As I aimed my bow down into the cold night, terror snuck in hard and fast.
Half a dozen nymphs were gracefully climbing the solid exterior of the cathedral.
28
“Raphael?” I called without taking my eyes off the advancing demons. “Nymphs. Lots of them. Any suggestions? This isn’t exactly the best angle for aiming under the breast.”
Something slammed against the tower door. Yulian faltered in his foreign chanting but fell back into rhythm as I whipped my head around to check on the door.
Raphael’s long fingers were wrapped over the door handle. He grunted, leaning into the door with his shoulder. “Aim for their eyes. If you hit the right spot, you might get in.”
“Might?” I barked, pulse speeding. Might would get us all killed. Might wasn’t the answer I needed.
Raphael huffed. “They’re not exactly God’s creatures, Gadreel. Just aim for the eyes and pray!”
Dom chuckled as she heaved her bloody pickax off the floor and moved to help Raphael block the door. “Does prayer get us very far, Agent of God?”
I turned away from the two of them and blew out a breath as I aimed my bow at the closest nymph.
More banging from outside the door almost covered up Raphael’s response. “Prayer can do anything, Dominika Vasiliev.”
Dom’s gasp cut me to the core. I should have warned her that Raphael wasn’t just some normal “agent of God.” He tapped into the great divine, into the web that connected all. Of course he would know Dom intimately.
“How did you know that name?” Dom snapped.
I took my eyes off the nymph. Dom stood with her viciously sharp dagger pointed at Raphael’s face, the pickax resting on her shoulder in her other hand. She looked dangerous and ready to sink either one or both of her weapons into the angel.
“The Vasiliev family has been dead for more than twenty years,” she went on through gritted teeth.
“I know,” Raphael responded, voice easy and calm. “The Vasilievs are in our company. Looking down upon you.”
Dom stepped backwards, wobbling on her feet. She caught her balance immediately and hardened her stance. “Do not say that name.”
“It is your name.” To be fair, Raphael seemed fairly confused over the level of Dom’s vitriol.
“It was my name. It hasn’t been for more than twenty years.”
“It will always be your name, Dominika,” Raphael said gently. “Death is only the end of corporeal life. It does not end one’s legacy.”
“My legacy is with this man!” Dom roared, pointing at Yulian.
“Can we not do this right now?” I snapped, cutting in before I had to break up infighting and kill a dozen nymphs. “Trust me, I’m sympathetic to your plight, but half an army of demons are about to come through this window, and I’m low on arrows. You wanna help me or rip out the Seraph’s eyes?”
“Can I do both?” Dom asked.
I laughed. “If we live through this, I’ll happily support you in that endeavor.”
“I’m feeling the love, Gadreel,” Raphael said, rolling his eyes.
Dom joined me at the window, her fingers wrapped so tightly around the hilt of her dagger that her knuckles had turned translucent white. She let the pickax fall to the floor at her feet.
“Vasiliev, huh?” I asked, lowering my voice for some semblance of privacy, considering what a hot button topic this was for her. “You didn’t tell me your family was named for the saint of this church.”
Dom stared at the swarm of demons coming ever closer. “I am, unfortunately, named for the old fool.”
“Old fool or not, Vasily was a good man. He stood for kindness and compassion. For charity. Looking out for one another.”
“Hear, hear!” Raphael said from the door.
Dom rolled her eyes. “Shut up, you winged freak. Vasily was also always half naked and mad,” she added. “Not the ancestor you tell your kids about.”
“There is that.” I took aim again and fought the urge to back away, to leap off the windowsill and flee as the undulating bodies of the nymphs drew nearer.
“How’s your shoulder?” I asked.
“Not bleeding anymore. I’ll live.”
My voice was low and steady when I spoke again. “If we die, I want you to know that last night wasn’t just a one-time thing for me.”
“Good. Then I hope we don’t die,” Dom replied, crouching as she prepared for infiltration. “So we can do it again.”
I could see the nymphs’ blank faces now. St. Basil’s wasn’t exactly a short cathedral. It was the tallest remaining structure in Kremlin. Even a nymph couldn’t survive a fall like that.
I paused, floored by the thought. We could take out as many as possible just by shaking them free of the building. I said as much to Dom.
Dom looked suitably impressed by my smarts. “We have a few pieces of furniture.”
“Some of which are helping Raphael hold the door,” I pointed out.
Dom glanced back at the Seraph. “You’ve got that, right?”
“Um—”
“Great, we’re going to take the desk.” Dom strode across the room and started dragging the old metal desk towards the broken wall.
“By all means,” Raphael said drily. “I’m beginning to question my decision to help.”
“Don’t lie,” I replied, tossing my bow over a shoulder to grab the other end of the desk. “God’s watching.”
It took a lot of grunting and groaning, and I was certain I pulled something in my groin, but we got the desk over to the edge of the wall. We leaned over to watch it plummet towards the nymphs, then cheered when it took out six of them in one fell blow.
Dom offered up a high five. “Great idea.”
I slapped her palm. “Chairs next?”
While the three broken chairs did maneuver nicely to knock a few more beasts off the face of the cathedral tower, we only had three. After the last sailed into the mass of demons and then soared into the dark, swirling snow, we were out of big ammunition.
I climbed back onto the edge of the wall and took aim. “We’re down ten, at least. That’s better odds.”
Dom hefted her pickax and fell into a ready stance beside me. “No such thing as good odds against nymphs.”
“Eh. Let’s prove that wrong.” I grinned and let loose my first arrow.
I exhaled, watching the arrow fly true. It hit with a meaty thwack in the nymph’s nonexistent eye socket. The demon lost her grip on the wall and fell, her pale naked form disappearing into the darkness beneath, swallowed by the swirling snow.
“Nice shot,” Dom said with admiration.
“Thanks. I work out.”
She rolled her eyes.
Five more arrows; five more fallen nymphs. But from the inky void beneath the advancing crowd, more blank faces appeared. I only had three arrows left. They were coming too fast.
I pulled my dagger. “Here we go.”
And then the demons were on us.
I slashed at the first two demons to slither over the wall. Beside me, Dom swung her pickax with ferocity and lodged it deep in a nymph’s face. I felled two of the beasts before the third gripped my hand and yanked, climbing me as easy as she’d climbed the cathedral walls.
I lost my balance, pitching forward under her solid weight. Before I could fall into the void beneath the window, Dom grabbed my jacket and jerked me backwards into the tower, the nymph riding me all the way to the floor.
I jammed my dagger beneath her breast and yanked up, cold blue blood spilling over me. I shoved her body away and rolled to my feet, readying myself for the next wave of demons.
Readying myself for the possibility of death.
I sent three more nymphs back into the heavily snowing sky before they could breach the windowsill, but as the biggest horde of demons reached the window, we were overwhelmed by the sheer number. I knifed one, and then received a devastatingly rock-hard blow from another and hit the floor like a sack of meat. I sh
ook off the disorientation in time to watch Dom stumble as a nymph dug her claws in her gut.
The scream that bubbled out of me didn’t feel human. My possible concussion cowered in the face of my rage. I launched to my feet and used one shoulder to tackle the nymph, dragging her vicious claws from Dom’s skin.
The nymph hit the floor, my knee in her throat. I jammed my dagger in her eye and yanked it out to a spurt of unearthly blood.
I didn’t take the time to celebrate my kill. I left the dead demon on the floor and raced to Dom’s side as she sank to the floor. I caught her by the waist and guided her gently down.
She stared in astonishment at her hands, now covered in blood. “That bitch!”
“Raphael!” I snapped over my shoulder. I drew an arrow and aimed, then took three more nymphs down before they could crest the threshold. And with that, I was out of arrows.
“I’m busy!” Raphael grunted. The door had begun to splinter under his arm as the ice demons beat their way in.
I ripped off my jacket and pressed it against Dom’s wounds. I could see her delicate white collarbone beneath one deep gash. “Can you hold this in place?”
She nodded, one pale hand gripping the coat. “I got it. Keep my father safe.”
“I’ll do my best,” I told her.
Half of my attention stayed with her. I wanted to tell her to run, to get the hell away from this madness before it killed her, but I knew she wouldn’t go. She wouldn’t leave Yulian, even if the cathedral began to burn.
So I wouldn’t either.
I caught two more nymphs as they slithered over the windowsill, taking one out through the eye and the other through the rib cage. But they kept coming, so many of them, one after another, until there were three, four, six. I could hear Dom’s pained breathing from the floor, Yulian’s chants, Raphael’s grunts as he held the door shut against the ice demons’ assault.
We were going to lose. I couldn’t hold off this swarm by myself.
We were so fucking dumb. Dumb to think we could do this alone. Dumb to think we could survive this, to think we could defeat Belias and her never-ending army.
I fell back under the weight of a nymph, strong fingers digging into my neck. I jammed the dagger into her ribs, but the angle was wrong. It glanced off her bones instead of sinking into her heart.
“Gadreel!” Raphael’s cry came from far away.
I sensed more than saw when he lost control of the door. Wood splintered, and a cold blast of demon air burst into the room. A golden sword swung over my head, and the blade sank into the nymph’s face, slicing neatly through the skin where her eyes should have been.
Raphael yanked the nearly headless demon off me, and I sucked in a desperate, thankful breath.
“Dom!” I gasped, my heart in my throat. I stumbled to my feet, seeking her in the room.
I couldn’t see her. The room had filled with demons, and an ice thug gave me a smooth uppercut, sending me flat on my ass. Raphael’s golden sword sliced through the air, music singing from the blade, but it wasn’t enough. Just like God was never enough to save us from the demons.
I rolled to my knees. How many times had I done this, shaking off a blow or the fire of demon fingers in my neck? I tried to get to my feet, but another ice demon shoved me, the sharp icicles on his thick forearm slicing into my chest.
I hit the stones. There were demons everywhere, all over me, all around me. I dodged a heavy set of boots, and another. I found my knees and I crawled, scrambling for safety.
Yulian held his hands to the ceiling, his eyes closed. His voice, I could hear it—loud and commanding. The bone sword lay on the altar, bathed in blinding golden light.
Like Raphael’s divine sword.
I stumbled to my feet. Protect Yulian.
The demon lurched from nowhere and everywhere. She wasn’t there and then she was, her pose almost inquisitive as she faced Yulian inside his magic circle.
Fear struck me. “No. No!”
Yulian opened his eyes. He stared at the nymph for a long moment, the interaction suspended in time. He smiled.
“So mote it be.” His decree shattered the room.
But not before the nymph slammed through his protective circle and sank her claws into his belly.
I screamed, leaping for the beast. A brilliant, all-encompassing white light flashed around us. I felt the energy like a full-force nuclear blast. I flew across the room, bowling into demons and then into the wall. The impact shook every bone in my body, and I sank into blissful unconsciousness.
29
Fingers traced a gentle pattern on my face. Small circles and whirls, achingly sweet in their ministrations. Fingers that seemed as foreign as they did familiar.
I opened my eyes.
Catie smiled down at me. “Good morning, sunshine. Are you ready to save the world?”
I blinked at her. She was propped up on one arm beside me in bed, wearing her usual tank top and denim shorts, a universe of freckles dancing across her chest. I’d once used my finger to connect all those delicate ginger dots the same way her small finger now traced figure eights on my jawline.
“My poor darling,” she murmured, her green eyes darkening. “You’ve experienced so much sadness since we left you.”
I reached up to cease her movements and cupped her hand against my face. “You didn’t leave me. Not on purpose. But I miss you.”
“I know you do. But life must go on, my love.” She shifted, the blankets falling away from her shoulders.
We were in our bed together, the sunshine bright outside the open window. I reached for her and tried to make her lie back down so I could hold her.
She captured my hands in between hers. “Gad. Listen to me. Know that I’m with you every moment. I celebrate your life, because it is still yours to celebrate.”
“What is life without you? Without Gretchen?”
“Life will go on, Gad. As it always has for time immemorial. You have a future waiting for you. But you must survive this last trial.”
“What if I’m not strong enough?”
She laughed, a beautiful, tinkling sound that struck chords deep within me. “Of course you are. You carry the grace and goodness of the divine within you, my love. That is enough to carry you through the valley.”
“Do I?” I murmured. “It doesn’t feel like it. God is gone from Kremlin.”
“He isn’t gone. He’s been misplaced. It’s up to you to guide him back.” She kissed my forehead. The sensation was so warm, so real.
I wanted to bury my face in her chest, cling to her, stay here in this warm bed and non-corporeal plane. Be with her forever.
Except…Dom.
As if she could read my mind, Catie smiled, her fingers gently brushing over my hairline. “I like this woman. Dominika. You cannot hold out for me forever, my love. I’ll be moving on soon, too. To the next plane of existence, where you cannot follow, and I cannot find you.”
I entwined my fingers with hers. “Why?”
“Every life has its season, Gad. When life ends, so must the season. But like any year, seasons change. My season has come.”
“Gretchen?”
“Already gone, my love. You’ll see. She’s on her way back to you right now.” Catie’s lips pressed to my brow, hot, wet, so vivid, so real. “Close your eyes, Gad. Remember me in your dreams, but don’t forget to live.”
I opened my eyes to all-over pain. From the top of my head to the bottoms of my feet, every inch of my body ached as if I’d fallen from a ten-story building.
Dust ricocheted through the air over my head, reflecting the light from stars above. I blinked at the ceiling—where the ceiling should have been. Instead of a ceiling, all I could see was stars. I should have seen nothing but the deep, dark clouds that constantly covered Kremlin Circle.
The ceiling was gone, for sure. But it wasn’t clouds hanging low over the cathedral. It was stars. Brilliant, shining stars like I hadn’t seen in more than fifty years.
/>
I lay on my back, blinking at the stars in confoundment for several long moments before I realized the room around me had fallen silent as a tomb. I sat up quickly, every muscle in my body groaning in protest. I touched a sharp pain in my shoulder, only to draw my hand away covered in blood.
The room was a wasteland of demon corpses—both ice demons and nymphs. Their bodies were burned nearly beyond recognition, their sharp ice angles melted from their rocky bones. The nymphs had reverted to their human forms, nothing more than burned, mangled messes of past humans.
And in the center of it all, where the blast had originated, Dom kneeled over her father.
I shoved to my feet, slipping on the ice demon blood puddling on the floor. My right knee gave out, and I gasped, gingerly taking weight off the injured leg. So I was supposed to conquer the demon queen with a broken kneecap. Awesome.
Dom lifted her head as I drew near. Tears streaked her pale face, shining in the ambient starlight. “He’s hurt.”
I sat on the ground opposite her, groaning as my knee screamed. I pressed two fingers to Yulian’s neck and found a thready but fading pulse.
Suddenly, his eyes opened wide, and he sucked in a deep breath. His irises had faded to a pale white, leaving nothing more than cloudy, unseeing pupils. A gnarled hand reached for me, squeezing my arm with bruising strength. Yulian whispered unfamiliar words—ancient Latin?—and the pain in my knee eased.
His sightless eyes drifted to Dom, and he touched her cheek with his fingers. She clasped his hand against her face.
“My daughter. My little warrior.” His voice was weak and raspy. “Live well, my love. Make me proud.”
“You promised you would never leave me,” Dom whispered, tears spilling from her ice-blue eyes. She gasped and then gritted her teeth. The blood flowing from the open wound on her chest slowly eased and then vanished. The wound knitted closed, followed by the small puncture wounds in her shoulder and arm.
“Oh, my sweet girl. How I wish I hadn’t made such a promise. All things die, Dominika. Even me.” He closed his eyes and took a wet, shuddering breath. When he opened them again, he looked at me. “End this eternal winter, Gadreel. Bring life back to the Circle. Give life back to my daughter.”
The Shadows and Sorcery Collection Page 36
