Wicked Ruin (Se7en Sinners Book 3)

by S. L. Jennings

  “How many lessers do you think have intruded the city?”

  He shrugs. “Hundreds. Thousands.”

  I take a whiff and grimace. I just thought I smelled traces of death and extreme poverty. Not the telltale signs of elevated demon activity.

  We follow Cain’s car into an extended-stay parking garage, which to my surprise, is fairly empty, aside from the stripped and vandalized cars parked on the lower floor.

  “A lot of people were able to evacuate. Good,” Lilith notes, her eyes scanning the busted up vehicles, most likely checking for any signs of lurkers.

  “They evacuated the city?” I ask.

  She nods. “As much as they could. But those who couldn’t afford to leave were left behind.”

  Sister and I would have fallen under that category. She would have refused to leave, considering the hospitals are at max capacity. And there is no way I could scrape up the cash to flee, not that I could ever fathom leaving without her. We would have hunkered down in that rickety-ass apartment, Brenda the bat in hand, and prayed no one broke in. Or worse. And I would’ve feigned helplessness, all the while creeping into the minds of those intruders, and forcing them to turn their malice on themselves. I probably would have been strong enough to fight off the first to come for us, but then what? Who would have come to our rescue?

  We park on the upper level, giving us a clear view of the city below. Once we’ve filed out of the cars, I go to stand on the edge, peering down at the haunting darkness stretched below us. It’s nearly pitch black without the twinkling lights of bustling businesses and skyscrapers illuminating the sky, but somehow, I catch glimpses of activity below. Mostly shadows, but I can definitely see movement and make out shapes.

  “Last chance. You sure you’re up for this?” Niko asks, sidling up beside me.

  I glance over my shoulder at the others. There’s a map laid out before them on the hood of Cain’s SUV. I should be over there discussing strategy, but honestly, none of that will matter once we hit the streets. They may know demons, angels, and other creatures of the night. But I know my city and its people. And there’s nothing anyone can plan to prepare us for what lies ahead. Desperation makes people do desperate things. And no one knows more about that than me.

  I look back to Niko and shrug. “And if I’m not?”

  “Then you should stay behind. I don’t want you out there if you’re not one hundred percent ready for this. I know you’re strong, but strength has nothing to do with it…not if we’re forced to face off with Legion. I’d rather know you’re safe.”

  “Me staying behind will only make things worse. I’ll be worrying about you, about them, and about Legion. I’m not running. Not from any of you. Not from him.”

  Niko wraps an arm around my shoulders and squeezes me to his side, releasing a breath. “What is it with me and stubborn, beautiful girls?”

  I smile, despite the leaden dread in my gut, remembering the words he spoke in my bedroom in Hell. “You definitely have a type.”

  “Yeah, but I think after this—if I make it out alive—it’s time for me to settle down. I’ve been a bachelor for most of my hundred-plus years. Young for an immortal, but still old enough to know that I don’t want to die alone.”

  I return the intensity of his hold, pressing into his side. “You won’t. Not if I can help it.”

  “Yeah,” he shrugs. “However, I am immortal. And you… well, no one knows what you are.”

  I swallow thickly, unable to fully digest the idea that I could possibly live forever. I’m unlike any Nephilim in existence. There’s no way to truly comprehend what that means.

  “And what about your lost love? Amelie?” I question. I’ll unpack my mortality if and when we make it out of this city alive.

  His eyes glaze over as he stares out into obscurity. “She’s where she belongs. She was too good for this world.”

  I nod because I don’t know what else to say. I guess at the end of the day, warlocks aren’t much different from anyone else. We all just want to belong to someone who loves us despite our demons. Just someone to hold our hand and make us feel less alone in this big, wide universe full of unseen terrors.

  I’m not surprised when we’re summoned to rejoin the group. I could hear every word they were saying, just like I can hear the screams and cries below. Waiting until daybreak isn’t an option. Death approaches. I can feel it.

  I thought we were already armed to the teeth, but apparently not. Toyol opens the trunk of their designated ride, revealing his precious swords. Cain stalks over to seize even more guns and ammo. He presents me with four magazines, taking the liberty of clipping them to my holster.

  “We think he’s gone farther south,” he murmurs.

  I nod. “I’m not surprised.”

  “You’re not?”

  “If this area is in shambles, then the Southside must be engulfed in flames. I’d imagine he…they…would be drawn to the destruction.”

  “They?” Cain lifts a dark brow.

  “The lost souls. He’s…he’s not himself. He wouldn’t leave on his own accord.”

  “You’re right. He wouldn’t.” A deep frown lines his forehead. “Driving into it would be too risky. He’d know we were coming. So would Uriel.”

  “I’m not sure which is worse,” I mumble before I can stop myself.

  “Me neither.”

  We lock eyes, both biting down on the guilt tainting our tongues. But it’s true. If Legion isn’t Legion, there’s a good chance he will attack us. And none of us wants to fight him, even if we could. At least we could kill Uriel with a clear conscience. Well, clear-ish, in my case.

  We all finish preparing in silence, each one of us burdened by the prospect of hurting someone we love, or even worse, dying trying to save him. Uriel is still very much in this fight, but Legion is the priority. There is no facing off with the Seraph without him. But I have a feeling that we’ll have to go through them to get to him. It’s a lose-lose situation, but there is no Door #3. There are no other options. We’re staring down the barrel of a loaded gun, with no clue as to who will pull the trigger.

  I’m not surprised that the parking garage elevator isn’t working, considering that the electricity has been cut—whether on purpose or an act of vandalism—so we quietly take the stairs. Cain and Toyol lead, weapons drawn. Phenex and Jinn take up the rear, braced for any movement at our backs. Lilith and Andras weave through the group, moving right to left in a dance so seamless, you’d think it was choreographed.

  This is the Se7en at work. This is the band of assassins that have singlehandedly executed countless would-be murders and terrorists, while also battling lesser demons doing Lucifer’s bidding. I didn’t fully grasp how deadly they truly are until this moment. And while that makes me feel a tiny bit better about this suicide mission, I don’t relish the irony of them hunting their leader, the one who was the first to stand up for humanity. The one they followed to Earth in a search for purpose—for redemption.

  When we hit the bottom level, I can feel my heart pounding out of my chest, and I’m certain the others can hear it racing like a techno beat. This is it. This is what I’ve been training for. This is what I was created for. To betray. To destroy. To kill.

  I am the weapon to make Legion fall to his knees. And I’ve just been activated.

  It’s colder on the streets than I imagined. The frost-kissed night air seeps through my leather jacket, but my blood is pumping so rapidly that I barely register the chill. It smells like snow and sulfur. Ice and fire. If those that could not leave haven’t found safe shelter within the city limits are left on the streets, I fear they may freeze to death. And if they don’t meet their end that way, something much more sinister is waiting for them.

  We stick to the shadows, virtually silent as we maneuver through the filth and debris littering every side street and alleyway. Surprisingly, even the local vagrants have vacated their usual haunts. Or maybe something else got to them first. Whatever the re
ason, the eerie silence puts me on edge. We have a long trek ahead to the Southside, if we make it at all. I have a bad feeling, as if there are forces at work that hope to keep us away. And that feeling is only intensified as we turn a corner, and the sensation of frozen spiders crawling up my back sets off all my internal alarms. Something is waiting for us on the other side.

  I pause and go to reach inside my jacket for one of the angelsbane-tipped blades, but it all happens too quickly.

  He’s draped in dingy, torn rags, his face caked with dirt, as he roars towards us with a metal pipe held over his head. Cain is the first to act, catching him with a right hook that should have at least subdued the homeless man, but it barely stuns him. He whips the metal pipe around, but luckily Cain ducks just milliseconds before it connects with his skull. Toyol strikes the man before he recovers, sending him flying back into an over-flowing dumpster with a kick to his ribs. But the vagrant jumps right back into action, barely pausing to catch the breath that was knocked out of him. He’s not human. He can’t be. No one made of flesh and bone would be able to walk away from a blow like that.

  Weapons drawn, the Se7en brace for the man’s attack, but it’s Lucifer who casually steps forward from the shadows. No guns or knives, he merely raises a single palm, and the homeless man halts, sending the metal pipe to tumble from his grip to the damp concrete.

  “Master,” the man rasps, falling to his knees. Pitch black eclipses the white of his unnaturally wide eyes.

  “Why are you here, my child?” Lucifer questions, looming over him. I inch forward, squeezing the hilt of my blade in anticipation.

  “I was released.”

  “By whom?”

  “I…I don’t know.” His beady black gaze shifts from right to left, and a frown forms between his brows. “You’re here…with them. Traitors. You stand with the Se7en.”

  “Why? Why were you sent?” Lucifer asks, ignoring the claims of betrayal.

  “To stop them.”

  “Why?”

  “Because they threaten to destroy us all. They want us to cower under their tyranny. It is our time now. The fallen shall reign.”

  Lucifer rubs a gloved hand over his chin, pondering his subject’s confession. I’m confused about it myself. The fallen shall reign? What fallen? This can’t be anything more than a lesser demon possessing a homeless man’s body.

  “Eden, dear, come here please.”

  I’m stunned by his request, but go to step forward. Niko catches my arm before I can advance.

  “Careful,” he murmurs, his bright blue glare glowing with the warning.

  I nod once, and it seems to placate him enough to let go. When I reach Lucifer’s side, he protectively places a hand on my lower back, his heat seeping through my clothes and searing my skin.

  “Do you know who she is?”

  The man bares his yellowed teeth and spits at my feet. “We do not want the Nephilim girl. She will die with the rest of them.”

  “Then who do you want?”

  “All of them. Everyone. They shall all perish one by one. This world will be made anew, and it will be ours.”

  Lucifer nods before turning to me, a gentle smile on his lips. “Rejoin Nikolai at his side, my dear.”

  I shake my head. “No. Not yet. He may know where Le—”

  “Go. He knows nothing.”

  I frown, my jaw tight with ire. Why isn’t he questioning the man about Legion’s whereabouts? He may know something, yet he’s treating him with kid gloves.

  Seething with frustration, I turn around and stalk to my place beside Niko. He squeezes my hand but keeps his glare forward.

  Lucifer raises both palms, and commands, “Come forth.”

  The words are wrapped in a vibrating timbre that rattles even my bones, causing my insides to thrash in anxiety, and watch in awe and horror as the man’s mouth opens unnaturally wide, so wide that it looks as if his face is being ripped in two. And between his crooked, dingy teeth, a boney, red-skinned hand reaches out and sinks its claws into the man’s jaw, as whatever horrid creature within in him pulls itself out.

  I bite down bile as I watch the whole gut-roiling display. The demon sheds its human host as if he’s nothing more than a bloody skin suit, twisting and writhing itself free. Jagged horns dot its bulbous head, only paling in comparison to its gnashing fangs and razor-sharp claws. I reflexively take a step back, running right into Phenex’s hard chest. He grips my shoulders tight to still my quaking frame.

  “The lessers cannot take a human form. Therefore they possess the bodies of the innocent,” he whispers.

  “Will he be ok?” I whisper back through quivering lips.

  “He will. But I cannot say for how long.”

  Once the demon has shed his human host completely, he stands before Lucifer and smiles, waiting for his master to bestow upon him a reward for his candor. But just as Lucifer returns his grin, the demon crumples to the ground, crying out in bloody agony. His whole body contorts as every bone breaks and splinters, causing jagged shards to pierce through his red skin, exposing ripped flesh and sinew. The putrid smell of his corroded insides waft over us, and I have to clamp my hand over my mouth to contain the threat of vomit. He is rotten to the core, judging by the black blood and bile that ooze from his wounds. But I stand tall, swallowing down the weakness of my humanity, unwilling to turn away from the carnage. Just as I learned to do in Hell.

  After several more seconds of torture, the crying ceases, and the demon is nothing but a pile of steaming, bubbling, black sludge on the piss-stained pavement. Lucifer steps closer, peering down at the mess of torn skin and broken bone.

  “Remember who it is you serve,” he grits, his voice raw with uncontained rage.

  Cain steps up, wincing at the sight and smell of the pulverized demon. “We’ve got to keep moving. Someone may have heard.”

  Lucifer nods and turns towards us, and I notice that his eyes are alive, shifting with sparkling shades of purple, obsidian, and dark teal. He blinks it away, but I can still see it—the wicked power simmering just beneath the surface.

  We resume our trek through the shadows, but I keep peering over at Lucifer, the questions on my tongue like lead in my mouth. I know this isn’t the time or place to ask, not when we’re hoping to avoid further conflict, but something is really bothering me. And if there’s even an inkling of doubt—a sliver of distrust—then we’ll all fall. By Uriel’s hands or our own.

  “Spit it out,” Lucifer mutters, stepping closer to my side.

  I glance back at Nikolai, checking to see if he caught Luc’s words on a gust of icy wind.

  “Why did you let him go?” I whisper back.

  “Because he knew nothing.”

  “How would you know that, considering you killed him before he could be interrogated? He could’ve known where Legion was.”

  “He didn’t.”

  “But you didn’t even—”

  “He didn’t know anything,” he shoots back, loud enough for every narrowed eye to fall to us.

  Seething, Lucifer keeps moving forward, taking the lead and ignoring the curious stares. Unlucky for him, I’m right on his heels, despite Cain’s hushed demands for me to stay back.

  “How do you know?” I ask after a few beats of strained silence.

  “Because if he did, he wouldn’t be worried about us. Every lesser demon in the city would be trying to kill him. Or serve him. No one knows about Legion’s disappearance but us, and we need to keep it that way.”

  He’s right. I hate it, but he’s right. But surely that lesser demon could have given us something. He didn’t know who was pulling the strings, but he may have known where to find them. He had to have received instructions from somewhere. But Lucifer’s urgent execution snuffed out the possibility of learning potentially pertinent information.

  “You’re too emotionally invested,” Lucifer throws in my face.

  “And you’re not?”

  “Why would I be?”

&nb
sp; “He’s your brother. And he’s gone missing.”

  Lucifer shrugs. “Not the first time. He left on his own accord before. What makes you think that isn’t the case now?”

  I nearly stumble on my own two feet as the blow of his words radiates in my gut. “He…He…” He wouldn’t do that.

  Lucifer suddenly spins around to face me. His tone is hushed yet harsh, and his eyes are glowing with violet flames. “He wouldn’t do that? He wouldn’t leave you? Because he loves you?” He snorts a laugh. “I thought that once, too. But you’ll learn, just as I did, that Legion’s true nature will always rule him. He’s a demon, Eden. He can’t love.”

  Lucifer turns back to resume his long strides, yet I’m frozen in place on the dark, damp pavement. Cain and Toyol step around me, each shooting me sympathetic glances, but surprisingly it’s Lilith who stops to take my gloved hand.

  “We’ll find him. Come on…we have to keep moving.”

  She tugs gently, and I let her. We’ve barely been out here for more than an hour, and I’m already letting my heart override my head.

  No one speaks as we trudge through the filth and head south. However, to avoid further altercations, the journey is taking longer than we anticipated. If the lesser demon was telling the truth, there’s a target on our backs. And while no one relishes the thought of killing, each and every foe will have to fall if we’re to make it to Legion in one piece. The only problem is, there’s ten of us, and hundreds—if not thousands—of them.

  “Can we just stop for a moment?” I hear from behind me.

  I turn around to see Adriel; her lips dry and her skin pale. She’s been so silent the entire journey; I had forgotten she was even with us.

  “I need to take a breath,” she explains, leaning up against a brick wall that used to belong to a popular downtown boutique. Now, it’s been virtually gutted.

  “Yes. You must rest,” Phenex insists, pulling off his backpack. He retrieves a bottle of water and hands it to the angel, now panting with exhaustion.

  I don’t get it. She’s immortal; one of the most revered beings in existence. How can she be winded already? It hasn’t been that long, and considering we only have mere hours before dawn, we need to keep moving.