by E. A. Copen
“I wonder,” she panted, “when you die with only part of a soul, how long it takes to break it down in Hell. A month? A year? Whatever torture you endured before will be nothing compared to what’s in store for you this time, sweetheart.” She caressed my face and raised the broken blade. “See you in Hell.”
“After you, bitch.” I lifted my hips off the ground, threw my legs up, and strained my back to lift her weight. She struggled and tried to get away, but I lifted her too fast. She fell forward, tumbling over my head into the elevator shaft and down fifty stories. The momentum forced me to flip in after her, holding onto the ledge. My head swam. Nausea surged as the world turned upside down. My fingers slipped and, for a moment, I floated in dead air before I came down again and caught the ledge.
My heart pounded in my chest as I scrambled to pull myself up and out of the elevator shaft to safety.
The stairway door burst open, and two men in black body armor came through. Red dots danced on my forehead. “Get on the ground! Hands on the back of your head!”
I tried to comply but didn’t move fast enough. They pushed me down, flat on my face, and held me there at gunpoint until a woman in white stopped, her white heels an inch in front of my face. I glanced up at her and spied the red hand pinned to her suit jacket. God’s Hand.
She smiled. “Hello, Ms. Morningstar. I have a proposition for you.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
JOSIAH
I pressed my back against the wall and glanced up at the reflective lens in the corner. A camera sat behind it, recording everything I did, but I wasn’t concerned about human security. Too late for that. Aside from the mess in the lobby, and whatever was happening on the fiftieth floor between Khaleda and Noelle, I’d had to take out two more demons when the elevator stalled on the eighty-seventh floor. After that, I decided to take my chances with the stairs for the last six stories. I’d ditched the gun and climbed the stairs.
Two demons stood guard at the roof access door, one on either side. The lens distorted their faces, but they were on alert. I could take them out the same way I had the last few. Call on the heavenly light in my blood, melt them from the inside out. Yet if I did, I didn’t know how much I’d have left to throw at Danny. I was knackered from the four demons I’d already taken out.
I could use Milly’s help right about now. But she’d been too tired to be of any assistance, so I’d sent her with Reggie. Once I texted that I was clear of the elevators, they should’ve left the control center to go run my special errand.
Focus, Josiah. Milly and Reggie’s errand should be the least of your concerns right now. I had demons to deal with. As much as I wanted to destroy them, I had to save my strength.
I pushed off the wall and walked around the corner, my hands raised in surrender.
The demons lifted their guns and pointed them at me.
“Easy, fellas. D’ya know who I am?”
“You’re a dead man,” the one on the right growled.
“Maybe, but I’m pretty sure Danny-boy’ll be mad as a cut snake if you do the honors yourself. See, he wants me for his sacrifice.”
They exchanged glances. “This is a trick.”
“What if it is? Would you rather let me trick you or kill you? Today’s ladies’ choice, fellas. I’ll let you decide.”
They stared at me a moment before the one on the left bared his teeth. “We’ll let Monahan decide what to do with you.”
I didn’t fight them as they grabbed me, or as one zip-tied my hands behind my back. The other gave me a pat-down and declared me clean. I felt like a trussed-up turkey by the time they jerked open the roof door and pushed me through.
Cold wind bit my face and pushed hair away from my face. After the climb, my face was damp with sweat, making the cold a welcome change at first. That quickly changed as I adjusted to the freezing temperatures.
Huge metal fans sat inside giant rectangular exhaust ports. Snow piled around them as if it had been pushed there. Plastic snow shovels were piled in one corner where several guards milled around. Their eyes burned against my skin.
Danny stood at the opposite end of the roof, a stone’s throw from the edge. He’d put on a suit and tie for the occasion. Red tie. Always did look good in red. He held Decimus against him, a knife to the angel’s throat. The bastard looked like he’d put up a good fight though. Someone had carved up his face, slicing a sealing spell on his forehead. Decimus couldn’t leave his body so long as the sigil was intact, and he wouldn’t be calling down any heavenly powers either. He was sealed inside, unable to act. Which meant the poor bastard he was holding a knife to wasn’t Decimus at all, but August Jessup. The fool had no idea what was going on. He was crying.
“That’s far enough,” Danny shouted.
The demons grabbed my shoulders, halting my advance.
I tilted my head to the side. “Danny, what’re you doing, mate? You know you can’t just slit his throat.”
Danny stared at me. The look on his face… It was the same look he gave me when I followed him down to the street after our duel eighteen years ago. Betrayal. Hurt. I’d let him down. “Aren’t you going to tell me there’s still time to stop this madness? Try to talk me down?”
“Tried that once. Didn’t work out so well for either of us, now did it?”
“No, I suppose not.” He had a hint of sadness in his voice, as if he were expecting me to try again. He thought I’d given up on him.
Don’t worry, Danny-boy. We’re in this together until the end now, no matter what happens. “I know what you did. The deal with Winter, the snow, all of it. All you need is the divine power to kickstart it all, and since you don’t have any yourself, you think you can borrow a bit from Decimus. If that’s your plan, you know that knife isn’t going to do you much good.”
“That’s right.” Danny shifted the knife against Decimus’ neck and walked him forward several paces before pushing him to his knees. “Only the divine can kill another divine.”
“Please!” shouted August in a strained voice. “Please don’t kill me!”
I shook my head. “Sorry, mate. I don’t think there’s a version of this where you walk away, no matter how this goes down.”
Danny spun the knife so the handle was toward me. “One more chance, Josiah. You’ve had your fun. You’ve run all over this city and seen the shit it’s got to offer. After all your hard work, no one gives a damn about you. In fact, even if you succeed in stopping me, you won’t walk out of this building a free man. The police have us surrounded, and you’re a wanted terrorist now.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Terrorist, is it? When did I get that upgrade?”
“When you destroyed an occupied building. My building.” Something dark flashed in Danny’s eyes. “I made some calls. Gave some damning testimony to the police this morning about a deranged Australian who’d been radicalized by a recent trip to the Middle East. It’s easy to spin that tale here these days. Paranoid bunch, New Yorkers. Your life is over. You can either rot in an FBI torture prison, or you can reinvent yourself. Be who you were always meant to be.” He put a foot on Decimus’ back, forcing him onto his face. “Come on, Josiah. Heaven’s spat on you your entire life. Help me, and we can make them pay for it.”
I turned to look at the guards on my left and right. The wind picked up, chilling the side of my face until it was numb. Here goes nothing. “Why?”
Danny lowered his hand slightly. “Excuse me?”
“I said, why? Why would I help you when I could be you?” I raised my voice to make sure I was heard over the wind. “I’ve already proven myself, more than you have. I’ve killed more demons and angels than you. I’ve survived your assassins, your Winter Knight. And the succubus you were so desperate to get to support you? She’s mine.”
Danny’s eyes widened. His arm sank to his side, his face going slack. “What?”
I took a step forward. “That’s right. She’s in my corner now, Danny-boy. I have her full support to do
what I please. I don’t even need you. I know how your spell works, and you need me to make it work unless you intend to kill me, which you haven’t got the balls to do. Otherwise, you’d have done it already. Look at you.” I shook my head. “Lovesick. Broken. Pining for a romance that never was. You wanted so bad for it to be true, you set all this up. You’re not fit to rule Hell. You’re not even fit to run the demons of Manhattan. I’m more fit than you’ll ever be.”
He stood there, the shock evident on his face and in the tightly coiled muscles of his shoulders, the loose grip he had on the knife.
Come on, Danny. Take the bait.
His breathing quickened, and his eyes darted back and forth. I braced myself as he screamed in rage and drew the blade of his knife over Decimus’ neck. Blood spurted, and the body fell over, but Decimus wouldn’t be dead. Just out of the game for a minute or two. Danny pushed Decimus aside and charged me with the knife.
I dodged to the right and backed away, weaving left when he slashed at me again. “A knife, Danny? Come on! What’s the matter? Still know you can’t beat me with magic?”
“I’ll kill you!” he screamed and slashed again.
I lunged to the right again only to have some of his goons grab me and push me back. The cold metal of Danny’s knife bit into my side and sank deep. I tried to gasp in a breath, but the cold seized my lungs, and I couldn’t get any air.
Danny looked down at his hand on the knife, watching as my blood spilled onto his hands. “Shit!” He jerked the knife out.
I tried to take a step but wound up falling to my knees. Bastard must’ve hit something important. I couldn’t get a good breath to save my life.
Danny grabbed a gun from the nearest goon, pointed it at the one that had shoved me into him and pulled the trigger, putting two rounds in his head. The body dropped, and he kicked the head so hard bone snapped. “This is my fight! The next one of you assholes who interferes gets it worse! Do you hear me? Don’t you fucking touch him!” He spun around with the gun, pointing it at all the demons gathered on the rooftop.
They lowered their guns and took a step back.
When he was sure they weren’t going to get involved, he came back to me and knelt in front of me. “Shit, shit, shit! Dammit, it wasn’t supposed to be like this!” He jerked my shirt up and put a hand over the bleeding wound.
I was losing enough blood to be dizzy, but I forced myself not to fall over. It’d stop soon enough. “How’d you think this would end, Danny?”
He put the back of his hand against his nose, staining it with my blood. Danny’s eyes were red. “I don’t know. Not like this.”
“Doesn’t have to.” I gasped for another breath. It stabbed my lungs and pushed more blood out my side. “Cut me loose. Put away the knives and the guns. Let’s finish this…the way we should’ve eighteen years ago.”
He considered it and shook his head but said nothing.
“C’mon, mate. Easy terms. Last man breathing wins. I win, New York lives to rot another day. You win, we’ll be together in Hell this time tomorrow.”
His throat worked. “No tricks?”
“No tricks, Danny. Just magic.”
Danny looked around the rooftop as if he just realized where he was and the enormity of what was happening. Fear touched his face. There was a time I’d have stood by him and said fuck the angels. Fuck Heaven, Hell, and everything in between. We deserved a chance to be happy. But life wasn’t about getting what you deserved. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be on that rooftop trying to save the ungrateful assholes of New York from the man I used to love.
He sniffled. His voice was small and raw as he choked out, “Yeah. Okay.”
Danny slid the knife between my wrists, sawing through the plastic zip tie. Then he helped me to my feet. “Ready the circles.”
One of the demons stepped forward. “Sir—”
“I said ready the damn circles! Am I your king, or aren’t I?”
The demon glanced from Danny to me, his expression uncertain. Then he turned and walked to the other side of the roof where two silver hoops had been propped up against another exhaust port. Danny had come prepared. That just further re-enforced my theory that he cared more about a rematch than winning. Poor man was stuck on that rooftop eighteen years ago, unable to move forward. He was willing to destroy the whole city for his chance to try again.
The demon placed one circle on the ground in one corner and walked across the roof to drop the other one there. “Ready.”
Danny walked me to the first circle the demon had placed. Even if I hadn’t been dizzy from blood loss, I would’ve felt queasy that close to the edge. Ninety-three stories was a far drop. I closed my eyes and held them closed until I was facing away from the edge.
He left me there in the circle and walked back to his own. “Josiah Quinn!” he shouted over the wind as it whipped his coat around him. “Are you ready?”
My heart sank into my toes as I realized he’d recreated the scene almost exactly. The silver circles, the audience… He’d even used the same words Christian used.
I lowered my hand away from my bloody side and flexed my fingers. “I’m ready.”
Danny’s face lit up as if he were two decades younger and still invincible. “Then let’s begin.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
JOSIAH
According to Christian, a duel between equally matched wizards had rules. Always stay inside your circle. Face your opponent and stick to magic. No outside weapons allowed.
Danny handed his knife off to one of his henchmen and shrugged off his coat, tossing it aside. He swept his hands in a circle, moving with the determined grace Danny’d always had when he used his power. A grid of thick, white magic appeared in a dome before him, the shield I would have to get through to score a hit. He’d been working on it since our last bout. This one was more solid, stronger. I could feel the buzz of it from where I stood.
Don’t hold back, Danny had said on the rooftop before. I can take it. He had to know I’d never go all out against him. How much did he know about what I could really do?
Time for a demonstration, Danny. I pulled my bloody hand away from the wound in my side and swiped three fingers through the air, drawing a diamond shape. Blood flowed out of me, answering the call and filling in the space I’d just marked out. With a push of will, the disc of blood expanded, creating a point in the center.
Danny raised his chin. “A blood shield?”
I forced myself to smile. “Christian did always say my power was in my blood. It only took me another five years after I killed him to learn he meant it literally.”
The problem was, the more blood I drew out of myself, the weaker my body became. I couldn’t hold it, not if the wound sealed, and I couldn’t use it if I wasn’t bleeding. In a way, Danny’d done me a favor, stabbing me. I was probably a dead man walking, but I was going to do my damnedest to take him with me.
Danny made a fist. Light pulsed inside his closed fingers once, twice, then shot out in an electric blue beam of energy no wider than a pencil. The spell slammed into my blood shield and vibrated down my arms. I gritted my teeth and held the spell as he added another needle of magic. Then another. With each new lance of power, my shield shuddered and caved. The edges shrank as the spell compensated, pulling blood from the edge to fill the holes Danny was making.
“You can’t hold it,” Danny shouted, adding yet another lance. “Fight me, Josiah!”
He pulled back the smaller beams of power and formed them into one focused blast. It hit me with enough force to make the whole shield disintegrate and knock me onto my back. My head hit the edge of the circle and bounced off. Christ, that hurt. I was still wincing in pain when the next spell hit me, a graceful arc of red-hot power that encased my body and bit into every nerve ending. The magic clawed at my skin, peeling it away and crawling inside to stab like a thousand needles at my insides. If I thought I knew pain before that moment, I’d been wrong.
I fought the agon
y coursing through me long enough to slam my palm to the rooftop just outside the circle. Sticky blood cooled, a stranger’s blood. Human blood. The power in me recoiled at the impurity of it, revulsed by the very idea of mixing, but I forced it, infusing the human blood with my own.
August’s dead eyes stared back at me from just a few feet away. The blue sheen of Decimus’ soul flickered inside, awoken by the power. Come on, you angel bastard. Heal. Get up.
Danny sent another, stronger pulse of pain magic into me. “Get up and fight!”
My body spasmed, pulling my hand away. On instinct, I unleashed a blast of blue angel fire to strike Danny’s shield. It wasn’t enough to break it, but it did force him to redirect his energy into holding and repairing the shield.
I tried to stand, but the stabbing pain in my side was so intense, I couldn’t rise past my knees. I fell forward, pressing my bloody palms against the concrete and pushed with my power. A wave of concussive energy flew from the front of the circle, tearing up the rooftop as it moved toward Danny. He snarled and swept a hand aside, deflecting the blow. He was so busy doing that, he didn’t see the second one right behind the first. It tore his circle from the ground and pulled his feet into the air. His head landed on the edge of the building and he lay there, covered in chunks of rooftop concrete and twisted hunks of his silver circle.
A beat of time passed before he groaned and shifted. I’d dealt a serious blow, but he wasn’t dead yet. In a moment, he’d be back on his feet and ready to hit me with everything he had. I had to move fast.
I dipped my fingers into the blood flowing down my chest. My whole side was wet with it. “I call upon Vinè, prince of Hell, master of the deepest pit, sire of all storms. With this sacrifice, hear my words and lend me your power.”
