“It would be my pleasure.” His voice hissed the last word as the final rune appeared on my chest. “Time’s up, princess. See you soon.”
“I’m so kicking that demon's ass," I muttered as I sought to leave the dreaming. “And then I’m coming for you!”
Chapter Twenty Six
I opened my eyes to a bright world. The running was over, the fight had finally reached my door. Inhaling slowly, I tried to focus not on what was just around the corner, but what was here and now. I looked over to find Kennan staring at me, a thousand feelings passed between us, but none were said. I couldn’t do what needed to be done if I kept saying goodbye. Time was up, and we needed to formulate a plan.
“It’s done," I whispered.
“I know.” Kennan’s strained reply threatened to tear me apart.
“We need to make a plan. Find somewhere that we can fight. I don’t know how much time it will take for Sonneillon to get here. For all I know, he could show up at any moment.” I moved toward my bag, trying to keep myself in motion. If I stopped, I would never be able to face it. Just looking at Kennan was painful. How could I ever leave him?
“Let’s get dressed and find Eleanor and Mona. Perhaps they will have a better idea of what we should expect.” Kennan’s subdued tone told me that I wasn’t alone. His feelings mirrored my own.
“What about last time? How long was it after Cait’s last mark appeared that the demon came crashing onto this plane?”
“We had a day. Just a day.” Kennan rubbed his hand down his face. We were both reluctant to leave the room, knowing that it was probably the last time we would have alone together.
“Then we don’t have any time to waste. We have to get moving," I choked out. Tears threatened to drown me as I dug through my bag, trying to find something to wear.
“I know.” Kennan pulled me close, kissing the top of my head as he did. “But before we do, I need you to know that no matter what happens, no matter the outcome of the next few days, I love you. Just try to remember that.”
“I’ve never doubted it.” I breathed him in, relishing in the comfort of his scent. It would all be over soon. I just hoped that someday we would be together again. Surely God wasn’t so cruel as to keep us apart for the rest of time.
“Time’s up," he muttered, moving away from me to get up and put some clothes on.
I felt my throat tighten as tears threatened to fall. It was all too much. I couldn’t understand what kind of cruel world would give me such happiness only to snatch it away. I suppose it wouldn’t really be a sacrifice if I didn’t have so much to lose. No matter how I looked at it, this whole situation sucked.
“Can you ask Eleanor and Mona to meet us downstairs?” I asked.
[N1] Kennan had managed to get dressed already and I needed some time away from him if I had any hope of keeping myself together.
“I can.” Kennan moved to the door, looking back at me for a moment. The look in his eyes ripped my heart out. There was nothing I could do to ease the pain.
I smiled warmly as he left the room. I had to be strong. I couldn’t falter now, when my actions mattered the most. It was time I faced the music, got everyone ready, and ended this darkness. I slowly combed through my meager clothing choices and picked out the most comfortable thing I could find. Screw going out in style, I was exhausted and I would be doing good to even put the durn clothes on.
I pulled my pants up slowly over the cauterized runes, careful to avoid the sensitive skin. I did have to give it to them though, whatever they had done had given me more energy. I didn’t feel like a big wind could blow me over any longer. When I came to my shirt, I paused to look at the ugly mark in the mirror. It covered my entire chest, a large glowing symbol of my imminent destruction. I could feel the pull of the darkness, the temptation to submit as I looked into the mirror.
“I will not falter.” I told my reflection, causing my eyes to spark blue. I looked more closely and found that the hazel of my eyes was almost completely faded. In its place was the glowing blue I’d seen in Aberto’s eyes and, come to think of it, Uriel’s eyes. I wondered when the glowing eyes had faded from our DNA. What an odd thought to have at a time like this. I shook myself from my ridiculous thoughts and sought to refocus my attention on what was really important.
I pulled on my shirt and headed out into the hall, carefully ignoring every one of the Guardians waiting there. I walked with purpose down the stairs. I needed goals, I needed something to focus on. If I didn’t keep moving forward, I would never move at all. I would stay rooted in place, perpetually frozen in this moment with Kennan. But we weren’t made to stay still, nor were we made to move backward. The only way for me to go was toward my destiny.
“Izzy?” Aberto’s voice pulled me from my thoughts.
“Yeah?” I looked up at him, an empty shell of myself.
“What has transpired?” Concern etched his features as he pulled me to a stop.
“What’s happened? You should say that instead.” I paused for a second before moving on, no stopping for me.
“What’s happened? Izzy, stop and look at me. Tell me what you know," Aberto pleaded.
“It’s time. I know that Uriel is the one that has been talking to me. I know that the heavens knew of Emmanuel’s plans for as long as he has been in existence. I know that I only have one day left on this earth. I know that this predestination stuff sucks. Mostly, I know that I’ve been living on borrowed time, and it is time to repay that debt.” I rushed through everything, hoping that if I just kept going, I would find a way to make it.
“You owe nothing.” Aberto’s eyes flamed.
“I owe everything.” I reached up and touched his face the way he had mine a thousand time throughout my life. “Please don’t make this any harder on me than it already is.”
“What would you have me do?” His voice came out strained.
“Help me. Help Kennan and Conall, even Ian when I’m gone. Help them to keep fighting.”
“Izzy, there is something I feel I should tell you.” Aberto looked pained, as if the words were stuck.
“Nothing you can say will make this any different. This is the end, and I’ve accepted that. There is no sense in dwelling on it. So promise me, promise you will help them.”
“I will do your bidding until the end of my days, Izzy.” Aberto pulled me closely against his skin. It was the first time he’d embraced me when I wasn’t in the process of trying to die. It was strangely comforting.
“We need to get moving. We don’t have much more time.” I pulled away from him and moved the rest of the way towards the sitting room where everyone was waiting.
I walked in and everyone’s eyes shifted toward me. I knew it was time to put on my leader pants and be strong. If I failed now, everyone in this room would eventually fall. Personally, I felt that one person’s fall was more than enough.
“We need to find a place to make a stand. Somewhere in the open that will be easy to defend. I will need help getting close to the demon, which means that any of you Guardians with extra talents will have to transform, morph, suit-up, whatever you call it. In my vision, it always happens somewhere near an abandoned church. It is crumbling in the background and the gravestones are worn from years of exposure. Do any of you know where this might be?”
“The church, on the edge of the swamp. No one has been there in years. It’s super creepy," Sena supplied. Everyone turned toward her at her last remark. “What? It is," she huffed.
“Okay, well that is where we need to be. So, what can we do to make that happen? Do y’all have a pontoon boat hanging around somewhere? Is there a trail we can take? How long will it take to get there?” I needed to keep moving, it was working. No stopping now.
“Slow down, Izzy. We will figure this all out. First, we must prepare the Guardians.” My aunt reached for my hand.
“I don’t have time to slow down and neither do any of you. It is coming, I can feel it move closer with every breath I ta
ke. If we do nothing, if we do not act soon, all of this struggle will be for nothing. Don’t make everything I’ve gone through over the past few years be for nothing. Y’all have an hour to get marked and then we are moving. I’m tired of waiting for my destiny to catch up with me. I would rather go out and face it head on.”
“I will do the markings," Aberto said, slipping out of existence only to pop back in moments later with his tattooing implements.
“Izzy, can I talk to you for a moment?” Kennan pulled me to the side of the room, away from everyone’s prying eyes.
“What is it?” I asked, afraid to truly look him in the eyes.
“When this change comes, I won’t be myself. I don’t remember who I truly am. The rage takes over, and all I can see is destruction. I don’t want your last memories of me to be that.” Kennan looked pained. I knew how much he hated turning into the beasty, but I also knew that we needed him.
“We need you, Kennan. I know who you are. I know what you really are. In all of your many forms, I know that you love me. I know that you will do what needs to be done to help stop this. So, please, for me, do this," I begged.
“Just remember, this is not who I truly am.”
“I know, Kennan. Just like Conall isn’t really a wolf.” I looked up into his eyes, trying to convey that I understood.
“Well, he is kind of like a wild animal.” Kennan smiled in Conall’s direction. Aberto was working on his mark as we watched.
“It’s time, Kennan. We can’t keep delaying. I’m ready. You have to let me go," I whispered so that only Kennan could hear.
“I will never be able to let you go, but I will let you do what you feel you must. I’m not going to hold you back, not anymore," Kennan promised, pulling me close.
“I love you, big guy.” I breathed in the smell of him, letting it soothe my anxious soul.
“Love you more, Red," he muttered, hugging me tightly. He placed a gentle kiss on the top of my head, bringing back a thousand memories in the process.
I pulled away, turning my back toward Kennan as I moved out of the room. Staying there would weaken my resolve. They didn’t need me for the markings, so I sought the comfort of the swamp. I walked towards the doors, thinking back on the past few years and wondering at how much my life had changed. The dense swamp air greeted me like a wet blanket as I moved outside. I walked to the edge of the water and stared down, wondering at how easy it would be to end everything now. I wouldn’t have to suffer any longer.
“Do not let the darkness win.” My aunt’s voice drew me from my thoughts. “You are too strong to let that happen.”
“I’m not strong at all," I replied honestly.
“You were chosen for a reason.” I turned toward my aunt, and I realized she was channeling someone else.
“Uriel?”
“You are quite astute. The time is coming. You must be there," the angel’s voice called out.
“How will I know what to do?” I was terrified that I wouldn’t be enough. That when the time came, I would fail.
“Things will unfold as they must, and you will react. Do not think about what you must do, for you will know when the time comes. Be brave, Izzy. The world needs you in these coming hours.” Uriel seemed to believe in me, which made me all the more nervous.
“No pressure," I muttered.
“All of the pressure. If you fail, so fails the world.” The jerky angel didn’t seem to understand sarcasm at all.
“Sarcasm, Uriel. Surely you’ve heard of it?”
“I have.” Uriel’s voice began to fade, to be replaced by my aunt. “So, that’s who that voice belongs to? Huh. Not at all who I would’ve guessed.”
My aunt approached me, wrapping her arm around my shoulder and pulling me close. We stayed like that for what felt like a small eternity. Just breathing in the thick air, listening to the sounds of the swamp.
“You are a very brave girl, Izzy. Your mother would be very proud of you," Mona said quietly.
“I don’t feel brave. I feel selfish. I keep thinking of everything I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to end my life. I don’t want to die," I sobbed into her shoulder.
“Do we ever really die? No, we live on in those we love. You will never truly die, Izzy. What you do in the next hours will live on for an eternity.” My aunt held me close, stroking my hair as my mother had done when I was young.
“But I won’t be here. I won’t be able to marry Kennan. I won’t have children. I won’t ever grow old. I won’t ever reach thirty. There is so much that I will miss out on. I know I must do this. Ultimately, there is no other way. I just wish that I’d had more time.” Every thought I’d kept to myself came rushing out. I confessed to my aunt what I’d been afraid to tell anyone else.
“None of us are ever guaranteed any amount of time. At least you know your day and you can face it bravely. All will not be lost, Izzy. You will be reunited with him one day," she promised.
“Do you know that for sure?”
“No, but I still hope," she replied honestly.
“We need to get moving. The longer I dwell on this, the more I feel the pull of the darkness. Everything in me is crying to submit.” I pulled away, trying to get my thoughts under control.
“Then move we must. I will go gather everyone.”
“Is it far?” I looked out into the swamp wondering just what sort of journey awaited us.
“No, not even a mile away. We will be there soon.”
“Onward to destiny, then," I mumbled.
“Don’t jump in the swamp while I’m gone!” My aunt shouted as she moved back into the house to gather everyone.
“Would you really jump?” Conall’s voice sounded from my elbow.
“It’s tempting.”
“You’re much more than I ever thought you would be, Izzy. I see now what my mother saw in you. I can’t imagine how hard this is. I want you to know that I will be there for him, the same way he was there for me. He helped me out of the darkness when Cait died. I won’t turn my back on him," Conall swore to me, and I could feel the binding of his words. He’d given me an oath.
I threw my arms around Conall, hugging him tightly. My pirate-patched friend. He knew exactly the right words to say.
“I hope that you and Sena find the sort of happiness that I had with Kennan. It would be a shame for that sort of love to just blink out of existence," I said between tears.
“Well, I don’t think anyone will ever have the kind of love the two of you have, but I will try.” Conall’s voice seemed strained, as if he were holding back.
“We are ready," Eleanor said, causing me to jump away from Conall.
I quickly dried my eyes, erasing any of the emotions I’d been fighting. Kennan didn’t need to see how scared I was. He needed me to be strong.
“Then let’s go fight some demon.” I moved in line behind one of the Order’s Guardians on the boardwalk.
Chapter Twenty Seven
We moved through the swamp, unspeaking. The weight of what we were about to face settled down on us like a lead blanket. There was no escaping what would come. I just hoped that whatever we faced, I would be the only one to die.
Glancing back on the people walking behind me, I was surprised. We truly had an army marching into battle. There were at least twenty Guardians, all wearing new marks. Scattered amongst the behemoths were several Seers. I worried for them. Surely, they would be in danger, yet they still came. Eleanor and Mona walked along silently in the back of the group.
I wondered how much further it would be. Even with the runes being blocked, I still felt the pull on my energy. Just as the thought crossed my mind, the cypress trees parted to reveal the church I’d been seeing for months. My breath caught in my throat as I took it in. I knew, the end would be here today. I had no more days. Where Cait had been given an extra one, I would not.
“It’s coming," I whispered.
“What is coming?” The Guardian ahead of me
asked.
“The darkness. Don’t you feel it?” I questioned as the dread multiplied inside of me.
“I don’t feel anything.” The unnamed Guardian supplied.
“We don’t have much time!” I shouted to the group, breaking into a run, heading for the chapel.
I reached the edge of the cemetery and looked up to the thunderheads forming overhead. I knew that the battle raged on above me. I’d seen it more times than I could count. The end was here, my grand finale. I looked back to Kennan, who stood far off in the distance. “I love you," I whispered, hoping that the wind would carry my promise to him. My last chance to tell him how I truly felt. Time had run out.
A clap of thunder resounded, shaking the earth as it echoed repeatedly in the distance. The church shook, causing rubble to fall to the earth. I looked wide-eyed at the Guardians around me. As one, they whispered a word, something I’d never heard. Within a second, it happened, they began to transform. Some of them shifted into the great berserkers, some into wolves, some turned into creatures that seemed made of fire. All around me monsters reigned, only these monsters were there to help me. I couldn’t lose heart now. The time had come.
The thunder clapped anew, ripping a tear in the fabric of the corporeal plane, revealing Sonneillon. He pulled his monstrous form through the tear, leaving it shredded in his wake. What other manner of beast would be able to make it through? Was he truly the only demon we would face? I stood, frozen to the ground as Emmanuel emerged behind him.
As the demon stepped through onto our plane the world seemed to quake. As if the very fabric of our world knew that the existence of such a being would be its demise. With each step Sonneillon took, the world became blackened. Nothing could live in the presence of such hatred, nothing could survive. The blackened earth spanned out beneath him, reminding me of the man I’d seen in my vision. Veins of darkness seemed to snake out from him as he stepped, seeking out a weakness that could be exploited. Just before the demon fully emerged, movement in the corner of my eye distracted me.
See How She Falls Page 16
