by Diem, J. C.
“Is there anything else that you have not told us?” Sophia queried.
“There’s one more thing. I finally figured out how to trap one of the Collectors. He turned out to be the demon who harvested your grace. I only discovered that after I stabbed him in the heart and ingested his soul.”
She blinked at me, unable to process that information for a moment. “Would you care to explain how this came about?” She’d known about my plan to hunt one of them down and question them about where they took the grace. It was either luck, or thanks to Fate, that I’d caught the demon who had stolen her essence.
I told them about the trap that I’d set for the former hellscribe. I explained that I’d called Brie to me after he was dead. Then I told them that she’d agreed to get rid of his body and had given me the warning about her superiors’ plans for us.
There was only one piece of information that I withheld. It was that the Collector had been one of the demons who had defiled Sophia in an effort to get her pregnant. She’d been blindfolded during the process and I doubted that she’d want to know who had been responsible for her torment. The others didn’t know about the anguish that she’d suffered. I was pretty sure Nathan suspected what she’d gone through, but Leo was clueless. Neither of them knew about the forbidden race of Nephilim that were being created, or that I was the first successful hybrid of the unholy experiment.
Sophia put aside the painful information that the scarred Collector had been the one to steal her grace. She focused on something that hadn’t even occurred to me. She was good at putting things together that the rest of us overlooked. “It is well that Brie gave us this warning. But, now we will have something else to worry about. I have been thinking about Vepar and her motives. It would seem that she is keeping her options open in the hopes of rising higher within the ranks of demonkind.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“She is reportedly Dantanian’s lover, which would explain why she was chosen to transport the harvested souls to hell. She has made a deal with the Prince of the ninth realm to capture you and to take you to him rather than to the Hellmaster. I suspect she is also an agent for the Hellmaster himself. She has sided with as many powerful demons as she can. She is juggling them all while she waits to see who will come out on top.”
“We should try to set a trap for her before she tracks us to this location,” Sam suggested.
“Leo and I cannot fight nineteen demons alone,” Nathan pointed out. I noticed he didn’t include me in the battle. It galled me, but I wasn’t strong enough to take on a bunch of demons when I was in this dimension. Morax couldn’t come to my aid here. Only when my wrath rose could I call on my added strength and greater fighting capabilities.
“I wish the angels were still our allies rather than our enemies,” I said. “They’ve gathered enough numbers together to be able to take on all three of Vepar’s packs.”
“If Brie is telling the truth, then we cannot trust Hagith or Orifiel enough to ask for their aid,” Leo pointed out. “I would not like to be captured and to be kept in a tiny cell as she has planned for us.”
“What if we could convince Brie, Dom and Jed to help us?” I proposed. “Would five of you be enough to take on Vepar and her gangs?” They were more highly skilled than the lesser demons, but they’d have three captains and one lord to contend with.
“It would be too risky,” Sophia said before Nathan or Leo could respond. “We cannot afford to lose anyone from our team.”
“Can you not lure them into a trap and use the spell to debilitate the demons?” Sam asked.
Nathan debated about it then shook his head. “Vepar is too smart to allow herself to be drawn into a trap easily. She is known for her cunning.”
“I’m sure she and Candy would be the best of friends if they ever met,” I muttered sourly. Right now, I wasn’t sure which of the females I disliked more. Both of them were sly and evil.
“What is our plan then?” Sam asked. “Do we just wait for Lord Vepar to follow the evicted souls to us and knock down our door?”
“I have a solution for that problem,” I said, but they weren’t going to like it. I wasn’t particularly thrilled about it either.
Leo gestured for me to continue. “Do tell.”
“I’ll have to spend more time out in the city. It’s the only way to draw the souls away from here.” I remembered the pack that had been waiting right outside our front door once. We were lucky Vepar hadn’t found us then.
“It is too dangerous,” Nathan said immediately, as I’d known he would. “You have too many enemies searching for you to put yourself at risk like that.”
“Until I dream myself into the shadowlands and talk to Sy, I don’t know any other way to keep us safe.”
I was hoping that the scribe would be able to tell me whether his fellow demons could break into our base or not. I was pretty sure most of his spells were known to his boss. Dantanian knew every rune that had ever been created, except for the ones that my own personal hellscribe had made since he’d been locked inside me. If Vepar was Dantanian’s lover, then he might have given her access to the scriptorium and shown her symbols that could infiltrate our lair.
₪₪₪
Chapter Twenty
When I went to bed, I tried to will myself into the shadowlands inside my head, but failed. I had no control over where my dreams took me and I woke up the next morning without visiting the legion.
After breakfast, Nathan took the first watch and zapped me to Times Square. We could see the police HQ where demons had set up their own base with Captain Lancaster in charge. I knew the captain by a different name. He would always be Bob to me.
Even with their numbers whittled down by Vepar and her kill squad, there were far too many demons in the city. We saw a dozen packs as we randomly walked through the streets. I studied their hideous faces each time they flickered and betrayed their true heritage. They knew they were being hunted down and they were understandably nervous about it.
Overhearing a couple of lackeys talking, I drew Nathan to a stop in the pretense of window shopping. He drew me to his side protectively even though they barely glanced at us. It was just an excuse for him to be close to me and I wasn’t about to protest.
“How does Hellscourge keep finding us?” one of the minions said in a low voice. Word had spread that I was collecting their essence inside me.
“I do not know,” her companion replied. Their chosen vessels were a mixture of ages and races. They were doing their best to loiter without looking like it.
“She has powers unlike anything we have ever seen,” a third demon chimed in. Their captain sniffed disdainfully, but she didn’t speak. Gossip was their favorite pastime even when they were in this dimension. “She can probably sense us from a distance now that she has so many of our kin inside her.”
The rest of the pack turned on him with sneers. “How was she able to identify us before she started stealing our souls, you idiot?” the captain said.
His lackey saw the flaw in his line of reasoning and was crestfallen. “Oh. I did not think of that.”
I nudged Nathan in the side, warning him to get ready to teleport us. Then I turned to the group of six demons. “I can see you,” I said.
Thanks to my bracelet, I was barely noticeable until I drew their attention. The captain focused on me and frowned. “Are you speaking to us?”
“Yeah. You’re wondering how I can identify you. The answer is that I can see your true faces. But I’m not the one hunting you down. Vepar is the one who is killing off your vessels.”
Shock coursed through them when they realized who I was. Nathan zapped us away before they could band together and use their combined power to block him from teleporting. Laughing hard, I had to wipe tears away as I staggered over to a wooden seat and sat down. “Did you see their faces?” I said and sniggered again.
Nathan had brought us to a small park that overlooked the Hudson River. I recognized it
and my amusement drained away. This was where I’d learned that he’d been present the night my mother had died and that he hadn’t saved her. The portal that led to the master gate was only a few blocks away from here.
Taking a seat beside me, Nathan shook his head in exasperation. “That was dangerous. They could have stopped me from teleporting and captured us both.”
“I knew you’d get us to safety before they could attack us.”
“I am glad you have such faith in me, but it was still risky.”
I slouched back against the seat. “I know. I guess I just needed something to cheer me up.”
“Do you not still have the photograph of your rival’s ruined dress stored on your phone?”
My lips curved upwards even before I took my phone out of my pocket and brought up the images of Candy’s stained clothing. Zach had spilled his coffee on her in the first one. The dark brown stain ran all the way from her neckline down to the hem of the cream colored dress. Sam had dumped half a bowl of punch on her and had utterly ruined her beautiful golden gown in the second one. Nothing would be able to get that mark out.
Chuckling at the sight, my spirits lifted even further when he put his arm around my shoulder. I snuggled against his side, wishing we were just normal humans who didn’t have a dire future hanging over us. I loved Zach, but Nathan was the man I dreamed about at night.
“I am sorry you saw Candy kiss your beau,” he said.
“Are you?” I asked with a hint of skepticism.
“Not really,” he admitted. “If it was in my power, I would drive Zach far away so that you could never lay eyes on him again. Then you would solely be mine once more.”
He sounded so forlorn that it pained me deep inside. It hurt even more than it had when I’d seen my boyfriend with another girl. As much as I loved Nathan, I couldn’t give Zach up without a fight. I was torn between them both and I couldn’t have either of them the way that I longed to.
My gaze strayed to his mouth as I thought about what I wanted to do to him and for him to do to me. I was an innocent, but my thoughts were becoming more and more impure. Each time I ingested a demon, I saw the things that they’d done with the aid of their vessels. I knew what was possible between men and women, but the acts that I’d witnessed hadn’t been consensual. Thankfully, I hadn’t reached the stage where taking someone by force appealed to me. I wanted us both to enjoy each other’s bodies and to feel the bliss that I knew was possible between us.
We were hovering on the verge of a kiss when a familiar male voice interrupted us. “Is that you, Nathanael?”
We turned to see Dom and Jed standing a few yards away. They recognized me and their brows rose in surprise. Exchanging a look, they seemed to have a silent conversation. Angels were usually paired up during their missions and these two had been partners for a very long time. Nathan was the only one who was perpetually alone. That had to be because he’d been evicted from heaven for having doubts about humanity.
My mother had been on a solo mission when she’d been harvested. It seemed that having a partner was a far safer option. Then again, Asteraoth and Sophia had been captured and had been stripped of their essence even when they’d been together. None of them were safe from the Collectors.
“It is dangerous for you to be out in plain sight like this,” Jed said as they walked around to stand in front of us. Both angels wore casual clothes. Jed had a tote bag slung over her shoulder.
“I know,” I replied with a shrug. “I have cops and demons hunting for me.”
Dom grimaced and plonked down on the seat next to me. “I fear things will be even worse for you now.”
Jed hesitated then sat beside him with far more grace. She was tall and thin and had long black hair. He was shorter and stocky and had dark blond hair. Both were ethereally beautiful, as were all angels. “Hagith has ordered us to take the rebels into custody,” she informed us.
“Is that what she’s calling us now?” I said with a smirk.
“This is no laughing matter,” Dom said grimly. “She intends to imprison you all and she is planning to punish Nathanael for insubordination.”
I shared a look with Nathan. At least we knew Brie had told us the truth now. “Hag isn’t Nathan’s superior,” I pointed out. “He’s a Seraphim and she and Orifiel are from the Dominion order.”
“Nathanael was stripped of his rank,” Jed reminded me with an apologetic look at him. “They are the highest ranking angels in Manhattan. This makes us all subordinate to them.”
“Yet you two helped me escape from that cell,” I said. “Why did you help me, by the way?”
Dom’s lips tightened into a thin line. “Hagith and Orifiel are adequate leaders, but we fear that they are straying away from where their focus should lie.”
“Hagith is obsessed with the silver pieces of metal that you have brought back from hell,” Jed added. “She believes the object will give her greater power once all nine pieces have been joined together. She thinks she will be able to use it to battle the forces of evil.”
“How is an angel going to wield something that was made in hell?” I asked.
The look that they exchanged lasted longer this time before Dom answered me. “She does not intend to wield it herself. She will use you to control it.”
Since I’d been tasked with Fate to gather the objects, it made sense that I’d be able to use it when it was whole. My tone was dry when I replied. “I think I’ve made it clear that I’m not going to go along with any of her plans.”
“You will not have a choice,” Nathan said grimly. “I suspect that Hagith intends to force you into compliance by any means necessary.”
It took me a moment to figure out what he was hinting at. “You think she’ll punish you guys to try to make me follow her orders?” All three of them nodded. “But that would be torture! I thought angels were supposed to be the good guys? How can she get away with treating her own kind so badly?”
“She will believe that her actions are justified,” Jed told me bluntly. “Her conscience will be clear even as she causes your friends untold agony.”
Chilled to the bone, I could only shake my head miserably. “Could this get any worse?” I complained. “Vepar is possibly only days away from locating Sophia’s store and now Hag and Orifice want to lock us up and torture us.”
“What do you mean Vepar is close to locating your base?” Dom asked sharply. Nathan gave them a quick rundown of the conversation that we’d overheard.
“Your idea of setting a trap for her is tempting,” Jed said. “But I agree, Vepar is too wily to fall for it.”
“Would you be willing to help us if we do figure out a way to trap her?” I asked.
They didn’t need to confer before they responded. “Without question,” Dom replied and Jed nodded in agreement.
“Do you have a personal item that I can keep? Preferably something you made yourselves?”
“Will this do?” Dom asked and took a rune stone out of his pocket. It was a black stone that was almost as slick as the volcanic rock in hell. It was marked with the rune that could identify demons and angels. They must have kidnapped a demon and used his or her blood and flesh to activate it.
“That’s perfect.” I took it and Jed handed me a small brown stone that had the same symbol on it. “We have spares,” she said before I could ask what they would use to identify other angels with.
“Is it just a coincidence that you found us here?” I asked.
Dom nodded. “We were on patrol to search for others of our kind and saw you sitting here. We have rune stones and bracelets to hand out to any angels that we encounter.” He pointed at the tote bag Jed was holding on her lap.
“We overheard Vepar saying the wards are tripped each time a holy warrior enters Manhattan,” I informed them as I slipped the stones into my pocket. “There’s supposedly dozens of angels in the city.” The gates to heaven were locked and the angels that had become trapped on Earth seemed to be convergi
ng on New York.
“That is good to know,” Jed replied. “We will do our best to locate them and to bring them into the fold before the Collectors find and harvest them.”
They would have to come up with a lie to tell their leaders how they’d come about this knowledge. Hag would accuse them of treason if she discovered that we were working together. Orifice was more level headed than his partner, but he wasn’t strong enough to reign her in. There weren’t enough cells beneath their base to hold all of us if they were caught in their lie.
₪₪₪
Chapter Twenty-One
After witnessing the kiss between Candy and Zach, I was battling against slipping into depression. Three days had passed since their lunch date and he hadn’t contacted me yet. I was beginning to wonder if he’d quietly decided to dump me and that he just hadn’t bothered to let me know about it yet. I wasn’t about to cave in and contact him first.
Zach was always in the back of my mind. I was glad to spend most of my time walking the streets to lure evicted souls away, or helping Reynolds to identify demons. It kept me busy so I didn’t get the chance to mope. Only when I lay down at night did worry rise up to consume me.
I was on a patrol with Leo when my phone vibrated. Filled with trepidation, I took it out of my pocket and read the message.
“What does it say?” Leo asked. He knew by my expression that it was from my boyfriend. Reynolds was the only other person who ever contacted me on my cell phone.
“Zach wants me to meet him at the library in half an hour.” School had let out and he was probably on his way there right now. It would take him that long to walk there from his prestigious and intimidating school. He didn’t know where Sophia’s place was, but he knew I’d be able to make it to the library in time to meet him.
“You do not look very happy about meeting with him.”
