“Always a question, isn’t that right, Grace? You might have made a decent Guardian. If they didn’t want you dead.” Peter’s smile was stretched wide over his face. “I was planning to take you all. That very first day, outside your shabby little cottage. I sent my Spirits to collect you but you escaped. That’s when I knew there was something special about you. Together. The pressure, it sparked your hidden gifts. We’ve been waiting for those beautiful gems. So, we decided to see if we could crack another few of you open, find out what little surprises your hiding inside.”
Peter licked his lips, small pink tongue darting in and out like a reptile. My stomach churned. “And now you know enough? So, you want us to go with you and do your bidding?”
Peter grinned. “Something like that. I would have been happy to stay. To squeeze you a little more. Unfortunately, these Shadow Children were beginning to finally use their eyes. Despite the little distractions we planted, pointing the finger of suspicion at others. Our days were numbered. Best to quit while one is ahead, that’s a life lesson for you, Grace. Now, give me Danu’s heart.”
I gripped it in my fist. “What will you do with it?”
“I have told you no lies. I will break the charm. My Spirit Demons will feed, and Deirdre and I will return you children, our Spirit children, to where you belong. To prepare for the next step.”
“What will you do with the others?”
Peter shrugged, checking his watch again. “Grace, I have no directed malice here. The Spirit Demons will feed on whom they desire and then they will return with us, and I will close the portal. Whoever wishes to fight or run is free to do so. It’s of little consequence to me.”
His gaze landed on Gabriel. “Unfortunately my Spirit Demons have no interest in feeding on the scum of other realms.”
“And if we fight?” I set my jaw.
“Then I will tear the heart out of every child in this room and lay them bleeding at your feet. The choice is yours.” He held his hand out. “Now, give me Danu’s heart.”
“You want to destroy the charm? Consider it done.” I dropped the stone to the floor. From across the room, I saw Lydia’s eyes widen. I lifted my foot and smashed it down, crushing Danu’s Heart into dust. The pregnant silence in the chapel shattered with the charm, and the high ceiling echoed with cries of panic and fear.
Peter threw his head back and inhaled as the world exploded around us. Sam grabbed my hand, pulling me back into the line between him and Eve. Spirit-Demons poured into the chapel, creeping through cracks in the windows and under the door.
Gabriel, Lucas, and Brandon detached from one side of our chain. Jasmine, Elijah, and Megan stepped away from the other, leaving all of the Demon-Born holding hands in a line.
The others spread through the chapel, passing out Spirit Blades and whipping through the air in a glorious blur of pure gold. Lucas threaded his fingers through Brandon’s, anchoring him to his side as he held back the Spirit-Demons with unmatched ferocity.
Gabriel lifted Emmanuel tenderly and settled him at his feet in the center of the room, while those with Spirit Blades spun around in a circle. Jabol joined them, catching the blade that Lucas tossed to him. Megan and Elijah ducked and flipped through the chaos, herding the unarmed to the center of the circle to assist Gabriel.
Peter watched the Spirit Demon’s descending on the people of Shadow Hall with a detached fascination. “Aren’t they marvelous? They feed on the very spark of life. Love, faith, hope, despair, loss, grief. The more you feel, the better they feed.”
The bitter taste of fear assaulted my tongue as a tendril of darkness crept around the legs of a Half-Born child. The girl’s mother was screaming and clawing at the Spirits as the cloying black shadows enveloped them both. Sam bellowed at my side, and I could feel him using every ounce of his resolve to keep his feet planted in our line instead of running to Frank’s side to help push back the Spirits.
Jabol burst through the chaos and passed the limp body of the girl to Frank, before carrying her lifeless mother to the center of the circle and laying her beside her daughter at Gabriel’s feet. Peter surveyed the growing pile of bodies and smiled at me as he opened a portal. “Can you feel it, Grace? The Spirits are tasting it. Bloating with the essence of lives they have never lived.”
He breathed deeply, “Doesn’t it make you feel young? Anything is possible if you possess enough life force.”
My palm itched to slap his cheeks. To cut through the shrieks of agony with the sound of my skin cracking against his, striking him with enough force to wipe the pleasure from his face. But I held my place in the line. Crushing my fingers into Sam’s and Eve’s. Watching Gabriel from the corner of my eye. Waiting.
Megan and Elijah had joined the wide ring of Shadow Children. The injured and the unarmed were gathered around Gabriel’s feet inside the circle. The band of warriors moved faster, whipping their Spirit Blades in the air, beating back the Spirit Demons. Gabriel raised his hands, and I gasped for breath, riding the waves of adrenaline coursing through my veins.
Deirdre grabbed Peter’s sleeve and glared at me. Her eyes darted to Eve and her pretty, plump face soured. “Peter, they’re up to something. Get them through the portal. Now.”
Peter stared from Eve to Deirdre, focused on their tension as the rest of the Demon-Born formed a chain around the portal. Deirdre spun around. “Peter, what are they doing?”
Peter shook his head in confusion.
Eve’s voice slid over the shrieks and screams filling the chapel. “We’re sending you home, Daddy. Your little Spirits have no dominion over us.”
Deirdre lunged for Eve. The entire power of the circle blasted at Deirdre from behind, blazing through our bodies like a current and exploding from Ozzie’s hands, suspending Deirdre mid-attack. Shock yanked at the corners of Peter’s mouth as Deirdre was sent spiraling through the portal into darkness.
Peter narrowed his eyes, and the entire chapel shook. His body appeared to swell and lengthen in front of my eyes. His voice was distorted. “You know not what you face, children. There is no escape. The time of change is upon us. My brothers and I are gathering our children. If you do not stand with us, then you are against us. There is no victory on that path, only death and waste.”
The walls of the chapel shuddered, and the ceiling began to heave as debris tumbled to the floor. Gabriel’s voice sliced through the pandemonium, his violet glare boring into Peter’s skull. “You alone do not determine the path of this realm.”
Peter’s face twisted into something as ugly and wasted as his heart. “My brothers and I have chosen the road. We have sacrificed. There is only one future for this festering world. You feel it as I do. The veil is failing, the time of peace is over.”
I raised my voice to be heard.
“Then we make new peace! Angels, Humans, Demons, Guardians.” I grimaced at Peter, unsure how to identify him in the roll call of stakeholders. “But you can’t do it like this, not by force. You have to give people a choice. You can’t force them!”
Peter drew himself up, barely recognizable in his contempt. “You are a child. You know nothing. People cannot be trusted to choose for themselves.”
He closed his eyes with effort, and the tremors under my feet abated. When he spoke again, it was in his normal voice. “The path is set. A new era will come. Your brothers and sisters will rise up.”
Peter lunged at us with his power, attempting to drag us through the portal.
Gabriel battled with him from behind, his perfect features strained. A pulse of pressure traveled through the chain of our bodies again, and power surged through me and down the line to Ozzie. He curled his fingertips and peeled the Spirit Demons from the air, funneling them into a tornado of darkness and dread.
Peter roared as the cyclone descended on him, dragging him to the portal. He clung to its side with his fingernails as the roof of the chapel gave way.
A tidal wave of exhilaration hit me as the air cleared and the last Spirit
Demon curled around Peter’s wrist. We would triumph.
Eve stepped out of the circle and for a moment the power drained to nothing before she joined my hand with Cat’s and the circuit was restored. She crawled across the floor toward the portal, battling the gale force wind emanating from Peter, and peeled his fingers from the gate.
As she freed the last fingertip, he called out to her with words that didn’t reach my ears. Eve paled as the portal faded, her face a mask of agony. I reached for her, breaking free of the chain. “Eve. It’s over, it’s all right. We’re okay.”
She slithered away from me, and my soul was wrenched from my body as Eve threw herself backward through the last crack of the portal. Her lips formed soundless words as the gate closed and the walls of the chapel collapsed.
“Please. Forgive me.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
The cottage was exactly as we had left it. Window cracked. Doormat lying on the grass. Cat’s purse still thrown on the chair. My hand curled around the familiar door handle, and a jolt of sorrow ran through my veins. Nothing had changed. And yet everything had.
Cat pressed her chin against my shoulder, and we stood in the open doorway, surveying the remains of our hidden life. Her voice was strained. “Is there anything you want, Grace? Something to remember the place by?”
I ran my fingertip over the grooves of the charmed door handle and shook my head slowly. There was nothing left for us here.
The others were waiting in the garden. Emmanuel lifted his eyes to meet mine as I trudged through the overgrown grass. Emmanuel’s physical wounds had healed in the week since the attack, but I could see my own shattered soul reflected in the burnt amber of his irises. Haunted.
Cat stopped beside Cain, letting herself melt into his side. Dawn and Ozzie raced each other in circles around the garden, under Jabol’s watchful gaze. Sam was leaning against a thick tree trunk talking to Lucas and Brandon, but his stare followed my every movement. I let myself bask in the warmth of its intensity as I stood in the center of the neglected lawn. Emmanuel nudged the wooden case with his toe. “Dawn showed us where to dig.”
I nodded, watching the mud form a crust on the lid as it dried in the warm August air. Emmanuel took a deep breath. “She wanted to tell you, Grace. Eve let me in after she took my blood and knew I was honest. I saw her heart. You can’t imagine the love she had for you. I promised her we would protect you. All of you. We’re a family, the Shadow Children.”
Emmanuel turned his face to the sun, squinting. It was the ghost of a smile he gave me, a touch of happiness passing over the dark velvet of his face before his expression became pained once more. “I hope you can forgive her, Grace. She didn’t want to leave you.”
I watched the tear build in the corner of his eye and knew that I should offer him comfort. But I was empty. Utterly spent. “There’s nothing to forgive, Emmanuel. Peter knows where her daughter is. She had to go.”
The words fell from my mouth like stones into a well. I waited for them to hit the water. Emmanuel tipped his head and went to join Elijah and Jasmine by the open slip, leaving me alone with Eve’s treasure chest.
I crouched down in front of it and pressed my palms against the smooth wood. I wondered if Pandora was afraid when she rested her hand on the pithos containing all the agonies of the world. Or was she oblivious? I longed for oblivion to take me, to ease the sorrow of regret. Sam sat down beside me without a word.
“It’s stupid, isn’t it? To be scared of a box. The secrets are already out. I’m a monster. She’s a monster. The world is ending. Why am I still scared of a stupid piece of wood?”
Sam’s lips quirked up on one side as he ran a fingertip over my knuckles. “You’re a good person, Grace. You did everything you could to protect your family.”
“Why didn’t I just ask, Sam? If I had been brave enough to dig for the truth before. I built a wall between us. If had just known how she was suffering. Things could have been so different. We could have found a way.” I clenched my teeth together.
Sam kneeled behind me and put an arm on either side of my body, covering my hands with his own on the chest. I leaned back into his words. “There is nothing in that box that you can’t face, Grace. You’re strong.”
I bowed my head and shook his hands off gently, opening the clasps unaided. Pressing my teeth against my bottom lip, I wrenched the lid open fully and picked through the contents. Charms, potions, photographs, books, papers.
A small, silver-plated box shone like a jewel at the base of the chest. There was writing engraved on its side. I traced it with my thumb. Baby Grace. The interior was lined with thick satin. A collection of miniature silver boxes took up half the space. First curl. First tooth.
I pushed them to the side and lifted out a neat pile of letters. Eighteen. Secured with a red ribbon. My hand shook as I unfolded the uppermost piece of paper.
To whom it may concern,
I have been caring for your daughter for a year today. It pains me that she cannot be held in her mother’s arm on her first birthday, but I want you to know that she has been well treated. And that she is a wonderful child. Bright and curious, I can already tell she will be a keen student.
She hasn’t yet taken her first steps, but she is attempting to do so with the tenacity of a lion stalking its prey. Your daughter is fierce and brave. She would make any mother proud.
I wish every day for your joyful reunion with Grace, even though my heart and life would be a dreary place without her smile. I will protect her for you until you are reunited, but you will forever remain her mother, no matter what others may tell you.
Sincerely,
Eve
(Reluctant Keeper)
I crushed the letter against my face, breathing its musty scent as I cried for Eve and for my birth mother. Cried for myself. For Sam. Cried for every infant who had been ripped from its mother’s grasp, and every mother whose arms ached for a child she would never hold. Sam wrapped himself around me and waited for the flood to subside. There were no words that could ease my grief. What had been taken from us could never be repaid.
When the tears had finally run dry, I turned back to chest and carefully extracted a thick, leather-bound tome. I wiped my cheeks with the back of my hand. “I think this is what Gabriel was looking for.”
Sam nodded, resting his hand on my thigh. “Are you okay?”
“Are any of us?” I smiled at him and kissed his lips. “We’ll stop them, Sam. I’m the lucky one. I had so much love, even if I was too stupid and selfish to see it. We have to free the others, the children, give them a chance.”
Gabriel appeared beside me, with Emmanuel on his heels. I held the book in the air. “Is this what you were looking for?”
Gabriel grasped the book and prised the pages apart with infinite care. Emmanuel looked over his shoulder in awe. “Where did you find it, Gabriel?”
“Berlin. 1945. A family had been searching for it on my request for generations. I was sure it had been lost in the Shadow City, but there it was. Eve had been protecting it for me since I left Catherine in her care. Things were getting too risky in London. It could change everything for us. It could be the key.” Gabriel closed the book and held it against his chest.
“To what?” Sam’s gaze searched Gabriel’s face.
Emmanuel straightened his shoulders. “To how this divide began, Samuel. This is the record of over two thousand years of history, seen through Demon eyes. Firsthand accounts of the ancient powers, just like ones the Demon-Born children are starting to exhibit. It also includes a record of how the Spirit War began.”
Sam stared at Emmanuel. “You think it’s going to happen again? That’s what Peter and his brothers are trying to do? Start another Spirit War?”
Something passed silently between Gabriel and Emmanuel. Gabriel crossed his arms over the red book. His words were measured. “We know nothing yet. The veil is thinning. Charles, or Peter, was correct in saying that. We also know that the Demon-B
orn are valuable to these madmen, whatever they are planning involves your kind.”
“And now they have Eve. And her daughter. He isn’t a Demon, but he hasn’t aged. They’re using the Spirit Demons, somehow.” Gabriel tipped his head in acknowledgment of my statement. My chest tightened. “They’re gathering us, aren’t they? They’ve been breeding us and stowing us all over the world, and now it’s time for the harvest.”
Sam slipped his finger through mine and pressed my hand against his heart. Emmanuel looked out across the bay, watching the sun going down over the Atlantic. His brow looked heavy, but his jaw was set. “Yes. I think that you are right, Grace. They are gathering their secret weapons.”
I wrapped my thumb inside my fist. “So, what do we do now?”
Sam beat Gabriel and Emmanuel to the draw, pulling me to my feet beside him. “We get there first. We find the Demon-Born before they can get to them. We crack open every Silent Home, we free the Halflings and the hunted, and we uncover every keeper.”
Gabriel nodded, his violet eyes blazing.
I folded my arms. “Will you go back? To London? To the tower?”
Gabriel shook his head, and his mouth settled into a firm line. “I have paid my debt. I am free to choose my own path. I won’t fail Eve again. My place is with her children.”
One by one, our make-shift family passed through the slip and stepped into a new future, far from the rugged Irish coastline. Sam and I were the last ones to leave. Jasmine smiled at me from the other side of the open slip, her hair blending into the darkness of the forest at her back.
I cast one last look over my old home and tasted the sea on my lips as Jasmine pinched the slip closed. I said my goodbyes as the sun set on the fragments of my life. The evening sky over Hidden Cottage was the color of fresh blood.
The End
The Shadow City
The Demon-Born Trilogy: (Complete Paranormal Fantasy Series) Page 28
