by Vivian Wood
“What are you talking about?” Kirael asked.
His palms started to sweat, he wanted so badly to summon his sword, fight his way out. It was a fool’s errand, though. No one could take down this many Fallen alone, and certainly Vesper or Mercy would be harmed in the process.
“Stand your ground,” he called to Vesper. He nodded to Belial, who was already trying to circle around and force Vesper away from the edge, out of Kirael’s reach.
She didn’t react, didn’t look at him. Apparently she’d come to the same conclusion, that she didn’t want Lucifer to know that she and Kirael had any kind of bond. Smart girl.
“Hmmm,” Lucifer murmured. “You don’t even know what you’ve got, Kirael. No matter, it’s too late for you now.”
“What do you want, Lucifer?” Kirael asked.
“What I want? I want us to go back in time, before you betrayed me and defected. Failing that, I want to see you punished. Mortally.”
Vesper made a soft noise, but Kirael didn’t look away from Lucifer.
“Same deal. You let them go, all the Fallen generals let them go, and I will submit. To death, if that’s what you want.”
Vesper took half a step forward, then edged right back, glancing at Belial.
“Not a chance,” Lucifer said. “Why would I agree to that, when I have everything I want right here?”
He winked at Vesper, who looked like she was about three seconds from spitting at him.
“I have the Book of Names,” Kirael said, grasping at straws.
Lucifer stilled, then smiled. “Yes, I heard about your little caper. Like the tree, did you?”
They stared at each other in silence for long moments.
“A deal, then,” Kirael said. “For the Book.”
Lucifer cocked his head. “I’m listening.”
“You agree… not to release them, but that neither woman will be harmed. In any meaning of the word, no tricks.”
“In exchange for the Book?” Lucifer asked.
“Yes.”
“And you will submit to punishment,” he clarified.
“Yes.”
“I don’t agree to this,” Vesper said, looking between them. “Don’t I have to agree to this?”
“No,” they both said in unison.
Vesper looked genuinely tongue-tied for the first time since Kirael had met her.
Mercy made a small sound. Everyone turned to look at her as she struggled to her feet.
“Lucy, you came!” she said.
Kirael saw a muscle in Lucifer’s jaw tic at the nickname. Lucifer opened his arms and beckoned to her. “Come here, darling.”
“Mercy, do not go to him,” Vesper snapped.
Mercy stopped, then made a dismissive sound. “You don’t tell me what to do. I’m the big sister, remember?”
“Mercy, please…” Vesper said, but it was too late.
Mercy stumbled over to Lucifer, who wrapped his arms around her, staring at Kirael and Vesper over Mercy’s shoulder. His face split with a truly evil grin; he grabbed a fistful of Mercy’s hair and shoved her to her knees.
She made a soft sound, accepting it without hesitation.
“There’s a good girl,” he said once she knelt before him. “You like that, don’t you?”
Mercy gave him a long look, then slowly nodded.
“Stay right here, shut your mouth, and I will make sure you get a nice big dose of the good stuff tonight,” he said, as if talking to a dog.
Mercy dropped her gaze to the floor, but nodded again.
“So weak,” Lucifer sighed.
“You’re making a mistake,” Vesper said, her words soft but deadly.
“What was that?” Lucifer asked, his gaze snapping to her.
Kirael glared at her, but she shook her head.
“You think this is what you want, but it isn’t. I don’t even know what you think Mercy and I will do for you. I honestly don’t care. What I can tell you, no… promise you, is that I will spend every waking moment of my life making you miserable. I will never, ever give in. I’ll make you kill me first. You’re never going to get what you want from me.”
Lucifer gave her a grim smile. Holding out a hand, he summoned a silver dagger, bringing it down to dangle above Mercy’s head.
Vesper went very, very quiet and still.
“Any more you want to say?” Lucifer asked.
She was silent, but kept her head held high. Kirael had never felt so proud of another person in his entire existence. Sacrificing himself for Vesper’s life was unquestionably right, she’d just confirmed it for him.
Only, it wasn’t going to go quite the way he’d promised Lucifer.
“Right, then.” Lucifer beckoned to Kirael. “Let’s have the Book, and then you can go ahead and kneel, make it easy. I’m going to take your wings first, obviously.”
“Obviously,” Kirael said, holding out both hands to summon the Book.
Belial stepped forward, but Lucifer held up a hand. “No one touches the Book of Names but me.”
Therein lay Lucifer’s fatal flaw, laid bare for all to see.
Kirael moved forward, summoning a small dagger into his hand, under the Book. A very special dagger, something he’d been holding close for a long time.
It was a holy artifact from Kirael’s earliest days, enchanted with the specific purpose of inflicting damage to the unrepentant. Today, all this time later, he finally had cause to use it to its fullest potential.
Lucifer stepped around Mercy, eager to reclaim his book of prophecies.
“Kirael!” Vesper cried.
Lucifer turned, just for a second, but it was enough. Kirael vanished the Book and struck out with the dagger, slicing Lucifer from shoulder to hip, deep and deadly.
Lucifer grunted, looking shocked. Black blood began to pour from the slash in his dark suit, hissing as it dribbled onto his clothes. Kirael dropped his blade, shaking off a few drops of blood as they began to burn his fingers.
“What are you?” he growled at Lucifer.
Lucifer fell, wounded and howling but very much alive. Kirael’s heart lurched when he realized that he’d failed, that the dagger hadn’t done nearly enough.
He turned just in time to see Belial bringing down his sword, aiming for Kirael’s heart. An attempt to subdue him, in order to shear his wings and take his head. End him, forever.
The ground underfoot began to tremble. Belial stumbled, slicing at Kirael’s shoulder. Kirael grabbed for his dagger, managing to get his fingers around the handle.
Then a dozen Fallen cried out, rushing toward Vesper. Kirael turned as Belial lunged at him again, his sword piercing Kirael’s breast bone, just where Vesper had run him through before.
There was an unbelievable, ear-popping, awesomely loud roar. The ground shook harder, and Kirael managed to shove Belial to the ground. Dropping to his knees, he grappled with the sword, but it hit a spot that made his arm too weak to remove it.
Then he turned to look for Vesper, and his jaw dropped.
She was levitating, at least twenty feet in the air. Glowing, too — a bright, violent purple aura swirling all around her. Arms out at her sides, furious expression on her face, eyes gone a shade of violet that made all of the hair stand up on Kirael’s body.
She was truly, utterly terrifying.
“Don’t touch him!” she shrieked, pointing at the Fallen all around him.
One by one, they simply… collapsed.
Something clicked in the back of Kirael’s brain. Lucifer thought her valuable, and she could drop Fallen with a mere thought…
“Holy Hell,” he whispered. “She’s a Fatale.”
Behind him Belial gasped, scrambling backward until he found Mercy. He grabbed Mercy and held her up like a shield, which only made Vesper angrier. Vesper shrieked, the sound ringing through the air and bringing tears to Kirael’s eyes.
The sound went on and on, Fallen dropping like sacks of flour. When at last it ended, Kirael could barel
y open his eyes. He glanced up, feeling wrung out, empty.
Vesper drifted down to the ground, graceful and calm as though she defeated the lords of Hell every single day of her life. She came over and put her hand on Kirael’s shoulder. It felt cool, soothing, the way that his sword felt in his hand just before a battle.
“It’s going to be okay,” she told him, her voice back to normal though her eyes were still bright violet. “I’m going to take care of you, Kirael.”
Kirael nodded. “Thank you.”
His eyes closed, and he grunted when Vesper pulled the sword out of his shoulder.
“Just like old times, huh?” she asked him.
Kirael tried to laugh, but exhaustion overcame him. It hurt to breathe, it hurt to think. Between Belial and whatever Vesper did to everyone, he was going under…
He didn’t resist, knowing Vesper would be there when he woke up.
24
Vesper
“Hey.”
Vesper looked up from Kirael’s couch, where she was catching up on some emails and Crane Co. documents. Kirael loomed in the doorway, wearing nothing but low slung pajama bottoms, his muscular torso bare except the bandages from his wound.
“Hey,” she said, shutting her laptop. “There you are. I was starting to worry that you might not ever wake up.”
“How long have I been out?” he asked, stretching.
Every muscle rippled, and Vesper bit her lip, averting her gaze. He was too much, almost. The heat and intensity of his gaze made her squirm.
“A whole day,” she said, shuffling some papers.
Kirael came over and sat down beside her on the couch, wincing a little.
“Your shoulder still hurts, huh?” she asked.
“Like the devil himself.” Kirael looked her up and down, making her blush. “How did we get here? I don’t remember anything.”
“Stella, if you can believe it. She showed up to see the aftermath of… me.”
Kirael arched a brow, but didn’t press her about the fact that she’d leveled a couple dozen Fallen all on her own. Instead, he kept the conversation light.
“I’m surprised Stella helped us.”
“She was pretty cool, actually. I get the feeling that being around Lucan makes her more aggressive,” Vesper said. “She snapped her fingers and took all three of us right to the portal.”
“Wow,” Kirael said, shaking his head. “I guess she’s not as bad as I thought.”
“She’s something, all right,” Vesper said. She hesitated, then said, “I need to talk to you about something.”
“I’m listening,” he said, pure patience.
“It’s about the Null,” she said.
His gaze narrowed. “Please don’t tell me that you made that all up.”
Vesper rolled her eyes.
“No, not at all. It’s just… the Null is… someone I know.”
“Well… that seems obvious,” Kirael said.
“Right. What I’m trying to say is… I can’t tell you who the Null is unless you promise me some things.”
His brows shot up. “Like what?”
“Like… that being outed won’t actually hurt h— them,” Vesper said, correcting herself. “This… person… went to great lengths to hide what they are. There must be a reason.”
“I assume… to avoid being captured and imprisoned by one side or the other.”
“What? Lucifer kidnapping someone, I can see… but…” she said, glancing upward.
“Think of it like this. If someone takes the Null out of play, they have the exclusive chance to sway that person. Maybe it would be the most beautiful golden cage of all time, but either side would be crazy not to try. Consider the stakes.”
Vesper looked at him for a long time, then slowly shook her head.
“I’m sorry, Kirael. If that’s what’s going to happen, I can’t tell you who it is.”
Kirael stared at her for several moments. Then he shocked the daylights out of her by shrugging. “Okay.”
“That’s it? No… righteous anger? I’m not holding up my end of the bargain!”
“Yeah, but you saved my life yesterday, so… call it even.”
Vesper watched him closely, trying to tell if he was kidding.
“You’re serious?”
“My hand to Heaven,” he said, actually raising his hand. “I’m going to put my obsession with being forgiven on the back burner. Try just… being in one place for a while. Try being present, I guess.”
“I… okay,” she said, nodding. “Thank you for understanding.”
He smiled, seemingly unconcerned. After a few beats, he changed the topic.
“Where’s Mercy?”
“She’s at Mere Marie’s, on lockdown. She’s going through withdrawals pretty bad, but Mere Marie is taking care of her. Gave her something to help her through the worst of it,” Vesper said, silent for a moment. Then, “I can’t get the image of her out of my head, the way she looked when I found her at the brothel. Kirael, it was so awful.”
Kirael reached out and slid his arm around her. Vesper went willingly, leaning into his warmth and strength.
“She’s going to be fine,” Kirael promised.
Vesper made a disbelieving sound. “Right. This isn’t exactly the first time I’ve rescued her. I’ve gotten her out before. I just can’t make her get her act together. I can’t force her to get clean, she has to want it. And if she’s using, she’ll end up right back where she was, or worse.”
“What about rehab?” Kirael asked.
“Tried it, over and over. She doesn’t want to be sober. And now that Lucifer knows that we’re… valuable… he’ll be tempting her at every turn, I guarantee that.”
Kirael looked thoughtful for a moment. “We should talk to Lucan. Maybe he can sway Stella into helping us on that front.”
“You think that would help?” Vesper asked, laying her head on Kirael’s shoulder.
“She has a surprising amount of pull with her father.”
Vesper just nodded, unable to take it all in. “One step at a time.”
Kirael looked away, perhaps gathering his thoughts. When he turned back to her, the look in his eyes took Vesper’s breath away.
“Thank you,” he said, putting his hand over hers.
“For what?” she asked, looking up at him.
“For saving my life,” he said, giving her a look. “Not just back there in Hell, either.”
“What do you mean?” Vesper said, her heart beginning to thrum in her chest.
“I just… for the longest time, I’ve been lost. Reliving the sins of my past, trying to find the will to escape Hell, desperate to regain Heaven’s approval. I went from one big thing to another, and somewhere along the way I lost myself.”
Vesper gave him a soft smile, turning her hand to squeeze his fingers.
“I understand perfectly,” she said.
“I know. That’s one of the things that makes you so unique,” he said, brushing her hair back from her face. “It’s why I care for you so deeply. Why I’ve fallen for you, so fast and so hard.”
Vesper’s mouth opened and closed, her face going tomato red.
“I… oh,” was all she managed.
Kirael grinned. “You’re good with words.”
“You just surprised me, that’s all!” she protested. “I don’t really know how to talk about… feelings, and stuff.”
“Me either. I’m trying to just say what I feel,” he said, amused. “Is it working?”
Vesper smiled, feeling shy. “Yeah.”
“This is the part where you tell me you’ve fallen for me, too,” Kirael intoned.
Blushing to the roots of her hair, Vesper pulled a face. “Yes.”
“Yes?” Kirael asked, teasing her now.
“Yes! Yes, Kirael. This is all still new to me, so… that’s as much as you’re going to get from me right this minute.”
“I’ll take it. Whatever you’re willing to give me,” Kirae
l said, leaning down to brush his lips against hers.
“Oh yeah?” she murmured.
“Mmmhm,” he said, shifting so that he could nuzzle her jaw, her neck. “Have I told you that you smell amazing?”
“Do I?” she asked, her eyelids drifting shut as his lips touched the sweet spot at the base of her neck.
“Vanilla and spice,” he said. “It’s intoxicating.”
“You smell like a pine forest,” Vesper said, then laughed. “A sexy pine forest?”
Kirael grinned. “Whoa, easy on the dirty talk there, princess.”
“Princess?” Vesper squeaked, pushing at him. “That is not a cute pet name.”
“I like it,” he said, tugging at the strap of her tank top, pulling it down to bare her shoulder.
The heat of his mouth against her skin made her shiver. “Mmm.”
“Mmm, good? Mmmm, yes? Mmm, more, Kirael, please?” he asked, pressing another kiss to her collarbone.
“Yes. God, yes,” Vesper said, shifting to get closer to him.
“Come here,” he said, standing and picking her up.
“Kirael!” she cried as he threw her over his shoulder, carrying her down the hall to his bedroom.
It was cool and dark in the room, a perfect contrast to how Vesper felt, hot and bright and excited. She squeaked when Kirael flung himself down on the bed, taking her with him.
His playfulness shocked her, made her laugh. His kiss, though… that stole her very breath. His lips on hers, his hands in her hair, his body a solid weight against hers. Making her feel small, but also protected. Safe.
Kirael stripped off her shirt, her jeans, and her bra. She was all but naked before him, her chest heaving as he knelt before her on the bed, looking at her with unquestionable hunger.
“God, Vesper. Look at you,” he said, brushing his fingertips over the curve of her breast, the flat expanse of her stomach. “You’re killing me.”
Licking her lips, Vesper reached out to touch him, running her fingers over his hip, watching his expression intently.
“Wait…” she said.
Kirael gave her a look, but she shook her head.
“No, I just… can I see your wings?” she asked.
His lips twisted in a smirk. He closed his eyes for a second, and then there they were, his glorious white wings. He stretched them out fully, turning a little so that Vesper could examine them.
