“Any idea what’s on the other side of that door?” Az said, his tone a lot more lighthearted than my heart felt. Of course, Az was probably hoping there would be danger. He revelled in the fight, far more than the rest of the Order.
“The booby traps,” Lilith said. “I’ll be honest, I don’t know what’s going to happen when we open that door, so be on your highest alert.”
We made it halfway across the courtyard before the bullets started flying. A storm of them pelted us from every direction, slamming into our bodies at a frightening speed. We all screamed and fell to the ground. Or rather, I screamed. The others just kind of gasped and dropped. My warrior training had gotten a little rusty.
But, as it turned out, they weren’t bullets at all. Not human ones anyway. They were little balls of ice. Sharp and cold and seriously painful. I could already feel the welts forming on my skin. They wouldn’t last long, but they still hurt like hell. Luckily, they weren’t fatal.
Az grunted from his spot beside me and shook his head at the carpet of ice bullets that surrounded us. “This is embarrassing. We’re angelic warriors, for fuck’s sake. We can’t cower from some snowballs. Everyone, get on your feet!”
Ah, this was the Az I’d always known was lurking beneath the surface. The Az who yearned to fight and lead. He respected Ramiel, so he always deferred to him, but I knew deep down he wished he was the one in command.
But it took Ramiel’s words to get the other Fallen moving. “You heard Az. Everyone on their feet.”
We all clambered to our feet, tense and waiting for the next round of bullets. Angelic warriors or not, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to getting stung in a dozen more places by that ice.
“Let’s move,” Ramiel said, and then our group began inching forward once more.
Another round of ice bullets shot through the sky. Ramiel shouted and broke out into a run. Gritting my teeth, I picked up my pace, wincing every time one of those demon ice things slammed right into my skin. We finally made it to the red door. Lilith threw it open and dove inside without a moment’s hesitation. We all flew in behind her, stopping short when we saw what rose high before us.
I gasped, choking on my own breath.
“You know…I think I’d rather be out there with the ice bullets,” Lizzie whispered.
“Holy forking shitoodles,” I breathed.
A massive red snake rose high before us. It was as tall as a four-story building, and so long that the end of its tail disappeared out an archway at the other end of the hall. Its long, slimy tongue darted out of its mouth as it hissed down at our open-mouthed group. I tightened my grip on my daggers, holding them high before me, like that would do any good if the snake decided to have any of us for dinner.
“Oh yeah,” Lilith breathed. “Now I remember. The booby trap is a giant snake.”
“You don’t think you could have remembered that?” Uriel asked, his voice a tad more high-pitched than usual.
“I told you everything was fuzzy,” she said. “I knew there was something here.”
“Look,” I said, pointing at the podium that sat at the opposite end of the hall. There was a glass dome that perched on top of it. Inside, there was no mistaking the glittering green amulet that Berith had stolen from us. “It’s the Amulet of the Inferno.”
“Right,” Ramiel said in a tight voice. “So, all we have to do is get past the snake.”
“Get past it?” Az grunted and shoved past Sam to stand beside Ramiel. “Fuck that. Killing it would be far easier.”
“You think that thing looks easy to kill?” I asked.
He twisted his head to glance over his shoulder at me. “No, but do you think it looks easy to sneak by it?”
The snake was now currently staring down at all of us, whipping its head from side to side. Obviously, it was contemplating the best way to strike, which meant we probably didn’t have a lot of time to stand around arguing about the best way to defeat it.
Still, I had a hard time believing that killing it was the answer. That seemed so straightforward, albeit difficult. Berith wasn’t the kind of demon to make anything straightforward.
“This is obviously a demon of some kind, right?” I asked. “A demonic creature?”
“Is that a rhetorical question?” Az asked.
“Sam?” I turned toward the quiet Fallen. “Any ideas on how best to approach this snake?”
Az furrowed his eyebrows. “Why would he have the answers?”
Sam met my gaze, and his lips went tight. None of the others knew that he’d spoken to me about Arkas, and I didn’t want to reveal that unless he did. Still, he’d made it clear that Arkas had been a fan of all creatures great and small, angelic, human, or demonic. And he’d helped Arkas, had been by his side through it all. There was a chance he might have heard something important about demonic snakes. Hell, it was worth a shot.
“She’s asking me if Arkas studied demonic snakes,” he said quietly. “The answer is yes. I know he wanted to trap one. Could have been this one, in fact. These creatures tend to like shiny things, like that amulet. It’s probably why Berith chose him to guard this amulet in the first place.”
Az glared at Sam. “You told her about Arkas? For fuck’s sake, Sam. We all agreed that we’d do it on our own time, and when we were all ready, we’d tell her together.”
“She had questions, Az.” Sam sighed. “I didn’t think it was fair not to give her answers.”
“I can’t believe you, Sam.” Uriel stepped forward. “After all this time of not saying a damn word, you spill our worst secret without the rest of us there? How could you?”
“I didn’t tell her everything. I left your parts unspoken.” Sam turned slightly away.
“Enough,” Ramiel said, his voice firm and insistent. “We’ll talk about this later. For now, we have something far more important to worry about. We need something shiny. Otherwise, we will have to try to kill this snake, and I fear we won’t all make it out alive.”
“Something shiny,” I whispered as an idea popped up in my head. It might not work. In fact, it seemed ridiculous to think it could work. But it was kind of fitting, in a way. If this was the key, the answer, Berith was probably cackling in his grave, thinking how ironic it would be.
Without a word, I turned back toward the door and pushed out into the cold. Immediately, more ice bullets came my way, but instead of ducking and shrieking, I waited them out. Then, I scooped a handful up into my arms and dove back inside.
“Erela, what the hell?” Ramiel demanded. “You can’t just run off without any warning. I ordered everyone to stay together.”
“Why do you have a bunch of ice crystals in your hands?” Uriel asked, raising a brow.
I grinned. “They’re shiny things.”
Realization dawned on my companions’ faces in unison. They all rushed out into the cold, returning only a moment later with more ice crystals of their own. The snake had stopped hissing and whipping its head by the time we all had our handfuls of ice. Slowly, I stepped in front of our group, knelt down, and laid the crystals on the ground before the snake.
“Hello, snake friend. We’ve brought you some gifts. Ice crystals. Since it’s pretty cold in here, they should last for awhile. In return, all we ask is that we can go to the other end of the hall there. What do you say?”
I probably sounded nuts, speaking to this snake as if he could understand my words. But then he bowed his head, let out a light little hiss, and then shifted sideways so that we could pass.
Chapter Thirteen
Erela
“I don’t want any of you to ever doubt me again,” I said, grinning broadly once we’d safely returned to the truck with the Amulet of the Inferno. I tossed it over to Lilith, who clasped it around her neck where it belonged. She’d kept it safe and out of the wrong hands for years. It was time for her to have it back again.
“It’s not time to celebrate just yet,” Ramiel said. Always the optimist. “We may have the a
mulet, but we’re no closer to shutting down the portal. We don’t even have any idea where it might be. Unfortunately, we cannot close it unless we’re nearby.”
“We’ll need to find out if there have been any reports of increased demon activity,” Lilith said, fingering the necklace around her neck as though it were a part of her she’d missed for a very long while. “We should focus our attention on cities. London might be a good bet. I’ve got a radio at home we can use. Hopefully, we’ll be able to find it before it’s too late.”
Back at the house, Captain Rourke stood waiting for us in the drive. When he spotted Lilith through the front windshield, his face broke out into visible relief. I pressed my lips together and tried my hardest not to say anything, but I couldn’t help my eyebrows from arching up to my hair line.
“Don’t,” she said to me in a severe voice. “Don’t you dare.”
“What? I didn’t say a damn thing, Lilith.”
“I know what you’re thinking. And you can just stop it right now.”
“All I’m thinking is that it is very sweet of Rourke to make sure we got home safely. It was also very nice of him to help you heal. With the blood drinking. That made him look as though he’d just experienced something very—”
“High,” she finished, clearing her throat. “It just makes him feel high. That’s all there is to it.”
“High or satisfi—”
“Erela.” She turned to me then, an evil grin spreading across her face. “How is the sleeping situation going? Happy to be alone or was there someone you wanted to share with?”
My cheeks heated. I deserved that, though it only made me feel like shit.
“My bed is empty, and I’ll leave it at that.”
Lilith cocked her head, narrowing her eyes. “Really? But—”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said, shooting a glance at the four Fallen and at Lizzie. They were all pretending not to listen to my conversation with Lilith, but they most definitely were. Hell, they were only standing five feet away from us.
But what could I say? Sam had effectively broken any hope I had of things progressing beyond what they were, and none of the other Fallen had made any move toward my bedroom either. It was as if they’d all suddenly realized that I was some kind of horrible hybrid monster they needed to stay away from.
Right now, my love life sucked.
A knock sounded on my door, and my heart tripped in spite of every effort to stay calm. Had Sam come to see me? Hopefully he wasn’t going to bring up Lilith’s comment. He’d already made it clear that he wanted to keep our lives separate. I didn’t think I could take another conversation full of rejection. There was only so much a girl could take.
Sure, he’d made it clear that he still wanted us to have something. Just not everything. And that hurt.
But it wasn’t Sam at my doorway. It was Ramiel. I wasn’t sure that was any better.
Ramiel and I hadn’t really been alone since our kiss-argument-makeup-kiss-argument-kiss situation. I wasn’t entirely sure why. It had seemed as though we’d finally come to some kind of understanding of each other, despite our tendency of getting underneath each other’s skin. But he’d still kept his distance. For awhile there, I’d thought I might be the luckiest girl in the world and get to enjoy the attentions of four fallen angels. Now, I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to have any of them. Even Az had pulled back in a way. He still flirted with me, sure, but not much more than that.
My shoulders slumped and I shot Ramiel a weak smile as he strode into my room with his hands tucked behind his back. He perched on the armchair beside my bed and watched me sharpening my blades. It was the only thing that was keeping my mind and my heart calm through all of this crazy love drama.
“You did well today, Erela,” he said quietly. “Good job on figuring out Berith’s clue. You can bet that he expected us to fight the creature. That would have ended badly.”
“You’re all great fighters, Ramiel. I don’t think it would have ended as badly as you believe.” I set the daggers and the carving block down on the dresser and plopped into the opposite armchair. “But that’s not why you’re here.”
“What’s going on between you and Sam?” he asked, cutting right to the point. I had to hand it to him. Ramiel knew better than most how to be straightforward.
“Nothing,” I said, doing my best to keep my face blank. “And that’s how Sam wants it.”
He arched a brow. “I’d hardly say it’s nothing, Erela. He spent half his nights on the boat in your cabin, and he was determined that you should have the best room.”
Despite myself, my cheeks heated again. Damn demon fire. I hated that it was that easy to get me so hot and bothered. “You’re right. We had a thing on the boat. I think we might still have a thing now, but it’s purely physical. Sam wants to make sure that we keep a distance between ourselves. No relationship. Just…fun, I guess.”
“You don’t sound as though you agree with what Sam wants,” Ramiel said, lacing his fingers together and leaning back in his chair. The movement highlighted the muscles in his arms and in his chest, the thin cotton material of his shirt clinging tightly to his body. My eyes dipped down briefly before returning to his brilliant blue eyes.
“I guess I thought we had more than that?” I asked with a shrug. “Sam and I have a bond. It’s hard to explain. And besides, it feels weird talking to you about this.”
“And why is that? Because we’ve also shared our own physical affection?”
Man, the way he said it made it sound so clinical. I made a face. “If that’s what you want to call it, sure.”
“Erela.” Ramiel leaned forward and placed a soft hand on my knee. My entire body clenched tight. “I think we’re all finding this difficult, and we don’t quite know what to think or how to handle this. Every single one of us in the Order, we have feelings for you. I do. Sam does. Uriel does. Hell, Az has made it clear on more than one occasion. But we are brothers. We are bonded, too. We would do anything for each other, and we’re terrified of doing anything that might destroy that.”
“And that includes me.” I slumped back into my chair and closed my eyes. The horrible thing was, I totally understood everything he was trying to say, and the last thing I wanted to do was destroy the bond between the members of the Order of the Fallen. A bond I’d seen on display with my own eyes. They loved each other, fiercely. And I didn’t want to be the thing that broke them apart.
When I’d first met them, the whole idea of more than one lover had seemed so exciting, even if it was impossible. Deep down, I knew it would never work. I mean, hell, I’d spent my entire life thinking I’d never even have one male, let alone four. They’d seemed open to it, too, but then…it was as if they suddenly realized that we were all so very close to stepping across a line. Once we moved past it, we’d never be able to step back.
“Historically,” Ramiel said softly, “romances between males and females in an Order are strictly forbidden.”
“I know.” I breathed a heavy sigh. “That was definitely part of our curriculum. I guess I just thought the Order of the Fallen was different.”
“We’re different in a hell of a lot of ways, Erela, but the no-romance rule has it’s place. What happens when more than one of us is interested? Jealousy, anger toward our brethren, competition. What would happen if you and Sam broke up? Anger, irritation, tension. We cannot have that when we’re fighting against enemies that are as powerful as ours are.”
“Because we can’t let anything stand in our way when it comes to our fight against the demons,” I said softly, a tear in my eye.
“Exactly.” He let out a relieved sigh, as if he’d been worried about my reaction. “You understand then.”
I understood, but I didn’t agree. The males of the Order, they made me feel things I’d never felt before. They made me feel stronger, more capable, more alive. They made me feel as though I wasn’t a total freak of nature, that despite my horrible background,
I was still adored.
But I wasn’t adored. At least not anymore. Maybe now that they all knew what I was—a demon—they’d realized I wasn’t worth the fight.
Chapter Fourteen
Ramiel
I paced back and forth in my room. Uriel and Sam popped by, knowing that I’d had plans to speak to Erela. I’d thought the conversation would make me feel better, but now I felt like punching something.
“I take it your conversation didn’t go well,” Uriel said.
“Yes and no.” I grunted and kicked the nearest bedpost. “She looked devastated. I know it’s the right thing to do, for the sake of the Order, but dammit if that didn’t make me feel like shit.”
“Do you think Az will agree to back off?” Sam asked. “He seems inclined to do whatever he wants when it comes to Erela.”
“He’ll back off when I show him this.” I threw the book down on the bed and glared at it. After Erela had translated the information that had led us to Berith’s castle, Lizzie had continued to read the book on the long journey across the ocean. She’d found something else, something she’d been scared to share. In the end, she’d brought it to me and Sam only a few days before. I’d been on the fence about it ever since, but Sam had immediately taken matters into his own hands.
“It’s just a prophecy in an old book,” Uriel said. “The likelihood that it’ll come true? Slim to none.”
“I thought you agreed that we need to treat it as if it were true,” I said, my voice going sharp. We couldn’t afford to be anything other than in one hundred percent agreement about this. Not only was Erela’s life at stake, but so was the fate of the entire world.
“I do agree, old friend,” Uriel said, dropping a hand on my shoulder. “If there’s even the slightest chance it’s true, then I will keep my hands to myself. I cannot bear the thought of her dying. She has snuck her way into my heart.”
Nebulous (Order of the Fallen Book 2) Page 7
