From the rotting corpse pile, I summoned the image of a golden flower—then another, and another. A field of golden flowers grew—then buildings, houses, a thriving city.
Life grows from death.
Now, a reverent hush had actually fallen over the crowd.
I cleared my throat. “I’ve been showing you images of what might happen in the next few days if we don’t band together. I think you get the point now, right? We’ll all die, probably in painful ways. But if we fight back—using whatever means necessary—we can survive this. And we can rebuild again. You may have to change and adapt—you might have to become something you’re not. But we’ll only win if we use every tool in our arsenal. Including adaptation. I’ll let your leaders explain the rest to you, because—frankly, you don’t even know who I am.”
I nodded, stepping down from the tree stump, and gripped Lila by the shoulders. “Convince them. Convince them to become demons.”
Okay, the speech had ended on kind of a lame note, but I think I had gotten the point across. For now, I was leaving out the part about how Kratos—the Hunter—would be leading them. The fact was, the Horseman of Conquest was a natural combat leader. He could survey the fighting from above, issue commands in their minds, coordinate it all with precision.
Just a bit inconvenient that he’d spent over a year trying to slaughter all of them with his dogs.
I moved deeper into the forest, searching for Adonis. It took me a moment to find him standing in the shadows of a towering oak, separated from the rest of the group. He was staring at something, but I couldn’t quite see what.
Shivering, I crossed to him and stood by his side. He seemed to be staring into the dark forest.
“Umm … is there something I’m missing here?” I asked.
“Don’t you see it?” He reached out, stroking his fingertip against the air. As he did, a faint silvery ripple spread outward from his fingertips.
“What the hell is that?” I asked.
“A shield. I just have no idea who created it.”
Well, this was interesting.
From the other side, an arrow slammed against the shield, and a crack began to form, splintering the air before us.
I stared down at the arrow on the other side of the shield. When I crouched down to inspect further, I could see that the shaft was carved with tiny Angelic markings.
Somewhere out there in the forest, the Heavenly Host wanted to shoot their way through this shield.
I turned, rushing back to Lila. She was milling around with people in the crowd, and I grabbed her by the arm. “What did they say?” I asked.
Her eyes were wide. “I think your disturbing displays of death might have actually worked. You scared the shit out of them.”
We crossed the hall toward the Celestial Room, and I could feel the tension rippling off Adonis.
As soon as we’d stepped inside the castle, Hazel had been there to excitedly give us the answer to our shield mystery. Apparently, Kratos had returned with our new potential allies. Rosalind and Caine had arrived while we’d been off fighting undead monsters. Rosalind had thrown up a shield to protect us from the Heavenly Host, and now Caine was waiting to meet with us for some sort of discussion.
In the stone hallway, Adonis had gone completely silent.
“You don’t seem particularly thrilled about seeing Caine,” I said.
“He hates angels. He used to seduce them just to make them fall. Muriel was among them.”
I frowned. “Has it occurred to you that maybe Muriel would be better as a demon? Because she kind of sucks as an angel.”
“Really?” His eyebrows shot up. “She’s not that bad.”
“She’s awful. But anyway, we need Caine to help us, so maybe you should let go of whatever happened five hundred years ago. Time to move on.”
“I’ve moved on. I’m just not a hundred percent sure we can trust these people. You don’t know what he’s like.”
I frowned. “Marcus trusted him. He must have changed after a few centuries. It’s a long time to most people, you know.”
The doors to the Celestial Room swung open. From the glass dome, moonlight streamed into the center of the room, piercing the incubus’s dark aura that wafted around him like smoke.
Caine sat with his feet on the table, a glass of whiskey in his hand. Dark curls framed his chiseled features. He had similar coloring to Adonis—but his eyes were an eerie silver and his body was narrower, lips a little fuller. Shadowy magic bloomed around him, darkening the air. In his presence, the air felt a little cooler, and I shivered, hugging myself. For a moment, the ghost of dark wings appeared behind him. His magic smelled like a lightning storm.
Instantly—at the sight of Adonis—he narrowed his strange, pale eyes, and rose from his chair. They walked toward each other.
The two men squared off toward each other, in some kind of gorgeous alpha male stare-off.
“Incubus,” said Adonis. “I believe we’ve met before.”
“Horseman,” said Caine, managing to lace the word with a considerable amount of disgust. “What do I know you from? Oh, that’s right. You tried to kill me. Didn’t work. I guess killing a demigod was a little harder than you thought, wasn’t it?”
Well. This was going well.
Adonis slid his hands into his pockets, looking perfectly at ease, even though I could feel the tension rippling off his body. “Right. How could I forget? Little Caine, born in a whorehouse, descended from the god of the void. What a charming combination.”
“You could write my biography. Is it just me, or are you fascinated by me?” Caine lifted his glass. “I’m drinking your whiskey. Am I right in thinking your kind isn’t supposed to indulge? You wouldn’t want to risk turning into a scary demon like me, would you? You might find yourself the star of stories meant to scare children, or perhaps enjoying yourself. How horrifying.”
Adonis sauntered forward another step, his gait easy. “Remind me. How long has it been since you served as the Queen of Maremount’s whore?”
“Just a few centuries. It was right before I tossed her body out the tower window.” He sipped his whiskey. “Ah, now I remember why I love angels so much. Being judged by you is so much fun. Let’s not indulge or enjoy life. The angels might frown at us.” Caine stepped closer, his silver eyes trained on Adonis. “You’d never truly give in to pleasure or passion, now, would you? Always holding back. Does your girlfriend mind your restraint?”
Adonis’s smile faltered a little. “Angels have a sense of responsibility that a waste of life like you would never understand.”
Caine quirked a smile. “Is that the same sense of responsibility you feel when killing scores of people with plagues?”
I clapped my hands together. “Okay, so, we’re all a little cranky today. A few naps and some cookies would be in order. But we’re all supposed to be on the same side, aren’t we?”
Shadows whirled around Caine. “You’re not cursed anymore, horseman, are you? I can’t see the curse on you.”
“I pulled the curses off Adonis and Kratos,” I said. “They’re both free now.”
Caine cocked his head. “You’ve found a way to fuck with impunity. Maybe I like your priorities.”
“You haven’t changed much, have you?” said Adonis. “Your mother must be so proud.”
Caine shrugged. “She was a literal whore, so who knows. And yes, I have changed. I command the Lilinor army now, and I’m married to a woman whose powers exceed my own. Which is why we’re here.”
I crossed my arms. “So, if you don’t want to work with angels, why are you here?”
“My wife, Rosalind, is fond of humans. I have no idea why. She wanted to find out what you have to say in case she can help protect them.” Caine looked at me for the first time, and his pale eyes bored into me. “An angel who loves a fae. Now that is interesting. Life and death, pleasure and restraint. Maybe death-horse here is more interesting than I’d given him credit for.”
I took a
deep breath. “Okay. Well, that’s all the pleasantries out of the way; now let’s get down to the real issue. Rosalind’s shield is protecting us, but the angels’ arrows are already cracking its surface.”
“I don’t see how that’s possible.” A female voice turned my head. I looked around to see a beautiful brunette woman. The faintest hints of colored magic whirled off her athletic body in fine tendrils—just wisps and glimmers. Somehow, she exuded power and vulnerability at the same time. “The shield shouldn’t be able to crack. Caine and I built it together. We’ve been protecting Lilinor with a shield for years, and we’re pretty good at it by now.” She crossed to her husband, putting her arm around his waist.
“But you’ve never encountered an enemy like Metatron,” said Adonis. “His angelic magic can destroy anything. He creates chaos, breaks things down. He will make you feel insane and destroy the fabric of the world around him.”
“And we’ve got about two days until he wrecks the entire world.” I shivered in my freezing gown. “Metatron is going to try to kill us all, and then slaughter everyone else on earth. In a couple of days, he’ll be going on a killing spree all over the earth. Starting with London. We need your help to stop that from happening.”
Caine sipped his whiskey. “Why not just escape to one of the magical realms? We were safe in Lilinor.”
Adonis shook his head. “We’d never get every living creature on earth into a magical realm. And in any case, Metatron will probably come after those, too. He can move in and out of realms at will, and he’s hell-bent on destroying demons. Lilinor is not safe, even with your shield up.”
I could see Caine visibly stiffen. He wanted to protect his home. Good. He’d fight harder that way.
I crossed my arms. “Look, outside this castle, we have an entire army of humans who are reluctantly willing to transform into demons because they’re terrified of dying. They’re willing to fight with us.”
Rosalind stared at me. “And you think they can defeat the Heavenly Host?”
“Not quite,” I said. “But I think we can stop their death march for now.”
“They’re immortal.” Adonis met my gaze. “Only Ruby can defeat the Heavenly Host. She just needs a little more time to work on it.”
At least, I hoped to the seven hells that time was all I needed.
Chapter 26
Kratos stood above me, his copper wings swooping behind him.
I sat in the grass, looking up at him. When speaking to Conquest, staring up from the ground only seemed like the natural order of things.
His body glowed with ethereal copper. “Have you convinced the members of the resistance to let themselves become transformed into immortal beings?”
“I showed them some images of their deaths.”
“I saw. You do realize Aereus’s sword can’t really shoot flames?”
“What is it with you horsemen and realism? I took some liberties. It gets the point across. Anyway, it worked to set the stage. Lila, one of their leaders, did the rest of the convincing.”
He cocked his head. “You know, I never before would have imagined that mortal beasts would take such convincing. Who wouldn’t want to become a superior creature?”
“Right. Particularly when you all have such charming personalities,” I said. “But, yes, they’re on board now. Rosalind is already transforming them, one by one.” I glanced at the fracturing shield once more. “It’s, unfortunately, kind of a long process, and that thing won’t last long.”
“And they know that I’m to be their leader, right?”
I shook my head. “Not yet. I’m thinking that the news that the Hunter is their new leader will be a last-minute revelation. When they’re too committed to back out.”
“Devious. I like it.” He frowned. “It hasn’t escaped my attention that you tend to leave out crucial bits of information quite a lot. You tend to just tell one part of the story.”
“The stories we tell shape reality. We have to be careful with them. So let’s make sure this ends up being a story about victory, shall we?” I glanced at my legs. A silver chain attached cuffs on my ankle to a silver loop in the ground. In case I tried to rip the chains right out of the earth, I’d asked him to add a few spikes inside the loose cuff. The pain could rip me out of any kind of feral trance—one that might lead to my death.
Of course, I’d left out the “I might die” part of the story.
“You’re sure these things will hold?” I asked.
“I’ve protected them with angelic magic. Only an angel would be able to get you out of them.”
“You’d better fly away from me, now. And make sure Adonis is nowhere near me. If I explode with light, the Old Gods might kill you.”
“Good luck.” Kratos beat his wings, then took off into the sky. I watched him fly away, his copper glow growing smaller as he swooped over the castle’s turrets.
I took a deep breath, staring up at the fracturing shield. I didn’t want to practice this magic, but I had to. Once Metatron broke through, he and Aereus would come for us. First, they’d capture me. They’d torture me until I broke mentally, then they’d try to force me to kill Adonis and Kratos with my powers. Would I do it, if pushed hard enough? I really didn’t want to find out, but I suspected everyone had a breaking point.
Then, they’d kill me and Hazel. In other words, a quick death was better than this outcome. When I thought of what could go wrong, panic rose in my chest.
My heart raced out of control. I tried to shut out my frantic thoughts, to center myself by tuning into the world around me. If I couldn’t calm myself, I wouldn’t be of any use to anyone. Right now, I had a task to achieve, and I needed to be able to focus on something other than my own probable death.
Focus on the moment. I lay in the grass, staring up at the night sky. Buttercups dotted the grasses nearby.
The stars looked a little different tonight, with the faint silver sheen of the shield. It also seemed like my vision was becoming increasingly keen ever since I’d gotten the gemstones. Another deep, centering breath. Now, I could see it all—particularly vivid was the bright swath of the Milky Way.
I exhaled, trying to force out my feelings of panic.
At least, until another angel soared above the shield, shooting an arrow at the dome of magic, just above my head. Particles of the shield fragmented, raining down on me.
Caine and Rosalind might be gods or demigods or whatever, but their shitty shield needed a little help from the Old Gods. And now, it was time to try to summon it.
I closed my eyes, channeling the magic of the Old Gods. Faintly, the gemstones in my forehead began heating. The song of the Old Gods whispered in the back of my mind.
Then, it fizzled out again. I blew a strand of hair out of my eyes. Seemed like I was bouncing between not being able to summon the magic at all and letting it overwhelm me until it was going to rip my mind and body apart.
Maybe I’d gone a little too far with calming myself down. The other times I’d summoned the Old Gods’ power, I’d been blazing with adrenaline, scared for either myself or Adonis.
Just like with the resistance, fear could be a powerful motivator.
I sat up in the grass. Instead of channeling the Old Gods’ light, I summoned an illusion—something that would make me wild with fury and fear. Adonis, on his knees, as Aereus slammed his sword through his head—just like I’d seen in Paris.
Already, my canines were growing longer, my feral side taking over.
At the sight of blood and gore before me, a mixture of rage and panic began to roil in my veins, and the gemstones grew hotter. My blood roared in my ears, and wild power ripped through me.
Images of a garden paradise bloomed in my mind like wildflowers, and I ran along the river’s edge, hunting an angel….
I snarled, light beaming from my body. The symphony of the Old Gods built and crested in my mind. And as it did, cracks formed in my body, and I could feel that the light was going to destroy me from
the inside out.
Creatures like me were never meant to toy with divine magic like this. The Old Gods wanted to punish me for stealing their magic.
As I felt the magic tearing me apart, it brought out the beast in me, desperate to live. I wanted to tear through flesh, I wanted—
A sharp pain in my ankle snapped me out of it. Jolted out of my trance, I stared down at the blood pouring from my ankle, staining the yellow buttercup petals.
So. That had gone well.
Frustration tightened my chest. Well, this is fucking pointless. I was a Bringer of Light, unable to use my powers without sacrificing my life.
The delicious smell of myrrh began to soothe me, and without turning my head, I knew Adonis was there.
“Still working on it, are you?” The moonlight sparked in his gray eyes.
“I told you to stay away from me while I was practicing. I’m not quite there yet. But I think I’m making progress.” I heaved a heavy breath. “I’m lying. I’m making no progress whatsoever. Do you really think we can defeat Metatron? The resistance isn’t even trained soldiers. They’re just ordinary people who’ve been starving in hovels for years, eating rats.”
Adonis stared up at the sky. “The truth is, I don’t know what will happen, Ruby. But if you’d asked me months ago if I thought it would ever be possible to remove my curse and fall in love with a fae, I would’ve said no.”
“The Old Gods are powerful,” I said, “but I wasn’t born to wield that power. Maybe humans and fae like me were never meant to have the tools of the divine beings. Maybe our minds can’t handle it.”
“I thought you didn’t believe in destinies like that? Anyway, maybe there’s power in opposite forces joining together. Look at us. You and I are the beginning and the end, we are life and death. We are strangely perfect together.” He leaned down, ripping the silver chains from the earth. Then, he swept me into his arms, and I breathed in his delicious scent. His warmth and powerful magic enveloped me.
I slid down his body, then lay back on the grass. I held out my hand to Adonis. He lay next to me, his body warming mine. I curled into him, resting my head on his shoulder, and put my hand over his heart to feel its beat. Then, I turned my head to stare up at the stars blazing above us. I focused on the Milky Way, picturing it as it would appear from outer space, elegant swoops curving around a gaping black hole at the center.
Rogue Fae (A Spy Among the Fallen Book 3) Page 15