“Wait.” Gray's brows crashed together. “You’re not talking about—”
“Lucifer,” Aurora breathed, her eyes wide now. “You’re talking about Lucifer, aren’t you?”
Michael’s eyes lit, and the corner of his mouth quirked up. “He prefers to be called the Angel of Darkness.”
Gray dropped Aurora’s hand and leaned back in his chair, running his hands through his hair, folding them behind his head to process this information.
Sitting as still as an angel carved from stone, Aurora looked stunned. “So…” she said after a long stretch of silence. “You’re going to ask Lucifer to fight Caducus too?”
“No, I’m not,” Michael said. “You are.”
Gray’s hands dropped from his head, and Aurora’s spine straightened. “When you say ‘we are’ you mean—”
“I mean the three of us—you two and I—will be meeting with Lucifer.”
Gray couldn’t speak. His system had frozen. Luckily he could rely on Aurora always maintaining the ability to speak. “What would the Angel of Darkness care about Gray and me?”
“As I’ve said before, your particular situation is a unique one. You are the only pair of Halo Stellars in existence. Lucifer appreciates rarities.”
“Why would he want to fight a battle with angels, though?” Gray asked, finally recovering his voice. “After we’ve killed countless demons? After the Light has banished him to hell?”
“We haven’t been killing his demons, at least not as of recently,” Michael said. “Caducus has recruited his own army of dark followers. Demons are not the brightest of beings and are easily tricked. But do you honestly think Lucifer is content to sit idly by as Caducus takes control of the souls of Earth? As much as the Light has control of this world, so does Lucifer. The souls who don’t ascend into heaven plummet into the pits of hell…and, in most cases, they deserve to be there. Caducus aims to turn Earth into his own personal hell, stealing the souls from both Lucifer and the Light. And Lucifer will not give up his prisoners so easily.”
As uneasy as this made Gray feel, he had to admit it made sense. Of course Lucifer wouldn’t want to let Caducus take over the souls of the Earth when many of them belonged to him. The murderers, rapists, and child molesters of the world. They all had to go somewhere too, Gray supposed. But the idea of asking the devil for help made his stomach churn uncomfortably. He’d heard the term “fight fire with fire” a myriad of times. But, as a fireman, he’d always thought this was a stupid saying. Fire couldn’t be extinguished by shooting more flames at it. But smothering it in dirt could. And, if the Light was the water and Lucifer was the dirt…putting them together wasn’t the worst idea.
Aurora stood then. “When do we leave?”
Michael looked up at her, his features lit up. “Tonight.”
Gray wasn’t quite as anxious as Aurora to meet the Angel of Darkness. His eyes cut warily over to Michael. “So, we’re going to Hell tonight, or…?”
“Not Hell. Neverworld.”
Aurora and Gray exchanged a bemused glance.
“What’s Neverworld?”
“The place we plan to banish Caducus.”
Eleven
BRIELLE
Sev and Chord never came down to dinner. And, after Aurora and Gray dashed from the restaurant to look for Soren, Brielle was left alone at the table with Logan. She hated that this was an issue when only days ago they would have been laughing and joking around. Or Logan’s hand would have sought out Brielle’s thigh, teasing her in front of the others, her eyes lighting up at the mingled look of embarrassment and pleasure on Brielle’s face. Now they sat in uncomfortable silence, both too stubborn to break it. Well, Brielle was more afraid than stubborn.
But then Logan spoke. And Brielle wished she hadn’t.
“So, you move on fast.”
Her eyes shot over to Logan. The raven-haired girl leaned back against her chair, crossing her arms and fixing Brielle with a poorly masked blank stare like volcanic ground just before an eruption: cracks forming in the earth, glowing red embers shining through.
“What?”
“Your little coffee friend, Danni Jo,” Logan said in an offensive attempt at a Texan accent.
Brielle shook her head, gritting her teeth. “She’s just a friend, Logan. Don’t be ridiculous.”
But Logan kept on, almost appearing to enjoy this. “Sure. Just a friend. You got a taste of the lesbian life and couldn’t wait around long enough for your girlfriend to get over the death of her twin sister. Aren’t Christians supposed to be good people?”
Brielle wanted to act as hard as Logan, to stick her nose in the air and scoff at her. But all she felt like right now was breaking down in tears. Throat tightening, eyes burning, hands shaking--all the physical signs of being on the verge of a serious sob fest.
“Screw you, Logan,” Brielle ground out. “Seriously.”
Pushing away from the table, Brielle wanted to put as much distance between her and Logan as possible. A wall of tears blinded her. In her old life, she would try to force them away until she was alone. Because in her past life she was usually crying about something that most would consider “first world problems.” This would also probably fit into that category, but it sure as hell didn’t feel like it.
Logan had painstakingly taken the time and put in the care to build her up with words of assurance and inspiration. When, before, Brielle had felt like only a cookie cutter townhouse in a suburb, Logan came along and made her feel like a beautiful, unique skyscraper, standing tall in a tumultuous ocean.
But Brielle hadn’t even realized Logan had been the foundation of the skyscraper and, without her, she was slowly and tragically falling apart. Pieces of her were breaking off and crashing into the sea, swallowing her in chunks.
A sob ripped through her throat, and she didn’t bother to look around to see if anyone was staring at her or judging her. But apparently, someone was.
“Brielle? Are you okay?”
The wall of tears in her eyes had long since fallen and she was able to focus in on a platinum blonde with sparkling blue eyes. Danni Jo. She sat at a table with four others, including the Halo Brielle recognized as Jax. Everyone at the table stared up at her with commiserating looks.
If Brielle’s cheeks weren’t already flushed from crying, they would have warmed from embarrassment. She stopped moving forward, acutely aware that she was still in view of her girlfriend—or perhaps ex-girlfriend. That hadn’t been confirmed. Brielle's eyes flicked over to the table to see Logan staring daggers at her. She’d likely worked out that the blonde now standing beside Brielle, putting a comforting hand on her back, was Danni Jo. And she clearly didn’t like it.
Good, Brielle thought bitterly.
“You want to sit with us?” Danni Jo spoke gently, her gaze moving from Logan and back to Brielle. “We have an extra chair.”
She was torn. Part of her wanted to keep running, to fling herself, Disney-princess-style, onto her bed and sob. But then, the other part of her, the predominant part, was starved for actual conversation with emotionally stable people.
Since Luna’s death, the only real conversation she’d had with anyone had been with Danni Jo. Aurora and Gray had been all wrapped up in each other and Soren. Chord and Sev were busy reconnecting and working on their demon anthology. And Logan had been swaddled in her grief and anger. Suffice it to say, Brielle had been treated a bit like a dust bunny, shoved under the bed and forgotten.
Biting her trembling lip and resisting the urge to glance over at Logan again, Brielle shrugged. “Sure.”
She slid into a vacant chair as she swiped a self-conscious hand beneath her wet eyes.
“Let me introduce you to everyone,” Danni Jo said in a golden voice, waving a hand at the others. “I think you already know Jax from all the stuff that happened in Seattle.” Jax, the dark-skinned, hulking Halo flashed a bright smile. Danni Jo continued on, sweeping her hand to the next girl, who was super petite and pale
with big brown eyes and dirty blonde hair parted into two braids “This is Anna from Oregon.” The girl smiled and waved as Danni Jo elbowed the girl next to her. “And Trixi from Philadelphia.”
Trixi brushed her chin-length, straight black hair out of her hooded eyes and said, “Nice to meet you, Brielle. Danni Jo won’t shut up about you and the rest of the Super Halos.”
Brielle’s recently cooled cheeks heated again at this. Danni Jo rolled her eyes playfully at Trixi and introduced the last of her group, a fair-haired guy with bright eyes. “And, finally, that’s Anthony.”
Anthony reached out a hand to shake Brielle’s. “The best one.”
Trixi snorted, tossing a roll in Anthony’s direction. “You wish.”
Catching the roll midair, Anthony tore at the bread with his teeth as he offered a broad smile.
Stifling a laugh, Brielle asked, “So, there are only five of you?”
The previously light mood darkened, pulling oxygen from the air like a blanket covering a sleeping mouth. She immediately regretted her question.
“There were two others,” Danni Jo answered in a tight voice. “Nathan and Wendy. They, uh…”
“They didn’t make it,” Anthony answered for her, dropping his half-eaten roll onto the table. “During the battle to lock the souls of Philadelphia. There were a lot of Beasts that day.”
Jax let out a noise of frustration in the back of his throat, shaking his head and folding his hands behind his skull. His strong jaw clenched. “If I had been there… If I hadn’t gone to New York—”
“Stop it, Jaxon,” Anna said in a gentle voice, placing a hand on his shoulder. “We’ve already gone over this. Nobody blames you for leaving. Nobody. Your family had been killed.”
Brielle figured this wasn’t the first time this conversation had been had. Clearly, the “Super Halos” weren’t the only Halos with scars. But, instead of breaking apart like her group, these people, brought together from around the U.S., had grown closer through their grief.
Brielle's eyes reluctantly moved back to the table in the corner, but Logan wasn’t there anymore. Nobody was. A small twist of envy arose in her gut as she turned back around to the table. Anna was still patting Jax on the shoulder, and Trixi and Anthony were both communicating wordlessly from across the table with exaggerated facial expressions.
“You okay?” Danni Jo asked her.
Brielle nodded with a close-lipped smile. She didn’t want to admit that she was thinking about how much she wished her group could be like this. Supportive. Together. Sharing their grief rather than projecting it in the form of anger or hiding it away.
Some people dealt with their scars a bit differently. Some bandaged them and treated them with care…and some pretended they weren’t there, making them worse.
Twelve
AURORA
Aurora heaved her red and white striped suitcase onto her bed rifling through it. “What does one wear when visiting Hell 2.0?”
Her previously distraught mind was now laser-focused on their mission, knowing it would lead her to Soren. That was all she could afford to believe.
Gray stood in Aurora’s doorway, leaning against the frame with crossed arms. “Something fireproof?”
“You think Hell is actually fire and brimstone?”
Gray shrugged. “Or a parka? Who knows. I’ve never exactly researched the climate of Hell.”
“Well, Neverland isn’t Hell,” Aurora corrected him, remembering what Michael said before he left to speak with Verity. “It’s a wasteland. Another realm.”
Gray looked uneasy. “Not sure why we couldn’t just meet with him on Earth somewhere. A coffee shop, a park, a nightclub.”
“Because Earth is Caducus’s new playground, that’s why.” Aurora picked up a bikini and a jacket, looking at both before tossing them back into her suitcase with a sigh. “Oh, whatever. I’ll just pack this stupid Halo armor. That’s all we wear anymore anyway.”
Shoving his hands into the pockets of his own armor, Gray nodded in approval. “Armor sounds like a safe choice, given that we have a meeting with the actual devil and all. And it definitely doesn’t look stupid. Not on you anyway.”
Aurora repressed a smile, glancing obliquely at him with a raised brow. “Oh yeah?”
He looked down at the ground, cheeks filling with color. “Yeah. They’re all…tight and stuff.”
Turning to face him, Aurora’s hands moved to the ties at the top of her corset. “Tight, huh?” Biting her bottom lip, she tugged at one of them until it slid free and dangled loosely against her chest.
Gray watched her through his lashes, his chest rising and falling more rapidly than before. The dim lighting of the lamp at her bedside table fell on only one side of Gray’s face, hitting his cheekbone and jawline and bathing the other half in shadows.
Aurora felt the ridiculous urge to giggle like a teenage girl who’d snuck her boyfriend into her room behind her mom’s back. She forced the compulsion down. Just because she’d allowed herself to be with Gray didn’t mean she would let all of those stupid cliché girl-in-love things take over her usually cool head. Giggles and batting eyelashes would not be happening to Aurora Coel. Nope.
Her now moist palms moved from the ties, over her torso, past her hips, and down by her side. Gray’s pupils, already large in the darkness, swallowed the remainder of his hazel irises so his eyes looked black.
Unconsciously, their Stellar connection tethered invisibly in the air between them.
Gray’s breath escaped from his chest in a whoosh. “Okay. That’s enough.” Three strides forward and his arms were around her. Struck with the suddenness of this, Aurora gasped a little in surprise. But her body welcomed his as if she was soil and he was rain.
Her fingers trailed over his back, across the thick armor up to the back of his neck, digging into his skin. The kiss went from fiery and hungry to slow and indulgent, deepening until Aurora couldn’t bear her own weight anymore, falling back onto the bed.
Her shoulder was pressed into the side of her suitcase and Gray swiped it onto the floor, the contents flooding out. Neither of them cared. His arms caged her head as he hovered over her, his lips sliding from hers to her jawbone and down to the hammering pulse in her neck. Her back arched against him, and Gray leaned into her.
Part of her knew this was just a distraction from the panic of losing Soren, the fear of traversing to a demon land. But she didn’t care. This was what she needed. A distraction in the perfect form of Grayson Cross.
Aurora’s heartbeat was so loud in her ears it sounded like a fist pounding against a wall. Then the pounding got louder and Gray pulled back, cursing under his breath.
“What’s wrong?” Aurora breathed.
“Michael.”
“What—?”
“He’s at the door. Knocking.”
Her body sank into the mattress with regret. Dammit, Michael. Terrible timing.
Gray’s lips brushed one last time against hers, lingering a moment before he stood back, adjusting his weapons’ belt. “Well. We’re going to have to revisit this conversation.”
“Conversation?”
Gray laughed as he disappeared from her room to open the front door. Michael could be heard greeting him in a low murmur, assumedly informing him of their departure plans. Another damned boat journey probably.
Aurora collected herself before meeting her mentor, retying her corset and tucking her hair properly back into its ponytail. She emerged from her room, taking in the angel. He looked…different. His usual white attire had been swapped for black and red armor resembling Aurora and Gray’s. It made him look younger. More intimidating. The weapons strung through his belt didn’t hurt either.
Michael smiled in welcome at her appearance, but it was Gray who spoke first. “We’re going through a portal.”
She stopped walking. “What?”
Michael gave them a half shrug as if portal travel was nothing more than walking through a fancy door. Then ag
ain, to an angel, that’s probably all it really was. “That is a new term. But, yes, I suppose that is what we are using as a means for traveling between two realms.”
“What do angels call it?” Aurora asked.
“It’s been called many things. My favorite is an austium. Rolls off the tongue well, I think.”
“Well,” Aurora strode past the two men decked in red and black, “let’s go through the austium so we can make a deal with the devil.”
“I believe, of all his names, Devil is his least favorite.”
Aurora snorted, reaching for the iron handle. “I’ll try to remember that.”
Michael placed a hand over hers, guiding it away from the door. “We will be leaving from here, actually.”
“Here?” Gray asked, looking around as if he thought he might see a hidden portal in the walls.
Michael removed his hand from Aurora’s and held it out, palm up. “Here.” The two Stellars stared at his outstretched fingers for a moment before they exchanged a bemused glance. Michael chuckled. “Only certain angels have access to Lucifer’s austium. Angels who had contact with him before he fell.”
Aurora’s mouth fell open. “You knew him when he was good?”
Michael’s head tilted upwards, and his mouth turned down at the corners. “I’m afraid I wouldn’t say I have ever associated Lucifer with the word ‘good.’ I knew him before he fell, yes. I was the one to deliver the news of the angels’ new assignment: to serve the people of the world. He didn’t quite like that. He is, and always has been, a rather stubborn angel.”
“What a surprise,” Aurora said dryly. “Satan is stubborn. Jeez. He really does have a lot of names. He’s not going to curse us if we use one he doesn’t like, will he?”
“Probably not.”
Gray bobbed his head forward. “Probably not?”
Michael only smiled in amusement at this and placed his hand with fingers spread against the door. “Are you two ready for this?”
Stellar (The Halo Series Book 3) Page 8
