I know he’s talking to me, but he gives me the courtesy of diverting his beady, black eyes. I wouldn’t back down now, even if I were uncertain. There is no option other than fighting. For Legion. For my sister. For every innocent human life. All I have left in me is the will to fight.
“Well, that’s one hell of a pep talk. Is this the part where we feel a rousing sense of inspiration?” Lucifer jibes, rolling his eyes. Cain flips him the bird and stalks back to the Se7en.
The polar opposite of his demon brother, Phenex angles his body to the right and bows his head gracefully. “Irin, we appreciate your hospitality. It will not be forgotten.”
The Watcher nods in response. “Of course. My doors are always open.”
The next moments feel like sleepwalking. Both Cain and Toyol approach me with a small arsenal and a few gadgets that look to cost more than most homes. I swallow down my trepidation and stand with my head held high, not willing to show the barest inkling of insecurity.
“This is an earpiece,” Toyol says, holding up a tiny black dot. “Once activated, you’ll be able to communicate with each of us through it.”
I nod and dip my head forward to let him secure it to my ear. When he’s done, he holds out the small sensor I wore the first time I visited Irin’s home. The one Legion gingerly placed on the inside of my dress, right against my heart. I still remember the way his warm fingers felt brushing against my breast. I can still smell the masculine scent of his skin—scorched earth and midnight jasmine. And the way his eyes swirled with molten silver as they roamed my body.
That was the Legion I had grown to know and care for. That was the Legion I had laid beside in the darkest hours of night, relishing the heat that emanated from his frame. And when I surrendered my body to him, along with my heart, it was that Legion who took me in his arms and made me feel like the most desired woman on Earth.
And I lost him.
I wanted to prove that my feelings hadn’t changed so badly that I ignored the fact that he was slipping away. He was disappearing, bit by bit, right before my eyes, and I did nothing to stop it. Like a naïve little girl, I just kept hoping he would come back to me.
“Eden? You with me?” Toyol lifts a brow.
“Uh, yeah,” I stammer, carefully taking the censor from his fingertips and securing it against the skin between my breasts. The time for modesty has come and gone.
Toyol gives me a few more items—compact night vision goggles, a high-voltage taser, flares—and sure enough, there’s a pocket for each item as if the jacket was specially made for me. When Cain steps up with the weapons, a dark, nervous energy quakes in my bones.
“These are for you,” he says, handing me a holster outfitted with twin Glock 43s.
He shows me how to secure the firearms, giving me a quick rundown on the specs, and then offers me two other gifts—knives longer than the length of my hand. The hilts are studded with red jewels, much like the ones embedded in The Redeemer. The slightly curved blades are sheathed in thick leather and slide right into two pockets inside my coat. They’re positioned perfectly, and I find I can retrieve them in a hurry without managing to slice off a finger in the process.
“Are you ready for this?” Cain asks me while Toyol outfits Niko with an earpiece. I guess the other gadgets aren’t necessary for the warlock.
“I am,” I reply, mustering what’s left of my confidence.
He nods to himself, busying his hands with the task of securing his own weapons. “The bullets are tipped in angelsbane, a weaponized form of demon blood. It won’t take down a Seraph, but it should subdue them. It’ll work on both lesser angels and demons too. Something Phenex and Jinn have been working on. The blades were forged in Hellfire. They will send lesser demons back to Hell.”
“And is that what we want? To send Legion back to Hell.”
He weighs the words in his mouth before answering. “If it comes to that, that would be the best case scenario.”
“And the worst?”
He shakes his head, and I don’t need to infiltrate his mind to know exactly what he’s thinking. The worst-case scenario is killing him—permanently. I’m not sure how, considering Uriel has The Redeemer, and I’m not even sure I want to know. Uriel made me to be used as a weapon against Legion before the sacred demon blade was even in play, so there must be another way. We just have to make sure we find Legion before the Seraph do.
“You know, if it were up to me, you’d be sitting this one out. You’re untrained,” he remarks. There isn’t criticism or annoyance tainting his tone, but real, genuine concern. And when he looks down at me, it’s not malice that I see narrowing his gaze, but what looks oddly like fear and desperation. “But it’s not up to me, and I understand your choice to go out there. I just… I need you to survive this. I need you to come back to your sister. I don’t think you understand just how much I mean this.”
“I understand.”
“No. You don’t. Because if you did, you’d be with her right now, watching whatever stupid show is on Bravo or Food Network, flipping through trashy magazines, and discussing the latest gossip. She’s not like us, Eden. She hasn’t been beaten and broken more times than she can count. She hasn’t been stitched together like an ugly, mangled rag doll that no one wants to play with. Her pieces still fit. She’s still foolish enough to hope, to dream, to want.”
I never realized Cain saw us as two sides of the same coin, and although the analogy stings, he’s right. Sister hasn’t let life ruin her. She isn’t jaded by pain and strife. And while she had been orphaned at a young age, it wasn’t because her parents didn’t love her. They didn’t abandon her because they chose their own selfish needs over their daughter. They died in a car accident.
I never told her, but I remember envying her for their deaths. I feel terrible, even now, for thinking it. But to know that you were once truly loved the way a parent should love a child was a gift that no one could ever take from her. It was why she could still find it in her heart to hope, to dream, to want. Because she had never forgotten what that felt like. And I had never known what it was to have it in the first place.
“I will,” I tell Cain, meaning it. “I’ll come back to her.”
“Thank you,” he replies. And I realize that my survival isn’t just for my sister. It’s for him as well.
Lilith and Andras approach, and I recognize whom I have to thank for my new clothes, not that I’m surprised. The leather pants fit like a glove, yet provide ample movement and breathability. The thermal is also fitted, and the boots are stylish yet comfortable. This outfit has the blonde duo stamped all over it.
“You look good, girl,” Andras remarks, letting out a low whistle.
“You do,” Lilith adds. “How are you feeling?”
I shrug. “Anxious.”
“You’ll ride with us, Nikolai, and Lucifer. Cain, Toyol, Jinn, and Phenex will be with Adriel in the other car.”
I look to my left, my right, then whisper, “Is that a good idea?”
Lilith steps in close, so we’re nearly chest to chest. “While Luc may be a conniving prick, I trust her even less.”
I follow her line of vision as she turns and glances at Adriel. Jeans, a heavy down jacket, flat boots. Not a weapon in sight.
“You think she’ll betray us?” I ask, turning back to Lilith. Ironic, considering it was Lilith who sold us out to Lucifer, even if it was to protect me, in his own convoluted way.
“I don’t know. She still loves Legion. I…get that.” She offers a pained grin, remembering her own deceit in the name of unrequited love. “I don’t think she would do anything to jeopardize his life.”
I simply nod. If there’s one thing that bonds the three of us, it’s our love for Legion. And if I have to be constantly reminded of their feelings in order to secure his safety, then so be it.
Once everyone is outfitted with their chosen weapons, we bid our goodbyes to Irin and her staff. I don’t even flinch when Kairo wraps his arms around me
and leaves a peck on my cheek. He’s been good to me during my stay here. And I have to admit, after seeing him in action with Lucifer—an image that will forever be burned into my skull—I wish I had taken the time to chat with him more.
“May our Lord be with you, my little doves,” Irin trills as we take the basement stairs that lead to the weapons room where Cain and I had target practice. Apparently, there’s a hidden door that leads to an underground garage. It’s where the Se7en hid the vehicles they escaped the city in.
My nerves spike when I spy the matching black SUVs, and a pang of nostalgia strikes my chest. I haven’t been beyond these four walls in what feels like months. And as I slide into the backseat, I can’t help but picture Legion in the driver’s seat instead of Andras, smiling slyly at my song choices. I can still hear the sound of his bellowing laughter, the way its richness would warm the enclosed space like a heated blanket as I tortured him with my singing. I can still picture the way his throat would flex and bob when he threw his head back and succumbed to those rare, jovial moments.
I can still feel him, so all cannot be lost. He has to be out there somewhere. Waiting for me to bring him back.
And I will. Even if it takes every bit of power within me.
Even if I have to surrender my humanity and become the weapon I was created to be.
The ride to the city seems longer and darker than I remember. I sit in silence, imagining every possible scenario we may face, and how they could go disastrously wrong.
What if we meet the Seraph first? We won’t beat them without Legion.
And what if they’ve already captured him? We could always trade Adriel for him.
What if we never find him? Do we turn around and abandon the city crumbling at our feet? The Se7en have vowed to protect mankind from the rot of evil. However, the greatest perceived evil is sitting in the passenger seat, merely a foot away from me.
So how do we kill a being that’s virtually indestructible? Whose power is only second to God?
Short answer: You don’t.
We’re bringing a proverbial knife to a gunfight. No, not even a knife. A slingshot. Uriel has at least two Seraph standing with him, plus a posse of lesser angels. The only one of us that could potentially beat him is Lucifer. We need Legion. It still won’t be an even match, but at least with two former Seraph, we could have a fighting chance.
But then I have to wonder… Will Legion stand with us? And is he even Legion anymore?
If he were himself, he would have never left without saying a word. He wouldn’t abandon his brothers and sister. He wouldn’t abandon me.
“Hey. We’ll find him,” Niko murmurs beside me, giving my tightly clenched fist a squeeze. Lilith sits on the other side of me.
“Do you really believe that?” I whisper back, turning to find his crystal blue eyes glowing under the cover of night.
“I do. I just hope he wants to be found.”
I suck in a breath and exhale through my nose, desperately trying to release my crippling fear. That’s what worries me the most—Legion won’t want our help.
“Are you ready for that?” Niko asks, reading the tension on my face that not even the shadows can conceal.
“Ready for what?”
“Facing that reality. If Legion doesn’t want our help, or if he reacts with violence, are you ready to do whatever it takes to subdue him? Or can you let him go?”
Let him go.
That’s the one conclusion I hadn’t pictured. Every scenario I had imagined ended with us bringing him back, whether it was from self-destruction or death. But I never doubted that we would pull him back from the brink of whatever horror awaited us. But to let him go…that’s not something I was prepared to do. Because when I look at the rest of my life—however short or long—he’s right there beside me. Loving Legion is the future I had let myself long for. Before him, I never wanted anything more than to belong. And with him and the Se7en, I finally felt that I did.
I didn’t even realize it until now, but I had channeled my sister. I had allowed myself to hope, to dream, to want. I had dropped my guard, despite every reason not to, and let myself find happiness in the rarest of predicaments.
I’m jolted from my musings the moment we cross into the city limits. The breath is snatched from my body, and I’m left looking on in horror, bottom lip trembling, and hands shaking. Niko squeezes me a little harder, his cold fingers doing nothing to still the quaking.
Everything is fire and destruction. Cars engulfed in flames. Armed soldiers strapped with AK-47s patrolling the streets. Police barricades blocking off entrances to storefronts that have evidently been vandalized. Broken glass, loose garbage, and dried blood sully the pavement. My city is in ruin.
“It’s worse than we thought,” Andras mutters from the driver’s seat as he carefully maneuvers around the wreckage.
A group of armed, fatigue-clad men waves us down. Cain and the others are just yards ahead of us, and also get stopped.
“Stay completely silent,” Niko whispers just as Andras rolls down the window.
“What’s your business here?” one of them questions Andras, while his colleagues surround the SUV, shining flashlights into the vehicle. The bright lights flare over our statue-still bodies, yet the men back up in retreat. As if they don’t even see us.
“Just passing through. Is there a problem?”
“City-wide curfew. Where are you traveling from?”
“Minneapolis. Headed East.”
“And your friend?” He nods to Cain’s SUV ahead.
“Same. Traveling salesmen.”
“You don’t look like salesmen. Let me see some ID.”
Fuck. This was not what I expected. How the hell will we get out of this without resorting to violence?
I could make him drop his weapon and turn around. Hell, I could make them all bend to my will leaving them in a hazy stupor. But before I can fling my influence out towards the unsuspecting soldier, Andras leans forward, casually resting his forearm against the window frame.
“What’s your name?” he asks, his voice as smooth as butter.
I brace for chaos, but the man answers, “Bishop. Drew Bishop.”
“Drew…come closer. Lower your weapon.”
To my surprise, the soldier does as he’s told and steps forward, close enough for me to glimpse his slackened jaw and unblinking stare. He doesn’t even seem to notice Lucifer sitting in the passenger seat.
“Drew, are you married?” Andras coos, his words wrapped in silk.
“Yes, sir.”
“Does your wife make you happy?”
“Yes, sir.”
“But you still yearn for more, don’t you?”
“Yes, sir.”
“That’s what I thought.” Andras reaches out a hand and cups the man’s cheek, drawing him further into his web. “I can give you what you yearn for, Drew. You would like that, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Because you want me?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Call your friends off and let us pass, and you shall have me. You shall have whatever you desire.”
Andras releases him from his touch, and Drew stumbles back, blinking frantically. He looks to the car ahead of us, and shouts to his cohorts, “Everything checks out. Let them pass.”
“But, sir…” one of them begins to retort.
“I said, let them pass, Jones.”
Jones nods to the other troops, and they step back, giving Cain’s vehicle a wide berth. Drew looks back to Andras, a glimmer of lust and longing in his eyes.
“Good boy. Now, you will do what you have to in order to keep your friends from trailing us. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“For this, you will be rewarded. Come here.”
Like a puppet on a string, Drew steps closer, allowing Andras to once again cradle his stubble-dusted cheek. But this time, the alluring blonde demon draws him closer still and presses his lips ag
ainst his. The other troops watch on in confused horror as Drew groans into Andras’s mouth, his entire body trembling with overwhelming ecstasy. When Andras releases him, an audible whimper slips from Drew’s lips.
“That is only a taste of the pleasures I can give you. Do as I say, and you shall have my body.”
Drew nods furiously, his breathing labored and his eyes glossy. Andras dips his head in response and eases his foot on the gas.
“Well, well,” Lucifer clucks as we pull away. “Seems you haven’t lost your touch, pretty boy.”
“Shut up,” Andras mumbles.
Lucifer chuckles darkly before turning his torso toward the backseat. “Good work, Nikolai.”
Nikolai merely nods once, his jaw tight with ire. He still isn’t over their heated exchange after the masquerade party.
“Get ready,” Andras orders, flipping a few buttons on the dash. “We’re going into stealth mode.”
I watch with awe as the vehicle in front of us all but disappears before our eyes. If it weren’t for a shimmery, almost oily outline, it would be completely invisible.
Then we’re off, zipping down the debris-covered streets and maneuvering around roadblocks with seamless precision. If I could close my eyes, I would swear we were riding in a high-powered sports car instead of a six-ton SUV. I clamp down on my rising anxiety, only heightened by the pitch-blackness that surrounds us. Where are all the streetlights? Even the homes and businesses are darkened. If it weren’t for the people brave enough to loiter in the shadows, I would think Chicago had turned into a ghost town.
“You smell that?” Lilith asks, scenting the air.
Lucifer nods from the front seat. “Sulfur.”