by S. A. Moss
He inhaled deeply, getting one last whiff of my blood, then walked past me, bumping my shoulder with his. The door closed behind him with a heavy thud.
The sound jarred Alex out of his stupor, and he looked up at me. “Cam, what is—”
“Shhh!” I closed my eyes, putting all my attention on the bind around me. I was so close. I could feel it loosening its hold.
A sharp crack rang out, and the entire tower shook like it’d been hit by an earthquake. Another loud bang followed. The floor shifted.
Oh no. The demon was going to bring down the tower.
I could survive that, but I had no idea how long it would take me to recover—by then, Akaron and all his minions would be on Earth.
And Alex…
My eyes snapped open, staring at him in panic. He wouldn’t survive it.
I yanked at the last thread on the bind around me, finally breaking its hold. I dropped to the ground just as a sound like thunder reverberated through the building. The floor started to give way.
Scrambling to my feet, I sprinted across the crumbling room, launching myself over the altar on the dais. My arms wrapped around Alex’s waist as chunks of the ceiling fell around us.
As our bodies flew through the air, I faded back to Earth, bringing Alex with me.
23
We landed on soft sand, our bodies rolling over and over together in tangle. Alex was still bound, so he hadn’t even been able to brace for the impact as we hit the Earth. But being crushed under my weight was better than being crushed under a massive pile of heavy stone.
I blinked. The sky overhead was pristine blue, unmarred by a single cloud. A white-yellow sun blazed down on the sand dunes rising and falling gently around us. We were in some massive desert, although I couldn’t have pointed it out on a map to save my life.
Alex groaned, and I scrambled off him.
“Sorry! Are you okay?”
“I’ll live. This sand is scorching though.”
Oh shit. I didn’t register heat and cold as intensely as a human did, so I hadn’t noticed. I bent down and pressed my hands to his chest, working to unravel the bind my father had put on him. It was easier here, with far fewer distractions, than it had been in the Seer’s tower.
As I worked, Alex regarded me with sad eyes.
“I didn’t mean to, Cam. I truly didn’t.”
I clenched my jaw, keeping my attention on his chest.
“I didn’t even think I was using my power on her. She made me kill her.” He grimaced, shaking his head. “Or maybe that’s just want I want to believe. I couldn’t stand what they were doing to you, Cam. I just wanted it to stop.”
Leaning down, I kissed the top of his head gently. I must’ve looked like a horror movie reject, with blood caking my body and sand sticking to the tacky wetness. But Alex didn’t shrink from my touch. Instead, he leaned into it like a lifeline.
I worked for a few more moments in silence, then I felt Alex stir beneath my hand. As the bind broke, he sat up, shaking out his arms. We stood up together, squinting out at the starkly beautiful landscape around us.
“We need to go back,” I said, though part of me wished we could just stay here in this quiet, barren desert forever. It was so peaceful.
But if Akaron got what he wanted, it wouldn’t stay that way. No place on Earth would be peaceful.
I squared my shoulders, then grabbing Alex’s hand and staggered forward over the shifting sands. We needed to get clear of where the tower had once stood before we crossed back over to the Shroud.
“Do you think we can stop them before they get through the portals?” Alex asked.
I didn’t answer, just squeezed his hand tighter and kept walking.
No.
It was the truth I knew in my heart, even if I couldn’t admit it out loud.
We’d lost. My father and Akaron had won. They’d found a way to Earth, right through the portals humanity’s guardians had created.
A scream of frustration built in my chest, but I refused to let it out. It might be too late to stop Akaron and Sirius, but it wasn’t too late to make them pay.
That grim promise beat like a war drum in my head as Alex and I made our way across the sand. When we’d gone several dozen yards, I tugged on his hand, halting him. “We should be clear of the tower. I have no idea where we are, but it’s going to have to be good enough. We can’t lose any more time.”
He grabbed my other hand, and we stood facing each other as if we were about to recite our wedding vows—in the middle of a scorching desert, covered in sand and blood.
Just like every little girl dreams of.
I faded back over to the Shroud, bringing Alex with me. When the Seer had been protecting the place, no one could fade in within the perimeter of the castle’s outer walls. But with her wards gone, there was nothing preventing our arrival.
The shadowy landscape of the Shroud seemed pitch black after the bright light of the desert, and I cursed as I groped around me with one hand.
My fingers brushed the rough bark of a tree. I squinted, willing the dark forest to come into focus. Ahead of me, large chunks of stone rose in a huge pile. The smell of dust mingled with sulfur in the air.
We were in the woods next to where the tower had stood. I turned around, finally spotting the wall of the Haven in the distance. The stone walkway that had connected the tower to the main castle keep had been half destroyed when the tower collapsed. But we could scramble up the broken stones and onto the walkway.
“There! Come on!” I raced toward the rubble, scrabbling up and over giant rocks, heading toward the slope of broken stone that led to the walkway. Alex kept pace with me. The short time spent on Earth didn’t seem to have done him any harm. In fact, he seemed to be bursting with energy, bounding across gaps in the stones with ease.
It was probably adrenaline. I could relate.
When we reached the walkway, we sprinted toward the door to the keep. I wrenched it open, and we slipped inside. The hall was empty, but sounds of shouts and roars echoed down from the rest of the castle. I took the stairs up to the main level two at a time, fingertips twitching and ready to unleash aether at the first sight of the Fallen.
As we reached the top step, three demons rounded a corner ahead of us. I threw out my hands, simultaneously building a filter with three apertures in it. Three aether spears sank into each of their chests, and they stumbled backward, spewing dark blood.
Alex glanced at me, eyes wide. “Shit. You got good.”
I bared my teeth in a fierce smile. “I got pissed.”
The demons would heal soon enough, but they were no longer my concern. Alex and I dashed past their twitching bodies, heading farther into the castle. A ghoul with sickly yellow skin popped out of doorway as we passed. Without hesitating, Alex threw a deft right hook at it, followed by a kick that sent it flying into the wall. The ghoul hit the stone with a crunch then slid limply to the floor.
We wound our way through the Haven’s halls, attacking any Fallen we saw. They were mostly low-level creatures, which was good and bad. It made them much easier to attack, but it also meant that the higher-level Fallen—Akaron included—had likely already passed through a portal to Earth.
Without warning, a blast flew through the corridor from behind us. I was in the lead, so Alex took the brunt of the blow. He flew forward, rolling awkwardly in the cramped space. I turned and threw a succession of aether daggers at the goblin running up the hall toward us. They pierced his chest one after another, slowing his charge until he finally pitched forward onto his face. I threw two daggers at his back for good measure, taking grim satisfaction in the way his body twitched.
Alex was picking himself up when I turned back to him. He dusted off his pants and shook out his shoulders.
When I started to reach for him, he shook his head. “I’m okay. The hit wasn’t that bad. We need to keep going.”
I hesitated for a second. I knew from personal experience that absorbing a bla
st hurt like hell. Maybe the goblin who threw it was just weak?
Before I could insist on checking him for injuries, Alex took off down the hall again.
Stubborn man. He didn’t even know where he was going.
I raced after him, pulling ahead so I could lead him toward the portal room. I threw up a shield behind us every once in a while, just in case.
We rounded the final corner, sprinting toward the portal room. But as we neared it, my heart sank.
24
Huge gashes marred the stone walls. Doors hung off their hinges. Several of the wall sconces had been destroyed, leaving patches of darkness along the hallway.
Some big-ass Fallen came through here.
The giant double doors of the portal room were blown inward. Chunks of wood still hung from the large hinges, and other pieces of the door were scattered inside the room.
The football field-sized space was in total chaos. Fallen leapt through the doors on the walls, laughing, snarling, and shouting. My hands became a blur of movement, throwing out blast after blast of aether. Behind me, Alex laid out any Fallen that got too close. Most of them didn’t even bother to fight us, though. They had what they wanted and were more concerned about escaping to Earth than dealing with one pesky Guardian and her human friend.
“Where are we headed? Chicago?” Alex asked breathlessly as we raced across the room.
“I’d bet anything. That’s where all this started. That’s where it’ll all end.”
I wasn’t positive that’s where Akaron and my father were, but our only option was to try every door individually until we found them. Might as well start with the most likely place.
The door marked Chicago - Downtown was scarred by several long scratches and sat slightly ajar.
A large, hairy demon jostled past us as he rushed for the door. I threw an aether spear, impaling him through the back of the head.
Alex shot me a look, and I shrugged. “One fewer demon to stalk the streets of Chicago.”
He grinned, grabbing my hand. Pushing open the door, we stepped through.
Rain pelted me as soon as my foot hit the alley ground. Sand and blood washed down my skin, and I scrubbed a hand across my face to clear it. The alley was dimly lit. I’d lost track of what time it was; probably close to midnight by now.
Screams and shouts echoed in the night, almost drowned out by sirens. Alex and I raced toward the mouth of the alley. As we neared it, a woman ran past, her eyes wild. A second later, something that looked like an overgrown lizard scuttled after her. I darted onto the street and hurled a blast at it. The lizard-creature slammed into the side of a building and bounced off, shaking its head. The woman shot a terrified look at me, then at the lizard creature. She turned on her heel and bolted.
“Alex!” I called, throwing myself on the lizard’s back as it struggled to its feet.
“On it!” He followed me, grabbing onto the lizard-creature’s tail with both hands and flooding it with mortality. It let out a noise I was pretty sure I’d heard before in a Jurassic Park movie and bucked wildly. Before it could throw me off, I threw an aether spear through its head. It collapsed immediately, blood seeping from the hole in its skull.
Another one down.
But neither of them were the one I wanted.
“Akaron! We have to find Akaron!” I called to Alex, leaping off the lizard’s back.
He followed me as I tore down the street, following the sounds of chaos.
For several blocks, we encountered nothing. The stillness around us contrasted eerily with the cries and screams in the distance, setting my teeth on edge. My clothes were soaked. It was hard to see through the darkness and driving rain.
I glanced at Alex. The rain didn’t chill me, and I could run at an all-out sprint for hours—but I worried that it would take its toll on Alex, who had barely had enough time on the Shroud to recover. But he seemed to be keeping pace easily with me, his strong arms pumping with the rhythm of his stride and his hair plastered to his forehead.
As we neared the lake front, we burst out of the cover of tall buildings. Bright lights cut through the rain, glinting and shimmering as they reflected off the drops. Police cars and SWAT vehicles lined the street, and dozens of black-clad bodies gathered in the park across the street.
When I saw what the lights were pointing at, my breath caught. Sirius and Akaron stood in a wide open space. Several large pig-demons stood beside them, baring their blunt teeth at the human officers who had the group surrounded.
Oh no.
They were here. Akaron and Sirius had made it to Earth.
And no matter who appeared to have the upper hand now, this was not going to end well for the humans.
“Put your hands behind your head and get on the ground!”
The words blasted out of a megaphone held by an officer standing a few yards from us, blaring above the other sounds piercing the night.
Shit. These stupid humans. Didn’t they remember what had happened last time they tried to fight a demon? Maybe because these demons were mostly humanoid looking, the officers thought they’d be easier to handle.
Big, big mistake.
“Hands behind your head! Get down on the ground!” The officer shouted again, as if the reason Sirius and Akaron weren’t complying was because they couldn’t hear him.
Then Akaron lifted his hands, raising them slowly to the top of his head.
What? No way was he actually going to surrender to these humans. Unless he wasn’t as powerful as I’d assumed? He was intelligent and cunning, I knew that for sure. But it occurred to me I’d never actually seen him throw around aether.
But instead of lacing his hands behind his head, Akaron lifted the thick fabric of his cloak. It was soaked with rain and looked even heavier than usual. He slipped it back off his bald head, tilting his face up to catch the rain.
His skin was pale, almost bone-white, and his eyes were a deep red. Jagged scars covered his scalp, as if a kid with a butter knife had tried to perform a lobotomy. His tongue slipped out, tasting the rain as it pelted his face.
When he looked back down, his gaze bored into the officer who’d been shouting at him. Instead of lowering his hands, Akaron stretched his arms out wide at shoulder height.
“Thank you for the invitation, officer,” he said softly. I could barely hear the words over the rain. “But I’ve already spent thousands upon thousands of years rotting in a prison. I’m afraid I must decline.” He paused, then turned toward my father. “Shields.”
I scrunched my nose. Shields? What the hell did that mean? Was he—
Oh, shit!
My father made a small gesture, and I realized what Akaron was about to do a split second before he did it.
He brought his hands out in front of him, fingers splayed. And then he made a strange gesture, as if he were pulling something toward him. A rumbling sound filled the air, and a fierce pressure rose up at my back, as if I’d stepped into the funnel of a tornado. Two police cars hurtled toward Akaron, flying over his head and disappearing into the blackness behind him.
I threw my arms around Alex, dragging him to the ground and erecting the strongest shield I could around us. Bodies flew through the air ahead of us, screams cutting horribly through the night as they careened through space. Steel screeched and groaned as Akaron pulled aether toward him, tearing through the bases of the buildings lining the street.
With a rumbling sound, they began to topple.
25
As soon as the pressure of Akaron’s pull stopped, I grabbed Alex’s hand, hauling him to his feet. We sprinted down the street as the ground shook. Debris and wet dust filled the air, making it even harder to see. I dodged a chunk of falling cement, tugging Alex after me and putting on a burst of speed. After we’d cleared three blocks, I rounded the side of a building that seemed stable and peered around it to look back.
The buildings lining the park were folding into themselves, collapsing floor by floor. One swayed and
tipped forward, the top several stories crashing to the street, crushing anyone who was left in the park. I squeezed my eyes shut.
All those SWAT members. Gone.
The sounds of unwilling metal bending and snapping cut through the night like screams. There was a burst of sparks, and all the streetlights went out. A power line must’ve snapped.
No light from the moon could penetrate the thick rain clouds, leaving us in almost complete darkness. The sounds seemed to amplify in the void, sending a chill down my spine.
After several long minutes, the crashing and rumbling ceased, and silence rushed in to fill the space.
Throat tight, I darted around the corner, racing down the dark street. I tripped over a chunk of debris but caught my balance. Alex followed close behind me, breathing hard from exertion and fear.
At the end of the street, huge chunks of cement blocked the way, making it impassable. I threw a blast at one, and it cracked. The weakness of my blast compared to Akaron’s just made the fury rise higher in my chest. I threw blast after blast at the giant pile of rubble, causing it to shake and shudder. But I couldn’t tear it down.
Finally, I collapsed to my knees, tears streaming down my face.
Sometime in the last few minutes, the rain had stopped. Moonlight peered through a break in the clouds at the devastation on the street.
Alex crouched beside me. His eyes glinted in the dim light, grave and sad. “There was nothing you could have done, Cam.”
“You don’t know that!” I shouted, my voice hoarse. “My father just stood there and let him—” I cut off, choking on a sob. “I had a chance to kill Sirius once! I should’ve taken it! I was too—”
“No!” Alex grabbed my face, forcing me to look at him. “I won’t let you feel bad for wanting to believe there was something good in your father. You have hope, Cam. It’s what I love about you. You want to see the good in people.”
I nodded numbly. I couldn’t stop staring at the shadows before me, trying to catch a glimpse of my father or Akaron. Logically, I knew they had to be long gone by now. But that didn’t stop me from wanting to run into what was left of the park and fight them both barehanded.