by Misty Evans
His gaze held mine, his awe morphing into consternation and I knew I wasn’t going to like his answer. “The Fallen, Kali. You fight the Horsemen with the angels who fought beside Lucifer and fell with him from Heaven.”
A cold emptiness invaded my stomach. “Let me see that.”
Sal held out the codex, but I couldn’t read the Greek lettering. Lucifer, Lucifer, Lucifer, my brain chanted, making the unsettling cold in my stomach spread to my chest.
“This means Lightbringer.” Sal pointed to a set of Greek letters. “Lucifer’s name in Heaven.”
He continued walking me through the text. Excitement replaced the other emotions in his voice. “It mentions his companion, one named Amo, who fell with him to Earth. I’ve never heard of that, but much of this is new to me.”
Amo. The name vaguely rang a bell. I’d met Lucifer and his witch back around Halloween. Her name was Amy.
Amy. Amo.
She wasn’t just a witch.
She was Fallen.
I nearly smacked my head with my palm. I never expected this to be easy, but I sure as hell hadn’t expected to need Lucifer’s help to stop the Horsemen. “What else does it say?”
“With flame and sword, Lucifer and Amo will lead an army against the bringers of Armageddon. The Beast will rise and the Whore of Babylon will strike it down, cutting off its head and smiting the evil within.”
In the hallway, I heard the sound of footsteps. “Time to go,” I told Sal.
“What about the other book?”
Shouts erupted and the footsteps started running. A check of their auras told me we were cooked. The trap had been sprung.
I shoved Sal toward the secret door at the back of the study. “This one tells us what we need. Get it out of here and back to Damon.”
He ducked through the door, turned back when he realized I wasn’t following. “Me? What about you?”
“There’s no way we’ll make it out if both of us go. I’ll distract them so you can get out.”
“Kali…”
No longer whispering, I flashed my demon eyes at him. “Go!”
He gave me his sad, weight-of-the-world look and pulled the door shut behind him.
Just as the secret door closed, the study door opened. I whirled around and found myself face-to-face with half a dozen Swiss Guard, several men in black and white attire and a female shifter I never expected to see again.
“You,” I said.
Isi gave me her Disney princess wave, smiling, like usual. “Hi, Kali. Fancy meeting you here.”
Behind her, the Pope strolled in, sizing me up with wide eyes. He was short and plump, probably from too many cakes. “This is the one?”
“That’s her,” Isi sing-songed. “Isn’t she amazing?”
The Pope’s wrinkled jaws and forehead grew deeper lines. His English was refined and lacked even a hint of Italian accent. “Not much to look at, if you ask me.”
Same to you, pops. The Swiss Guard trained their guns on me. Human weapons that could take a chunk out of my hide, but wouldn’t kill me.
Mentally, I calculated how long it would take Sal to get downstairs and into the tunnels. How long it would take him to reach Cole and the Merc demon. I needed to kill time but killing the Guard, Isi and the Pope would take three minutes, tops, and I’d end up with more humans on my tail.
Raising my hands, I tried to look scared and harmless. “I surrender,” I said, lowering my eyes and bowing my head.
The rush of magic hit me right before Maria’s scent did. “But of course you do, mia bambina.”
My head snapped up and my breath caught. “Maria?”
She was whole—no longer a ghost. The half-succubus ruler was back in flesh and blood and her aura screamed vengeance. “Welcome to my new court, Kalina. I’m sure you’ll be right at home here.”
Chapter Twenty-nine
Maria had taken me from my family to be part of her supernatural court in the late 1800s. I was nine years old.
My parents thought it would be a good thing, and in some ways it was. For them at least. They were given titles and land in exchange for my servitude. Safety from The Church’s persecution. They believed erroneously that Maria would provide me with a better education then they would and I would lack for nothing.
Between the ages of nine and seventeen, I saw my mother and father once, and by that time, Maria had brainwashed me into being her pet. A pet who tortured humans and other supernaturals for her pleasure. When I fell in love with a young Frenchmen she coveted, my doom was sealed.
Rad and I fell in love and tried to hide it behind her back. Our attempts at subterfuge were pointless. Maria knew everything that happened in her court and she didn’t appreciate her pet stealing something she considered hers.
On the night Rad and I were to marry in secret, he never showed up. While I was looking for him, thinking he’d gotten cold feet, Noctifector assassins sent by Maria tortured and killed my family. Rad was gone and I returned home to find my life inextricably altered. My parents and little sister had been crucified, their bodies nailed to the floor, their demons exorcised, their heads removed.
Maria had trained me so well, I knew her every weakness. I channeled the suffocating grief into hate, and went after her with, shall we say, a vengeance. I tortured and killed her in the same manner as my parents, meting out justice for them and my sister.
Only Maria didn’t stay dead. Her ghost had put in an appearance before Christmas, right before the other vitiums had showed up at my church. But I’d sent her ghost on its way too. Or so I’d thought.
Staring at my worst nightmare come to life, my instincts took precedence over my shock at seeing her in the flesh. My shields locked into place. Volante tightened on my arm, nearly cutting off my blood flow. “You’re dead. I killed you. Twice, I believe.”
Her smile was slow and deliberate. One of her fingernails—painted blood-red—pointed upward. “Friends in high places.”
Heaven? “You don’t have friends.”
Her lip curled. “Neither do you. We’re two of a kind, aren’t we?”
Not even close. I had friends. Not many, but enough. Enough for me anyway.
And I was going to get home to them. “Who raised you?”
Her red hair was beautifully coiffed, twisted up high on her head. The tall collar of her jacket, embroidered with scenes of a foxhunt, flared around her neck, emphasizing her porcelain skin. I honed in on the pulse beating at the base of her throat where a large garnet hung from a gold chain. She had a heartbeat and a pulse. Definitely alive.
“Your last attack sent me to Heaven, Kalina. The archangel Michael took a liking to me.”
There were no curses in my extensive vocabulary to fit that statement. As if I hadn’t had enough shocks in one day, my archenemy had returned, claiming an angel resurrected her.
With no warning, my demon growled low in my throat. “Looks like I have another entity to add to my vengeance hitlist then.”
“Come now, bambina, let’s not fight. I have a special day planned for you downstairs in the torture chamber.”
The Pope cleared his throat, gave her a chiding look. She recanted. “The interrogation room is what I meant to say. All the supernaturals brought there have the most interesting time, I hear. But none have witnessed what I can do to them.” The evil smile returned. “We’re going to have so much fun, you and I.”
Isi stepped forward. “What about Parker? She said to wait until she got here.”
My gut sank even farther. “Parker? As in Parker Burkett?” If there was anything that could distract me from the ‘fun’ Maria was promising, it was that particular Noctifector. “You know Parker?”
“She’s my sister, silly. Well, step-sister, technically. Her dad, my mom.” Isi shrugged. “You know how it goes.”
No, I really didn’t. “The sister you told me about is Parker?”
Isi bopped up and down on her toes, exuding pride. “She’s a huge fan of yours.”
“She and Maria have a deal to—how did you put it?” She looked at Maria. “Sideline Kali?”
Parker, you bitch. I was really going to wring her pretty little neck when I got hold of her. First Maria. Then Parker. I almost grinned at the potential ways I could make both of them miserable.
The Pope cleared his throat once more. He wasn’t used to being ignored. “The Noctifectors believe it to be in our best interest to hold you for a period of time.”
“For what?” I asked the old man. Might as well find out what they planned for me so I could derail it. “Why don’t you just exorcise me and be done with it? That’s what you’re planning, isn’t it?”
He strolled closer, and the Swiss Guard, already at full attention, grew even more threatening.
“Padre,” Maria said with a nod of respect. “I would advise you to stay clear of her claws.”
My claws? I mentally laughed. This scene was so ridiculous, it was surreal.
Volante gave my arm another squeeze, suggesting my ‘claws’ might not go for his throat, but she might.
He stayed out of reach, circling me with his long robe shushing against the marble floor. “I find it more than curious that you can stand in my presence, demon. Why is that?”
I wasn’t in the mood to play twenty questions, but if my mental clock was right, Sal had to be out of the building and in the tunnels. A few more minutes couldn’t hurt. “For the same reason Maria can.”
One of his white eyebrows rose slightly. “She is blessed by the angels. You, I’m afraid, are not.”
“Angels-schmangels. We’re both original sins cast out of Mary Magdalena by Jesus. We are both virtue and vice. Hence, consecrated ground has no effect on us.”
There was a lengthy silence and then the Pope burst out laughing. “You? A virtue?”
He nearly slapped his knee and hooted. Maybe my claws were going to find his throat.
While the priest laughed, I eyed Maria. Isi and the guards would be a snap to incapacitate—I didn’t want to kill any of them, just get them out of my way. Maria, on the other hand, was the bad penny of the underworld. She kept turning up in one form or another. How many ways could I kill this bitch?
The Beast will rise and the Whore of Babylon will strike it down, cutting off its head and smiting the evil within.
My father’s words—or perhaps I should think of them as my mother’s—echoed in my ears. I could almost hear my father’s voice saying them, sending me a message. A sudden thought bloomed. “You’re the Whore of Babylon, aren’t you?”
The Pope blanched. Maria gave a slight tilt of her head, as if she were reevaluating her student. Her attention slid to the monsignor and they exchanged some kind of unspoken message. Then her gaze came back to me. “Sorry to disappoint you, but it’s not me who is the Whore of Babylon…”
Always one for dramatics, she let the rest trail off, the inflection in her voice suggesting she expected her student to figure it out.
Games. Everyone wanted to play games with me. Challenge me. I was sick of it. “Just tell me, what is it you want me to know?”
A patient smile. Another glance at the priest. “You are the Whore of Babylon, Kalina, and—”
Before she could finish, Parker burst in, a handful of Noctifectors on her heels. “And we’re going to make you pay dearly for all you’ve done.”
One thing about Parker, she always brought out the tyrant in me. I let Volante’s handle slide into my hand. “Well, then, let’s get started.”
Chapter Thirty
I flicked the tip of my whip at Parker, let my demon shine through in my eyes. “Who’s first?”
“Not so fast.” Maria gave one of the guards a hand signal and he disappeared out the door only to return a moment later, prodding a bound and gagged Reese and Nicola in front of him.
Nicola’s eyes were wild above her gag. Reese’s were apologetic.
I lowered my whip hand. Hostages. That changed everything. “Let them go, and I’ll come willingly to the interrogation room.”
“You first,” Parker said. “Once you’re restrained downstairs, I’ll personally escort these two out of Vatican City. You have my word.”
“As if your word is worth anything.”
That pissed her off. The Pope stepped in before she could reply. “You have my word, as the highest authority in this land. We have no wish to hurt the father and his lover.”
“The Church has done nothing but lie, steal and persecute my kind. Forgive me if I don’t find your assurances any more comforting than Parker’s bullshit ones.”
His watery eyes sized me up. “Then we are at an impasse.”
“Not an impasse,” I said. “Reese and Nicola are innocent. They deserve your forgiveness.”
Maria snorted. “You’re one to counsel forgiveness.”
I turned on her. “I will never forgive you or the Noctifectors for murdering my family and taking Rad away from me, and I will never forgive myself for the atrocities I committed under your rule. So here’s the thing, I can never make up for the wrongs I committed against those humans, but I will defend and protect the humans I can now.”
She rolled her eyes. This was getting us nowhere. Maybe a change of tactics.
“Where is your virtue, Maria?”
“My virtue?”
“All seven vices also possess virtue. I’ve never seen yours. Where is it?”
She reached out and grabbed Nicola by the hair giving her a hard yank. The demon I knew existed inside her flashed across her face. “I don’t have virtue, you pompous little demon. My job here on earth is to make everyone else’s life miserable. And take my pleasure while I’m at it.”
“Michael resurrected you so you could take back up where you left off?”
Releasing Nicola, she strode forward, putting her face in front of mine. Her dark energy swirled around me. “Why Michael resurrected me is none of your business, and if you don’t walk your sweet demon ass downstairs to the interrogation room, I’ll personally remove the hearts of these two traitors and eat them in front of you.”
As she spoke, the Pope, Isi and most of the Swiss Guard backed up, putting space between us and them. Were they just now realizing what Maria truly was?
All the auras in the room were overlapping, crashing and mixing. The only one who didn’t seem afraid was Parker. She eyed me with interest. “You don’t want to see these poor innocent people die for your transgressions, do you, Kali?”
Backed in a corner was my least favorite place to be. I turned to the Pope. “Jesus must be real proud of you.”
He seemed unfazed. “He who lives in a glass house should not cast stones.”
Oh, we were going all biblical now, huh? Okay, fine. “'For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither anything hid, that shall not be known and come to light.’”
The Pope’s jaws dipped in contemplation. “I do not understand your reference.”
Maria made a gesture and stepped back, shaking her head. We were keeping her from her fun.
“Luke 8:17.” I waved a hand at the bookshelves. “You’re keeping secrets. You and The Church have been hiding valuable information since you began. Controlling what humans think and the ways in which they’re allowed to worship. You’re in possession of my father’s writings—writings that can secure the future of humankind—and yet you refuse to share them. You’re the Beast mentioned in my father’s writing. But your secrets are about to be exposed.”
“Those writings were by a demon. The prophecies he wrote were given to him by a demon. There is no truth in them and your parents now burn in hell for their sins.”
I swallowed the lump of fury in my throat. What was done was done. I couldn’t save my parents. Even if I gave up and went on my own, I suspected Reese and Nicola were going to die, but the risk was worth it. I had to try and save them. “You and the Church have condemned innocents before and you’re about to do it agai
n, so let me be very clear, if Father Reese and Nicola aren’t released unharmed, that besides Jesus, you’ll answer to me.”
If I couldn’t appeal to the Pope’s or Maria’s virtues, than I had to do what I did best…mess with their heads. “I’ve killed Maria twice before. I’ll do it again. And when she’s no longer protecting your papal ass, I’m coming after you.”
He swallowed hard but didn’t break eye contact. The man had a bit more steel than I expected. “As I previously stated, you have my word. I will swear it on a Bible if it reassures you.”
That type of oath meant nothing to me, but it did to him. “Do it.”
While one of the Nocts grabbed a Bible, I sent Reese a reassuring look. He seemed less than encouraged. The Pope laid his hand on the Bible and recited his pledge that Father Reese and Nicola Giovanni would not be harmed if I went willingly to the interrogation room in the basement.
When he finished, I held out my wrists so the guards could handcuff me. Maria gave me a sly smile, knowing it was a futile gesture and I could easily break the bond, but she also knew I’d comply to save the humans.
Parker removed my cape of weapons but Volante refused to leave my arm. “Command your whip to stand down,” she said.
I did and Volante reluctantly released me. Parker ran her hands over my body, finding the knives stashed in my boots, the thigh holster filled with holy water, and the gun and bullets Cole had strapped to the back of my shoulder blades. Standing there with nothing but my clothes, I felt naked.
Parker flashed one of her daggers at me. “Remember this? If you don’t want another dose of it, keep your head down and your mouth shut until we reach the basement.”
She put a black blindfold over my eyes, gave my wrists a tug to get me moving. I did as commanded, my demon laughing inside.
When we reached the basement, all bets were off.
Chapter Thirty-one
Torture chamber was more accurate than interrogation room, although the papal version was high-tech and modern compared to the torture chambers I’d been in during my time on earth.
