I stood in a void. No walls, no ceiling or floor, just darkness everywhere. The first sensory feeling I experienced in that formless place was the sound of a Zippo lighter clicking open, followed quickly by the scent of burning tobacco. I turned around and I could see the burning embers on the end of a cigarette.
“Lux.” I held out my hand and an orb of light formed in my palm, quickly floating up and expanding, casting a low level of light across my surroundings. The only thing the light could hit was the man smoking in front of me.
“Alistair,” I said. “So, is this real or just another dream?”
“It’s real, son,” he said. “Celeste and Hem are driving around the city, trying to get a fix on you. Meanwhile, my body’s back at the warehouse with Wayne. This is an astral projection you’re seeing right now, an attempt to contact you even though we can’t find you.”
“This like a supernatural version of those movies where the cops have to keep the villain on the phone long enough to track his location?” I asked.
Alistair shook his head. “Nothing like that, mate. We’re just inside your head at the moment. I can’t track you this way, can only communicate with you. And we need to have a serious chat about what you’re taking part in.”
“You’re too late, old man,” I said. “We’ve got the stone and Lilith’s preparing the ritual.”
Alistair shook his head. “No, you don’t understand. You can still put a stop to this.”
“And why should I care about stopping it? I already told you, I’m getting something out of this deal, too.”
“Why do you think Lilith came to you?” he asked. “There are any number of supernatural operators in Chicago, ones who have far fewer scruples than you. But Lilith needed Luther Cross. Did you ever ask yourself why?”
“What are you getting at?”
“Lilith needs you in order to use the stone.”
I scoffed. “You’re insane. She’s got the ritual—”
“A ritual that will unlock the stone’s power for you,” said Alistair. “A ritual that will link the two of you together so she can access its power as well.”
“You’re really reaching, Alistair.”
“No, you have to listen to me, Luther.” Alistair dropped the cigarette and grabbed my shirt by the collar. In his blue eyes, I saw more vulnerability than I’d ever seen him show before. “You were right. The Sons of Solomon and I, there were things we didn’t tell you. Because we hoped—I hoped—there’d never be a need for you to learn those things. That you could live your life free of that burden.”
I pulled his hand off me and shoved him back. “What burden? What have you been keeping from me all this time?”
Alistair sighed. “Your father.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You knew? This whole time, you knew who my father was?”
He gave a nod with his eyes closed. “Of course I bloody-well knew. The cult that kidnapped Grace, they weren’t your generic Devil-worshippers. No, these boys had a very specific demon they prayed to. One who’d been kept hidden for centuries.”
I turned around instinctively, expecting to see Lilith standing behind me. Of course, I was still in the void, and so I saw nothing but darkness. Then Alistair spoke up from behind me and I felt his hand on my shoulder.
“I wanted to tell you, son. But now you understand why you’re the only one who can stop this,” he said. “That stone is powerless except in the hands of its creator. Or someone who shares his bloodline.”
I looked down at my hands and felt the hellfire welling up inside them. Decades of not knowing…of reading books in secret to try and find the truth…of being lied to…
“All this time…the one question I needed answered…and you lied to me.”
I looked up at Alistair as hellfire erupted in the palms of my hands. He took a few steps away from me.
“You have to understand, Luther,” said Alistair. “I wanted to protect you from that knowledge. I didn’t want anyone to know the truth. I didn’t even tell the Sons because I knew they’d want you killed. The only person who knew the truth was Thomas.
“Abraxas is one of the most dangerous demons in all of existence. That stone has power far beyond anything we’ve seen before. Even a fragment of it might be too much for you to control. If you allow Lilith to access that kind of power, there’s no telling what will happen.”
He stepped closer to me and placed his hand on my cheek. I could feel my resolve weakening under his gentle touch. The closest thing to a father’s touch I’d ever known. Even with this new, darker form I’d taken on, I still felt vulnerable where Alistair Carraway was concerned.
“If you cross this line, there’s no telling where it will end,” said Alistair. “You’ve got a choice to make, son. One that may shape the rest of your life.”
I placed my hands on his shoulders and sighed. “Alistair…you should know by now…”
My hands moved to his neck and I wrapped my fingers around his throat. Alistair gasped for breath.
“I’m not your fucking son.”
The hellfire expanded from my hands and consumed Alistair’s astral form, burning it away into nothing. I had no idea what that would do to his physical body, nor did I particularly care at that moment.
I turned away, and as soon as I did, the darkness shattered, and I was back on Xavier’s rooftop terrace. Lilith had spray-painted a sigil on the ground and set up candles around it. She stood from her handiwork and looked at me.
“Is everything okay?”
I crossed the distance between us and pulled her towards me, pressing my lips against hers. She immediately responded to the kiss, her arms wrapping around my neck and pulling me closer to her, returning each kiss, each bite, in kind.
When she pulled away from me, I looked down into her yellow eyes and smiled.
“Let’s finish this,” I said.
32
“This is it,” said Lilith as she brought me into the center of the sigil. She handed me the stone and I looked down at it, feeling its power in my hands. I looked up at her and I could see the red glow of my eyes casting light on her face.
“I know,” I said. “I know why you needed me for this.”
Lilith’s mouth opened, and I could tell she didn’t know how to respond to that. I placed a hand on her cheek and gave her a reassuring smile.
“Forget it,” I said. “From now on, we’re doing this together. No more deals, no more secrets. You want my power, then we’re going to be partners in this thing.”
“Do you have any idea what it is you’re asking for?”
“I’ve spent my entire life either having my fate be dictated to me or running away from it,” I said. “Now, I’m taking hold of the reins and making my own destiny.”
Lilith smiled and pulled my head down to hers so she could kiss me again. While our lips were pressed together and our tongues intertwined, her hands wrapped around mine. She broke the kiss and looked down, her eyes closed as she started muttering in Enochian.
The flames of the candle erupted all around us. Lilith opened her eyes and stared into mine. Hers were burning like flames. I looked up and saw dark clouds gathering overhead, swirling together. The red paint of the sigil started to spark and burn beneath our feet. And in my hands, I felt the power of the stone grow, coursing through my body. It started to glow so bright that the light even escaped through our clasped hands.
The clouds swirled and in the center of the vortex was a beam of light that shot down from the heavens, engulfing the two of us within the sigil. Every inch of my body overflowed with the power of the Abraxas Stone. It was like trying to stand still in the middle of a hurricane.
The energy of the stone felt like it would consume me whole. I looked at Lilith and saw her eyes closed. With our hands linked, the power was flowing into her body as well, and part of me wondered if it might completely destroy her.
One final surge of power came from the sky, this one striking with the force of a thunderbolt. L
ilith and I were blown in opposite directions. I hit one of the many couches along the terrace, knocking it over and then rolling on the ground for a few more inches. When I finally came to a stop, I was on my back, staring up at the clouds. Their darkness hadn’t abated in the slightest. They still hung up there, and if anything, it seemed like the skies were growing darker.
Celeste stared out the window of the car as Hem drove through the streets of Chicago. They weren’t getting very far in their quest to find Luther. They had tried his apartment, but the binding magic meant Hem couldn’t even break down the door. Lust was the next place on the list they were headed, and she wondered if it was even worth it.
She looked down at the cell phone in her hand. Celeste had tried to call Tessa a few times already, but with no luck. Part of her wanted to tell Hem to swing by Logan Square and see if Tessa was still there, but then she thought better of it. Tessa had made it clear she didn’t want to be any more involved with this—she was finished with Luther.
After recent events, Celeste sympathized with the young witch’s position. But she wasn’t ready to give up on Luther just yet. As long as he was still alive, she had hope she could bring him back from the brink.
Cassandra was another option, but the old woman spoke in so many damn riddles, they might waste even more time just trying to decipher her ramblings. Alistair was trying to make contact in his astral form while they visited the likely locations, and Celeste had to hope that would be enough.
Her phone started ringing. She checked the name on the display and answered it. “Wayne? What’s going on? Did Alistair find him?”
“I have no damn idea,” said Wayne. “But something happened.”
“What do you mean? What happened? Is everything okay?”
Wayne was a veteran Chicago cop, so he was able to maintain his cool in even the most drastic of situations. But even though he was good at hiding his emotions, Celeste could hear the nervous tone in his voice.
“I—I don’t know what happened,” said Wayne. “One minute, everything was fine. Alistair was sitting there in his trance or whatever, all quiet. The next, he starts screaming and spasming like he’s having a seizure.”
“What?” asked Celeste. “Is he okay?”
“Damned if I know. I tried to hold him down, get him to snap out of it, but it didn’t do a whole lot. All that happened is he kept spasming for a few more minutes and then just…stopped.”
“Is he awake?”
“No, he’s unconscious. I’ve tried waking him up, but nothing seems to work,” said Wayne. “His pulse is steady, though, and he seems to be breathing just fine. It’s almost like he’s asleep.”
“Something must have happened when he was searching for Luther,” said Celeste. “Okay, stay with Alistair and call Thomas. Tell him what happened…maybe he can help.”
“What about you?” asked Wayne.
“We’ll keep looking, I guess,” said Celeste. “Right now, we’re on our way to Lust, but I’m not sure—”
Celeste was interrupted by the car screeching to a sudden halt. She looked up angrily at the driver and saw Hem was climbing out of the car. She got out as well and saw him staring up at the sky.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Celeste? You all right?” asked Wayne over the phone.
Celeste walked up to Hem and put a hand on his massive shoulder. He didn’t look at her, but he raised his arm and pointed off in the distance. She followed his line of sight and saw what he was pointing at.
Not far from where they were, dark clouds had gathered around one of the buildings, swirling about. A beam of red light shot down from the sky, striking the rooftop. Celeste raised the phone up to her ear again.
“Wayne, I’ll call you back,” she said. “I think we know where Luther is.”
The sensation of the power still tingled my body, gooseflesh rising all over my skin as my hair stood on its end. I’d experienced electric shocks before and this feeling was strangely similar to that. The sensation was multiplied, except there wasn’t any pain. Just the feeling that I’d finally come into my own.
I opened my closed hand and saw the Abraxas Stone sitting there. I rolled onto my side and grunted as I got to my feet. Every inch of my body felt exhausted, which didn’t seem like the kind of thing the stone was supposed to do. But underneath all that, I also felt a rush—a strength that I’d never known before in my entire life. Not even wielding hellfire felt like this.
“Lilith?” I asked, surveying the roof. I walked over to the sigil and saw it had been vaporized, the candles completely melted. Probably had something to do with that mega-blast that had blown Lilith and I apart from each other.
I continued to search the roof, seeking her out. I could’ve sworn I saw her be blown away from me when the blast struck, but was it possible I was wrong? Could the blast have destroyed her? Or maybe it had actually thrown her over the edge?
I ran to the edge and looked over, but I saw no sign of Lilith or anyone else lying on the ground eighteen floors below. That may have not meant much, anyway—she could have easily recovered from a fall like that. And I didn’t know how long I’d been out from the blast.
“Lilith!” I shouted, cupping my hands over my mouth. Still no reply. Was it possible that she actually had found a way to steal the stone’s power from me, and now she was trying to cut me out? My fist clenched tighter around the stone as my thoughts fumed over that idea. If Lilith had screwed me over, I’d see to it she’d pay.
“Now look at that.”
I recognized the voice and turned slowly to address the man speaking. My eyes narrowed as they took him in. Belial had found us, and he didn’t look too happy to see me.
“Impressive little light show, Mr. Cross,” said Belial. “Unfortunately, something like that wouldn’t work on something like me.”
“I don’t care. I’m still taking your ass down anyway,” I said.
He started to chuckle.
I asked him what was so funny, and he elected to share.
“I have no clue what sort of magic you think you summoned, Luther, but it will take a lot more than that to kill me.”
I looked down at the stone and then back at Belial, cocking my head just slightly. “You don’t know what this is, do you?”
“Why, should I?”
“Because, Belial,” I said with a dark grin spreading across my face. “This is going to be a great day, I can just feel it. And this stone—it’s going to be the thing that kills you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
I held up the stone and concentrated. The power began rising up inside me. And with a simple gesture, I opened my hand. In response, crimson lighting arced from the stone, striking Belial square in the chest, coursing through his body much in the same way the energy had coursed through mine.
But I wasn’t about to just leave it at that. I kept concentrating and hellfire emerged from my hands, too. Now with the power of both, I looked on as Belial—
“Is that the best you can do?”
—just shrugged off the most powerful attack in my arsenal.
“Well…that’s unexpected…” I muttered.
33
Belial had just shrugged off the most powerful attack I could muster. I was so busy staring at the Abraxas Stone in shock that I gave him the perfect opening to cross the distance between us and deliver a blow that sent me flying across the rooftop. I hit the edge and fell over, grabbing hold with my free hand. I looked down, dangling over the eighteen-story drop, with only my fingers to keep me from falling.
And they were starting to give.
I tried to pull myself back up, but the grip wasn’t strong enough. I relaxed and concentrated, focusing on thoughts of Belial. Energy started to flow from the stone again, surging through my body. I looked at the hand clutching the edge and sparks began forming. Hellfire formed around my hand, coalescing and taking shape in the form of a massive claw. It dug into the concrete and gave me enough le
verage to pull myself up.
Belial stood waiting for me, hellfire forming into the shape of a flaming sword within his two hands. “Good. I hoped you would put up more of a challenge.”
I looked at my open hand, hellfire dancing in my palm. I focused on it, trying to visualize a sword. It started to form, but then fizzled away. I tried again, relying on my anger to bring forth the hellfire like I had before. Again, nothing.
Belial laughed. “So, this is the great destroyer? This half-breed everyone in Hell fears? You can’t even get it up.”
I growled in response, but before I could try again, the door to the roof burst open. Belial and I both looked at the new arrival and saw Hem standing there. The yeti’s eyes traveled between both Belial and myself, and I wasn’t sure which one he was going to attack. He didn’t seem so sure himself. But even a dumb bastard like Hem seemed to understand that if choosing between fighting a half-demon or an archdemon, go for the arch.
He charged into Belial, moving so fast that the demon didn’t have an opportunity to react. I watched as Hem pummeled Belial and I started to wish I had some popcorn. But then I focused once more, trying to figure out why this damn stone wasn’t working the way everyone had said it would.
“Luther…”
I looked up and groaned. “Celeste. Not a good time.”
She walked over to me and I thought she was going to throw a punch. But she put her hand on my arm and looked at me. I looked back at her and felt a familiar feeling, something long-dormant, stir inside me.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked.
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Do you even understand anymore?”
The familiar feeling started to turn to anger. I growled and felt hellfire stirring. I wrapped my fingers around her throat, hellfire forming around my hand. I raised the stone in front of her, its power surging now more than ever. I narrowed my eyes as she stared at me with wide eyes. Even after all this, Celeste had probably never imagined I’d react this way towards her.
Devil's Shadow Page 21
