Stellar (The Halo Series Book 3)

by Melody Robinette

  “You like it here,” Caducus stated knowingly. “The quiet. The cold. The towering height of the mountains. Standing atop them.”

  Aurora’s uncertain eyes moved to meet her father’s matching pair. Only his were harder, his irises smaller, the whites in his eyes taking up more space than hers. It made him look colder.

  Or maybe it was just because she knew what sort of man he was.

  “Don’t assume you know me, Aurora,” he stated, as if he’d read her thoughts. “There is much you do not know. About the Light. About the Darkness. About the gray area in between. The stories they tell in your churches are fairy tales and fables. Lovely ideas men came up with to make them feel better about their mortality.”

  “I don’t go to church,” was all Aurora could think to say. “And I never believed in fairy tales. I only believe in pure intentions and evil ones.”

  “I’ll tell you a secret then.” Caducus placed a firm hand on her back, guiding her forward until they’d reached the edge of the mountain. “Neither side thinks their intentions are evil.”

  “Killing innocent people can never be a good thing,” she said. “Forcing people to follow you isn’t guiltless.”

  “Who have I forced, I ask you?” Caducus said in his steady, calm voice. Aurora almost wished he’d yell or growl…to prove his malevolence. “Samuel? The Fallen? They’ve joined my cause on their own accord.”

  “And the Horns?” Aurora challenged. “The beasts?”

  “What of the Horns? Did the Light not also create Halos? To prepare for my fall? A mother slaps her child’s hand as it reaches for an open flame. Not because she wants to hurt him, but because she wants to spare him pain. Because the child doesn’t know any better. Half angel you may be, daughter, but you know very little about existence after human life.”

  “What do you know of it?” Aurora moved her gaze away from her father’s, out to the forests.

  Dammit, she thought, it really is peaceful here.

  “Perhaps it will surprise you to find I was once human myself. Several times, actually. In fact, the castle we’ve just left was once my home.”

  Aurora turned her face, filled with surprise, towards Caducus again. “You were the king here?”

  Caducus kept his countenance facing the sun, covered by a thin layer of gray clouds. He chuckled humorlessly. “Not quite. I was the servant. The vermin. The boy who slept on the cold stone floor on a bed of straw, shivering in the night. The boy whose life was taken for stealing bread from the king’s table to feed his frail body.”

  His voice was filled with resentment.

  “If you hated the king so much, why would you want to rule the Earth? Why would you want to create Horns and beasts and gather demons for your cause?”

  “Because I envisioned a world neither Lucifer nor the Light controlled. You may see me as an evil dictator standing before you now. But someday, my daughter, I will be viewed as a savior.”

  Aurora’s jaw tightened. “Not by me.”

  Caducus looked to her then. “This view is beautiful, is it not? Am I wrong in assuming this is where you feel most peaceful?”

  “The view is beautiful," she admitted reluctantly. "But it’s a mirage. It’s not real. Dreams are nice too, but they aren’t living. Life is hard and ugly sometimes…but at least it’s real.”

  “You have no idea what the meaning of reality is, Daughter.”

  Soren’s earlier words echoed in Aurora’s mind as she spoke again, her voice taking on a dark tone. “I am not your daughter.”

  The corner of Caducus’s mouth turned up as his eyes met hers. “Then you will not know your father’s protection.”

  “You cannot blame me. After all, you were the one who created me…to destroy you.”

  “I created you to rule beside me.”

  “I’d rather die,” Aurora snarled.

  Anger flooded her body, warming the cheeks she didn’t realize were frozen from the mountain air.

  “Oh, you will,” Caducus stated calmly. “But do not believe it will be an easy death. You want to be a messiah? I shall grant your wish, and make an example of you.”

  His cold hands grasped her forearms, black ropes wrapping around her wrists once again as he guided her away from the edge of the mountain towards the door set in the trunk of an alder tree.

  “And your body shall hang for all the soldiers of the Light to see."

  Thirty-Six

  MICHAEL

  Lucifer sat in the Adirondack chair across from Michael looking peculiar in the tropical setting of the angel’s office. Michael had summoned Etheria to the edge of Scotland, knowing the first battle drew near. He could feel it.

  “Must your office be so…balmy?” Lucifer stated, flicking a pile off sand off the armrest of his chair. “I feel ridiculous.”

  Michael chuckled. “I’ll admit you do look rather ridiculous, Luce.”

  The nickname seemed to take Lucifer off guard. And his displeased frown changed to one of contemplation.

  “I realize time is relative when you have an eternity to exist,” Lucifer began, “But you took quite a lot of it to return to me. It wasn’t as if I could ascend to heaven to visit.”

  Michael’s gaze cut to Lucifer’s, dark eyes meeting dark eyes. “It’s much more complicated than a casual visit to hell, Lucifer. You know that.”

  “It didn’t have to be. You made it so.”

  “I made nothing so.”

  “Right,” Lucifer stated quietly. “The Light controls everything you do. Though, I’ll admit, I was rather surprised He allowed you to enlist the help of my army.”

  Michael’s eyes moved from Lucifer’s to the folded hands in his lap. “I’ve not spoken to the Light about this.”

  “Still?” Lucifer sounded positively thrilled by this news. “Hiding from your heavenly master, are you?”

  “My job is to serve humanity. This is what’s best for the humans of the world. I do not regret it.”

  “Do you regret loving me?”

  The bluntness of his words made Michael’s eyes snap back up. “What?”

  “Don’t act as though you did not understand me.”

  “There are times I regret it,” Michael admitted quietly. “And other times…” He looked skyward, silently asking the Light for forgiveness. “Other times I wonder what would have happened if I’d decided to join you.”

  A sly smile spread over Lucifer’s features. “You’d be having a hell of a lot more fun.”

  “Yes, well…”

  Suddenly Lucifer sat straight up in his seat, his hands gripping the armrests, dark eyes falling shut.

  “What is it?” Michael asked, leaning forward. “What do you see?”

  “Lilith,” Lucifer growled.

  “Has she failed to—?”

  “She fooled us…and has betrayed me.” His eyes opened, black irises changing to red with his anger.

  Michael deliberated a moment before slowly pulling up the sleeve of his cloak and pressing a finger to his prophecy, thinking the words he needed to send to the Halos.

  Return to your ships immediately.

  The battle will soon begin.

  Thirty-Seven

  LOGAN

  The demon’s head tilted slightly as he took Logan’s appearance in. Halos did not have marks to announce what they were. Neither did Horns. But her eyes were likely clearer than most Horns.

  Logan focused all her energy on looking subservient and awe-inspired. Quite a difficult task for someone like her.

  “My, my,” Carreau stated, his sulfuric breath pooling over Logan like a toxic haze. “What a lovely face. It shall soon look even more beautiful. Tell me, darling, what is your name?”

  “Mary.”

  “Another biblical title,” Carreau stated with a shake of his head. “Now is the time to change that. You can be whomever you want.”

  Then Carreau bent Logan’s head forward, placing the tip of his talon against her forehead. She could hear the sharp intake of bre
ath from Brielle just behind her. Searing pain like a fire-warmed knife exploded across her forehead as the demon drug his claw through her skin in a half-circle.

  Her heart beat fast, in her throat, as she grasped her crux tighter. As Carreau bent forward then, pressing his lips to her forehead to seal the cut in a permanent black scar, Logan’s arm slid out of her cloak, and her hand flashed upwards, gouging a hole in the demon’s throat.

  Carreau let out a gurgling bellow as black blood poured from the wound, flames from the salt-imbued weapon eating his gray skin like acid being poured on flesh.

  CHORD

  Logan turned to face the stunned halos, a black C now burned into her forehead. “RUN!” she shouted to their group.

  A loud thump sounded as Carreau fell, followed by shouts from the enraged Horns thundering in their direction.

  The room had two exits—the one they’d entered, now filled with angry Horns with Cs burned into their foreheads, and another with steep stairs and a trickle of Horns storming down it.

  Sev, a man with a mind filled with constant statistical calculations, chose for them as he bounded for the stairs and said, “This way!”

  The Halos sprang into action, battling through Horns step by step. The good thing about their disguises was it confused the Horns. They didn’t know who to kill and who to save.

  So they just started killing one another.

  Adrenaline fueled Chord’s actions as he sliced through flesh to get to the stairs, which Sev had already ascended, followed by Brielle and Logan. He was careful not to kill any of the Halos, looking for flashes of red armor beneath their cloaks.

  Trixi let out a loud screech as Anna accidentally sliced into her abdomen with a sword.

  “Oh my God!” Anna said in horror. “I'm so sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I thought you were a Horn.”

  “Take off your cloaks!” Chord shouted at their group.

  It wasn’t worth the added disguise. The Horns were killing everyone in sight anyhow. The Halos shed their cloaks, kicking them off and stepping over them to climb the stairs. Chord tore his off and threw it in the face of the Horn behind him.

  Now there was no denying who the traitors were.

  A surge of the half-demons had flooded the room, charging in the Halo’s direction.

  Chord pushed a bleeding Trixi and a terror-stricken Anna up the stairs after the others, turning back to see Jax towering over the Horns with his arms outstretched, holding a crux—its clear handle a vibrant blue—and a long sword.

  “Jax—” Chord began.

  “Go!” Jax shouted over his shoulder. “I’ll hold them off. Go!”

  Chord hesitated for a fraction of a second before he heard a screech coming from the direction of the stairs.

  Trixi had fallen forward, and Anna was trying to fight off a Horn and pull up her friend at the same time. Chord gave a final look at Jax, who had turned back around and was now singularly fighting off the growing horde of Horns.

  Flying up the stairs, Chord made it to the landing on which Trixi had collapsed in a pool of her own blood. Her deep brown eyes were open and staring vacantly ahead.

  “She’s gone, Anna.” He threw another glance over his shoulder at the Horns breaking past the barrier that was Jax. “Come on. We have to—”

  “No!” she sobbed. “We can’t. We can’t—”

  Suddenly Chord felt a vibrating sensation on his wrist. He looked down to see his prophecy—which he’d completely forgotten about—glowing a brilliant white with black words scrolling across the surface like a mini marquee.

  Return to your ships immediately.

  The battle will soon begin.

  Anna looked at her own prophecy, her face paling.

  “Chord!” Sev called from farther up the stairs.

  “Anna,” Chord urged. “We have to get back to the ship. We have to leave her.”

  Jax violently swung his arms as the Horns continued to charge at him, slinging dark red blood through the air like a macabre artist.

  One of the half-breeds managed to duck beneath the arm wielding the crux and made his way towards Chord and Anna.

  Sword at the ready, Chord stood at full height and dodged the blow being thrown his way before sinking his weapon to the hilt in the Horn’s abdomen.

  “Anna,” Chord repeated as the Horn crumpled at his feet. “Now.”

  Anna let out a final sob. Then she stood with shaking hands and allowed Chord to help her the rest of the way up the stairs and out into a grungy alleyway where the rest of the Halos were fighting a small army of Horns.

  A flash of relief made its way across Sev’s pained face as he took in Chord.

  “Did you guys see your—” Chord began.

  “Prophecies?” Brielle said. “Yep.”

  “Got a bit distracted by these bastards, though,” Logan grunted as one of the Horns shouldered her into the wall.

  Anthony pulled his short sword from the head of a fallen Horn and went to Logan’s aid, dragging the blade across the half demon's neck.

  Brielle kicked one of the Horns in the crotch before burying her crux in his temple.

  “Jesus, Brielle,” Chord said, impressed. “Where did this badass warrior side of you come from?”

  Brielle threw her head back in a laugh. “It’s always been there, baby.”

  Logan pulled her glowing red crux from the chest of a Horn. “I take some of the credit.”

  The last half demon fell as Sev beheaded him with a final, impressive swing of his sword.

  Chord shook his head at the littered alley. “Caducus sure didn’t train them very well.”

  But there was no time to celebrate. Because the dark stairway behind Chord was now echoing with the thundering of Horn’s feet. Which meant…

  “Jax,” Anthony breathed. Danni Jo and Anna clasped hands, silent tears running down their faces. Sev, Chord, Logan, and Brielle offered the other group looks of empathy.

  None of them were strangers to loss. And none of them were strangers to impending danger.

  So they ran.

  Thirty-Eight

  SOREN

  Staring at the closed wooden doors, trying to hear what was going on inside with Caducus and Aurora, Soren attempted to ignore the bickering between Lilith and David. It was becoming more challenging as the silence from beyond the doors rose, and the exchange of words between David and Lilith increased.

  Sighing in resignation, Soren turned away from the doors and pressed his back against the stone wall next to them. Neither his father nor the demon woman paid him any attention.

  That’s how invisible he was.

  “What are you even doing here?” Lilith said to David with distaste. “They have what they needed from you—Aurora and the boy. What did you do to convince them to let you stay?”

  “I was a loyal servant to Caducus,” David said through a raspy growl, looking particularly young in that moment. “Not some bored demon that wanted to play on the other side for a little while. For all we know, Lucifer sent you here to spy on the man responsible for stealing away his demons and souls.”

  Lilith laughed humorlessly. “Do not speak to me as if you know anything at all, Halfling. You are brand new and have done nothing of import in your short, pathetic life.”

  “I procured Soren. I created him, and I broke Aurora.”

  “You didn’t break the Stellar girl,” Lilith countered. “You strengthened her. Had it not been for you, she never would have needed to build herself back up with stronger material. And don’t act as though assaulting her was anything more than your disgusting failure at controlling your most human of desires.”

  David’s face was turning red, and he opened his mouth to toss back a retort when the oak doors swung wide.

  Standing just beside the threshold, Soren was nearly hit, but the heaviness of the wood caused it to stop. Rather than falling closed once again, the door remained propped open, hiding Soren perfectly from view.

  The others said nothing, so he
stayed protected in the shadows.

  “Where is Aurora?” David asked whoever had made an appearance.

  “Caducus has sent her to the holding cell to await the gallows.”

  It was Samuel who spoke. He seemed bored and unconcerned.

  Heart picking up its pace, slamming into his rib cage, Soren moved until he was able to see through the crack between the iron hinges of the open door.

  “Didn’t bow down to her dear ol' daddy then?” Lilith sounded unsurprised.

  “Not quite,” Samuel answered. “Though this was not a shock. Caducus was disappointed, but he did not know her stubbornness and desire to be good.”

  He said this with repugnance.

  Soren’s stomach twisted tortuously.

  “Who will hang her?” Lilith asked casually as if she were asking about nothing more than the weather.

  “Actually…” Samuel said. “I thought it might be poetic if her Stellar did the job. He remains under your control correct?”

  Lilith looked to Gray, who had been silent this whole time. Soren had forgotten he was even there, leaning coolly against a stone pillar.

  “Of course he is,” Lilith said fondly, waving a hand towards Gray, indicating he join them.

  Aurora’s Stellar did so without argument. Soren noticed for the first time that his eyes were partially glazed over, and he didn’t seem the least bit concerned by Aurora’s impending death, or the fact that he had been volunteered to do the deed.

  “What do you say, pet?” Lilith purred, running the back of her hand across his sharp jawline. “You want to get rid of that sad little soul mate of yours? Her life has not been easy. You’d be doing her a favor, really.”

  “Of course,” Gray answered in an emotionless, robotic voice.

  Lilith pressed her lips to his cheek. “That’s a good boy.”

  David’s own lip curled in disgust. “Why him?”

  “The Halo army is gathering,” Samuel stated, not looking in David’s direction. “They will arrive in their angel ships. The Stellars are their secret weapon. Much like a rainbow, they are a symbol of promise and hope. To see the indestructible pair sheered in half, one side getting rid of the other—”