by Jenny McKane
“Do you have parents?” Camael was talking to her now. “Of course, you have parents, you were born and not created. Are you an incredible disappointment to them?”
“They’re dead,” Sunny replied, completely taking herself and Camael by surprise.
“Oh,” the archangel replied, a little confused. “Well, surely they’d be proud of their little Hunter after today. You took down the Archduke of Hell and his oldest son. Well done. You saved me the work and now all that’s left is to find the younger son and recruit him to the right team.”
He was talking about Victor.
“He’s long gone,” Sunny said, not knowing at all where the demon was. She was stalling. Keeping the crazy fallen archangel talking, really.
“I’ll find him,” Camael said dismissively. “Now, why are you still walking away from me. You’re too injured to really put up a fight. Just come back here, be a good little Hunter and obey. It’s time to die so I can focus on finding my son.”
She’d made it to the now-empty breezeway. It looked foreign to Sunny without the demon tree taking up residence in the center of it.
She laughed at the good little hunter thing. If only Camael knew.
“I’ve never been much of a good little Hunter,” she said, her voice regaining strength now that the wave of nausea passed. Camael frowned as he inspected her for the first time, really taking in her appearance.
“Did Azrael stab you with your own obsidian?” he asked, his voice rising.
She nodded.
“And yet you stand? Still alive? Remarkable,” he said, noticing the blood running down her leg. The realization dawned on him and he looked up in surprise. “Immunity? You built up a resistance to the blade?”
She didn’t need to confirm his suspicions, but she did anyway.
“Yeah,” she said. “Not a lot of fun.”
Camael was still regarding her and didn’t say anything.
Finally, he spoke.
“You were trained by Gabriel, weren’t you?”
It was if the wheels and gears and answers were finally clicking into place.
Sunny nodded and Camael was still hard at work, thinking his way through the riddle that Sunny obviously presented.
“Formerly of Michael, now of Gabriel. Gabriel tasked with trailing me and proving my guilt…” He was talking to himself now and his eyes lit up when he stumbled upon the answer he was seeking. “Gideon. You were sent to retrieve Gideon, weren’t you?”
He saw the truth in her eyes before she could deny it, so she didn’t bother.
“I wasn’t sent,” she said, truthfully. “I came on my own and he helped me. Our goals seemed to align for a small point in time. And I’m not Gabriel’s. I wasn’t Michael’s either, after he let Azrael take Gideon.”
Camael was listening intently. “You… had some sort of bond with Gideon?”
Sunny hated the way he made the bond sound like it was past tense. Like there was no Gideon anymore.
“I did,” she admitted, not fully understanding why she was talking at all. This was the enemy. He was a few short seconds away from killing her. She corrected herself. “I do.”
He tsked her a few times and shook his head. “Did,” he corrected her. “As hard as I find it believe that my son would attach himself to someone as unremarkable as you, even if he did, there is nothing left of that man. He’s all demon weapon now, girl. He’d rip you open from navel to neck before looking at you after what Azrael and his sick little demon downstairs did to him.”
“You knew?”
She shouldn’t be surprised, but she still was. She’d always assumed Azrael and Camael were operating separately. What if it’d been a joint operation the whole time and Gideon had been manipulated by both his father and his uncle.
Her heart ached for him. For who he was now and for who he could have been.
“I knew that pathetic waste of flesh was scouring the ends of the earth for the serendibite blade to kill me after sending him to Seumat,” he said. “He made no effort to keep his plans quiet. So, I hatched a more useful occupation for him--general in the league of fallen angels. He’ll help me lead my army across the portal and into the human realm before we march on the angels in their realm. My greatest disappointment will become my greatest weapon. Brilliant, right?”
There was that angelic ego. Demons had their emotions, angels had their egos. Everyone had their weakness and Sunny’s had obviously been believing she could actually pull off surviving one final day in Azrael’s realm.
“Brilliant,” she said bitterly.
She didn’t know why Camael let her keep talking, but he was still moving slowly.
“There’s still a chance the archangels could rally, you know,” she said, bitterness in her voice obvious. After this, there was little hope at all. And if Gideon was as deadly as he was promised to be, there would be little the half-beaten angelic army could do against the demons. Especially since they had Dr. Demento downstairs constantly rebuilding new creations to unleash on the human and angelic realms.
“I like you and your adorable naivete,” Camael chuckled. “Did my son have an attachment to you, by chance? It might make your death that much more galvanizing in turning him.”
Camael’s voice was downright hopeful.
“I don’t know,” Sunny replied honestly. She was still limping along, but she had a feeling she was running out of time. “I honestly don’t know.”
Camael chuckled and ran a hand through his shoulder-length hair. Sunny took a moment to take in exactly what a recently fallen angel wears to Hell when he’s got a plan to overthrow and betray his older brother. Apparently, the style required is track pants and Adidas shoes. Sunny was confused and highly amused at the same time. Hadn’t one of his minions seen this and mentioned that maybe he’d want to wear armor or even a pair of jeans? Truthfully, he looked ridiculous.
“Why are you laughing?” The archangel was confused and looking around. “What?”
Ego. Sunny was hitting him with the last weapon she had at her disposal.
“What are you wearing?” She chuckled as she flexed her leg and began to feel the strength return to her hamstring. “Are those joggers?”
Camael was shocked at the fact that Sunny was mocking him. He looked down at his pants, clearly not understanding what she found amusing.
“I think it’s time for you to die now, human,” he said. “You’ve wasted far too much of my time now and I have realms to conquer and humans to murder.”
The flames on his sword leapt to life at a silent command he must have given, and he was advancing. Sunny gripped her blade in her right hand and stayed where she was. There was no way she could outrun Camael, but there was a chance she could count on one last round of the ol’ razzle dazzle that Eli had taught her all those weeks ago.
She grinned, knowing it was a suicide mission and beyond caring at this point. If, by some miracle she survived, she was going to have to sit down and count every point in the last 24 hours that she’d reached her metaphorical end and had been ready to face death with a little bit of moxie and trickery. She’d hit that point of rock bottom at least three times that she could count off the top of her head.
It had to be some sort of record.
“I don’t want to die,” Sunny said simply.
To Camael, it must have sounded like some sort of sad plea. But to Sunny, it was a small rallying cry, reminding her that until she was dead and the lights were out, her job was to keep fighting.
“You get no say in the matter,” Camael said as he advanced from within the hallway toward where Sunny gripped the railing in the center of the breeze way.
She braced herself for what was next, but had no idea that another miracle was on its way. This time, her salvation arrived in the form of a massive blur that barreled into Camael from mid-air, flying in from the right.
What the hell was that?
The object must have been massive and heavy because it sent Camael flying in
to a heap and before he could truly react, the mass was pummeling him with fists and claws.
Was it some sort of angry demon seeking revenge for the deaths in the shadow realm today? Sunny moved backwards and checked the air around her warily, in case more were on their way. But, no. This one seemed to be the only one around.
From her limited view, she could only see the impressive span of silver wings that were still outstretched, shielding Sunny from seeing what was happening.
Camael roared in rage, and the demon was shoved backwards off of him. Both figures regained their footing and returned to the fight. It was then that Sunny noticed Camael had lost his sword in the fray and was relying on his hands as weapons.
Flesh crunching was loud and frequent as the two pummeled each other. The rage in the second being was palpable and Sunny could practically feel it where she stood. It picked Camael up by the scruff of his shirt and threw him down the hallway Sunny had just hobbled out of.
It was then that the recent arrival, her temporary savior, turned and showed his face and it nearly knocked Sunny down for the umpteenth time that day.
It wasn’t some Shadow Realm demon seeking revenge for its fallen master--it was Gideon. Full of rage and contempt and looking very little like the man Sunny remembered. His skin was healthier looking than it had been in recent days, but her eyes immediately went to the elongated black talons stretching from his hands that slashed out at Camael. And the wings. Gideon had fucking wings.
Instantly her eyes were on his and she froze when she didn’t see the blank stares she was used to since arriving in Hell. No, there was nothing vacant about the way Gideon was looking at her and she allowed a small sliver of hope in her heart that he was actually seeing her--seeing Sunny.
His next words broke the spell and she knew that Gideon recognized her. Remembered her.
“For fuck’s sake, Sunshine,” he yelled at her, the anger obvious. The voice his own. “Run!”
Chapter Thirty-Six
He’d called her Sunshine. She swore he had. He’d yelled at her, just like he used to, when he told her to run.
Gideon. He’d called her Sunshine and cursed at her.
Of course, she’d finally listened to him and ran—hobbled more like with the knife wound in her hamstring, but regardless, Sunny had moved with a purpose out of the breezeway as the fight between Camael and Gideon, father and son, raged on behind her.
“You better not die now,” Sunny screamed over her shoulder as she moved into a hallway and toward the staircase that was closest to her old bedroom. She rounded the stairs in record time and made it to the bottom in a tangle of ankles and limbs as her leg gave out towards the last step. She dragged herself back to her feet just as she felt the beginnings of another wave of earthquakes deep below the keep.
These ones were more violent than before and the structure all around her began to crumble and crack. Soon, the foundation would give completely and the place would turn to rubble. What was causing the destruction? Was the tree finally dying all the way down to its roots without that living sacrifice Azrael had alluded to it needing?
Chalk it up to another miracle Sunny wasn’t certain she really deserved, she told herself. The front gates were wide open, vacated after the last of the trapped demons had run for their lives and Sunny had to pick her way around the demon bodies that had been left behind—and there were many. She guessed at least 50 demons died trying to escape right there in the foyer when the demon tree had begun rampaging.
Sunny moved to the open doors and stopped. What about Plaxo? Was he still prisoner down below?
Her body wanted to turn around and venture back down into the dungeons, but another violent shudder of the building made it clear that in less than a minute or so, there wouldn’t be anything left of the dungeons but rubble and death. She had no choice. She had to do what Gideon wished for her to do and leave the keep. Quickly.
Outside, it was oddly calm and quiet as Sunny staggered away from the sounds of rock grinding against rock. Her vision swayed as she was woozy from the bleeding wound in her leg, so she stopped when she was about a quarter of a mile from the heart of the Shadow Realm, resting her head against a tree that Sunny prayed wasn’t venomous. She still had her obsidian blade and wouldn’t hesitate to cut another demon plant down the middle if she had to.
Overhead, the dual suns were starting to near the horizon, signaling nightfall was coming soon. That meant the shriekers were likely going to make an appearance and it would be just Sunny’s luck to survive not only Vitaly, Azrael, the tree, but Camael as well, only to be plucked from the ground by the giant flying nightmares that came out at night.
She looked back as the castle swayed on his foundation and the sound of destruction rang out from inside. Plumes of dust shot into the sky as the place crumbled from within.
Gideon had recognized her, she reminded herself. He’d spoken to her.
He’d also shown up sporting wicked-looking demon claws and some giant hybrid angel wings, but those were details she’d worry about once she survived this final act of her grand adventure in Hell. And she was more determined than ever to do just that.
She was going to survive this and get to the other side. Scratch that, she and Gideon were going to survive this and get across the portal away from Azrael’s nightmare.
With a great groan seconds before the thing crashed to the ground, the keep opened a giant hole in the ground and tumbled upon itself into the ground. The mushroom cloud of dust that flew up crashed into Sunny and swallowed up everything in the surrounding area in an instant. She dropped to the ground and covered her head with her arms, trying not to breathe in the dust.
It took a minute for the cloud of dirt and debris to settle and Sunny stayed in the same position, too afraid to move. Even more afraid to look up and find that Gideon and Plaxo hadn’t survived the past thirty seconds. How had the building fallen so damned fast? What had caused that?
When the air was clear enough (still full of dirt, but clear enough), she pushed herself up to her knees and searched the spot where the keep had been. No signs of life were showing and she was beginning to feel the panic bubble up inside.
Had Gideon died in the fall? Had Plaxo been crushed to death?
No movement whatsoever came from where she’d just escaped and she felt the emotions well up inside and the familiar burning start in her eyes. No, she chastised herself, she was not going to be a giant ball of pain and cry just yet.
There was still time. There was still hope.
How many times had she defied the odds already today and the suns hadn’t even set yet? Sunny was fully on Team Optimist now and she was going to stay here on her knees until Gideon and Plaxo marched out. Alive and whole. Her body refused to move until the two beings that made up her entire existence now showed themselves.
Time passed. The suns had moved past the far horizon now and were setting. Darkness was near and she expected to hear the sounds of the shriekers soon.
Tears were freely falling now, as the realization that nothing had moved from the keep in almost a half hour washed over her.
Perhaps—perhaps they hadn’t made it? The doubt was creeping into her chest as the fear took hold that she was well and truly alone now and that her friends had died.
No.
She sank back onto her rear with a sigh and pulled her knees to her chest, hugging them with her arms.
What was she supposed to do now? There was no Gideon and no Plaxo—there was no fight left in her. She put her head down, unsure of the next step to take, and just shook, the emotions overwhelming her.
She didn’t know how long she sat there, but soon she thought she heard what sounded like footsteps. It’d grown dark by then, so she couldn’t make out who was approaching, only that someone or something was. The steps were heavy and slow. Prodding, almost.
Sunny was on her feet and had her body halfway hidden around the tree she’d collapsed against earlier as she waited for whatever was i
ncoming to get there. A bloom of hope began to build, but she was cautious as the steps approached. More than one set of footsteps, she could hear now, one heavy, one light. She was frantic with hope now, her heart soaring in her chest despite there being no concrete evidence yet.
But her heart knew. It just knew.
“Lady Hunter,” a scratchy, damaged voice called out, “Are you there? Plaxo can sense you nearby.”
She gave a choked cry and ran forward, her eyes finally able to make out not only Plaxo, but Gideon, too. Her eyes rushed to his and despite wanting to throw herself in his arms, she didn’t. He had a body slumped over his shoulder and he looked like he was in pain. His wings were gone, but the claws were still there. He gave her a weak smile.
“It’s good to see you listen once in a while,” he said, a small tug on the corner of his mouth.
Her heart nearly melted in her chest.
She was trembling.
“It’s good to just see you,” she whispered.
Plaxo moved forward and Sunny instantly dropped to her knees again, pulling him into a hug.
“I was so scared for you,” she whispered to him. “I thought I’d lost you.”
“Plaxo was scared for the Lady Hunter,” he whimpered, and she realized Plaxo was crying as well. “Plaxo thought the bastard had killed Lady Hunter.”
“Shhh,” she whispered as she hugged the dream demon tight to her. “We did it, Plaxo. We made it out. We even got Half-Breed—and the princess?”
Sunny couldn’t help the frown on her face when she realized Gideon was carrying an unconscious Selah.
Plaxo must have read the look on her face, and he explained.
“The angel generals will need to look at what Camael is capable of,” Plaxo said. “They’ll need to see for themselves what happened to Half-Breed and the princess.”
Sunny wasn’t certain she liked the idea of Gideon carrying Selah anywhere but to a dumpster, but she saw reason in what Plaxo was saying.