Unfortunately, the two of us are releasing so much power that it’s wreaking havoc on our surroundings. The huge neon key above our head rains sparks down on us before coming loose, and spinning away from the building. I know Lily won’t break her concentration, so I devote a fraction of my energy to catching the key in midair. It hovers for a moment, until I pull it back towards us, and it rams into Lily exactly as hard as the car she threw at me three months ago. I watch as the same pain rips through her, and grin. Now that it’s served its purpose, what’s left of the neon key falls victim to gravity’s pull. Long before it hits the ground, I blast it into thousands of tiny shards that scatter in the wind.
I crack my knuckles as I stand over Lily triumphantly. Her spirit is broken. Her body is broken. This is exactly the moment I’ve been waiting for. Lily looks up at me, blood dribbling from the corners of her mouth, and mutters, “Please…” I can’t believe what I’m hearing. If she thinks she’ll get anywhere begging me of all people for mercy, she’s sadly mistaken. I’m about to tell her so when she completes the thought: “Please… just finish me off already. I deserve it.”
It looks like we’ve finally managed to agree on something. I’ve had my fill of beating her senseless; I’m more than happy to oblige Lily’s request. I place a gloved hand on her forehead, fully prepared to put an end to this. Just one spell is all I need. One quick burst of energy. My power will surge through her head, rattle her brain until it’s little more than mush, and force its way out through the back of her skull. All that she ever was, is, and will be, gone in an instant. It’s what I’ve wanted for months.
But before I go through with it, Krystal’s words ring in my ears: “Fighting fire with fire will leave you with nothing but ashes.” Nick’s warnings against following through with my intentions likewise reverberate in my skull, mingling with Krystal’s counsel, Michael’s advice, Alyssa’s choice words of wisdom. I wanted to show them all, prove to them I can right my wrongs. But I can’t. I can’t bring myself to kill her.
My hand shakes as I remove it from Lily’s blood-slicked forehead. I ball it into a fist, and leave yet another dent on the metal structure behind her. I punch it again and again, before falling to my knees and pounding the ground. “Why?!,” I shout as tears of rage pool in my eyes. “Why can’t I do this? I NEED to do this…”
Lily crawls toward me, searching my face for a sign of what’s going on in my head. “What are you talking about-“
“SHUT UP! This is YOUR fault, all of this! Every breath you take is an insult to the men and women you’ve killed!”
“You think I don’t know that?!” Lily leans against the wall behind us, and says, “I never… I never wanted any of this to happen. I never wanted anyone to die. Lucifer never told me anything. He just said to write the sigils, and he would do the rest.”
“That doesn’t excuse what you’ve done,” I point out.
“No, it doesn’t. And I’ve been trying to set things right ever since.”
“Yeah? How?”
“I realized when I beat you that you’re not the real enemy. Heather, we’re just pawns in a cosmic game of chess. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t plan on being anyone’s pawn anymore.”
I stare hard at Lily as her words sink in. Surprisingly, she’s making an awful lot of sense. I don’t want to be Michael’s pawn. I don’t want to be anyone’s pawn. I never have. So I ask her, “What’s your solution?”
“That’s simple,” Lily groans as she clutches her side. “They can’t play without pieces. We’ll just remove ourselves from the board.”
12
“Remove ourselves from the board,” I repeat to myself. Lily’s solution to our problem seems so simple in its wording, but what does she mean? Does she want for us to run away? Go into hiding? Kill ourselves? I’m not sure I approve of any of those options, no matter how dire the situation gets. To clarify, I ask, “How exactly do you plan on doing that?”
“Well, I have a couple of ideas.”
“I’m all ears.”
“The first one came to me a few months ago, before I knew what you were. It occurred to me that if Michael and Lucifer keep referring to what they’re putting us through as a ‘game’, there must be a set of rules.”
I nod in agreement. I’d assumed as much on my own; in one of my first conversations with Michael, he mentioned that he and Lucifer were bound by an agreement not to directly interfere when Lily and I fought to the death. So far, though, that’s the only rule that I know of. “What happens when they break those rules?,” I wonder aloud.
“I don’t know. But if one of the four of us breaks a rule, maybe they’ll back down. Maybe they’ll find some other way to resolve their differences.”
“Okay, say that doesn’t work out. What’s Plan B?”
Lily smiles a little to herself. “I’ve already started working on that. Lucifer may be a shitty father, but he did teach me at least one useful thing; always have an ace in the hole.”
“Alright. What’s ours?”
“The other Nephilim.”
“What…?”
“We get the others on our side, and we revolt. And take them both out. Michael and Lucifer. Heaven and Hell. Kill two angels with one stone.”
I think back to last night, remembering that Amy claimed to have met a Nephilim who didn’t match Lily’s description. She couldn’t have been right… could she? “Lily… there are no others. You and I are the only Nephilim.”
“That’s just another lie our fathers fed us,” Lily insists. “Think about it. Do you honestly believe that those two are the only angels in history to have ever hooked up with a human?”
After a moment’s deliberation, I answer, “No. I guess I don’t.”
“That’s why I was here, in Cleveland. I was supposed to meet a Nephilim for lunch, I was going to try and convince him to join us if we can’t make our fathers give up on their stupid game.”
“Oh. I figured you were just scoping out the next city on your hit list. No offense.”
“Yes offense. Bitch.” Lily leans her head back against the wall, and looks to the sky. “Look, I know you’re not my biggest fan, and I don’t blame you. But the way I see it, for the moment, we need each other. So, truce?”
I think I’d rather drink bleach out of a dirty bedpan. I came here to kill Lily, not to end up working with her. But I don’t see any other way to get things done. “Fine,” I grumble. “A temporary truce. I get to kick your ass when all this is over.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way. We need a tiebreaker anyway.”
“As if you stand a chance.” I allow myself a tiny smile, and immediately wince in pain. Lily may have taken the worse beating by far, but she really did a number on my face. “What happens now?”
“Now… I don’t know. I guess I should find someone who can fix me up. I’m kinda losing a lot of blood.”
“Yeah… not even sorry.” My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I groan audibly; it’s probably someone calling on Michael’s behalf, demanding that I come home. When I pull it out to check, however, the call turns out to be from Jenna. I click to answer, and hold the phone to my ear. “Hello?”
“HEATHER ARE YOU INSANE?!”
“Good to hear from you too, Jen.”
“Why the hell did you just expose yourself to all of downtown Cleveland?!”
“Expose myself? I was fully clothed-“
“Stop it, this is serious! This is huge!”
The hint of panic in Jenna’s voice finally registers, and I sober up a little. “Why, what’s going on? And how do you know about that?”
“Heather, there’s always someone watching. And now, because you just can’t keep yourself out of trouble for five minutes, every hunter on the eastern seaboard is getting ready to mobilize. You’ve become a top priority target.”
It suddenly dawns on me that blindly chasing after Lily might have been a bad idea. I was so desperate to get my revenge, I never thought about th
e consequences of fighting her in broad daylight. I let out a hollow laugh, and remind Jenna, “I’m not exactly easy to kill.”
“That doesn’t mean they won’t come after your family, or anyone else who might know where you are.”
“Like you?”
“…No. I got the call just the same as every other hunter did. So did Emma.”
“So does that mean you’re going to try and kill me too?”
Jenna pauses for a moment, and eventually whispers, “My parents will do what they have to… but Emma and I are still on your side.”
“Okay.”
“If I were you, I’d get rid of your phone. They’re going to use it to figure out your position, if they’re not trying to already. Then I’d grab everyone and hide somewhere.”
“Like where?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t want to know. Just… stay safe, Heather.”
“Yeah. You too.” The line goes dead, and I let my hand go limp, dropping the phone onto my lap. So this is the price I’ll have to pay for pursuing revenge. I hate to say it, but Nick was right. Everyone was right. I’ve been selfish, and obsessive, and it’s all led to this. The government’s supernatural exterminators hunting me down, and coming after my loved ones. It seems like I can’t do anything right.
Lily shoots me a concerned look. “That sounds like some deep shit.”
“I’ll get through it. I always do.” I shrug, and clamber onto my feet. A gust of wind hits us, and I hug building for support as I extend a helping hand to Lily. “Sorry, but it looks like I’m gonna have to lie low for a while.”
Lily grabs my hand, and allows me to help her up as she says, “It’s fine. How will I be able to contact you?”
I remember what Jenna told me about my phone, and toss it as far as I can, watching as it plummets hundreds of feet to the ground. “I don’t know,” I reply. “Cell phone’s not an option.”
“Smoke signals?”
“I was thinking telegram.” I realize after throwing my phone that I now have no way of getting in contact with anyone. Meaning that I’ll have to round up everyone who still cares I exist, and explain the situation. And I’m guessing that Michael’s house will be the first place these hunters will look, so I don’t have a whole lot of time. “I’ll call you from Alyssa’s phone when we can talk.”
Lily’s face contorts into an expression of concern, and she asks, “How is she?”
“She’s fine. She doesn’t hate you nearly as much as I do.”
“Okay… fair enough. Now get out of here.”
I nod, and mentally brace myself for what I’ll have to do, and how to explain what happened. I’ll just have to wing it; there’s no time to prepare a speech about my latest mistakes. I vanish from the roof of the Cleveland skyscraper, and reappear in the living room of Rachel and Landon’s apartment. Since Jenna and Emma are safe, and everyone else is at Michael’s house, these two will have to come first. I can’t see Rachel, but I do spot Landon reading by the window, humming to himself. The poor guy actually looks happy for the moment. But the moment Landon spots me, his joyful mood immediately sours. “Oh God, Heather, what did you do?”
“What makes you think I did anything?,” I ask indignantly.
“You mean aside from the leather getup and the guilty look on your face? Come on, that’s pretty much your official ‘I fucked up’ outfit.”
“Well, now I’m reconsidering saving your life. Where’s Rachel?”
“Here!,” Rachel calls from the doorway to her room. She takes one look at me, and her face falls just the same as Landon’s did. At least I understand Rachel’s reaction; the last time I showed up out of the blue in blood spattered leather, it was to save her at the cost of abandoning her family to New York City’s fate. “What is it?”
“I’ll explain in a minute. Just grab onto me, both of you.”
Rachel looks apprehensive, but she obediently grabs my forearm, while Landon takes my hand. Once they’re both attached, I teleport the three of us to Michael’s living room. Surprisingly, there’s no one around; they must have all gone their separate ways after breakfast. I pull down my hood, and remove my mask before shouting, “Is anyone home?”
At first, there’s no answer, and I have a fleeting moment of panic. What if they’re all scattered around Wayne County, and I have to track them all down before a group of hunters do? But heavy footsteps thud down the stairs, and Michael appears from above, clearly fuming. “Heather, do you have any idea-“
“Yeah, don’t have time for the ‘don’t run away’ lecture. Where is everyone else?”
“Everyone is home, or very near to it. Why?”
“Call everyone in.”
Michael looks at me questioningly, but races off to find my mother and the others. For my part, I search the bottom half of the house, only finding Michael’s angel guards, Tyrael and Valtiel. Jenna admitted to me once that hunters have no clue how to kill an angel, but I’m still worried for their safety. So when I find them in the study, I tell them, “Meet me in the living room,” and run off to see who else I can find.
A few minutes later, the living room is crowded with people I’ve come to know and respect, if not outright love. People that I’ve sworn to protect. People I’ve let down. I wish there were an easy way to tell them what happened, or at least a script, but I end up blurting out the truth. “Guys, we have to go into hiding. I messed up, big time.”
My mother looks unfazed; maybe she’s better suited to living with all this insanity than I thought. Without batting an eye, she calmly asks, “What happened?”
“I found Lily…”
“And did you kill her?,” Alyssa asks.
“That’s not the important part, but no.”
Alyssa and Nick share a glance; neither one speaks, but I can read on their faces that they’re both relieved. It’s Valtiel who asks, “Why not?”
“That doesn’t matter. What matters is we fought in broad daylight, and a lot of people saw. So now, the government has decided that I’ll be less of a headache when I’m out of the picture, permanently. And they might come after you guys in order to get to me.”
To my surprise, nobody panics. In fact, Rachel and Landon almost look relieved. Landon laughs a tiny bit, and asks, “Is that all?”
“What…?”
“Knowing you, I was expecting something far worse,” Landon explains.
“Like a horde of demons,” Nick adds.
“Or a nuclear strike,” Rachel suggests.
“Look at who you’re dealing with,” Alyssa points out. “A freakishly strong and unstable spellcaster, Lucifer’s latest project, two werewolves, three incredibly powerful angels, and a human-angel hybrid with a chaotic streak a mile wide. After what we’ve already been through, do you really think a bunch of humans can scare us?”
“Guys, this is serious. You’re severely underestimating-“ I begin, but I cut my own sentence short. I can hear tires crunching rocks and dirt on our driveway, possibly several sets of them. And above that, I can hear the blades of a helicopter whirring in the sky. We’ve spent too long standing around and talking. We have to leave, now.
I shout for everyone to follow me, and sprint out of the door. Everyone follows close behind me without question; their bravado seems to have vanished when they realized just how many hunters were en route. There’s only one way to hide this many people that I can think of; in a whole other world. As I approach the dock, I unleash a torrent of power, and tear a hole in the universe, not knowing or caring where the doorway will take us. I wave the others ahead of me, watching as one by one, the people I love cross the void into safety. Michael stops just before stepping through the doorway, and asks, “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather make a stand here? You and I could lay waste to these men easily.”
“No,” I tell him. “No more killing. I don’t want any more blood on my hands.”
Michael nods his understanding, and steps through the doorway not a moment too soon. Men and wom
en in black are hopping out of sleek black SUV’s just as he disappears from sight. Several more are dropping from the sky, rappelling down ropes in heavy bulletproof vests. Within seconds, I’m surrounded on every side, with guns of all kinds trained on me. It’s surreal; I know I could do some serious damage to these people without even breaking a sweat. But I won’t, and I’m sure they know I won’t. It’s giving all of us the illusion that I’m the one in danger.
More and more hunters arrange themselves in position around me, including one man who isn’t holding a gun, or a weapon of any kind. We only met in person once, but I can still tell Agent Rivera apart from the rest of the crowd. “Miss Santos. A pleasure, as always.”
“Agent,” I mutter. “What are you doing here?”
“We were going to drop in on your friends and have a talk with them, but you beat us to it. Odd… our sources were sure you were still in Cleveland.”
“I caught an early bus. Let me ask again; what are you doing here?”
Agent Rivera frowns, making the wrinkles on his forehead all the more prominent. “You were warned. I informed you in a very clear manner that you were on thin ice, and one more breach of the Metahuman Secrecy Act could put you in our crosshairs. And you still chose to behave recklessly.”
“Even so, was all of this necessary?,” I ask, gesturing around me at the people pointing guns in my direction. “I’m not a threat to any of you. I’m on your side.”
“On our side?,” Agent Rivera asks. “All you’ve managed to do is stir up trouble. We were willing to explain away Grand Central. We turned a blind eye to your stunt on Bowery. And fortunately for you, there were no witnesses to what happened in Times Square. But you’re out of chances. You’re a perceived threat to the American people.”
“Who don’t even know what I am! Or what I look like! This seems like a bit of an overreaction-“
“Enough. It’s a shame it had to come to this. We had such high hopes for you, Miss Santos. But you’ve fallen out of our favor.”
I consider a witty retort, but I hold my tongue; I’d rather not get shot prematurely for my sass. I’m a little curious as to what Agent Rivera meant by “high hopes”, but another thought intrudes before I can ask the question. Something Agent Rivera just said has given me an idea. “Bad timing, but I think I just figured out what I’d like to call my new clan.”
Scarred (the Spellbound Series Book 3) Page 10
