by Noree Cosper
Lucy’s gaze slid to Adrian. “We don’t need to reason. We offer them an ultimatum.”
I glanced from her to Adrian. “You think Adrian’s weapon will work on them?”
“It is worth a try,” Adrian said. “Besides, I need something to test it on.”
“How long until you are finished?” I asked.
“Once again, it would happen sooner if I wasn’t asked that every few minutes.”
“He’ll be ready in time,” Lucy said with a nod. “We still need to prepare the ingredients, anyway.”
I stood up with the book in my hands. “This calls for some rare components.”
“I suppose it is good I have an extensive collection for my alchemy,” Jonah said.
“When do we need to perform this?” I asked Lucy. “I want to see if I dream again.”
“Five minutes to midnight.”
I sighed. Testing a newly made weapon on the Fates, but then we planned to use it on an archangel. I hoped it worked. If it failed, we’d lose Tres.
Chapter 32
The mausoleum gleams white amongst the green grass. It’s relatively new, not quite steeped in family history, but it will be. It holds one occupant. Today, a second will be added. It’s funny how I find myself in many graveyards for this man.
I stare up at the family crest and blink back the tears in my eyes. It blurs and shifts into a triangle with three lines coming from the bottom that connect to three circles. Another line extends down from the center circle into an arrow.
A woman in a long black dress stands in front of the mausoleum. Her face is covered by a black lace veil. She holds the hand of a young boy. His black hair is slicked back, and he pulls at the collar of his dress shirt. He stares at the casket in front of the doorway with pain and confusion in eyes that remind me so much of Dimitri.
My heart squeezes in my chest and I rub my nose with a tissue under my own veil. Jonathon steps up beside me.
“I never thought I would outlive him,” Jonathon says.
“How did it happen?” I ask.
“Dracula rose after Alexander was born.” He nodded to the boy in the front, Dimitri’s son. “Dracula went underground for years. We managed to track him down to Brazil. Dimitri gave his life to put the fiend down again.”
“Why didn’t you contact me?”
“He said it wasn’t your fight.”
I bow my head and let the tears fall down my cheeks. Those were almost the same words I’d written to him when I left. I’d given up my right to be angry with him years ago. I’d been a coward then, unable to say goodbye in person.
“He never recovered from losing you. He was dutiful to his wife Elisabeta and he loved his son, of course. However, I think he always waited for you to return.”
I grip my handkerchief with a shaky hand. “Don’t make me feel worse than I already do. You were my accomplice in this. You advised me on my best course of action.”
“It was for family, for the legacy. He had a duty. Sadly, duty doesn’t lead to happy endings.”
“I kept searching for Allegra. For a way to come back to him.”
“And?”
I just shake my head.
“I stand by my decision. The legacy continues.”
“To more heartache and death?” I stare at the small child. He keeps his shoulders back and his face straight, but his bottom lip trembles ever so slightly. “That poor boy will never have a normal life. Is it his duty to die, like his father?”
“He knows what he must do. He has already sworn the Oath.”
I glare at Jonathan even though he can’t see it. “How could you? He’s a mere babe.”
Jonathon rubs the bridge of his nose. “If I could take this away from them, I would. However, it is the Van Helsing bloodline that is cursed.”
“I’ll break it. I’ll protect them, I swear,” I said.
“You have yet to break your own curse.”
I woke to a hand on my shoulder. I stared up at the same pair of eyes of the man from my dream.
“It’s time,” Jonah said.
Chapter 33
The furniture in Jonah’s living room had been pushed aside to make room for the triangle painted on the floor in white. One of the points connected to the point of a smaller triangle, creating a lopsided hourglass shape. Symbols were inscribed on the lines on both triangles in silver.
I glanced at Lucy. “Quicksilver?”
She nodded. I stared down at my arms. Quicksilver could come from the blood of those possessed by angels. Esais’s blood could be a source of quicksilver. Was that even true for me? Sariel claimed my spirit was an archangel, but I wasn’t possessed and it was trapped by Naamah’s curse. I shook my head. Now wasn’t the time for such contemplation. I’d worry about my own problems once Tres and Esais were saved.
Tres came out of the bedroom dressed in a long black robe. He looked around but didn’t say anything. Deep shadows had appeared under his eyes and they looked like they planned to take up residence. I laid my hand on his arm.
“How are you?” I asked.
“Managing.” His jaw was tight, and he swallowed. “Let’s get this over with. Where am I supposed to stand?”
“In there.” Lucy pointed to the smaller triangle.
With a long sigh, Tres walked into the triangle and stood there with his arms crossed. He stared out Jonah’s window with a blank look on his face as Lucy walked around the larger triangle placing small bowls on the edge. These were actually brazier filled with some incense concoction she prepared for this ritual.
“Need help?” I asked.
She shook her head. Jonah entered from the bathroom, adjusting the sleeves of his robe. Adrian came out of the living room with an annoyed look on his face. He stopped, glanced at me, and pressed his lips together.
“Neither of you have to wear one of these ridiculous things?” His gaze shifted to Lucy.
Lucy smiled at me. “Yours is in the bedroom, dearie. I’ll join you in a moment to put mine on.”
I walked into the guest bedroom and grabbed one of the robes on the bed. It was the type that was large enough to slip over my head with billowing sleeves and a deep hood. I pulled it on and was straightening it as Lucy stepped inside and closed the door. She took her own robe and put it on.
“This is going to work?” I asked.
“Let’s hope so,” she said. “Tres needs a win right now.”
“We all do,” I said. “Hopefully, we’ll have several more. Is there anything you need me to do for the incantation?”
“No,” she said. “I got this. Though, you’ll probably need to speak to them.”
My pulse quickened. I seemed to be the one who always talked to the spirits. How had I become the spokesperson between spirits of the Eclipse and everyone else? Maybe it had something to do with my own spirit. Gabriel was known as the archangel of messengers. I swallowed, pushing my thoughts aside, and nodded to Lucy.
We walked out of the room together. I took one of the points that Lucy indicated while she took up the other. Adrian and Jonah took the two sides near Tres.
“I need everyone except Tres to raise their hoods,” Lucy said. “This should give us some shielding from the spirits.”
I lifted my hood over my head as did the others. Lucy glanced around and with a nod, she closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath.
She began to chant in a musical cadence. “I conjure you Fates, in the name of the great living God, sovereign creator of all things, that you appear to me in beautiful human shape, affably, and without noise or terror in order to answer truthfully to all questions asked of you. I conjure you by the virtue of the holy and sacred names.”
The smoke from the braziers began to thicken, forming a curtain between us and the large triangle.
“By Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos. Come, Moirai.”
Shadows danced from behind the smoke, forming and breaking into wisps as they rose higher.
“By Nona, Decima, Morta. Come, P
arcae.”
The shadows grew less wispy and began to take on forms.
“By Urðr, Verðandi, Skuld. Come, Norns.”
Three women with long flowing hair stood tall behind the wall of smoke. I couldn’t make out their faces as if they were blurring but their eyes seemed to pierce through me as their gazes passed over me.
“Who calls us?” the one on the middle asked in the slow soft voice from the Eclipse.
Lucy glanced at me, and I nodded. “I do.”
All three turned my direction, but the left one spoke in her high voice. “You were the one who made the accord. Have you come to offer the life of this one?”
She pointed to Lucy.
“No,” I said.
“You time is almost gone,” the cold voice of the right said. “Why have you called?”
“I wish to renegotiate the terms,” I said.
“Unacceptable,” the one on the right said.
“A balance must be achieved,” the middle one said. “We will take our vessel’s life if you do not give us another.”
“But I can give you more than one,” I said. “If you agree to help us.”
“Let’s hear her out,” the one on the left said.
“There are two nephilim who I’m willing to kill for you, if you can help stop Sariel.”
“No,” said the one on the right. “We will not go against the Archangel of Death, no matter what our vessel has decided.”
“We cannot,” said the one on the left.
“Are you not the all-powerful Fates?” I asked. “You pull the strings of humanity.”
“We will not contend with an Archangel,” said the one in the middle.
“And if you wish to renegotiate now, you will not honor this new pact,” said the one on the right.
The one on the left nodded. “You have already proved untrustworthy.”
“I haven’t ignored it,” I said. “I am contacting you now to renegotiate.”
“A bargain is a bargain and you must honor the terms,” said the one in the middle.
“Or face the consequences,” said the one on the left. “It is time.”
All three rotated to face Tres and their eyes began to glow. They reached out their right hands and pointed their fingers. Through the veil, their hands seemed to meld into one with a pair of shears. The sound of metal scraping metal filled the air.
“I don’t think so,” Adrian said.
He pulled out a small round device that looked like a Taser and pressed a button with his thumb. Two small metal bits connected to wires shot out and implanted into Tres. He screamed and dropped to his knees, shuddering. His screams mixed with a wail elicited from the figures in the triangle. As Tres convulsed, so did they, flickering in and out. Jonah took a step towards Tres.
“Don’t,” Lucy called. “Don’t break the binding.”
He turned and looked her, then shot a glare at Adrian.
“What have you done?” the high voice wailed.
Adrian stared at the three a cold smiled forming on his lips. “I’ve constrained the connection between you. No bargain will happen this day.”
“You think you can stop us?” the cold voice hissed.
The three raised their arm again. Adrian turned a dial on his device and both Tres and the Fates screamed again. The forms of the three women became insubstantial, like wispy shadows. A wire, resembling the ones attached to the metal bits, wound around them like a rope and covered them from head to toe.
A coldness crept up my spine. He’d shackled them, like Allegra and Naamah had shackled my spirit, my Archangel, if Sariel could be believed. I swallowed the bile rising in my throat.
This was different. The Fates would have killed Tres if we hadn’t done something.
The Fates dissipated. Tres gave one final scream before he collapsed. With a nod from Lucy, Jonah hurried to him, knelt down, and touched his neck.
“He’s still alive.” His glare turned to Adrian. “That was dangerous. What were you thinking?”
“That we didn’t have much of a choice. Those things would have killed him,” Adrian said. “It was worth the risk.”
“How much of that was you wanting to test your new invention?” I crossed my arms, still unable to rid myself of the sour pit in my stomach.
Adrian stood with his hands behind his back. “You misunderstand. I will do what it takes to save my brothers from the supernatural parasites that have attached themselves to them.”
“Even if it means killing them?” Lucy asked.
“It should not come to that,” Adrian said. “Tres was not in danger. It was only a mild shock.”
I shook my head and turned away. Buzzing in the pocket of my jeans caused me to jump. I lifted my robe up and pulled it out.
Come to the corner of Hudson and Fifty-sixth.
“Another text,” I said.
“I’m going with you.” Adrian yanked the robe off and tossed it on Jonah’s couch. “I may have a chance to end this.”
I gritted my teeth. “Sariel has never shown up at these little rendezvous before. Only the nephilim.”
“Then you shouldn’t go alone,” he said.
“Fine,” I said. “The roads aren’t clear. It looks like we’re going to have to walk.”
Chapter 34
New York was quiet. Aside from the snowmobiles crawling along as they tried to fight the growing tide of snow, vehicles remained stalled, at least the ones we could see. In a city that was almost always filled with lights and sound, it was eerie.
The snow crunched under my feet as I walked to the intersection. Adrian trailed behind me, with his face covered in a black mask. Luckily, our destination hadn’t been across the city. We’d bundled up as best we could, weapons and all, and set out.
I picked up my pace for the last leg of the journey. I stopped at the corner of Harry Hudson Highway and Fifty-sixth, panting. From here, the Hudson River roared at us with ice churning in its dirty currents. A row of warehouses lined the piers nearby, their cargo crates covered in white.
I shivered and pulled my coat tighter. The cold crept in now that I’d stopped moving. I looked down and tilted my head.
Something was burned into the sidewalk near the side of the bakery on the corner. I knelt beside it and brushed the snow away. A chill set through me, more frigid than the snow as I recognized the symbol inscribed. The hourglass shape was vertical with a triangle on the top. A line ran through the inside, and stretching out horizontally from the middle were two sickles. I’d seen this symbol when Lucy had read for Marge and me over a month ago on the Death card. It belonged to Sariel.
After reading the Enochian in the books for the past few days, something clicked in the back of my head. The angelic symbols created one large binding circle. It was meant to trap the demons inside.
Adrian came up beside me, huffing. “What is it?”
I pointed to the symbol. “I think one of the nephilim has been keeping the demons in the city with these. Irae maybe. She was near the last one I found and it was burned into the bridge.”
“What is that?” he asked.
“An angelic symbol. There is one for each archangel. This one is Sariel’s,” I said. “I’ve seen two others and there are probably four more around the rest of the city.”
The dull smacking of hands clapping together echoed from around the corner. A tall man dressed in a white long coat with blond hair slicked back stepped out into sight from behind a car. A smile stretched across his thin, pointed face.
“Very good, Gabriella,” he said in a thick German accent.
Who was this man and how did he know my name? A thought surfaced from the depths of my mind. This could be Faust? There was one way to find out. A pressure popped in my head as I shifted to my spirit sight.
His true face was one half comedy mask and one half tragedy mask. Two long, thin horns sprouted from behind the mask. A green light shone from the two eyeholes. His body was bright red and a whip-like tail moved as
he walked.
“Faust.” My voice dripped with all the enmity I felt for him.
My hand went for my sword and I felt only air where it should have been strapped across my back. That’s right, it was still buried. With a feeling that I had lost a part of me, I pulled a dagger from the sheath in my boot. It had been carved with Adrian’s special demon killing symbol. Adrian reached inside his coat.
Faust raised his hands in a sign of submission.
“No need to be violent. I’m here to help.” His smile stretched into a grin so like his real face. “At least to help you help me.”
“I’ll help you all right.” I took a step forward with my dagger raised. “Help you straight back to Hell.”
“Is that anyway to treat someone who has been assisting you all this time? Those texts were from me.”
“I figured that out and I don’t care.”
Adrian raised his gun and pointed it at Faust. “Thank you for your assistance. Let me reward you.”
“I can help get your brother back,” Faust said. “I know a way to get rid of the Archangel.”
Adrian’s hand lowered a fraction. “I’m listening.”
I took another step, my gaze trained on Faust. I didn’t trust the sneaky demon and I still owed him for John. Still, it was a chance we had to take.
“How would you know how to banish an angel, demon?” I asked.
He laughed. “I’ve been a master of the occult well before I made my little deal. I invented the techniques your precious Lucy uses. Why do you think she could never find me?”
I gritted my teeth. “Not helping your case.”
“He has nothing,” Esais’s voice called from the clouds. “He only speaks lies.”
Sariel appeared in the middle of the street between Faust and us with a whisper of feathers. My breath caught in my throat and I froze. Faust’s eyes widened, and he took a step back. Adrian’s shoulders stiffened, and his gun lowered as his gaze locked on the Archangel in his brother’s body. He reached in his pocket with his other hand.
