by Peach, Hanna
“Darling, come on,” Samyara held out his hands to the side with an air of light-hearted causality. “Seven of you and three of us? Hardly equal numbers.”
Israel whispered again to the mystery seraphelle before she spoke again. “Fine. But we need to see the faces of the prisoners before we trade.”
Samyara nodded at Adere. Adere began to remove the sacks on the heads of the four kneeling prisoners. Bostif and the other Darkened remained standing where they were.
So Alyx really was going through with it. Passar hadn’t believed that she would have accepted the trade. If it was him and he had to trade Elijah for all the world, he couldn’t do it. He could be happy in Hell as long as he had Elijah. A pang of sadness shot through him as he thought about Elijah. He just had to kill Adere. Then his side of the bargain was complete. She was a Darkened anyway. Never mind that Israel believed that he had found a way to save her soul.
Passar pushed away at the gnawing guilt that seemed to be his constant companion these days. His only companion. A companion that got harder and harder to ignore as the days went by.
“You’ve seen their faces,” Samyara called out when the last sack had been removed. “Now here’s what will happen. Adere will walk them over to your side as Israel walks to ours. Nice and easy. Let’s keep this exchange civil, shall we?”
Adere walked over to stand behind the prisoner closest to her, a younger seraphelle who Passar had heard being called Luce on the far left of the line of prisoners. Adere yanked Luce to standing, the movement pulling at the ropes of the seraph called Jordan who was tied beside her. Adere placed the sharp edge of a Black Stone blade against Luce’s exposed neck.
“Now,” Adere hissed, “everybody moves nice and slow or this youngling gets it.” The line of prisoners stood up awkwardly. “Don’t even think about trying anything. I don’t mind making a mess.”
They began to walk forward slowly. Israel stepped forward as well. Passar eyed Alyx, who hadn’t moved, although she watched Israel’s progress across the invisible line between the sides. If not for the other seraphelle who refused to let go of Alyx’s arm, she may have rushed forward to pull him back.
As Adere and Israel passed each other Adere blew him a kiss. “Hello, lover.”
Israel returned her look with a glare. But he kept walking, his focus back on Samyara. As Israel walked deeper into the enemy’s side, the Darkened moved to surround him, blades focused at his torso, until they circled him.
“Hold it right there,” Bostif said. “Throw down your sword.”
Israel pulled his sheath from his belt and held it out to the side, the pommel resting lightly between two fingers. Then he dropped the weapon onto the ground.
“And the hidden blades, too.” Israel grimaced and pulled a small dagger from the back of his pants. “And the other one.” Another appeared from the inside of his boot. Each fell to the ground with a thud. One of the Darkened kicked the weapons away.
Samyara nodded at one of the Darkened guarding Israel. In several long strides the Darkened was behind Adere, his sword at her back.
“Adere,” called out Samyara. “Be a dear and throw down your weapon and hand yourself over.”
The Darkened behind her poked the tip of his sword at her back to emphasize this command. Adere flinched and glanced over her shoulder at Samyara, disbelief written all over her face. “What?”
“You heard me, darling. Now give up your weapon and hand yourself over. You were part of the deal.”
Adere continued to gape. Passar felt a little sorry for her.
“But...” The strength seemed to leave Adere’s arms and her sword faltered at Luce’s neck. That was all Luce needed. She thrust her head back, head-butting Adere in the nose. Adere cried out, her arms flaying.
“Duck, Luce!” Jordan called out and he kicked out over Luce’s bent body towards Adere’s hand. Her blade flew from her fingers to the grass.
The sword remained at Adere’s back. Adere held her nose, which was now pouring blood, the growl from the inner-demon rolling with anger.
Samyara tsked. “If you had only disarmed yourself, you could have avoided that.” Samyara nodded at Israel. “Tie him up and let’s go.”
One of the Darkened sheathed his sword, pulled a length of rope from his hip and advanced on Israel.
Passar looked back at Adere. At that moment, the Darkened was standing in the way of a clear throw. No matter. He would soon get a clear shot. He readied his knife.
* * *
Alyx tensed as part of her fought to stay in control. Not five minutes ago she had almost lost control of herself and lashed out at Adere.
“Hello, lover,” Adere had said. That tone. That proprietary tone. It made Alyx’s skin roll with fire. It was difficult to control herself when she also had to control all of these other desires and ignore this extra voice in her head. Her ribs itched like crazy under her shirt. It had been dangerous playing with undiluted blood. But what choice had they had?
Moloko’s panic flooded through her. Hide, you need to hide. Alyx quashed the desire to fly into the sky.
Alyx forced herself to stand her ground even as the Black Stone blades held her in place with their steely fingers, and over her shoulder a Darkened was walking towards her with rope. Alyx eyed the blade tips once more. And readied herself.
The rope went over her head as the Darkened pressed up behind her. She heard his startled voice when he saw through the mirage, “What the—?”
“Now,” cried Alyx as she let go of her mirage. Israel’s form slipped off her. She kicked out at the blade on her left, then using that momentum, she rolled her torso around, pulling the Darkened behind her into the path of the other two blades. She heard Samyara growl in anger as Vix and their small group of Seraphim, made up of other warriors from the Florence, Saudi and Lima communities, appeared out of the trees and from the sky. The Darkened seemed to forget about Alyx and turned towards the oncoming seraphim with their Black Swords. The ring of metal echoed through the park.
Alyx flipped up and twisted over the Darkened behind her, managing to twist him up in her ropes. She glanced back towards Israel and Moloko. Israel had pulled forward from Moloko’s grasp, breaking his mirage so that he no longer wore her image. He was tussling with Adere.
Vix and another Seraphim were working at the ropes binding the four prisoners, yelling at Moloko to help her. Moloko moved forward towards Tobias, who was on the other end of the line.
Alyx turned forward and spotted Samyara now backing up from where he stood, facing off against a Florence seraph. Alyx flew up over the heads of the fighting mass. She flipped in the air as she went overhead, keeping her eyes trained on Samyara. She saw Samyara’s sword lash out, piercing the seraph. He fell with a cry. Alyx landed behind Samyara, blocking his way out and holding her sword at him. “Hold it right there.” Samyara spun, growling.
Alyx smiled as the last of the Darkened fell and several other Seraphim swords joined hers around Samyara. His face contorted in anger.
“You’re trapped and outnumbered, Samyara. It’s over.”
Samyara snarled as he took in the swords around him. Then it slipped from Samyara’s face. He began to laugh slowly, which cresendoed into a loud bellow that shook his body, sending chills down Alyx’s spine.
Chapter 42
Marin cried out again.
“I’m sorry Marin,” said Ana. “I know it hurts, but you’re just going to have to hang on a little longer. I’m almost done.”
She wished she had some anesthesia for his pain. Aradale didn’t carry that kind of thing. They had never needed to. She had already used the last of the animal tranquilizer earlier in sedating him.
Marin was lying front down on a skinny bed in the small infirmary unit of Aradale. Ana continued to clean the wounds on his upper back. She stopped when her fingers slid over something uneven. She wiped the area again, clearing away more of the blood.
It was a lump. Something was under his skin.
> “Hold still, Marin. Something’s gotten under your skin. I’m going to have to make a small cut to get it out, okay?”
Marin let out a cry but he nodded his consent.
Ana picked up a small scalpel. She pressed it into Marin’s skin, making a small incision, then held it open with the fingers of her other hand. There was something shiny in there. A bullet? Did they shoot him?
She dropped her scalpel on her instrument tray and took a pair of large tweezers. She pushed the tweezers into the incision and moved it around until it gripped the metal thing. Carefully she pulled out the object and dropped it into a metal pan next to her. Ana held the cut closed until Marin’s body sealed up the incision. She wiped the wound clean.
Frowning, Ana picked up the bloody object from the pan with a pair of tweezers and held it under running water to remove the blood.
It was not a bullet.
Ana felt the blood drain from her face. God help us. “Marin, we have to get everyone out of here. Now.”
Marin ceased his moaning and twisted his head to look at her. “What is it?”
Ana lifted up the tweezers to him. It was a small cage. Inside was a grotesque scaly Hell creative, its body glowing. A demon Communicator.
Chapter 43
“Did you really think I would let you capture me so easily?” Samyara said.
Alyx shifted her feet, the nagging feeling in her stomach growing more insistent. It had been too easy. And where was his army? Why had he only brought less than half a dozen Darkened with him?
Alyx’s eyes widened when Samyara began to split, peeling apart until there were two Samyaras standing there.
“Which one’s the real one?” the two Samyaras said in a mocking tone. “Is it this one?” The two Samyaras split apart again, “Or this one?” leaving four identical demons, then eight...
“It’s trickery magic,” yelled Alyx, remembering her run-in with the Darkened outside of the Purgatory bar. “Only one of them is real.” She lunged forward and began to slash at the closest Samyara. Her sword disappeared straight through his midsection as if it were air.
The Seraphim around Samyara also began to lash out. But all their swords also cut straight through the Samyaras. All the Samyaras. How was that possible? Where was the real Samyara?
The images started to fade one by one. But by then it was clear. Not a single one of them was real.
“You may have stopped me this time but, it’s only a matter of time before I get my hands on the keye... or make one.” The last of the Samyaras began to fade.
Alyx’s heart thudded. Make one? Alyx’s mind flashed back to what Michael was doing with Mini in the Hollows. No. She would not let anyone else go through something like that again.
“I’ll stop you, Samyara,” Alyx yelled around her. “Whatever it takes.”
His laughter faded in an echo.
“Everybody spread out,” she cried. “He has to be close by to throw his image here. We can still get him.”
As the others spread out, Alyx flew over towards the other side of the clearing, where Israel had Adere in an arm lock from behind and was holding a knife loosely at her throat.
Adere was struggling in Israel’s arms. “No! Samyara. Come back.”
Alyx landed in front of the struggling Darkened. “Where is he hiding?”
The demon hissed and Alyx could see her red tongue flicker out like a snake’s. “I’m not telling you anything.”
“Face it, Adere. He’s left you with us,” Israel said, struggling to hold her back. “He betrayed you. Give him up.”
“Never,” Adere snapped. “Samyara would never just leave me here with you. I am too valuable to him.”
Alyx frowned. Adere was right. Samyara would never just leave Adere with them. Alive.
“You might not tell us, but the real Adere will.” Israel swung her around, grabbed her by the back of her neck and planted his lips on hers. A stab of pain so fierce shot through Alyx’s heart that it hurt to breathe. Although she wanted so desperately to look away, she couldn’t take her eyes off their kiss. His act of love. A wave of insecurity held her motionless. Did he really not love Adere?
Israel pulled away and for a moment Adere looked stunned. Then she growled in Israel’s face. “Fool. You think you can beat us?”
It didn’t work. Her face still showed the demon underneath. Why didn’t it work? Adere laughed again.
Out of the corner of her eye, Alyx saw movement and a glint behind a nearby tree. “Israel, look out!”
A knife swirled out from behind the tree towards Adere’s back. Israel grabbed Adere and spun her around. The knife plunged into flesh with that familiar sucking sound.
“No,” Alyx cried.
Adere screamed and tried to pull away from Israel. He was staring, mouth wide open. Then he collapsed to his knees, pulling Adere down with him.
Chapter 44
Ana could hear the sounds of screaming echo through the halls as she dragged Ky with one hand and tried to support Marin’s weight with her other arm around his waist.
The Darkened had breached the ward and were descending upon Aradale. Ana thought she could smell smoke.
“What about Mini?” asked Ky as he tugged at Ana’s hand.
Ana squashed down the rising guilt. They didn’t have time to worry about everybody.
“Ky, please. We have to go now. Someone else will look after Mini.” Ana pushed her way into Tobias’s office. She chewed her lip as she surveyed the room. There was the entrance to the bomb shelter here and a passageway that led out to the back of the Aradale grounds. She just had to remember where.
Marin moaned.
“Please hang on, Marin. I know it hurts, but we have to get out of here.”
“But I’ve got to get Mini.” Ky tugged again and Ana felt her fingers, moist with nervous sweat, starting to slip.
“Ky, no. We can’t do anything for her.” Ana tightened her grip on his hand. She knew that the bookcase swung open but where was the secret lever? Which book was it?
“Marin, I have to set you down for a moment.” Ana lowered Marin into a chair beside the desk.
“But Mini…”
Her fingers slipped against Ky’s insistent pulling.
“Ky, no!” Ana screamed, but he didn’t listen. He flew from the room calling out for Mini. The door swung manically behind him, sucking in wisps of smoke.
Chapter 45
“Israel, no,” Alyx cried, and rushed forward to him. There was a knife sticking out of the top right-hand side of his back. He had spun himself into the path of the knife.
She turned towards the direction from where the knife had been thrown. The trees rustled as a figure shot up towards the sky. Alyx’s heart hardened when she recognized his retreating figure. Passar.
Next time, one of us isn’t flying away, she promised.
Adere screamed again and pushed herself away from Israel, shuffling backwards away from him. Alyx fell to her knees before Israel. It was not a deep wound and it shouldn’t be fatal. But they needed to get him back to Aradale and to Ana, who could tend to the wound. Alyx breathed a little easier.
She yelled out for help as she held Israel to her. His head rested on her head. “You’re going to be okay,” she murmured to him. Alyx was comforted by the fact that he had enough strength to hold on to her waist.
Adere whimpered. And it was then that Alyx realized that her whimper was a single girlish voice. Alyx turned her head towards the girl. Her pale face, her terrified blue eyes, were human. It worked. The demon was exorcised when Israel took the knife for her. An act of love.
“What’s wrong?” Jordan landed from the sky near her with Lukas close behind him. “Is he..?”
Alyx shook her head. “It’s not a fatal wound, but we have to get him back to Aradale now. It was Passar, he was aiming for Adere. Israel took the knife for her and it looks like the demon was exorcised from her. I’ve left the knife in there to stop too much blood loss.”
Jor
dan nodded. “It looks like Samyara is gone.” He turned to Lukas, who had landed near him. “Lukas, round up the others and we’ll send everyone home.” Lukas nodded and took to the sky again.
Jordan turned to Israel, “Can you stand?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Israel said as Alyx helped him up.
The others started returning. There were some injuries from the Black Stone blades but nothing serious. They had truly surprised and outnumbered Samyara.
Alyx began thanking the Seraphim from the other communities for their help before they took off into the lightening sky.
“We should get back, too,” Lukas said.
“Israel,” Alyx said, stepping in front of him, “are you sure you’re okay? You’ve gone pale.”
The color had drained from his lips even in the minute they had been standing there. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. His eyes rolled back into his head.
“Jordan,” Alyx cried as Israel collapsed forward into her arms. Jordan rushed to her side and helped her ease Israel down to the ground, onto his stomach.
Jordan wiped a finger along the wound where the knife went in. He smelled the blood and dabbed it on the tip of his tongue. “He’s been poisoned. This knife was dipped in demon poison. They wanted to make sure that Adere wouldn’t stay alive long even if the knife didn’t kill her.”
“Poison?” The air against Alyx’s skin suddenly felt chilly. “Will he..?”
Jordan pressed his lips together. “Let’s get him to Aradale.”
Alyx brushed strands of hair from Israel’s forehead. His skin was already starting to break out in a sweat. Please, stay alive.
Chapter 46
Ky coughed from the smoke as he sped towards Mini’s room. He knew exactly where it was. He had been sneaking in there every day to keep her company. Sometimes twice a day. Sometimes at night when he was supposed to be in bed. He brought her treats and games. And she seemed to like him, too.
