Blood Dawn (Queen of Abaddon Book 3)

by Rae Foxx

  We fell asleep that way, with his forehead pressed against my back, at the invisible base of my wings.

  6

  I hadn't slept nearly long enough when Gabe woke us up. A pitiful, and probably annoying, whine erupted from my chest when I realized he meant for me to get up. "Did Mary find her friend?" I asked. That was about the only thing that would get me out of bed after growing so exhausted before sleeping.

  "No, but Joel's here." Gabe pulled the blankets off of us.

  Lucifer groaned and rolled over. The absence of his body heat made me shiver. "Go away," he grumbled.

  "Joel says it's an emergency." Gabriel's voice grew firm. "Get up. Now." My eyes flew open. "Is it about Ariel?"

  Gabe shrugged. "I don't know, but he almost came in here to get you, despite both Michael and I trying to stop him."

  I rolled off the bed and shuffled toward the bathroom. Even ethereal bodies had to pee.

  As soon as I came out, shaking water off my hands instead of drying them. Luc went in after me and he caught up with us downstairs.

  "What is it?" I asked Joel.

  He sat at the kitchen table with a mug of coffee. Michael handed both Luc and me one. "What time is it?"

  "Early morning. You slept the rest of yesterday and all night," Gabe explained. "I know it's not enough after changing, but..." He motioned toward Joel.

  "Raphael has been spotted on Earth," Joel explained. "And he has a little girl with him."

  I jumped up. "Where? When?" Lucifer, Michael, and Gabriel put a hand on me, prepared to disappear.

  "Sit down. He's moving around. We lost him in Chicago, and we're waiting for a new sighting." He waved his hand. "It's bad."

  I sank back into the kitchen chair and loosened my grip on my coffee, focusing on sipping it to try to calm my racing heart. "What's bad?"

  "The little girl, Lilith. When she touches a demon, they move into the Earthly plane. They become visible to humans."

  The blood drained from my face. "The news," I whispered.

  We jumped up and ran for the living room, where there were no signs Luc and I had made strong, almost violent love on the couch. I was pretty sure we'd knocked the coffee table over at one point and jarred the couch out of place, but Michael and Gabe had to have fixed it.

  Gabe switched on the TV, and we crowded onto the couch to watch.

  Every channel was full of breaking news.

  Elysium and Hell are real.

  Demons walk the earth.

  Where is God? Where are the angels? Have they forsaken us?

  Joel sighed at that one. "Lovely. This proves Raphael's intent. He wanted the humans to know it was real."

  "What are you guys getting handed down?" Luc asked. "How are you supposed to handle this?"

  "We're to take out Raph at all costs," he said. He gave me a sad look. "And the child."

  Fury boiled inside me and ignited my magic. As I was about to lash out at Joel, Asmodeus appeared beside him. "Lilith! We found Raphael!"

  I reined it in and looked at my brother. "Where? "He's got Ariel, there's no way it's anyone but your kid, she looks just like you. They're in Des Moines."

  I disappeared immediately. I didn't care if anyone went with me, there was no time to waste.

  When I appeared in a street in downtown Des Moines, Lucifer was beside me, with his arm around my shoulders. Joel and Asmodeus appeared a few seconds later.

  Demons ran around us, wreaking havoc wherever they went. Cars were on fire, windows busted out of businesses. Humans ran screaming between cars that had crashed into each other. It looked just like all the other news reports of chaos and terror.

  We walked around, running to and fro, trying to find the source of the demons, to no avail. He wasn't here. I sent demons back to Abaddon one after another, but there were so many it wasn't easy. I knew they'd just come back, but at least they'd be back on their plane, invisible to humans when they returned.

  "Joel!" An angel I didn't recognize appeared beside us. "He's sticking to downtown areas. Los Angeles."

  I grabbed Luc's hand and disappeared. It wasn't precise, appearing in cities I wasn't familiar with, but I did the best I could. The scene was exactly the same. Fires, screaming. Police ran around trying to help, but they were as overwhelmed as the citizens. Gunfire sounded from several different directions.

  This time, instead of running around, I used my magic to reach out and probe as far as I could. Human life forces and demons were dismissed easily. I searched for Raphael. Something stronger than the demons, much stronger.

  I found him several blocks away. Without a word, I launched into the air, I was invisible to humans, and went around the tall buildings as fast as I could. As I neared the spot I'd felt Raphael, I blasted my magic ahead of me, searching for any sight of him or Ariel.

  Spotting Raphael’s frame, I focused the magic on him, but he turned and spotted me. He disappeared in an instant, and my magic exploded the pavement where he'd stood moments before.

  I landed with a curse as the rest of my party caught up.

  "Did you see her?" Luc asked.

  "No." I cursed and began blasting demons with my magic, destroying them in my anger. It wasn't an effective use of my magic. They'd just end up back in Abaddon and it took more energy to do it this way. But it felt good to work off some of my fury.

  We walked around Los Angeles for a few minutes, and when I calmed down, I resumed sending the demons back. I spread my magic out and was able to send back entire blocks at a time, leaving the humans here reeling from the shock.

  A Fallen appeared in front of Abaddon. When he realized Luc and I were there, he bowed deeply. "Mistress. Master." I couldn't help but be pleased he'd addressed me first. "We found him. He's in downtown Houston."

  I grabbed Lucifer. I'd lived in Houston before. It was many years ago, but at least I did have some knowledge of the city. If he wanted to go for the max shock value, he'd be on the outskirts of Buffalo Bayou Park or one of the other city parks. I started with that one because I knew it.

  And this time, luck was on my side.

  The scene was the same. Total insanity. And a man stood in the middle of it all. He turned, and a little girl stood beside him with her arm outstretched. I watched a demon cross into the Earthly plane as she touched it. It immediately ricocheted toward a human, slamming into the innocent woman and disappearing. It possessed her without any trouble.

  Oh, Elysium’s. Her aura was golden, like Lucifer. Like me. I wondered if she had wings, and if she did, were they black like his or purple like mine? Tears flooded my eyes as I saw my sweet girl’s pure gold aura. She’d not lived long enough for any other colors to dilute it. A child’s aura was the most beautiful thing in the world, pure and clean. And Ariel’s was rare gold. It was like watching the sun shine. Like being in Elysium again.

  Before he could disappear, I sent a blast of magic at him, aiming carefully to avoid Ariel.

  He saw it coming at the last second and ducked. My blast hit a demon as it walked up to Ariel.

  Raphael jerked Ariel into his arms and in front of him. I couldn't send more magic his way without hurting her.

  Rushing forward, ignoring the possible dangers to myself or what Raphael could do to hurt me, I tried to reach them.

  But my sweet girl held up one hand. Her face showed intense fear and her eyes welled up with tears. "No!" she shouted. "Don't hurt me!"

  A surge of energy unlike anything I'd ever felt slammed into my chest. I couldn't stop the momentum as I was lifted off my feet and flew high into the air and back, far away from my daughter. Her big green eyes followed my progression. I didn't bother trying to break my fall or change my trajectory. All I could do was look at my child. She looked to be about six, and the sight of me had scared her to the point of tears.

  Before I hit the ground, Raphael and Ariel disappeared again.

  My back slammed into the pavement, and I slid and slid as I kept my head up and stared at the spot they'd been standi
ng moments before.

  My ears rang with the impact of my daughter's powers as I processed what had happened. She'd blasted me with her power.

  Her power that she got from me and Luc. Power we weren't sure existed until this moment.

  My body rang with shock. The blow had been incredibly powerful. Time had slowed as my focus had been entirely on my daughter, my terrified daughter.

  Gabe, Luc, and Michael reached me with Joel and Asmodeus close behind. They bent and took my hands, hauling me to my feet. I could've done it myself, but my heart was shocked. Not physically.

  My daughter.

  My mates mouths moved as they spoke to me, but I couldn't hear them over the ringing in my ears. My vision worked, but the world was sharper, brighter than it had been a few minutes before.

  Blinking, I looked from one to the other, then realized Asmodeus's mouth moved as well.

  The world still moved slowly. Had Ariel's magic given me some sort of cushion on the world? Was I removed from it?

  As I turned my head, I saw a demon, a large, red, spiky thing that would fit right into any tale designed to terrify a small child. He raised his hand behind Joel, and I saw a spike extend from his palm.

  And when I knew I was the only one with eyes on the danger, I raised my hand and sent a small burst of power over Joel's shoulder and into the demon's heart. It burst into flames and disappeared, it's essence returning to Abaddon where it could escape again.

  When they all turned to see what happened, my hearing returned, and my vision went back to normal. The speed of the world righted itself. I wasn't sure if it had been a shock reaction or if it was Ariel's magic imprisoning me in the weirdness, but it was over.

  I couldn't give up. Just because she was scared of me now didn't mean she would be forever. We had to get to her. The sooner we got her away from Raphael, the sooner she could begin to have a normal, loving childhood.

  As normal as the daughter of Lucifer and Lilith could have, anyway.

  7

  Immediately, I began flying around the city, blasting demons. Sometimes I used my magic to send them back to Abaddon without destroying them, but sometimes they were in the middle of doing something that pissed me off enough to make me annihilate them.

  Lucifer flew behind me, unable to help, but he stayed close and provided a second set of eyes on my back.

  When nobody came to report to Joel or Asmodeus about seeing Raphael, I knew they'd left. They didn't dare stay on Earth with every angel and Fallen searching for them. "Let's split up." I wiped demon blood off of my cheek and shook it off my hands. "We'll take Asmodeus. You three hit different cities. Send the demons back to Abaddon so they'll at least not be visible to the humans."

  A woman ran by and I saw the demon inside her. Reaching out a tendril of magic, I yanked it out of her and sent it away. She collapsed when it left her body, but I didn't have time to coddle the humans we saved. They'd have to coddle themselves.

  Michael and Gabe gave me a quick kiss, each named off a city they were going to go fly through and disappeared.

  "Come on. Let's finish here before we move on," I said. We flew around the city, searching for demons. Luc pointed them out, and I sent them on their way. Back to Hell.

  We worked our way around the city, then hopped to the next big city I could think of. Dallas. Each place was as chaotic as the next. The only good thing was that there were no new reports. At the same time, it was bad, because it meant he'd taken my daughter back to whatever dimension he'd been keeping her in.

  Wherever it was, it made her age rapidly. She looked two years older today than when I'd seen her just a few days before. How was that possible?

  We were about to leave the city when someone screamed in an alleyway. I flew toward the sound of the terrified woman and found a possessed man with his hand around a small woman's throat. He had his pants down and was seconds away from doing something to her she'd never in her life be able to forget.

  I yanked the demon from the man and obliterated him. The man's body collapsed, freeing the woman in the process. I made myself visible and glamoured myself to look like a proper angel as I tamped down the raging fury inside me.

  "Darling, are you well?" I hated the thought of the human male being charged with attempted rape when it hadn't been his fault. At the same time, I wished I could have obliterated that demon again. That son of a bitch. We had rules for a reason! Demons weren't to be on Earth without Fallen supervision, but we knew they slipped out. It was hard to keep all of them consistently inside the gates. So, more than that, we had strict rules about things like rape. Seduction? Sure. Temptation? Of course! But rape was never allowed and had always been punished fiercely. They weren't to murder. Possession was a lesser offense, but still punishable.

  The demons had to have believed they'd never be faced with Lucifer or I again to break the rules so thoroughly.

  She curled into herself and stared at me with wide eyes. She nodded. "He didn't get me," she whispered.

  "Good," I said. "I killed the demon that possessed him. He was a victim too. Will you see that he gets treatment?"

  She nodded. "Are you a real angel?"

  I gave her my warmest smile and trickled healing energy into her as I magicked her clothes back on and mended. "I'm a real angel and you're going to be just fine. We'll fix this mess, okay?"

  As quickly as I appeared, I disappeared to find Lucifer standing with his arms crossed. "You're too soft-hearted."

  "Oh, hush," I chided. My anger bubbled up my chest. "They've lost all regard for the system. For the rules. I'm tempted to destroy them."

  Luc rolled his eyes. "If we had that kind of power at our disposal, we'd be able to solve all our problems."

  I sighed and tried to let my anger out.

  "Let's go to the next city." We'd cleared so many demons here they were beginning to be hard to find. I needed to blast some assholes and vent my anger."

  When we appeared in the next city, Seattle, I went to work quickly. It felt great to blast more and more demons, sending them away from humans.

  As I whistled to draw a Hellhound to me, momentarily missing Jellybean. Hopefully, he was safe and sound at the house, my phone rang in my pocket. I'd forgotten I had Connie's phone on me.

  "Hello?" It was Mary's number.

  "I got him. He said we can come, but we should hurry."

  A grin spread across my face. We finally had a lead. I texted Michael and Gabe and told them to meet us at Mary's, then grabbed Luc's hand and took off.

  Mary waited for us at her front door. My guys appeared behind me and we walked in together. "Come on, come on. Is this all?" Mary put her hand on her hip and glared at us. "Working with you people is like being in the damn circus."

  I smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry. You know how grateful we are?"

  She chuffed. "Now listen. He's a strange duck. Very secretive. The only reason he's agreed to help is because he can see all the demons roaming around the astral plane. Otherwise, he wouldn't help demons or angels for all the money in the world. So, you do as I say, you hear me?"

  We all nodded vigorously like errant children being given a reprieve by their mommy. In this case, we were at her mercy.

  "Okay, you're going to have to let me guide us. Can you give up enough control to let me? I can't move us through space the way you can." She raised her eyebrows at me.

  Sucking in a deep breath, I nodded. "I can give up control.”

  "I have my doubts," she muttered, but she took my hand.

  I had to hold back a chuckle. She was incredibly powerful for a human, and she had vast knowledge and resources that we just didn't have here on Earth, but my power still blew hers out of the water. Giving her the ability to guide me as I moved us was a simple act that involved giving up very little control.

  Mary brushed up against my consciousness, and I got another taste of her pure, warm aura. She was one of the most unadulterated auras I'd ever encountered. I let her focus on our whereabouts,
and seconds later we appeared in a lush jungle. Moist heat pounded against me the moment I opened my eyes. "Ugh," I muttered. Sweat popped up on my skin within seconds.

  Mary chuckled. "Feels like summer in New Orleans."

  Hot and sticky. "Where are we?"

  "The Lacandon Jungle." She slapped a mosquito and looked around. "But I expected to arrive at his home, not out here."

  She took my hand and her presence tickled against mine again. I let her direct us, but we didn't move. "Let me try," I said.

  Focusing on a spot several hundred yards ahead, through the trees, I tried to move Mary and myself, but it didn't work. We stayed put.

  Lucifer walked forward. "Keep going," I called. "See if you can get to the place I tried to port to."

  He nodded and moved forward, stepping carefully through the jungle. When he'd gone about as far as I'd tried to, I yelled for him to stop. "I guess we're walking in," I told everyone else.

  We set off, and I felt the moment we passed through the ward. "I wonder if we can move forward now that we're under the ward," I mused. I tried, to no success. "Well, do you know where we're going?" I asked Mary.

  She shook her head. "Only the general direction."

  Luc spread "Lead the way, then."

  Mary walked ahead of us, but after a few feet, she stopped. "Something feels strange," she whispered.

  Almost as soon as the words left her mouth, a large, angry Hellhound came out of nowhere, his large, slathering jaw open and aiming for her throat.

  Michael was the closest. He blasted the hound with a beam of pure light, and it evaporated.

  "Shit!" Mary yelled. "What the Hell was that?"

  I stared in shock at the lingering dust in the air. "I've never seen a hound attack us like that."

  "He attacked me, not you."

  "I know, but they generally are very docile, despite how scary they look. They only attack if commanded to," I said. "And only by a Fallen."