“If you hurt me, Aliah will kill you.”
His eyes glinted. “I’m not planning on simply hurting you. And I don’t work for Aliah.”
“Fine,” I shrugged even though it was awkward from my position on the ground. “Then Seth will kill you. Slowly. He’ll tear you to pieces bit by bit until the only thing that remains is your head and your shoulders. When he finally takes your head it will only be after you’ve suffered the most amount of pain possible.”
His face flashed with something that looked almost like fear but he quickly masked it with disgust. “What is it like to have both heaven and hell working for you? What is it like to have enemies on both sides that would rather you die than reach your precious Protectorship? Neither the Council wants to give you your place nor does the Fallen believe you’ll make it to your birthday. Your days have been counted, Little Star. And they number less than this contracted year.”
I sucked in a breath and waited for him to strike, to follow through with all his theatrical threats. But to my surprise he retracted his sword and stepped away from me. With one more baleful look, he turned around and abruptly lost his head.
Literally.
Nate stood right behind him and as soon as the Fallen turned around, Nate struck perfectly. The head flew off the body and bounced away, while the body succumbed to gravity’s pull and sunk to the ground.
I blinked up at Nate and let out a hysterical giggle.
“What a talker, huh?” Nate grunted. “I thought he would never shut up.”
“You let him finish?”
“He was so into it. I didn’t want to ruin his monologue. That’s the best part.” He held out a hand to me and pulled me to my feet.
“You’ve really got to give up Netflix.”
With a sly wink my way, he turned back to the battlefield and advanced on another enemy.
Nate had pushed half the fighting Fallen to one side of the wide street, while Serena took care of the other half on the other side of the street. Both fought impressively against so many.
I knew that they were used to this, that usually it was only those two against many enemies; but I was still blown away to watch it in person. I tried to picture what my life would look like in a year. I tried to envision my arms moving that quickly, my muscles striking with that much force or my body reacting with so much instinct and intuition that you couldn’t make out my exact figure as I leapt and twirled through the air.
I couldn’t do it.
I didn’t believe I would ever be able to fight as well as these two.
And it was even harder to picture myself in their place when I didn’t know if Seth would be the one to fill Nate’s place or if he would turn into the headless Fallen that had taunted me.
A shiver of unrest rippled down my back and I had to force my mind back from that depressing path.
Instead, I focused on the physical path in front of me. With the Fallen split down the middle and Nate and Serena acting as barriers on either side, I dashed down the middle and directly into the warehouse.
Nate had been the one to scope out the place and he hadn’t had a chance to update us on where the children were being kept. I glanced around wildly but both sides of the enormous main room were lined with doors.
This was an especially old building that I couldn’t even begin to guess the year it was built. The ceiling was made entirely of glass panels that had clouded over with time and neglect. The steel beams that separated the huge panels had rusted as well and their craggy, vein-like red marks painted the edges of the glass.
Greenery had begun to invade the building as well. And what had once been a dirt-packed floor now sprouted tall grasses along the front and back wall, with random patches in between. Vines crept up over the entrance and along the door frames and twisted around corners and crawled over windows. A few lanterns lit the back corners and along one door frame light poured through the cracks, but otherwise my Light was the only illumination to light up this haunted horror house.
My initial bravado faltered as I took in the numerous doors. My heart pounded with the crash of battle behind me. Nausea hit my stomach suddenly and the tingle of creepy crawlies glided over my skin.
I raised my swords and let the instinct of danger lead my way. I walked carefully into the center of the expansive space but didn’t bother dimming my Light. I paused to listen for a telling sound, a giveaway for which direction to try first.
I would try the door with light behind it last. Intuitively that did not feel right. The Light was wrong and somehow tainted.
I didn’t know how to explain it exactly. It wasn’t from a light bulb or any kind of manmade device. It was supernatural somehow, like mine but different in the worst way.
I should have known better. I should have put all those clues together and come up with the most logical conclusion. The obvious conclusion.
But my thoughts were centered on the children and because we had only run into Aliah’s lackeys so far, I guess I expected the head of command to be missing.
And he was, for the most part.
But that didn’t mean he’d left this place without a substitute to fill in for him.
The door opened and Seven stepped out. Her Light was as bright as mine and emanated from her with the prettiest glow. When she turned her smiling gaze on me, her eyes remained blank and unfocused, her cheeks pale and bruised; she sent a wave of cold air rushing through the room.
Her Light wasn’t light at all, but a pretty deception to cover the special brand of evil Aliah had turned her into.
The door clicked shut behind her and the hollow sound reverberated through the cavernous space. The sound of fighting seemed to dim into the far background and the world narrowed to this tiny pinpoint of me against my enemy.
“You shouldn’t have come here.” She broke the silence first with a disappointed tone.
“You shouldn’t have come out here,” I volleyed.
She glanced back at the door that had just shut. “Are we to finally fight tonight?” She pulled a slender, delicate sword from behind her back. It glistened in her poisoned Light, the silver sparkling in the brightness of it. “Have you come to challenge me?”
“I’ve come for the children,” I told her. Her words were so calm and passive that I felt oddly unnerved by them. Not that I wasn’t usually completely unsettled by Seven or the things she typically said, but this time was different. She sounded hopeful but sad at the same time. She looked at me with trust instead of hatred. Her eyes focused until they were so intently fixed on me I thought they could burn a hole straight through me if she tried.
But that was the thing. For some reason I knew that she would not try.
At least not tonight.
“You’re not going to get those children,” she laughed lightly. “Those children have already been sold.”
“Sold?”
“Given,” she amended. “Good faith gifts.”
“Who are they for, Seven?”
She smiled at me but it was plastic, a painted on smile that belonged on a doll, not a living thing. “Who are you for, Stella?”
I took another step forward and twirled my swords at my sides. My wrists worked in fluid circles that helped prepare me for this inevitable battle. My wounds had started stitching back together and although the process was painful and slower than I would have liked, I’d stopped gushing blood down my yoga pants and my bicep maintained its old muscle again.
The only thing I cared about was being able to fight Seven and I needed just a few more minutes before I felt ready.
I lifted my chin. “I fight for the Lower Realm. I fight for this planet. I fight to save a people you would seek to destroy.”
Okay, maybe that was a little dramatic. But Nate was right. Everyone loves a monologue.
Her smile turned into an angry frown. “I’m going to kill you just so you can’t say those words ever again.”
“You hate humanity so much?”
She adva
nced on me with large, uneasy steps that made it seem as though she leapt from place to place on her tip toes. “I hate you that much, Starling. And now my brother hates you that much so that makes me hate you that much more.” She paused with her head tilted sideways. “Does that make you angry, too? Are you as angry as me? Will you die angry? Will you die angry because I killed you or because you will know that you will have failed the sacrifices?”
I only understood one word out of all that craziness. I swallowed a large lump in my throat and forced my heart to slow down. “Sacrifices?”
“Your precious children,” she snarled.
And then she attacked.
Chapter Eleven
Wild. Vicious. Dirty. Cruel. Unforgiving. Lethal.
And those words described me.
Seven was an entirely different species of malicious, untamed anger. Whatever I was, she was that times a thousand.
She advanced on me with feline grace. Her single sword held out in front of her glinted in her Light. The blade reached longer than average on a thin, subtle curve and ended in a deadly point. The hilt she held with both hands glittered with a gold filigreed handle encrusted with large gemstones. The sword was as beautiful and unusual as Seven.
As soon as she got close enough, she lunged. I deflected her blow, but just barely. She attacked again and I barely had enough sense to jump out of the way.
And that’s how we continued.
She continued to attack me, blow after blow after blow until I could barely stay out of reach.
She chased me all over the warehouse with single-minded swiftness. I parried when I could but, for the most part, my defense consisted of me somersaulting or rolling out of her way.
I had never seen Seven fight like this before. In the few moments of conflict we’d actually shared face to face, either she had the complete advantage or I did. Last spring, she’d managed to catch me defenseless and do some pretty gruesome damage before her cohort had dragged me to the desert where he intended to kill me. That was the day Seth had saved me… and then sold his soul to the devil. A short while after that I had taken her hostage in an effort to walk away from Seth and Aliah with my head still attached.
This was the first time we’d ever truly faced off. I thought I could fight anything. I thought I could at least prove to be some kind of challenge to any enemy. Apparently not.
She was a machine, a psychotic robot with one directive- to kill me.
I had never seen anyone fight like this. Her movements were perfectly skilled and technical. Her vision wholly focused without even the threat of distraction. She had speed, agility, strength and drive.
She was magnificent.
And super scary.
Her blade came against mine and I threw both of mine up to block but she somehow slid hers straight through the middle of both of mine. I threw my head to the side at the very last second and heard the whoosh of metal slicing the air as loudly as a thunderclap in my ear.
I jumped back several steps, putting a safer distance between her and me. She smiled at me, a genuine smile that stretched across her face in happy contentment.
“Lucky girl,” she laughed.
I shook my head in an empty comeback. I was too winded to think of something clever to say. My Light burned blindly and hot, but I couldn’t go any brighter or I wouldn’t be corporeal enough to fight her. And I desperately wanted to fight her.
I took several slow steps backward and she followed me. I held my swords steady, but inside everything quaked with a frustrating fear.
I wasn’t exactly afraid of death. I feared who would take my place if something permanent were to happen to me. I feared what my parents and friends would go through. I feared the future of humanity. I really feared what would happen to Seth and how he would let my demise affect him. But death itself didn’t bother me.
Everything leading up to the final act was a different story though.
Especially if Seven happened to be the one overseeing the event. I had no trouble believing she would drag out my life for as long as she could, and not in the positive, quality kind of way. The sadistic glint in her eyes told me everything I wanted to know about her plans for my last moments on earth.
Torture. And lots of it.
No doubt, I would be begging for death by the end of it.
I couldn’t let that happen.
Our blades clashed again, but this time I met hers higher in the air, more centered in the space between us. I pushed back and exerted my own strength. I claimed half an inch and my confidence soared.
She spun around and brought her sword with her. Instinct led my arms and I struck out just in time to deflect a low hit. She growled something ugly and arced her arms so that the tangle of our blades circled high.
I stepped forward and pushed against her strength. Our faces were just inches apart, our swords straight above our heads. My biceps and shoulders shook with the effort to keep her where she was. Our Lights clashed and warred together as they were forced to share the same space.
Hers felt impossibly hot against my skin. The unnatural warmth sizzled in a way I imagined acid would eat away whatever it touched. Her golden brown eyes were bright with a demonic fire and her lips still grinned with delight.
I wondered at her ability to go from cold to hot without changing the density of her Light, but now was not the time to examine her as a science experiment.
She cocked her head back and spit in my face just as I kicked her in the stomach. We flew apart again. She doubled over from the unexpected hit and I wiped frantically at my face with my sleeve.
Gross.
Laughter bubbled out of her. When I could see again I watched her throw her head back and giggle uncontrollably.
“That wasn’t very fair,” she scolded playfully.
“Where are the children, Seven?”
She glanced back at the room she’d walked out of. “Do you really think you can rescue them?”
I swallowed down my frustration. It didn’t matter if I thought I could rescue them. I had to.
I’d seen what Seven’s dark world did to children. Seven had been taken as a child and Aliah had stripped away her sanity and splintered her soul. Jude had been taken as a child and now he worked exclusively for evil without any regard or respect for anyone but himself. Seth had been traumatized by these same people and now nothing remained of his once extraordinary goodness or flawless soul.
I would not let these two children fall into this dark, cruel world where they would be twisted into something I would have to kill one day.
“I won’t let you have them,” I told her. “I won’t let them become what you’ve become.”
She sobered and her Light pulled into her body so fast I swore it made noise. Her long, wavy hair ruffled around her shoulders as if it too were affected by the movement of Light.
She stood before me as human as we were capable of being. Her pretty, retro-styled dress had wide halter-top straps and a sweetheart neckline. The stiff red cotton had white-polka dots and ended tea length around the middle of her shin. Her white Mary Janes should have been childish but they weren’t. They matched her elegant, vintage look with a playful wistfulness instead.
I hadn’t noticed what she was wearing earlier or the cherry red lipstick that matched the color of her dress perfectly.
“Do you have a date?”
She blanched. “What?”
“Are you going out? Why are you all dressed up?”
She looked down at her now-wrinkled outfit and scuffed shoes. When she returned her focus to me her eyes were clouded with confusion.
“Is this one of those, ‘Dress for the job you want, not the job you have,’ kinds of things?”
Her face scrunched up. “What’s wrong with my outfit?”
I stifled a laugh at the obvious insecurity in her tone. “I didn’t say anything was wrong with it. I’m just wondering why you’re all dressed up to kidnap children.”
“I didn’t k
idnap them,” she snapped.
“Fine. Hostage duty. Whatever.”
Her gaze flickered back over to that door. The kids had to be in there. She was an excellent swordsman, er swordswoman, but she couldn’t be discreet to save her life.
The fighting outside had increased in volatility. I hoped there were less Fallen by now, but it was impossible to tell with all the clanging and shouting. Serena and Nate hadn’t called for help though and I took that as a good sign. They could handle their own.
“I like your outfit, too,” Seven said in that childish voice that brought to mind what a dichotomy of crazed and sane she was.
I looked down at my blood-spattered black pants and equally gory black athletic shirt. A leather holster remained tied around my thigh and held a foot-long dagger that I reserved for emergencies. I also wore straps around my shoulders that crossed tightly over my back to hold my swords when I didn’t need them. My shoes were average, worn athletic tennis shoes and my hair had been tied in a severe bun at my nape earlier tonight, but by now had wiggled free into a mess of loose hair and unkemptness.
My hands and swords were sticky with blood and other carnage. I could feel streaks of blood across my face as well. My wounds had healed but the blood had stained my skin and my clothes gaped where the swords had sliced through.
I was a hot mess.
But Seven seemed sincere.
“Thank you,” I said uneasily. I cleared my throat and asked honestly. “Do you like it because of all the blood?”
Her lips curved into a subtle, amused smile. “I was trying to be polite.”
“Oh.”
“You should kill me now,” she said evenly. “Before the children die.”
That brought my focus back to where it should be. I leapt forward and kicked out. We tangled and clashed together again. Our swords rang out in the echoing space and our bodies tripped over each other as our limbs tried desperately to find enough space to inflict serious damage.
I’d gone for the clumsiest attack I could manage. I knew she could deflect precision and mimic efficiency with perfection. But she hadn’t expected me to all but tackle her to the ground. For as crazy as she was, when she had a sword in her hand she also held surprisingly rigid manners.