“Is this Heaven?”
“This is your personal haven.”
Moving to the window, Aurora twitched the curtains aside to peer out. Seattle—a pre-locked Seattle—sat beyond the glass. “But where is Heaven? Is there a Heaven? Where’s God—or the Light?”
“The Light is everywhere,” Anne said patiently. “Sit down, Aurora. Let us explain.”
Aurora turned from the window, looking to her mother and now cognitively aware brother. “Aren’t I supposed to be all-knowing now that I’m dead? Where’s Gray?”
“You’re in your In Between, Aurora,” Daniel answered.
Aurora pressed a hand to her head as she tried to process so many revelations.
She was dead.
That meant Gray was dead.
And Daniel could communicate now.
“So, I’m dead, but I’m not dead?”
“Sort of.” Daniel glanced at the empty chair to the left of Anne. “Why don’t you just—”
“Okay, okay. I’ll sit.”
And she did. And they talked. And she listened.
“So…basically, I can go on with the two of you and become a Guardian. Or I can return to the battle and run the risk of dying again, without my wings.”
Another decision.
Because of course she’d have to make another difficult decision right after dying.
Daniel nodded. "Basically."
Sighing dramatically, Aurora looked to the window for a long minute before standing. “Well, we all know what I’m going to do.”
“There’s one condition, though,” Anne said quickly. “Your Stellar has to make the same decision as you. Until he does, you will be stuck in the In Between on Earth. No one will be able to see you, and you won’t be able to interact with anyone. Your souls are still connected. But, when you died, you were sent to separate In Betweens.”
"And if he doesn't make the same decision as me?" Aurora said. "Then what? I'll just be stuck on Earth forever? As a ghost?"
“Basically," Daniel stated.
Aurora smacked him in the back of the head, and he laughed. Then she thought better of it and collapsed onto the sofa, sandwiched between her family, pulling them both to her.
“I missed you guys.” Tears welled up in her eyes.
Anne pressed a hand to her daughter’s head, planting a kiss on her forehead. “We’ve been right here waiting for you.”
Letting out a final sigh, Aurora stood again, walking to the front door that she somehow knew didn’t lead to the hallway of her old apartment.
Shooting a wistful look over her shoulder, she said, “I’ll see you soon...hopefully.”
Forty-Eight
CHORD
Demons were crawling all over the damn place. Black with glowing white eyes and red with pincers and yellow with fangs and every other disgusting combination. It was as though Edinburgh had a sudden massive infestation of revolting insects the size of circus animals.
Powers and Halos evacuated their ship, streaming out onto the grounds at the base of the castle with swords and cruxes held high.
“They’re fucking everywhere!” Chord shouted to Sev as they left the safety of Etheria, landing on the once lush ground of Princes Street Gardens, now swarmed with demons from Hell and mulciber stones. “We’d have to kill hundreds just to make a dent!”
“Why do you think we were created, darling?” Sev leapt over a fallen Hell’s demon, swinging his sword in a delicate arc to decapitate a mulciber demon, its serpentine head rolling across the grass.
Chord felt a burning pain in his leg and turned to see a mulciber demon clamping down on his thigh with a pincher the size of a frying pan. Cursing, he slammed his crux down into the fleshy part where the two claws came together. Flames erupted with the contact and the demon let out a high-pitched squealing noise as it released him.
“Bastard.” Chord looked down at his thigh, surprised to see the material had remained intact. “At least our angel clothing designers are fabulous.”
“Yes, that’s what I was just thinking.” Sev pulled his sword from the abdomen of a Tega demon. At least, that’s what Chord thought it was called. Sev was the one who named them.
“Makes your ass look particularly amazing too.” Chord flashed Sev a sly look.
Sev sent his eyes skyward. “Really, with the inappropriate comments? Even in battle?”
“Do you not know me? There is never a time that I’m not inappropriate.”
Sev merely smiled as they moved forward towards a towering Craix demon with three stingers waving menacingly in the air.
“Sorry,” Chord said. “I’ll stop. I know you don’t like to be distracted.”
Dodging one of the Craix demon’s stingers, Sev rolled lithely onto the ground before popping back up on Chord’s other side. “I never said I wanted you to stop. A battle simply wouldn’t be the same without all your comments about my hindquarters and sexual innuendos.”
“In that case.” Chord nodded to the Craix demon now charging at them, “Do you want to take it from the bottom or the top.”
Sev didn’t answer, though an amused grin spread across his face as he climbed atop an overturned bench in the park and leapt onto one of the stingers, stabbing his crux into the unprotected part of the creature’s tail.
That decided it then. Chord dove beneath the demon, sinking his crux into its belly.
Clearly, Sev preferred the top.
BRIELLE
In the melee, the seven Halos managed to become separated. Logan, though, didn’t leave Brielle’s side. Or maybe it was the other way around. As Brielle jumped, Logan jumped. When she ducked, Logan swung. They were a perfect unit. Effortless fighters. They fought with the grace and power of a duet of singers, their swords and cruxes swinging and jabbing in harmony.
“Brielle!” Logan screamed suddenly. “Watch out!”
A trio of demon dogs flanked by two Horns had somehow managed to encircle them. Logan and Brielle turned so they were back to back, swords held out and cruxes gripped tightly in their hands.
One of the Horns laughed. His gray hood had fallen back—without it, he merely looked like a grown man playing dress-up. But it didn’t make him any less terrifying.
Crooked dagger in hand, the man lunged for Brielle. Horns were powerful, but they weren’t quick. Not like Halos. Brielle dodged the attack, leaping to the side and spinning back, sending her short sword through the skin of his abdomen.
The Horn let out a cry and crumpled at the feet of his demon dog. The mutant dog growled, leaping forward with teeth bared. Brielle was in the process of turning from the Horn, knowing in the back of her mind that she wouldn’t be quick enough to block the demon dog’s attack.
Then Logan’s crux flew through the air, embedding itself in the demon’s forehead. Burning fire spread from the point of impact across the creature’s glossy coat. It dropped beside the defeated Horn.
Brielle took out the second demon dog with her own crux, turning to thank Logan for saving her life for the hundredth time that day.
But Logan was no longer standing.
She’d taken care of the final demon dog…but the remaining Horn had been too quick for her.
Because she’d chosen to help Brielle first.
Brielle took in the bright red blood spreading from Logan’s abdomen then let out a hollow cry as she swung her sword with all the strength she had in the direction of the Horn still bending over Logan with a satisfied grin on his ugly face.
Her sword cut cleanly through the skin and bone of the Horn’s neck. Dark tinged blood slung through the air as his head parted from his body.
“Lo,” Brielle spoke through a sob as she collapsed to her knees beside her. Blood covered Brielle’s hands as she pressed her hands against the steady flow pumping out of the wound in Logan’s stomach.
Her eyes fluttered open and closed. “Bri,” Logan whispered, placing a weak hand on her wet cheek. “Keep fighting.”
Tears fell steadily do
wn Brielle’s face. As a chilling wind blew through the battlegrounds, kicking up the smell of blood and sulfur, she swore she could feel the moment Logan left her. “I will.” Brielle pressed her lips to Logan’s forehead. “I will.”
And she stood, a lone soldier.
Then she walked forward.
SOREN
Soren had no interest in killing demons or Horns.
Scarlet seemed to revel in it, swinging her ax left and right as she came into contact with mulciber demons.
She was a good fighter. But there was no point in fighting demons when their life source, their leader, was still alive and well. Probably sitting like a coward on his throne, waiting for his army to win.
Sorry, Grandfather, Soren thought, Aurora wasn’t your only descendant.
The darkest angel had underestimated him so significantly that he hadn’t even given Soren a second glance. David had made the same mistake. And now his father's body lay unnoticed in the top of the castle’s tallest tower.
Leaving Scarlet behind, with Lionheart clutched in his left hand, Soren descended the steps on the metal platform in search of his grandfather.
And it didn’t take long to find him.
A dark ship hovered just above the castle’s Great Hall. He would be in there. Soren knew he would. Him and Lilith. Fighting battles was apparently beneath them. That was the job of demons and Horns.
Caducus likely thought his duty was to rule from afar. That distance may have kept him safe from the battle raging below. But it also separated him from most of his loyal protectors.
A measly three Horns remained stationed within the castle grounds. And none of them blinked when Soren passed by, Lionheart tucked out of sight beneath his cloak. He walked unnoticed, like a ghost.
Like he was invisible.
Back when he’d lived in the orphanage in Seattle, he’d felt invisible then too. He'd hated it. It made him feel lonely and unloved. When hopeful parents came to visit, their eyes slid right over him. Too old. No one wanted to adopt an invisible boy. Now, it seemed, his invisibility would save him. For the moment, at least.
The Great Hall was extensive with both a slanted and flat roof. The slanted part was lower, and it didn’t take Soren long to scale the side of the building.
Back when he used to escape from the orphanage in search of something else to look at other than gray walls, he’d taken to climbing the surrounding buildings.
This one was older with more footholds and windows to step onto.
Caducus’s ship hovered just over the little clock tower set into the center of the building where a long flagpole had been erected. The Scottish flag had been changed to a new one—dark purple with three interlocking black stars. The symbols were all over the airships and castle. Soren wondered what it meant.
The tower already had rungs affixed to the side—a contemporary addition. If the Light did win this war and the humans woke up, what might they think of their new world? The mulciber demons and Horns had made quite the mess of it. This thought fueled Soren’s anger as he moved more swiftly upward, to the top of the clock tower.
Landing heavily at the top, Soren’s gaze drug up the spire-like flag pole. Until this point, he’d been able to keep Lionheart in his left hand. Now, though, he shoved the blade through the belt in his pants, praying to the Light it wouldn’t slip. The climb was harder than Soren had expected. Moisture from the air clung to the pole, making it nearly impossible for Soren to get a proper grip.
By some miracle—or maybe the Light actually was listening—he made it to the purple flag at the top. Then came the next issue...reaching the ship, which was still a good five feet above the pole. Soren knew he couldn’t jump that high. And he was feeling pretty vulnerable hanging onto the material of the flag and the thin top of the pole while both sets of demons flew around him.
Soren’s eyes landed on a solid black demon with gleaming white eyes. It tore into the flesh of a screaming red mulciber demon with a dozen yellow eyes. The black demon flew over Edinburgh Castle, within hearing range. Soren pressed his forefinger and thumb together, placing them in his mouth and blowing hard to emit a high-pitched whistle.
The demon’s head swiveled his way. It almost looked like a little black dragon with its flat head, serpentine skin, and leathery, bat-like wings. Soren’s blue eyes connected with demon’s white ones, silently asking for help.
Astonishingly, the creature made its way to where Soren hung.
Hopefully, he's coming to help...or maybe he’s just coming to eat me, Soren thought morbidly.
But, instead, the demon slowed at the top of the flag pole, hovering beside Soren. Ignoring the bizarreness of the situation, he took a literal leap of faith, squeezing his eyes shut as he landed on the creature’s back. He half expected it to turn around and swallow him whole.
But it didn’t.
“There!” Soren pointed at the airship above them.
Like an obedient pet, the demon pumped its wings and soared to the top deck of the ship, landing softly with Soren still on its back. Climbing down, Soren patted the creature on the head. It wagged its hindquarters like an excited dog before diving over the edge of the ship to rejoin the battle.
Pulling Lionheart from his belt, Soren moved forward, keeping to the shadows, in search of his Fallen grandfather.
Forty-Nine
AURORA
Aurora opened the door to her old apartment and stepped into darkness.
She blinked, and the next moment, opened her eyes to see the battle she’d just left exploding before her. Once again, she stood on the metal platform, her earthly body still hanging lifeless only feet away.
Everything looked to be moving in slow motion. Glints from the swords of the Halos and Powers flashed as they made languid arcs through the air, slamming down into the flesh of a demon or beast or Horn.
Searching for someone she knew, Aurora's vision automatically zoomed in on Sev and Chord. They fought effortlessly beside one another, their mouths moving as they kept up a steady stream of conversation.
The scene shifted, like a jerky pair of binoculars—she’d have to learn how to work these new angel powers—to Brielle, tears streaming down blood and dirt-covered cheeks as she swung her sword with every amount of strength she had into the neck of a pair of Horns charging her way.
Trepidation filled Aurora’s stomach as her vision fixed on a raven-haired Halo who’d fallen in battle. Logan. It was strange, Aurora thought, how much this death struck her. After all—she glanced back at her own earthly body—she had died as well.
But where were the others then? The other Halos who’d lost their lives.
Had they chosen to move on?
Had they decided not to fight?
Could she just not see them yet?
And the biggest question of all, weighing like a headache in her mind…
Where was Gray?
Suddenly, the dark sky cleared enough to allow a sunbeam to peek through, landing on a lone figure at the opposite end of the metal platform.
Aurora’s heart clenched.
Then she ran.
SCARLET
It felt good killing demons.
Scarlet hoped this was because she enjoyed aiding in the battle against the Darkness rather than the act of killing itself.
Her mother, an unfeeling Horn, had not been her favorite person. In fact, she’d terrified her. So anything related to demons and Horns and darkness frightened Scarlet…which made her furious. She hated that demon blood ran through her veins.
So, instead of taking it out on herself, she’d just take it out on the demons.
Ax swinging left and right and embedding in the thick skin of demon after mulciber demon, Scarlet reveled in the feel of the kill. She dashed down the manmade path from the castle onto the streets of the city, up the Royal Mile.
Demon stragglers who had strayed from the heart of the battle jumped out of the shadows, practically asking for Scarlet to plunge her ax into their black he
arts.
“I’ve taught you well,” a voice spoke from behind her as she pulled her weapon free of a writhing green mulciber demon.
Spinning around, Scarlet’s eyes landed on Samuel, his fair hair matted on one side with dark blood. Terror and affection battled in her core as she took him in.
Hand still clamped down on her ax, she tilted her chin upwards, regarding Samuel warily. “Kill me if you must,” Scarlet spoke in a clear voice. “I don’t regret what I’ve done.”
“Never regret anything,” Samuel stated. “Stand by your decisions.”
Head falling sideways, Scarlet’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “Aren’t you going to kill me?”
Samuel’s gaze moved from her to the battle. “I don’t regret my decisions,” he said in a faraway voice. “And I won’t regret this one either."
"What—?" Scarlet's sentence was cut off by Samuel.
"This battle was poorly planned," he said. "The Halo Stellars changed the way it was meant to go. It was written in the stars, but we failed to read the fine print. Then Lilith and…Adam. Our dark master kept essential information from us. Deadly information.”
He wasn’t making sense, of that Scarlet was sure. His head was bleeding rather profusely. Surely Fallen couldn’t receive brain injuries.
“What are you talking ab—” Scarlet began.
“We must regroup,” Samuel interrupted, looking off into the distance. “Too much was known. Too much was planned. We must hit when the Light doesn’t expect it. For now, though…you and I shall sequester ourselves, little sister.”
“Sister? What do—”
But Samuel held a hand up, silencing her. Stepping forward, he placed a gentle hand on her cheek.
Then the battle faded away, and Scarlet’s vision turned to darkness.
SOREN
Soren had read enough books to know the bad guys liked to watch destruction, even if they weren’t the ones actually fighting the battle. They usually weren’t.
Stellar (The Halo Series Book 3) Page 26