by Kyra Quinn
My throat tightens, but I refuse to focus on the doubt polluting my head. I press my palms together and silently urge my mother not to abandon me now. Closing my eyes, I tilt my fingertips towards the floor. I hold my breath and wait as the prickle of electricity surges through me. A crash of thunder splits the silence between us. I keep my eyes squeezed shut, focused on my mother’s face burned onto the insides of my eyelids.
“What is this?” Lilith purrs, more intrigued than irritated. “Oh, that’s interesting.”
Curiosity overpowers my focus. My eyes snap open. Lilith watches me with wide eyes and an expression I can’t read. Shock? Horror?
My heart jumps into my throat. A hooded figure dressed in a long tattered black cloak perches against the doorframe. His face is hidden, but I need not see his empty eye sockets and skeletal features to know what I accidentally summoned.
“A reaper,” I whisper, pressing my hands to my chest.
“Not quite, love.” Lilith backs away from the door. “The reapers answer to him.”
“Correct.” A deep, chilling voice appears in my head. “Everything ends with me. I am older than God himself and twice as powerful. I could reap you and the demoness both where you stand in a heartbeat. Long after this world you care so much for and everything in it perishes, I will still be here. Death’s work is never done.”
My blood turns to ice. No, no, no. “What—”
He holds up a spectral hand. “I did not give you permission to speak yet, witch.”
My mouth becomes sticky, as if he’s filled it with syrup. I move my jaw, but my lips remain sealed together.
Death turns his attention to Lilith. “What interesting company you keep these days.”
Her nose wrinkles. “She’s a hunter. Am I supposed to believe she summoned you here?”
“No one summons Death.” His voice is hard enough for Lilith to shrink back another step. “I’ve come to deliver a message to the little witch. She needs to understand which god she worships, who she begs her power from.”
“You?” Lilith barks an incredulous laugh. “No. She’s a witch. Her power is infernal.”
His hands move for his hood. He slides it down to his shoulders, sucking the air out of the room in one smooth motion. I try to gasp, but my lips refuse to part.
I’d expected a fiery skull or something spectral and horrifying. But Death is the most terrifyingly beautiful creature I’ve ever laid eyes on. His toothy smile is too wide for his face. Ribbons of dark hair fall to his shoulders. His skin reminds me of moonlight, translucent and glittering with something both enchanting and horrifying. He straightens his posture and winks a silvery eye at me.
“Tear your eyes away from your scheming for one moment and study her more closely,” Death says. He moves closer to us, but his footsteps make no sound against the floor. “This is no ordinary sorceress.”
Lilith walks around me in a slow circle. She stops in front of me, her stare burning a hole into my face. I squirm and clasp my hands together in front of me, wishing a hole would open in the floor and swallow me.
“You’re right,” she says, dropping her volume to almost a whisper. “Thank the Dark Lord.”
Death scowls. “Thank him? No. She’s one of my children.”
His words close in on me like smoke, freezing me in place. I want to say I don’t understand, but I’m not sure it’s true. I’m clever enough to pick up on the subtext of what he’s saying. It makes little sense.
Lilith shakes her head. Her face scrunches. “How is it possible?”
The corners of his thin mouth quirk. “Does it matter?”
“I suppose not.” Her shoulders drop. “I take it you’re here to stop me from sending her to the drop?”
“On the contrary. According to the books, that’s where I will reap the angel Ezekiel’s soul.” His eyes shimmer with something dangerous. “Tell me, demoness, are you ready to crush your enemy and put an end to this aimless fight?”
She presses a hand to her mouth and studies me, still skeptical. “What would you have us do?”
“Not us.” He points a bony finger at my chest. “Her. Nadia is the only one Zeke will let close enough to deliver the killing blow.”
“How?” Lilith practically hisses the word. “None of our weapons can kill an angel, fallen or otherwise.”
“Correct. None of your weapons can.”
My conversation with Kane rushes back to the front of my mind.. “Zeke’s blade. I’ll steal it away from him and bury it into his neck.”
Lilith exhales a breath. “Will it work?”
Death flashes his too-white teeth once more. “With our help, yes.”
I chew my bottom lip, trying to swallow the question forming in my mouth. My years of training tell me to make myself small and invisible, to observe and collect information without drawing attention to myself. But I’m still my mother’s daughter, complete with her poor decision-making skills. I need to know precisely who I’m throwing in my loyalties with.
“Why?” I whisper to Death. “Why would you help me?”
Lilith rolls her eyes. “Aren’t you listening? Keep up, darling. Honestly, can we trust her not to screw this up? She isn’t the sharpest pitchfork in the pit.”
Death ignores her, crossing the room and closing the distance between us. He raises his arm, his hand hovering inches from my cheeks. His voice is hauntingly soft, a melancholy tune burned into my mind. “Why help save you, or why help kill the angel?”
I swallow. “Both.”
“Ezekiel’s death will serve as an important catalyst for the end of the Unholy Wars. God and Lucifer tired of the bloodshed and petty feuding ages ago. When you slay the first angel, the rest of the pieces will fall into place.”
But that doesn’t answer the question burning inside me. “But why me? Why not one of the Legion, or a witch with more experience?”
He leans closer. “Because they aren’t my daughter.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Kane
Dagon drums his fingers against the balcony railing. His sunglasses hide his eyes, but the scowl on his face tells me he’s no more pleased about Lilith’s surprise visit than I am. He takes a puff of the cigarette he stole from my pack and flicks the ash over the side. “What the fuck?”
It’s the same question I’ve asked myself since the doorbell rang half an hour ago. Lilith hasn’t come out of Nadia’s room, and the soundproofing we did makes it impossible to hear what they’re saying. What the fuck does Lilith want with Nadia?
“I don’t like this,” Dagon says. “Where is Levi and Moloch?”
“I know as much as you do,” I remind him. “We must get it out of Nadia after she leaves.”
Not that I expect her to cooperate with me after the way our last conversation ended. I have a feeling I’m the last person in the world she wants to talk to. But secret conversations with Lilith never lead to anything but trouble. Something is wrong, even if I can’t explain what.
I glance at the almost empty bottle of Remy Martin clutched in my hand and groan. I’m not in the right headspace to deal with Lilith and her mindfuckery. Not when I’m nearly finished with my second bottle of chasing away regrets.
“Maybe it’s good news,” Dagon says, but his voice doesn’t sound hopeful. “Lilith might have changed her mind. Or the hunters canceled the deal.”
“Or Lilith decided she needs more answers before we hand Nadia over.”
He flicks his cigarette over the railing. “Or that.”
I close my eyes and will myself to focus on the waves crashing against the shore. But my mind has other plans. Images of Lilith torturing Nadia flash through my mind like a movie stuck on fast-forward. Tension settles into my shoulders. I throw back the last few swigs of booze. Nadia will probably welcome death after Lilith is done interrogating her.
I consider telling Dagon about how Nadia begged me to help her kill Zeke. But what’s the point? He’ll tell me what I already know—that it isn’t
possible, especially not without approval from the Knights.
“I’m sorry things turned out this way,” he says after a lengthy pause. “I could tell you’d grown fond of the girl.”
I lift a shoulder. Drop it. Careful, calculated indifference. I trust Dagon, but this isn’t his problem. He’s not the one who couldn’t keep his emotions and dick separate, nor is he the demon stuck with disgustingly potent emotions for a woman sworn to the other side. He shouldn’t have to listen to me bitch about my failures.
“Save your pity. I’m fine. I expected no other outcome. Never even hoped for one.”
“No, I suppose not.”
I can’t afford to sit around feeling sorry for myself. If I allow this emptiness inside to drag me under the way Dagon did, Michael will win. I took an oath to see this pointless war to the end, and not even Nadia can change that. “She’s trouble. And the Cursed Blade is worth more than any mortal life.”
“The sex was that bad?”
I shove his shoulder. “I’m serious, D. We’ve accomplished nothing since the night we took her. Meanwhile, Michael’s people slaughtered Ava’s nest and the wolf pack. We’re losing ground in this war every day, and for what?”
Dagon says nothing for so long, I worry I’ve pissed him off. But he shakes his head and stares out at the ocean. “I’m sure I sounded a lot like you after Hollie disappeared. The mortals call it heartbreak, if I’m not mistaken.”
“We don’t have hearts to break.”
“Not literally, no. But we’re not immune to the pain of loss, brother.”
I groan. “Spit one more cheesy TV therapist line at me and I’ll show you pain.”
A tense silence stretches between us. He means well, but I can’t stand around talking about Nadia anymore. The knots in my chest tighten and twist with every mention of her leaving. The warrior in me wants to storm into Hell and demand Lilith change her mind, even if it earns me a thousand years in the pit. Nadia doesn’t deserve what’s coming, but there’s nothing I can do to stop it. This isn’t some movie where I can turn my back on everything to save her. Not with so many lives at stake.
I break first. Massaging the bridge of my nose, I tell him, “We both know what’s at stake.”
He sighs. “Yes. But I can still hate this for you. You seemed to enjoy her company.”
“Who says I wouldn’t get bored with her, too?”
“Uh, the mysterious portal she ripped open with an orgasm?” He laughs. “Hell, if you don’t want her, send her to my room. I could have a lot of fun with that.”
He’s joking, but it doesn’t stop my hand from curling into a fist. “Fuck off.”
He flashes me a smug smile. “You care about her more than you want to admit. And it’s not a terrible thing. At least you know you’re capable of experiencing love.”
My stomach hardens. “Who said anything about love?”
“Do you prefer to call it something else?”
Lust. Curiosity. Loneliness. Hunger. Boredom. Anything but that cursed four-letter word.
“Hello, boys.”
I whirl to find Lilith perched against the doorframe. “All done with the prisoner.”
Dagon arches a brow. “Is she—are we—”
“Dumping her back on the angels tomorrow? Yes. The bitch is useless to us.”
Numbness settles into my chest. Fuck. It’s the answer I expected, but it doesn’t make it any easier to hear. “Maybe if we had more time—”
“Time is up,” Lilith says, her voice clipped. She moves closer to me, running her long nails through my hair. “Don’t spend too much time thinking about it. You might hurt yourself.”
My lip curls over my teeth into a snarl.
“Oh, stop.” She brushes away my rage with an airy laugh. “Remember who you work for, Kane. I created you, and I can wipe you from existence just as easy. Or send you back to Hell to learn your place.”
Her threats slide off me like raindrops. Hell sounds like a welcome respite after the last few years of dealing with Lilith. Let someone else lead the Legion and slave away under the Knights. They can bathe in the blood money and sacrifice their souls to this endless strife. The spacious villa and cars and material bullshit doesn’t dazzle me the way it used to.
Lilith seems to sense the shift in my mood. She places a hand on my arm and fixes me with a sad smile. “Moloch chose well when he selected you and your brother for the Legion. I had my doubts for a while, but I understand what he saw in you now. You have the makings of an exceptional leader.”
She’s high if she expects me to thank her. “What happens after the drop?”
Her midnight eyes sparkle with unspoken secrets. “I can’t predict the future, darling. If all goes well, we’ll move forward with the next stage of our plan.”
“Which is?” Dagon presses.
“None of your concern. We give the orders, you follow them. Unless you’re no longer interested in joining the Knights.”
He shoves his hands into his pockets and lowers his head. Skepticism isn’t enough to outweigh his lust for power. “Understood.”
She turns her attention back to me and squeezes my arm. “I suggest you leave the girl alone for a while. Our brief talk left her in a nasty mood.”
I can only imagine. Whatever Lilith wanted from her, I doubt she asked the pleasant way. My hands curl into fists, and it takes everything I have not to slam her against the wall and demand to know what she’s done. Five minutes alone with her probably left Nadia begging for me. Sadistic urges aside, the only pain I caused her was for her own good.
My muscles stiff, I cock my head and ask, “Any recent injuries we need to treat?”
“She’s fine. The only hits she took were to her pride.” She glances up at the late afternoon sky and sighs. “I’ve already stayed longer than intended, and there’s a lot to accomplish before tomorrow. Ciao, darlings.”
I flirt with the idea of snaking an arm around her waist and tossing her over the side of the balcony. Too bad the fall wouldn’t faze her. Her malicious cruelty and smug smirks make it difficult to remember we’re fighting for the same side. Especially when she’s so determined to destroy the only thing I’ve cared about in decades.
“Kane,” she calls over her shoulder on her way back into the house, “bring me the blade the moment you have it in your hands. It’s unwise to keep Moloch waiting.”
“I understand,” I grumble, turning back towards the sun sinking into the ocean.
My stomach sinks. There’s no way out of this permanent betrayal, and resistance will only breed suspicion. The game is over. I’ve lost. But I can’t let Lilith leave without trying one last time.
“What if we didn’t fulfill our half of the bargain?”
Lilith freezes. “Excuse me?”
“We put a lot of hard work into that girl,” I say, pointing towards the door. “And we’ve confirmed she inherited at least a touch of her mother’s abilities. Blade or no blade, we’d be fools to hand her over to our enemies.”
She barks a laugh. “She’s one of them, Kane. Or have you forgotten? Send her back to the filth she came from. We have no more use for her.”
“But—”
“The discussion is over.” She pulls the door open and steps into the house, not bothering to turn around as she calls, “I suggest you don’t disappoint me.”
* * *
I stand outside the door to Nadia’s room. My hand hovers over the doorknob. Lilith left hours ago, but I still haven’t figured out what to say. Not that it matters. No sorry string of apologies will convince her to forgive me for my hand in her death.
I press my forehead against the cool wood. My blade won’t kill her, but her blood is still on my hands. I should have let her escape that night in the park or set her free after her arrival. But I didn’t lift a finger to help her. She has every right to hate me.
The Cursed Blade will put us one step closer to ending the Unholy Wars once and for all. Or so Lilith says. Unlike my brother,
I can see through her well-practiced bullshit. We’re unwitting pawns in whatever devious plot she’s hatched. I doubt even Moloch and Levi know the full extent of her plans.
I straighten my spine and suck in a breath, waving my hand over the doorknob to unlock it. Either she’ll curse me out and hit me again, or she’ll cry and beg for my help. Both options sucks, but I sort of hope she chooses the first one. I deserve every punch she throws at me.
I find Nadia sitting with her legs crossed at the foot of the bed. A book sits open in her lap, the pages yellowed with age. She slams the book shut as I close the door behind me. It disappears behind her back while she studies me with suspicion.
“Come to toy with me one last time?” she asks, her voice dripping with malice.
I flinch. “What did Lilith want?”
“What do you want?”
I groan and pinch the bridge of my nose. Feisty Nadia it is. “Honestly? A stiff drink, a bowl, and a decent conversation. Interested?”
She narrows her eyes. “I don’t see a bottle in your hands.”
“Didn’t bring it with me. I thought you might enjoy the view from my balcony more than the grimy prison window.”
She leans back and props herself up on her hands. “Why? Why now?”
Because there is no later. “I can have Arachne throw together something for you to eat, too.”
She nods, but I can tell she still doesn’t trust me. “Do I have to wear the stupid dog leash?”
“Nah. Just promise me you won’t throw yourself off the side of the balcony or some shit.”
Her lips twitch into something that almost resembles a smile. “I’m well aware witches can’t fly, thanks.”
I offer her my hand and what I hope is a winning smile. “Come on. Let me show you my favorite place in Miami.”
Her face lights up the moment she spies the view from my balcony. She leans against the railing and stares out at the ocean with a wistfulness in her eyes I’ve never seen. Fireflies flutter through the air. Nadia tilts her head towards the starry sky and wraps her arms around herself.