Stellar (The Halo Series Book 3)

by Melody Robinette

  “What sort of crepes does everyone want?” Lucifer asked, seemingly oblivious to what Lilith had said and Aurora’s poorly-repressed rage. “We haven’t the time to properly train a new chef. Ours perished last night, you see, but I can steal food from any eatery around the world. I’m particular to French cuisine, I’ll admit.”

  No one answered.

  “Very well.” Lucifer appeared unconcerned by their silence. “I’ll just summon up an assortment.”

  Closing his eyes, Lucifer began speaking a low stream of words in a language Aurora didn’t understand. If Aurora walked in on someone saying these same things, she’d assume they were attempting to summon the Devil.

  As it was, the Devil was just summoning breakfast.

  Everything felt so backward in hell. Lucifer was at times pleasant and equable. Michael had retreated into himself, speaking and interacting very little with anyone. Lilith was every bit the wretched bitch Aurora would have expected her to be. And Gray had sex with her and then ignored her entirely the next day.

  Suffice it to say, she was more than ready to leave.

  Lucifer stopped his muttering and rocking. Then a crack sounded through the room, the lights flickering, and mounds of crepes appeared in the center of the table, each covered with a different topping.

  Rubbing his hands together, Lucifer smiled greedily. “Dig in.”

  Aurora served herself the nearest crepe—blackberry with cream—just to keep the two dark rulers from commenting on her lack of appetite.

  “Do we have a demon army now?” she asked Lucifer pointedly.

  He spoke through a mouthful of chocolate crepes. “Yes, yes. Of course. Luckily they were not near the castle last night. That would’ve been a sticky situation.”

  Her cheeks burned again. Gray still didn’t look up but ate his strawberry crepes mechanically.

  “So, what next?” Aurora asked. “Where do we go from here?”

  Michael spoke for the first time that morning. “We have located Caducus in Edinburgh, Scotland, having taken up residence in the castle there. He is heavily protected on both land and water. It will take fleets of angels, demons, and Halos to penetrate its wards. Currently, many of our Halos are on land, fighting Horns to keep them from creating more beasts. The demon army is a weapon no one is expecting. We must be thoughtful in our attack.”

  “What about Soren?” Aurora asked.

  “We believe he’s aboard one of the airships surrounding the city. If he is with his father, and we assume he is, he will be there.”

  “In Edinburgh,” Aurora stated.

  Michael’s head dipped in a nod. “On the outskirts, yes.”

  Pushing her plate away and crossing her arms, Aurora surveyed Michael and Lucifer’s reactions as she asked, “When are we going after him?”

  As she predicted, the two angels of Heaven and Hell exchanged a quick glance.

  Lucifer was the one to speak. “If we attempt to rescue Soren before we attack Caducus, our presence will immediately be known by the Wanna-be-Devil.” The devil spoke with distaste at the thought of someone attempting to take his place. “It would remove our element of surprise.”

  Once again, Aurora felt the blood rushing to her face, her ears, her eyes, boiling over until she exploded in rage, standing from her seat. “I knew it! I knew neither of you planned to help me save my son.” Looking to Michael in betrayal, she added, “You never planned on it, did you? You just needed Gray and me to put on a show for these two demons playing dress up!”

  Michael wore a regretful expression. Lucifer merely watched her display with casual indifference as always. The side of Lilith’s mouth quirked upward in mild amusement.

  And, for the first time that morning, Gray’s eyes were on Aurora. But they were...different. Before last night, something sparked in their depths when he looked at her, whispering how much he cared for her. Whatever that spark had been…it was gone now.

  This only fueled her anger. She felt like a dog that’d fully expected to go to the park when its owner loaded him into the car, only to find itself in a shelter being given back.

  Unwanted. Lied to. Deceived.

  “Aurora,” Michael stated equably. “You must understand how much more is at stake here. We haven’t the time to focus on a single individual.”

  “Particularly a mutant like your son,” Lilith jumped in, looking more satisfied than ever.

  If Aurora hadn’t known she has the much lower hand in this situation, she would’ve jumped across the table to strangle the beautiful bitch. As it was, she was smarter than that.

  Taking a step backward, away from the table, words formed in her mind. An idea she didn’t realize she had until she spoke it. “Then I refuse to fight for a world like that,” she stated in an emotionless voice. “A world that values the whole over the individual. The pack rather than the single wolf.”

  “Shame, shame,” Lilith said, a snarl beneath her words. “To lose a single Halo when we have an army of them.”

  “You aren’t losing a single Halo. You’re losing half a Stellar. A Halo Stellar. The only one on Earth at this very moment, and a valuable weapon in this war. Don’t act as though you don’t know what Gray and I have done, what we are capable of.”

  Lilith seemed unconcerned by this threat. Lucifer and Michael, however, were now communicating wordlessly. Aurora could feel it. They knew they needed her, to fight, to cooperate. It made her stand taller.

  “Very well,” Michael stated after a long moment. “We will attempt to save your son.”

  Aurora felt the tightness all over her body release slightly.

  “You will need to be stealthy about it,” Lucifer added. “I recommend going with a fleet of angels. No demons. No need to give away our plans at this point. It may even confuse them. They may think Soren is worth more than he is. They won’t expect us to risk so much for one child.”

  Aurora could feel the judgment in his words. He thought she was being ridiculous. She didn’t care.

  As Samuel once said, Halos were different because they were part human. And they saw the world differently than angels or demons. They felt the immediacy of death. The gravity of life.

  For now, Aurora didn’t care that there was an eternity waiting for Soren after his life. She wanted him to live as long as he could. She couldn’t explain it, but his life was worth more to Aurora than her own.

  “Okay then,” Aurora stated, feeling a power shift in the room. At least from Lucifer.

  Before, he hadn’t taken her seriously. He viewed her as little more than a doll on display for him to admire and appreciate. Now he saw her as a threat. Which was a good thing.

  Aurora turned to leave the dining room, acutely aware of Gray’s dark demeanor. Then she shot over her shoulder. “Finish up your breakfast, boys. Let’s go get my son back, shall we?"

  Twenty-Seven

  SOREN

  The top deck of David’s airship was Soren’s new refuge, if you could even call it that. His father had finally allowed him to leave the confines of his room, when he believed Soren wouldn’t run away. This wasn’t necessary, as they were several thousand feet in the air.

  Running wasn’t exactly an option.

  Soren learned quickly that he would have to act as though he bought into his father’s words. Acting had become second-nature to him when he was shuffled through foster homes and orphanages.

  When he'd been placed with a new family, he had to act as though he wasn’t both tragically hopeful and terrified of what might happen. Then he would have to act as though he was surprised when something did happen. Because something always did.

  Now, he had to act like he wasn’t hurt when his father tossed his beloved book in the flames.

  He had to pretend he wanted to be with him and that he didn’t wish he’d never left his mother’s side.

  He still didn’t feel like he belonged amongst the angels, but he did feel like he belonged with Aurora. He could see something in her eyes that told him
she cared more deeply than David ever could. She loved him, despite the fact that she hated half of his DNA. If he was honest, he hated it too.

  No one wanted to be evil.

  Well…maybe they did.

  “Beautiful isn’t it?” a voice said from behind him. Soren whirled around to see Samuel, the fallen angel who killed that girl from his mom’s group. The angel who'd fought Gray and intended to kill him. Something about him unnerved Soren.

  He was young looking and had a face made for television with its sharp features and ocean blue eyes. Fair hair that swept across his forehead topped it all off.

  Funny how someone who looked so angelic could be so evil. But that was how demons started, wasn’t it? Demons were angels who’d gone bad. He wondered if it was ever the other way around.

  Could demons go good?

  “Yes,” Soren answered. It was always best to respond shortly. Too many words could get him into trouble. Brevity was best. He’d learned the word brevity in a book.

  “Such an old city, and yet not old at all.” Samuel came to stand beside Soren, leaning against the railing of the airship, facing the city of Edinburg, which was currently covered in a dense layer of fog. “I wasn’t surprised when Caducus chose this city to start his kingdom here on Earth. Something about it just feels royal, doesn’t it?”

  Soren wasn’t sure if the angel wanted an answer, but when he looked up to see Samuel’s expectant gaze, he blanched. “Yes.”

  “Not much of a talker, are you?” Samuel’s left brow and lip rose together, amusement and judgment all in one. “Much like your mother.”

  Soren said nothing. He didn’t feel comfortable speaking about his mother to this evil angel who wished her dead. So, he just looked back to the city.

  It was a mix of old and new. Castles and cars. Crumbling buildings of old stone standing next to steel and glass structures built by cranes instead of hands. It was the perfect place for an old angel to take up residence. Plus, the ever-present fog made it feel eerily demented.

  “Your father asked if I would give you a lesson today,” Samuel said when he realized Soren wasn’t going to acknowledge his earlier statement about Aurora. “It's been a while since you’ve gone to school, after all. Though, I certainly won’t be teaching you arithmetic or reading.”

  Swallowing back his fear, Soren blinked up at Samuel, fearing the answer to the question he was about to ask. “What will you be teaching me?”

  Samuel pushed away from the railing with fluid elegance. “Come with me.”

  Seeing no choice other than to follow after the dark angel, Soren moved into Samuel’s shadow.

  They walked the perimeter of the deck until they reached a staircase leading down into the bowels of the vessel. Deep down until they reached what Soren pictured as the belly, an open cargo area filled with heavy wooden boxes.

  The Horn’s airships were the opposite of the Halo ships. While the latter was pearlescent, shimmering in the light, the Horn ships sucked in the darkness. Like a black hole.

  Soren stopped when they reached the base of the boat, and Samuel continued on. Soren stopped because he spotted a finger sticking out of one of the cargo boxes. His heart rate—which never seemed to completely slow in the presence of demons—sped up.

  Eyes sliding over the boxes, Soren looked to Samuel, who now stood in the middle of the dark room with his arms folded casually across his chest. “Are there… In the boxes, are there…” he stopped midway through his question. He didn't want to ask it because he was pretty sure he knew the answer.

  An eerie smile twisted Samuel’s features. Soren always thought smiles made people look more approachable. More likable. Inviting. But, when Samuel smiled, Soren took a step back. It looked unnatural, almost clown like. And he’d never been a fan of clowns.

  Without touching the box before him, Samuel pointed at the top, and it wrenched itself upward, bringing nails and spider webs with it.

  “Have a look.”

  Soren’s hands clenched closed and fell open repeatedly. He wanted to say no. He wanted to run out of there and never look back. But he knew better than all that. So he took a step forward. And then another.

  Then he stopped.

  What he’d suspected proved correct.

  There were humans in the boxes.

  Crumpled up and piled on top of one another, like they were nothing more than forgotten dolls in a toy store. His stomach hurt. He wanted to throw up. But, then, Samuel would know seeing this bothered him. So he swallowed the bitter bile rising up his throat.

  “What are they for,” he whispered.

  “Why, they are our army, of course,” Samuel stated. “These are the containers the Halos and angels so kindly left us. You see, they thought they were protecting the humans by locking their souls away, but, really, they just made it easier for us to collect them. No struggle. No screaming. They lay waiting patiently for us in their beds. Waiting for us to make them into what they were destined to be.”

  “What were they destined to be?”

  Again, Soren knew the answer. But he asked the question anyway. To put off the inevitable.

  Smiling that Joker-like grin again, Soren reached inside his coat, pulling out a syringe filled with black fluid.

  “Beasts.”

  Then he stabbed the needle down into the topmost human, whose lips had already been sewn shut. Pushing down on the plunger, the black liquid emptied into the human’s heart. Soren could hear his own heartbeat in his ears, louder and louder as he waited for the change to occur.

  The first thing he noticed was the twitch of a finger. Then eyelids flew wide to reveal a pair of solid black eyes, staring up at Soren and Samuel. The beast crawled out of the box, grunting at Samuel, sniffing.

  “Back,” he said, speaking to the creature as one might to a disobedient dog.

  Turning to Soren, he produced a large vial of the dark liquid from his coat.

  “Now,” he said, reaching for Soren’s hand and placing a syringe in his sweaty palm. “Your turn.”

  Twenty-Eight

  LOGAN

  Their boat was called Tigerlilly. Fitting. For Logan, at least. Peter Pan had always been her favorite Disney movie as a child. Believe it or not, she hadn’t been the biggest fan of princesses.

  She’d liked Peter. There was something almost androgynous about him. And she particularly liked the idea of never growing up.

  Adults seemed so miserable most of the time. Always frowning or complaining about something. They didn’t laugh like children did. They didn’t seem able to see past their big adult problems.

  Now, Logan was an adult. And her problems were quite a bit bigger than paying bills and finding time to go grocery shopping. Luckily, the Halos had brief spurts of downtime when they traveled between battlegrounds. She could almost pretend she was on vacation.

  The new Halo group she and Brielle had temporarily joined wasn’t unlike their own. They hung out on the deck of the boat that morning as it traveled much faster than any human vessel across the sea.

  Danni Jo and Brielle sat with their feet propped on the railing, sipping hot chocolate, and speaking in hushed voices about their churches back in Texas. It sounded as though they were comparing their favorite praise bands. Ever so often they’d burst into song, interspersed with giggling.

  As she usually did, Logan migrated towards the only other gay on the boat. Anthony. The two of them reclined in the cushioned deck chairs, sipping strong black coffee, watching the girls’ giggle-fest.

  Anthony took a long drink, readjusting his wind-tousled blond hair. “I’ll admit I was a tad bit surprised when I realized you and Brielle were together.”

  Logan snorted. “Yeah. Me too.” He shot her a curious look, and she further clarified in a hushed voice. “Brielle was probably one of the straightest girls I’d ever met.”

  “But you converted her to the dark side, eh?” Anthony laughed. “Wish I could convert Jax. No such luck.”

  “It wasn’t my
goal,” Logan admitted. “In my old life, I never would have considered dating a girl who identified as straight. Because usually that just meant they were curious or drunk or trying to impress a pack of mouth breathers. But…I guess it doesn’t really matter what I would’ve done in my old life. All of that’s gone now.”

  Anthony blew out a stream of air, shaking his head. “That’s the truth. Sort of hard to keep up my atheism when I have a bunch of angels flying around my head.”

  “I was an atheist for a little bit.” Logan let out a humorless laugh. “I’ve been lots of things, though. Tried it all.”

  “Yeah, no, it wasn’t a phase for me,” Anthony said. “I wasn’t raised in a church. My parents were both scientists. They believed in science, and, in turn, I did too. It wasn’t until I went to school that I even knew other people believed differently. I thought God was just another Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy situation. When I was on Etheria, I thought I might have been on some sort of serious acid trip.”

  Logan laughed. “I still think that sometimes.”

  “Bet it’s in the sugarclouds,” Anthony said with an air of false realization.

  “That’s probably it.”

  Logan took another sip of coffee, her eyes seeking out Brielle. As if she could feel her gaze, the brunette peeked over her shoulder at Logan.

  There was something different about the way she smiled. Before, she would sort of duck her head, tucking her chin into her chest. Now, she lifted her chin as if asking the sun to bathe her face. As it was, the sun was hidden behind a thick layer of morning clouds.

  Logan turned back to face Anthony. “So, what are you now, if you don’t mind my asking.”

  “In regard to my sexuality, or religion?”

  “Religion. I think I have your sexuality fairly parsed out.”

  Throwing his head back in a proud laugh, Anthony said, “Yeah, guess I’m not subtle. And I don’t know what my religion is. I don’t know that anyone can truly know what’s out there. Even the angels seem blind to some things. I’m not sure we’re meant to know. When I was an atheist, I’d been sure there was nothing out there. Now, clearly, I know I was wrong. But, on the other hand, what’s out there isn’t what my Christian friends thought either. No one really knows. But, I think that scares a lot of people. So they have to find something to believe in. While I’m on Earth, though, I’m just going to believe in humanity. I’m going to believe in the goodness of it and try to contribute something more than fabulous hair.”