by Larissa Ione
They followed at a dead run. Branches slapped at their faces and roots and vines seemed to reach up out of the ground to grab them, but they didn’t slow down, kept running until they reached a waterfall set into a huge rock face. Eidolon slipped around it, reached into a hole, and a huge section of the wall rumbled and moved aside.
“Shade!” Eidolon’s panicked shout joined the blood-curdling sounds of battle coming from inside the cave.
They charged through a strangely modern kitchen to a huge bedroom, where Shade was grappling with Rami. Rami’s blows rained down hard and fast, while Shade’s powerful punches seemed to be a minor inconvenience for the fallen angel. Blood—most of it Shade’s, as far as Lore could tell—coated the floor and smeared the walls. In one corner, a huge, toffee-furred warg crouched protectively over an infant. Nearby, Sin was a motionless lump of blood and bruises.
He’d seen her like that before, and his head rocked back as the memory bitch-slapped his brain.
Lore didn’t recognize the woman he’d slammed into the wall. She lay on the floor, bleeding and curled in on herself. Bloodlust roared through his veins, inflaming his already burning skin. His arm was on fire, the strange new marks glowing.
Kill.
The woman on the floor had the same marks. She whimpered.
Kill.
Cold sweat broke out over his body, but it didn’t stop the burn. The female whimpered again.
Run.
Lore staggered backward, punch-drunk with memories. Through the fog of the fading vision, he saw Eidolon and the medics launch into battle, ripping Shade away from the fallen angel and lending some fresh muscle to the fight. Outnumbered, Rami snarled and poofed out of there. It all seemed so distant, when the memory of the day he’d gained his tats and gifts still clung to the walls of his mind.
Sin. He’d not remembered any of it. Until now. God, he’d failed her. Over and over, and he’d never be able to make it up to her. He sank to his knees next to her, taking the painful crack to his kneecaps as an inadequate penance. Idess and the blond medic joined him.
In the background, his brothers were speaking in harsh words and soft murmurs… and then Runa, now in her human form, was kneeling beside Sin.
Lore gripped his sister’s shoulder. Her arms were tucked awkwardly beneath her, and she was strangely hunched up. Moaning, she shifted. Beneath her, cradled against her stomach, was the second baby.
Tears streamed down Runa’s cheeks as she gathered the infant to her chest. “Thank you,” she sobbed. “You saved his life.”
“Yeah.” Sin’s sarcastic voice was a pained whisper. “I’m a hero.” She eased onto her side, and Lore’s gut twisted at the sight of her bloody wrists, which were bound with razor wire cutting deeply into her flesh. He resisted the urge to rub his own wrists in sympathy.
The medic cursed, and Sin’s surprised gaze flickered to him. “Con,” she murmured. “Couldn’t stay away, huh?”
Con grunted and moved his gloved hands over Sin’s body with practiced confidence. “What hurts?”
“Razor wire is not so comfortable,” she rasped.
“Just hold still. I need Doc E’s help to remove it.”
Lore cursed. “Sin, I’m sorry—”
“Shut up,” she said, but there was no anger in her voice. “I fucked up and let that angel scum catch me off-guard. He brought me here so I could watch my nephews die.” Wincing, she shifted. “Beneath me. The dagger.”
Carefully, Lore eased his hand under her, came away with his Gargantua dagger… which was covered with blood. “Is this—”
“Yeah.” She offered a shaky smile. “I stabbed the fucker. Now go get him.” Her smile faded. “Bro, you’re running out of time.”
She wasn’t talking about Rariel, and he knew it. His slave-bond throbbed with such a rapid beat that the pain was almost constant now. Either Rariel died, or Kynan would have to, and he had barely twenty-four hours to make someone’s death happen.
“I know, Sin. I’ve got it handled.” Lore locked gazes with Con. “Take care of her.”
“Don’t worry.”
Lore stood. The other medic and Eidolon were working on Shade as he leaned against a Saint Andrew’s cross—and that was when Lore noticed all the… interesting… accoutrements lining the walls. Furry cuffs, soft leather flogs and masks… and yep, this was way TMI. He couldn’t quite picture dainty Runa, who sat quietly on the bed, watching Shade with worried eyes and holding their sons tight, holding a flog.
“How’s Sin?” Eidolon didn’t look up from the massive bleeder in Shade’s thigh.
“Vitals are good,” Con replied. “Injuries are mostly contusions and shallow lacerations, but she’s got razor wire embedded in her wrists. Capillary refill is satisfactory.”
Eidolon gave a sharp nod. “The blades probably missed the major vessels.”
Relieved that Sin wasn’t in immediate danger, Lore turned to Idess, but she’d disappeared. He found her in the living room-slash-home theater, head bowed, arms wrapped around herself.
“Hey,” he said, pulling her into his arms. God, she felt good against him. Like she belonged. Like as long as they stayed like that, everything would be okay.
“My brother.” She heaved a great, shuddering sob. “How could this have happened? How could I have let this happen?”
Lore’s heart cracked wide open. “It’s not your fault, angel. He’s not the guy you once knew. He’s enraged and insane—” He broke off as the image of Sin bleeding on the floor of their grandparents’ home came back to him. His voice became a husky rasp. “Everyone’s okay. We got here in time.”
She shook her head so hard her ponytail slapped his arm. “But, Rade. Oh, Lore… if he hurts Rade—”
“He won’t,” Lore swore. “We’ll nail his ass to the wall. My dagger tasted his blood. You can flash us to him.”
“Good,” she whispered. “That’s good.”
The crack of boots on the floor announced two arrivals. Keeping Idess tucked protectively against him, Lore turned.
Eidolon snatched a satellite phone from the end table near the couch. Shade stood a few feet from Lore, still covered in blood and his gaze dark. “So this Rariel guy took Rade.” It wasn’t a question, and when Lore nodded, Shade swallowed. “I thought you had him.”
“You were wrong.”
More swallowing. And, no apology. “But you were hired to kill Ky.”
“Hired ” wasn’t the right word. “Forced ” was closer, but right now wasn’t the time to split hellrat hairs. “Yes.”
Shade’s hands formed fists, and Lore set Idess aside and braced himself for a blow. “E said if you don’t do it, Sin will die.” He spoke in a hushed tone, for which Lore was grateful.
“Yeah.”
“We can’t let either happen.” Shade’s tone was dead. Flat. But at least he had seen the truth of the situation and wanted to help save their sister.
“That’s why Idess and I are going to kill Rariel.” Next to him, Idess went taut as a garrote wire, and shit, she had better be on board with killing the bastard. “You said his name is Rami. Why is he calling himself Rariel?”
“We’re given new names upon Ascension.” She hung her head, and her shoulders slumped. “I still can’t believe this.”
Shade grabbed a black biker jacket off a hook buried in the cave wall. “I’m going with you.”
“You can’t,” Idess said. “I can only flash one person to his location.”
“Hell’s fucking bells.” Shade’s nasty curse echoed through the chamber. “I want to know how he found the cave.” He threw down his jacket, knocking a gold rattle off the couch. Almost reverently, he picked up the toy, which was engraved with the name “Rade.”
Eidolon replaced the sat phone in its cradle. “Roag.” He hesitated before adding quietly, “It’s what I was trying to tell you just before Runa was attacked, and then a little while ago when I called.”
Tension winged through the air, and Lore held his brea
th, unsure if Shade was going to strike out at Eidolon for Shade’s own stubborn refusal to listen to Eidolon’s warning.
The storm passed when Shade snarled. “That burned-up, slimy skullfucker.” He clutched the rattle so hard Lore expected it to snap. But at least he hadn’t turned on E. “He’s as good as dead, and he’s still fucking with us.”
“Who is fucking with us?” Runa stood at the entrance to the living room. Her caramel hair hung in limp ropes around her pale face, but Lore suspected she was nowhere near as fragile as she appeared.
Shade went to her. “It’s not important. You need to take care of the boys, and I’ll handle this.”
“The hell you will!” She jabbed him in the shoulder. “My son is in danger, and I want to know everything.”
“Runa—”
“Everything.”
Shade sighed. “E says it’s Roag. He has something to do with all of this.”
Runa lost what little color she’d had, but her voice was steady and deadly as she ground out, “I want him dead. Painfully dead.”
Idess crossed the room, and when she stood before Runa, she took the female’s hand. “I will make this right for you,” she swore softly. “I swear to you all, I will somehow make this right.”
“Idess,” Lore said, “I told you. This isn’t your fault.”
“But it is. My brother wants revenge on me, and somehow he’s managed to draw all of you into it.”
“If this is all true,” Eidolon began, “I’d like to know how Roag and Rariel hooked up.”
“I don’t know how they managed to hook up after Roag was cursed,” Lore said, “but they knew each other before that. Rariel was there when Roag hired me to kill you.”
That earned him a glower from everyone but Idess. “Hey. I said I was sorry.” Actually, he didn’t think he had, but maybe they wouldn’t remember. It was probably time to go before they did. He checked his watch. They had an hour before they’d have to hunt down Rami.
“Idess, we gotta go. The devil’s hour is coming, and we need to prepare.”
She turned to Eidolon. “Can you send Kynan or Tayla to Lore’s place with some weapons treated in qeres?”
“You got it.”
“Qeres?” Lore asked. “Some sort of antiangel poison?”
She nodded. “It’s what affected me so badly when Tayla shot me. It’ll incapacitate Rami just as effectively.”
“I don’t want him incapacitated,” Shade barked. “I want him dead.”
Closing her eyes, Idess swallowed. Before she could say anything in defense of Rami that Shade and Runa might not appreciate, Lore grabbed her hand. “Come on, Cookie. Flash me to my house. We have a battle to prepare for.”
* * *
Idess was still numb when they reached Lore’s place. They stood in the middle of the living room, and when Lore attempted to pull her into his arms, she tore away, unable to stomach kindness after what she’d done.
“Hey. This is not your—”
“Stop saying that! You don’t know. You don’t understand what I did!”
“Then tell me,” he said mildly. “Tell me what you could have done that’s so horrible that he got booted out of Heaven and went batnuts insane.”
“This is serious, Lore. I betrayed him. And now he’s earthbound and out to hurt me and everyone I’m involved with.” She looked down, too ashamed to even look at Lore.
“Hey.” He caught her chin and forced her to meet his gaze. “Even if you’re right, the thing with Roag is definitely not your fault. The demon was off his rocker before any of this happened. He was just waiting for someone to help him get his revenge.”
A knock at the door announced Tayla and Kynan’s arrival. They entered, and for once, Kynan didn’t look as if he wanted to kill Lore. Tayla carried a crossbow, and Kynan had a broadsword. He handed it to Lore hilt-first.
“The sword and two crossbow bolts have been coated with qeres,” Kynan said. “I wish we had more, but The Aegis has a very limited supply.”
“Why is that?” Lore asked.
“The recipe has been lost. What little we have is all we have.”
“So use it wisely.” Tayla handed the crossbow to Idess. “You sure we can’t go?”
“Positive.” In a lot of ways, Idess was glad for that. Fewer people for her brother to hurt. Fewer witnesses to her shame. “I can only flash with one person.”
“Then take me,” Kynan said. “It’s me he wants. Trade me for Rade. I can handle myself once you get Rade out of there.”
Idess sighed. “I can’t risk you like that. And ultimately, he wants you dead, but not by his hand. His goal is to ruin me, which will only happen if you’re killed by someone other than him.”
“Damn,” he breathed.
She nodded at the appropriateness of the curse. “Does The Aegis know what’s going on?”
“The Sigil knows I’m in danger—” Kynan glowered at Lore “—but we’re considering this a fallen-angel threat. Because if this asshole is dead, I don’t have to worry about you, right?”
“You should still worry,” Lore muttered, and Idess cleared her throat. He gave her a sheepish look. “Yeah, yeah. Once the contract is void, you have nothing to fear from me.”
Kynan snorted. “I was never afraid.”
“Bullshit. You’ve been on the verge of pissing yourself.”
Idess half-expected their heraldi to start burning, so when Kynan laughed, she thought she was hearing things. “If I didn’t hate you so much, I think I could actually like you.”
“I’d probably like it better if you kept hating me.”
Kynan’s lopsided grin was a traffic-stopper. “You’re just mad because I got the girl.”
“No,” Lore said, shifting his gaze to Idess with such hot possession that her breath clogged in her throat, “I got the one I want.”
Heart pounding and face heating, she cleared her throat. “If you two are finished, we should get ready for what we have to do.” She wasn’t going to say, “Kill Rami,” because she prayed it wouldn’t come to that. Maybe she could bargain with him. Or save him somehow. Because destroying him could very well destroy her. “How is Gem, by the way?”
“Like I always said, she’s got a hard head,” Kynan said, the affection in his gravelly voice unmistakable. “Apparently, when she bent over to pick up something on the floor, the coffee maker fell off the counter and beaned her.”
It hadn’t “fallen,” Idess was sure. One of the ghosts had pushed it, probably at Roag’s direction.
“We’d better go,” Tayla said. “I want to check in with Shade and Runa. Oh, and E said to tell you that Sin is fine. She’s at UG getting checked out.”
“No doubt she’s loving that,” Lore said wryly.
“Well, I heard a lot of cussing in the background…” Tayla shrugged. “You guys be careful. And please, get Rade back.”
“We will,” Lore swore. “If it’s the last thing I do, I will deliver that child to Shade.”
Tayla nodded, and then she and Kynan were out of there.
“This is going to be dangerous,” Idess said. “Even with the qeres weapons, Rami has an advantage, Lore. As a fallen angel, he’s drawing on the power of Sheoul. I’m not a true angel, and I’m much weaker than he is.”
“Is that why you were affected so badly by the cross-bow bolt?”
“Exactly.” She absently rubbed her sternum. “But really, you get a hole the size of a fist blasted through you, and see how you fare.”
“I’ll pass.” He pulled off his gloves and tossed them to the kitchen table. “You poofed right after that. What if he does the same?”
“He won’t. I have a trick up my sleeve.”
His jacket went next, leaving his arms mouth-wateringly bare in his short-sleeved T-shirt. “Which is?”
“Powdered Benedictine monk wine.”
“Monk… wine?” He paused in the middle of unbuckling the leather weapons harness strapped across his chest. “As in, wine made
by monks?”
She nodded. “Wine made in a secret chamber at Buck-fast Abbey in England is blessed by monks and dried. Once powdered, it can be used as a temporary antidematerialization weapon against fallen angels.” And angels, which was why it was kept under lock and key. If it were to fall into the wrong hands, it could be used to immobilize God’s army of angels during the Final Battle.
“How temporary?”
“It’ll give us only a few minutes.”
“That sucks, but it’s better than nothing.” Lore laid out his harness and systematically checked each weapon. If they weren’t going after her brother, she’d actually think his efficiency and confidence when handling the weapons was incredibly sexy. “So where do you think he’ll be?”
“Sheoul. The Forbidden Abyssal.” Her voice was stronger than she felt on the inside.
Lore’s foul curse scorched the very air. “That’s the nice name for it. Do you know where it is? What it is?”
“I’ve heard of it.” Who hadn’t heard of it?
“It’s known as the Butchers’ Playground.” His voice was grim. “It’s said that nothing is off-limits there. There are no rules except that nothing can die quickly.”
It was also one of the few places in Sheoul that angels couldn’t enter at all. Some claimed that Satan himself liked to hang out there. No doubt it was a great vacation spot for someone like him.
“That’s why I know he’ll be there. He was never one for half-measures, and if he’s gone evil, he’s gone evil.”
“Dammit,” Lore muttered. “Since it’s in Sheoul, you can’t flash us there, and if the rumors are true, the nearest Harrowgate is days away. This could throw a King Kong– sized wrench into things. Twenty-four hours, and game over for me, angel.”
Idess glanced at the clock on the wall. They had forty-five minutes. And even if Rami wasn’t in the Playground, if they didn’t find him within an hour, they’d be screwed for another twenty-three.
Which put them dangerously close to Lore’s deadline.