* * *
Fee
We lay together on the bed, clothed but still sort of damp from the shower. The single towel hadn’t gone very far.
Hunter tucked my hair behind my ear. “Thank you.”
“What for?”
“For accepting me.”
“I shouldn’t have been so hard on you from the start. I listened to what others said, not what my Loup told me. I should have trusted her.”
“I should have been gentler.”
“Oh no, I like it when you’re a little rough.”
He chuckled. “I mean in our courtship.”
My cheeks heated. “Oh, yeah. Well, I was pretty prickly.”
“You had reason to believe I was a bad person. I should have done more to show you I wasn’t.”
I stroked his cheek. “We have a ton of catching up to do, don’t we?”
“There’ll be time.”
My heart sank because what if there wasn’t? So many things could go wrong. Mammon had taken the Keep and if we failed to get it back the human world would be next in line for conquest and there was Cain to worry about too. He was coming here to kill Samael, and if he succeeded then this world would be destroyed.
“Don’t,” Hunter said. “We will get through this. Together.”
I snuggled closer, revelling in the feel of his body against mine and how familiar and right it felt, as if we’d been doing this forever.
“Get some rest,” Hunter said. “I’ll wake you in an hour or two. I’ve agreed to help Azazel with a weapons check.” He looked sheepish. “He’s probably waiting for me.”
Oops. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He brushed his lips against my cheek. “Rest.”
He slipped from the bed and with a final glance, left the bunker.
Long minutes ticked by as I tried to relax, but I was too wired to sleep. Fuck it. I slipped out of the bunker and headed out into the cavern. There were wounded to be administered to, I could help with that.
It didn’t take long to realize that Keon and Uri had the wounded issue covered. Several fire pits had been lit, and demons huddled around them, eating strips of dried meat and drinking water from metal cups. There was a soft buzz of conversation in the air and the atmosphere was less chaotic.
Samael and Lilith were nowhere to be seen, but Conah was chatting to a group of daemons by the waterfall. There was no sign of Azazel, Mal, or Hunter, but I caught sight of Grayson, Cora, and Uri sitting around a fire pit to my far left. I was about to head over when a flash of blue caught my eye.
Keon sat alone at an unlit firepit, arms braced on his thighs, head down. His shoulders were slumped, his posture one of dejection. I altered my path and headed over to join him.
“Hey,” I dropped down beside him and nudged him with my shoulder. “Penny for your thoughts.”
He turned his head to spear me with a confused look. “A penny? Why would I sell my thoughts for such a paltry amount?”
I bit back a smile. “It’s just a turn of phrase. It’s just me asking you what’s on your mind.”
“Lilith.”
There was a tangle of emotions in that word. She was his queen, his puppet master, and his mother.
“Has she said something to you?”
“Nothing,” he bit out the word. “It’s as if nothing happened.”
As if she hadn’t revealed to him that he was her son. “I’m sorry, Keon.” The injustice of it burned in my chest. “Once we’ve smacked Mammon down, I’ll speak to her. She can’t treat you like this. She has to let you go.”
“Don’t.” his eyes widened in horror. “Don’t threaten her. Don’t make her target you, because if you do, I’ll be the weapon she uses.”
It hit me then that he didn’t care about himself. He didn’t care that she hadn’t acknowledged him or that she was now free to pull his strings. He cared that he might be forced to hurt me.
He cared about me.
“Keon…” I laid my palm against his cheek.
He closed his cat eyes, allowing himself to lean into my touch for a moment before pulling away.
“You can’t be close to me,” he said. “She can’t see that you care for me, or that I…that I care for you.”
Or she’d use it against me. Bitch. “She won’t hurt me. Samael won’t allow it.”
Keon’s beautiful lips twisted in a wry smile. “She wasn’t supposed to have me, but she did, and Samael has never suspected. If Lilith wants something, she gets it. Please, just…stay away.”
Lilith chose that moment to enter the chamber and like a homing beacon, her gaze zeroed in on Keon and me. Keon snapped and growled at me before making a show of stalking off.
But her gaze remained speculative, and my pulse picked up.
Yes, Keon was right. I’d have to tread carefully…for now.
Chapter Forty-Three
Fee
We flew for an hour to ensure a good distance from where Mammon’s spies might be scouting. The moon was high, the world below us was still, as if in mourning. My heart was a boulder in my chest, weighing me down, but the sliver of hope Esmael’s feather brought kept me afloat.
Uri flew beside me, silent but watchful. My guardian on this journey.
We’d decided on him coming because of his connection to the Beyond and the fact that he too was tainted like the Seraphim. Esmael wouldn’t be threatened by him, and he might even feel a kinship for my lover.
Also, Mammon’s scouts wouldn’t recognize us. We weren’t faces they’d be looking for, so even if we were spotted, they were unlikely to harass us.
I’d flown north like Samael suggested, and below us was lush forestland with an open plain beyond, and inky black mountains in the distance.
I drifted closer to Uri. “I think this is far enough.”
We landed on the edge of the forest, facing the flatlands. The world was silvery-gray and serene, and it was hard to believe that only a few hours ago, we’d been in the middle of a bloody war.
“What now?” Uri asked.
I pulled the feather from my pocket and held it up to the night air recalling Esmael’s instructions. “I call his name and burn the feather.”
I pulled the matches I’d borrowed from one of the guards out of my pocket, and handed them to Uri. He struck one and held it to the feather.
“Esmael, I need you.” I said the words as the feather was devoured by the flames, then dropped it so as not to singe my fingers
Silence reigned for long seconds.
My pulse beat too loud in my ears as I scanned the night sky, searching for the friend I’d made. Esmael, where are you?
Minutes ticked by.
How long would it take for him to get to me? He could be miles from here. Shit, I hadn’t even considered that.
“Fee?” There was doubt in Uri’s tone that I couldn’t entertain.
“No, this will work. He said—”
A gust of air brushed the hair from my nape with icy fingers, and then there was a flash of light in the sky—a star hovering too close to the earth—and a sleek, dark figure with batlike wings materialized against the midnight blue.
The sliver of hope burst into a flame in my chest.
Esmael was here.
The Seraphim flew down to land a few feet away. Steam plumed from his nostrils, and a bone numbing chill clung to the air around him, as if he’d just stepped out of a meat locker.
Beside me, Uri tensed.
But the Seraphim had eyes only for me. They bored into me, intense and bright. “So, we meet again, Seraphina Dawn. You call upon the debt you are owed.”
Debt? I shook my head. “No, Esmael. I don’t want to call on a debt. I call on you as a friend. I need help but the choice to give it will be yours. There’s no obligation.”
He tilted his massive head to one side. “What is it you desire?”
“Mammon has taken the capital. He has the Keep, and I need your help to get it back… You...and the others of your kin
d.”
Esmael’s eyes narrowed to slits. “You wish us to aid Lilith?” Her name was a sibilant curse, saturated with venom, and for the first time since I’d known him, fear danced up my spine.
“Not for Lilith,” Uri said, stepping forward, hands held out placatingly. “But for all the innocent demons Mammon will exploit and for all the humans you once loved and protected, because if Mammon succeeds in his plan, the human world will be the next to fall.”
Esmael was silent and still, his gaze on Uri’s face. A strange tension radiated off him.
“Uriel?” he said his name softly, almost reverently. “Uriel, my brother.”
Uri stared at Esmael. “You… You know me?”
Esmael blinked slowly. “Your light is hidden, but it is you. I would know you anywhere. You never came back. We believed you unmade.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You don’t remember.” Esmael snorted expeling more mist from his slanted nostrils. “Of course. He would not have destroyed you. He would not abandon you. You, the favorite. The beloved. As beloved as Samael had once been. He took your memories and hid your light.”
“I don’t…I don’t understand…” Uri’s voice trembled. “I…I know you.”
“Yes, you do.”
Esmael stepped closer, his shadow falling over Uri, but Uri didn’t flinch or back up. He stared up at the Seraphim in wonder and awe. Esmael carefully ducked his head so his forehead was pressed to Uri’s. A soft orange glow bloomed at the point of contact, and Uri’s eyelids fluttered closed. They remained locked like this for the longest time, and the only sound was the whistle of the wind in the trees behind me. My skin pricked, breaking out in goosebumps. Something was happening, something monumental that was beyond my comprehension.
Finally, the glow died, and Esmael stepped back, but Uri didn’t open his eyes. He remained still and silent like stone.
I looked to Esmael. “What’s happening?” A hint of panic edged into my tone. “What did you do?”
Esmael’s eyes were warm, and if I didn’t know better, I would have said he was smiling. “I awoke the Lord of Death.”
* * *
Uriel
“No, Uriel, the gates cannot open for the keepers. I’m sorry.” The divine says.
The chamber of light is empty save for us. No celestial will risk being close to me, a tainted keeper who’s clawed his way up from the Underealm. They shied away as I was led here, shackled like a criminal.
Shackled for doing my duty.
Tainted for serving the divine.
I fall to my knees and implore the divine, hands held out beseechingly. “They have done only what was asked of them. They deserve to come home.”
His expression softens, and for a moment I think that he will capitulate, but then his mouth flattens in resolve.
“Letting you through the gates was risk enough. The taint on you is strong. I can see it. Smell it.” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “Maybe if the circle had closed a century ago…It’s too late now. The keepers have been amongst the demons for too long.”
“Father, please…”
He approaches and crouches by me. “Don’t fear child, you were his first, his most beloved.”
I’m confused. “Who do you speak of?”
His smile is wistful, almost sad. “You will stay. I will make this right…for him.”
“The others?”
“Will be remembered for their sacrifice.”
No. I can’t abandon them. “Please, there must be a way.”
“Not for them. Only for you.” He presses his palm to my forehead. Bright light fills my head and then I am gone.
I suck in a sharp breath and open my eyes to the moon and the stars. Memories, so many memories, flood my mind, settling into place like cards being laid out in order. The circles.
My keepers.
My Seraphim.
I am Seraphim.
My chest heats, and I look down to see an orange glow expanding beneath my diaphragm.
“Uri!”
Fee? Fee is here.
Then the glow explodes outward, and once again, I am gone.
* * *
Fee
“Uri!” I wanted to grab him, but he was glowing like a fucking lantern and my gut told me to keep my distance, that this needed to happen. “Uri…”
The glow began to ebb, and Uri was revealed, unharmed.
He touched his chest, and then his face, before turning to me. “I remember who I am.”
I took a tentative step toward him. “Who are you?”
“Lord of Death,” Esmael said. “The first Seraphim, and our General.”
Seraphim?
“I would have come back,” Uri said to Esmael. “I wasn’t given a choice.”
“I know, brother. I never doubted your intentions.”
Uri approached Esmael and reached out to touch his face. “This isn’t right.”
“The taint of this realm had its effects on our forms,” Esmael said. “We understood, when we volunteered to be the keepers of the nine circles, that we would be tainted by this place. But once you were gone, once we were abandoned, the taint manifested on our skin.”
“I’m so sorry, brother,” Uri said. “What was done to you is unforgivable, but the divine that abandoned you is gone, and his brother now rules. Things have changed.”
“Not Lilith. Not her actions.”
“Lilith may still be the same, but the humans and the innocent citizens of this world should not be judged by Lilith’s actions.”
Esmael sighed, expeling more mist into the night air. “I agree. However, she murdered us. Hunted us. Even if I wished to help, I am unsure I can convince the others to join me. Not for fear for themselves, but for their offspring.”
Of course they were worried about coming out of hiding. “Lilith has given her pardon to your kind if you assist. No Seraphim will be hunted ever again.”
“She has gall,” Esmael said
“I know. I’m sorry. I’m not a fan of her either.”
He snorted. “I would doubt your character if you were. I will do what I can. Meet me back here at sunrise for my answer.” He turned to Uri. “Will you come with me, brother?”
Uri looked torn and my heart ached, because as much as I wanted him to have this, I didn’t want him to go.
I fixed a smile on my face. “Go. Maybe you can help Esmael convince them.”
Uri shook his head. “I can’t leave you to travel back to camp alone. It isn’t safe.” To Esmael. “Tell the others of my survival. Tell them their general calls on them to fight.”
I caught the conflict in Esmael’s eyes, but he stood taller. “I will deliver your message.”
He turned and launched himself into the air, rising until he was simply a speck, then he winked out in a flash of light.
Uri continued to stare at the night sky, and my stomach fluttered with unease at how distant he looked. Distant from me?
“Uri?”
He blinked slowly as if surfacing from a dream. “Fee…”
He looked the same, yet he looked different. It was his eyes. There was a darkness in them now that hadn’t been there before. He’d been here before. Been here for a long time, and he’d sensed that the last time we’d come. He’d felt the familiarity of this place.
I pushed my anxiety aside. This was Uri. My Uri. “What did you remember?”
“I remember being here,” he said with a sigh. “I was a keeper of human souls. We ran the nine circles. We were guardians, guards, watchers, and when the circles were no more, we were stranded. I remember clawing my way back to the Beyond with every last ounce of strength I had. They almost didn’t admit me, but the divine offered me an audience, and then… Then he took my memories.” Uri paused in thought. “I think… I think I was his brother’s first celestial. I think I may have been his favorite.”
Which explained why the divine twin we’d liberated from limbo had been so
taken with Uri and why he’d brought him back when the super vamp had… I couldn’t bring myself to think about that moment.
“I was the Celestial of Death,” Uri continued. “That was my official title. I was revered and feared, responsible for herding the human souls across the bridge and into damnation.” The frown between his brows deepened. “It feels strange, like the memories belong to someone else, even though they’re mine. But for the first time in a long time I feel…whole.”
I took his hand and he gently drew me into his arms. A soft chuckle escaped his lips. Familiar and totally him, and the knot in my stomach eased.
“Fee, I’m a Seraphim.”
I hugged him tight. “You’re my Seraphim.”
“I am.” He stroked my hair. “I have faith in Esmael. I have faith in my keepers.”
I wanted to have faith too, but I’d seen the doubt in Esmael’s eyes. I didn’t think convincing the others was going to be that easy.
We’d find out at dawn.
Chapter Forty-Four
Keon
Lilith’s summons doesn’t come as a shock. The woman is astute, and she’s seen me with Fee. She will have questions.
I breathe deep and compose my features into bland indifference before entering her bunker.
She’s alone, sitting on the edge of her bed, back ramrod straight as if she’s seated on her throne.
“Keon. Samael tells me that you were instrumental in my rescue.”
“Yes, my queen.”
Her smile doesn’t reach her eyes. “And you saved my son Azazel.”
“Yes.”
“And your memories…”
I must choose my lies carefully. “I have them back.”
Her shoulders sag. “You told no one.”
“I told no one.” I repeat her words. That is not a lie.
Her gaze narrows as if she doubts me, and it’s with great force of will that I keep my heartbeat steady. If she suspects otherwise, my steady pulse will throw her off.
Reaper Unleashed: Deadside Reapers: Book 7 Page 23
