“Get the hell out of here,” I bark. “You’re with child!”
She yanks herself loose. “All the more rage within me to fight.” She takes off, and I lose her in the melee. Bodies are battling it out with one another everywhere I look, furniture is flying, and the beasts are dropping, but not nearly fast enough. It’s hell on earth all over again.
Out in the distance a mob sweeps this way, people—our people.
“Shit,” I pant. A thousand possibilities run through my mind on how they could have known, or how they could have gotten here, but I spot Gage shouting something to them, and it sounds like orders and then I know. It’s Levatio. No one else could have come close to appearing in a moment. Gage had them on standby.
Something akin to a tractor does its best to drive right through my stomach, and I fly back at least fifty feet.
A horrible growl rips from me.
Didn’t see it coming.
But I’ll be damned if I don’t see the next one, and I just might be.
We tackle one beast after the other, and it feels as if they’re multiplying. No sooner do we get one down than ten more appear in its place.
I can’t allow them to take Skyla.
I can’t allow them to take any of us.
Our people need us, now more than ever.
And we are fighting for their lives as much as we are our own.
Our voices thunder to the heavens.
We fight with all that we are.
We roar over the enemy.
This is it, the final battle.
We cannot take a loss.
We won’t.
My rage burns bright as I take on beast after beast and watch as they turn to stone before dropping to the ground, until a damn heap forms beneath me. I scale to the top of their rotting frames and watch the chaos around me.
All of my rage, all of my love for Skyla, our people vibrates through me as I pull back my head and roar with everything in me, and just like that, I’m transformed into the celestial beast Candace designed me to be—the lion.
25
Wesley
Hell rains down on Paragon.
All of it. All at once.
“Laken”—her name cuts from me as I rip the bones from the beast in my arms—“Laken?”
The sky turns black as soot, a veritable midnight right here in the afternoon. Clouds begin to boil as if the sky were about to bubble over, and it’s easy for even the nonbeliever to see this is no mere weather front moving in. This is something birthed in Hell itself, something supernatural, something that spells out death and dying far more than the Grim Reaper or his sickle ever could. This is destruction on a nuclear level.
The entire field is filled with Valkyrie who have managed to tear their razor-sharp teeth into anyone they can find, and judging by the bloodied guests running for cover, they’re getting more than their fill.
I spot Coop slashing at a group of Valkyrie disguised as men, tall, demonic in nature, large eyes, red with rage, and I head in that direction.
The sound of sirens comes from behind, and both Coop and I pause a moment to look in that direction.
“Shit,” Coop bellows my way before continuing his rampage.
In less time than it takes me to land by Coop’s side, Dudley’s estate is crawling with men in blue jackets with the letters FBI boldly written on the back in a shade of caustic yellow.
Gage heads this way, covered in blood, his eyes wild with surprise.
I’m about to shout and ask what the hell now, but it’s as if the entire scrimmage comes to a temporary halt in observance of the feds, at least two hundred strong.
Then, in a burst, every Fem, every enemy of all that is holy and right descends upon them, and in the blink of an eye, bodies are ravaged and the number of the dead grows significantly—not a single fed left standing.
I look to Coop, then Gage, and the fury that ignites inside of us is palpable.
A glowing creature, magnetic and fierce, appears above me. A lion the size of a tank lets out a powerful roar, so loud and violent the ground shakes beneath us.
Gage lets out a roar that rivals it. He holds his arms out and his flesh is traded for scales of iron and onyx wings stretch out fifty feet as he flies to the sky as that horrific beast, the dragon.
I spot Skyla in the distance on the ground, her pink dress splattered with blood, and I leave Coop to do his thing.
“Skyla!” I bellow, my heart lurching because for a moment I think she might be mortally wounded, but those glowing eyes of hers flicker my way and I see her cradling Dudley’s head. His eyes are closed, his inhuman body lifeless. “You’re going to get yourself killed,” I thunder just as a wild jag of lightning goes off in the sky. A roar comes from somewhere up above, but I don’t think it has anything to do with the rain that’s starting to pelt us. “Get the hell inside.” I hoist Dudley up to his feet with every intention of taking him into that mouse trap he calls a home, but Skyla takes him from me by force. She flies straight into the sky with wings that bullet from her back in a display of shimmering glory, and the sight mesmerizes me. She’s holding him, before sinking her mouth over his and it almost looks as if she’s giving him mouth-to-mouth, breathing life into him until that cocky oaf lights up from the inside like a jack-o’-lantern and a set of wings that rival hers in size and girth bullet from his back as well.
I take a quick look around, but it’s all blood and limbs and creatures not of this world.
No sign of Laken. A part of me wants to believe that’s a good thing, that she’s taken the kids and gone for cover. But I know every stubborn inch of that woman. She gave the kids to someone, and she’s doing her best to fight the good fight. That’s Laken in a nutshell, always doing her damnedest to fight the good fight.
“Come on, Candace. Show her to me.” I glance to the sky. “I’m positive your all-knowing ass is watching. Protect Laken. Protect us all.” Screw Candace. I cry out with everything in me, “Take this victory as your own, Lord! Do what you have to do to end this nightmare, for the good of the Nephilim, for the good of the planet.”
I charge six of those demonic bastards Demetri summoned here today, and I have no doubt my father is the biggest beast of them all. It’s a free-for-all, bloodbath, a gorge of flesh and dying for the ages. Fems rain down out of the sky before dissolving into the nothingness they are, the purveyors of evil they’ve become.
“Wesley,” a man’s voice calls to me, and I see Heathcliff trying to pluck a creature that resembles a wooly mammoth with wings off of Ezrina. Her skin is purple, turning quickly blue, and I make quick work of the bastard trying to kill my right-hand gal. But it’s Heathcliff who extinguishes the beast with his bare hands, his own rage far more explosive than mine—not an easy feat at the moment.
A couple of rounds go off from what sounds like an assault rifle.
“Shit.” I glance back, and sure enough, another battalion of feds has arrived. It’s the last thing we need. They’ll take us out and leave the Valkyrie to survive.
No sooner do I complete the thought than a dark, winged creature appears, looking immeasurably like Gage in his serpentine form—but this one is darker, rusted, far more demonic in every capacity. And by his side, each and every Fem we bothered to lock up in Tenebrous, including Barnabas, Belshazzar, and Micah. I knew they’d be back. I just never imagined it would be in such grand fashion.
A fire evicts from the rusted dragon’s mouth, incinerating the new batch of feds that showed before they could process what was about to happen.
A wave of nausea runs through me, and just like that, it turns to a fiery furor that I have never felt before.
I take one Fem after another, all the while watching with my peripheral vision as Gage swoops down and wrestles with the new dragon on the scene. And by the looks of the way they’re twisting and locking horns, it’s almost as if that old rusty beast was trying to distract Gage from the work at hand. The lion roars and gets in on the action, taking a bi
te out the beast’s neck.
It shrieks and bucks before Gage breathes enough fire over the monster to incinerate the entire universe. The chaos around me dies down for a moment as the beast spasms before falling out of the sky and spiraling down in a heap. The ground shakes violently upon its impact, smoke rises despite the driving rain, and what’s left in its wake looks to be the form of a man.
I bolt over. I need to see this shit with my own eyes. My heart races because I have a feeling I know exactly what I’ll see.
Sure enough I find my likeness lying there, limbs splayed out.
His eyes open as he looks my way.
Demetri Edinger morphs back to life, full suit, that obnoxious grin beginning to take over before he lets out a maniacal laugh. The ground around him opens up and fills with what looks to be blood mixed with water as he sinks down beneath it. And just like that, Dudley has a bloody swimming pool on his property courtesy of Demetri’s grand exit.
Thunder growls from above, and I look up to see Dudley warring it out with Skyla by his side as they take on the most grandiose beasts this circus can provide. Logan leaps over to them, devouring the beasts before diving back to Paragon and making quick work of the beasts on the field as well. That haunted crow Holden and his snow-white bride Serena pluck and peck at the Fem Skyla is battling. To my left I spot Natalie and Lexy toughing it out, while slaughtering one of the Valkyrie, and nearby is Liam Oliver doing his best to slaughter the beast in front of him.
And then I see her, standing next to what’s left of the corral, swinging a spirit sword as if it were a baseball bat, knocking down Fems as quickly as they come for her.
Laken.
If I have ever loved her, it doesn’t rival what I feel for her now. I’m about to head her way when I see a Cooper staggering, his left arm hanging by a tendon, his shirt doused in blood as he battles a beast of a Fem who I recognize to be Micah, with his gray skin, lucent black eyes.
“Coop!” I howl, inadvertently garnering Laken’s attention as well.
We fly to him and take on the Fem with everything we’ve got. But it’s Laken who plunges her hands into Micah’s eyes, binding him in a show of celestial force.
Another band of Valkyrie descends upon us, and Laken is quickly thrown to the ground, her face held down in that well of water Demetri left behind. The hell I’m going to let them hurt a hair on her head. I fight, claw, and shout at the monsters until she’s able to get the hell away from their grasp, but it’s me who’s in it now, drowning in the muck and the mire created by my very own father. The irony isn’t lost on me as an arm as strong as steel holds me under in that bloody pool, my lungs struggling for just one breath. My limbs feel weak, my mind grows fuzzy, I can’t muster the anger I need, everything in me is set to panic. It doesn’t end like this for me. It doesn’t end for Laken and me this way.
Something loosens and I’m corked to the surface, plucked out by a bloodied and battered Cooper Flanders. The fury in his eyes is enough to refuel my own as I gasp for a blessed clean breath.
The beasts are charging this way once again. Coop is loose on his feet, his face white as stone, that arm of his flailing like the dead limb it is. Laken lets out a garbled scream as she shouts something to him.
I quickly pluck her off him. “Go find Ezrina,” I bellow as I point to the woods I saw her in last. “He needs help. We’re getting the hell out of here.”
Laken pierces through the sheets of driving rain, bolting to the woods behind us as a blaze of celestial glory ignites in the clearing to my right. It’s an explosion of warfare, a battle of the ages with shimmering creatures that no longer bother to hide their celestial appeal, supernaturally luminescent monsters, Fems, Valkyrie, men, and women.
I see Chloe covered with blood, a cry of anger driving her to take those creatures around her out, and woe to the beasts that step in her path. No one knows her wrath like I do. I see Ellis, Brody, Lexy, Rev the groom. Hell, I see Dr. Oliver in there, Dr. Booth. It’s a who’s who of Paragon’s elite, and no one is above the chaos today. The dragon and the lion battle it out with beasts twice their size as they tumble and rumble with the best of them. No one is immune. Hell has broken loose on the island, and there is no turning back, for any of us.
The Valkyrie head this way, their eyes lit with fire. I count ten of them as they descend on Coop and me at the very same time. We fight, we destroy, we fall victim to their painful punishments. One of the beasts, the one that looks like a rotting clown with razor-sharp metallic teeth, picks me up and I gouge his face right the hell off with my hands. He slams me to the ground so hard, I can’t breathe. I can’t see for a few good seconds.
Cooper takes on three of them, and one by one they dissipate to nothing. The dark clown with his missing face holds up his arm, his hand morphing into a sickle, and I watch as it swings my way, so fast, so very lethal. It’s a thing of horror, and I am certain this will be the death of me.
A body knocks me out of the way. And soon, Cooper is twisting its head off with a one-handed move. The creature shrieks and slices that sickle right at Cooper Flanders’ chest.
Shit.
A righteous roar bucks through me as I jump to my feet and drive my fist right through its body, and in a blaze of nuclear glory it explodes, lighting up the sky like fireworks on the Fourth of July.
The area around us grows strangely calm, and a dull laugh bucks through me.
“We did it,” I shout as I look back to Coop lying on the ground, his body shaking, gyrating out of turn. His eyes look straight into the void above as if he was watching this world recede and paradise appear.
“Hey,” I belt it out, angry. “Get the hell up,” I thunder as I kneel down and pull him to me. His left arm dangles like a raw piece of meat, lifeless by his side. “Cooper,” I bellow over him until his eyes meet with mine.
And I know.
It hits me like a hammer exactly how serious this is for him.
Laken appears with Ezrina and Heathcliff, and right behind them are Skyla and Dudley.
“Oh, Cooper.” Skyla wraps us all in her wings, and in a moment we disappear in a blaze of heated glory.
The lab at Whitehorse materializes around us as Ezrina shouts orders.
“Hang on, you bastard. I’m not through with you,” I howl over at Coop as I land him on a gurney in that glass casket graveyard Ezrina has in the back of the lab. Empty tubes of blue keeping solution fill the cavernous room, giving it an ethereal hue, making Coop look dead as a doornail, and the sight of it makes my stomach turn.
“Cooper!” Laken cries, frantic by my side.
Coop’s left arm falls off the side of the gurney and nearly rips off his body entirely. I quickly pick it up and land it over his torso.
“Coop,” I bellow as his eyes struggle to open.
He looks to me then Laken.
“I’m dying,” he says, his voice cracked and rough as gravel.
“You’re going to live,” I shout it like a command right over his face. “Fight, dammit,” I yell as Ezrina, Heathcliff, and Skyla quickly gather supplies.
“I can heal him. Take my blood,” Skyla shouts as she grabs a scalpel off a nearby table and holds out her wrist as she positions herself to slit it.
“Ms. Messenger.” Dudley thunders her name and she stops cold, her eyes meeting with his as they engage in an unspoken conversation. Skyla bolts to Laken’s side, and the reality of what this must mean gives this moment a surreal effect.
“No,” I shout once again. “You do not leave us.” My words choke me with emotion. “You fight for Laken. You fight for your kids. You don’t get to give up like a damn pussy. You hear me?” I grab for his shirt and end up with a fistful of blood instead.
A smile swims on his lips as his body begins to convulse, and even Ezrina has ceased in her efforts to help him.
“Wesley.” Coop winces, as blood runs down his face in lieu of sweat. “You’re a brother to me, man.” His body bucks as he winces. “Love her. Take care o
f her.” He grunts hard as his eyes shift to Laken and she all but falls over him. I hold her up in an effort to stop her from inadvertently killing him, to keep her from drowning in his blood.
“Laken”—he chokes out her name—“I love you so damn much. Take care of the kids. I love you all so much. I’ll always be with you.” He glances my way. “It’s okay. Go to Wes. Keep strong. I’ll wait for you.” His head ticks to the side, his eyes roll into the back of his head as his body ceases to move, and his chest depresses one last time as Cooper Flanders expires his final breath.
Laken and I cry out over his body, we command for him to return, to never leave us, and we tell him that we love him. We sob like children in great distress.
The room gives a soft rumble, and we calm ourselves a moment to process what fresh hell this might be. And before we can say a word, the room fills with a soft glow as Candace Messenger appears in all her ethereal glory. Her white flowing gown shimmers like a star as she holds out a hand his way.
A spasm of electric blue light explodes in the room before softening, and then we see him. Cooper Flanders rises out of his body like a ghost, a spiritual phantasm forever free of his earthly chains, his countenance shining and new, not a single wound to call his own, not a hair out of place. He is holy and right, and everything in me demands to trade places with him.
“Don’t cry.” Cooper wipes the tears from Laken’s eyes. He takes up her hand and places it in mine, bringing them both to his lips. “I love you.” He looks to Laken then me. “I love you both.” He nods to Laken. “This isn’t goodbye. I can promise you that. I’ll make sure I’m still in your life. There’s no stopping me from it. But for now I have to go. I will see you again. This much I know is true.”
The room grows dark as Candace and Cooper evaporate to nothing.
Laken lets out a ferocious cry. Her body twists with grief, and I catch her before she hits the ground.
All I hear are Laken’s protests, mine as well.
Roar of the Lion : Celestra Forever After 7 Page 53
