Feathers and Fire Series Box Set 2

by Shayne Silvers

  Alucard opened his eyes, cocking his head. “Of course not. He’s gone fucking mental.”

  I wondered if I had asked the right question, flipping through a dozen before realizing they could all be answered in ways that could have multiple meanings—or only lead to further questions, which I didn’t have time for. “Do you, Alucard Morningstar, swear to serve me and my interests over anyone here in Kansas City right now? Do you swear to serve me over any vampire whatsoever?” I asked, wanting to make sure I didn’t give him a conflict with Nate. “This is a temporary agreement. One week, let’s say. I’m not trying to steal your soul, but I need you to swear it.” I studied him, letting him see the sincerity in my eyes.

  He slowly nodded his agreement, and then cleared his throat before repeating the oath verbatim, adding only the time-duration to the end.”

  I sensed the bond between us hum louder for a moment, a reassuring sensation, and I let out a breath of relief. “Thank you, Alucard. I’ll explain later, but right now we don’t have time.”

  Cain had stopped laughing and was staring at my arm. He climbed to his feet and approached me. “I’m a bandwagon kind of guy,” he said, indicating my other wrist. “But I refuse to swap saliva with disco ball.”

  I smiled at him. I already trusted him with my life, but it was a distant worry snuffed out to have him volunteer. When I had checked my bond with Alucard, I’d already gotten a peripheral glance at my bond with Cain—apparently established due to our choice to adopt each other as siblings—and it had reminded me of a gnarled, unbreakable tree root. Instead of biting my wrist, he pricked my finger and wiped up the drop of silvery crimson blood with his calloused fingertip and stuck it in his mouth.

  He stared down at his hands for a few moments, his frown growing deeper. “I don’t get a high off it?” he complained. I shrugged, not having an answer. I closed my eyes and smiled to see that our tree root bond was now thicker, gnarlier, and pulsing strongly.

  Alucard was staring at his fingers, looking awed by whatever my blood had done to him. I probably should have done a little more research on my idea before suggesting it. The last time he had sucked blood from another supernatural—a Beast Master—he had evolved into a Daywalker. I hoped I hadn’t also changed him into something new, but I had needed to know I could count on him—that he hadn’t been swayed by these Masters. Or Roland—

  With sudden fear, I realized I may have just broken his access to Roland’s church. I calmed myself enough to bring up the Silvers—just to get a quick glimpse—and let out a breath to see the cord between him and the church still there, but more golden than crimson now.

  “Was that all you needed me to do?” he asked, snapping me out of my daze. I released the Silvers, hoping what I’d seen didn’t mean that Alucard was still somehow bonded to Roland. Then it would become a question of power. Was my blood stronger than Roland’s blood?

  That was the underlying point behind this whole thing—the student fighting her mentor.

  The Horseman fighting a Master Vampire…hopefully not an actual Master…

  I shook my head at Alucard’s question, shelving my inner fear. I would find out soon enough. “You’re my inside man, so no party for you. Resume whatever you were doing before we crossed paths. And you understand what you’re to do tomorrow?” I asked.

  Alucard pursed his lips, nodding. “I got it.” He didn’t sound eager or hopeful.

  “Trust me,” I said, reassuring him. He sighed, nodding. “Let’s get moving,” I said, climbing to my feet and striding out of the cave and into the approaching evening air. Alucard and Cain hurriedly darted out in front of me as if it was a competition to see who the best protector was. I rolled my eyes as I mentally made a list of anything I might need. Fading sunlight warmed my cheeks, making me smile. “Cain, I’ll need you to—”

  A meteor struck the earth a few yards away, causing dust and debris to roll out in a cloudy ring that sent me into a coughing fit. I sensed frigid air, like someone had opened a freezer in front of me, but I couldn’t see through the cloud as I waved my hands to clear it, ready for a fight.

  “Ah!” Cain yelped. “The fucking angel found me! Run for your lives!”

  And Eae materialized from the center of the cloud. He unfurled his wings, using them to bat both Alucard and Cain in different directions—each over a dozen feet away—and he didn’t even look at them as he did it. He just stared at me. I heard Claire roar in the distance, but it sounded very far away.

  I held up a hand for my friends to stand down as I stared Eae in the eyes, wondering what he was doing here if he wasn’t going to attack the girl with the Demonskin in front of him. Maybe…

  “Callie?” he asked in a hoarse whisper.

  I nodded slowly, careful not to make any threatening moves. “Yes, pigeon. Yes.” That was something I’d heard Nate call him once. Or had it been feathers?

  Eae shuddered, and suddenly scooped me up in a tight squeeze, wrapping his wings around me in a cocoon of…Heavenwy gwow, as that impressive clergyman in The Princess Bride would have said.

  “How did you know?” I squeaked, my ribs creaking at the force of his hug.

  I heard Cain and Alucard muttering darkly about sucker-punching, cheap-shot angels having no honor for a fair fight, and other things that just shouldn’t be said to an Angel of the Lord. Blasphemers.

  “You opened a portal to Solomon’s Temple,” Eae laughed, ignoring their taunts. “To see a portal at all was astounding, given the barrier around Kansas City, but to see Solomon’s Temple…I knew it had to be you. Even someone who had stolen your Seal wouldn’t have been able to use it to travel there.”

  Eae finally relented, holding me at arm’s-length and tucking his wings behind his back. They were different from my own wings—which I hadn’t dared attempt using the last few days in case they appeared as a horrifying set of scaly, demon wings or something. Ick.

  “A demented little…” Eae frowned, shaking his head as he obviously reconsidered what he had been about to say. “A demented little bear told me where I might find a pretty rose.” He glanced at Cain and Alucard with a judgmental sneer, silencing their still ongoing taunts. “He was quite…disturbing.

  I frowned, wondering what games Starlight was playing.

  “If you can see me, do you think you can convince Fabrizio and the others who I am?” I asked, wondering if having them as allies might help with the chaos. “You’re an angel. They have to believe you.”

  He shook his head. “After Nameless Fell, they no longer hold the same respect for angels. I choose to help them for my own reasons, but I am not permitted to enter the church.”

  I grunted in disapproval. Even angels weren’t trustworthy these days?

  “They all heard you shout, ‘kill them!’ back in the warehouse,” Eae explained. “I can’t deny or refute that. I heard it, too.”

  I gritted my teeth. “I shouted don’t kill them.”

  He waved a pale hand dismissively. “Even Arthur believes you’re a demon. I am here on my own, child. If I give them further reason to doubt an angel…” he shuddered at the thought. “It might just sever their faith in God entirely. If men of the cloth can’t trust an angel, all hope is lost.”

  I considered this update, realizing it might just provide a different opportunity.

  Eae studied me thoughtfully, eyes riveted on my forehead. “I can still see it, but it’s faint through the illusion. It’s…changed,” he mused pensively. Then he sighed, a frustrated sound. “Even still, every sense at my disposal screams you are a demon,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief. “How did this come to be?”

  I considered lying but, given the circumstances, I decided that was wholly cruel and unfair. He was risking losing his only allies by coming here. So I told him about the mystery man somehow convincing me to order from the alley’s you pick two menu—casting Demonskin on myself and then a memory-wiping spell. Because I was a glutton for punishment, I voiced the same question I’d aske
d everyone. “Any chance it could have been Samael?” Because if anyone would know a demon’s abilities to break the rules, it was Eae, the Demon Thwarter.

  He shook his head after a moment. “Not a chance. I would know if Samael was in town. And this cursed barrier blocks demons as well as angels. I railed against it repeatedly, even damaging my wings for a time. I was unable to pass through it.” Jesus. That was hardcore. “I will think on this riddle.”

  I nodded angrily, taking a calming breath. A thought hit me, now that Eae wasn’t trying to kill me. “Do you know Michael?” I asked.

  He jolted, eyes flicking up to the skies. He let out a nervous breath. “Know is a very…familiar word. Why do you ask?”

  “I met him…last year, I guess.” I very carefully considered my words, fairly confident that if Eae wasn’t close friends with the Archangel, the Archangel probably wouldn’t want me blabbing his secrets. “He showed me some…things. I was summoning him when you stopped me in the warehouse. Do you think he would be able to help? To make it through the barrier with his…Archangeliness?”

  Eae paled, taking a step closer and gripping my shoulders meaningfully. “If so, he would have immolated you on sight. He wouldn’t have given you the time to prove who you really are. I’m telling you, Callie. This Demonskin, as you called it, isn’t some simple Glamour. It fooled even me. Powerful enough to fool an Angel…” He shook his head, appraising me warily. “How you managed to do such a thing to yourself…it’s rather alarming. I’ve never seen such a powerful disguise.”

  I let out a breath, shaking my head clear of the shattered hope that Eae might have been able to help me. “Well, whoever convinced me to do this didn’t realize they inadvertently handed me a shortcut.” I told him my plan and watched him just stare back at me like a lifeless statue.

  I think it was a look of encouragement. Yeah. Definitely.

  Chapter 45

  Eae hadn’t been encouraging me. “Did Nate Temple give you this plan? It sounds like one of his idiotic, dangerous and…usually successful plans,” he finally admitted with a sigh.

  I pointedly ignored Alucard nodding his agreement. “No. This was my idea.” Part of me smiled at the fact that I would now—or very soon—share a bond with Nate Temple. Not just one of manipulative parents, love, or magic, but…a bond of family through our Horseman relationship. It was another braid tying us closer together. Something that would only strengthen our relationship. Maybe when we started our…training, I would see what added benefits a blood bond might have…

  Feeling my cheeks heat up to have such thoughts before an angel, I chose not to burn Eae’s virginal ears. Michael had gotten very twitchy when asking me about Nate’s new Horsemen, claiming God had never mentioned them. Thinking on that now, I decided it was probably very wise not to confront Michael…as one of the new Four Horsemen.

  I leaned close, murmuring under my breath so softly that even Alucard’s vampire hearing wouldn’t have caught it. “Roland is after something Dracula has in his possession, and he’s making his grab tomorrow night. I don’t have time to find out exactly what it is or what it does, but if I can simply stop Roland or trip him up in the middle of his spell, it won’t matter. I don’t have time for half measures. You know my purpose, Eae. I just want to end this suffering.”

  Eae obviously sensed I was keeping some information back from my associates but gave no indication my whisper had been anything important. Instead, he stared very pointedly at my forehead, at the Enochian script branded there—even though only a few could see it on the best of days. “To end the pain and suffering? Or…to bring it?” he asked, softly enough that no one else could have overheard.

  I pointedly kept my hands from touching the Mask of Despair in my pocket. “Both,” I promised him, unblinking. Then, since I had no other choice… “I have become Despair. I am number six.”

  Eae stared at me, his face a mixture of horror and concern.

  I let him stew on that as I reviewed my plan, wondering if anything had changed. Having Eae here might actually be a godsend. I turned to him, gripping his wrist urgently. “Eae, I’m going to need you to bend some rules…” I told him part of my plan, and how he could help.

  He smiled faintly at my first request, nodding easily, but my second request…

  He glanced back at where Claire had entered the woods to keep watch from further away. He grimaced, looking uncertain as he turned back to me. “They aren’t the men you remember, Callie. Are you sure you want to take that risk?”

  I smiled bitterly. “Actually, it’s more like the Shepherds have taken off their sheep clothing to reveal the very wolves I always knew lurked underneath,” I muttered. “But my plan—although dangerous—is solid.” I tapped my head with two fingers. “Psychology wins every time.”

  He gave me a withering frown. “Faith wins every time, Callie,” he corrected.

  I grunted, not unkindly, but letting him know I wasn’t buying what he was selling. “How has that gone for you—or anyone—in my absence?” He wilted slightly, having no rebuke. “Enemies are gathering outside Kansas City’s gates. Some are already within. I have come to kill their dreams, immolate their desires, and crush their tiny kingdoms. Kansas City isn’t theirs. They hoped to reshape my city, to bring their war to my streets, to take what doesn’t belong to them, to abandon what promises they once held dear…” I said in a frosty but calm tone. “They didn’t know that true Despair lives here, and she sits on a throne of broken dreams—built from all the lofty aspirations of those who tried and failed before them. I will show them fear in a handful of dust. This is how their reign ends,” I promised in a low growl. “Not with a bang, but with a whimper,” I snarled, realizing I was panting and gripping the Horseman Mask—the silver butterfly charm—in my pocket.

  Eae had taken a subconscious step back from me, staring at me like he’d never seen me before. I released the charm and waved a hand to let him know he didn’t need to find me a straightjacket. I took a calming breath, regaining my composure. “Everyone I thought I knew has shown their true colors in my absence—becoming the worst possible forms of themselves the moment they were left unsupervised. And predators are circling the city—or are already inside—working to capitalize on that. I will destroy them. All. No faith, power, or alliance will prevent me from creeping through their defenses and choking them to death with my bare hands. They will be an example to all those who think to try the same in the future.”

  This was no longer just about Roland or my hurt feelings. It was so much more, now. Because the Masters would do far worse in the long run. I needed to make such a spectacle of this event that everyone stepped well clear of Kansas City for a good long time. Not just because Roland had turned tyrant and intended to make a bridge between my city and Dracula’s Castle. No. This fight was also to let the Masters know—whoever and wherever they were—that my home was too big of a threat to face. That I was too big of a threat.”

  I heard a bellowing roar in the distance, and then a ball of flame struck a tree not fifty yards away from us. “Claire,” I breathed, my fists suddenly flexing in anger.

  Eae had spun towards the sound as well. “Shepherds,” he growled. “Was this part of your plan?” he asked, sounding hopeful. I shook my head. “Then they must have followed me.”

  Cain cursed. “Time to skate, Callie. Now.” He shoved Alucard towards a car that I hadn’t paid any attention to, jumping into the driver’s seat and turning the key.

  A Geo Metro. Badass. Because we’d left Claire’s Jeep at the warehouse. Damn it.

  We weren’t fast enough, because a lone Shepherd burst clear from the tree line, slowing to stare at Eae, who had already turned his back on the Shepherd and spread his wings out wide in order to momentarily conceal me and the car. Thankfully, Claire was still roaring in the distance, so I knew she hadn’t been taken down, but this ambitious little sheep had been smart, sneaking past our sentry.

  Eae gritted his teeth, glaring at me. “Hit me
and run. It’s your only chance. Our only chance. They won’t bother asking questions of a demon, they will just kill. And if they think I’m assisting you, all hope is lost. I’ll be there tonight, and I’ll make sure Claire is safe in captivity. Go!”

  My eyes danced wildly. I wanted to kill the Shepherds for daring to attack us, even though Claire being abducted had been part of my plan—it just wasn’t supposed to happen right now. Claire’s past friendship with Callie gave her a good chance at surviving, but if they thought Eae was here consorting with a demon…

  He was right. I had no other choice.

  So…

  I struck an Angel of the Lord. Hard. I took out all my frustration on him, sending him flying into the car, rocking the tiny car up on two wheels for a few seconds before it came crashing back down. The airbags went off, pounding Cain and Alucard—my driver and navigator—in the faces. Damn it.

  Hopefully I hadn’t just destroyed our escape pod. Or my pilots.

  Eae crumpled to the ground, groaning, and as his eyes locked onto mine, they looked shocked. Not a feigned reaction for the Shepherd’s benefit, but genuine surprise at how hard I had hit him. I ignored it, seeing Cain and Alucard sluggishly working to deflate the airbags as they coughed at the cloud of dust from the safety devices.

  I slowly turned to face the Shepherd and decided our only chance at escape was for me to use an ancient, secret magic that was simply too powerful to use very often—the consequences too detrimental to mankind.

  But desperate times…

  So, I took a calming breath, relaxing my features as I summoned a power given to me at birth—a power I had perfected over years of meticulous study and practice until I had finally mastered the craft.

  I hit him with my R.B.F.

  Resting Bitch Face.