“Already done,” he admitted. “Let’s just get the others back to the wasteland. The destruction will calm down once they are out of the city and as far from the demon tower as we can get them.”
Madeleine threw him a troubled glance. “I think it’s too late. Sij said there was only one way to stop it once the chain reaction started.”
He tensed. “Did she tell you what it was?”
The doctor blinked, looking behind him to Kara and then back again. “No.” She shook her head, meeting his eyes steadily.
Ash heaved a sigh of relief. Good. That meant he still had time to find another solution. He glanced back at Kara as they hurried along the edge of the pit, scanning for survivors.
“Anything she said would have been a fabrication,” he said, continuing the uneven path. “Demons always lie,” he added for good measure.
They found another Firehorse a little farther on. Thierry had been one of the oldest. He’d been impaled in the leg by a large splinter of wood. He was unconscious, but still breathing.
“I think I can stop the bleeding,” Madeleine said. “It hasn’t pierced an artery. The splinter went through muscle.”
“Do it,” Ash agreed, gesturing for Kara to follow him. They threw a litter together, so they could drag the wounded out of town.
Kara knelt in front of him, tying a length of fabric they’d found to two scraps of wood. “You’ll have to go overland,” he told her. “The tunnels will be too unstable, and there may be more tremors or worse.”
“I have to go?” Kara asked. “But you need me. I have to stop this.”
“I don’t think you can,” he said, glancing at Montmeurtre, turning just in time to see another stroke of lightning hit it. The smell of ozone stung his nostrils. “We’re too close to the tower for your blood to make a difference this time.”
Her face was white as she squinted at the top of the tower. “It all started here, didn’t it?”
He didn’t answer. Sometime in the future, Kara and I will come back here and we will end this—without anyone having to sacrifice themselves.
Ash cleared his throat. “How many others are left unaccounted for?”
Kara and Madeleine looked at each other, counted on their fingers. “There are two more.”
Madeleine finished bandaging Thierry’s leg. “It’s Adele and Didier.”
“Didier?” Kara looked worriedly at their dust-covered hands and clothes. “He has asthma.”
The doctor straightened, annoyance flicking across her face. “Why didn’t he come see me?”
“Okay, let’s not get sidetracked,” he said, holding up his hands. “I’ll find those last two. Just get Thierry as far from here as fast as you can.”
Kara’s expression was mutinous. “But—”
He held up his hands. “Please, my love.”
She pursed her lips, her eyes going from him to Thierry and Madeleine. “All right. But hurry,” she grumbled, refocusing on the litter.
Ash didn’t watch them go. He began to search for the last two Firehorses, searching the area around the tower in an expanding circle.
Smoke was rising from several places in the city. The klaxon was wailing non-stop. In the distance, people poured into the streets.
It shredded his heart turn his back on the chaos, but his mission was clear. He kept up the search alone. No one ventured close enough to the tower, which was probably the only reason he found the pair hiding in a hole.
Adele took one look at him and screamed her head off. Merde, she was one of the Firehorses he’d left in the wasteland a few years ago.
“Adele, stop it,” he called out, snagging her with one hand. “Sij is dead. I’m just taking you back to Kara, damn it.”
The girl continued to struggle in his grasp.
“She still has nightmares about you,” Didier wheezed, limping after them.
Ash held Adele with one hand while he bent to examine Didier’s ankle. “Can you walk on it?”
“More like hop,” Didier replied.
Ash nodded and began to speak when Adele bit him. “Damn it, woman. Don’t make me drag you the whole way,” he snapped, losing his patience. “You know you need to leave town. You can walk with Didier on your own—he needs the help.”
Adele stopped whimpering. Chastised, she kept her lips sealed shut as he shoved her gently in Didier’s direction.
“Do you think you two can make your own way back to your base in the desert? Kara’s heading overland with Madeleine and Thierry.”
“Kara’s alive? Does that mean she’s not going to save us?” Adele was sobbing now. She turned to Didier. “Why didn’t Madeleine tell her?”
“How could Kara save you?” Ash frowned.
“Sij said she could. There’s this ritual…”
He didn’t hear the rest of what she said. His ears were ringing with a high-frequency buzz that overwhelmed all other sound.
Sij had told them. Madeleine had known the whole time.
Kara wasn’t going to the wasteland. She was in the demon tower.
“Get to the wasteland,” he said, shoving the pair forward before starting to run toward the tower.
“Please don’t stop her!” Didier called after him. “It’s the only way to end this!”
* * *
Ash sprinted up the winding staircase of Montmeurtre, his wing dragging behind him.
Please don’t, he pleaded silently, unsure if he was pleading with an absent Kara or God.
He burst into the altar room, his chest pumping and adrenaline screaming as if he was preparing for battle. But this wasn’t a fight he could win with his fists or his strength.
He was too late.
Kara was sitting upright on the altar, covered in blood. She turned to him, her lips as white as the skin on her cheeks.
Her dark eyes shone like coals against her pale face. They lit in recognition when she saw him. The bloodstained knife clattered to the floor.
Ash was at her side before she could speak. “Kara, no! What did you do?”
Her hand landed weakly on his arm under his shoulder plate. She’d lost too much blood to grip with any strength.
“I found the right spell runes in the scroll.” Her voice was a ragged whisper.
Ash had never cried before, but tears were obscuring his vision, making it hard to see her. He swept Kara up in his arms, pressing her face against his.
“Don’t leave me,” he pleaded.
“We have to end it,” she said, touching his face with her hands. “But it’s going to be all right. I promise. When I see your face again, it will be in Heaven…forever,” she promised.
Except that would never happen. Not with her demon blood.
“Kara, I love you,” he cried, his hot tears spilling into her sable hair.
There was no answer.
33
He pressed Kara’s head to his chest. Her blood was all over him, still warm but cooling rapidly. All of her was growing cold. Her lips were ice as he pressed a desperate last kiss to them.
“Don’t,” he kept repeating incoherently. His throat was too swollen to say more, but it didn’t matter.
She couldn’t hear him anymore.
A warm hand on his arm forced him to turn. His brother was there, standing in sparkling white robes, his hair and face immaculately clean.
Ash stared at Raphael blankly. The Seraph’s face was more solemn than he’d ever seen.
“I’m so sorry,” the angel said in a low voice.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“The curse is broken. I’ve come to take you home.”
“No!” The vise squeezing Ash’s chest crushed his heart, making it impossible to breathe. He hugged Kara closer. “I won’t leave her.”
Raphael winced. “Azazel…Ash, she’s gone.” He looked down at the woman lying cold and still in Ash’s arms. “I couldn’t see everything from up there—not until the curse was broken. Who is she?”
“Our savio
r.”
The Seraph nodded, keeping his eyes downcast respectfully. “I think I understand. The curse was too strong to break without the catalytic power of martyrdom. I’m so sorry it was someone you cared for.” He inhaled deeply, putting a comforting hand on Ash’s back.
Ash couldn’t feel it through his armor.
“You need to take comfort in the fact this woman—” Raphael began.
“Her name is Kara,” Ash interrupted.
Raphael coughed and nodded again. “You need to take comfort in the fact that Kara’s sacrifice has saved an entire city and countless generations to come. Her soul is most likely already in Heaven. If we leave now, you can see her again before she even has time to settle in.”
The Seraph really didn’t know anything. “Promise me she’s there.”
Raphael’s head drew back. “Why wouldn’t she be?”
“If she’s not there, promise me you will find her soul, wherever it is, and you will take her there.”
Raphael frowned. “What am I missing?”
Ash turned back to Kara. He stroked her dark head, laying her down on the altar. “She took her life to save ours.”
“Yes, that part I understand.” Raphael’s unlined face looked wrong with a scowl.
Ash took a shaky breath. “Her sacrifice wouldn’t have worked without her demon heritage. Amducious was the primogenitor of her family line.”
“Shit.”
Ash had never seen that expression on his old commander’s face. “Promise me.”
Raphael winced. “Azazel, you know I can’t do that.”
The Seraph didn’t see the punch coming. He landed on the floor, holding his nose.
“Bloody hell, Azazel.”
Ash hauled Raphael to his feet. “There is no one on earth who deserves a place at His side more than her.” He punctuated his sentence with another punch, and then another.
“I know…that…but I don’t…make the rules,” Raphael spit out between blows. His hands were up, but he wasn’t defending himself.
Ash didn’t care. The injustice of it all was just too much. “Make it happen!” he yelled, hitting him again.
His brother continued to take the beating. He didn’t even try to defend himself.
Ash was a good fighter, better than any human on earth, but his brother was a Seraph, one of God’s fiercest warriors. He had seen Raphael charge a legion of demons with nothing but a sharp stick. He was more skilled than Ash at hand-to-hand combat. The fact he wasn’t fighting back only made Ash feel worse.
Raphael squinted at him from a rapidly swelling eye. “I can’t go up and ask Him something like this. You know that! There are rules about this sort of thing. Ever since Lucifer was thrown out, nothing demon can enter. I’m not even sure there’s a way to get around the wards they set up to prevent an invasion from Hell. Those sigils were drawn by God himself.”
Panting for breath, Ash pulled back abruptly. “There has to be a way. She’s mostly human.”
Raphael straightened, spitting a mouthful of blood on the floor. “Az…you know that doesn’t matter. Even a drop of demon blood is enough to condemn her to purgatory or worse.”
These rules were fucking impossible. He turned away from Raphael, moving to stand next to Kara. “This isn’t fair.”
“I know, but…it’s not our place to question His decisions.”
Ash took a deep breath. “You’ll have to…because I’m not going back without her.”
“Azazel—”
He held up a hand. “Just go.”
Raphael’s black scowl was mixed with pity. “I’ll try. That’s all I can promise.” He paused, glancing at Kara’s still form. “What’s it like?”
He frowned at the Seraph. “What’s what like?”
“Love.”
Ash wanted to tell him it was the best thing in the world, but at this moment, it was also the worst.
Raphael gave up on getting an answer. “Well, it’s probably different for everyone.” He cleared his throat. “Little brother, even if by some miracle she’s granted a place in Heaven, you might not be. If you did what I think you did—Azazel, you know a relationship like that is forbidden.”
Ash covered Kara’s small hand with his much-larger one. The cold brick in his gut was radiating out. He could barely feel his fingers now. “I don’t care. It was worth it. She was worth everything.”
“I hope that’s true,” Raphael muttered, waving a hand over his own face. Instantly, the bruises and cuts disappeared.
Ash glowered, and the other angel shrugged. “I can’t go back looking like that. Not if I’m going to be arguing your case for you.” He leaned over and embraced Ash.
Ash stood stiffly in his older brother’s arms. Angels didn’t hug anyone, let alone each other.
“Sit tight. I’ll be back.” The Seraph disappeared in a blaze of light.
It was the last bit of illumination the room saw until morning.
Ash had stood next to Kara, an unmoving sentinel, all night. Dawn broke, lighting the room with a soft golden glow.
He could barely look at her, which was why he refused to avert his eyes, even when Raphael came back. Ash could feel the Seraph behind him, waiting patiently for him to turn and face him.
He didn’t. There was no point. He already knew what Raphael was going to say.
“I’m sorry, Ash. The answer is no.”
34
Raphael was pacing as he explained, the way he always did when he felt guilty. Justifying one of their Father’s more brutal orders always made him contrite, but he obeyed without question.
Seraphs were the mouthpieces of God. They wouldn’t hesitate to carry out His will, no matter how painful it was.
“The wards can’t be taken down to make an exception. It would leave the entire Host and billions of human souls at risk.”
Each word sounded as if it were coming from miles away. Ash didn’t pay them any mind. He was drifting, the part of him that cared what happened next lost. It was as if his mind had become unmoored from the rest of him.
“Ash, please listen.” Raphael waved a hand in front of Ash’s face, his lips drawn down in concern.
Ash blinked, his mind snapping to attention. He began to form a series of desperate plans. One involved witchcraft and trickery, and the other a one-man war with Heaven.
“But our Father did recognize the heroism of Kara’s selfless act.”
Ash snapped his gaze up, meeting his brother’s eyes. “What?” he asked hoarsely.
Raphael walked around the altar to stand on Kara’s other side. He put his hand on her forehead, and then nodded as if he’d just confirmed something important.
He held up his hands. “Father is prepared to offer you a deal, or more specifically, a trade, one that will restore life to Kara. She’ll be healed, and will get to live her life out—”
Hope flooded his breast. Ash leaned forward. “I’ll take it. Whatever I have to do, I accept.”
Raphael rolled his eyes. “Let me finish.”
Merde, he was so annoying. “Fine. Finish,” he said from behind gritted teeth.
The Seraph huffed. “Kara will be restored. She will get to live a normal human life. When it’s over, she will be reborn in another time and place.”
Ash held up a hand. “Good enough. Do it now.”
The Seraph pursed his lips. “Again, let me finish. Because you need to think about this carefully.”
If Raphael didn’t get to the point, Ash was going to kill him. “What is it?”
“God is willing to restore Kara from the veil if you give up your life in trade—”
“Stop! Shut up,” he ordered, waving his brother into silence. “I’ll do it.”
Raphael’s face fell. “Are you certain? You have to be sure because it means you’ll abdicate your place in Heaven—”
“Just do it. Save her.”
The Seraph dropped his hands and sighed. He moved like molasses, coming around the altar until he was
standing between Ash and Kara, settling one hand on each of them.
The angel leaned over to whisper in Ash’s ear. “I will miss you, little brother.”
A lump formed in Ash’s throat. He swallowed hard. “I…will miss you, too.” The grudging words were practically torn from him, but Raphael didn’t care. He threw his arms around him in an all-engulfing hug.
Ash rolled his eyes to the ceiling, working one hand free to awkwardly pat him on the shoulder. After a minute, he prodded the angel. “Raph, get on with it.”
Huffing, Raphael straightened, moving to stand between him and Kara. He fished out his jar of oil, opening it and dropping a few drops on the tip of his fingers.
“This may feel a little tingly,” he said, drawing a sigil on Ash’s forehead.
The oil burned like dry ice. His skin throbbed wherever Raphael touched him, but it was nothing compared to the anguish he felt when his brother repeated the process on Kara’s cold skin.
“Give me your hand.” Raphael reached out, closing his eyes. He put the other hand on her.
Heat began to fill Ash, pouring out of the Seraph’s hand. It blazed through him, filling him with liquid fire.
It was like walking out in the sun. Ash squeezed his eyes shut as his vision whitened out. Gasping, he took one last long breath. He hadn’t expected his long years of exile to end this way. It was okay, though. After all this time, the end was welcome. He could embrace it content in the knowledge that Kara would live.
Dying was painful, of course, but not as bad as he thought it would be. The flare of white light dulled to orange and yellow behind his lids.
Little by little, his strength ebbed away like a golden thread being pulled out of a tapestry. The feathers on the tips of his wings began to scorch and crumple until his wings completely burned away.
Ash’s breathing shortened. Burning heat shot through him. He nearly dropped from crushing fatigue, a new and disturbing sensation.
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