by Cate Corvin
Azazel shook his head. “The only way to learn how to use interdimensional pockets is to become familiar with them. That is where I draw the line at teaching you.”
“You managed it.” I looked for the mirror and saw that it was already gone.
Azazel pressed a hand to the small of my back and guided me towards the door. “I was willing to risk my own life and limb. I’m not risking yours.”
We emerged to find the campfire’s ashes strewn across the empty space, several of the coals still smoldering, and several streaks of soot marked the trail we’d taken in. There was no sign of Tascius, Lucifer, or the oracle.
A high shriek rose from the bluffs beyond, and several birds flew over the sky overhead, startled away from the sound.
My heart clenched in my chest. Surely Lucifer or Tascius couldn’t be hurt by her? She was wizened and thin, not much of a threat.
“Let’s find them before this turns into a bloodbath,” Azazel said, and I spread my wings and launched upwards.
From above, the bluffs were a warren of tunnels and paths, but I knew where I’d find my men. There was a brilliant flash of light from the edge of Elysium’s forest.
“It might be too late for the bloodbath part,” I said grimly.
Tascius’s roar echoed in my ears as I shot towards the forest with Azazel at my side.
24
Lucifer
I didn’t think twice about following the Nephilim as he charged out of the cave.
He barreled towards the shrieking oracle, who fell back into her fire and sent coals scattering everywhere. She climbed to her feet, her remaining robes smoldering, and darted towards the path.
Tascius slid to a stop with all the grace of a lion and followed, mindlessly roaring his rage.
I couldn’t find a single drop of sympathy in me for her. The moment she’d suggested eating my mate, her number was up.
I flapped hard and rose above the bluffs, drawing my sword and following them from above. Tascius was only a step behind the preternaturally fast crone; he swung his dagger and sliced away a hank of gray hair, but in his rage, his strike went wide and the blade skittered off the sandstone, sending out a spray of sparks.
His knife was blunt and bent, but it’d still serve its purpose if he caught her. In the grip of Nephilim rage, he would probably lose the knife altogether and use his hands alone.
I just wanted her hands before he tore her to pieces.
The oracle tore from the bluffs, darting like a spider over the rocks for the safety of the trees. I followed her, catching a drift of wind before plummeting downwards and landing at the edge of the forest like a meteor.
The ground shook under my fall, and she halted, breathing heavily and staring at me with wide eyes.
“I didn’t mean it, damn you!” she shrieked. “It was just a trade!”
“You’d think with your sight, you would’ve foreseen that asking for a trade like that was a really shit idea.” As soon as I had what I needed from her, Tascius could do whatever he pleased.
I’d see her dead just for looking at Melisande like she was a meal.
She turned away from me just in time to see Tascius stalking from the sandstone maze, his nostrils flaring as he caught her scent.
The oracle tried to flee, and I was on her in an instant, my sword at her throat. I drew it back for a powerful downswing, a clean beheading.
And then I went flying through the air, smacking into a boulder. A jolt of pain ran through me from the sheer force of impact.
Tascius snarled at me like an animal, and reached down for the oracle. His fingers wrapped around her throat, but before they tightened, she loosed the loudest scream yet, clawing at his arm and opening red scratches.
He gripped her head and turned it with a sharp crack. The oracle fell silent.
But he wasn’t done.
The Nephilim dropped the limp body and stalked towards me. He was caught in the madness, the pure bloodlust that afflicted every one of his kind, and now that he’d seen me crouched over his prey, I’d been placed firmly in that category as well.
I raised my sword and backed away.
It went against everything in my nature, but the only way to stop a Nephilim was through pure force. Melisande would never forgive me if I damaged him just for being what he was.
“Tascius, stop.”
He prowled closer, then picked up a small boulder and raised it over his head, throwing it at me with a bellow.
I dodged the stone and heard it shatter into pieces on the bluff behind me. He drew his axe off his back, holding it like it weighed nothing.
“I’m not your enemy, Nephilim.”
He moved like lightning, from ten feet away to only inches in the blink of an eye. I raised my sword and caught the axe’s downswing, the impact jarring through my arms. He was fucking ungodly strong, swinging again without missing a beat.
I parried him, the muscles in my arms going numb with every sweeping stroke I caught. I summoned the light from inside myself, hoping to blind him, and Tascius growled low in his throat.
The sound of beating wings filled the air. I gritted my teeth, hoping Melisande had chosen a high perch away from the blindly-swinging blades.
There was no way he was going to burn out his rage if I just defended myself. Maybe pain would pull him out.
I lashed out with a kick, catching his thigh just above the knee. Tascius’s leg buckled and he dropped the axe, but his recovery time was amazingly fast, and I felt a hand close around my sword-arm.
He squeezed, grinding my bones together and forcing me to drop my sword.
I swung in with an uppercut to the jaw, a last-resort that had dropped many an enemy.
Tascius’s head snapped back, but he raised it again, a wild animal grin showing through the blood spilling from his mouth.
His fist found my stomach, pummeling into me with the force of a train. Dimly, I heard Melisande screaming something, but all my focus went on keeping the Nephilim from breaking loose.
I charged into him, knocking him to the ground and laying several heavy punches into his face and throat. He gripped my fists and kicked, rolling me in the dirt, and then it was my turn to feel knuckles meeting my nose.
A snap echoed through my skull as my nose shattered. Hot blood poured over my face, coating my mouth and chin, and through a bright burst of pain I saw Tascius draw his fist back to put it right through my head.
I jammed a knee upwards, driving it right into his balls. I would’ve felt worse about it if he hadn’t just shattered half my face.
I might as well have kicked a wall for all the good it did. He didn’t make a sound except the low, constant snarling, and seconds before he got in another punch, I heaved upwards and managed to flip him off me.
Tascius got up and bent low to charge, then my worst nightmare came true.
Melisande darted between us, her arms thrown out wide. “Stop! Tascius, stop, he’s not your enemy!”
The Nephilim had already been moving before she spoke. I was too far away, too slow to drag her aside before he ripped right through her.
Time seemed to slow to a halt; Melisande between us, Tascius barreling forward, the look on Azazel’s face as he looked up from sawing the oracle’s hands from her wrists.
Horror was stronger than the worst physical pain, my lungs freezing on a shout.
Tascius couldn’t stop in time; the Nephilim barreled into her and the pair went flying to the ground.
My chest felt like a vise as I hurried forward. There was a billow of darkness as Azazel took form next to us, both of us reaching down to lift Tascius away.
I blinked, unable to believe what I was seeing.
Melisande had thrown her arms around the Nephilim’s neck; she was kissing him furiously, and Tascius had one arm wrapped around her waist and the other braced on the ground, holding her just inches above it.
Whatever went on in the darkness inside his skull, he’d had the awareness to keep her from be
ing crushed, from having her brains splattered all over the stone.
I dropped into a crouch, breathing a sigh of relief.
The Nephilim felt me near him and growled, and Melisande stroked his shoulders, calming the beast inside him.
I felt a twinge of pain as my nose started to heal and reached up through the gore to hold it straight.
Melisande finally broke the kiss, hugging him closer as he relaxed and resting her chin on his shoulder.
“It’s okay,” she whispered, still tracing little circles over his back. “You’re with me. Everything is fine.”
Her lower lip was swollen and bruised from how hard he’d run into her. She cracked an eye open, giving me a warning glare without saying a word.
Tascius released a long breath and slowly got to his feet, bringing her with him and picking her up. He hugged her so hard she groaned.
“I could’ve fucking murdered you,” he said hoarsely. “I could’ve killed you.”
He seemed dazed, but the angel didn’t release him. “You didn’t, though. Wherever you go when it happens, you still knew me.”
“I told you to stay in the air,” Azazel said tightly. He was staring at Melisande, his eyes hard. “You put yourself directly in harm’s way.”
She raised her chin. “They were going to beat each other to death.”
“I gave you explicit instructions that were there to keep you safe.” He was ice-cold, an emotion I knew all too well from a man who could be a harsh teacher.
“He wouldn’t hurt me,” Melisande said, her voice firm.
“You don’t know that!” Shadows wisped from Azazel’s skin, disappearing into the air like smoke.
Melisande shimmied out of Tascius’s arms, but the Nephilim didn’t let her walk far. He was still breathing heavily, coming down from the bloodlust.
“I do know him,” she said, pointing at Azazel accusingly. “I know what he is. I accepted that the day I asked him to be mine, and I’m not going to turn my back on him when he needs me, nor on you, or Lucifer.”
“He’s right, Melisande.” Tascius sounded pained, and not just from my fists in his face and throat. “I’m a danger to you.”
She swung around, glaring dangerously. “Don’t you dare take his side.”
“Oh, please do,” Azazel said silkily.
From the way Azazel looked about ready to take full shadow-form, his body wavering at the edges, I was going to have to be the one to settle this.
I strode forward and took her hands, folding up her fingers in mine.
“I know you love him, and I wouldn’t ask you not to help him,” I said, looking in her eyes. Her gaze flicked from mine and down to the blood drying on my mouth. “But at the very least, could you not get in between him and whatever he’s trying to kill at the moment?”
She snorted an angry little breath and used her sleeve to wipe away some of the blood on my face. “That’s… reasonable, I guess.”
She released me and stepped back, folding her arms over her chest the way she did when she was feeling defensive.
“Look, every single one of you is a danger to me in some way. Lucifer handed my ass to me without breaking a sweat. Tascius goes mad with rage. Belial could eat me in literally one bite. And you can’t claim to be any less of a danger,” she said to Azazel. “If you wanted to, you could open a door to some fucking nightmare dimension and shove me through.”
“I would never do that,” he said, his voice stiff.
“But can we know that?” she asked, parroting his earlier words. “If you tried to contact another entity and lost yourself again, would you know me? If the abyss opened up further and took over your soul completely, could you say beyond a shadow of a doubt that I would be in no danger from it?”
Azazel was silent, but his violet eyes burned furiously.
“I love you all not just in spite of your deadliness, but because of it. Every single one of you means more than my own life to me, and I wouldn’t turn my back on any of you, even if you were mad with bloodlust or no longer yourself. It is equal. You all chose me; I chose you, and no matter what you are, I will not run away from you.”
She stared at us all, clearly expecting some resistance, and getting none.
I was just floored by her admission. She loved us.
I caught Azazel’s eye, the softening in his harsh expression, and realized he was thinking the same thing. Tascius was staring at her, eyes wide.
“So… are we agreed?” she asked, eyeing us suspiciously. She didn’t even see that she’d just dropped a bomb on us.
I couldn’t fault Tascius for what he was if she’d chosen him. Hell, he’d been the first.
“We’re agreed,” I said cheerfully, breaking the tense silence. “Love you, too.”
“I love you, too,” Tascius said. Her mouth opened in astonishment, and I enjoyed watching the slide of emotions play on her features: surprise, confusion, and finally, understanding followed by embarrassment.
Azazel slid forward on his shadows, tipping up her chin. “I love you, stubborn little monster.” He kissed her, being careful of her bruised lip, and didn’t scowl until he drew back. “But next time I give you an order-”
“I will follow it to a T up until the moment I decide not to.” She looked flustered, cheeks red, but couldn’t hold back a smile.
Azazel rolled his eyes. “I expected no less.”
“You always get the problem students,” I added, striding past to the oracle’s body.
Azazel had neatly cut away her hands, leaving stumps behind. We had everything we needed: the mirror, the ebonite, her hands.
Tascius cast a dark look at the body, and I knew he was mulling over the oracle’s last taunts.
“Don’t take it to heart,” I heard Melisande say. “She didn’t know a damn thing. We’re not going to take predictions from a crazy lady who wanted to turn me into stew.”
Tascius just managed to wipe the grim look from his face. “Consider it forgotten.”
It was clear he was lying, but Melisande patted his arm reassuringly all the same.
“We’re flying,” Azazel said. He was already shimmering, extending a hand to Tascius. “The sooner we create the new sword, the sooner we finish this.”
Melisande glanced at him and sucked in her lip thoughtfully, then winced when she hit the bruise.
Whatever was on her mind, it was clearly not happy thoughts or confessions of adoration.
I took her hand, extending my wings. “Let’s go, love.”
She gave me a crooked smile. “You’re not going to let that go, are you?”
“Don’t tell me you’re embarrassed.”
“No, but…” She burst into the air next to me, drawing away just enough to give us both room to gain height. “I probably could’ve done it in a more romantic way. Maybe when we weren’t fighting.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” I caught a draft and soared after Azazel’s shadow, Melisande just above me. “Right after a brutal fistfight is the best time to confess your deepest, darkest feelings.”
“You would think that, wouldn’t you?” Her wry look was impossible to miss.
“Come on, you think kicking ass and taking names is the most romantic thing ever.”
“I’m glad you know me so well,” she said, catching an updraft and soaring higher.
I caught up easily, flying wingtip to wingtip. “So you’re telling me if I fought against you in your arena, you wouldn’t think it’s the sexiest thing ever?”
“That’s not what I’m saying at all,” she said, pink touching her cheekbones. “You do get me.”
“Good. Because as soon as they realize that they’re all going to want a turn.”
“You’re all welcome to take me on.” Melisande grinned at me, the wind whipping her hair back.
“Oh, that’s exactly what we’re going to do, love,” I said with a leer.
She rolled her eyes, affecting Azazel’s world-weariness, but she had no idea how much those word
s had hit me.
The minute we were alone again, I was going to take the next step.
Azazel had his mark.
Now she needed mine.
25
Melisande
We touched down near the Styx, and I wiped sweat off my forehead, my back clenching up tight.
We’d shaved nearly a week off our journey and managed to bypass Acheron completely, flying over the dead, gray land, but days of flying had taken its toll on largely-unused wings, and night was falling. Exhaustion dragged at my bones, pulling my eyelids down like bricks were attached.
Tascius stepped from the cloud of Azazel’s shadows and frowned when he saw me panting, bent over with my hands braced on my thighs.
“You’re not used to this,” he said, touching my shoulders and feeling the tight, knotted muscles there.
Lucifer dropped next to me. “Let me help you.”
“I’ve got it,” Tascius said, steel in his tone, and Lucifer raised an eyebrow but let him gather me up.
“We’ll make camp here for the night.” Azazel walked among the gray boulders of the mountain’s base and chose a clear spot under an overhang. There were signs of travelers before us, the dirt packed hard and the remains of an old campfire there.
I tried to ignore the drag marks that led from the overhang to the edge of the Styx. “Are you sure we’re safe here?”
“You have me,” was Azazel’s answer, and that was apparently all the answer we needed.
Tascius strode under the overhang and sat down with me in his lap, bracing his back against the stone. He arranged me so I was sitting between his legs, and then he began rubbing my back, pressing his thumbs deep into the knots.
I winced but let him work. If my back was still so tight tomorrow, there was no way we’d make it to Wayland’s forge by air. I didn’t want to walk the distance over the wastelands on foot, not when time was precious.
Of all the things that pulled me home, it was the joy of knowing I’d see Belial again soon. I felt like there was an anchor in my heart, and the other end of that chain lay with him. The further I’d gotten, the heavier the anchor had become; now that I was coming back, I felt lighter.