by Ciara Graves
He walked into the pool to join me and rested his hand on the bottom near mine. His brow furrowed as he moved it around. “Stone?”
We swished our hands through the water, trying to clear enough of the bottom away to see what kind of stone it was. “There’s a design,” I said, squinting to see better as the silt settled back on the bottom. I caught a glimpse of a few sharp angles, but nothing that told me exactly what it was.
“They’re moving toward the center.”
He used his whole arm, soaking himself to the shoulder, and swiped away the bottom. There were two spirals, tightly wound, aiming for the dead center of the pool. We pushed our way through the current which became stronger the closer we came to the middle. Spray from the falls wet our hair. We leaned over together and shoved aside as much silt as we could. Dead center of the pool there were four or more concentric circles, all burned into the stone floor under the water. There was an intricate design in the very center of circles, spirals, angles, and curved lines.
Mech placed his hand directly on it and immediately yanked it back with a curse. His skin blistered and peeled. “I don’t understand.”
“Did you see something?” I held his wrist and examined the wounds.
“It’s what I sensed. Holy light and evil. They’re part of this whole design.”
“Why, though? We’re in the middle of nowhere.” I turned around slowly. Bits and pieces of the ravine came back to me. Trees and boulders I recognized. “I didn’t come down the trail,” I told Mech quietly.
“How then?”
“I think we flew.” But why had I been here with my parents? “I can’t remember.”
“It’s alright. Could be nothing.”
“No. This place is important. I think it’s part of the reason why Hadariel erased more memories than just the one of murdering my parents.”
Mech shook out his wounded hand. “The memories won’t come if you force them.”
“We’re running out of time. I’m sick of all these damned riddles and lies.” I shut my eyes, willing myself to remember something about this place. All that did was give me a headache. I let out a frustrated breath and kicked the water.
Mech gave me an amused grin, but it didn’t last long. “We should get back. I don’t like being out in the open like this. Especially if those abominations are headed this way.”
“I someone here watching the ravine.”
“I’ll have two scouts head here once we return,” Mech said, then stiffened and turned toward the bank. He shifted in front of me to shield me.
I wasn’t sure what he sensed when a hot wind whipped around us, and then a fiery portal appeared.
He relaxed as it opened and Kexan hurried out. “What’s wrong?”
“We’re getting reports from our scouts near Dakota.”
I perked up. “You have scouts by my city?”
“We have scouts anywhere there are humans if we can manage it,” Mech replied. “Are they under attack?”
“There’s a large force heading across the wastelands right for them.”
“The angels should be there to protect them.”
“If they are, they’re not doing a damned thing to mount a defense.” Kexan’s worried frown deepened as he glanced from me to Mech. “The warding is down.”
“What?” I snapped. “That’s impossible. I helped put those wards in place myself.”
“Someone took them down. Or they were broken, and the humans don’t realize it yet. If the force reaches them, I doubt anyone will survive.”
“How many?” Mech asked.
“A few abominations. Fifty or so zombies. A pack of hounds, and our favorite, wraiths,” Kexan said with a disgusted grunt. “It’s a small army, Mech. I hate to say it, but it looks like the angels abandoned Dakota.”
“Not all of them.” I marched for the portal Kexan had left open behind him.
“Now where are you going?” Mech demanded.
“I’m going to save Dakota.” I entered the portal not waiting for him to follow.
Mech and Kexan walked in behind me a few seconds after. Why would the angels abandon Dakota? The people there were innocent and loyal to Hadariel. None of it made any sense, but I was not going to turn my back on them. Bryan would have seen the army coming toward him. I was sure of it. He would be readying all able-bodied adults to fight. With the warding down, though, what defenses they had wouldn’t last long. The hardest part would be convincing Bryan that Mech and the other demons were not there to hurt them.
“You sure you’re up for this?” Mech asked quietly as the demons prepared to move out.
“I don’t have a choice. I won’t let Dakota be destroyed. It’s my city, Mech. My people to protect. Hadariel’s already taken too much from me. I won’t let him take them away, too.”
He straightened to his full height and the careful, blank look he’d had the last two days while we sparred reappeared on his face. “We make for Dakota,” he called loudly. “Arm yourselves and prepare to move out.”
I swung the shotgun around to my hands and gave him a solid nod. I could do this.
I would survive this fight.
Chapter 8
Mech
The angels had set a trap. That’s all that continued to run through my mind as my demons armed themselves in preparation to save Dakota. That the angels had removed their own warding and found a way to draw evil there as a trap. For who, I wasn’t sure yet, but instinct screamed at me that we were walking right into a trap that was going to get us killed.
If they abandoned the city on Hadariel’s orders, it might be his way of trying to draw Lela out of hiding. I was beginning to believe the angels attacked the safe house to kill her. Probably because she was remembering the events he didn’t want her to. The death of her parents was terrible, but this memory she had of the ravine bothered me, too. I snagged two demons rushing toward their comrades and pulled them aside.
“I need you both to head to a different location for me.” I told them about Blood Falls. They were not to engage, only observe. If nothing happened within the first six hours, they were to report back and send two new scouts. I wanted them to continually rotate until we had an idea why there was such a high concentration of holy light and evil at that pool.
“What was that about?” Kexan asked as he approached. “Did you two find anything?”
“No, but she swears she had been there before.” I glanced at the blisters on my palm from touching the design in the pool. “I think she might be right.”
“You think it has to do with where the abominations are headed?”
“Anything’s possible at this point. Everyone ready to go?” The demons were armed and ready in the main cavern. Lela was talking with Bobby. They were laughing about something. I smiled with them, entertained by how she was becoming friends with a zombie, of all things.
“Is she ready?” Kexan asked.
“She’s proven she can handle herself in a fight.”
“Against us, Mech. Can she handle an onslaught of evil?”
“You want to tell her she has to stay behind? Because if I do it, she’s likely to shoot me in the foot,” I commented. “Besides, we need her if we’re to convince the humans in Dakota we’re not part of the army marching toward them.”
“She can get us in, then we can have someone bring her back,” he said.
I arched my brow.
He gave a half-nod. “Going to guess that’s a no.”
As much as I wanted Lela to stay behind, she cared too much to do that while others fought in her place. “I’ll have Bobby stick close to her side.”
“And you?”
I walked toward the weapon alcove and picked out freshly polished daggers to add to the sheaths at my ribs, hips, lower back, and my boots. “What about me?”
“You tell her yet?” Kexan leaned against the wall.
I shoved a dagger into the sheath at my side, and it broke through the leather. “Yeah, I did.”
> “And? What did you say?”
Here I was about to march into what would be another bloody fight against evil, and I was suddenly anxious about what I’d told Lela. I muttered my reply.
He laughed quietly, saying he couldn’t quite hear me.
“I told her we were soul mates. Shit. It sounds stupid. Why did I say it like that?”
“Because it’s the truth,” he said through his laughter. I glowered at him, and he laughed louder. “What did she say?”
I replaced the ruined sheath with another one, buying time. “She didn’t exactly laugh in my face.”
“Then what did she do?”
I stilled, thinking back to how it felt to have her in my arms. It was beyond right. Her being mortal now upped my need to keep her safe. Each time I kissed her it was like we were the only two people in the world. I could sense her all the time now, too. I knew how close she was, or what mood she was in.
“She said until we made it through the war, she wanted to essentially ignore what I told her,” I finally admitted. “She’s worried my caring about her is going to get me killed.”
“From the way you look right now. I’d say a bit of something happened before she said that,” Kexan said. I growled, and he threw his hands up. “None of my business as long as she understands you can’t simply shove feelings like this aside.”
I knew it, and from the way she had been reacting around me since that conversation, she did too. I’d let her lie to herself a while longer, but eventually, she’d figure out it was better that we accepted the connection between us. It’d make us stronger in the end.
“Her being mortal has her on edge,” I said quietly. “I think she’s scared; she just won’t admit it.”
“Would you admit it if you suddenly found yourself a mortal?”
“No, I wouldn’t.”
Our conversation did not make me feel any better. I finished arming myself and returned to the center of the cavern. The demons, Bobby, and Lela gathered.
“We’re heading to Dakota. There’s a small army of evil making its way toward the city. Lela is going to be our way into the city. Just remember these people think we’re at fault for the war. They’re not going to want us there at first. Keep your aggravation to yourselves. No scaring the shit out of anyone. They’re all likely to be trigger happy,” I added just in case someone decided to be an ass. “Lela, you’re with me.”
Once she was at my side, shotgun in hand, I opened a portal that would take us just outside of Dakota. Appearing in the heart of the city would cause a panic. I led the way through the portal, with Lela right on my heels. We emerged on the other side in a copse of rotted trees about thirty yards from the western wall of Dakota. Night was falling as the demons we brought along stepped out, one after the other, keeping to the shadows of the trees.
“We should go alone, first,” Lela told me, eyeing the walls of the city nervously.
“You worried?”
“That we’re going to get shot on sight? Yeah, a little bit. Just, you know, brought a shit ton of demons with me, but hey, we’re going to be fine.” She glanced at the shotgun in her hands, seemed to second-guess herself, and slung it over her shoulder. “If they start shooting, I hope you can outrun bullets.”
Though I smiled, I was nervous myself that we weren’t going to be well-received. According to the scout’s report, we only had four hours, maybe less, until the small army of evil reached Dakota. There was no time to sit around arguing about who was at fault or who was fighting on the wrong side of the war. If those people wanted to live, they’d have to trust Lela. With her leading the way, we stepped out of the trees and headed for the walls of Dakota.
Shouts rang out as soon as we were out of the trees. Lela didn’t falter. She put her hands up and walked toward the main gate. I mirrored her, knowing by now they would’ve noticed the horns on my head.
A quick look at the top of the border wall confirmed there were rifles aimed at us as we walked. Each watchtower was filled with humans, all of them more than ready to shoot us on sight.
“Maybe you should’ve stayed in the trees,” Lela muttered when someone yelled “demon,” and a siren wailed.
If she had been an angel, I might’ve stayed behind, but since she was human and there was an army coming toward us, Lela was not going to be anywhere in the wasteland without me right by her side. She could think we put our emotions on hold all she wanted. I sure hadn’t.
At the main gate, we kept our hands raised and waited. A door opened to the right of the gate, and a group of humans rushed out, rifles aimed at our heads.
“You picked the wrong city to come to, demon,” a man snapped, the last to exit.
“Bryan?”
Another man took the cigarette from his mouth as his eyes narrowed. “Commander Lela?” He stepped forward but stopped at the sight of me. “He’s a demon.”
“I know.”
Bryan’s eyes narrowed more then they widened. “He’s the demon who attacked you. Why are you with him?”
Hands shifted on rifles and feet shuffled in the dry dirt. Lowering my hands or moving at all sounded like a terrible idea. I remained perfectly still and waited. Lela did lower her hands, but as soon as she went to move, several rifles switched from me to her.
“There’s a lot to explain, but I don’t have time,” Lela said urgently. “This demon didn’t attack me that day. He fought off those abominations. He’s the reason many of you survived the attack. I need you to listen to me, Bryan. Please. Everything I told you about? With the high general? It’s worse than I thought.”
“Where’s your glow?” He flicked the cigarette away, clearly not buying her story just yet. “Angels always have a subtle glow about them. Yours is gone. How do I know you’re actually Lela?”
“I’ve been watching over Dakota since the war began,” she started.
Bryan shook his head. “Anyone could know that. Lela would never work with a demon.”
“Things change,” she said stiffly. “Bryan, there’s a small army of zombies and abominations and who knows what else coming right for you. The angels have removed their warding. They’re drawing them to you. We came to help you fight them off.”
“We? You mean you and this demon?” Bryan scoffed. “Until I see some proof of who you are, you’re not stepping foot inside Dakota.” He shrugged. “And the warding’s in place.”
“No, it’s not,” I said, and he glared at me. “We can prove that really easily if you let me enter Dakota.” I’d been able to enter the first time to go after Lela because the warding hadn’t stretched as far as the wall. After the abominations attacked, Lela said they upped the protection. No demon would be able to set foot inside the walls without triggering an alarm.
Lela moved forward and to the left, blocking me from Bryan. I saw over her head easily enough, but it drew the man’s suspicious glare off me. “The war between angels and demons is being fought for the wrong reasons. High General Hadariel is not who he said he was.”
Precious seconds ticked by while he told the humans to stop aiming their guns at her, then said, “You found something out?”
“More than I ever thought I would,” she replied quietly. “There’s a lot to explain, but we can do that after I know you all will be safe.” She moved even closer as she whispered, “Hadariel is a traitor, Bryan. He’s going to get everyone killed.”
Bryan’s face went blank, but his eyes said he was contemplating her words very seriously. “He’s a demon,” he finally said. “Lela, all this time they’ve been the enemies. They unleashed Hell on earth.”
I growled, and Lela elbowed me. I stopped, but Bryan continued to hold my gaze.
“Hadariel did that.”
“Wait. What? But he’s an angel.”
“We’re running out of time,” I muttered. “The angels have been fooled. Those meant to protect your city have fled. You want to see proof or not?”
“I don’t trust beings with horns on their heads,�
� he snapped.
“Do you trust me?” Lela challenged.
Bryan’s lips thinned. “If you really are you.” She held out her hand, and he took it, frowning. “You’re different.”
“I’m not an angel anymore.”
“What?” Bryan released her hand immediately. “Then, what are you? This is some damned trick then, isn’t it?”
Lela’s shoulders stiffened, and I hated that man for pushing her to this point. I was ready to charge forward through the door and prove my point when Lela spun around and lifted the back of her shirt.
“You want proof? Here it is.”
Bryan’s jaw dropped, and several curses escaped those around us. I lowered my hands, not caring if they shot me anymore. I reached forward and covered Lela’s back, ignoring her annoyed glare, then shoved her protectively behind me and waited for the humans to make their decision.
“Those wounds,” Bryan said slowly.
“Hadariel ripped her wings out,” I grunted. “He cast her from the Heavens because she learned the truth. He’s as corrupt as those who fight under him. He’s the enemy, not me.”
When Bryan still hesitated, I growled harshly and plowed through the humans toward the open door. They shouted and warned me to stop. Lela did too, but I was tired of arguing. I walked through the door and stepped inside. I spread my arms wide and waited. The siren that had been wailing when we were first spotted had stopped a little while ago and didn’t start back up once I was inside Dakota. No warding kicked in. Nothing tried to cast me out.
Bryan froze, eyes wide. “The warding.”
“Gone. Thanks to the angels.”
Lela stood beside him but was looking at me. Whatever she was trying to say without words was lost in the whirlwind of anger and pain filling her eyes. Then they grew cold, and she grabbed Bryan’s shoulder.
“We can talk later, but we need to get ready for the attack. They’ll be here soon.”
“All those unable to fight should evacuate,” I told him. “There’s no reason for them to be here. Hell, all humans can leave.”
