his head. ‘Though I do like this look. Feral works for you.’

  Uri cast his emotionless eyes over me. For once, I felt I matched his gaze with my own blankness.

  ‘Extraordinariness will always carry great sacrifice. It must. But you must surrender, still.’

  I ignored him, issuing a threat. ‘Make sure she doesn’t find a way back this time.’

  He gave a small nod, looking beyond me to the dozens of exiles that would soon attack. ‘I’ll leave you to finish things here.’

  ‘Of course you will,’ I spat.

  Uri glanced over his shoulder to where Lincoln lay. As he and Nox began to fade he looked back to me, his eyes fiercer than ever. ‘Nothing is a certainty.’

  And they were gone.

  But I was still there in this twisted reality. I wondered if I could just stay there, ignore the rest of the world and simply fade away. But as soon as I formed the thought I felt the tug.

  A whimper fell from my lips and I turned to see Phoenix lying on the ground, barely alive, arm outstretched.

  ‘Come back, Violet. Come back!’

  He was calling me back to the world. He was my anchor.

  Lincoln must’ve told him.

  I closed my eyes briefly.

  There is still more to do.

  I stepped towards Phoenix and the world around me came back into focus. Phoenix shook with pain as I crossed the border between reality and other. Around us, exiles began to scramble.

  The combination of chaos combined with their vindictive natures made the exiles as furious with one another as they were with me. And now that Lilith was gone and Phoenix down it appeared the timeless rivalry between light and dark had been reinstated.

  Helicopter blades sounded overhead, along with an explosion nearby. I heard voices yelling out commands from outside the ballroom. The exiles started to turn towards the new threat.

  The cavalry had arrived.

  My eyes sought out Evelyn, bracing for the worst. But there she was, alive, struggling against her restraints, while Spence helped her.

  I fell to the ground beside Phoenix.

  He was barely breathing. The sword he had used on Lilith had not been a full Grigori blade, so when she’d turned it back on him it hadn’t killed him instantly. Still, I was amazed he was managing to hang on.

  I grabbed his hand. It was cold, like mine.

  ‘Ironic, isn’t it?’ I said, coughing up some blood, registering the pain in my side and wrist. ‘After all of this, we’re just going to die.’

  He squeezed my hand.

  ‘You won’t die,’ he said, each word an effort.

  I didn’t bother arguing. ‘Just one more thing to do first.’

  With the last of whatever strength Phoenix had, he pulled me roughly towards him. ‘I need to tell you something,’ he pleaded, pulling me close.

  He whispered.

  I listened.

  And trembled with his words.

  ‘It’s too late!’ I cried.

  ‘I thought that once, too. But it’s never too late. You taught me that. Love can make us eternal.’ Phoenix’s eyes closed, haunted to the end. ‘I’m sorry,’ were his last words.

  ‘I forgive you,’ I sobbed, gripping onto him desperately. ‘I forgive you.’

  It was too late.

  All. Too. Late.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  ‘Angel, my little angel … I am small, you make me big, I am weak, you make me strong …’

  Orthodox children’s prayer

  The double doors to the ballroom exploded in a mass of flying debris and smoke, black-clad troops armed with Grigori blades storming the hall to be met by a throng of waiting exiles.

  I kept staring at Phoenix’s inert body.

  Why hasn’t he disappeared?

  It took me a while to realise it was because he was part-human, too. Unlike other exiles, this was his true body. Perhaps that was why it had taken longer for him to die.

  Within seconds of his last breath, all of the emotions from which he’d spared me rushed back into me. It took everything I had to endure the onslaught, but I couldn’t let myself succumb to them yet.

  I cried as I crawled over and retrieved my katanas, still lying where Lilith had dropped them. I struggled to my feet just as I saw a pair
of exiles coming towards me.

  Spence appeared from nowhere, leaping in front of me and taking the exiles’ attention. While he took care of them, I pushed my power out one more time as more Grigori entered the fray, to hold back as many exiles as I could.

  Digging deep, I found something new tucked well within my power. It was part of Phoenix that had come to me in his essence. While the rest of me was dominated by my soul’s pain, burning with an icy coldness, in this new part of me, there was … nothing.

  I travelled down a long dark corridor in my mind, searching for its meaning. When I reached the end, an understanding dawned on me. Phoenix had had the abilities of an empath and could both give and take emotions, but when he’d transferred his essence to me, it had mutated.

  I could neither feel the emotions of others, nor give them away.

  Instead, I could lock everything – every emotion – down. All of them. It was as simple as flicking a switch.

  And so I did.

  Everything melted away.

  Numbness spread through me quickly. I could think more clearly, move more easily. The pain in my soul was still there, lurking, but it was no longer attacking me. I was … nothing.

  I started to move again, controlling as many exiles as I could, even as I headed away from them towards the basement.

  This will not all have been in vain.

  I was weak. I staggered and lost my hold on the exiles.

  The Grigori will have to deal with them now.

  I looked back at Spence. He was in the middle of the battlefield.

  ‘Spence!’ I screamed.

  He turned. I must have looked a sight – covered in blood and no emotion to show for it.

  Spence screamed back at me even as he fought off oncoming exiles. He pushed one down and when another Grigori jumped in to take the next off his hands he started to run towards me, pulling out something from his waist.

  He’d done it.

  He had the Grigori Scripture.

  I put up a hand. ‘No! Get Lincoln!’

  Spence skidded to a halt. He was close to Phoenix and I caught him register his lifeless body. Spence’s eyes quickly moved to Lincoln, still chained and lying motionless on the sofa.