Path of Cinders (Alternate Routes Book 9)

by Chapel Byrne

  “Happy here.”

  She let her anger carry her. “And when were you going to tell me I was part of you getting other people to Hell? That’s messed up. Like, really, really messed up.”

  There was a longer pause. Finally, “It wasn’t just about them. I wanted you around. Wanted to spoil you.”

  She made an angry “huh” sound. “Spoil seems like an apt word. He told me how you work.”

  As soon as she sent it, not waiting for him to reply, she added, “And I stupidly loved you. You. Not the clothes or parties or whatev. YOU.”

  When she got his next message, she could hear him, just like the night in his car when he’d explained that he loved her but couldn’t say it. “And I would do anything to keep that love. You can stop going to parties. We can just be alone or volunteer together. Anything.”

  Sadly, she tapped out, “Anything but tell me the truth from the start. You are what you are, and apparently you really are your work self all the way to the bone. Charm and fire. Demon.”

  She felt tears sliding down her cheeks again. She was grateful when he didn’t reply. She laid down, letting herself slip into the gentle grasp of sleep.

  Lina was woken by the sound of the door. Grey had returned and he had warm food with him.

  “Did you find him?” she asked, eagerly grabbing the bag of fries and burgers.

  He shook his head, disappointed. “Not yet. But I’ll go back out. I just wanted to make sure you had some…I guess calling this decent food might be a stretch after the months of being wined and dined, huh?”

  She shrugged. “Naw. I might enjoy the nice stuff, but it’s not like I’m not actually a simple girl at heart.” She tried to smile at him. “This is really good. Thanks.”

  He sat across from her, and they used the nightstand between their beds as a table. “So, probably pointless to ask how your day was?”

  “Yeah…” She chewed, trying to enjoy the food, but things still felt pointless. Why eat when she was, apparently, always just going to have a life that was a cautionary tale?

  “If you want, when this is done, I’ll see if I can get someone to tell me what you are or what you can do to sort things out.” He poked at a pool of ketchup with a fry, and looked up at her guiltily. “I should have gotten you away from him that night I met you at the club.”

  Her phone beeped. “Ugh. I thought maybe we were done talking,” she groaned as she picked it up.

  “You guys talked today?” Grey asked warily.

  “More like he tried to text me something like apologies.” She rolled her eyes. “Like I’m going to fall for his smooth act again.”

  Grey watched her as she tapped to open and read the new text.

  Aloud, she said, “He wants to meet and explain things in person.” She snorted. “Like I’m stupid or something.” She quickly sent a reply and returned to her food.

  “What did you say to him?” Grey asked. “I’m assuming some form of ‘no’?”

  “I told him that the only way he’s seeing me again is if he gives himself up to you. That I’ll listen right before you cut his head off.” She paused, fries halfway to her mouth. “Is that how you do it?”

  He nodded and kept eating.

  “I actually…” She sighed. “I actually couldn’t watch you do that. Even knowing he’s evil, it doesn’t seem entirely real. Plus, it would just look like a person being killed, wouldn’t it?”

  “I wouldn’t expect you to be able to watch,” Grey said kindly. “And usually demons go sort of fiery and smoky when I do it, so it doesn’t look quite like you think. But, still, wouldn’t expect you to watch.”

  “I want to be someone who would be immediately over him and angry enough now that I know what he is, but…” She shrugged weakly, feeling ashamed.

  Her phone beeped, and she rolled her eyes as she grabbed it. But, when she read, her face became a carefully neutral mask. “Huh.” She stared at the screen.

  “What did he say?” Grey’s brows drew together in confusion at her reaction.

  “He…He said that, if that’s what it takes to have a chance to explain himself, then okay.” She looked at Grey, suspicious. “It’s a trick, right?”

  Grey’s brows only squeezed more closely together. “Probably? But he knows I’d have ways to help mitigate whatever trickery.”

  Lina handed him her phone. “You reply. This is your salvation we’re playing with here, right?”

  They arranged to meet in a church. Grey chose one that, from his wanderings through the city, seemed to be filled with the most and truest kind of faith.

  He explained, “That will make it harder for him to use fire, make it so his fire is less potent.”

  They sped over to the church as soon as Grey sent the reply with Lina’s phone. Hopefully, they’d be able to get there and be ready before he had a chance to come up with a plan.

  As they climbed off the bike and headed up the block to the church, Lina asked, “Won’t you leave a mess there?”

  Grey shook his head. “One of the few perks of it being demons I fight is that their matter disperses. No body. At worst, we might end up with some fire damage if he tries to do that.”

  After he picked the lock to let them in, which was apparently okay under whatever complicated set of rules he had to follow, he turned on just the lights he wanted. The plan was to corner him, get him in as pool of light so that Grey could strike from the shadows, and Lina could talk from there. The light, they hoped, would make it hard for him to see either of them.

  Before they unlocked the front door, Grey asked Lina, “Do you pray?”

  Ashamed, she said, “Not really. I…I didn’t exactly get raised religious.”

  “Given the last day or so, think you could maybe kneel and pray with me?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. I’m definitely adding religion to my list of changes. Maybe I’ll even be in this very church every Sunday.”

  Lina found her mind wandering during the prayer. It was short, but long enough to give her time to wonder if she should watch when Grey finished off Shane, if she should risk listening to whatever it was Shane wanted to say to her, if she should just have Grey taker her out as well. After all, she had fire in her too.

  She got her mind back on the prayer just in time to say “amen.” Then, she went to wait where Grey had directed.

  As she walked away, he assured her, “You can do this. His words aren’t stronger than you.”

  It wasn’t long before the front door opened.

  Grey called out, “Just follow the lights, please.”

  There was a path of lights for Shane to walk through. As he passed through each, Lina turned them off, one at a time. There was enough light that she could tell he looked rumpled and tired. If he was pretending to be broken, he was doing a good job of it.

  The trail of lights led to a corner. Lina left the corner light on. They’d actually climbed a ladder to make sure the light pointed there would shine straight in Shane’s face.

  Once he was there, she slipped quietly down to stand in the shadows just outside the light, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she watched as Grey walked up to the edge of the circle.

  “You really came,” Grey said, sounding a little surprised.

  Shane shrugged helplessly. “It turns out that I actually care about Lina a lot. Is she here, or was that just a lie to get me here?” He tried to peer into the shadows.

  “She’s here,” Grey confirmed. “And, once my sword is at your neck, she’ll let you know she’s listening.” He shifted so that he was still outside the light but now standing at Shane’s side. “Kneel down, please.”

  As he slowly knelt, Shane called out, “Lina? Are you there?” Less loudly, he said, “Please at least have enough honor that this isn’t just a trick.” He didn’t sound charming, just tired and sad.

  When Grey’s sword was literally rested on Shane’s neck, Grey called, “Okay, Lina. Just be careful.”

  Lina swallowed and tried to re
member that she was looking at a demon, not at the man she thought she loved. She silently cursed her soft heart for aching at how beaten he looked.

  She tried to sound gruff as she said, “I’m here. Say whatever lies you have to say.”

  Shane actually smiled, looking relieved that she was there. “You’re here! Okay. I know I can’t go on and on, but…I’m here because what I realized today is that…that the actual pleasure in my life is you. And I don’t mean that in a…a temptation way. I mean that anything I know that might be joy is in you. That the clubs, the work, the things that I used to think were what it was all about? They’re bland. They’re…nothing. And I hate that I hurt you. I hate that I might have gone too far in trying to give you confidence. I hate that my…my bosses want me to bring you into the company. I hate that I ever said it was okay for you to touch or be touched by other people. I hate that I don’t deserve you.” His voice got more passionate as he talked. “Because I might be charming and…too good at the things I do as part of my job. But you almost made me want to be good. You made me go out and face people with less and do good things for them and it…it wasn’t a big something, but it did something in me. I’m terrified of you and what you can do to me. And I’m in awe and…I’m just sorry. I wanted to say that, I wanted you to hear it and maybe be able to feel that I mean it.”

  He gave a sad laugh. “And, like some cheesy movie…Grey was going to come for me and this was going to happen, one way or another. Maybe he wasn’t going to get me this quickly, but he’s tenacious. But, before this final moment, I got to have actual joy. I got to live in something other than anger. I…It’s cheesy, but I swear it’s sincere when I say…When I say…” He swallowed and his voice sounded strange and quiet as he said, “I love you.” He cleared his throat. “And…Okay, I guess now Grey takes one step closer to whatever his goal is. Just…Did you listen? Did you hear?”

  Lina had been listening. Listening intently. She’d been trying to hear proof that this was all just lies and just something as fake as the charm. She’d tried to hang on to anger, but she’d felt something swelling in her chest. She was crying quietly and reminding herself that he was a demon and everything had been a lie. A ploy.

  She took a deep breath and tried to sound neutral as she said, “I heard you.” That was all she could trust herself to say.

  “Good.” Shane hung his head forward, giving the sword easy access. “Okay. Thanks for letting me talk. Thanks for listening.” Voice resolute, he said, “Do it, Grey.”

  Because she was also outside the light, Lina could see Grey’s face. He wasn’t victorious or sneering. He was a man just doing what he had to do. She saw him close his eyes a moment, open them, take a breath, lift the sword so that he could chop down.

  In the second it took to lift the sword, as Lina averted her face from the impending decapitation, there was a flash of blinding light. Lina looked up, sure they were now about to learn what trick Shane had up his sleeve. But Shane was still kneeling. He and Grey were staring behind her.

  She saw Shane glance at her quickly, like a man seeing home one last time, now that she was illuminated in whatever light had been flipped on.

  She turned to look, and saw a man. But he wasn’t quite a man. His eyes were like stars and he was shining. The air around him seemed to ripple as if his very presence displaced the normal world.

  With a voice that sounded like thunder waiting to happen, the man said, “Wait a moment, Grey.”

  Grey nodded and pulled his sword back, ready but no longer poised for the killing blow.

  The bright man looked at each of them intently, but his gaze finally stayed on Shane. “It’s a very good thing for you that, unlike your girlfriend, some of us can absolutely know that your words are true.” He glanced briefly at Lina and said, “They are.” Then he turned back to Shane. “What if you could change sides? Change careers?”

  Shane looked confused. Lina remembered that he didn’t know about Grey’s deal.

  “Would Lina stay with me?” Shane asked, then quickly shook his head. “Nevermind. I care, but my answer has to be the same either way.” He looked at Lina for a breath, like he was memorizing her face. He turned his eyes back to the bright man. “Do I have that option?”

  Before the man could answer, Grey asked, “Isn’t David the archon? Do you have the authority to make this deal?” He apologetically added, “Not that I’m trying to tell you what to do. I just don’t want something done wrong and people to have to pay for it later.”

  The man laughed. “Unlike your previous team, we’re more inclined to following the rules and only making legitimate deals. And David would be here, but he’s got something else he’s sorting out. I’m authorized to do this in his place.”

  “Even if he’s not authorized,” Shane said, “I’ll take what I can get until someone catches on and steps in.” Then he looked abashed. “Not that your boss doesn’t actually know already.”

  The man smiled. “Indeed. So, if you had the option?”

  “I…I want to say yes, but you’ll understand if the nature of my own, uh, work leads me to be careful. Would you mind telling me the terms of the deal?” Lina had never heard Shane sound respectful before.

  “Of course. It’s simple, and it’s the same deal Grey has. You’ll do what he does. Your new job title will be demon hunter, which is dangerous and much less nice on business cards, but it’s also got a unique opportunity that might balance that out. As you help clear evil from the earth, your soul will be transformed. You’ll earn forgiveness, salvation.” The man pointed at Grey. “You can see from his eyes that Grey is halfway there.”

  “And then?” Shane asked. “Once his eyes are both grey?”

  “Then he retires from the job and lives out a normal mortal lifespan before entering into eternal rest. Eternal rest, not eternal suffering. But,” the man warned, “there’s no going back. You get this offer once. If you turn from it after you accept it, you won’t get it again.”

  Everyone focused on Shane as he thought. When he solemnly nodded, Lina realized she’d been holding her breath.

  “Yes.” His voice was quiet, so Shane cleared his throat and tried again. This time, his voice was strong and clear. “Yes. I would like to take this deal. I want to serve good and be redeemed and…Even if she won’t have me back, I want to be a man that I feel might someday deserve Lina.” He didn’t look at her as he said it.

  The man, who Lina was slowly understanding, through the haze of all the strangeness and emotion, must be an angel, walked toward Shane. He said, “Grey, you can put the blade away.” The man stopped in front of Shane, who was still on his knees.

  Another light appeared behind the man. It was a woman, just as glorious, carrying a sword like the one Grey held.

  The man put his hand on Shane’s head and said some words that Lina couldn’t understand. They reverberated through the church, though, and made her heart leap forward as if to be part of the brightness of the man. Then, in English, he said, “It is sealed upon you.”

  Lina watched as, for a moment, Shane blazed with light. Not the light of his fire, but something pure like the light around the man and woman.

  The man stepped back, and the woman stepped forward. If the man’s voice was thunder, the woman’s was lightning as she said, “Stand and take your sword, demon hunter.”

  She presented it to Shane, and he slowly strapped it on. He kept his eyes on Lina as he did so, his face serious and thoughtful. Once the sword was in place, the woman nodded, turned, and slipped into the air. She was gone as quickly and silent as she’d arrived.

  The man asked, “Grey, can you catch him up?”

  Grey nodded, and he clapped his hand on Shane’s should like they were reunited brothers at arms. “Absolutely.” He grinned. “I can’t think of anything I’d rather do.”

  “Thank you, Grey. And, Shane, stay true,” the man admonished.

  He seemed about to turn and slip away, just as the woman had, so Lina took a
chance and called out, “Before you go?”

  The man turned the full attention of his eyes to her. She held back her instinctive fear of his power by remembering that the stars were her allies, were proof of better to come.

  “I, uh, sir, can you tell me what I am?” Lina took an imploring step forward. “Please. There’s fire in me too. Am I a demon? I’ll take a deal if there are more available.”

  The man smiled, strangely but kindly at her, as if he knew more about her than she could ever hope to know about herself. “You are not a demon. You don’t need a deal. All you need to know about what you are is that you were right when you said your fire could and should be used for good, if you use it at all. And that Grey was right earlier when he told you just to keep trying to do good.” He put a hand on her arm, and it was like the world was buzzing pleasantly around her, like every nerve was working to translate what that touch felt like. “You are capable of choosing good. You will be fine, Lina.”

  And, with that, he too turned and disappeared into the air. Lina was surprised at how quickly the atmosphere settled back to normal, like a pond that had had a stone tossed into it that suddenly went still.

  Of course, then they found themselves in darkness again except for the light that focused on Shane.

  As Lina blinked rapidly, trying to clear the afterimages of the man’s blazing light, Grey said, “I’ll get the lights.”

  In a few moments, there were more lights on, and the three of them stood, looking at each other. Lina chewed the inside of her cheek, no idea what to say or do.

  Eventually, Grey said, “Let’s lock doors and turn off lights. Let’s head out.”

  Lina and Shane nodded. He’d been watching her, and she’d been avoiding his eyes. She mutely followed behind Grey, letting him call the shots as they cleared out of the church.

  Back on the sidewalk, Grey said, “I don’t know what your deal is with your house and clothes, but it seems like we should head to your place so you can pack a bag. We’ll want to get out of town.” Grey looked at Lina. “You’re welcome to ride with me or with him. You’re safe either way.”