by Diem, J. C.
“Nathan and Violet almost lost their virginity to each other,” Leo informed him. Sophia gave us both a level stare.
My mouth dropped open at his blunt assessment of our situation. “We weren’t going to have sex!” I said in self-defense.
“Is that so?” Sophia asked coolly. Her disapproval was clear and I couldn’t really blame her. Nathan was holy and pure and I was an abomination.
“I do not think you have any cause for concern,” Nathan said to her. “This has happened several times now. Something has always intervened before we could lose control.”
“What are you saying?” Leo asked in confusion.
“I believe that Fate keeps intervening.”
I realized that he was probably right. Something always came up to stop me from getting naked with either of the men that I loved. “I’m going to die a virgin,” I said before I could stop myself. Sam and Leo snuck a look at each other, then couldn’t contain their sniggers. “It isn’t funny!” I snapped. I was hurt that they found my predicament so amusing.
Stricken to see I wasn’t joking, Sam put his hand on my arm. “I am sorry for laughing at you.”
“So am I,” Leo said just as contritely. “Sometimes it is difficult to remember that you are not just a normal teenager and that you have a dire destiny hanging over you.”
“You are not going to die,” Nathan said firmly.
We’d had this discussion before and I knew it was pointless to argue with him.
“Now that you are back, perhaps you can tell us why you had to hide from demons in an empty apartment,” Sophia said. She poured me some tea and Sam handed it over.
Nathan told them the story. He was better at summarizing than I was. Sam and Leo exchanged another look when they heard about my girl fight with Candy. “I cannot believe I missed that,” Sam said.
“Go ahead and laugh,” I said in resignation.
They did and it took them a while to get their control back. “I can just picture you two biting and clawing each other,” Leo said with a grin.
“There was no biting involved,” I mumbled and pressed my hand to my cheek where I’d been scratched. Nathan had healed the wound and the bruises that I’d received during the scuffle.
“I take it you healed the damage that Violet suffered?” Sophia said to Nathan.
He inclined his head. “I knew it was a risk and I take full responsibility for what almost happened afterwards.”
“It takes two to tango,” I said. “It was as much my fault as it was yours.”
Our gazes locked and we became lost again.
“Where is the bucket?” Leo asked dryly. “I think some cold water might be in order.”
Breaking away from my guardian’s magnetic pull, I glowered at the teen. “We can control ourselves.”
“Can you?” Sophia said doubtfully. “Perhaps it would be best if you two did not go anywhere alone from now on.”
My shoulders slumped when I remembered the theory that Nathan had come up with. “I don’t think we’ll need a chaperone. Fate keeps breaking us apart before anything can happen between us.”
“That keeps happening with you and Zach, too,” Sam said then quailed at the look that Nathan sent him.
He turned to me and I saw the betrayal on his face. He knew things tended to get hot and heavy between Zach and me, but he hadn’t realized just how badly my lust took over. “How close have you come to losing your innocence to him?” he asked.
“Not as close as I’ve come with you. I made you a promise and I don’t intend to break it.”
He stared at me for a long moment then nodded. “I trust you,” he said then disappeared.
Letting out a breath that I hadn’t realized I’d been holding, I remembered that I wasn’t alone. Sophia, Sam and Leo were all staring at me.
“I think I know what the promise is that you made to him now,” Leo said without an ounce of amusement.
“What is it?” Sam asked.
“I told him I wouldn’t sleep with Zach until my mission is over,” I said wearily.
Sophia dropped her eyes to her teacup as she realized the implications. She’d had a vision that I would die before the end of the year. That meant I had little chance that I’d actually complete the task that Fate had set for me.
Sam came to the same realization. “Oh no. You are going to die a virgin.”
His expression was so devastated for me that an unwilling smile surfaced. Leo sniggered and then I was laughing so hard that I had to hold onto the table so I didn’t fall off the chair. It was either laugh or cry and I’d done enough crying to last me a lifetime since the night my mother had been murdered.
Brie appeared and stared at us in surprise. “What on Earth are you laughing about so hysterically?” she asked. Now that she was back on our team, I’d mixed her blood in with the runes that kept our enemies out. She could come and go whenever she needed to.
Sam had joined in and he hiccupped as he tried to get his breath back. “You had to be there,” he said in explanation. “It would not be as funny if we tried to explain it to you.”
My laughter finally petered out. I was glad Brie hadn’t been here to witness our conversation. It had been embarrassing enough with just my close friends being present.
“Do you have any news for us?” Leo asked.
She shook her head. “No. I am merely checking in with you. Two of our scouts reported seeing a large number of demons converging on the Upper East Side.”
“They were chasing Nathan and me,” I said. “We ducked into a church and the Reverend smuggled us out through a secret passageway.”
“You were lucky you managed to escape from their net,” she said.
“We didn’t. We had to hide out until they gave up and went away.”
“It would seem that Fate is still watching over you,” she surmised. “I doubt there are many churches in the city that have secret escape routes.”
“I guess so,” I replied. There was no other explanation for the number of times I’d managed to escape from the problems I got myself into.
₪₪₪
Chapter Seventeen
Sitting at the table eating breakfast the next morning, I voiced a question that came to me. “Why do Vepar and her death squad only cut down demons during the day?” I’d never been inundated with souls after dark. They’d only ever appeared during daylight hours.
“I imagine the souls would be very difficult to track at night,” Nathan replied.
“Their dark color would make it hard to see them, even for us,” Leo added. “They have the ability to slip through cracks and go through buildings rather than needing to detour around them. It would be far too easy to lose sight of them.”
“Their speed and agility is the only reason why our base has not yet been discovered,” Sophia said. It made sense and I nodded. I was glad I didn’t have to wander the streets at night or find other places to sleep. The store was our refuge and my bedroom was my haven. I felt safe here, even if it was just an illusion. Vepar would find us one day. When she did, she would either find a way to break in, or she’d work on a way to smoke us out.
Sam was eating waffles and had poured even more syrup on them than I had on mine. He’d developed quite a sweet tooth since regaining the need to eat. I was happy to see he’d put on some weight and he looked a lot healthier now. Stuffing some food into my mouth, I wished I had the same ability to maintain my weight. The toxin was slowly eating away at me and I was thinner than normal.
After I’d finished breakfast, Leo stood. It was his turn to take me out on patrol. Sam stood as well and I turned to him in surprise. “Are you coming with us?”
He nodded morosely. “There is nothing interesting on television. The summer break has destroyed the schedule that I had set up.”
“It’ll be back to normal in a few weeks,” I said in commiseration. Just last year, I’d been dying for the summer break to come around. This year, I was just dying.
Trying to hide my glumness, I tucked my dagger into the lengthened pocket of my jeans. I couldn’t sit down when it was stashed inside.
“Do you have my rune stone on you?” Nathan asked. I could tell he wanted to come with us, but we both knew we needed to take a break from each other sometimes.
“Yep. I also have Dom’s and Jed’s, just in case.” My pockets were full of the small rune stones and one wooden angel.
“Good. It pays to be careful.”
“We will be vigilant,” Leo told him. “Violet will not come to any harm while she is in our care.” Sam nodded to back him up.
“We’ll be back in a couple of hours,” I promised him.
Leo teleported us away in a blinding flash of white light. When my vision cleared, I saw that he’d taken us to the creepy cathedral in Morningside Heights. A portal to hell sat in a wall at the base of the large, misshapen edifice. I was the only one who could see it. Demons could only see the portals from the other side.
The last time we’d been here, it had been too dark to make out much. Now I could see a large park that was being used by kids of all ages. Their parents huddled in groups, casting suspicious stares at anyone who came too close. Even with all of the murders that were being committed, children still needed fresh air and exercise. It was mostly adults being murdered anyway. The only young victims had all been Hannah’s descendants.
We entered the park and took the stairs downwards, flanked by trees on both sides. It was cool and shady beneath the trees at the moment, but it would quickly heat up as the sun drew higher in the sky.
A crow cawed and I instinctively reached for my dagger. It flew overhead without paying us any attention. It was smaller than the undead raven that had been plaguing me for months. It also had both eyes and wasn’t skeletal and mangy looking.
“We have not seen the raven for a while,” Sam said as we watched the bird fly away.
“I’m sure it’ll turn up sooner or later,” I replied as we resumed walking. “I just hope it isn’t still carrying the Hellmaster’s evil essence with it.”
We all shuddered at the memory of Nathan almost dying from the toxin. “Why did the toxin affect Nathan so strongly?” Sam asked. “He is immortal and I thought the poison could not affect him.”
“Sophia and I discussed this,” Leo said. “She believes he was only affected so strongly because he is no longer as pure as he once was.”
“You think he almost died because his soul has been entwined with his vessel?” I asked for clarification and he nodded. “If he was just a normal angel, it wouldn’t have bothered him?”
“A demon’s essence cannot penetrate our holy defenses,” he explained. “You saved his life by extracting the poison from him and drawing it into yourself.”
“He’s saved my life a ridiculous number of times,” I said. “I thought it was time to return the favor.” He smiled at my dry humor.
Taking the path down to the grassy lawn, we strolled without a purpose other than to kill time. Morningside Park was far smaller than Central Park, but it was still popular. Kids ran and played with abandon, screaming and laughing in joy. I smiled wistfully, trying to remember if there had ever been a time when I’d been that carefree. I’d always been a loner and preferred to read than to mingle with other teens. Now I had a tightknit group of friends and I couldn’t imagine my life without them.
Seeing small toddlers in a playground that had been set aside for them, I pictured the invasion that would happen if I failed my mission. Demons would swarm through the gates and they would kill anyone they came across. Robed hellscribes would unleash fire and the entire city would burn.
Manhattan would just be the start of the carnage. Once the wards around the city were removed, they would spread out to destroy every city and town in the entire country. Oceans wouldn’t save other countries. Hellgates existed in every land. All they would have to do was travel through them to invade new countries.
My phone rang, breaking me out of my morose thoughts. I saw Reynolds’ name displayed and my brows rose. “What’s up?” I asked when I answered it.
“I need your help,” he said quietly. I could hear the tension in his voice.
“Where are you?”
“I’m on the corner of Tenth and Thirty-Third.” Hearing his directions, Leo whisked us downtown. “How soon can you get here?” Reynolds asked.
“We’re already here,” I replied from right behind him and he almost dropped his phone in surprise.
Spinning around, he didn’t waste time berating us for startling him. “I think one of your cousins is about to become yet another victim,” he said as he put his phone away.
I slid my phone into my pocket and followed his finger where he was pointing. A group of kids around my age were walking away from us. One of the girls was slender and had hair that was the same shade of blond as mine. They were being followed by six demons and they didn’t even realize it. Sensing she was being watched, my distant relative turned and saw the six men on their heels. Before she could warn her friends of danger, one of the demons darted forward. He took hold of her arm and they disappeared. The rest of his pack followed them.
This was their territory, so they had to have taken her somewhere within a one block radius. Leo’s expression was grim as he gathered us into a group and teleported us further down the street. Cocking his head to the side, he listened for the sounds of a girl in distress.
Several jumps later, he pointed at a row of metal doors that led to a huge building. “I can hear a girl shouting in there.” The metal doors were large enough to allow trucks to enter, but all were closed. Whatever the business had been, it was shut now.
“Can you take us inside?” the detective asked. He’d drawn his gun and was holding it pointed at the ground. Sam held a kitchen knife in his hand. It was the only weapon he trusted himself to use.
With a nod, Leo shifted us into the building.
₪₪₪
Chapter Eighteen
We appeared in a dark, cavernous loading dock. It was empty except for the demons and their victim. The girl was on her knees and the captain had her hair wrapped around his hand. He’d forced her head back and she was staring up at him defiantly. “We have captured you at last, Hellscourge,” he said in a growl that sounded normal to everyone but me. I didn’t just see his true face, I heard his real voice.
“She’s not Hellscourge,” I said, drawing their attention to me. “I am. Let her go and I’ll allow you to leave without ingesting your souls.”
For a moment, they just stared at me in puzzlement. Brie’s angelic spell was strong enough to befuddle their wits for a moment. Then his expression cleared and he grinned slyly. “Well, well. There are six of us and all you have are three puny humans at your side. You are not the one who should be giving ultimatums here.”
“I am not a human,” Leo said and called on his blue sword. “I am a soldier of God.”
Some of the demons shifted uneasily, but their captain wasn’t concerned. He took a glass vial out of his pocket and held it up. “I am glad that you brought yourself to our attention. This would have been wasted on the useless girl.” At a nod, one of his minions called on his dagger.
“No!” I shouted, but I couldn’t stop him from ramming his blade into her chest. She let out a soundless gasp and went limp.
The captain tucked the vial back into his pocket and motioned for his lackeys to attack us. The demons seemed to be divided about what their plans for me were. Some wanted to take me to their master. Others wanted to harvest my essence in the hope that it would make me docile and give them better standing in hell. Humans that survived having their soul taken became like sheep, or so I’d been told.
Pulling my dagger, it blazed scarlet to warn me that I was in danger. Leo and I leapt forward to engage the five minions. Their leader held back. He was ready to teleport to safety if things didn’t go his way. He didn’t realize that I could stop him from leaving.
Reynolds watched o
n, waiting for an opening to shoot. Sam saw me struggling to fight two soldiers and came to the rescue. He swung his knife clumsily and managed to distract one of them enough for me to stab him in the heart. The other one almost sliced my arm open, but I deflected his blade. Sam darted around behind him and stabbed the demon in the spine. His legs collapsed and I finished him off before he could recover.
Leo dispatched two of his opponents then we turned on the final soldier and his captain. Backing away nervously, the minion knew he couldn’t win against these odds. “Fight them, you coward!” the captain shouted and his soldier had no choice but to obey.
Leo engaged the captain while I faced the lone soldier. The souls of his colleagues oozed into me, distracting me at the worst possible moment. Reynolds shouted a warning and fired his gun, but it wasn’t enough to stop the blade from rushing at me. Determined to save me, Sam leapt in front of me and took the sword thrust to his shoulder.
My vision cleared as the souls faded into the background of my mind. Red rage flooded through me as Sam collapsed. The soldier backed away again, face going pale when a crimson glow came from my eyes. He tried to run, but I was somehow standing in front of him when he turned to flee. He ran directly into my dagger and it punched through his stomach. Putting my hand on his shoulder, I wrenched the blade upwards. A scream of pain issued from him then blood fountained out of his mouth. I didn’t even blink when it splattered on my face. I just yanked the dagger up higher. Rage made me far stronger than usual.
Plucking ineffectually at my weapon, the demon pleaded for mercy, but I didn’t have any for him. He’d hurt my friend and he’d incurred my wrath. I sliced him open from his stomach to his breastbone until the dagger would go no further. We were both drenched in blood, but it wouldn’t end his vessel’s life. Only one thing would do that. I yanked the dagger out and stabbed him in the heart. I kept stabbing him until Leo put his hand on my shoulder.
“That is enough,” he said gently. “The vessel is dead.” I’d assimilated the demon’s soul without even realizing it.
