I grabbed the bars of the cell, trying to pull them apart, to break the door off its hinges, anything. But they wouldn’t move. With a growl, I kicked the door as hard as I could, yet the only result was I made a lot of noise.
For all the good the noise did in this void the demon left me in.
I rubbed my head and turned away from the door. Think, you stupid bastard, think! There had to be some way to get out of this. I just had to figure out what it was. This was still my mind; all I had to do was reassert control. Problem was, I had no clue exactly how I would do that.
“Of course you don’t know.”
That voice. I turned around and saw Asmodeus in the cell with me, leaning against the door, hands stuffed in his pockets. The demon had his trademark smirk plastered on his face, his yellow eyes fixed on me. I could tell from his expression that he found this extremely amusing.
“You’re not real,” I said. “Just another construct. Something the demon made to taunt me.”
“That I am,” said Asmodeus. “But construct or not, I know you can’t escape this…because the demon? He’s the one who should be on the outside. You’re the one who deserves to be locked up in here. And you know how I know that?”
“Because you’re an asshole?”
“Because this is your mind. That means on some level, you believe what I’m telling you to be the truth.” Asmodeus moved closer, crossing the distance between us. “Think about how you were created, Luther.”
As Asmodeus spoke, the landscape around us changed. We were in the basement of an old church in Indiana. Down below, a demon-worshipping cult had set up shop—their idea of a “fuck you” to the man upstairs. All of them wore dark red robes, and they stood in a circle. In the center of that circle, I saw a woman—naked and very pregnant, her brown skin glistening in sweat and red sigils painted on her body.
“I saw this before,” I said. “The last time I went dreamwalking with a demon. He showed me the night I was born.”
“I know,” said Asmodeus. “But what you missed was the point. That demon knew—just like the demon inside you knows, just like I’ve always known—that you were not an accident. You were created with a purpose. There’s a reason a demon brought that cult together and had them bring your mother to him. There’s a reason your birth had all this pomp and circumstance.”
“What, so I could be your little Anti-Christ Superstar?” I scoffed. “I’ll pass, thanks.”
“Make your jokes, but you know it’s the truth,” said Asmodeus.
“Enough, brother.”
The new voice came from just outside the cell. I looked through the bars and saw Raziel hovering above the void, with large, majestic, feathered wings keeping him aloft, arms folded over his chest.
“He’s speaking in half-truths, as usual for one of the Fallen,” said Raziel. “You were born for a purpose, Luther. But not the one Asmodeus describes.”
“I remember the prophecy,” I said. “Once I found out I was a cambion, the Sons never let me forget it. Told me I had a holy purpose.”
“They were right,” said Raziel. “A child born from the darkness will grow to become a warrior defending the light. And is there any doubt you’ve done just that, Luther? You’ve exorcised demons, expelled malevolent spirits, killed monsters—”
“Well…not all monsters.”
Yet another voice. I shook my head as I felt slender arms wrap around my body, lithe hands running up and down my torso, and a soft kiss on my neck. And then I heard Celeste’s sultry voice.
“Miss me, lover?”
I grabbed Celeste’s wrists and pulled her hands off me, then turned around and glared at her. “You’re not her.”
“Why do you think you do it, Luther?” asked Asmodeus, sidling up beside Celeste and wrapping an arm around her waist. She draped her arms around the demon’s body, resting her head against his chest as she stared at me. “You know what she is. A vampire, a creature of darkness. And yet you stay with her.”
“Because I l—because I care about her,” I said.
“That’s sweet, but we both know there’s more to it,” said Celeste. “When you’re with me, you get a taste of the darkness. And it drives you wild. Your desires are screaming at you to take the plunge, and the longer you try and fight it, the worse off you’re going to be.”
“Questionable liaisons aside, you are still a good man,” said Raziel. “It’s why I trusted in you to stop Luxton.”
“And your side’s so pure?” I asked, turning to face Raziel. “This all started because an angel decided he wanted to see a war.”
“Mistakes were made, I grant you that. But we still have the best interests of humanity at heart,” said Raziel.
“But do they really?” asked Asmodeus, coming up beside me and whispering in my ear. “Remember, I was an angel once. So was Lucifer. How did that work out?”
“Do not compare me to you or him,” said Raziel, practically hissing the word.
“See, he’s getting all righteous now. He does that when he’s facing an uncomfortable truth.” Asmodeus walked past me, moving right through the bars as if they weren’t there. Lucky construct. Wish I was just a figment of my imagination, then I could do the same thing.
“Do you think it’s a coincidence that Dakota came to you?” asked Raziel. “If you were the monster Asmodeus believes you to be, you wouldn’t have come to me with this news. You wouldn’t have risked your life by facing the Angel of Death to protect her.”
“You’ve got a point there, brother,” said Asmodeus. “Luther stood up to one of Heaven’s greatest warriors and survived. Wonder if that’s better for your side or mine?”
“Azrael was being led astray, but Luther remained pure. Dedicated to the mission,” said Raziel.
“I don’t care,” I said. “I never wanted any of this. I never asked to be a cambion, never asked to be a messiah or a destroyer. And I never asked to get sucked into your stupid, petty feud.”
“Is that why you stopped caring about me?”
This new voice. Softer than the others. But it was the most chilling of all. I turned and my heart stopped for a moment. Dakota stood in front of me, wearing a white dress, practically glowing. She smiled at me and rested her hands on her pregnant belly.
“You turned me over to Raziel, got your money, and forgot about me,” she said. “I thought I was your friend, Luther. But now it looks like I was nothing more than a job.”
“I did what I had to do,” I said. “I couldn’t protect you, Raz could. It’s as simple as that.”
“And you never bothered to ask, did you?”
“Ask what?”
“If Raziel was really who he said he was,” she said. “If he was really trying to stop Luxton, or if…” Her voice trailed off, but I knew what she was about to say.
“She’s got a point,” said Asmodeus. “Why do you think I kept him from joining us in Purgatory?”
“Lies,” said Raziel. “Luther, you know me. You know I’m trying to do what’s right, trying to protect humanity.”
“Part of me believes that,” I said. “Just like part of me believes you’re complicit. All this…you’re all just fragments of me. Trying to keep me divided, keep me confused.”
“Shh, baby, it’s okay.” Celeste appeared beside me. I turned and faced her as she placed one hand on my cheek, rubbing my head with the other. “You said it yourself that you don’t want to get mixed up in all this. So why don’t you just…let it go? Right now, this place looks like a cell, but it could easily be somewhere else.”
Celeste pulled my head down and my lips met hers. I closed my eyes and savored the kiss, wrapping my arms around her. As we kissed, I slowly felt warmth on my skin. I broke away and opened my eyes, seeing that we now stood on a beach. The sun was high above, shining brightly.
“Celeste—!” I looked down at her and saw that she was fine, smiling as she watched the sun.
“You see, babe? Here, it doesn’t matter if I’m a vampire and you’re a cambion.
We don’t have to worry about anyone finding out about us. We can just be happy.” Her hand found mine and she gave it a gentle squeeze. “This can all be yours. You just have to let it go.”
I thought about it. Just forgetting everything out there. Being here with Celeste, being happy. Let the rest of the damn world burn, what the hell did I owe it? Why did I have to get sucked into this madness all the time?
“The hell he does.”
A hand slapped the back of my head to go along with the new voice. I cringed and turned, surprised to see another woman standing there. A face I’d only seen frozen in photographs, her long, dark hair swept up behind her head in a bun, her face casting a disapproving look at me.
“Don’t look so shocked. Did you really think you were gonna have all these important people pop up in your memory and I wouldn’t be one of them?”
The woman who stood in front of me was Grace Cross. My mother. The only time I’d seen her outside a picture was when a demon had showed me a construct of the night I was born. But seeing her like this in front of me…
I wanted to turn away, but I couldn’t bring myself to. I could already feel the emotions rolling over me. There were so many questions I wanted to ask, so many things I wanted to tell her, but…
“You’re not her,” I said.
“No, honey, I’m not,” she said. “Neither’s the rest of this place. And you’re smart enough to know it.”
“You’re right, but I’m tired, Mom,” I said. “I don’t want to be a pawn anymore. And as much as I try and fight it, it looks like I’m stuck being a bitch for either Heaven or Hell.”
“No, you’re not. Your powers, your eyes, all that stuff came from your jackass of a father. But you got something from me—and I mean aside from your stunning good looks.”
I smiled. “What, my humility?”
“Your spirit, baby.” Grace placed her hand on my chest and looked up at me. “Just because they want you to be something doesn’t mean you gotta do it. You’re half-demon, but you’re also half-human. That means you’ve got the greatest power of all—the power to make your own decisions.”
“But the demon…”
“He’s only in control because you let him trap you in here,” she said. “It’s like you said, Luther—this is your mind. You can choose to stay here on this beach and live in this little fantasy world with that pretty young thing over there. But no matter how pretty you make it look, it’s still a prison.”
“Then how do I get out?”
“It’s simple. You just open the door.”
I chuckled. “Simple, huh? I tried to open it; it wouldn’t budge.”
“Because you didn’t want it to,” she said. “All these people you’re seeing, all of them trying to direct you one way or the other—that’s all just you. You can silence them yourself. But you’ve gotta make a decision. Heaven, Hell, the Sons…are you gonna let them push you around, or are you gonna draw a line in the sand and tell them this is the way it’s gonna be?”
“A line in the sand, huh?”
I turned away from Grace and picked up a stray branch that had fallen on the beach. She’d told me to draw a line in the sand, so that’s what I did with the stick. Then I drew three more lines, all connected to each other in a large rectangle on the beach. I followed it up by drawing a small circle inside.
“Don’t do it, Luther,” said Celeste. “Just let it go, remember?”
“Sorry,” I said, looking up at her. “But the real Celeste would never tell me to chicken out like that.”
I knelt down and reached my hand for the circle. As my fingers touched it, I could feel something beneath the sand. I brushed it away and saw that it was an actual doorknob. I turned it and the door opened inward. There was nothing on the other side but a bright light.
“Is that the way out?” I asked, looking at my mother.
“Only one way to find out,” said Grace.
I nodded and jumped through the door.
27
The basement beneath Odysseus Black’s bar looked like it stretched out even further than the bar itself. The library of grimoires Odysseus had on shelves lining the walls down here made the smaller library in his office look pathetic in comparison. The lycan bound Celeste to one of the walls with shackles that locked around her wrists and ankles. She cringed as the metal touched her skin—silver. Had to be.
The other lycan carried Raziel over his shoulder and dropped the dazed angel on a table in the center of the room. Celeste got a look at the table before Raziel was dumped on it and she recognized the same sigil that had stripped Raziel of his agency in the office.
Odysseus followed last with a third lycan, who closed and bolted the door to the stairwell behind them. The sorcerer walked over to Raziel, looking into the angel’s glazed-over eyes. Odysseus removed the cigar from his mouth and blew smoke into Raziel’s face. No reaction came, and that brought a smile to Odysseus’ face.
“Isn’t this cozy?” he asked, glancing back at Celeste.
“What happens now?” Celeste wanted to struggle against her bonds, but every movement of her arms brought more pain to her wrists.
“Your boy’s trapped in Purgatory, and that’s where he’ll stay,” said Odysseus. “As for the two of you, the client left that to my discretion. You can both consider yourselves my property.”
“Still doesn’t answer my question.”
“Raziel holds secrets even he probably isn’t aware of. I can use that to my advantage. With this spell, I can get him to tell me everything he knows. But I want more than that.”
Odysseus snapped his fingers, and one of the lycans went to the bookshelf. The lycan pulled a thick, leather-bound volume from the shelf and carried it over to him. Odysseus took the tome in one hand and handed the lycan his cigar with the other. Holding the book in both hands, Odysseus carried it over to Celeste and held it up so she could see.
“I’m sure Cross told you about the Sons of Solomon, so you’re probably aware of the legend associated with the king,” he said. “How he could assert his will over demons and had them construct his temple.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard. What about it?” she asked.
“One of Solomon’s lesser-known accomplishments is that he also found a way to do the same to angels.” Odysseus tapped the cover. “And he got it from this book. Believed to be penned by none other than Heaven’s scribe—Metatron.”
“And why would Metatron write a how-to manual on controlling angels?” asked Celeste.
“No one knows for certain. Maybe he felt mankind needed leverage over their guardians, just in case shit went south. Or maybe he was just insane.”
“Luther told me the Sons of Solomon kept careful track of everything their founder had. They’d never let something that powerful out of their sights,” said Celeste.
“Very true, if they knew it existed,” said Odysseus. “But a cadre of angels were able to get it back by making a deal with Solomon’s son after his death. Except there was something of a conundrum—the book couldn’t be destroyed. So, they sealed it away, never to be seen again. It took considerable cost and centuries of effort before I was able to get my hands on it.”
“Why wait until now to use it?” asked Celeste.
“Angels don’t often come to earth, and when they do, they tend not to advertise it. And unfortunately, I’ve never been granted an invite into Eden. Plus, it takes time, and if you’re trying to take over an angel’s body, time’s not something you’ve got a luxury of.” Odysseus carried the book back to the table and set it down beside Raziel. He began to flip through pages. “But thanks to that containment spell, I’ve got all the time in the world.”
Odysseus clapped his hands together and rubbed them. He held his arms out to the side and took a deep breath, reading from the book in a language Celeste hadn’t heard before but assumed had to be Enochian.
Bands of red energy began to appear between his fingertips, circling around his hands. The entire ground started
to shake and winds started to blow around in the basement. If Celeste’s heart were still capable of beating, it would’ve been pounding against her chest. She clenched her teeth and tried to ignore the pain as she struggled against the shackles. No matter how futile it was, she had to try something. Odysseus Black with the power of an angel on his side was too terrifying to comprehend. But the silver just bit into her wrists even more and she could smell her own skin burning.
“Raz! Snap out of it, damn you!” she shouted in vain to the angel. “Raz! Wake up!”
“Goddamn, bastard’s fuckin’ heavy!”
As consciousness came back to him, that was the first thing Hem heard. He felt his body being raised off the ground. Slowly, his heavy eyelids lifted and he could see a man holding him by his legs. One of Odysseus’ lycans. No doubt another held him by the shoulders.
“Boss says we should dump him in the river,” said the other.
“How the hell we gonna get him into the damn car?”
Hem could feel the strength returning. He opened his mouth and let loose with a deafening roar. It spooked the lycans and they dropped him, jumping back.
“Holy shit, he’s alive?”
Hem didn’t waste another moment, instantly getting to his feet and lunging for one of the lycans. Claws emerged from his fingertips and he drove his massive hand into the lycan’s chest, using his strength to break through bone and grasp the heart. Hem pulled it free from the chest and the lycan collapsed.
The second lycan shifted into his wolf form, hair growing over his body and fangs and claws emerging. Hem dropped the heart of his first victim and grabbed Odysseus’ desk just at the lycan leapt at him. Summoning his great strength, Hem swung the desk and slammed it into the lycan, throwing him into the bookshelf.
“Where is she?” bellowed the yeti.
The lycan staggered as he got back to his feet. He growled in response and charged forward. He was fast, and Hem was slow to react. The lycan’s claws tore into Hem’s flesh, and he pulled away. When the lycan went for a second strike, Hem grabbed his arm and snapped it, the bone breaking through the skin.
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