The Devil You Know

by Zahra Stone

  “What’s the plan?” I asked, leaning back and steepling my fingers beneath my chin.

  He held up two fingers. “We have two objectives, one, stop Keres. Two, stop Lilith.”

  “Sounds easy,” Levi joked, rolling his eyes. “How do we do either of those things?”

  “Two teams. One goes after Lilith. The other clean up the mess she unleashes.” He turned his gaze toward the wall of screens. “I can see by your monitors that finding Keres will be relatively easy; she’s leaving a path of destruction. But Lilith? We can’t pick her up on any of our scans—can you?”

  I shook my head. “No sign of her so far. I figured she wasn’t on Earth. You think she is?”

  Dacian was already nodding. “The doors being opened are on Earth. She has to be there. The quicker she opens the doors, the sooner the Apocalypse starts. She’s not going to waste time. She’s there, but she’s cloaked somehow.”

  “Do you know what calling of the witnesses means?” Levi asked.

  Dacian frowned as he stared out the window. Finally, he said, “It’s old. It’s something like a court for the Gods. I’d have to go through the archives.”

  “God’s law?” Levi asked, confused.

  Dacian shook his head and then turned to me. “Not your father’s law,” he clarified. “It’s the law to Gods and Goddesses across all the realms, all the universes.”

  “But who would control that? Who would be responsible?” It seemed an incredible responsibility, and I balked at the sheer magnitude of it.

  “I can’t recall the details.” Dacian shrugged. “As I said, I’ll have to visit the archives. Why?”

  “Because Keres told us Lilith is calling the witnesses. We need to know what that means.”

  Dacian’s nose wrinkled as he shook his head. “Nothing good.”

  I rubbed my temples and called out, “Ashliel!”

  She appeared immediately. “Here,” she said, crossing the room to stand by my desk. “What do you need?”

  “Dacian, can you work with Ashliel on the witness's angle? She may be able to dig up something we can work with from here. Levi and I will go after Keres. I’ll take three of my best demons—I assume you have your angels, Dacian? If not, take whoever you need. Except for Ashliel. She stays here.”

  Dacian rose, and I caught the look of appreciation in his eyes before he raised a hand to guard them. I was pretty sure he had the hots for Ashliel. And judging by the flush in her cheeks, I figured she felt the same. I bit back a grin as the two of them darted awkward yet endearing glances at each other.

  “What do you need to know?” Ashliel asked him.

  He touched a hand to the small of her back and guided her away from us. As they walked, he said, “We need to know the laws of the witnesses. Lilith is calling the witnesses; we need to know exactly what that means. And how to stop her.”

  “Ooh, this is gonna be fun!” Ashliel’s voice was full of enthusiasm, and she began talking and flicking through her electronic clipboard.

  I waited until they’d left before turning my attention to Levi. “Are you ready for this?” I asked. “Bringing down Keres will not be easy.”

  He winked at me. “I was born ready.”

  I barked out a laugh. “No, you weren’t. You were born a human psychic. I bet you didn’t see this coming.”

  He laughed with me. “Actually, you’re right. This is far from what I ever envisaged my life being. But…”

  My smile slipped, and he held up a hand. “No regrets. I wouldn’t trade this…” Lowering his hand, he waved it around at our surroundings. “…Or you, for anything.”

  I studied him for a moment before letting it drop. What was done was done. I hadn’t meant to mark him, turn him into a Fire Demon, but I had, and there was no turning back.

  “So, how do we bring this death spirit down?” Levi asked, bringing my attention back to the matter at hand.

  “Ashliel sent me through some info on that. She’s been doing some research on Keres. Initially, I thought I’d have to kill her, but if I use her weapon against her, I can send her back to her own realm and close the door.”

  Levi flinched. “What, steal her bow and arrow?”

  I nodded. “We have to pierce her flesh with her own arrow.”

  He cocked his head. “How do we get her arrow?”

  “They were flying thick and fast in the alley.” I shrugged. “I say we go pick one up.” I rubbed at my shoulder where one of her arrows had found its mark, remembering the pain.

  After using my magic to send my demons to Earth, I took Levi’s hand and flew us to the alley. There was not an arrow in sight.

  “I don’t get it.” Running a hand around the back of his neck, Levi scoured the alley, but it was useless. There weren’t any arrows here. “Where did they go?”

  “Maybe some humans picked them up? Or Keres retrieved them.” It was a guess, but it didn’t matter what had happened to them. The only thing that did matter was we didn’t have one to use against Keres. That meant that I had to engage her in battle again. I whistled, drawing the attention of the three demons who were investigating the alley behind Levi. They immediately stopped and looked at me, waiting for their orders.

  “I’m going to contact Ashliel, get Keres’ location. We will engage her in battle. Be ready. Have your weapons in hand; she is fast. To send her back to her own dimension, you need to use her own weapon against her, which means get your hands on an arrow and stab her with it. You don’t have to kill her. Just breaking the skin should do it. It sounds easy, but it won’t be. Keres will know this is a vulnerability; she will guard against it. I suspect that is why there are no arrows left behind.”

  “The arrows are magic, then?” Levi asked.

  “Probably have some spell on them that will return them to her if they don’t hit their target. We could spend time trying to find out that spell and break it.”

  “That would take time we don’t have.” Levi sighed. “Have you heard the latest? A plague outbreak. We haven’t had the plague on Earth for years, and now there is an outbreak in every country—she sure gets around.”

  I nodded. “And it’s a great distraction technique.”

  “Oh?”

  “Keep the humans busy with trying to contain the sickness. The governments and military are all focused on this. Then another door opens, and another fresh Hell is unleashed on Earth.”

  “This could get…nuclear,” he said in a grim voice.

  “Exactly. We need to know who these witnesses are. Who is she going to call next?”

  “How?”

  “I’ve got no idea. I’m trusting Ashliel and Dacian can gather more intel for us.”

  “Okay. We don’t have time to work out Keres’s spell on her arrows, then. But they carry disease. Are we vulnerable to them?”

  “My magic cleared the toxins from my system pretty quickly—I suspect it would be the same for my demons, but you? You carry human DNA. You need to either suit up or stay out of this one.”

  “I’ll suit up. There’s no way I’m sitting this out.”

  “I knew you’d say that.” With a wave of my hand, I coated Levi in black armor, and while it looked like metal, it was as flexible as any fabric.

  “Neat.” He grinned at me, arms spread out, admiring his outfit. “I look like a ninja.”

  “You need to move like one, too, if you don’t want to get hit!”

  I looked at the three demons, who were still waiting patiently for my orders. “Ready?”

  “Affirmative,” they said in unison, their wings spanning the width of the alley.

  I utilized the connection I had to Ashliel, regardless of what realm I was in. “Ashliel? I need an updated location on Keres.”

  “She’s in Australia. Tasmania, to be precise. The city of Launceston.”

  “Got it. Thanks, Ash.”

  Spreading my wings, I motioned Levi to my side, for while he was a human fire demon hybrid, he couldn't fly. He crossed to my side an
d slid an arm around my waist, and I did the same. “Ready?” I asked.

  “Let’s do it,” he replied, and with one big whoosh of my wings, we were airborne, my demons following close behind. Traveling at inhuman speeds, it took us mere seconds to arrive at Launceston. Even from a distance, I could see the green cloud encasing the city. “Cover your nose and mouth,” I said to Levi as we approached. “I don’t want you breathing any of that in.” Glancing at my demons, I yelled, “Ready?”

  “Affirmative,” they roared back, nearly in sync.

  “Attack on sight,” I instructed, and they immediately darted in front of me, zigzagging and weaving over and around each other as we approached. Levi tugged the fabric of his armor over his nose and mouth and then clutched his sword, his knuckles white.

  I caught sight of Keres, already engaged in battle with the demons up ahead. I came in to land, releasing Levi and drawing my sword. I’d deliberately set Levi down a little farther away than necessary, and he growled his displeasure at me as I flew on ahead.

  “You’ve been busy,” I shouted at Keres over the din of battle. Her arrows flew as fast as any bullets, but my demons deflected them with spears and swords. Unfortunately, their strikes had little effect.

  “You took your time,” she yelled back. “I’ve achieved a lot in your absence. See this mist? Every breath they take, they suck mutant spores into their lungs, like acid, it will eat away at them. Every man, woman, and child will be destroyed from the inside out.”

  “Bitch,” I hissed through clenched teeth. She was goading me. Her gaze darted to Levi, and I knew she was aware of Levi’s weakness. He was part human. And I guessed Lilith had filled her in on our relationship because while Levi’s humanity was seen as a weakness, Levi himself was my weakness.

  They could use him against me.

  I wouldn’t let that happen.

  I swooped in low and fast, slashing my sword, catching Keres on the forearm. Blood exploded into the air before the wound healed itself. I joined my demons in dive-bombing the death spirit, swooping low then high, coming in at different angles, all the while keeping an eye on Levi, who was fast approaching on foot. I needed him to remember to grab an arrow but didn’t want to yell it out in front of Keres, given it might tip her off about our intentions.

  An arrow caught one of my demons’ wings and sent him spinning out of control. He crashed into the ground. Precious seconds were lost as he wrenched the arrow from the membrane of his wing, healed himself, and went back into battle.

  Only, he hadn’t kept hold of the arrow; he’d thrown it to the ground in anger. Damn it. I shot him an angry look, but his focus was on Keres.

  Levi spotted the arrow and veered toward it. The arrow didn’t return to Keres because it found its target. It hit the demon. As Keres’s head turned in Levi’s direction, I realized this might be our only shot. I quickly flew in front, blocking her view, while behind me, Levi’s hand scraped the pavement as he snatched up the arrow. Every fiber of my being wanted to take the arrow from Levi and finish the job, but I knew that would be a mistake. We had to use Levi to our advantage. Keres didn’t consider him a threat because of his human DNA, and as such, barely paid him any attention.

  It worked.

  The demon who had been hit was attacking with renewed fervor, furious he’d been injured and taking his wrath out with a rapid-fire attack. I joined in along with the other two demons.

  As Levi drew closer, I kept myself between him and Keres, giving him extra protection while affording him the opportunity to get close enough to attack. I didn’t expect what happened next, and I swear my heart stopped in my chest.

  Levi vaulted onto Keres’s back, wrapped one arm around her neck, and with the other, plunged the arrow into her side. Keres bellowed, dislodging the arrow as Levi leaped clear.

  Then, she vanished.

  Poof. Gone.

  My heart resumed beating, and I turned to Levi in relief.

  “You did it!” I grinned, wiping sweat from my brow. It had been a fast-paced fight, and I was winded, as were my demons, judging from the puffing coming from behind me as they landed.

  “Fuck, that was epic!” Levi beamed, clearly pleased with himself. Hell, I was pleased with him, too. He’d remained focused and had done what needed to be done.

  “Look.” One of the demons pointed, and I looked up to see the green mist clear. Keres had been sent back to her dimension, and with her, all of her disease.

  Chapter Nine

  “We failed.” Dacian’s voice was as grim as his face.

  “Another door opened?” I asked.

  He nodded.

  “Then we work on stopping her from opening a third. Do we know who she called?” Planting my hands on my hips, I waited.

  “Not yet. Just a shift in the Earth’s energy indicating a dimension breach. You had success, though? Keres has been banished?”

  “She has. Thanks to Levi. You taught him well.” I slapped Dacian on the shoulder since he was the one that trained Levi.

  “So now we have another creature to take down?” Levi asked, rubbing his hands together, looking like he was keen for the battle.

  “We do,” I said. “But, we need to know what we’re dealing with first.”

  “Can’t we use their weapon against them? Like we did with the death spirit?”

  “That’d be too easy,” I sighed, rubbing my hand around the back of my neck. I was tired and sweaty.

  “I’m going to take a shower,” I told them. “I need to clear my head. Dacian, you’ve updated Ashliel?”

  “Yeah, she’s still working on the witness angle as well as nailing down this latest threat,” Dacian said. “I’m going to check Heaven’s archives; this is taking longer than I expected. And let me know when you’ve got a hit on the latest threat.”

  “Will do.” To Levi, I said, “Get some rest. We need to get back out there and send whoever Lilith let in back to their own dimension.”

  “But we don’t know how,” he protested.

  “We’ll find out. We always do.”

  It came to me standing beneath the spray of the shower. As I closed my eyes and tipped my head back, the water flowed over my face, and I heard it. Dad’s voice. The power of three.

  My eyes flew open, and I blinked, glancing around in shock. Was Dad here? In my bathroom? Slapping one hand across my breasts and the other across my lady bits, I squinted through the steam. “Dad?”

  No reply.

  Stepping out from the shower, I grabbed a towel and wrapped myself in it, but still no sign of Dad. But, he’d sent me a message from inside the condensation, for on the mirror were the exact words he’d spoken.

  The power of three.

  The door flew open, and Levi was there, bare-chested, shirt clutched in one hand.

  “You alright? Thought I heard you call out?” His gaze scanned the room before coming to rest on me, and I felt the heat of his gaze all the way to my toes. It had been a while since we’d been intimate, and my body was reminding me of that fact.

  “I’m fine.” I couldn’t contain the hitch in my throat.

  “You need to stop looking at me like that if you don’t want me to follow through,” he growled, his eyes darkening.

  “Who says I don’t want you to follow through?” I challenged. It was all he needed. With lightning speed, he pressed me up against the tile, one hand slipping behind my neck, his mouth coming down on mine.

  “I missed this,” I breathed, breaking the kiss. “I missed your kiss, your taste, your touch.” Frantically, I wound my arms around his neck and pulled him close for another kiss, wanting more, wanting everything he could give me. His growl vibrated through me, setting my nerve endings on fire, as did his fingers that trailed down my side, taking my towel with them. I stood naked, trembling, and pressed against him.

  He lifted his head, and I mewled in protest. Dark desire flashed in his eyes. He wanted me as much as I wanted him. Loved me as much as I loved him. Despite what had h
appened, we were back together, as we were meant to be.

  “Jesus, Lucy,” he groaned. “Stop looking at me like that.”

  “Like what?” I breathed.

  “Like you want to fuck me every which way there is, and then do it all over again.”

  “But I do,” I whispered, dropping kisses on his chest. “That’s exactly what I want to do.” A squeal escaped as he pulled us into the still running shower. Water cascaded over us, and I laughed. “You still have your pants on.”

  “Don’t care.”

  I loved this side of him, this raw, primal, alpha male side. It excited me even more. He smelled so good, like a heady aphrodisiac. Every nerve in my body was aching for his touch. A whimper escaped my mouth as I pulled him closer, the muscles on his back taut under my hands.

  “You feel so good,” I groaned into his mouth.

  He chuckled. “Took the words right out of my mouth, babe.”

  It was time to banish the pain that existed between us, the hurt of what had transpired the last time we were together like this. I bit his lip, tasted blood, and didn’t care. He returned the favor, sensing that I didn’t want gentle. I wanted unbridled passion; I wanted out of control lust.

  The aftermath was bittersweet. My body was sated, my heart was whole, yet there was a tiny piece that was empty. A silent tear tracked down my cheek. Levi studied my face, then wiped the tear away with his thumb.

  “I love you,” he whispered, his voice raw with emotion.

  I nodded. “I know.” After taking in a deep breath, I added something else that I knew. “I’m sorry,” I whispered back. “It wasn’t your fault. I love you, too.”

  Chapter Ten

  “What do you think it means?” Levi murmured.

  We were lying in bed, wrapped in each other’s arms, and I didn’t have to ask what he was talking about. We were that in sync.

  “I don’t know,” I replied. “But it was Dad’s voice I heard. That he delivered the message twice in two different mediums means he really wanted me to receive it.” I ignored the twinge of hurt that my father hadn’t delivered the message in person. Sure, Dacian had said he was weak, but I knew the real reason he avoided me. For good reason, because I was still pissed as Hell about what he’d done.