“They’re strong, but slow. Very aggressive, mostly around its dwelling.”
Eden pointed at the hole in the mountain. “You think it lives here?”
“He looks pretty pissed, so I’m going to say yes.”
The daeryx was enormous, as tall as the huge cavern behind it. Part dragon, part crab, its six legs ended with a single claw that clicked against the hard red clay we stood upon.
“Oh, I should’ve called this one,” I said, taking a step back and bringing Eden with me.
“Hi,” Eden said, holding up her hands palms-out. “I don’t want to hurt you. We’re leaving. Cool?”
I yanked her back as the daeryx’s long neck extended. It reared back, then surged its head forward, a foul stench blasting into our faces once it bleated a warning—or possibly a war cry, calling for others.
“We don’t have time for this,” Eden said. She took a quick glance at the base of the mountain. The demons were beginning to climb over each other, forming a living pillar reaching closer to us every second.
“We need to move,” I warned.
As Eden gauged the creature pre-strike, it reminded me of the first time I saw her. Creatures residing in Hell were what nightmares were made of and made life in the Underworld seem surreal in the worst possible way. But being in Eden’s presence, surrounded by every mundane object of Earth, was phantasmal. She had the same look on her face as she approached the daeryx as she did the first time I saw her: petite, blonde, and full of piss and vinegar, the human form of my immortal love. Even if she hadn’t been beyond beautiful, my love for her had spanned lifetimes; any perceived flaw would be just another reason to love her. The moment we met was so vivid. She was so clean I could still smell the chlorine and fluoride on her skin. Now, every time she moved a handful of sand fell from her hair, and another drop of sweat streaked the soot on her face.
“Okay,” she said, finishing her calculations.
“We have a plan?”
“Just … be sure to stand clear.”
Eden sprinted toward the enormous daeryx, and all I could do was watch with an amused grin. She was a tiny thing, dwarfed even more by the dragon-like creature as she grabbed one of its legs. The daeryx bleated for just a few seconds, but despite its weight—every bit of eight tons—Eden managed a good grip on the back of its ankle, planted her left foot, and pivoted to swing the monster three hundred and sixty degrees before letting go, hurling the monster over the cliff. Regardless of its long claws creating trenches in the rock to slow its trajectory, the daeryx slid all the way to the edge, right next to me.
I looked at her, surprised that she’d miscalculated.
Eden stood up, gesturing to her foot.
I bent my knee and kicked the daeryx, loosening its grip to send it over the ledge and down into the pillars of demons. Hideous beings were scattered in every direction, and noises pierced my ears that I was sure would alert Hell’s hierarchy. The daeryx wasn’t dead, but at least now it and the demons were fighting one another.
Eden looked at me with a grimace, her chest heaving. “It was heavier than I thought.”
“Well done, but we’re out of time.”
“So the new plan is to separate it from Petra and then kill it?”
“With the blade.”
She nodded slowly, still thinking. “But how do we separate it without killing her too fast? And is her coming to you with information enough of a sacrifice?”
I stared at her. “I’ll remove the tag. Give Petra the blade. She’ll protect me.”
She shook her head. “She’ll be near death, Levi. She won’t be strong enough to wield a sword, even a small one. And, forgive me, but she’s a wife of Satan. You’re really suggesting we give Petra Gehenna?”
“She’s my mother first. Everything she has ever celebrated or suffered has been for me.”
“Levi…”
“Can you think of another way?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t trust her.”
“Do you trust me?”
Eden’s eyes danced as she tried to find a different solution, but the longer she thought, the more frustrated she became.
The commotion from below drew our attention. The daeryx’s growls had turned to shrieking. Once he was overpowered by their sheer numbers, the demons made quick work of pulling the creature apart. His massive neck fell limp, freeing the army to resume fighting each other to climb the wall.
She raked back her hair only for the wind to blow it into her eyes. “The powers I’ve developed could make anyone feel overconfident. Something deep inside is whispering for me to be careful, and I’m not sure if it’s my voice or something else. What if, despite all of our combined knowledge, the blade, my new powers, and my best efforts… Levi, be honest with me. If I can’t do this, can you forgive me?”
Levi processed my words and then blinked. “Eden…”
“I know. It’s a lot to ask. It’s a lot to promise, but—”
“She’s going to die today. Like Ramiel said, what matters is where she ends up. This is her only chance; my only chance to see her again. If she sacrifices herself, Hell can’t hold her. You’re not guilty of disrupting The Balance, and she is home with me until the very end, and then… My God, Eden. She would be allowed into Heaven.”
“She won’t get through Heaven’s Gates with a tag attached to her,” I said. “And it will kill her when we take it off.”
“She’s died before. I know she can do this.”
“You expect her to kill the tag after she dies?”
“Just … please trust me,” I said, my hands balling into fists. I was desperate to get Eden on board before we phased out. “You know death isn’t real, Eden. It’s a doorway. I’m going to give her the keys to the right one.”
Her lips pressed into a hard line, and she tilted her head, already apologetic. “This doesn’t feel right.”
I touched her face. “I understand your hesitation, I do. But no one walks away from a war feeling like they’ve won. If I know she’s waiting for me in Heaven, and I get to keep you? Do you not understand it’s the best-case scenario? You asked me for a better way. This is it.” I looked down, seeing the living pillar of demons had nearly grown to the top. “They’re almost to the top. We have to go. Are you with me?”
I turned away from the ledge, my toes teetering on the edge. “Are you with me?”
“Trust fall?” she asked, one side of her mouth turning up.
I reached for her hand, and she took it, turning to stand next to me. We leaned back, falling backward over the ledge toward the pillars.
Chapter Eleven
Eden
My eyes opened just as I sucked in my first breath of fresh air. The first thing my gaze settled on was the chandelier above. I was focused more on what was at the bottom of the trust fall, so we didn’t end up in the hallway where we’d been, instead landing on our backs in Grandmother’s bedroom. That meant my sweaty, soot and sand-covered skin lying against my grandmother’s one-hundred-year-old Tabriz Persian rug. I could hear her sigh from the drawing room.
I scrambled to stand, with Levi’s hand still in mine. I pulled him up, but slowly. He had pushed his body too hard while we were in the Underworld.
“I shouldn’t have brought you down there so soon,” I said. “You’re still not healed.”
“I guess it takes me longer the older I get?”
“Or you’ve lost favor. Maybe some of your powers were given to you by your father?”
Levi frowned, unhappy with the thought. His expression changed. “Do you hear that?” he asked.
I nodded. Whatever it was hanging on to Levi’s mother emanated a constant, low growl that grew louder when I fixated on him. The demon knew I was aware of it. The old entity was a spy for Lucifer himself and had already relayed all the information it had gathered at that moment. I was glad we’d found a way around its eavesdropping, but no one else could hide the way Levi and I
could.
Grandmother’s heels clicked down the hallway, and she opened the door, gesturing for us to get the hell out of her bedroom. Politely, of course. We stood in the hallway, waiting for her to speak.
“It’s listening,” Grandmother said. “And has been quite cantankerous since you left. Whatever you plan to do, you should do it now.”
“My parents should be here,” I said. “We need all the guidance we can get.”
Levi nodded.
I dialed Dad’s number and held my cell phone to my ear.
He picked up on the first ring. “Everything okay, sweetheart?” Dad asked.
“I need you to come home.”
“On my way,” he said, hanging up.
I looked into Levi’s eyes, hoping he’d change his mind. “You’re sure?”
He hesitated. “It’s up to her, but I know what she’ll say. Eden?”
“Yes?”
“Your grandmother is Cambion.”
“Yes. You sort of let that cat out of the bag with my mother present, remember? My mom didn’t speak to my dad for three days after that.”
“But … how does she hear the tag? Typically Cambions don’t have those senses. She seems to know a lot more than she should.”
I waited a beat. “Maybe you should ask her.”
Levi shook his head. “She scares me. You ask her.”
“Your father is Satan, and my grandmother scares you?”
Levi frowned. “If I said yes, would you think less of me?”
I turned toward Petra’s door and stared at it for a full minute. “If I asked you to pray with me, would you think less of me?”
“You won’t.”
I sighed, grabbing his hand. “Pray with me.”
His brows pulled together, and the tears forming in his eyes made them glisten in the low light. He had to swallow his sorrow before he spoke. “I don’t know how.”
“I’ll show you.” I closed my eyes and squeezed his fingers. “Father God, hear our prayer…”
Chapter Twelve
Levi
Although it was my idea, the thought of allowing my mother to die didn’t feel real. I concentrated on the after, in Heaven where she would never be at my father’s mercy again. Still, I had a lot of life left, and I wanted to spend it with her. I wanted her to see my wedding, my children—if any of that were even possible. No matter how many times I had tried to find a different end, her sacrifice had, ironically, the best possible outcome.
“Levi?” Eden’s soft fingers touched my forearm. “My father will be pulling into the drive any minute.”
I took in a deep breath, filling my lungs and yet not feeling like I was getting any air. The demon was still growling, preparing for a fight. My mother held her fist to her mouth, coughing. She knew why. We all did. The tag was putting pressure on her airway to warn us to change course.
“Grandmother?” Eden called.
Just a few seconds passed before we heard Cynthia’s heels clicking down the hallway. “Yes, dearest?” she said.
“I need you.”
Eden’s simple sentence created a ghost of a smile on the old woman’s lips.
Eden began to speak, but she paused. Jared was arriving with Nina, and the rest of the family, including Allison, was seconds behind. “Can you help?”
Cynthia nodded once. “I’ll help Agatha get the room ready,” she said, walking back the way she came. “Agatha?” she called.
Jared closed the front door, and then he was next to his daughter in the hallway just outside my mother’s room.
“What’s going on, Levi?” he asked.
I felt sick. Her death was approaching fast, and saying it aloud to Jared made it more real. Too soon. “Mamá came to warn me about my brothers. She’s in danger.”
“I can feel it,” Bex said, standing next to Jared. He looked to his brother. “She’s been tagged. Seems like it’s been with her for a very long time.”
Jared sighed. “She can’t stay at the house if she’s tagged, Levi. We’ll have to move her to a safe house. Let me think on it.”
“We already have a plan.”
Jared’s brows pulled together. “Why do I feel like I’m not going to like it?”
“We’re going to extract it so Petra can go to Heaven when she dies,” Eden said in the language of Heaven. I could feel the demon getting frustrated by his inability not to listen in.
Jared shook his head, answering her the same way. “She’s not going to Heaven, Eden.”
“She will with a sacrifice,” Eden responded.
Nina didn’t understand the language and looked to her husband for answers he couldn’t give.
“It hurts the Others to listen to our language,” Jared said. “It’s best if we speak this way. I’ll explain later.”
Jared thought for a solid minute, shaking his head as he ruled out each idea. Bex was trying to come up with something better, too.
“I can’t let her leave. She can’t stay. She’ll die out there anyway without Levi. And when she dies, she’ll go to Hell,” Eden said.
Bex blew his hair from his face. “Damn.” He looked to Jared. “They’re right. I don’t see another way. Do you?”
“No,” Jared said. He led the way to Mamá’s room, heaving a deep, somber sigh. “I can’t believe we’re going to do this.”
“He did it,” I said, unable to hide the angry shaking in my voice.
“Wait,” Nina said, recognition in her eyes. “What about Eden? Will she be held accountable?”
“It’s possible,” Jared said.
“Then no,” Nina said, stopping in her tracks. The whole group stopped with her. “There has to be another way.”
“Trust me, Mom,” Eden said. “Please?”
Nina’s eyes glossed over, and she hugged her daughter. “Eden, please don’t—you promised.”
“And I’ll keep it,” Eden said, rubbing her hand up and down on her mother’s back. “I’ll do whatever it takes. Do you trust me?”
Nina nodded, and after some hesitation, she let her daughter go.
Eden took my hand, and we continued down the main hall toward my mother’s room. She stopped just as I reached for the doorknob and leaned her shoulder against the wall. “You should talk to her alone.”
I scanned her sweet face and kissed her temple before stepping inside alone, closing the door behind me.
Mamá was sitting in a cushioned chair in the corner, reading something on her cell phone. The sunlight poured in from the blinds, creating a thousand tiny dust motes all around her. Other than the fact that she was a Queen of Hell, she seemed angelic. She’d draped a baby blue blanket over her legs as she rocked back and forth in her bare feet, her naturally bronzed skin darker from the Florida sun. The sight of her nearly sent me back into the hall. How can I tell her? My mother was strong, but the idea I thought was perfect moments ago now seemed selfish as I looked into her eyes. How could I be part of any plan that allowed the light to leave them?
“What is it, son?” Mamá asked.
My throat felt like it was closing as I tried to speak. “I just spoke with Eden. We have to keep you close to protect you.”
“So I’ll stay here?”
Her relief broke my heart.
“When you came back, Mamá, Lucifer sent someone to watch you.”
She stared ahead at nothing, recognition lighting a fire in her eyes. She was angry, but not surprised. “A tag.” She crossed her arms, indignant. “Of course he did. If I stay here, how…?” She trailed off.
She knows.
“Mamá,” I began.
This time, her understanding took her from shock, to loss, to resolute. She grabbed my hand with both of hers and held tight. “I understand,” she said in her softest, most comforting voice.
“It has to be you.”
“Me?”
“To do what mother’s do,” I choked out. I kneeled by her side,
and she touched my cheek with her palm. “You’re strong. You can do this.”
It only took a few seconds for her to understand, and then she seemed almost excited. “Don’t cry, my son.” She smiled. “Don’t shed a tear. This is… Don’t you see? It’s what we’ve always wanted. What’s important is that I love you. I love you more than anyone in the universe. I couldn’t be prouder of you, the choices you've made, and who you’ve become.”
“It’s because of you,” I whispered, barely able to speak.
“No.” She shook her head. “It’s because of you.” She touched her forehead to mine, and we stayed that way for what seemed like a dozen minutes.
She coughed again, and this time it persisted until she began a full-blown coughing fit.
No one came in to rush us. All we had was time and yet, time was the one thing we didn’t have. As the tag grew nervous, he punished her. It believed we were preparing to remove it, but it had no idea what we planned to happen next.
Agatha came in with a glass of water and handed it to me. I helped Mamá take a few sips until the demon relaxed its grip.
Mamá nodded, pushing away the glass. “He’s a bag of fun already.”
“You can do this.”
“I know,” she said, meeting my gaze. “And I will. Now…” She cleared her throat and settled back. “No reason to give it anything more.”
I wrapped my arms around her middle and lay my head in her lap while she stroked my back just as she did when I was a child. Dwelling on the fact that I’d never experience it again in this life was too painful, so I pushed it from my mind.
“I love you, Mamá. No woman more perfect could have been chosen to raise me, to love me, to protect me as you’ve always done.”
Tears filled her eyes, and she smiled down at me. “I have never felt anything but honored. You have blessed me every day of your existence.”
I stood and wiped my eyes before stepping out.
Eden stepped away from the wall and crossed her arms over her middle, clearly hurt by the expression on my face.
I rubbed the back of my neck. “That was harder than I thought.”
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