Nine Lives: The Caelum Academy Trilogy: Part THREE

by Akeroyd, Serena

  To be honest, I needed to be in and out of this place as soon as we could.

  After last night, and then just that short glimpse that showed me how humans were exploiting the situation for their own gain, I wanted to get on with things. Move ahead if that was an option for us.

  Maybe our death lay at the end of this journey, I wasn’t sure. But I knew we had no say in the matter. Not now. I was acting as God’s Hand, for whatever reason, and as crazy as that made me sound, it was the truth.

  We were ridding the world of a scourge, and yet…

  I sighed.

  Not all humans were like those looters, and maybe they were poor and starving. Not all humans were like those in my cult who could kill innocents because they were ill. Not all humans were like the men who’d taken advantage of a young Stefan, paying him for sex so he could fill his belly. They weren’t like the man who Dre’s parents had paid to help them cross into America, only for him to kill them on the way there. They weren’t like Nestor’s parents who’d abandoned him to a priest because he was sick, nor were they like Eren’s brother-in-law who’d abused a mentally disturbed child…

  Or were they?

  Six examples of humans at their finest.

  Why were we trying to save them again?

  Stomach churning, and not from the blanket of heat that hit me as we began to trudge toward the complex, I grabbed Frazer’s hand. Even he had been affected by evil humans. Hadn’t his cousin been raped? Hadn’t his parents locked him in a mental asylum?

  It seemed like only Samuel and Reed hadn’t been touched by the evilness of mankind.

  “What is it?”

  Frazer’s low voice had me shaking my head. “Nerves,” I lied, because I wasn’t nervous, just unsure if the people we were saving deserved our sacrifice.

  “God, this would normally be crowded at this time of the day,” Dre stated gruffly, as he eyed the empty site.

  The ruins were massive, and even from this distance, the figures atop the temple were visible for all to see. Those four soldiers, made from basalt and carved so they stood thirteen feet tall, were the reason we were here and not in another part of the country.

  The Toltec warriors were why Bartlett had suggested we come to this temple and not the Pyramid dedicated to Quetzalcoatl.

  “How can a Ghoul be living in there?” Nestor argued, swiping a hand over his brow where sweat was beading. “Hell, Ghouls. It’s an archeological ruin!”

  “Perfect hunting ground,” Dre ground out, his face stormy and his body so tense that I wanted nothing more than to go to him, to hug him and ease his stress. But he didn’t want that from me.

  Not yet.

  I had to pray there’d come a time when he did, otherwise my Pack wouldn’t be complete.

  “Do we think they’re living inside the temple?” Frazer questioned.

  “They’re not like temples nowadays. These places had secret caves underneath them, tunnels that even the archeologists studying them haven’t found yet. It’s not unlikely that someone could be living down there,” Samuel explained, always the voice of reason.

  I frowned at him. “But why would they?”

  “Because they can?” he countered with a shrug.

  I eyed him for a second, amused at his bedhead hair, cocky smirk, and the shades he wore that made him look beyond cool. I was still finding it hard to reference what exactly it took for someone to be cool, but at that moment, I had a walking, talking definition of it.

  At the same time, he was hot. And that made things more confusing.

  How could someone be hot and cool?

  He cocked a brow at my study, and I grinned at him, which seemed to surprise him because both brows surged upward this time. “What?”

  “Just wondering how you could be hot and cool at the same time.”

  The guys all started snickering around me, but I shrugged because it was a genuine question. Samuel’s cheeks flushed a little, but I laughed when he curved his arm around my waist and hauled me into him.

  “I’ll make you pay for that later,” he growled, dipping down to kiss my lips.

  “Promises, promises,” I teased back, eyes sparkling—not that he could see beneath the shades Frazer had insisted I buy in Harrods.

  He snorted, then to all of us, said, “That old ‘souldiers’ reference is my major concern.”

  Reed nodded. “The spelling, but also the fact they’re going to join our ranks? How the fuck can ancient stone statues join our ranks?”

  “I don’t know, but I think we need to climb up there and investigate them.”

  “Is there no way inside the temple?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure there is, but that’s territory unknown to all of us and we have no idea how we’re going to get Raum outside into the open so we can tackle him.” Sam rubbed his chin. “There are two wishes for a reason, guys. Maybe one is to trigger the soldiers and the other is specifically for Raum?”

  Because I didn’t know what the wishes were, I couldn’t say. Last time when Avalina had translated my tattoo, I’d been present. The men had uttered the wish, but it hadn’t worked. The world hadn’t descended into chaos as it had after last night. So, to my mind, it had been silly for Bartlett to specifically ask that I leave the room so I couldn’t hear what they were discussing.

  The off-chance that the Jannah in me responded and granted a useless wish, one that wouldn’t have the same power as if I was in the presence of the next Ghoul on our hit list—the Crow—seemed unlikely.

  God was giving out locations and weapons for a reason, after all—for us to take the Originals out in person. Still, I understood the need for caution. Bartlett and Avalina had lived longer than anyone else on Earth, all because God was punishing them for falling for the devil’s temptation, and had never thought to see the day that such a feat could be managed.

  Well, it had, and we were onto round two.

  Raum was another demon on Wikipedia. Ironically enough, he could shape-shift, and in his downtime tormented humans while on vacation time from his real job as being an Earl in Hell.

  Well, that was what the humans thought.

  In real life, or IRL as Samuel called it, he was one of the three original Ghouls, and today was his day to die.

  “The ‘souldiers’ have to be an inherent aspect of what goes down today. For them to be a part of the clue,” Eren mused. “In the other clue, we had the means and the location of getting to Drekavac. That must mean the basalt Toltecs are a key to the plan.”

  I had to admit I was relieved that the temple wasn’t as high as I’d expected. Fifty or so steps—I could handle that. It was the walk toward the temple that was going to crucify me, because sheesh, it seemed to be even hotter than before.

  From a distance, the entire lot the temple sat on seemed to be covered by white, chalky dust, but as we approached the sacred ruin, it wasn’t white but a yellow-green that came from bleached grass that was springy beneath our feet. I could empathize with the parched flora because I was already chugging from my water bottle and we were five minutes into our fifteen-minute trek.

  It was so strange to leave the modernity of Hidalgo and head into this, the ruins of an ancient civilization. Well, Hidalgo wasn’t exactly New York—if I knew what New York was like, that is—but still, it was a huge contrast from a people who had lived thousands of years before Christ.

  In the distance, the four soldiers began to grow larger as we approached, and the sight of them had something inside me fluttering to life.

  The sensation was beyond bizarre because the only other time I’d felt it was when the guys did something to turn me on. So, yeah, it was definitely strange.

  “The mark’s glowing,” Samuel muttered, and he dragged me to a halt.

  At his words, the others stopped too, and peered at me like I was one of the artifacts on Drekavac’s wall, caged in glass and there only for his entertainment.

  But he was right. Beneath my shirt, the amulet on my stomach was truly vis
ible through the thick cotton—I was back in my regular uniform of yoga pants and one of the guys’ shirts. Today’s was Reed’s. Mostly because I loved his scent and he’d worn this yesterday, so it was loaded with his essence. Maybe a day-old shirt was gross to wear, but I really didn’t give a damn.

  What was I supposed to wear on a death trip?

  High heels and a little black dress?

  Nope.

  “Think that means we’re on the right track?” Eren mused.

  “Has to be.” Frazer released a relieved breath. “Thank God Bartlett wasn’t wrong. That would have been a real pain in the ass.”

  “What happens after…?” I whispered. “If the world is broken now, then how is it going to be when we get rid of another chunk of the Ghouls’ population?”

  He shrugged, then curved his arm around my shoulder. Bringing me into his side, he said, “We’ll do what we have to. Even if it means grabbing another boat and traveling to where we need to go next.”

  I bit my bottom lip. “It could take a long time.”

  “We have all the time in the world.”

  Did we though?

  I wasn’t sure, not after what I’d seen from the humans who’d begun looting in this relatively small town. I hadn’t seen the like in Bucharest, but it was undoubtedly the same the world over.

  With news of the apocalypse, people weren’t going to start behaving better, were they?

  Wasn’t it strange that I was more scared of them than the Ghouls we were about to kill?

  Because my men were focused on this current issue, I decided not to cloud things with ‘what-ifs?’ since there was no guarantee we’d even make it out of here, so fretting about the future could happen when it was the present.

  Frazer hauled me alongside him, and Samuel and Stefan seemed to hustle close like they wanted to be near me.

  Were they as scared as me? Maybe not about what was about to go down, but of the future?

  I carried on gnawing on my bottom lip as we finally made it to the temple.

  It was forged from a gray stone that was weathered by age and the climate. The steps were both soft from being trodden upon frequently and yet, remarkably clear-cut, making me wonder how the ancients had forged this kind of temple with their limited tools.

  “You don’t think Quetzalcoatl is Raum, do you?” I whispered, the thought slithering through me like the feathered serpent to whom this place was dedicated.

  “No. Raum is no God. No creature to be celebrated. He’s just an opportunist,” Samuel replied.

  “How can you be so sure?” I asked him.

  “Because God pointed us here for a reason. He has a plan, and we have to have faith.”

  When the others began nodding, I realized that somehow, along the way, the guys had come to believe where before they’d been definite atheists.

  I guess it made sense. What with their mate glowing like fairy lights I’d seen in the Christmas movies and taking them on a day trip to meet Adam and Eve…

  Because he wasn’t wrong, not technically, I nodded and began to climb the steps.

  We were purposely quiet now as we approached the top of the temple, which was a kind of plateau. We weren’t sure where the Ghouls were supposed to be living in this damn place, which didn’t exactly make things easier for us.

  The temple was on the tourist trail. Nothing as major as some of the other sites, but a busy place nonetheless. Today, it was a ghost town, and while that was to our benefit, it didn’t exactly help us blend in.

  I was surprised that the Original had no guards here at all. Maybe he lived all alone in this temple?

  Because that wasn’t creepy.

  Not one bit.

  Or were we safe from them because they were hidden within the ancient ruin?

  Just as creepy.

  The second I stepped onto the plateau where the soldiers stood guard, I eyed them warily. That feeling of connection hit me once more as I stared at the stylized bodies of the Toltec warriors.

  They each wore a headdress and had a stern expression chiseled onto their faces. They had boots and a belt with a kind of, what I could only call, stone kilt, and then on their chest, the emblem of Quetzalcoatl—a fierce serpent with a kind of feathered mane.

  They were beyond spooky, because their determination was evident.

  And only I seemed to sense that.

  I wasn’t saying that everyone believed them to be decorative, but I felt their purpose. Sure, it was to protect the temple, but more than that, it was to do what had to be done to defend their deity. And as that resonated with me, I realized how truly disgraceful it was that Raum had infiltrated this place and had made it his home.

  As though they were living breathing creatures, I sensed the soldiers’ disgust, their desire to cleanse the temple that was theirs to guard for an eternity…

  The overwhelming thoughts swirled around my head as I stepped toward them. They towered over me, over twice my height as I peered up at their stern visages, rubbing my fingers over where I could reach, needing to physically connect with them in a way I couldn’t explain.

  When I reached the fourth one, I turned around and saw the land ahead.

  The temple stood on four levels, each built up with rounded, oblong bricks that had supported these soldiers for several hundred lifetimes. Ahead, I could see columns that had been shorn down to thigh-height, and that spoke of a community of buildings that had once stood here. I could see more foundations, a lot of the parched grass and dusty white paths, then in the distance, a mountain and some of the city beyond.

  “Eve?” Reed asked, his voice quiet but, in this dead space where there was no noise from anything, not the crowds of humanity who should be here to visit this ruin, or even a car engine or a plane rumbling overhead, it was loud. So loud, I flinched.

  Turning to him, I stared at all my mates, saw their confusion, their wariness as they stared at me then the soldiers.

  It was one thing to theorize, but to stand here now?

  There was a purpose here.

  As I moved back toward the center of the plateau, I sucked down a breath and stated, “Make a wish.”

  ❖

  Frazer

  I swallowed at her words, sensing the change that had overtaken Eve and disturbed us all. She was no longer the girl who relied upon her mates to understand the most basic of human interactions in the modern world. No longer a woman who had no idea what a credit card was, and how something as simple as a parking meter worked.

  No, the Jannah was here. I felt it. Felt her. And though it excited the Sin Eater deep inside me, it scared the man because the man wanted Eve. Not the part of her that was other.

  At her words, though, Eve’s mates cast each other a wary glance before inhaling and on a silent, one, two, three, declared:

  “We wish…”

  “...for…”

  “…the souls…”

  “…of the…”

  “…Fallen…”

  “to protect…”

  “…the living.”

  For a second, nothing seemed to happen, and then, the light on Eve’s belly began to pulse. She released a cry that had us jerking in surprise. Just as Reed stepped toward her, she fell to her knees and the light streamed out of her as though she were a lighthouse. If night had fallen, she’d be a beacon for anyone to find their way home, and that was exactly what she was…

  We just didn’t realize it.

  As she glowed, from her position on her knees and at the center of the four soldiers, they all seemed to be caught in the light she emitted.

  If I hadn’t seen it with my eyes, I’d never have believed it, but the lines that made up the carvings on the Toltec warriors began to ooze with a glow of their own.

  It was like each thin cavity was a vein, and just as she sagged, the light streaming from her no more, the warriors took on that power, glowing so brightly that it stung my eyes.

  For a second, there was silence, and the pulsation of ligh
t seemed to run in time to the beat of my heart. As I stared, the veins in the warriors seemed to gleam, turning red like blood, and as we gaped, all of us with our mouths open wide, the soldiers began to move.

  Motherfucking move.

  The groan of stone grinding against stone was eerie in the silence, and one leg seemed to bend, the knee creaking as it moved to hip-height, before the boot collided with the temple’s roof.

  Eve, still on her knees on the floor, began to crawl over to us, her energy spent as we stood there gawking at the miracle or nightmare that was going down before our eyes.

  Reed and Stefan rushed forward to haul her up onto her feet and draw her toward us, just as they did it again.

  Boom.

  Boom.

  Boom.

  Three loud cracks and around us, the temple began to shake. The single bricks that made up the edifice, almost like a brick-built house on a grander scale, seemed to exude dust as the warriors rattled the entirety of the temple.

  Boom.

  Boom.

  Boom.

  In beats of three, they made their silent anger known.

  The sudden sound of wings whooshing free hit our ears, and as we turned to the side, a large crow appeared, seemingly from out of nowhere, but evidently from a secret door hidden within the chambers.

  As it stared at us, its black feathers gleaming like night itself under the sun’s heavy rays, the beast seemed to take us all in. The seven of us and Eve who was sagging against my brothers, then the soldiers, who’d turned to glower at the demon in their presence.

  The Ghoul wasn’t stupid.

  As it saw us, its wings spread wide and it began to soar, riding on the wind as it moved out, heading away from the temple.

  “The next wish!” Eve gasped.

  And her words were the trigger. We’d all been stunned speechless at what was going down before us, but we spoke as one after her prompt.

  “We wish…

  “…for the…”

  “…Fallen to…”

  “…act as…”

  “…God’s hand…”

  “…and mete out…”

  “…his holy punishment.”

  The wind surged as our wish was granted. It appeared from out of nowhere. Beyond us, the plains had been still. The breeze would have been a welcome respite from the heat of the day, in fact, but there’d been no movement. None at all.