by R. D. Brady
Finally, she stopped. The face in front of her was unrecognizable. His eyes were closed, his cheekbones shattered, blood dribbled down his chin. She grabbed him by the hair. “Look at me!”
He managed to open one eyelid halfway.
“You are not from Heaven. You are from Hell. Now go back there.” She plunged her hand through his chest and ripped out his heart.
Chapter 84
Jake didn’t know what to do. Laney was hitting Michael so hard and so fast she was creating a crater behind him in the Pyramid. He only took his gaze from her once to glance over at Henry before he shifted right back to her. He could not focus on Henry right now. It wasn’t over, and if he acknowledged what had just happened, he would be useless to everyone. So he kept his weapon trained on Laney and Michael.
Finally, she grabbed him by the hair and plunged her hand through this chest.
A gasp of air shot out of Jake. He didn’t think she would be able to bring herself to kill him. Laney stepped back, releasing Michael, and he slid down the side of the Pyramid.
And all the anger, all the rage that had been fueling Laney dropped out of her. She stumbled back, Michael’s heart rolling from her hand as she collapsed to the ground. Sobs tore from her chest as she crawled along the ground toward Henry’s body. Jake ran over to her, keeping an eye on Michael even though he’d seen what she’d done. He knew he would not be getting back up.
Laney reached out a trembling hand, closing Henry’s eyes from view. She dropped her head, her shoulders shaking.
Jake stared at her. Her pain was etched across every inch of her body. Jake sucked in a breath, her heartache a tangible thing.
Laney started to stand. Jake reached a hand toward her to help.
“No.” Laney stumbled back, landing on her butt.
Jake stopped, his hand suspended in midair for a second before he let it drop back to his side.
“I can’t,” she whispered as if even speaking was painful. “I’m not done yet.”
He nodded, understanding she couldn’t accept comfort right now or even help. That she was barely holding it together. He was struggling to hold back his own grief and horror. He hadn’t even looked at Henry’s face yet. He couldn’t make himself look at him. If he did . . .
“Laney?” His voice was hoarse even to his own ears. She didn’t respond. Jake wasn’t even sure she’d heard him. “Laney? What do you need?”
She looked up, tears making trails through the blood and dirt on her face. “I had to.”
“I know, Laney. I know.”
She took a shuddering breath and started to stand. Jake grabbed her elbow and helped her up. She glanced over at Michael.
“It’s over. He’s gone,” Jake said.
She shook her head. “It’s not over. Not yet.” She met his gaze as she started to hover above the ground. “I need to finish this.”
“I can come with you.”
She shook her head, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “Stay with Henry.” She took another shuddering breath, regaining her control. “This part is on me.”
She nodded to Michael’s body. “And keep an eye on him. Make sure he’s really gone.”
Jake glanced where Michael lay, a huge gaping hole in his chest. “He is gone. He doesn’t have a heart.”
She shook her head, speaking so quietly that Jake wasn’t even sure if the words were meant for him. “No. He still has mine.”
Chapter 85
Using the wind, Laney flew up the side of the Great Pyramid. Sobs choked her throat, but she refused to allow them to pass. When this was over, she would deal with everything that had just happened. But right now, she could not.
She came abreast of the plateau and cut off the wind as she placed herself over it. Her control was shaky, and she crashed to her knees, rock cutting into both of them as well as her palms. But after what she had just been through, she was practically numb to the physical pain. The emotional pain rolling through her was so great right now, it drowned everything else out.
Bowing her head, she gave herself a moment, just a moment, to feel all the anguish. It covered her like a blanket, weighing her down. She wanted nothing more than to curl up and sob until she wasted away. She pictured Henry’s face, and pain pierced through her. Her breathing became heavy.
He’s gone. How can he be gone?
Then she pictured Drake that last time he had been Drake. His smile, the feel of his hand on her lower back. She crushed her eyes closed as that memory was replaced with the feel of her hand crushing through his chest.
She bowed her head even lower, not sure she would be able to stand. But then the faces of all those counting on her flashed through her mind. Jen and the baby she would now be raising alone. Jake and the family he had finally found for himself. Cain and Nyssa both, who if she succeeded would finally have a normal life after lifetimes of duty and loss. Her uncle, Yoni, the kids, the faces of all of them and so many more looped through her mind. But it wasn’t any of them that finally urged her to her feet. It was the memory of the last time she had seen Victoria.
Each time we meet, I am amazed by your strength and your desire to fight the good fight, no matter the odds. Your heart is your strongest weapon. Never forget that.
Her mother’s words echoed through her mind. Her mother, who had sacrificed herself even when she wanted nothing more than to stay. And Laney did not want to let her down. She stood.
Taking in a few shaky breaths to center herself, she looked around for some sign of where she needed to begin. The plateau was about thirty feet across by thirty feet. A tall metal pole on a small rising of square blocks extended thirty feet high from the very center. It had been erected to show the height of the capstone or at least what they believed it to be.
As she stared up at it, she began to doubt. From pictures, all taken at a distance, the capstone appeared relatively manageable. But now as she stood on the precipice, she realized how large and unwieldy it actually was. Like the blocks that made up the Pyramid itself, it would be too large for humans in this day and age to move. Made of granite and standing thirty feet tall, it would outweigh even the largest stones within the Pyramid.
The dimensions lent credence to the idea that moving it would have been incredibly difficult. But those very dimensions seemed to belie the possibility that it had been hidden within the Pyramid all this time. What if, after all this, I’m wrong?
She banished the thought as soon as it flitted across her brain. She could not go down that road. Not after all the losses that had been suffered. She refocused her attention on the plateau, looking for a sign that would indicate what she was supposed to do or where she was supposed to begin. The space was covered in a thin sheet of sand and dirt. The winds that buffeted Laney as she stood there no doubt kept too much from settling on it.
She inspected the plateau, knowing she didn’t have much time. She moved to the edge of the outcropping in the middle. She got down on her hands and knees, pushing sand and dirt away when she couldn’t see the blocks below. She moved in circles out from that center point looking for some sign. But the longer she looked, the more her anxiety increased. She could not find anything that told her what to do. She’d expected there to be something, a sign that showed her where to look. Of course, it had been thousands of years—what were the chances it hadn’t been rubbed off?
It was taking too long. Already she could see the fight moving closer. This is too slow. She stood up, dusting off her hands, blanching at the sand that had dried there into the blood.
Well, at least I can take care of that. She called on the rain, and it poured down onto the plateau. She directed the wind to push the rain off. The water soaked through her hair and clothes, rinsing the dirt and blood from her body and onto the plateau.
And that’s when she saw it. She stopped the rain and wind abruptly as the first faint lines of red appeared on the plateau’s surface and spread out. She looked at the palm of her hand, still covered in Michael’s blood.
Blood will lead the way.
She followed the trail laid out to the eastern corner of the plateau. The red lines coalesced in a symbol she should have expected: the Star of David. She knelt down and ran her finger over it. It had been carved eons ago, just in case it was needed one day.
Laney pushed against it, but nothing happened. The stone didn’t budge. Nothing on the plateau moved. She pushed again, but there was no movement. She sat back. What was she missing? This had to be the spot. There was no way this was here by chance.
Her mother had put this here. Her mother, who had sacrificed herself for—
Laney stopped in mid-thought.
Oh no.
In the Tome, it said that at the time of judgment there would be a choice of sacrifice or death. Her mother had been the judge. And this time, Laney was the judge. If she did not offer a sacrifice, the world would devolve into death.
She held up her hand, seeing the vein pulsing away with blood at her wrists.
Which means this time I’m the sacrifice.
Chapter 86
Laney started to laugh. It was all too much. She fell onto her back, laughter rocking her whole body. She had sacrificed everything for this moment, and now she was being asked to sacrifice just one more piece: her life. Some people went through their whole lives without doing a thing to help anyone but themselves. And here she had spent years doing what was asked of her, helping people. And what was her reward? An early death.
But soon her laughter quieted as the tears rolled down her cheeks. As crazy as it might sound, she had always thought she would come through this. She had faced so much already, starting with Azazyel coming for her before she had any abilities. She had managed to avoid being blown to bits by Elisabeta, had faced down Samyaza, had managed to avoid being killed by the entire United States government. No matter what anyone threw at her, she had always lived to fight on another day.
But today was the last day. Because as with her mother, for this to work, every last piece of her blood needed to be drained from her. And if that worked, then all the Fallen would lose their abilities.
Which included her. Which meant she would not heal. If she did this, she would die.
Laney reached over the side of the Pyramid and punched a hole into the face. Then she pulled up a shard of rock. Part of her rebelled at what was about to happen, but she had to admit a small part of her welcomed it. She did not want to live with the memories of Henry and Drake’s deaths. Maybe it was the cowardly way out, but right now, oblivion and not thinking sounded pretty good to her.
She raised the rock above her right wrist but then paused as she pictured her uncle. He would be beyond devastated. He might not even believe it. After all, she’d come back from death before.
I love you, Uncle Patrick. Thank you for everything.
But he was the only one she let herself say goodbye to. If she started thinking of everyone else, she would never be able to do what needed to be done.
With two quick slashes, she cut each of her wrists. Blood bloomed instantly as if it had just been waiting to be released. It dripped onto the Star of David, and she could just make out the faint screech of rock against rock somewhere deep inside the Pyramid.
It’s working.
But then the flow of blood stopped. A glance at her wrists showed the wounds she had created had closed.
Her mouth fell open. Her healing ability. It was making this impossible. She reached for the Omni gun at her waist, but the holster was empty. She had lost it somewhere along the way.
She reached underneath her boot and pulled off the heel, then pulled out the vial that she had hidden there months ago.
She had kept a vial of Omni on her all this time. No one had known, not even Drake. She thought there might be a time when she would need it, but she thought she would be willingly giving up her immortality because the world had calmed. This was not how she had pictured it. With only a moment’s hesitation, she uncorked the vial and quickly drank it before she could second-guess herself.
Closing her eyes, she held the back of her forearm to her mouth as she swallowed it down. Once again, the faint taste of blueberries filled her mouth and slid down her throat. She pictured Drake, his eyes filled with concern the first time she’d drank it. Then she pictured Michael’s eyes filled with nothing. She thrust her own eyes open.
Before she could think, she sliced her wrists again. The blood once again began to drip to the ground. Slow at first and then picking up speed. She watched as it fell into the lines of the plateau, crossing it and creating a crisscross pattern. A chill started at her fingers and worked its way down through her body. She lay back, closing her eyes, feeling the power leave her along with her blood.
The sun beat down on her, but none of its warmth was able to break through the chill crawling over her. Her thoughts grew tired. Her eyelids closed of their own accord.
So tired.
The plateau shifted beneath her, and she felt herself moving. But she didn’t have the energy to lift her head. She did manage to open her eyes, though. She was being pushed toward the edge. The antenna at the center crashed, and the rocks on which it had stood started to tumble over each other. An opening three feet by three feet stood now at the very center of the plateau. She watched as a dark granite point emerged from the hole. It grew in size as the capstone emerged.
Even in her exhausted state, she couldn’t help but marvel at its appearance. Hidden away for all these millennium, it rose to take its rightful place atop the greatest structure ever built by mankind.
Her thoughts became slow, her whole body feeling heavier than it ever had. Keeping her eyelids open to watch the capstone rise seemed to take too much energy, so she closed them. Still, she could feel herself shifting along the plateau. Part of her brain was still aware enough to realize she was getting close to the edge. But she also knew there was simply nothing she could do about that.
Then, for a second, she was suspended in space before she began the long plunge down.
Chapter 87
The Rover bucked up and down as Yoni tore across the sand toward the Great Pyramid. “How you doing?” he yelled over at Jen.
Jen said nothing, just stared straight ahead. She knew if she opened her mouth she would start screaming. Her brothers, Jordan and Mike, had been killed. Jordan had jumped on a grenade that had been thrown at Mustafa. There wouldn’t even be a body to bury. She didn’t know yet what had happened to Mike, only that he was gone too.
The deaths were mounting on both sides of the fight. They had lost over three dozen people from the Chandler Group alone. But the numbers of losses on both sides were going to be in the hundreds.
And then there was Henry. No one had said anything, but she had felt it when he died. She had no doubt. She laid her hand over her stomach, grief making her breathing ragged.
She shifted in her seat, trying to hold her feelings back. The battle was still going full tilt, but when Cain had called, she knew she needed to get to the Pyramid.
“I can’t believe you talked me into this.”
Jen shoved all her grief, anger, and pain aside. Denial was now her best friend. “I didn’t talk you into it. I merely told you my plan and asked if you wanted to join me.”
“You mean your whole ‘I’m six months pregnant, I’m going to rush into a battlefield, and if you don’t agree to help me, I’m going alone’ plan?”
“Yeah, that one,” Jen said.
“Oh my God.” Yoni leaned forward onto the steering wheel, staring at the top of the Pyramid. “She did it! Laney did it!”
Jen stared as the black granite capstone emerged from its ancient hiding place. Sun glinted off of it. It was beautiful . . . and terrifying. She would lose her abilities. She would be normal. She hadn’t been normal since she was a child. And it had not been a good time for her.
Who will I be now? And what about my baby? Will she be all right?
Yoni peered up. “What is that?”
&nb
sp; Jen followed his gaze to see the small object on the edge of the plateau. Then the object tumbled over the side, arms flying out wildly. Her heart slammed to a stop inside her chest.
“Oh my God. That’s Laney.” Jen tore out the door as Yoni slammed on the brakes.
“Jen!”
But Jen ignored him as she blurred toward the falling figure of her best friend. God, please, I cannot lose her too. She raced up the side of the Pyramid, dive-catching Laney around the waist.
She twirled Laney around her so she was in front of her, covering the baby, and then as soon as she hit the ground, she rolled, careful to keep the two of them from hitting too hard.
She stopped, rolling Laney to the side and blinking up at the sky.
Jake ran over. “Jen!”
Jen sat up, staring at the wounds in Laney’s arms, still slowly trickling blood. She grabbed on to each of them. “Help me!”
The Range Rover slammed to a stop next to them, sending sand spraying up in a wave. Yoni leaped from the Rover, a metal suitcase in his hand. He dropped to his knees, opening the case and thrusting a needle attached to a blood bag at Jake.
Jake didn’t even wait for a command. He quickly inserted the needle into a vein in Laney’s arm. Yoni attached another needle into a vein on her other arm and attached another blood bag. Then he sliced open the leg of her pants and attached a third to her thigh, attaching the other end to himself.
“What are you doing?” Jen asked.
“I’m a universal donor.” Yoni grabbed gauze and started to wrap one of Laney’s wrists tightly while Jen kept pressure on the other one.
