And she had a job to do.
Retrieving her notepad from her hammerspace, she looked to Alice again. “You’ve been studying the symbols with Khavi.”
“Yes.”
“Do you know what these mean?”
Alice glanced at the sketch. Her mouth drew into a flat, tight line. Her pale blue gaze shot up to meet Taylor’s.
“You do know,” Taylor said, her heart tumbling over with dread and hope.
She didn’t want to know what the symbols meant.
But she had to find out.
“I only knew the symbols themselves before this morning. Mind, flesh, soul.” Her bony finger pointed to each one. “The symbol that connects them means ‘to bind.’ I did not know what they all meant in this arrangement, however, until I saw them earlier today.”
“On Michael’s back?”
“Yes. So I asked Khavi about them.”
“Did she tell you?”
“Yes. It’s a spell that temporarily binds a soul to a body, even if the resonance doesn’t match.”
“Temporarily?” Oh, God. “Does that mean what I think it does?”
Her features pinched with worry and grief, Alice nodded. “Jake and I did not know what to say to the other Guardians—or even if we should. Michael must know, yet he has decided not to tell anyone.”
Including the woman he’d taken to bed. But Taylor pushed that pain away; it had no place here. “Can Michael be heal—”
A thunderous CRACK! boomed through the realm, pounding through her chest and knocking Taylor off balance. Wildly, she swung her wings. Alice grabbed her hand, helped her steady.
Taylor’s gaze flew to Jake. Had that been his Gift? Was his lightning that powerful? But the Guardian stared across the battlefield, horror tightening his face. He jumped back to Alice’s side.
A terrible rumbling filled Taylor’s ears. She looked toward the crimson tower. The left side appeared to be collapsing, as if the ground had dropped out from beneath the demons, leaving an enormous hole in the base, and those above were tumbling over each other to fill the empty spots.
Alice’s fingers tightened on hers. Everyone fighting on the battlefield was stopping, turning to look.
Where was Michael?
Her gaze frantically searched the toppling tower. The base of the column suddenly swelled and burst, demons scattering into the sky. Taylor’s heart stuttered. She’d seen demons flee like that before—when the frozen field had cracked and Michael’s dragon had broken free of the ice.
Fire exploded from the left side of the crimson tower, jetting white-hot flares like lashes of a burning whip. Demons dropped from the sky like meteorites, bodies aflame. A ravenous roar battered Taylor’s ears. Biting back a scream, she slapped her palms to the sides of her head and watched in terror as the dragon erupted from the undulating mass, scales flashing blue-green, enormous jaws belching fire before swooping to devour the falling demons.
“Oh, dear heavens,” Alice whispered.
Jake vanished—and returned a moment later with six Guardians. He vanished and returned again. Getting their friends out of the dragon’s way.
Dread penetrated Taylor’s shock and terror. Because the appearance of the dragon could only mean one thing: Lucifer had broken through to Chaos. Now nothing stood between the demon and Earth.
Nothing except the Guardians.
Light streaked across the sky toward the dragon, wielding a sword of flame. Belial. Squinting, Taylor turned her head aside, trying to track the demon’s flight from the corner of her eye—but he was so fast, and so bright. She only saw the trail of light and the burst of flame, then the dragon was falling, the thick neck flopping end over end as it flew in an arc away from the enormous scaly form. Belial had cut off its head.
The dragon’s body slammed to the ground. An expanding wave of humans and demons stumbled as the impact hit them like a bomb blast.
Alice’s power skittered up Taylor’s spine. Shuddering, she watched the spider nearest to the dragon scuttle on giant segmented legs toward the body and roll it up in glowing threads. Behind the spider, the undulating column no longer formed a tight mass, but still held the same rough shape. Taylor scanned the tower, desperately hoping to see one familiar form.
“Do you see Michael?”
“There.” Alice pointed to the base on the tower’s left side—the side that had collapsed, the side from which the dragon had come.
A spear of flame appeared through the swirling demons. Taylor’s heart jumped into her throat. Michael. She couldn’t see him within the surging crimson mob, only follow his progress by the glow of his weapon and the demons falling in his wake—hundreds of them slain in the few seconds that she watched, an army unto himself.
But he hadn’t gone in alone. “Where are Khavi and Anaria?”
“Repairing the tear between the realms, most likely. That is what they planned—if Lucifer broke through, Michael would protect them while they cast the spell to close the rift he made.”
Close it? “Can they do the same on Earth?”
“I asked that, as well.” Her Gift flared again. Near the tower, demons and humans fled as the spider began dragging the dragon’s corpse toward the hovering Guardians, its weight digging a trench across the battlefield. “What Lucifer created is like a rip in the fabric between Chaos and Hell. It can be repaired—as if the spell were sewing it up. But the portal between Chaos and Earth is like a door. The frame becomes part of the structure, even if the doorway is bricked up.”
“But we can shut it?”
“That depends upon the spell Lucifer uses. Khavi believes that he will use his own blood. If he does, the door will only close when Lucifer is dead.”
That made it simple, then. They would have to slay him.
Simple, but far from easy.
Knots twisted in her stomach. How many more of their friends would die?
Michael teleported in front of her.
Her heart leaping from dread to joy, she stared at him. The flames of his spear glinted in his obsidian eyes. Crimson soaked his tunic and covered every inch of his armor and skin, but even as she looked at him, he vanished the demon blood, revealing bronze and steel and the feathered darkness of his wings.
“Andromeda Taylor.” Her name emerged as a broken song. “Are you well?”
Tears rushed into her eyes and filled her throat. “I’m not well at all, Michael,” she whispered hoarsely. “But I’m better now.”
A wild flap of her wings carried her across the distance between them. A thousand emotions passed over his features before she careened into his chest. Worry, disbelief, fear, joy, hope.
His lips met hers on the last. A soft kiss, so sweet—not good-bye, this time, but a welcome.
Her heart full, Taylor drew back and captured his face between her palms. “You should have told me about the symbols. About the resonance.”
His eyes closed. “I could not.”
The agony in his voice scraped her raw. The same pain that he’d been living with for . . . God, how long? How many times had she failed to see what was right in front of her?
“I should have seen it. Nothing fit.” But now wasn’t the time to discuss this. She stroked her fingers along his strong jaw, her thumbs meeting at his chin before sliding up to skim over his firm bottom lip. “We’ll talk later. Okay?”
Throat working, Michael nodded.
Then Jake was beside them, roughly scrubbing his palms over his shaved head in a gesture of frustration and worry. “There’s just one thing to say now: Fuckity-fuck fuck fuck.”
“Yes,” Michael agreed, cinching his arm around Taylor’s waist and drawing her against his side when he spoke, as if he had no intention of letting her go. “Return to headquarters. Colin and Savi need to begin monitoring Chaos in the mirrors. Lucifer won’t immediately form the new portal—he’ll need to find an advantageous location first, and attempt to gather the wyrmwolves and dragons.”
Nodding, Jake gave him a salute a
nd disappeared.
Michael looked to Alice. “Keep the spiders nearby. We might need them again. I’ll take the dragon’s body into my cache later, if you will allow it.”
“I will.” She glanced toward the crimson tower. “How many demons went into Chaos with him?”
“Not as many as could have,” Michael said. “Only fifty or sixty thousand. We have the dragon to thank for that.”
Fifty thousand? Taylor’s stomach seemed to hollow out. “We have only fifty Guardians.”
His dark gaze met hers. “More than enough. They cannot come through the portal all at once.”
God. Taylor wished she had half his confidence. But she wouldn’t be a Debbie Downer here. If he thought fifty Guardians could save the world, then she’d damn well bust her ass helping them do it.
His face hardening again, Michael swept around to face the crimson tower, carrying her with him. In the distance, a bright light rose through the pandemonium like a star.
Belial.
“My kin! Your lord has abandoned you!” His harmonious voice swelled across the battlefield, demons and humans and halflings falling silent in its wake. “I will never do the same. If you follow me, all past transgressions against me and my warriors will be forgiven, and I will lead you back to Grace. We will have peace!”
Breathing hard, Taylor closed her eyes. The demon’s voice seemed to reverberate through her, echoing his warm message. She struggled against it, forcing herself to focus on a detail that didn’t seem to fit.
“Is he really speaking in English?”
“It’s Arabic to me,” Alice said.
“Belial can speak in all languages at once,” Michael said. “Anaria can as well. His words are in the Old Language, but what you hear is closest to your understanding and to his meaning. And there is more that is unsaid.”
Taylor frowned. “Unsaid?”
“An echo beneath. Belial said that if the demons continue to fight, he will show them no mercy. And that he will be their savior.”
“They hear that?” Because she hadn’t.
“I do. The demons don’t—Lucifer took the ability from them. But the meaning is still understood.”
“It’s subliminal?”
Michael shook his head. “It’s overt, if you can hear it. Though the effect can be similar.”
His words must have had some effect. The demons had turned toward Belial’s shining light, lifting their weapons and chanting.
She didn’t recognize the language. “What are they saying?”
“They’re shouting for peace.”
“Do they really want it?”
“No.” With a wry smile, Michael met her eyes again. “If Lucifer returns, most of these demons will betray Belial. And others are plotting now to ingratiate themselves, so that they will attain more power in Hell—and, if necessary, use that position to ingratiate themselves with Lucifer again.”
“I guess demons aren’t big on trust.”
A short laugh escaped him. “No, they aren’t.” His gaze darkened as he searched her face. “We must return to Earth and prepare, but I need to see if Khavi and Anaria will join our fight when the portal opens. Come with me?”
Taylor couldn’t believe he had to ask. She might lose him. But he was here now—and she wouldn’t waste a second.
“Always,” she said.
CHAPTER 21
Michael was dying—and he would never accept it. He would fight it until the last beat of his heart.
Renewed purpose pulsed through his veins. Fierce, hot. Not just his determination to stay alive long enough to destroy Lucifer and to see Andromeda safe. That wasn’t enough. He would defeat the dissonance killing him, too. He’d live long enough to love her as she deserved and as he wanted. No matter what he had to do. He would consume an entire dragon. He would crawl across the burning Pit. He would embark on a quest to another planet or an undiscovered realm and return with the cure in his hand. If it could be done, he’d find a way.
The only thing he couldn’t do was to ask Lucifer for help. Michael would have. He’d have prostrated himself before the demon lord if Lucifer knew of a way to save him. But anything he’d require from Michael in return would hurt someone else, forcing him to become a man that Andromeda couldn’t love.
That end would be the same as death.
A death that Michael already knew. No torture could compare to the agony of seeing Andromeda hurt and knowing he was the cause. No emptiness could compare to losing her. In the past few hours, he’d slain over a hundred thousand demons, but he’d felt nothing but the pain tearing at his heart and the purpose driving him forward. No rage. No hope.
Until she had returned to him.
And this was life. Andromeda at his side. Her fingers entwined with his. Knowing that she’d taken a step back, looked at him, saw the truth he’d tried to conceal—and even though she had every reason to lose faith in him and leave him to die, she was in his arms again.
Because she was his. Desperate not to hurt her, he’d been blind to it. But now he saw.
Andromeda was his. As certainly as Michael was hers.
But the dissonance threatened to tear them apart. At the thought of it, all of the heavens couldn’t contain his rage. She was his. How dare anything ever take her away?
Michael would never allow it.
And the heavens could never contain the joy he felt now, for every new second with her that Michael had never dared hope to have.
So he would defeat this. He couldn’t go to Lucifer. But his sister had learned to use the symbols and spells at the demon’s side. Anaria could help him. Neither she nor Khavi knew of any spell that could save him. But humans had been creating their own miracles through medicine and technology for thousands of years. Surely a grigori could think of something. He would bear any pain, endure any experiment she could conceive of, simply to have a chance.
Holding Andromeda close, he anchored to Khavi and teleported into the middle of Anaria’s army.
Surrounded by soldiers. Khavi at his right side. He shifted a dizzy Andromeda between them; Khavi would protect his love with her own life. No threat from the humans and halflings. Anaria hovered above, and they watched her with adoring faces—many of their minds singing guilt and shame, because they’d failed her.
They had failed to stop Lucifer. All of them had. But that only meant they’d been beaten. They weren’t defeated.
Michael would never accept defeat.
Neither would Anaria. Her compelling voice swelled across the ranks of men and women, humans and halflings, telling them the same. In Michael’s experience, after a difficult battle it usually took more than a few words to persuade a warrior to believe that. Beaten, not defeated.
Anaria only had to say it once.
He looked to Khavi, who was regarding Andromeda with a smile.
“I see that he finally told you,” she said.
“No.” Throwing off the last of the dizziness, Andromeda shook her head. “I figured it out.”
“As you do,” Khavi replied, and her sigh whispered more. I am happy for you, my friend. And my heart breaks for you.
“No,” Michael said. There will be no more broken hearts. “Are you coming with us?” I need your help to defeat Lucifer.
“Of course.” Anaria, too?
“Yes. I need her help as well.” To heal me.
Khavi gave him a look and said nothing. She focused on Andromeda instead. Eyes wide, her gaze swept across the multitude of soldiers surrounding them. Her fingers tightened on Michael’s.
“You need not worry,” Khavi said. “Anaria has her army well in hand.”
And between her voice and her appearance, she wraps their hands in chains.
Andromeda couldn’t hear the echo, but she didn’t miss the tone. Frowning, she glanced at Khavi. “Why do you say it like that?”
With her chin, Khavi gestured sharply to Michael. “They are twins, and they are both in their natural forms. Did you never wonder why Mic
hael is so big and Anaria so small?”
Andromeda’s back stiffened slightly, and Michael grinned. She wasn’t any taller than Anaria. She wouldn’t like to think of herself as small.
“You are, too,” she pointed out.
“Yes,” Khavi agreed. “We look as Lucifer intended us to. And despite the differences in our size, we are equally strong. So why not make us all big? He wanted us to crush the world. That was our purpose.”
“Why make you big or small? Appearance doesn’t matter, right?”
“Not to us. Not to a Guardian. But to a demon?” Khavi answered her own question with a nod. “It matters, because it affects how humans perceive us. When we were born—and even now—many humans believed that men and women could fill only specific roles, and Lucifer intended to exploit that to the worst degree. So of the grigori, the males were supposed to crush people through physical intimidation. Whereas the females were supposed to take advantage of human weakness, to deceive with our slight figures and soft hands—so that we could lure men in before we destroyed them.”
Andromeda glanced up at Anaria again. “So you think that matters now? I thought it was her voice that affected everyone.”
“That’s part of it. But it is not the full explanation, because her voice can be resisted. As you have done—and as you do now. You also know not to trust appearances.” Eyes darkening, Khavi’s gaze swept over the army. “But many of her soldiers only see the softness and the beauty. They do not follow her because she is a great warrior—though she is. They do not trust her judgment because I am calculating strategy at her side and have done so for thousands of years. They trust her because she is small and soft and beautiful, and they believe in her for that reason. They want to protect and serve her for that reason.”
“But . . . you’re petite and gorgeous, too.”
“I am also hard and dark where she is soft and light.” Khavi gestured to her black wings, her obsidian eyes. “So her appearance fits the role they want to put her in, and they adore her for it. I do not fit so easily, and I make them uncomfortable, instead.”
Guardian Demon (GUARDIAN SERIES) Page 53
