Surrender to Dawn

by J. Kenner

  Nothing past where the trash can had been, though, seemed to be affected, and I had to assume that Penemue had set the point of no return for the vortex at my lamppost. Everything past the lamppost was going about its business. Everything inside—like me and the Oris Clef—were feeling one hell of a brutal tug.

  I strained to hold on, but it was getting harder and harder. The pull was unbelievably fierce, my entire body stretched out so much I was pretty sure that at the end, I'd be two inches taller.

  "You cannot win, little girl." The voice, like sandpaper soaked in brine, grated on me, giving me chills.

  "The hell I can't," I said. "I let go, and me and this necklace are slamming straight into your vortex. I don't know where it goes, but I'm guessing you won't be able to get us back in time to use the Oris Clef at the convergence."

  "Such naive innocence," he said. "Do you even now not understand? Do you not see why the elements of the Oris Clef appeared on your skin? Why you were able to track them down? Because it is bound to this dimension, Lily. It is bound here, as you are not."

  Honestly, I didn't completely understand what he was talking about, but I definitely understood that whatever it was, it was bad for me.

  "You will be drawn in, but the necklace will not. It will be plucked off your pretty neck and fall here, to the ground, at my feet."

  That wasn't good. And what was worse was the fact that the world was starting to get very fuzzy, and I wasn't entirely sure why. Because my head wasn't working right anymore. Because the necklace had managed to twist itself around, and although I was an Über-chick, I still need to breathe.

  And that was becoming really, really hard.

  And so was holding on to the damn post . . .

  I blinked, my body jerking and my hands tightening. Through the sheer force of will, I was going to stay conscious, but I didn't have long. And I couldn't even cry out for Deacon—not that he could break away from his own personal war zone—but even if he could, my voice didn't seem to be working.

  I was fast approaching the end, and I didn't like the way it looked. Didn't like it at all, and in less than an hour, the demons would cross over, and this would all be really and truly over.

  No.

  There had to be help somewhere. But I couldn't think where. Morwain was gone, and for the first time I truly appreciated how handy a minion could be. But while there might be other demons out there supporting me, none had bothered to tell me, and I didn't know them and couldn't call them if I did, and as my head spun and the world shifted from clear to gray to red, I did something I hadn't done in ages and ages.

  I prayed.

  I prayed for help. For strength. For God to show me the way to battle this demon, because without help, it was all over. For me and for everybody else.

  And when I was finished praying I opened my eyes and the world was still red and my fingers were still straining and I had no answers, and that tiny flower of faith that had been growing inside me started to shrivel up and die, the petals falling off and drifting away just like my crazy, oxygen-starved thoughts, and—

  Gabriel.

  Suddenly he was there. Not the angel, but the thought of him. Because he could save me. I had no doubt about that. And I knew he was near—knew he could come. I'd seen him all around me. In the face of that man at the church. In Madame Parrish. Inside the pages of the book. He'd been watching my every step, and he had to know that I hadn't failed. I'd found the key.

  Now I just needed help getting to the bridge in time to use it.

  I couldn't scream to call for him, though, and so I prayed some more, hoping that once again my prayers would be heard.

  "Do you finally understand?"

  I opened my eyes and saw him standing just behind the lamppost, unaffected by the vortex.

  "Do you understand?" he repeated.

  I understand you have to help me, I screamed inside my head. If he gets the Oris Clef . . .

  "You will come with me? Willingly? You will come to the bridge?"

  Fear curled in my gut. I don't have to, I said, then rushed on as I saw destruction rise in his countenance. We found the third key. We can shut the gate. I don't have to burn. I don't have to be queen. It's over—or it will be if you help me. Please, Gabriel, on all that is holy. Help me.

  He took a single step toward me, his furrowed brow making the warrior tats on his face writhe and jump. "The third key. You speak the truth?"

  Right there, I said, indicating the belt loop of my jeans through which I'd shoved the thing.

  Storm clouds gathered in his eyes, as if he feared that I was trying to bullshit him.

  Dammit, if he gets me, it's all over for you anyway, third key or not! Do you think you could find me in time? Pull me out of a portal to God knows where in time to stop hell from rushing toward us?

  "ENOUGH," boomed Penemue. "This puny celestial creature is no match for me."

  And to prove it, he yanked, and yanked hard. So hard I feared my arms would be pulled off.

  "Lily!" Rose yelled, but I couldn't look up, couldn't answer. All I could do was try to hold on, and even that was no use, because as my fingers were starting to slip, the damn lamppost was being yanked from the ground.

  I was hurtling toward the void, and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it

  "No." Gabriel's voice echoed through Boston, and faster than I could comprehend, he whipped past me, his form no longer human, but celestial, a huge, dragonlike creature daubed with silver, both terrifying and beautiful. I caught only a glimpse as he burst past, but I heard the collision as he intercepted Penemue.

  For that matter, I'm pretty sure Beijing heard the collision.

  The world around us shook, the air itself shimmering like heat rising off concrete.

  It was enough to shake me free, and I landed on the asphalt with a jolt, the pressure around my neck decreasing, and I tried desperately to claw at the ground and stop my still-backward progression to the maw.

  In front of me, Rose tried to run to help, but she didn't make it. A demon attacked from behind, and she had to whip around and counter his blows. Soon, she was engulfed in a swarm, and though I called and called, I got no response.

  I didn't see Deacon at all.

  I tried to hold on and twist around, but I couldn't. I could only turn my head and see, somewhat, the battle raging behind me. A battle that was tearing down buildings, ripping up concrete, and shaking the earth to its core.

  And then I felt the snap and knew that Gabriel had pulled Penemue free from his dimension. The demon was fully in this world, which, frankly, I considered one hell of a mistake as that gave him an extra few inches of reach, and one of those nasty tentacles did just that—reached I mean. Right out to lash around my ankle and pull me, flailing, through the sky toward him.

  I yanked my knife from my sheath and hacked at the thick flesh, but it was no use. We were coming closer and closer to the portal. Soon, it would be all over.

  "Lily!" Gabriel's voice echoed down the street, and my mind tried to comprehend the size of him, the power of him.

  He held up a glowing sword, as if pointing the tip to heaven. "I have faith, Lily. In the future," he said, his words so eerily familiar. "And in the choice you must make."

  And with that, he brought down his sword onto the tentacle and sliced it off, causing me to crash to the ground. At the same time, he burst forward with supernatural speed, to crash into Penemue and send them both hurtling backward into the maw.

  His voice echoed back to me as the vortex sealed itself. "Faith . . ."

  And then they were gone.

  And the clock was still ticking down.

  21

  Faith. Gabriel's words hung in the air as I picked up speed, rushing down the street toward my sister and Deacon, still fighting their way through the mass of writhing demons.

  Faith in my choices.

  The familiar words flowed through me. Calming me and yet, at the same time, disturbing me.

 
I remembered now where I'd heard them before—at Madame Parrish's, when I'd had the vision. When I'd seen Gabriel's face on her body.

  I shivered. Because how could he have faith in my choices when I didn't intend to make one? The third key saved me from that—let me hop-skip right over faith. It was the easy way out, and I'll wholeheartedly admit that I was glad that Deacon's faith in the key's existence had paid off.

  Now we just had to use the thing. Which was easier said than done because we had to get our asses to the Zakim Bridge. And if we got there late, all bets were off.

  "Deacon!" I shouted, sliding into the fray, my own blade in my right hand and the dagger in my left. "We have to get out of here!"

  "All for that," he shouted back. "Got any ideas how?”

  There were dozens of them still. Coming at us from all directions. I'd made my way to the middle, where Deacon and Rose stood back-to-back, and I joined in. We made a small circle of resistance, and though we were all strong—though I was certain we could hold out for one hell of a lot longer than your average Joe on the street—holding out wasn't what we needed.

  We needed to actually be out.

  "Got any bright ideas?" Rose said.

  At my neck, the Oris Clef thrummed with power. Now that Penemue was gone, it had apparently decided that I was an okay mistress after all, and I could feel the warmth from it tingle through me. I didn't, however, feel supercharged. I couldn't hack through the crowd no matter how much I wanted to. I'd take down a hell of a lot of them, but I couldn't guarantee I'd get off that street alive.

  And right then, I needed guarantees.

  "Because if you do have one," Rose went on. "Now's the time."

  I did have one, actually, but I hesitated to suggest it. Hesitated even to voice the possibility. But right then, we were all out of options, and I had to make the hard choices.

  "Deacon," I said, hating myself for saying the words—for even thinking them—yet knowing that it was the only way. "Can you change? Can you fly us out of here?”

  He didn't answer, and the silence cut me to the core. I felt small, as if I'd failed him. As if I'd failed us.

  "If you ask me to do it," he said in a voice full of pain, "then I will."

  I wanted to close my eyes and pray for strength, but the demons rampaging all around us prevented that luxury. My eyes stayed open, and my blade stayed active.

  And, yes, I wanted to ask him to do it. But somehow the words wouldn't come. It felt too much like a betrayal, and I wasn't going to toss Deacon back to the wolves. Not when there was another way.

  And I really hoped that there was another way.

  "So we run for it," Rose said. "We count to three, and we just go. Fast as we can. That'll work, right?"

  "Wrong," I said. "We might make it. Or we might end up dead."

  I glanced quickly at her and saw her set her jaw. "I know the risks," she said. "I'm ready."

  "Maybe you are," I countered, thrusting my blade out to nail a demon foolish enough to move in on his own. He fell back, dissolving in front of us, and as the sweet power filled me, I realized I'd reached up to hold the Oris Clef tight in my hand. Its power flowed through me. So sweet. So tempting. So—

  "We can't do this much longer," Rose shouted, and Deacon yelled his agreement. All around us, the demons had moved in—swarming like flies who'd finally figured out the best way to attack a small group. They'd lose their advance team, but by the end of the battle, we'd be finished, and they'd be victorious. Not a great outcome for us and one I didn't intend to let happen.

  "Stop!" I yelled, and the moment I did, I knew what I had to do.

  I stepped away from Deacon and Rose, ignoring their cries of protest.

  "Stop," I repeated, and this time my voice boomed out as if it had been magically amplified. Because, apparently, it had. "Let us pass."

  I waited, somehow knowing—absolutely knowing—that this would work, and yet still fearing that I was wrong.

  I wasn't.

  All of the demons that had rushed into the street now took a step back, their heads bowed. The ones right in front of us moved even farther back, actually getting down on their knees, so that by the time they were all done shifting about there was what appeared to be a troop formation with a corridor right down the middle.

  Wow.

  I might not be queen yet but I'd just had a taste of the power that went with the job, and I have to say, it was pretty damn sweet.

  "Hurry," I said to Deacon and Rose. "It worked, but it may not stick."

  "Holy shit," Rose said, as we raced down the street, then broke into the first car we found. "Holy freaking shit."

  "About sums it up," I said, then turned to Deacon. "Can you get us to the bridge in time?"

  According to the clock on the dash, we had less than forty minutes to get there.

  Deacon grimaced. "No problem," he said, then gunned the thing. The bad news was that traffic was insane. The roads were a mess from the earthquakes and fires, and when Deacon slowed to take a corner, inevitably some idiot demon would toss himself on the car, thinking that would slow us down or something.

  I didn't try the booming-voice routine again. Considering how fast Deacon was moving I'd be long gone before any demon actually got the message.

  “There!" I shouted, when we finally reached the entrance for the freeway that became the bridge. "Faster! Faster!"

  Deacon didn't answer, just kept barreling forward as time ticked away until we finally came to a screeching halt just at the edge of the Charles River. Close, but not exactly where we needed to be.

  We couldn't, however, get to where we needed to be because of the cars that were practically stacked on one another in what had to be the worst traffic jam I'd ever seen.

  "Eight minutes," Deacon said with an accusing glance toward the clock. "We need to run."

  Also not easy with all those cars, but we managed, scrambling around and over until we reached the first tower that stretched up into the sky, the cables draping down to form an angel's wing.

  "What now?" I asked Deacon. Beneath us, the bridge started to sway, and the water of the Charles started to bubble. The bright daytime sky started to fade, the shadow of the moon falling across the sun. An eclipse. And not one that scientists had predicted. This eclipse was all about portents and portals and heralding doom.

  “What's happening?" Rose asked, grabbing onto one of the cables. Around us, civilians gaped, although we weren't attracting as much attention as we would have had it not been the end of the world. After all, the boiling river was at least as interesting as the crazy, knife-wielding people standing on top of the stalled cars.

  "Demon coming," I said, nodding toward the water. And then with a tilt up to the sky. "And a whole lot more after that."

  "Up," Deacon said. "We need to climb up."

  We started to climb, which was not exactly an easy feat, as the cables were slick and set at an impossible angle. It's times like that when superstrength really does come in handy, and although I won't say we scaled the cables with ease, we did manage to make it to the top. Or I did. Deacon was close behind me, and Rose was taking up the rear, hanging on with one hand and battling back a wiry, fuzz-covered demon that had followed her up.

  I had a similar problem, because when I reached the top of the concrete tower, I found myself sharing my tiny little chunk of concrete with a snarling, snapping monkey-shaped demon who had apparently come up on the opposite set of cables, just to piss me off.

  "It's coming," Deacon said. "Lily, it's rising!"

  Rising?

  I risked a sideways glance and saw that the portal was indeed rising. A sliver of dark, like a cat's pupil, had formed out of thin air, a few feet above the river. As it rose, it expanded, and from what Deacon had said about the portal opening above the towers, I figured it would be wide enough for hell to burst through by the time it got up here.

  "What do I do?" I said. "How do I use the key?"

  The dagger had come with no ins
tructions, no nothing, and the portal was not shaped like a giant keyhole, nor did it resemble a bull's-eye where the knife should hit dead center.

  "Shove the knife in," Rose called up. "Before it gets too big."

  Since that sounded like as good a plan as any, I started to shinny back down the cables, wanting to position myself above a relatively small portal rather than a gaping maw.

  The demon sharing the tower with me wasn't keen on the idea of my leaving, though, and he lunged toward me. I shifted, lost my balance, and started to fall off the tower. I reached out to balance myself, and ended up grabbing the serrated edge of his knife and ripping my hand to shreds.

  The blood made my hand slick as I reached down to grab the cables, but I had a decent enough grip, and I used it to steady myself as I lashed up with my leg, whipped it sideways, and sent him tumbling off the tower into space.

  I shifted my grip and slid down the cable, and this time the blood on my hand turned out to be pretty useful, as it got the cable all slippery and increased the speed of my downward shinny at least threefold.

  I stopped when the portal was about a foot below me. About the size of the mouth of a jar of pickles, and I thrust out and stabbed the blade hard into the rising void, then held my breath anticipating—something. A whooshing sound, maybe, as the portal slammed shut.

  There was, however, no whooshing.

  There was, in fact, no nothing.

  Worse, the portal was still rising, and all of a sudden I was actually below the damn thing.

  Shit.

  I shifted the knife to my bloody hand, then shoved it in my belt again as I climbed yet again up the cables, calling down to Deacon as I went. "It didn't work! What did I do wrong?"

  He, however, didn't answer, as he was otherwise preoccupied fighting off the five demons that had managed to climb up and surround him as he clung with one hand to a cable and tried to battle them off with the other.

  I reached the top of the tower, thankfully faster than the portal, which was growing bigger. I could hear them, the waiting demons, biding their time until the portal opened.