by Kristie Cook
For the briefest moment while she spoke, I caught a glimpse of her true self—with oily, mottled skin, horns, and a tail. Her eyes changed, too, from the weird, spiky irises to none at all. No whites or pupils, only fire. Another zombie possessed by a Demon.
“Where are they taking Noah?” Tristan demanded.
The whites of the Demon-woman’s eyes bled back in, and the fires returned to the freaky irises. “To Hell, where he belongs. And you’ve overstayed your welcome down there … for now.”
I shook my head. “No.”
I didn’t believe that. I still held hope for Noah. He’d promised Dorian he’d fight for us, which meant he wanted to convert.
“Or maybe they took him to Lucas. I don’t know, and I don’t care,” she said. “I’m just glad it’s all almost over. My lord and master will be here soon, and you will die. The boy is all Lucas needs.”
“What?” I gasped.
Tristan’s huge wings came out as he advanced on her.
“What does that mean?” he growled.
Her ugly eyes filled with fear as his wings curved in toward her, but her full mouth curved into a smirk. “That boy is all Lucas needs to drop the veil and open the Gates to Hell. Everything else is done and ready for my lord Satan.”
Chapter 14
Tristan shoved the Demon-woman against the cave wall, and his wing curved around, the feathers pressed against her throat. But the feathers weren’t soft and light, giving at the pressure. Their edges had become hard and razor-sharp, drawing a thin line of black blood.
“Where’s our son?” he demanded, his voice frightening even me.
“Almost home,” she sneered.
“Is he with Lucas?”
She didn’t answer. Tristan pressed his feathers harder into her skin. The line of blood grew thicker, dripping downward in several places.
“Where. Are. They?” he roared.
“I don’t know. On their way to Hades? Maybe in Hell by now, talking to our lord. Making preparations.” She gurgled out a laugh. “It doesn’t matter. You can’t stop it. But it’s not too late to change your minds about who the true god is.”
Tristan’s wing swished outward, slicing across the Demon’s neck. The body slumped against the wall and slid down to the floor, while a black smoke emerged from it. The Demon gathered into its natural shape and flew out of the cave, then disappeared.
I ran outside and leapt to the beach below, where I spewed out a string of profanities while pacing back and forth. Tristan landed on the beach, too, but he stood perfectly still, his wings out wide, his arms crossed over his chest, and his eyes staring out at the water as black waves crashed onto the gray sand. The peculiarly shaped cliffs cast dark shadows over us.
“We have to go to Hades,” I declared. He didn’t respond. “We have to go to Hades, get our son back, and … and …”
I floundered for our next step, not knowing what to do after that. There wasn’t much left to life on this Earth, but it didn’t matter. As long as we had Dorian back and the three of us were together, we’d figure out the rest. Right now, all we had to focus on was getting to Dorian.
“It might be too late,” Tristan finally said through a clenched jaw.
I stopped pacing in front of him and stared at him with lowered brows. “No, it’s not! Don’t say that! As long as the veil hasn’t been ripped down, we have time. We’re going to go to Hades and get him back before it is too late.”
“We’ll be severely outnumbered. It’s just the two of us.”
“And it will always be just the two of us. We’re all we have now. He’s our son, Tristan.”
He finally looked over at me, the gold in his eyes glinting. “I know. I’m ready. I just want to be sure you are.”
I spread my arms out wide and turned side to side. “Look at our lives. At the world. We have nothing more to lose, do we?”
“We could lose each other.”
My arms dropped to my sides, and my teeth gnashed at the thought of losing Tristan again. I forced my tight throat to swallow.
“We just can’t let that happen,” I said firmly.
He gave me a sharp nod. “Then Hades it is.”
We were about to launch when three winged women suddenly appeared in front of us. Although our last encounter had been rocky, I should have been happy to see my family again, but annoyance was all I felt.
“No,” Cassandra ordered. “You cannot go to Hades.”
And that was why.
They’d obviously been watching us through the veil and now felt the need to stick their noses into our business. Why now, when nothing mattered? They hadn’t done a thing before, when they could have made a difference. They’d sat back and watched the world crumble without so much as a word to give me some kind of guidance. And now they suddenly had something to say? Orders to give?
“We have to stop Dorian.” I placed my fists on my hips. “Make him see the mistake he’s making.”
They disappeared.
“He is not making a mistake.” Rina’s voice came from behind me, and I spun around. She sat up on the ledge of what had been Noah’s cavern. Her voice came softly, but easily heard. “Dorian is doing what he needs to do.”
“He’s doing what he thinks he needs to do because of Kali. But she lied to him. This is not what he needs to do.”
“But it is, honey.” Mom stood on the edge of one of the stone cliffs that jutted out into the water. The sun behind her created a glow around her body and wings.
“Why? Because his soul means nothing compared to all of the Summoned sons?” I threw my hands in the air and let out a growl of frustration. “Well, guess what. He won’t be breaking the curse. He won’t be saving the brothers. He won’t be doing anything except giving himself to Lucas, who will then drop the veil and open the Gates to Hell. Is that what you guys really want?”
Cassandra appeared to my right, hovering inches above the water as the waves slid in under her feet. “You cannot prevent Dorian from doing what he needs to do. You must allow him to go. But you will stop Lucas.”
I turned and squinted at her, confused. To stop Lucas, we had to stop Dorian.
“What do you mean?” Tristan asked, his voice steady but with that steely undertone that meant his patience ran thin.
“You must trust us,” Cassandra said, turning her full gaze on him. “You must believe in us, in the Angels, in your God. You must have faith that He has a plan and make His will your way. Dorian is following His will. You must not stop him.”
“So letting Lucas rip down the veil is also God’s will?” I scoffed. They were unbelievable. “You said this whole apocalypse wasn’t God’s doing, but now it is His will? He wants Satan’s chains to break so he can come to Earth? Because that’s what Lucas is going to do.”
“You will not let it come to that,” Rina said, now on the beach, standing behind Tristan.
“Exactly,” I said, “which is why we need to go to Hades. Now.”
“Not now,” Cassandra said. “Not yet. You need your army.”
I fisted my hands in my hair and dropped my head back to stare at the sky as a frustrated chuckle escaped me. After exhaling a sharp breath, I lifted my head to look at her.
“There is no army,” I said, straining to keep my voice low and calm when all I wanted to do was scream at her. “They’re gone. When are you going to realize and accept it? The Amadis are gone. Any still alive have given themselves over. Any humans left are serving the Daemoni, too. We don’t have an army anymore, Cassandra. This is it.” I waved my hands between Tristan and me. “This is our army now.”
“Do you give up on your people so easily?” Mom asked, still perched on the cliff above us. “On Owen and Charlotte? Vanessa and Sheree? Blossom and Jax?”
My stomach clenched as though she’d just punched me, and I blinked against the tears forming at the mention of their names. I’d been trying so hard to block them out, to not think about them, to not wonder what happened to them. I didn’
t want the visuals that came to mind, the ones I’d watched on repeat while in Hell—their horrific deaths while they’d been trying to help the Normans. And now the loss and despair all flooded over me, and I gasped at the pain in my heart.
“They’re … gone,” I whispered.
“Don’t give up on them.” Mom’s voice was distant, muffled by the pounding in my ears. “They’re still out there.”
I shook my head and scrubbed at the tears on my cheeks. “I watched them die a thousand times.”
“Then you witnessed lies,” Cassandra said, still hovering above the water. “They are out there. Other Amadis are out there. They need you, Alexis. As does humanity. They will fight for you, with you. Find them. Build your army. Then you will go to Hades.”
I wanted to believe her. I truly did. I wanted nothing more than for the world to be saved and restored. But even if what she said was true—which I highly doubted—we didn’t have time to wait.
“That will take too long. It’ll be too late,” I protested. “Dorian—”
“Dorian is doing what he needs to do.”
“Ugh! Stop saying that!” I stomped my foot in the sand like a child.
Mom suddenly appeared right in front of me, her eyes narrowed.
“Stop dismissing us,” she said, her voice taking on her mom tone. “You were angry at us for not providing direction before, and here we are, providing direction. Giving you the answers you claimed to want. Telling you what to do. But you fight us every time.”
I huffed out a breath. “Because I never know if you’re telling me the truth or not. Or setting me up for failure again. Especially because your direction is ridiculous. What you want me to do is absurd. You act like you have no idea what’s going on in this world.”
“Do we?” Mom asked pointedly. “Or do you? Do you really know what’s going on, Alexis, or do you think maybe we have a fuller view? Maybe we have a little more insight. Maybe we’re trying to steer you the right way because we have a broader perspective.”
I glared at her and frowned. “Char was right about where I get my stubbornness.”
Rina dropped down to stand by Mom. “We only interfere when we need to. We are here. What does that tell you, darling?”
“We are here to help you, Alexis,” Cassandra said, closing in on me, too, “but it is up to you to accept it.”
I scowled and looked sideways at Tristan. He held up his hands and gave me that man look—that I’m-not-getting-in-the-middle-of-a-bunch-of-women expression. My scowl deepened. Some help he was.
“How do we have time for this?” I demanded. “There’s a ticking clock! In fact, Dorian’s probably already at Hades, and it’s only a matter of time before Lucas drops the veil.”
“He is not with Lucas yet,” Cassandra said, and for the first time in I didn’t know how long, she actually said something I wanted to hear. Something that gave me true hope. “He is with a neutral party, receiving objective counsel. He has many difficult decisions ahead of him. Before you ask, no, we do not know where. Just know that he is safe. When he does go to Lucas, there will be signs. Watch for them. The veil will not fall and the Gates will not open the moment Dorian meets Lucas. There will be time. You will still be able to stop Lucas from proceeding. First, you need your army.”
And my hopes fell with the word when, rather than if.
“There’s nobody left,” I whispered once again as the heaviness of their loss pressed down on me.
“We’ve spent the last several weeks scouring Europe,” Tristan said, finally speaking up. He must have grown tired of the circles we made with this exasperating conversation. “Everywhere we’ve seen is the same—gray and lifeless. The only human life we’ve found is possessed by Demons or serving the Daemoni.”
“You must look closer,” Rina said. “Others are here.”
“They’re just not out in the open,” Mom added. “They don’t know that it’s safe to come to the surface, and it’s not in many places. You will have to search for them, but they are there.”
“I can’t even find their mind signatures, though,” I said. “There’s nobody but Daemoni.”
“Then you’re not looking in the right places or hard enough.”
My jaw dropped slightly, leaving my mouth agape. Tristan and I had flown all over Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Vienna, the Czech Republic, Greece, pretty much the rest of western Europe and a good portion of northern Africa. If we hadn’t found signs of life in any of those places, where else were we supposed to look?
“Search and you will find,” Cassandra said. “Build your army. The war is not over.”
With that, the three of them disappeared.
My hands balled into fists, I stomped my foot again, and a scream of complete frustration rose from deep within and erupted like a volcano out of my mouth.
“At least tell us where to look!” I yelled upward, but no answer came.
I glanced over at Tristan. He stared at me with his arms over his broad chest and a brow lifted. I frowned, embarrassed by my behavior.
“They infuriate me,” I muttered in explanation.
He unfolded his arms and held his hands up.
“No judging here. I understand.” One side of his mouth lifted in a crooked smile. “But your tantrums are … endearing.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, half-tempted to shoot a bolt of lightning at him, but that would be endearing.
He shrugged. “What can I say? I’ve always had a thing for your hotheadedness.”
He walked closer to me, hiding his wings as he did. I made mine disappear right before he snaked his arms around me.
“Are we doing this their way?” he asked as he pulled me close against him.
I leaned my head onto his chest. “What do you think?”
“It’s probably what we should do. They’re right. They have a broader perspective.”
I growled. “I hate it when they’re right.”
I especially hated what else Mom had to say. I had been begging them to tell me what to do before, but my pleas had gone unanswered. They’d claimed I hadn’t needed them then, when I’d felt completely alone and abandoned, facing a war I didn’t know how to fight. But now, when I knew what to do because there was nothing else left but my son to fight for, I did need them? I sighed as Rina’s words echoed in my mind: We only interfere when we need to.
“I guess we do it their way,” I said with a sigh. “The sooner we prove there’s nobody left for our army, the sooner we can move on to saving our son.”
He leaned down and kissed my forehead. “Maybe they’re right, Lex. Maybe there’s still hope for this world.”
I didn’t answer him. The chances for rebuilding this world were about the same as the odds of me spitting out a bunch of babies: pretty much nil. As long as I had the family I knew was still alive, though, I was okay with that.
“Do you really think there’s any chance Owen and Vanessa and everyone are still … around?” I asked as I lifted my head to look up at him.
“I don’t know why Rina and your mom would lie to us.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time.” I gnawed on my bottom lip. “Satan showed me their bodies. Made sure I knew I was to blame for their deaths.”
“And he would have every reason to lie.”
“Would he? What ulterior motive would that serve?”
He lifted a brow as he looked down at me. “Are you really asking me if I know all of Satan’s ulterior motives?”
“He was the only one who told me the straight-up truth about Dorian’s purpose. Maybe he’s the only one who’s been honest about everything.”
“Or maybe he was trying to make your Demons as big and powerful as possible so you’d believe you couldn’t slay them.” His hazel eyes caught mine and pierced into me, driving his point home. “Who do you think you should believe, Lex? Your mother? Or the Devil?”
I averted my eyes and pressed my lips together, hoping he didn’t see in me what I truly felt. Becaus
e although the answer should have been clear and easy, I honestly didn’t know whom to believe. Sure, Satan had all kinds of reasons to lie to me, and he was the king of deception, but he’d also told me many truths. And I loved my mom and grandmother, and I knew they loved me. But I also knew they’d do almost anything for the cause, including lifting my hopes so I’d obey their demands. After all, they were at war, too, and war required deceit.
On the other hand, why would they lie about my extended family? They loved Owen and Charlotte as much as I did, if not more. And they may have been confined to the Otherworld now, but weren’t all of the Amadis still their family? They would be mourning their annihilation, not encouraging me to go on a wild goose chase looking for them. I wanted to believe them so badly, but their previous betrayals made it difficult.
Ultimately, I could only trust myself, and Tristan, and the strength of our love.
“The only way to know for sure is to search for them ourselves,” I said. “So where do we start?”
“Since we’re this far, we may as well check on Jelani’s village, but I’d say we need to make our way back to D.C., since that’s the last place we saw our group.”
Jelani had been one of my council members I’d inherited from Rina. The last we’d known, he’d been in Kenya, so we took off and flew southeast. What passed on the ground below us sickened me. Besides the gray dunes of the desert, dried up lakes and rivers, and dead trees and grasslands, indigenous tribes who’d had no part in any of the world’s politics had been obliterated with corpses and skeletons scattered around the remains of their villages. And the animals. The poor animals. Lions, tigers, hippos, hyenas, birds of all kinds … and the extraordinary elephants and giraffes. So beautiful at one time, but now barely recognizable as rotting remains. What had Lucas done? Why the animals? Why wipe out every centimeter of Earth and the life on it?
To make Satan feel at home.
The thought made sense … sort of. Except, if Satan and his Demons liked Hell so much, why bother taking over Earth? If he had all the human souls anyway, why was he so anxious to come topside if it was just like Hell itself? Was it the destruction that he loved so much? If so, wouldn’t he have wanted to be a part of that himself? Or did Lucas need to prove his worthiness or something?
