by Ciara Graves
An image of those demonoid children rushed back and instinct kicked in. The fire was in my hands as Lela shouted for me to stop. I saw Xavier, but there was no stopping my hand. The fireball left my palm and I waited for it to strike him down.
But Lela sprinted past me and stepped right in its path raising and crossing her arms. The fire collided with her crossed arms.
“No,” I breathed. “Lela!”
I rushed toward her on unsteady legs.
When the fire parted, I skidded to a stop.
Xavier stood unharmed behind her, his mouth agape. There were other gasps of shock behind me, but none of them were as shocked and confused as Lela. She pulled her hands apart, and the hellfire condensed into a stream between her hands. When she twisted her hands over each other, the fire moved with her.
“Mech,” she whispered, “what is this?”
It wasn’t me who answered.
“I told you,” Remiel said as he grinned. “You are still an angel, Lela, with or without holy light. That is who you are.”
Lela smiled uncertainly as she continued to turn the hellfire around in her hands. Finally, she formed it into an orb the size of her palm and held it out to me.
I took it and then let it go right back to her.
The lively flames shone in her pupils, like they belonged there. If only she did have her holy light, she’d become one badass angel. At least she had a way to defend herself when the enemy came knocking.
Now that Hell had fallen, Dakota was our last stronghold. They’d be coming eventually, and when they did, we’d fight to the death.
Chapter 7
Lela
I stretched my arm across the bed, but it was empty. “Mech?”
“Right here.”
I sat up and wiped the sleep from my eyes, then spotted his silhouette against the window of our apartment. He had his forehead resting against his arm on the window. His hunched shoulders were tense, as were the rest of the muscles on his bare back. I climbed out of bed and wrapped my arms around him, planting my cheek between his shoulder blades.
“You in pain?”
“I’ll be fine,” he muttered. “I just can’t believe it’s gone. Hell. We lost Hell.”
Yesterday evening had been one of the longest I’d ever experienced. After realizing I could use hellfire, I had dragged him back to our place and sat him down at the small kitchen table. He let me tend to his wounds without argument. He seemed as defeated as I had been when I first fell. Nothing I said seemed to help. After a while, I stopped talking.
Kexan and Bobby had come to check on him, but Mech remained in that chair until Ilran stopped by. She was the only other demon lord alive. I’d stepped out to give them some time to talk. While they spoke, I walked downstairs to get the latest numbers from Kexan. Another round of survivors had arrived from Hell. The news they brought with them were not the happy kind. Hell was overrun. The demons who hadn’t escaped yet were either prisoners or trapped down there. A rescue mission to get them out would be futile. Zeraxin’s army had tripled in size from when we last saw it on the surface. Apparently, that hadn’t been the full size of his force.
There was no plan to go after Zeraxin or Hadariel. We had no idea where the high general was. No messages had come back from the other generals. It appeared we were on our own.
“How is he, really?” Kexan had asked as he glanced up the steps over my shoulder.
“How are you?” I shrugged. “How are any of you? That’s how he’s doing. I’m not sure I’m going to be able to stop him from falling over the edge.”
“If anyone can, it’s you.” Kexan pulled me into a tight hug. “I mean, shit, you used hellfire.”
“Could’ve been a fluke.”
Bobby laughed. “Ah no, that was not a fluke. You should’ve been nuked, but here you are.” He hugged me, lifting me off my feet as he did. “Might be the end of the world, but we’re alive for another day. I say it’s time we live in the present.”
“Not sure we can forget we’re about to all die,” I muttered.
“Way to be melodramatic. I’m going to see if we have any booze lying around. Or maybe even something we can barbeque.”
Kexan frowned. “You don’t eat.”
“No, but I miss the smell. We’ll go see if we can’t make this day more about remembering the lives we lost in a less depressing way.”
“Bobby, I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” I said, worried how the demons would react. They’d just lost thousands of their kin. Throwing a party could be taken the wrong way.
“Let him,” Ilran said as she came down the steps.
She’d looked worse than Mech when she first entered our apartment. A sad smile lifted her lips, the bottom one split. The right side of her face was bruised, and she favored her left side when she walked. She might be physically wounded, but whatever she and Mech talked about seemed to help ease her spirit. I hoped it did the same for him.
“You’re sure?” I asked.
“I am. Our people have to see that we’re not just going to give up the fight. Bobby, do what you can. I’ll get some of my men to help you.”
Ilran squeezed my arm. “Go be with Mech He won’t want to join the festivities tonight, but he needs you.” She followed the others out, leaving me to go upstairs.
When I opened the door, I’d barely gotten his name out when he caught my wrist and pulled me into his arms. He kicked the door shut, flipped the lock, and kissed me like there really was no tomorrow. Sometime during the evening, music drifted through the open windows, and the strong smell of grilled meat filled the room. I didn’t try to drag him out to join the gathering.
Now in the dim light of morning, I held Mech even tighter as his hand covered mine. “I want to try something today,” I said after a while.
“Like what?”
“I want to see how long I can handle your hellfire.”
I expected an argument, and I was ready to stand my ground. When he spun around and lifted my chin so he could look into my eyes, he sighed. “After breakfast.”
Once the coffee maker was gurgling away, he came back to me. “What am I going to do with you?”
“Stay with me until the world ends.”
He tucked my hair behind my ears as he gently brushed his lips against mine. “I’m not going anywhere.”
We poured our first mugs, drained them, and made it out the door of the apartment.
Dakota was much busier than it had been these past few weeks. We headed straight for Town Hall, where we found Ilran, Bryan, Remiel, and Nathaniel at the table. My hopes rose that the other generals had gotten back to us, but when Remiel shook his head, I cursed.
“You think Hadariel intercepted the message?” I asked as we joined them.
“No way to know for certain. I could try to send another one, but I think we should focus on other important matters.”
“Such as?” Mech asked, his hand gripping mine as it had been since we set out.
“Finding more demons who can handle using holy light and vice versa. That includes you,” Ilran informed him. “And since Lela here can use hellfire, I’m curious to see what she can do with it.”
“What of the wounded?” Mech asked. “Did they all make it?”
“Most,” Ilran replied, her eyes downcast. “We’ll see those who didn’t on to the afterlife this evening. Bailey and Harriet are confident the rest will recover.”
“Physically, at least.”
I gave Mech’s hand a squeeze. His lips twitched, but there was no smile in his eyes like there had been before we left the apartment. It’d be nice if we could both have a couple of days where we could be without the weight of so many lives on our shoulders. That day wouldn’t come until the war ended.
Or we were dead.
I might not have said it aloud, but Mech’s eyes narrowed as if he heard the words.
Remiel started talking again, and it drew Mech’s attention away from me. I sensed the spike in his anxiety
and mentally kicked myself. I was supposed to be staying positive to keep him from losing his shit again. We made it through one night, but that meant nothing. Losing Hell had cut him deep. It would take days, weeks for him to recover.
And that was only if Zeraxin or Hadariel didn’t do anything else in the meantime.
If Mech clenched his jaw any harder, he’d crack his teeth. For two days he’d been working with Nathaniel and other angels to try and combine his hellfire with holy light. And for two days, I watched his frustration grow. It didn’t help we had to burn three more demons that morning. Their wounds had suddenly become corrupt and they’d died in minutes.
Bailey and Harriet were at a loss. When they’d given Mech and Ilran the news about the three deaths, he’d punched the nearest wall and split his knuckles open. Ilran excused herself. Travis later told me he found her sparring with one of her last bodyguards. She’d nearly taken his head off, and then they’d disappeared inside her quarters. I hadn’t seen her since.
Remiel paced up and down the street we were using as our practice area. It was safer than being inside. Several of the demons were getting the hang of the holy light. They were almost able to manifest weapons using it and their hellfire. The angels weren’t too shabby either, but if we were to be truly effective, we’d need weeks, months of training. My gut told me the enemy wasn’t going to be nice enough to give us that kind of time. We were also trying to get the demons unable to use hellfire to use it or holy light, but it just wasn’t working. I’d given up on the shields, too. There was no point anymore in trying to make humans able to stay in Hell for extended time periods. Our other worry was if the demons would even be able to keep using their hellfire for long. Sneaking into Hell to recharge was a risk Mech and Ilran were not willing to take. So far, they all seemed to be fine, but there was no telling how long that would last.
“Take a break,” I told Mech when he shook out his hands to try again.
“One more time.”
“Mech,” I said as I marched over, “take a break. You’ve been at it for hours. Give yourself a chance to rest.”
He breathed out heavily through his nose. “I’m fine.” Sweat gleamed on his arms, giving his tribal tattoos a shimmering appearance. There were bags forming under his eyes, and his shoulders had been tense for a solid ten minutes.
I rested my hand on his shoulder and dug my nails in as I grinned. “Either take a break, or I’ll make you take one. Got it, hotshot?”
Nathaniel smirked, but Mech faced me and took my hand off his arm. “You know you’re damned sexy when you’re ticked off,” he whispered too quietly for anyone else to hear. He closed the distance between us, and my breath caught. I waited for him to kiss me as his eyes smoldered, but then he winked and stepped back. “Fine, I’ll take a break, but you need to practice.”
He rolled his wrist and a small flame appeared in the center of his palm. Carefully, I rested my hand next to his and waited. I had no idea how I managed to catch the fireball that had been ready to kill Xavier. Guess it really didn’t matter as long as I could figure out how to do it again.
Mech tilted his hand. The flame flickered toward my skin. Warmth flooded me, and an image of Mech with his arms wrapped around me filled my mind. The flame immediately leaped into my hand, and then he was backing away. The flame leaned toward him for a second, then settled.
“What do I do?” I asked, not taking my gaze from the flame.
“Whatever comes naturally. Just don’t set anyone on fire,” he added.
“Yeah, thanks for that.”
I cupped my hands. Fire pooled in the center. When I stretched my hands apart, the fire grew with them. It roamed up to my elbows, encasing my arms in vibrant orange and red flames. As the fire grew, Mech’s brow furrowed, and he looked ready to step in.
“I’m alright,” I assured him. “Don’t think it’d ever hurt me. Comes from you, after all.”
I focused on drawing the fire back to my hands. It was a slow process, but then it was there. I shaped it into a large orb, but I was more of a melee weapon type. Remembering the double-headed ax I’d gone into battle with when I was an angel, I shaped the fire to match the image held in my mind’s eye.
“Damn,” Nathaniel said.
I opened my eyes to find him standing beside Mech. Nathaniel looked impressed, but Mech’s face was drawn in worry. “What? You don’t like it?” I held up the ax, admiring how well it moved and how natural it was in my grip.
“You work with the fire well enough, but I’m not sure it’s going to help you much in a fight.”
“Why not?”
He held out his hand, and the ax collapsed into one flame that shot back to Mech. “Summon it to you,” he said after he snuffed it out. “If this is going to be of any use to you, you have to be able to call it on your own.”
I blew out a breath. “I can do it.”
His blank look told me he was waiting to see for himself. I concentrated on the heat from his fire and how it felt in my hands. Sweat broke out on my forehead, and my hands shook. The seconds turned into minutes and then Mech was shaking his head.
“Sorry, Lela, but I don’t think this is as much of a gift as we hoped it was.”
“I might be able to. Just need time.”
“Don’t think we have it,” Kexan said as he came over. “You might want to see this.”
Kexan took us to the northern wall, up the metal steps, and to the grated walkway that connected the watchtowers. Bryan and Tim were there, holding binoculars. They handed them to me and Mech, nodding toward the tree line a few hundred yards away. Standing there, all on its lonesome, was a hellhound. It was only one. I told myself it was nothing.
“Shit,” Mech spat, tearing the binoculars from his eyes. His hand shook until he gripped the metal railing in front of him.
“What is it?”
“You didn’t see it?”
I put the binoculars back to my eyes and flinched. A child no more than nine or ten appeared next to the hound. “It’s a kid. Is that a demon kid?”
“No, it’s a demonoid monster,” Mech growled. His shaking hand went to his side, the same side he’d yanked a talon out of. He’d told me about his fight to get out of the fortress, but he never mentioned anything about creepy, demonic kids. “We’re out of time,” he whispered. “Zeraxin’s coming. We have to be ready.”
“I’ll see to the defenses,” I said as I looked at the girl with long, black hair. Horns poked out of the locks. She scratched the hellhound’s head like he was her pet. A shiver ran down my spine from her evil grin, but I was not going to let that thing scare me off. “Bryan, you’re with me.”
As I turned to go, Mech’s fingers brushed against mine. I couldn’t read the warring emotions in his eyes. He pulled me close for a kiss. I fisted my hands in his t-shirt as he left me breathless and my heart pounding. Then he released me. I turned to go back down the metal stairs. Bryan followed.
“He’s that worried, huh?”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“That kiss, Lela, that’s an end of the world kiss. I might not have the love of my life with me anymore, but if we were about to face shitty odds like these, that’s exactly how I’d kiss her.” He shoved his hands in his front pockets and hung his head. “You two have got something damned special. Hope you know that.”
“I do now.”
Mech had his back to me up in the watchtower. I stared at him, straining to feel what he was. What I sensed was his undying love for me and his people. It left me with a lump in my throat.
“We need to see to those defenses,” I said roughly.
“We’ll be alright, Lela,” Bryan said, but his words sounded hollow.
Chapter 8
Mech
I snapped my fingers, waiting to see a flame. It flickered for only a second then was gone. With Hell being taken over by Zeraxin and Hadariel, demons weren’t able to recharge their abilities. We knew the fire would run out eventually. Lela might be
able to manipulate it once I formed it, but she had no way to call it on her own. Our hopes at empowering every demon were shot.
If Zeraxin and Hadariel were smart, they’d simply wait. We’d all soon be powerless against the force of darkness waiting to destroy. Heat welled up in my center. I shut my eyes, willing it to manifest into fire.
When I opened my eyes, flames stretched up my arms to my elbows. “There you are.”
I manipulated the flames, growing them larger, then smaller, as I moved around the open space. They weren’t as strong as they usually were, but there was no way to change that. Lela was convinced I should be able to combine my fire with holy light, but all the attempts so far hadn’t worked. I wasn’t resistant to it, considering the woman I was in love with was an angel. I sensed if I would’ve been able to use holy light, it would’ve been when Lela still had hers.
The door opened, and I turned to find her with a bottle of whiskey in her hands and two glasses. She set them down on the small, kitchen table and walked toward me. I started to let the flames die down, but she reached out to my hand. The flames immediately leaped to her palm and spread up her arm.
“There has to be a way for you to use holy light,” she mused.
I nodded, too busy watching the flames reflect in her eyes to say anything. She used the fire easily, as if it was an extension of her natural power. Ilran had told me after we lost Hell that she was beginning to remember bits and pieces of where our power came from. When I began to think back on the stories Koreth told, I too was remembering. I doubted we’d find the sacred location in time to stop Hadariel’s plans, but it was another reason to keep hoping. Especially after spotting the demonoid with the hellhound.
I pulled Lela into an embrace, letting the fire flow around us in a never-ending bond, bringing us closer together.
“It’s quiet,” she whispered, voice muffled against my chest. “Too quiet.”
