by E. A. Copen
“Yeah, real original,” I mumbled. “Why is it always lava? You know, you guys could try something new. Acid baths. Liquid nitrogen freezes. This is like the fifth Hell with lava.”
Two Fallen approached. One drew his flaming sword. I flinched as he sliced at the chains holding us and struck them off. The other held his sword to Josiah’s neck. I had one resting against mine a fraction of a second later.
I lifted my head. “Easy, pal. Not too close. Chicks dig the scruff.”
“Always have something smart to say, don’t you, Lazarus?” Morningstar mused.
Before I could respond, he grabbed Emma by the hair and dragged her to the edge of the pit. I surged forward but couldn’t go any further without slicing my own neck against the Fallen’s sword.
He nudged her so that she was teetering. “Not so irreverent now, are you?”
“Don’t hurt her.” My voice broke. “Don’t hurt her anymore. I’m the one you wanted to begin with. Take me.”
Morningstar sneered. “I want to hear you beg.”
I swallowed and stole a cautious look at Josiah but couldn’t see his face. Despite the sword at his neck, he left his head bowed, eyes closed, lips barely twitching as he whispered a silent prayer. I had promised to buy him time. If that meant I had to beg the Devil for mercy, then so be it.
The Fallen pulled the sword away just far enough so that when I fell to my knees, I didn’t take off my head. “Spare her. Please. I’ll pay any price. Whatever you want, Morningstar. You win.”
Morningstar threw his head back and laughed with Nikki’s shrill voice. “Oh, this is rich! Look at you, on your knees! You’ve come through six hells with men and ghosts by your side only to fail at the seventh. You’re ready to give anything and for what? The broken soul of a dead woman? Why would I give you anything, let alone my prize? Why lick the spoon when I can have the whole cake?”
I hope Josiah is ready because we’re out of time. “Because I know something you don’t.”
The Fallen struck me with the back of his hand and sent my world reeling.
Morningstar stopped laughing and tightened his grip on Emma’s hair. “What’s that?”
I sat up, swaying, and spat blood. “That’s not just a man standing next to me.”
All eyes went to Josiah as his chanting became audible. Power vibrated through the room, forcing the Fallen back a step. Josiah’s eyes lit up brilliant gold. His hands shot away from his body and moved in a circular pattern before his fingers clawed a hole in reality right in front of him.
I covered my ears as the shriek sliced through the air, shaking the palace to its foundations. The braziers fell over, glass shattered, huge cracks appeared in the opaline floor.
Blinding white light shot through the gaping hole. Josiah directed it with two fingers to strike the closest Fallen. The Fallen lifted his sword and held it in front of him, deflecting the light. For a moment, it looked as if the light wouldn’t be enough to kill him. Then, slowly, the fire on his blade died. His sword bent. The light struck him, and he screamed as his armor melted to his skin.
Josiah barked out another word. Two syllables and the Fallen exploded into a thousand bloody feathers floating in the air.
The other Fallen dropped his sword and fled as a pillar of flame ate away the feathers.
“You!” Morningstar snarled. “You brought a Nephilim into my house?!”
I turned and grabbed the sword the Fallen had dropped. The hot metal bit into my palm as if it were covered in stinging bees. I rose and held tight, teeth gritted. The jump across the pit was maybe two feet. I could make it. I could get to her if only—
Morningstar howled with rage and pushed Emma forward. She teetered on the edge a moment, her eyes rising to mine. Recognition sparked just before she plummeted toward the pit of lava.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
I dropped the sword and threw myself flat against the ground and grabbed for her hand. For a tense beat, all I felt was heat and empty air. Then, fingers tightened around mine, and the sudden weight threatened to pull me into the pit with her. With a grimace, I planted my feet against the smooth floor and pulled with all my strength. I barely managed to move her an inch before I slid forward two more. Dammit, I wasn’t strong enough!
Her fingers slipped a fraction of an inch. “Stop it!” Emma shouted back at me. “Let me go before you fall too!”
“I’m not letting you go!” I grunted and pulled harder.
My ribs ached and my arms burned. The heat from the pit below stung my eyes and made tears fall. I lifted with everything I had, but it wasn’t enough. Josiah was no help. After tossing Emma into the pit, Morningstar had summoned his whip and launched a full-on assault on him. It was all Josiah could do to keep moving and take minimal damage.
A chill ran over my back and a spectral form shot down into the pit. His face was obscured by a ridiculous feathered hat, but there was no mistaking it. Jean! Where the hell had he come from? Wherever it was, I was sure glad to see him.
He wrapped his arms around Emma’s waist and heaved while I pulled her back. With a lot of huffing and grunting, the two of us managed to pull her back to the ledge. She grabbed it with her free hand and hauled herself up and out with Jean’s help.
Jean tumbled up next to her and let out a sigh of relief. “Hades and Persephone send their regards.”
I wanted to thank him, but first things first. I crawled over to where Emma sat, shaking and hugging herself. “You okay?”
She turned and threw her arms around my neck, squeezing off the air. “You big idiot. I knew you’d do something stupid like this.”
“Air,” I choked out and patted her shoulder. “Need...air.”
“A little help here, mate!” Josiah shouted and ducked behind Morningstar’s throne.
The whip cracked and sliced through part of the golden throne. Damn, he must’ve been putting some magic behind each strike, making each snap of the whip a deadly blow.
I pushed Emma a little further from the hole in the floor and stood, fists clenched. “Jean, keep her safe. I’ve got something I need to do.”
Josiah needed to be free to work his spell if we wanted to get out of here with Emma’s soul and Nikki’s body, and that meant it was my turn to play bait. Morningstar hadn’t seemed to notice that I was back up. Josiah’d kept him busy ducking behind the furniture on the other side of the room. The Devil was a sitting duck with his back turned to me.
Morningstar spun the whip and cracked it in the air, loud as thunder. The sound brought me back to the first time I’d seen Emma after she went to Hell. She’d been chained to a post like property and beat for no other reason than his amusement. She’d been so unshakable in her faith that he couldn’t break her, that he couldn’t make her scream. He made her give that up, and now he was going to pay for it.
He drew the whip back for another strike.
My hand shot out and closed over the thin cord of hard leather, pulling it back so he couldn’t finish his attack. Morningstar turned, surprise slowly replacing the angry snarl as he realized I was not only back on my feet, but that I had him.
“Scream,” I said and punched him in the throat.
Morningstar let go of the whip and staggered back, grabbing at his neck and making a gurgling sound. He tripped over the red carpet and went down hard on his ass.
I gathered the whip. “You feel that? That’s pain. Sucks, doesn’t it?”
He drew in a loud raspy breath and blinked away tears.
“Well, bitch? I gave you an order. Scream!” I brought the whip up and struck him across the face with it. “Doesn’t feel good, does it?” I drew it back for another strike.
“Wait!” Morningstar stumbled to his knees. The whip had carved a diagonal cut across Nikki’s previously perfect face. He held his hands up in a surrender gesture. “You don’t want to hurt this girl, do you? It’s why you messed up the first time, isn’t it? You know, I’ve kept her alive in here. Her soul’s been awake this whole
time, screaming. Maybe I should let her out?”
He blinked, and Nikki’s face went slack a second. She looked down at the blood on her hands and screamed.
That bastard. He thinks he can hide in there. I don’t think so. Not this time.
I dropped the whip and dove to pick Nikki up by the shirt.
Tears streamed down her face, mixing with the blood. “Please,” she sobbed, “don’t hurt me no more! I’ll go back! I promise! I’ll go back to Darius.”
“Listen to me, Nikki!” I shook her hard. “He’s still inside you, possessing you. I need you to fight. Keep control. I don’t want to hurt you, but he’s not going to give me a choice.”
Nikki slumped forward, still sobbing. The sobs turned into cackling laughter, and she threw back her head howling. Morningstar had regained control already. “Do you honestly think she stands a chance against me? I’m the Devil!”
He landed a punch to my gut. My vision swam, and I doubled over on instinct. The move earned me a hard uppercut that laid me out. Morningstar snarled like a lion and leaped on top of me, pinning me to the floor with his knees. Left, right, left right, the hits came so fast they felt like one long punch. New pain sprouted with each blow: the ache of a deep bruise, the telltale snapping pain of a broken bone. Again and again until my vision split and I saw in twos.
Morningstar pulled away a bloody fist and spat on me as he rose. “Do you know what the funniest part about all this is? You still think you’re one of the good guys. Did it ever occur to you that you might be wrong?”
I couldn’t answer him. Hell, I couldn’t move. As disoriented as I was, I wasn’t even sure what was happening was real.
He continued. “That mentor of yours. What’s his name?”
“P-P...”
“That’s right.” He snapped his fingers, flicking blood onto me. “Pony Dee. He’s the worst of all. All these years you thought you’ve been hunting your little sister’s killer and you never once thought to look at home, did you? The old man fooled you. He got away with it. Cut a deal with me to save his own skin. All it cost him was the life of an innocent, which he paid happily. Just like every human would. No matter how strong you are, you’re all terrified to die and come here. Everyone except you. I mistook it for bravery, but it’s really idiocy that drives you. Only an idiot would come down here willingly.”
He went on, but I’d already tuned him out. Pony...Lydia was Pony’s fault. All magic had a price. He’d need a young trade, the younger, the better. The younger his victim, the more years he would get.
Pony had murdered Lydia to beat his cancer. That’s what he meant when he said I didn’t know what it cost. It cost a young girl her life. He’d fed on her life like a vampire, and Morningstar had facilitated it all.
The realization stung worse than all the punches and the broken nose.
I coughed and turned my head to the side. Emma had found her feet. She was struggling against Jean who held her back, fury burning in her eyes. I’d let her down. I’d come all this way, and now I couldn’t even get up.
On the other side of me, I caught a flash of light as Josiah worked through the last part of his spell. Magic shot through the air and slammed into Nikki’s chest in a silent wave. Her body tensed, pale blue light emanating from her eyes, mouth, and nose. Nikki’s jaw jerked open, and a black, wriggling mass desperately clawed its way out. Morningstar, the real Morningstar, was being forced out of Nikki’s body by Josiah’s spell. I was supposed to do something, but I couldn’t feel my own face, let alone move.
Nikki’s body collapsed and rolled away, leaving the black mass floating in the air. It stretched and fought against the power holding it, shrieking like a dying bat.
Then, the magic exploded in a shower of sparks and shot toward Josiah. It hit him, and he flew back, crashing through the wall. Morningstar had found a way to repel the spell. He was too strong for Josiah to hold.
There were no good options left. Not unless...my hand closed around something small and round in my pocket.
“You think you’re so smart, bringing that Nephilim here.” Morningstar coalesced into a solid, human-like mass and leaned over me. “You’re nothing special. You’re just another idiot with too much power.”
“Maybe I am just another idiot,” I spat, my voice rough, “but I still know something you don’t know.”
His fingers grew into curved claws. “Oh? And what’s that?”
“Loveable rogues like me get a higher dexterity modifier.” I pulled the die Josiah had given me out of my pocket and held it up so he could see. “Roll initiative, bitch.”
With a grunt, I rolled it toward him and prayed to all the dice gods that for once the roll would go in my favor.
The die came to rest between Morningstar’s shadowy feet, a gleaming twenty on the surface. A spark of blue flame lit the die on fire and sent Morningstar turning to flee. Except there was nowhere to go. The blue flame exploded into a three-dimensional cage of pure magic in the shape of a giant twenty-sided die. Bars slammed into place cutting him—and me—off from everyone else in the throne room. He reached the bars and grabbed one only to watch his hand burn away.
Morningstar jerked back with a scream. He held up his burning arm, eyes wild. “What the hell is this?” The flame jumped to the rest of him, consuming him as he stood there screaming.
And when the fire was done with him, it came for me.
The air around me burned so hot, I couldn’t draw breath. Magic vibrated against every inch of me, clawing at my flesh, threatening to tear me apart. Beneath me, the ground rumbled, drowning out my screams.
The power eating me alive was both horrible and beautiful. It moved through the space as if it were self-aware, consuming everything in its path.
Just before I blacked out, I could’ve sworn I saw a face in the flame.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
I came to in a white space dressed in white scrubs, surrounded by light. No, not surrounded by it. Whatever the light was, it was directly in front of me, and so close, I could feel it breathing on me. The brightness of it was so intense, I had to lower my head and focus on the ground. It should have hurt, but there was no pain. In fact, all feeling seemed to have gone except for a strange feeling of warmth and joy.
I’d felt that before. I knew the feeling from early morning walks when the sun rose pink in the sky, and from the first time I’d held Remy. It was in every cup of coffee I’d shared with Emma, and every pat on the back from Pony. Some might’ve called it love, but that word felt inadequate for that feeling of wholeness and rightness. No word in any language on Earth was strong enough.
I stared at the white ground beneath me. I’m dead. Oh no, I’m dead. I can’t be dead.
“Of course you can be,” replied a woman’s voice.
I lifted my head and saw that the light had retreated to float over a woman sitting at a table having tea. No, not a woman. The longer I looked at her, the more her features shifted. First, she was pale and blonde, then dark skinned with black hair. She was male, female, tall, short...Everything all at once. The shock of what I was seeing left me kneeling where I was.
The Being lifted her teacup and sipped from it. “You’re just a man, after all. Like anyone else, your heart beats, and your brain thinks. Stop the beating heart, and you die. Simple as that.”
“I-I don’t...you...who are you?”
“Why is that always the first question?” The Being sighed and stared into the distance. “I suppose introductions make it easier, don’t they? I have a lot of names, young man. You may not like some of them. You’ve met some of my children.”
I swallowed. “Are you God?”
She offered a warm smile. “Some call me that. Some call me a goddess, Elohim, Adonai, Yahweh, the Great Spirit, Tengri, Creator...Endless names for something you understand so little of. But humans have always been so fond of categorization. Call me whatever you wish, but do come sit. Your tea is getting cold.”
I rose on shaky le
gs and walked the short distance to sit at the table, numb the entire way. No matter how I tried, I couldn’t stop looking at the Being as her features shifted. “Your children...”
“My creations.” The Being sighed. “Some of them are more rambunctious than others, aren’t they? The universe works when they’re all working together. When they don’t, things like you happen. Anomalies. I’m never quite sure what to do with you whenever you show up. At least you’ve kept it interesting.”
“I don’t understand,” I said, shaking my head. “Are you saying I’m special?”
The Being reached out to pinch my cheek. “All my children are special, Lazarus. What you want to know is if you’re chosen. Sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t get to play favorites. You’re an anomaly because of what you’ve done, not anything I ever did. Every once in a while, a human does something. Changes things. Shakes ’em up. It’s not always for the better. Take Adolf Hitler. An anomaly, but very bad news. Thing is, you never know which way they’re going to go, but the world is never going to be the same after.” The Being gestured to the teacup in front of me. “Your tea’s getting cold, Lazarus.”
I gripped the teacup and peered down into the perfect brown liquid. “I can’t change anything if I’m dead.”
“That’s true,” the Being agreed with a nod. “But, like I said, I’m not allowed to play favorites. I can’t just send you back, not without a good reason.”
I closed my eyes and lowered my head. What reason did I have that would be good enough to convince a supreme being able to see through space and time? She could hear my thoughts too, so there’d be no point in trying to stretch the truth. I knew I didn’t deserve another chance, no matter how bad I wanted it, and I had nothing to trade.
The Being crossed her arms. “Lazarus, do you ever stop feelin’ sorry for yourself? That heart of yours is fit to burst with regrets.”
