by Ivy Asher
That’s what all the orbs of light bleeding through everyone’s bodies are. Like a black light has been switched on, I can see the souls like they’re fluorescent beacons, guiding the way for me and Monster, my eager scythe, showing us our purpose—to maintain balance. That’s the point of an Annulus. We reset the souls who have tipped too far on the scale.
What is it that Lucifer told Morax?
Balance always wins.
“I was wondering when you and your sisters would wake all the way up,” Lucifer declares, still on his knees and wrapped in a lightly glowing fabric. My eyes fall back on him, but he’s completely at ease, and confidence is radiating off of him now, like he was just biding his time.
Surprisingly, the Devil’s soul-light is blindingly white. I learn quickly not to try and stare at it directly.
“I guess we’ve woken up now,” I say, and I see Delta and Medley look over at me in confirmation.
“This is...fucking incredible,” Delta says, her voice carrying that same echoing quality as mine.
“I can see everyone,” Medley adds, her gray eyes continuing to scan around us.
I look back at the stunning blue eyes of the Devil in front of me. “You played him,” I say to Lucifer, and a smirk tilts up one corner of his lips. I realize right then that the Devil is the trickster people claim him to be. He could give anyone in Hollywood a run for their money with the performance he just gave in front of Morax.
My mouth curves to match his smirk. “Ready to stop acting like a little bitch?” I ask the King of Hell, and he barks out a laugh that seems to float all around me.
He gives me a smile that makes my cheeks heat. “I think you might be my new favorite niece.”
“Hey!” Delta says in mock offense.
He shrugs. “I’ll let you know what I decide.” He glances at Medley. “You’re in the running too,” he says with a wink, and her cheeks blush an amusing shade of pink. I don’t blame her. He’s so incredibly beautiful, and the power in him is both enticing and terrifying. If I were a braver, unclaimed half demon, I might be willing to burn up in his light just for the chance to say I tried to claim something so wild and dangerous. But my soul wasn’t made for his. I can see that clear as day through my filter of darkness.
“Help your Uncle out?” he asks, the playful light in his eyes disappearing as determination and resignation etch themselves into his sinfully gorgeous features.
Our stolen moment from time is counting down. It’s like I can sense the grains of sand dropping to the bottom of an hourglass and marking this moment as finite. I don’t know how I can sense that, but I can. Morax has barely had time to blink since this started, but the end of it is approaching all too fast.
Part of me wants to hold on to whatever is happening right now, not forever but just a little longer. It’s a much needed moment of respite, a balm to everything that’s happened to us, but I know we can’t delay. We need to be prepared for when the world around us speeds back up. I look at my sisters, and all three of us nod. Readiness radiates off our connection, and their eyes drift over to fix on their mates.
I take a deep breath, wrapping myself in the calm of this moment, and priming myself for what’s to come. I know as soon as I bring Monster into play, time will stop moving at a snail’s pace, and everything is going to come hard and fast.
“You know what to do?” Lucifer asks, and I don’t even hesitate to nod.
In an impossibly quick movement, I lift my scythe up, and the fluid slowness begins to shatter all around us. Morax’s eyes glint as my scythe begins swinging toward Lucifer.
My blade cuts through the air, and then with a precision that awes even me, the curved blade snips into the fabric that binds him, so close it could nick him, but I don’t. A hairsbreadth is all I have between my fatal edge and Lucifer’s skin, not that it would kill him, but I can’t imagine he’ll let me live, nicking him down. But the darkness guides my every move. My aim is careful and true.
The fabric falls away in perfectly cut ribbons, and just like that, movement and sounds explode all around me as time starts again.
A pulse of power detonates off my sisters and me, and the surrounding demons are thrown back as a burst of black light explodes out of us, like the darkness left our minds and manifested outside of us. Morax is knocked off his feet and lands with a satisfactory thud.
“I’m ready for you,” Lucifer declares, already on his feet, the ruined cloth forgotten on the ground. His tone and volume is conversational, and I feel the command in his even, unhurried tone as he bears down on Morax.
My gaze snags onto a far off movement, and when I look up, I see that the bright lights surrounding us in the distance start coming in fast, and booming battle cries erupt in the air. Heart leaping into my throat, I realize right then that the massive presence of brighter soul-lights waiting on the outskirts wasn’t more of the Ophidian’s followers. It’s Satan’s army.
The thousands of demons around us react, Morax shouting orders to defend as they scramble to ready for the unexpected attack. I look over at Lucifer, surprise in my eyes. “You didn’t think Hell was without its tricks, did you, Sable?” he asks. “I’m the Morningstar. You think I’d really be brought to my knees so easily? By a cloth?”
“Not for a minute,” I lie.
He grins. “Watch and learn, little Annulus.”
Satan rubs his hands together and then reaches out into the air like he’s grabbing something. He lifts that imaginary something up toward the sky, and I’m shocked when I see hordes of soul-lights blink out in my peripheral. I gasp at the group of Morax’s demons as they crumple to the ground, and their souls are ripped from their bodies by his invisible hold. He’s banished them, their soul-light popping out of existence just like that and reappearing who knows where.
I know my sisters and I can reset souls or annihilate them, but I have no idea what Lucifer is capable of. I see the infinite possibilities in his eyes as he extinguishes another massive group of Morax’s demons before the snake-haired bastard can even get back on his feet. Shock hits Morax like a freight train as he scrambles up and takes in what’s happening, whirling around at the disarray as Lucifer’s army collides unforgivingly with his demons.
Morax yells something, but I can’t hear him over the commotion of the battle that’s broken out all around us. Morax’s face crumples with rage, and he turns to Medley’s and Delta’s mates, no doubt to get my sisters back in line, but they’re already a step ahead.
Medley’s and Delta’s bodies are still standing next to mine, but their darkness is shooting out of them and pouring into their mates from afar. The blinding black light fills them up and then blasts back out of them, shoving out the toxic compulsion that gripped them. In the blink of an eye, Medley and Delta have cleansed their minds, wiping Morax’s taint from their thoughts and souls.
One by one, daggers clang to the ground as love and light and darkness work their magic and free Rafferty, Jerif, Echo, Crux, Flint, and Alder from Morax’s evil hold. They blink around them as if seeing where they are for the first time, and then they don’t waste a second hardening their resolve as power begins to billow out of them in an impressive array. Fire and ice, shadows and destruction, emanate from them as they start to move and attack, fighting their way to my sisters with unrelenting force.
I don’t bother looking for Morax’s rage, I can feel it rippling out of him at this turn of events, but I give the delusional balance-traitor my back as I turn my attention to the portal and the demon making it.
I’m by Toreon’s side in less than a heartbeat, all thoughts to the battle raging all around me gone. I hear Lucifer call the Sins, and a cheer goes up in the distance, but my eyes are for my mate only. I feel the thread of life he’s barely clinging to as the portal he’s been forced to create tries to greedily suck away the last of his essence.
Over my dead body.
I don’t waste time cutting my wrists and bleeding for Toreon. But as soon as the first d
rops mark his skin, I realize this will take too long. I can tell by his waning soul-light that he has minutes. Maybe only seconds.
My heart breaks for what’s been done to him and the horrors he’s had to endure at Morax’s hands, the loved ones he’s witnessed being drained until only husks remain, all for some psycho’s inferiority complex. But I won’t let that happen to him.
The threads that lead to the portal grow dangerously thin, and I reach out to Toreon with my darkness. The black light instantly swirls out of my body and lifts him up. I brush the dull, stringy hair from his face as I reach inside myself and direct the darkness to feed into him. With his body levitating off the ground, my black light whirls around him from head to toe, blocking him from view, and then it starts rushing into his body.
His back arches, and his lips part to pull in a gasp as I fill him with my essence. I shroud his every cell in my power, healing him and coaxing him to come back to me. Immediately, I see a difference. I thought my blood healed him quickly, but it’s nothing compared to this.
His sunken cheeks start to fill out. His sallow skin grows healthier and deepens to a lustrous sage green. His lean muscles bulk up, and his thin, brittle hair thickens until the strands are shiny and long and black again. Finally, I push one more trail of black light into him, and then my darkness sets him back down on the ground, his pained gasps evened out to steady, strong breaths.
Toreon’s hands are still outstretched to the writhing, massive portal above, but I’m relieved to see that the threads of power don’t grow fatter or pull more from him. Instead, the light of the portal flashes, as though it’s being fortified by the immense boost of life I’m feeding into Toreon.
Finally, with one last surge, the strings that are reeling from his palms stop, like they’ve been snipped by scissors. His arms slump down beside him, his power finally finished with its task.
I drop to kneel beside him, my wings flaring out as my darkness surrounds us like a physical cocoon, blocking out any demon that tries to intrude. I feel it every time someone tries to enter our bubble, but the black light shoots through them, ending them immediately, protecting me and Toreon like a rabid guard dog.
“Toreon?” I ask as I place my hands on his face. After a beat, he groans and cracks his lids open. My heart swells, and relief washes through me so strongly it would bring me to my knees if I weren’t already there.
There’s uncertainty and confusion in his weary, bright golden gaze until his eyes land on mine. “Sable?”
Solace settles in both of us, and then shock lights Toreon’s eyes as he looks up at the massive, light-churning portal above us. “Holy shit…” he says in shock, like he’s seeing the portal he made for the first time, and he’s astonished that he’s alive to see it.
He looks back at me, awe in his golden gaze, and he reaches up and wipes a tear that snuck down my cheek. “I almost lost you,” I confess quietly, the pain hammering against me and making my insides feel battered and bruised and coated in sadness.
“You didn’t. You found me instead,” he says simply before he pulls my lips down to his.
The kiss is fast but deep, showing me his gratitude and love and strength. I kiss him back just as fervently, topping his soul off with all the life it needs to heal him from the inside out, because we still have work to do.
In the short second we have, I drink down his silent promises and offer them right back. I seal our mutual vows with my tongue and then nip at his lip before pulling back. Without saying a word, we promise each other more, a future. And we’re going to fight to make sure we have that.
On the other side of the darkness that’s protecting us, we can hear the fighting going on. Toreon and I get to our feet, looking around as if the battle will break through our cocoon any minute.
“Vudu is coming,” Toreon tells me. “I can feel him in the bond.”
My heart constricts, both in relief that Vudu is okay, but also with worry about him being thrown into the melee. I can’t decide if I want him here with us or far away and safe, but I have to shrug my worry off and focus.
“Ready?” I ask.
Toreon rolls back his shoulders and gives me a resolute nod. As soon as he does, I call the darkness back to me, and it immediately soaks into my body, ready and waiting to come out again when I call.
As soon as our barrier is gone, I’m able to see the absolute chaos that’s erupted around us. Demons waste no time rushing at Toreon and me, but I make Monster sing, ashing any of them that come our way. Toreon takes down one by pure hand-to-hand combat, and in a flash, he’s knocked the demon out with an elbow to the face and pilfered his sword.
I look over at his weapon of choice curiously. “I trained with a sword my whole life. Can’t fight with a scythe when you’re trying to hide what you are,” he explains, and I nod with understanding, tightening my grip on my own weapon.
Ahead, I can see Lucifer and the Sins closing in on Morax, but the snake-haired bastard keeps a line of demons between them as he inches toward the portal for a way out.
Coward.
There’s not a chance in Hell that we’re going to let him escape though. I’ll cut him down inside the Pearly Gates if I have to, but this is going to end once and for all. I quickly turn to Toreon. “Can you close the portal? I need to get to my sisters and help,” I shout out over the noise all around us.
Toreon takes in the doorway that leads from Hell into Heaven. “Yes, it will take time though,” he answers with a curious spark in his eyes. Surprise? Eagerness? I can’t put my finger on it, but a smile takes over his full lips, and he looks over at me, retribution and power radiating from his gaze.
“Go, Sable. I got this. Vudu will be here soon.”
With a nod, I shoot some darkness out, instructing it to stay behind and help protect him as he works, and a portion of my black light manifests around him like an impenetrable shield. Health and vitality are coming off Toreon in waves, and as much as I don’t want to leave his side, I have to trust him, just like he trusts me.
“I’ll see you soon,” I promise, and then I leap into the air and pump my wings, ready to go find my sisters.
“Come on wings, do your thing,” I mutter to them, hoping like hell that flying will be instinctual, just like my darkness and scythe have been.
I shakily make it into the air, my body tilting left and right a bit before I manage to straighten, getting a hang of things. I’m surprised to find that even though I’ve never flown before or used any of the muscles required to make it happen, I feel strong, like I was made for it, and it’s exhilarating.
Two demons try to rush and grab at my feet, but I chop right through their outstretched arms, ashing them instantly. Lifting up higher, I force myself to fly, streaking through the red star-lit sky and weaving through the aerial battles all around me to get to my sisters. It’s not pretty or graceful, but I stay in the air, and that’s what matters.
The further I get from Toreon, the more my heart hardens with determination. I let my mind think of every single thing Morax has done. The imprisonment, the torture, the control, the death.
I have all the ammunition I need to don armor forged by hate and rage. Now, we make him pay.
36
With one pass, I manage to find my sisters in the chaos.
I aim off to the side where Delta and Medley are and then drop, landing so hard that a shock wave of air and debris shoots out from under my feet and goes flying, hitting the demons that try to rush me.
With one swing of my scythe, I make it to my sisters and their mates where they fight, entering into their circle. I can feel the same searing rage in them that’s flooding me, and it bolsters my resolve.
Their mates are fighting seamlessly, lashing out with their power at every demon who attacks on the ground. But with a look up, I see some of Morax’s Abdicated trying to converge overhead, and my sisters and I communicate wordlessly. We immediately spread our wings, each of us cloaking ourselves in our darkness, and then
lift into the air.
The three of us move so fast and so fluidly you’d think we’d been training in battle our whole lives. We open ourselves up completely to all that we are as we spin, slice, weave through, and cut down the enemy. Soul-lights differentiate between friend and foe as we attack, cutting a path that leads us closer and closer to the Ophidian.
Ash flows in our wake, and demons try to flee as soon as they feel us breathing down their backs. They know they have no chance against us, and we show them the same mercy they showed us.
None.
A war cry reaches my ears, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d think that Xena just joined our fight. I look over to see Delta land on the ground again, and she starts scything demons left and right, hitting anyone who doesn’t get out of her way fast enough.
She blasts a beam of black light into the scrambling throng, making an impressive dent in the horde. The demons touched by her power go still, their mouths frozen in silent screams as light pours from their mouths, eyes, ears, and noses before they seem to explode into charred pieces, their souls blinking out before all of their parts even land on the colorless ground.
In the air with me, Medley is spinning like an acrobat without a rope, her scythe cutting through anyone who makes the mistake of entering her space as she protects their mates below her.
“You good?” I call over to her.
She answers without even looking my way. “Me and Dolly got this,” she shouts back with confidence, and I have no doubt that she does, because sweet Southern Medley is a total badass.
With one more look below, I see that Delta too is easily owning her space on the ground, pushing back the horde that keeps trying to flank her mates, but she doesn’t give them an inch. She moves so fast that it nearly rivals Wrath’s skill, and every time she lets off another Xena warrior call, I can’t help but smile.
Now that I know my sisters are good, my gaze finds Morax. He’s moving closer to the portal, his mind-controlled demons using all sorts of powers to combat the Sins.
