One did not disobey orders from angels. I turned to the pentagram, taking a steadying breath. “I summon Lythocrax, also known as Altheare and Remiel.”
Light filled the pentagram instantly, as though the demonglass within reacted to the divine presence of the angel. In a flash, Lythocrax appeared, struggling, spitting curses. “Let me go immediately, Devina Lawson.”
“Someone here wants to speak to you,” I said.
Lythocrax writhed and fought the trap, looking up at the sky. His mouth dropped open, and the presence of the divine finally rendered him speechless.
“Remiel,” said the Divinity. “Did you entice others to fall, too?”
Lythocrax twisted to face me, his face an ugly mask. “You will never make me submit, no matter how many alliances you make.”
“It’s not an alliance,” I said. “Everyone hates you, Altheare.”
I let shadowy magic spill from my hand into the trap. He hissed and ducked away, hands reaching for me, unable to touch me.
“Like that, Altheare?” I said. “You’re trapped.”
“You have made me suffer enough, Devina.” He tilted his head to look up at the Divinity. “She has committed worse crimes than I ever will. She’s worked with demons, cavorted with their kin—”
“Been to a warlock party on Babylon, blown up Pandemonium’s tunnels, and cooperated with hell’s best to make that trap you’re stuck in.” I rolled my eyes. “Personally, I think committing genocide and abandoning the fallen are worse than anything I’ve ever done, but what do I know?”
The Divinity descended in a beat of wings. Ah. Maybe I’d gone too far.
“You are responsible for the downfall of heaven,” he said to Lythocrax.
“You brought that on yourself,” said the arch-demon. “You ought to be thanking me. It was the other traitors I killed before I fell. Yes… I killed the Divine Agents. I am the last.”
Downfall of heaven? Words I’d heard from Abyss as she died came back to me… the heavens are splitting. He caused it.
She must have known him as a Divinity, too. Maybe that’s why he’d picked her as a target. They’d all known him. He’d betrayed heaven and hell alike.
“Finish him,” I said to the Divinity. “Before he keeps you here all day.”
I half expected him to tell me not to order him around, but he merely turned directly to Lythocrax. “Remiel, you are a traitor, and you will never be reborn again. I take the divine fire from you, forever.”
Light erupted from the pentagram, painfully bright. Lythocrax screamed, struggling, wings beating, but he couldn’t escape. Between one blink and the next, he was gone, leaving nothing but ashes.
The light faded. I released a slow breath. It’s done. He’s gone.
The Divinity looked at me as though expecting me to speak. “Uh. Thanks,” I said. “He was… he killed…” So many. I’d wanted to take him apart with my bare hands, but I was so, unbelievably tired of being heaven’s soldier. Let them clean up their own mess for a change. “Is heaven really breaking apart?”
“You are no divine one, mortal,” said the Divinity, his voice soft and menacing. “I should strike you down, too.”
“I hardly chose this. And I’m still a celestial.” I raised my glowing palm.
“And a demon,” he said. “A true demon.”
“No,” I said. “I never fell, because I never ascended high enough. I don’t have a demon’s weakness. And I don’t want anything other than you people to leave Earth alone. You let the Divine Agents worm their way into the celestial guild when you should have seen them for what they were. You’re not saying you were completely oblivious?”
“The challenge was yours, Devi. He marked you, and—”
“Is that what that ‘champion of heaven’ nonsense was about? I’m not your toy, Divinity. He marked me. That means I could have picked his side over yours.”
“But you did not. You didn’t pick a side at all.”
“And I won’t.” I met his stare, even as my vision wavered. Scary bastard. Scary, selfish, unconcerned piece of crap. “I deserve compensation. You owe me. Leave Earth alone.”
“Earth is no concern of ours,” he said. “However…”
The pentagram glowed brighter, and a fallen appeared within it, caught between the pentagram’s points.
“Uh… you were supposed to wait for my signal,” I said.
The fallen looked up at the Divinity, and froze on the spot. So did I. Crap. Maybe he’d strike both of us down after all.
“What is that?” demanded the Divinity.
My tongue unstuck itself from the roof of my mouth. “Yours,” I said. “Fallen, bring the others through. It’s time.”
“Mine?” repeated the Divinity, as the fallen vanished into the pentagram. “That monstrosity is not mine.”
“They are,” I told him, as several more fallen appeared. “They were abandoned on Babylon by heaven’s soldiers. Casthus, the shadow arch-demon, plans to sacrifice them to create a bridge between the seven hells. I’m sure you don’t want that to happen. They’re immortal, like you. Half Divinity… half celestial?”
The nearest fallen nodded jerkily. “Yes, we were… we are.”
“They cannot enter heaven,” said the Divinity. The fallen continued to climb out of the pentagram, staring up at him.
“They are your responsibility,” said a voice. Clover approached from behind us, casual as anything.
“Who are you?” asked the Divinity.
“You once knew me as Raviel,” she said. “I was stripped of my divine memories when I was left behind on Babylon after the battle. As for who I am now… I am Earth’s guardian angel.”
I gaped at her. “That’s a thing? How?”
“I’m not attached to heaven.” She tilted her head towards me. “So I choose Earth. Granted, there’s a lot to clean up on Purgatory, too, but I think the least I can do is take the fallen to the place where they belong.”
“What… heaven?” She seemed to shine brighter than before, her aura shimmering almost as purely white as the Divinity’s.
“Yes,” she said. “I used Lythocrax’s magic to be reborn, and I suppose the least I can do is use this new life to help protect Earth. Come with me.” She beckoned to the fallen, and they moved towards her, slowly. The Divinity looked on with cold eyes, but didn’t stop them.
I grinned at Clover. “Good luck up there.”
Light bloomed, surrounding Clover and the fallen. As it brightened, the demon marks on their skin appeared to fade, and then they were gone.
Silence remained behind. The pentagram lay there, its light fading. The fallen would never be Casthus’s tools again. He’d be pissed off at me… or maybe he wouldn’t care. I would never understand demons as long as I lived. Or angels, come to that.
I looked up at the Divinity. “I’m done here. Thanks for killing Lythocrax.”
It was probably bad manners to run off on an angel, but I needed to close that portal before Earth became a demon realm after all.
Grabbing the handmade pentagram, I stepped back through the one I’d left open. Babylon’s darkness replaced the light, its luminous moon blotted out by the two shadow demons standing nose to nose right in front of me.
Seven hells.
Casthus and Zadok both turned to me at the same time.
“What did you do?” Casthus demanded.
“I might ask you the same question,” I said, staring between the two shadow demons. “What are you doing here? I thought you’d be conquering Pandemonium as we speak.”
“That traitor and I have unfinished business,” growled the shadow arch-demon. “I demand that you bring him back.”
“Little difficult. The angels took him to pieces.” I nodded to Zadok. “Don’t let me interrupt your family argument.”
“Am I to understand that you thought I was working with those rebel scumbags?” Zadok demanded of Casthus.
“You lived in their tower.”
“Be
cause your army forced me out of the castle you saw fit to hand over to my brother,” Zadok said. “Yet again, you blame me for his mistakes.”
I spotted Nikolas standing a few feet away, and mouthed, what the hell is going on?
“I made an error of judgement,” said Casthus. “I take it the rebels are taken care of, Devina, along with their leader?”
“Yeah…” I frowned. “Are you saying you thought Zadok worked with them?” In fairness, I’d suspected as much myself, once.
“You suspect everyone of wrongdoing, father,” Zadok said. “Pandemonium isn’t yours to take. You have your own world. An empire, in fact.”
Not the fallen. Now probably wasn’t the greatest time to tell him they were gone.
“Yes, I do,” said Casthus. “I stayed here because I believed the Divine Agents would soon make a move, and I was right.”
“Yes, and now they’re all gone,” I interjected. “You’ve no reason to stay here now. This realm belongs to Nikolas. And Pandemonium—did you just leave that portal open?”
“The traitor’s armies are depleted,” he said dismissively.
“The portal is burning out,” said Nikolas. “But it does need to be closed.”
I took a step back. “Can you refrain from killing one another while I go and deal with the mess the demons made on Earth?”
“I have nothing more to say to any of you,” Casthus said. “This realm is a dead end, of little use to me. I’ll see if I wish to expand my empire in the meantime.”
And in a rush of shadows, he was gone.
“He could have left at any time he wanted to.” I rolled my eyes after him. “Bloody Divinities.”
Zadok flashed me a smirk. “He left me Pandemonium.”
“Good luck with the refurbishing,” I said. “Last I saw, your palace was in pieces. And you’re to leave Nikolas and Babylon alone, clear?”
Nikolas himself took my arm. “We should deal with that portal.”
“Yeah, we should. Come on, Zadok.”
Shadows rose to surround us, and the next second, the three of us appeared in the ruins of the old celestial guild. No sounds of battle came from close by, but anything might be happening over by the portal. At least Lythocrax’s armies were without a leader—and now Casthus had gone, too.
Nikolas took flight in a beat of wings. I called on my shadowy demon magic and did likewise, catching an approving look from Zadok. “You really do make a fine demon.”
“Zadok,” Nikolas said warningly.
“He’s right. I made a terrible celestial, though.” I flew higher, above the labyrinthine streets of the city I called home—the city I’d nearly died to defend. “Anyway, I thought you were going to tear one another to pieces just then.”
“Believe it or not, some of us are capable of practising restraint,” Nikolas said.
“Could have fooled me,” I said. “Casthus won’t come back and declare war when he finds out Clover took the fallen, would he?”
“She did?” asked Nikolas.
“I helped.”
Zadok laughed. “He might not declare war, but I doubt he’ll give you a royal welcome if you visit his empire.”
He picked up speed, flying towards the portal, with Nikolas and I close behind him. Zadok flew through first, and I followed. The swirling light was undoubtedly smaller than before, less intense, and the armies had pulled back, away from the shattered remains of the palace. Nikolas hovered at my side, facing the whirling light above the portal. “Can you close it?”
“You bet.” I held out both hands. My demon mark hummed, and so did my celestial mark, as the power died down, sucked into its depths.
The last of the portal’s light disappeared. “It’s over.” I sagged against Nikolas, my wings nearly giving out in mid-air, but he held me upright, close to him. Relief crashed over me, making my eyes sting with tears. “Divinities. It’s over.”
“Yes, it is,” he said. And hugged me.
24
“Here’s your enhanced bloodstone, signed and delivered,” I said to the vampire. “Please try not to use it all at once.”
The vampire grinned and took the package from me, stepping off the doorstep of the warlocks’ headquarters with a nod of gratitude.
Everyone had said it wasn’t possible to help vampires walk in the daylight without side effects, but those people would underestimate an ex-celestial freelancer, a chameleon warlock, and demigod with entirely too much time on their hands. The other warlocks weren’t best pleased with me selling to vampires through their new headquarters, but none dared argue with Nikolas’s new rules.
I’d never thought I’d see Rachel and Zadok bond over explosives, but ever since she’d helped with the pentagram, Rachel had been making trips over to Pandemonium whenever possible. She’d claimed she wanted to take her mind off Javos and get to know the realm of her birth, but neither of those things explained why she kept taking Fiona with her, too. Still, the temporary bloodstones for day-walking vampires were just one of the many things we’d invented in the weeks since the battle.
“I have three more on standby,” Zadok said from behind me.
“Not needed yet, but thanks,” I said, closing the door and walking into the main lab. I’d had to move it here from Nikolas’s house, because one more explosion would have wrecked the foundations.
Nikolas waited inside the lab, next to the table where I kept all my samples. “Didn’t throw in any tricks that shouldn’t be there, did you, Zadok?”
“I’d know if he had.” I moved a few things around, clearing a space on the table. “Might need to replenish my stores of venom, but a trip to Pandemonium will take care of that.”
“I can’t believe you’re voluntarily spending time with my brother to avoid the warlocks’ council meeting tonight,” said Nikolas. “The Wingless Warlock wants to meet you.”
“I’m not on the guest list,” I pointed out.
“That’s never stopped you before.”
“As long as he’s wearing clothes this time.” I’d seen entirely too much of that warlock all over DivinityWatch. At least it was better than seeing constant warnings about the oncoming apocalypse. “Does Fiona have an invite?”
“Yes, if she’s done with her magic lessons.”
“She will be,” I said, pleased Fiona had taken to her new calling so well. The humans with demon magic hadn’t developed any of Lythocrax’s characteristics—and wouldn’t, now he was dead—so the ones who wanted to train in magic had expressed an interest in a human tutor. Fiona was the obvious choice. Their presence had forced the guild to accept demon magic as on an even footing with their own, which was bound to sting a little, but I didn’t much care for the celestial council’s hurt feelings.
Rachel bounded in. “There’s someone from the guild here to see you, Devi.”
Speak of the devil… or close enough. “I’ll be back in a second.”
I walked back into the hallway to find the door open again. Several celestial novices had gathered on the doorstep, including Bad Haircut Sammy.
Behind them stood Clover, in human form, her wings tucked away. Her aura, though, betrayed her true nature—halo-white.
“Hi,” I said. “What’s the occasion?”
I’d been back to the guild a couple of times since the battle, but not often. I’d spent an awful lot of time avoiding funerals as a member, so they hadn’t expected me to show up for the wake following the battle. The one huge regret I had was Lydia. She hadn’t deserved what the fallen angel had done to her, and her body had never been recovered. Like everyone else, she’d just been trying to survive. As for the other fallen angels, Clover had seen to it that the survivors had been taken directly to heaven for punishment. They deserved nothing less.
“The new headquarters is finished,” said Sandra, one of the novices. “We wanted to invite you…”
“To be an honorary guild member,” finished one of the others.
I expected something like that. The guild�
�s backup forces had arrived in town shortly after the battle, helping to replenish the celestials’ depleted resources. I suspected Clover had had a hand in it, considering how few arguments they’d had and how quickly they’d constructed their new headquarters.
“Did you ask Faye?” I asked.
Guilty silence followed. Faye hadn’t stuck around for long. She didn’t feel comfortable living close to the guild, and too many people still thought her a criminal. With DivinityWatch’s exploding popularity, she’d decided to go elsewhere to run her business in peace. I’d wished her well with it.
“She’s more innocent than I am,” I added. “My answer is no.”
“No shit,” said Sammy, who’d apparently tagged along for the sole purpose of being a dick. “She’s no celestial.”
“You’re free to have that debate in your own time,” I said, eyeing Clover. “Why did you come?”
“Just to make a friendly social call.”
Angels. “Nice to see you all. Except you, Sammy. Goodbye.”
I closed the door, shaking my head. “Really.”
“I knew they’d want you back,” said Rachel.
“So predictable,” I said. “Casthus will be next, if he ever forgives me for stealing the fallen.”
“I told him not to bother you,” said Clover’s voice from the other side of the door.
Yanking the door open, I frowned at her. “You have even more fun screwing with people as an angel, don’t you?”
“Actually, I wished to speak with you alone. And your friend.”
Fiona popped up at her side. “Hey, Devi.”
“Where’d you come from?” I said.
“She kind of grabbed me when I was on the way here,” Fiona admitted. “Anyway, she really does want to talk to us.”
“All right. Be back in a minute.” I closed the door before Zadok came out of the lab. He’d definitely try to eavesdrop if he could get away with it. He wasn’t allowed to be on Earth unless one of us watched him, and took entirely too much pleasure in irritating the crap out of Nikolas.
“What is it?” I asked Clover, once we were far enough from the door not to be overheard.
“Nothing bad,” Clover said. “The Divinities have asked me to watch the humans developing demon magic.”
Celestial Storm Page 23