Evolution (The Divine Series Book 5)

by M. R. Forbes

  "That's what you get for falling in love," Gervais said. "A foolish emotion."

  "Shut up," I said.

  It only took the fiend a few minutes to wire up the rift. He knelt at one of the stones and began feeding his power into it. Fiends that were strong enough to activate rifts were incredibly rare. It was a privilege normally reserved for the most powerful demons.

  It came to life, flaring into a ring of flames that illuminated the small room.

  "There. It's done. Let her go."

  Rose looked at me. I shook my head. "Sorry, I can't do that. Alyx is coming with us, to make sure you made the connection to the right place. If you did, she lives. If you didn't-"

  "It goes to China. The closest rift is in Kowloon." His voice was strained, hinting at desperation.

  I'd never seen a demon so upset. He stood at the edge of the circle, his face sweating, his hands clenched in fists. I was sure making a mortal enemy of Espanto wasn't the best idea, and I might have killed him and been done with it if I hadn't needed Alyx. A mortal couldn't travel a rift without being in contact with a demon. They would be ripped apart by the power, and Gervais' nature made me unsure if he was qualified to act as the conduit.

  "Ladies first," I said, motioning to the Great Were.

  They moved to the edge of the rift.

  I put my hand on Rose's shoulder. "You're going to feel a little dizzy when you come out. Don't lose your grip."

  She set her jaw and nodded. Then they stepped through.

  "If you hurt her-" Espanto said.

  "I'm not going to hurt her. I told you I needed transport and reinforcements. I'd say a Great Were is a quality reinforcement. It's not personal, Espanto. You know I can't let the angels win."

  He stared at me, his eyes betraying his rage.

  "Too-da-loo," Gervais said.

  He stepped into the rift.

  I followed after.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  One foot was in Mexico, the other was in Kowloon. That was how transport rifts worked, creating a connection between our world and Hell and back again that made the distance negligible.

  Rose was on the other side with Alyx. She was pale and sweating, but she managed to keep the knife pressed against the demon's throat.

  "You can let her go," I said.

  Alyx's hand snapped up and caught Rose's forearm, while she used her other arm to elbow her in the gut. I could see Rose's muscles flex as she tried to pull the knife into the demon's throat, but she was stronger than I had guessed. She twisted around and got Rose to drop the blade, positioning herself behind and holding Rose's arm tight against her back. A single finger elongated into a claw, pressed against her throat.

  The Great Were looked over at the rift, and then at me. I was static. Disarmed. Gervais chuckled next to me.

  "You really thought a human could overpower her?" he said.

  I looked over at him, momentarily confused. Then Alyx took her hand away and shoved Rose into my arms.

  "He means, I wanted to come," she said. She knelt down at the still burning rift, shifting her hand into a paw and pulling one of the flaming stones away. The smell of singed hair and flesh rose from it. The rift went out.

  "Why?" I asked.

  Rose pulled herself from my grip, a look of disgust on her face. She had told me she felt overmatched, and I kept trying to convince myself she wasn't. Without the tattoos and artifacts and upbringing of the Nicht Creidem, could any mortal hope to fight the Divine? Was I deluding myself because I didn't want to accept that my role as the so-called 'Great Equalizer' was an eternal one?

  "He says he loves me," she said. She unbuttoned her shorts and pulled them down, just enough that I could see the fiend's brand resting on her pelvis. "This is love? He controls me." She pulled her pants back up. "He took me from my pack when I was a child. He did things to me." A low growl formed in the back of her throat, even as she spoke. "He branded me, trained me to be his bodyguard, his assassin. He took me as his mate. I couldn't break free of him, not with the brand. I learned it was easier to comply, to play along. Every day I hoped that something would happen to free me from this. Every assignment I hoped that I would be killed. I never imagined that anyone would save me." A tear ran from her eye. A tear from a Great Were? "I've heard that Ulnyx fought with you."

  "He did. He was my friend."

  "He was my true alpha. We would have been mated when I was older, if Espanto hadn't taken me."

  "He took you?"

  "He sent his demons into the pack. A distraction. I was only a pup then. He came looking for us. A female for himself, a pair of males for Valerix. My mother tried to protect me. He killed her, took me through his rift, and branded me. I've had no freedom since, until now."

  "Espanto couldn't have promoted you?"

  "No. He doesn't have that much power. We did a few favors for Valerix, a number of years ago. She imbued me with the power, raised me to Great as payment."

  "I'm not sure what to do with you now. I was going to try to compel you to fight for me by threatening to lead the angels back to Espanto and tearing the runes from his little hidey-hole. Obviously, that isn't going to work. I don't want to force you."

  She licked the tears from her cheek with a long tongue. "I don't need to be compelled. Espanto's information network is unparalleled. I know what happened in Mumbai. I know most of the pack was killed there, helping you and Ulnyx. I know he was alpha when he died." She looked at me, her eyes going soft and big. "I know you were alpha before him."

  It had been on a technicality, because the Great Were's soul had been trapped in mine. "I don't have any right to that title anymore."

  "The title is yours. There is no more pack. What was left of us was absorbed or destroyed. Either way, you got me out of there. You're the closest thing I have to family. I'll stand by you."

  It was a surprising twist, and for once it actually went in my favor. I looked over at Gervais, who was trying to hide a self-satisfied smirk. Had he known about Alyx's past? Had he guessed the way this would work out? Was he helping me for real? Or was there some other plot simmering beneath this one?

  Either way, she was in truth still a slave to the demon. Freeing her from the brand meant cutting it from the fiend's body. Until then, only distance from him would protect her.

  "I don't know if or when I'll be able to confront Espanto," I said. "Right now, I need as many powerful demons as possible to stay alive."

  "It isn't my place to question you, Master," Alyx replied. Then her dark eyes sparkled. "Besides, he'll be coming after you. He'll want me back. Then he'll die."

  If he came after me, one of us would. "Please don't call me 'Master'."

  "That is what mates call their alpha," she said. "That is what I will call you."

  I felt a knot in the pit of my stomach. Mates? I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into, but the way she said it, I could tell there wasn't a lot of room for debate. I would deal with that later. We still weren't in Shenzhen, and we'd already burned almost seven hours.

  "So, does anyone here have any idea where we are?"

  CHAPTER FORTY

  The rift was in the bottom of a butcher's shop, tucked into a back corner and hidden behind a false wall. Once we pushed it aside, we were let out into the basement proper - a cold storage area where racks of meats hung from the ceiling.

  Some of it was human.

  "I'm going to be sick," Rose said. She still hadn't completely recovered from the rift travel, and the sight of the skinned bodies was more than enough to push her to the edge. The heavy smell of meat didn't make it any easier.

  "Just concentrate on walking," I said. "One foot after the other."

  The place was obviously home to any number of demons. None of them were in the basement at the moment.

  "Weres," Alyx said. "Mongrels. I can smell them. What time is it?"

  "Here? Close to seven."

  "They'll be out readying for the hunt. The meat down here is for emergencies.
We prefer fresh."

  "How can you eat people?" Rose said.

  "How can you eat cow?" Alyx replied. "Or pigs, or deer. Rabbits, dogs, chickens. The were are children of Lucifer. We eat human meat because we cannot survive without the blood of God's creation. Why do you eat meat?"

  Rose turned red, her jaw clenching, her sickness forgotten. "Are you comparing people to cows?"

  "Humans are like cows. A food source to the superior species."

  "Superior? You can't even survive without us, and you think-"

  I stepped between them. "Rose. This isn't the time or place. Alyx, can you lead us out of here?"

  "Yes, Master." She smiled at me and walked ahead.

  "I don't like her," Rose said, to Gervais' amusement.

  "Because of who she is, or what she is?" I said. "Not all demons are hopelessly cursed to being evil. It isn't her fault or her choice to need human blood to survive."

  "You're just saying that because she makes those big puppy eyes at you."

  "I'm saying that because we need any allies we can get. To keep the balance, you can't take a side of good or evil. You need to accept both for what they are. Weres aren't evil because they eat human flesh. That's basic self-preservation. Weres are evil when they rape, or murder for sport, or work for others to help them do other rotten deeds. Yes, the prevalent attitude among them is to do those things. Most do, not all, and they can change. Ulnyx changed."

  I was tempted to ask her if she was just feeling jealous. I was sure I would get hit if I did.

  "Just give her a chance," I said.

  We followed Alyx out of the basement, through a rusted metal door and into a crowded street. The buildings here were high and tight, the atmosphere subdued. Lit signs littered the sides of the buildings in bright colors, the pending darkness promising an amazing sight once night finished falling.

  I pulled my phone from my pocket, and waited for it to get a signal. Once it did, I hit up the internet for an idea of where we were, and how far we had to go.

  Too far.

  "It'll take another two hours by car," I said. "An hour and a half by train, not including waiting times. There has to be a better way."

  "What about flying?" Rose asked. "Maybe we can get a helicopter. Hospitals usually have one."

  "Do you know how to fly it?" Gervais said.

  "No. Landon?"

  "I don't even like to drive," I said.

  "Any other bright ideas?" Alyx asked. Hadn't it been bad enough that Rose and Gervais were always bickering, without throwing an apparently catty Great Were into the mix?

  I looked up the nearest hospital. It was only a few blocks away.

  "Let's head over to Kowloon Hospital. Even if we can't get a chopper, we can take an ambulance. The lights and sirens can't hurt."

  We moved through the crowd at top speed, crossing over the few blocks in a hurry. The hospital was a huge, white stone building, modern and clean. It looked like any other hospital around, and could have easily been sitting in the middle of New York.

  "How are we going to find the pilot?" Gervais said. "I doubt he's just hanging out in the cockpit waiting for us to ask him for a ride."

  Rose shook her head. "I'm so stupid. He probably is hanging out in the cockpit. It's an emergency helicopter. He needs to be ready to go."

  I looked up towards the roof. "Maybe we should drive. If there are any angels around, Alyx's aura is going to draw them right to us."

  "We can leave her here," Rose said.

  "We can't. We need the firepower." I kept staring up at the roof, trying to decide what to do.

  "It's too risky," Gervais said. "They won't be able to attack unless we hit them first. What they will have is plenty of time to warn the others. We need the element of surprise, or they're going to spirit Zheng away before we can get close."

  "Okay," I said. "Let's find an ambulance. Alyx, can you scout the perimeter?"

  "Of course, Master." She smiled, her entire face growing and changing as she did. Within moments the petite woman was replaced with the hulking form of the Great Were. She stepped forward and put her muzzle against my cheek, and then turned and bounded off, vanishing from sight in a dozen long strides.

  "I'm not ashamed to admit I'm a little jealous of that," Gervais said, casting a sidelong glance at Rose. He was trying to fuel the fire.

  "I'm going to take the high road," I said, pointing to the rooftop. "I'll be right back." I gathered my energy and pushed it out into the ground, using the force to launch myself into the air.

  Like jumping from high places, leaping to them was something I had practiced over and over again. The roof was near the limits of my reach, and I came down only a foot or so from the edge.

  I looked back, scanning the front of the hospital, searching for a ride from above. Then I turned and started running for the opposite side.

  An angel landed in front of me.

  "Who are you?" she asked. She had dark hair, fair skin, golden eyes. "Not the demon I sensed."

  I didn't slow down, barreling right into her and knocking her to the ground. Her wings spread beneath her, trying to find leverage to push me off. If all I had were mortal strength, she could have done it easily.

  "I'm sorry," I said, even as I found the stone with my free hand and summoned the dark sword. I couldn't risk her getting away and telling the others.

  I plunged the blade into her heart.

  I'd never managed to kill an angel without feeling an overwhelming sense of failure after. This time was no different. My heart wrenched, my gut tightened, and I stumbled back to my feet, pocketing the stone and moving ahead while the poison spread and the seraph writhed and died. I looked skyward for more of them.

  It was clear.

  I took a deep breath and worked to force the sadness from my soul, to focus on the task at hand. Would it get easier over time? Would I want it to?

  I was running for the opposite side of the roof when I heard a howl from the front. I switched directions and looked down, finding the Great Were on her haunches next to Rose and Gervais.

  "Which way?" I called down.

  Alyx took a few steps to the left, and paused.

  "I need you to carry Rose."

  Rose looked up at me, horrified. Alyx looked back at Rose. Even from the distance, I could tell she didn't want to. Even so, she didn't argue. She circled back and scooped her up in a massive paw, dumping her on her back. Then she took off, Gervais racing behind her.

  I followed along the rooftop, keeping an eye out for more angels. Alyx tore around the corner, blasting past bystanders who would have no idea what they had seen. I wondered what their brains would tell them she was?

  The motor pool was behind a large, barbed wire fence. Alyx leaped it without slowing, shifting upright as she did and wrapping a hairy arm around Rose to keep her from falling off. I jumped from my own perch, pushing the energy out and landing gracefully next to them. Gervais joined us a few seconds later.

  "I'm fast. Not that fast," he said.

  "How was the ride?" I asked Rose.

  Her hair was windblown, her face blanched. "I prefer cars."

  "Then you're in luck."

  There was an ambulance a dozen feet away. It wasn't locked, and the keys were already in the ignition.

  "I guess they thought a fifteen foot fence was good enough security," Rose said.

  "Yeah, and who wants to steal an ambulance, anyway?" I said with a smile, taking shotgun. Gervais and Alyx found their way into the back.

  Rose got us moving, angling us around and towards the gate. I reached out with my power, pulling it aside as we sped through, leaving the security guard stationed there with wide eyes and confused expression. By the time he recovered, he would have forgotten he saw us in the first place.

  "Did you see the look on his face?" Rose's laughter was almost enough to sooth the sudden unease I was feeling.

  Almost.

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  We hit the sirens once we
were a couple of blocks from the hospital, using them to get through lights and push the traffic out of our path. It definitely made things faster, but it wasn't doing much for the dread I was starting to feel.

  Seven hours. Eight by the time we got there.

  We were going to be too late.

  "Are you okay?" Rose asked.

  I thought about lying to her, deciding against it. "No. I don't think we're going to make it."

  "Why do you say that?"

  "It took too long to get here. I should have time walked. Come alone."

  "Yeah, that sounds like it would have been a great idea. How do you know you wouldn't have walked right into a trap? Have you considered that maybe the angels planted the intel about Taylor? That they wanted you to find it? I mean, they knew pretty fast that we had accessed it."

  I hadn't considered that.

  "You said you think Adam is controlling them," she continued. "What if Adam is only one of many? What if there are others? You could have gone in alone against who knows how many Fists."

  "We could still be going in against who knows how many Fists."

  "Yeah, but you aren't doing it alone. I might not be strong enough to fight them directly, but I can be pretty distracting when I need to." She put her hand to one of her breasts and lifted it up suggestively.

  I laughed at that. "I don't think the angels or the Fists will fall for your sex appeal."

  She laughed with me. "That's better. I don't think so either. I can be distracting in other ways. You also have Gervais, and Alyx. I don't have to like her to see how badass she is in that monster form."

  I looked towards the back of the Ambulance. Alyx was laying down on one of the gurneys, looking oddly content. Gervais was sitting on the floor, his head down as though he were praying.

  "We might die," I said.

  "If this whole balance thing is what you say it is, if we die, a lot of people are going to die. I think in that case I'll be one of the lucky ones."

  The statement gave me a new level of respect for Rose. "You were worried before about feeling overmatched. When I saw how easily Alyx overpowered you, I was worried too. Afraid that I'm going to get you killed. Afraid that regular mortals can never be strong enough to fight back against the Divine."