Caine’s eyes gleamed like stars in the darkness. “And how are we supposed to fight this chaos power of his?”
“I’m working on it.” I tapped my fingertip against the shield. “And this is our first test. When we go into battle with them, we need it to be on our terms, or we have no chance.”
Rosalind let out a long breath. “They’re going to smash through this any minute now.”
Caine crossed his arms. “And you think that our combined magic can be strong enough to make the shield last.”
“I have no idea,” I said. “But it’s worth a shot. I want to try to strengthen the shield with the Divine Order of the Old Gods—all four of us working together. Let’s see what happens, okay?”
By my side, I could already feel Adonis’s power intensifying, that forceful, dark magic that licked up and down my skin. He began chanting in Angelic, and I tuned out the words. His native language only distracted me.
I glanced at Caine and Rosalind, and the thin strands of magic that curled off their bodies. They closed their eyes, and Caine moved closer to his wife, slipping his arm around her waist. They seemed completely in tune with each other, their magic blending harmoniously, as if they’d done this a million times.
Already, I could see tendrils of their magic sliding over the shield, strengthening it. It spread over my body, raising goosebumps on my skin. Caine’s magic was cold and electrifying at the same time, and it tingled up my spine. Rosalind’s was almost overpowering—a heady mixture of the seven gods twining together, vibrating through my chest, my bones.
But we needed more to combat the chaos. We needed order. And with any luck, my ancient magic would be exactly what we needed.
I closed my eyes, tuning into the nature around me. Clematis and wild grapes grew on the oaks around me. Grapes … the forbidden fruit from the Garden of Eden. It seemed fitting enough.
My mind filled with visions of the bright green Garden of Paradise, the burbling river.
In my phantom world, I found my way to a tree wrapped in grapevines—the forbidden tree of knowledge. I stroked my fingertips over the leaves. Patterns and perfect, ordered spirals whirled around me, until I started to realize that I wasn’t alone here in my phantom world.
Now, within the garden, the four of us stood around the Tree of Knowledge—completely naked. My eyes roamed over Adonis, Caine, Rosalind—their perfect bodies pulsing with sensual magic. Adonis’s powerful hand slid around my waist, his muscled body pressing against mine, pinning me to the tree. His mouth found its way to my neck. My back arched, warmth pooling in my body. My heart raced. Vines twined around our ribs, bringing the four of us together—
When I opened my eyes again, I found grapevines threading into the magic that slid over the shield. The vines had found their way into the cracks and fissures, sealing them shut. In fact, we now stood below an enormous dome of grape leaves.
“Holy shit.” Rosalind smiled. “It worked! Are those grape leaves? What in the world…?”
Adonis traced his fingertips over the shield. “Ruby, you have channeled the magic of the Old Gods to perfection. It’s the perfect antidote to Metatron’s chaos.”
“You had a vision. An ecstatic state.” Caine’s head was cocked, and he was studying me with those keen, pale eyes. “What did you see in your vision?”
I shifted uncomfortably. “Me? Nothing. Just leaves.”
He arched an eyebrow. He didn’t believe me. As an incubus, he was immediately tuned into sexual energy, which was mortifying. The gorgeous bastard was probably feeding off it right now.
“It’s not important,” I added. “The important thing is that we’ve bought ourselves time so we can finish building our army, and attack them on our own terms.”
Another arrow thunked against the shield. This time, it bounced off harmlessly.
Apart from his piercing eyes, Caine practically blended into the darkness around him. As a grandson of Nyxobas, he wore night like a cloak. “If you want to truly catch them by surprise, we can attack at night. I’ll make sure shadows hide us, so they’ll never see us sneaking into the city.”
“When do you want us to sneak into London?” asked Rosalind.
“Metatron has pledged to begin his attack in two days,” said Adonis. “Before dawn breaks, we’ll sneak into the city and wait for their march.”
“When I interrogated Metatron in the Tower,” I said, skimming over the details, “I learned the Host will be marching up Tower Hill first, then Minories and Aldgate High Street. We can hide ourselves all over East London, just northeast of the Tower. Alex and I spent enough time in that neighborhood to know which buildings are stable. I know we can’t kill the Host, but the poison-tipped weapons will lay them out for a while. When I’ve mastered the power of the Old Gods, I’ll send them all back home again.”
Adonis was studying me closely. “The magic of the Old Gods is supposed to be able to counteract angelic magic. If you can find a way to break down Metatron’s immortality spell using your light magic, I can destroy his entire army at once. An army of mortals before me doesn’t stand a chance. Angelic bodies would litter the streets of London.” His eyes looked a little too delighted. “Metatron’s army would be reduced to ashy piles of corpses—”
I held up a hand. “I get it, Death, my love, but I’m not sure. I don’t think I can use that kind of magic yet.” Without dying. “I just don’t have enough control.”
Rosalind crossed her arms, staring at us. “You guys are kind of a weird couple. I like you, but you’re weird.”
But Adonis’s stormy eyes were still on me. “If it comes down to it, Ruby, you have to use whatever powers are at your disposal. We won’t get a second chance at this. And it if we lose, we all die.”
His words sent a shiver up my spine. He had a point.
Chapter 29
We stood outside Hotemet Castle. With the shield’s new vines blocking out most of the moonlight, our world had fallen into darkness, so Adonis had created glowing orbs to give us a bit of light. They now hovered above the army of demons, casting a golden glow over them.
I hugged myself tightly. Adonis and Rosalind had already taken off. Right now, they were on a reconnaissance mission, looking for traps and patrols around the City of London before our arrival.
Before she’d left, Rosalind had transformed our forces from a horde of emaciated humans into something quite terrifying. Along with their demonic bodies came demonic magic. They could now shoot arrows with precision and fly above the angelic forces. Each of them had a weapon laced with Devil’s Bane.
Granted, Metatron could break all those weapons apart. But it would be my job to keep it all together.
I scanned the army, my gaze trailing over Alex, whose dark incubus wings swooped behind him. His pupils twinkled like a night sky. For a moment, I felt a chill looking at him—until he broke into his charming smile.
Hazel sidled up to me, then jabbed me with her elbow. “If you can make the angels mortal again, I can burn them all to death with Uthyr.”
I shook my head. “If I had time to practice, I could make them all mortal, but I don’t think it’s going to happen today. The Old Gods only care about one thing: ridding the earth of the horsemen. When I use the light magic, Adonis might end up dead, or anything could happen. The best we can do for now is lay them out with Devil’s Bane until I can get some mastery over the situation.”
She glared at me. “You realize what happens if you take on Metatron and fail, right? Everything dies.”
“Great pep talk—thanks, Hazel.” I bit my lip, and a quiet fear clenched my chest. “Anyway, I won’t let that happen. I’m not going to let you die.” She didn’t need to know the consequences right now. I just felt the need to reassure my little sister. “It will be fine, Hazel. I won’t let anything bad happen to you. I just want you to stay here, behind the shield.”
“That’s stupid. I should be circling the city with a fire-breathing dragon, but instead we’re supposed to rely on
your plants.”
“My plants fixed the damn shield. Anyway, you’re sixteen, Hazel. You’re staying behind the shield.” I took a deep breath. “You’re breaking my concentration right now.”
“What are you trying to concentrate on? Making grass grow in preparation for the big battle? Must be exhausting.”
I shot her a dirty look. “I have to convince this entire army of angel-hating former humans that they need to follow Kratos’s orders. They agreed to transform into demons, but they don’t yet know they’re supposed to follow the Hunter.”
“Why does it have to be him? I could lead them just as easily. On my dragon.”
“He’s Conquest, Hazel. He was made for this. He can mentally command thousands of soldiers. He can coordinate it all to perfection.”
“So just tell them if they don’t follow his commands, they’ll probably die.”
“I can’t just tell them that. It has to be sophisticated. Like a whole inspiring battle speech performance.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Fine. I’m going inside now. Have fun with your grass magic.”
I loosed a long sigh, looking up at our shield. With the plants threaded through it, the shield now blocked us completely from the angels’ view. No cherubs or sentinels or any other celestial creatures could see us.
Still, we had to march from here into London, and that meant leaving our dome of protection.
I turned back to the army of demons, and my gaze landed on Lila. The resistance leader was crossing toward me. She looked much the same as before, except now she had delicate wings that swooped from her back. Valkyrie seemed a fitting species for her.
“So, Ruby,” she said. “Are you ready to give your little speech to tell them how well you know Kratos, and that he’s actually loving and sweet and all that?”
I shook my head. “Not even remotely ready. Dancing is more my thing than speechmaking, and I honestly have no idea what to say. But I’ll put on a good show if I can.”
I crossed to the tree stump and climbed onto it, staring out at the sea of demonic faces before me. The thing was, burlesque was generally a silent affair. Dancing, fans, sequins, tassels. We weren’t known for our oratory skills. But maybe I could borrow from some of the most inspiring speeches I vaguely remembered from history and English class.
I raised my hands. “Friends. Demons. Countrymen! Lend me your ears, for I have come to….” I couldn’t remember how the rest of that went. “I have come to tell you that, they may kill us, but they’ll never take our freedom!” That made no sense. If we were dead, we wouldn’t be particularly free. “We shall fight on the beaches.”
I cleared my throat. Not my best performance.
“Okay, look. You all want to live, right?” My voice boomed over the crowd. “We are facing an army of immortal angels with superior skills to ours. Kratos is a living embodiment of the concepts of conquest and victory. If he doesn’t lead us, we’ll probably die.” I scratched my cheek. “Oh, yeah, and he will issue those commands in your mind, so if that happens, it’s not a hallucination. Just do what he says.”
The crowd of demonic soldiers began murmuring. I could feel the tension rippling off them in waves, the air buzzing with nervous energy.
I glanced at Lila, raising my eyebrows, and she shrugged.
“So, are we good? Please don’t tell me I have to show you more images of your deaths at Aereus’s hands, because I’m getting a little tired of that.”
I raised my arrow. A sword really would have been better, but I didn’t have one.
“Give me liberty, or give me death!”
I nodded, and a few sad claps broke the silence. I was dying up here.
At the front of the line of troops, Alex raised his sword, his dark wings swooping from his shoulder blades. “We can’t stay within this shield, or we’ll starve. We can’t leave the shield without fighting back, or the angels will kill us by tomorrow morning. Just get us through this night alive. We’ll worry about the rest later.”
I turned, smiling at Kratos. I gave him the “thumbs up” symbol.
Okay, one more try. Maybe what they needed was a little more hope. If their lives were only despair and gloom, there wasn’t much to fight for. Put on a good show, Ruby. Give them something to love.
I raised my arrow. “We’re at the precipice between life and death right now. We have been since the Great Nightmare began—fighting for life among the ashes. We are going to war today for the people we love, and that love will give us strength. Our enemies love no one but themselves, and that gives us the advantage. So, when we’re done, when we finally rid the earth of the angels who don’t belong here, we will rebuild. We will plant fruit trees and vegetables. We will construct our homes again. We will find love and life in the ashes of death.”
Silence greeted me, but I think I’d gotten through to them that time, and no one was arguing.
The golden light of the orbs glinted off Kratos’s body, gilding him. Wordlessly, he took to the skies above the troops. Now, bestowed with an army, his body seemed to glow even more powerfully, his head burning with a halo.
Move to the portal. Already, I could hear him issuing commands in my mind, his voice deep and booming. Being able to fragment attention, to think about a thousand different things simultaneously, must be some kind of angelic ability.
Meet Caine there. Prepare to open it on my command.
Chapter 30
Caine and Kratos flanked me as I stood before the shield, running my fingertips over it. As I touched it, the shield whirled in a spiral like the Milky Way.
I glanced at Caine. “You can help me open up a portal in the shield, right?”
“Everything except that wall of leaves you created.”
“I’ll handle that part.”
For the first time, I saw Caine with his wings—beautiful, black-feathered wings that blended in the shadows behind him. “Adonis is ready for us. The streets of London are clear of angelic patrols. Metatron isn’t expecting us. As the army slips out of this portal, they’ll be cloaked with my shadows. The angelic patrols won’t be able to see us at all.”
My heart beat a rapid tattoo in my chest. “Good.”
I ran my fingertips over the shield again, then met Caine’s gaze. “Okay. Let’s do this, incubus.”
He closed his eyes, and his electric magic tingled over my skin, raising the hair on the back of my neck. I felt my back arching at its power.
Then, I pressed my palm against the shield, envisioning a hole opening within the leaves. I could feel their spirits melding with mine, their vibrations tuning into mine. The leaves whirled away from my fingertips, opening a portal in the shield.
Lead them through the portal. Kratos again.
My footsteps crunched over the leaves, and I listened to the rhythmic marching of the demon army behind us. Kratos somehow had us all marching in time with one another. As we moved deeper into the woods, Caine’s shadows clung to me, whispering over my skin.
In silence, we moved through the forest, slipping through the trees. This was how the High Fae had once fought—firing arrows from behind the cover of trees. Silent, unseen by the enemy. Humans had a term for the sudden blood clots or paralytic seizures that plagued some of the elderly among them: strokes. That came from us—the fae. In the old days, we hid behind trees, shooting arrows into humans who’d wandered into our territory. A fairy-stroke.
And that’s how we’d be taking on the angels today, using the ancient way of the fae. If it went well, they’d be struck down by unseen forces, unable to fight back.
Metatron would try to rip the world apart, and I just had to keep it together.
Caine and I led the troops deeper into the forest. I turned to him as we walked. “Are you worried about what could happen to Rosalind?”
His gaze was icy. “No. She has the power of seven gods. Why? You’re worried about your horseman, aren’t you? He’s the embodiment of death. I don’t think you need to worry.”
&n
bsp; No point lying when we were facing the possible end of the world. “Yeah, but I’m worried about him anyway.”
“I thought you were the only person who could kill him.”
“That’s one of the things I’m worried about. If I have to use the full extent of my powers, Adonis could die. The Old Gods want to rid the earth of the horsemen.”
“You’re glamoured. You look like a human. A creature who wants to be human can’t wield the power of gods.”
“What?”
“I’m a demon. Half-incubus. I know what I am. I seduce, and I kill, and my powers are mine. Do you know who you are?”
At his words, I felt unsteady, like the world was tilting beneath my feet, and my heart began to beat a little faster. “Succubus, fae, human, dancer, spy.” My answer didn’t seem quite as satisfying as it had before.
His glacial eyes shone in the darkness. “And what do you feel when you try to use the gods’ power?”
“My feral side comes out. Canines. Blood. Wrath. The whole nine yards.”
“You’re scared of your feral side. You’re repressing it. That’s why it takes over when you use the gods’ power.”
My pulse began to race, and I started to find myself annoyed. “What are you, some kind of demonic therapist?”
“Don’t think I don’t notice you trying to deflect what I’m saying.”
For just a moment, my mind flashed with a memory I wished I’d kept hidden. My teeth, tearing into my mother’s flesh. I’d left her permanently scarred. Scared of me, even. “My feral side is scary. Of course I’m scared of it. You should be, too, quite frankly.”
“There are angels, and there are beasts. Creatures like us are in between, and you won’t control your powers until you accept both sides of yourself. If you fight your feral impulses, they’ll take over. The Old Gods can sense your weakness, and they will gain control. Believe me—I’ve fought the same battle with the God of Night. My powers came from him, but they’re mine, now, and I wield them how I want.”
Rogue Fae (A Spy Among the Fallen Book 3) Page 17
