“Well, there’s no way to know that, considering that Cain made it clear that it would stay under the protection of the Se7en,” Lucifer shrugs.
I’m on my feet and racing to where I dropped my bag. Unceremoniously, I open it and dump all its contents onto the floor.
“Maybe there is a way for us to find out,” I mutter, reaching down to the very bottom where a velvet bundle is stashed. I cradle it with careful hands and turn to face the group. “Because I have The Redeemer.”
“Are you fucking serious?” Lucifer’s wide-eyed gaze tells me that even he was foiled.
“Phenex gave it to me. He wanted me to…use it. On Legion.”
I set the blade down on the coffee table. No one makes a move to touch it.
“The death of an archangel is not definitive,” Lucifer begins, unable to take his eyes off it. “Power like that cannot be extinguished, only transferred. So if Raphael is truly dead, I would be able to feel his essence in this blade. And if it’s not in there…”
“Then Legion took it,” I conclude. “And it could be what he used to unlock the Horsemen.”
Lucifer swallows, then scoots to the edge of his seat, his hand outstretched. He looks almost reluctant to even be in its presence. We saw what it did to The Seraph. How easy would it be for one of us to grab it and plunge it into his chest?
His fingertips hover over the blood rubies on the hilt, and he sucks in a breath, letting his eyes flutter closed. No one breathes.
“Where are you?” he whispers. He frowns in concentration, his lips twitching with the effort. After a few minutes of silence, his electric purple eyes flicker open and he backs away.
“What is it?” I ask, my voice a mere rasp.
“Raphael is not there. However, Jinn…” He looks at me and his shoulders fall a fraction. “I’m sorry, Eden. I feel him. Not all of him; he’s strong and he’s fighting it. But he is dying.”
Even though I knew it was too good to be true, a pang of sadness slices through my chest. I had hoped, I had even prayed. I wanted so badly for there to be a way to spare him. Some way to reverse what Legion had done. Because if we save him from The Many, he’ll never be able to live with what he’d done.
“So what now?” Niko asks. “Pestilence, War…do we just wait until the third rider shows up?”
Lucifer shakes his head. “The last I saw, Famine was contained. But I’m beginning to realize that every safeguard I put in place has somehow been thwarted.”
Contained? Safeguard?
I touch my fingers to my parted lips as I realize exactly whom he’s talking about. “Saskia. Saskia is Famine, isn’t she?”
Lucifer nods. “The Black Rider. The first of her kind. I knew it the moment I took her from Irin.”
“Saskia?” Niko heaves out a breath. “So I was right, wasn’t I? You do have Irin’s daughter.”
“Only because she surrendered her to me once she realized that her creation had the ability to kill without even trying.”
Niko looks at me and I nod my head. “It’s true. Saskia is Irin’s daughter, but she gave her to Lucifer for safekeeping. For her sake and the sake of all living things.”
“And there’s no way to know if she’s still in Hell?”
Lucifer shakes his head. “I’ve lost contact. And if I go back, I could be walking into a trap. And until I get a handle on The Many and the remaining Horseman, it’s just too risky.”
“So we wait.”
“We wait,” Lucifer mimics.
“And what if The Many get to the last Horseman before we do? Then what?”
“Then we die.”
A heavy silence falls over the room as we consider that truth. The last Horseman is Death, and the very key to the end of the world. We thought Legion was bad. But honestly, he’d be no match for them. Which makes me think…
“What if The Many aren’t behind unleashing the Horsemen? What if it’s Legion?”
Lucifer lifts a single brow. “Uh, I’m not following.”
“Well, if you hadn’t been acting like such a massive dick earlier…” I cut my glare at him. Niko snorts a laugh. “I would have told you that I heard those words in my dream. Come and see. It was like he had whispered them in my ear.”
Lucifer’s eyes grow in size. “Why didn’t you tell me that the moment you woke up?”
“Because I needed to shower. And like I said, you were being a massive dick, and that detail paled in comparison to all the other foul shit I saw. But also…” I swallow, wishing for another drink. I’m tempted to reach over and swipe Gabriella’s full glass, still sitting on the coffee table in front of her. “After my shower, the mirror was fogged. And someone had written it there in the condensation. Come and see. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. But now I’m wondering, what if Legion was trying to send me a message? Like a clue to how we could find the last rider?”
“And why would he do that?”
“Because he wants us to stop him. He begged me to end it all right there—to kill him.” I shake my head dispelling the thought. “What if he activated the Four Horsemen because he knows they’d be strong enough to kill him?”
“And risk all this carnage?” Niko challenges. “And put Lilith, his friend and sister, through the guilt and shame of sparking a plague?”
“And Gabriella,” Dorian adds. “We opened our home to him. We helped him against our better judgment. She helped Eden, his beloved. He would really be so callous and betray our alliance?”
Lucifer rakes a hand through his hair and shakes his head. “He may not know. There were details I chose not to disclose. He didn’t even know how bad it would be.”
“Fuck,” Niko spits. “So we really do sit around with our thumbs up our asses and wait, huh?”
“Not exactly,” Lucifer proposes. “You see, the real reason I called you here was because you have an old friend that’s apparently been resurrected from the dead that’s been squatting nearby.”
“Stavros,” Niko deadpans.
“No. Aurora.”
At the sound of her name, Gabriella’s interest is piqued. “What is she doing here?”
“She claims that she came to help. She also said that she has no idea where Stavros could be. However, after last night…” He cuts his gaze to me and releases a sigh. “I started thinking. Of all the places she could have fled to, she came here. Now, if I had just broken out of jail, would I be strutting around, stirring up trouble and having ostentatious fuck fests in a city where my mortal enemies once resided?”
“You think she was purposely sent here,” Dorian surmises.
“I do. And I also think she was lying about Stavros. So as an act of good faith, for what it’s worth, I want to help you capture and kill her.”
“We don’t need your help,” Gabriella quickly retorts. “I killed her once. I’d be happy to do it again.”
“I have no doubt that you would be, dear,” Lucifer goads. “However, there’s a good chance that’s exactly what she wants. For you to run in and fall into a trap. She had to have known I’d tell Nikolai, seeing as we’re such great pals.”
Nikolai rolls his eyes, but says, “He’s right. Aurora is much too narcissistic to be suicidal.”
“And if it’s demons we’re up against, you’ll want my help,” Lucifer tacks on.
“I know you all are ready to rip her to shreds, and quite frankly, I’d love to get in on that action,” I begin, meaning every word after that desire magic shit she pulled the night before. “But do you think she could have information leading us to where we could find the fourth Horseman? You said so yourself—Aurora makes it a point to know a little about everything. She may not know where exactly, but maybe she knows something. When, where, who. And if she doesn’t know, maybe she knows someone who does. I wouldn’t be opposed to torturing it out of her.”
“No,” Lucifer shakes his head. “She knows nothing of the Pale Rider.”
“And how do you know? The secret’s out. And seeing as sh
e’s our only real lead, I’m all for exhausting our options. I mean…the last Horseman, the Pale Rider, is the worst, right? It’s Death. First, it was Pestilence. Then a day later, War.” I feel Gabriella’s glare on me, but I can’t dance around reality. “Famine could show up any day now. We’re fighting the clock here, not to mention we were given a deadline by the angels. We need to find Death before Death finds us, and all of this would have been for nothing.”
“We don’t need to find Death,” Lucifer insists. His voice is cool, but there’s something about his expression that tugs at my insides. A memory of a voice, silk between my fingers, a never-ending ache. I know that conjuring look.
I push it aside and press on. “And why not? Huh? So we can let more people die?”
“No,” he shakes his head. “We don’t need to find the fourth Horseman because I’m looking at her right now. And I haven’t been able to stop looking at her since the day she came barreling into my life. We don’t need to find Death. Because, Eden…you are Death.”
I sat still for a very long time.
I knew this feeling. I’d lived it, breathed it, carried it around like the proverbial chip on my shoulder, letting it fester and fuel my ire. And at times, I loved it. It was my family, friend, and foe. It was the only thing I ever really knew. However, I didn’t have a word for it up until now. It had become such a crucial part of me like a phantom limb. The ache of it was always there, existing deep within my belly where no one could see how it had seduced me to madness. I’d been able to stifle it enough to function, but now it settled right at the surface, cloaking me in its comforting darkness like an electric blanket. There was no fighting it anymore, for it had evolved into something much greater than myself. No, not evolved. It had fused to my spine and rooted itself in my feet. And it bloomed.
There’s a knock at the door but I don’t bother to answer, just as I didn’t when Niko came to my room to check on me. However, this time, it’s Gabriella that turns the knob and lets herself in. And I don’t mind. She may be the only person here who would possibly understand why I haven’t said a word since Lucifer dropped the bomb that splintered both of our lives.
Gabriella, the second Horseman, is War. And I am Death. We were the first of our kind, and we would die the last.
She sits on the bed beside me. Her presence is solace yet it’s also a curse. It reminds me of the lives we’ll take—the lives we’ve already taken. And the lives that will never grow to taste the sweetness of a first breath.
“You lied.”
She turns to me, yet doesn’t respond. Just simply waits for me to continue, as if she’s told many lies over many lifetimes and she’s just wondering which one I’m going to pick out of the hat.
“You said you hadn’t been feeling sick or faint. You lied.”
She turns her head and goes back to staring at the wall. Maybe she sees something in it that I can’t.
“Dorian…he doesn’t know?” I ask after too many beats of silence.
She takes a gulp of air. “I was waiting for the right time.”
“I think you may have missed your window.”
She snorts a laugh, or maybe it’s a sob. It sounds painful.
“How did you know?”
I shrug. “Nephilim gift. I can sense life, and I can sense death. Apparently, I can also create death.”
“Not yet. There’s still time for you.”
“Days. Less than a week. If we don’t stop Legion, the archangel Michael will do it for us. And destroy all creatures that are not of God in the process. That is, if I don’t go nuclear and kill everyone first.”
“Sorry, going nuclear is sorta my job. Get your own.”
Now we both laugh. Not because it’s funny, but because it’s true.
“They’re out there talking strategy. They want to move in on Aurora tonight,” she informs me after our bit of dark humor.
“Not surprised. Probably smart before she flees.”
“You in?”
“Hell yeah. I need to hit something. Now more than ever. You?”
“Of course. Aurora was and is my problem. I put her down once. I’m glad to do it again.”
“But what about your…”
She shoulders sag as she releases a heavy breath and cradles her stomach. “A lot of mothers lost their babies because of me. My child is no more precious than theirs. And if we don’t end this, there won’t be a world left for this little one to grow up in.”
I nod in agreement and total admiration of her strength. But a part of me is afraid for her. She’s had her fair share of loss, plus she just got Niko back. I can’t imagine what losing him a second time would do to her, not to mention something happening to Dorian. It just feels wrong to ask her to sacrifice herself and her unborn child for a cause she did not sign up for. But then again, none of us asked for this.
“Are you afraid?” I question quietly.
“All the time,” she responds. Then she reaches over to grasp my hand, forcing me to meet her gaze. “When I met Dorian, I found my reason in this world. I was a lot like you—lost, angry, and in so many ways, alone. I had a home and parents that loved me, but I always knew something was missing. He was that something. My son, Niko, my father, Alexander… I didn’t know real fear until I had a family. Because I knew that losing them would break me. It would destroy me. And that is a fate worse than death.”
I struggle to muster a smile, because as much as I hurt for her, I envy her. I find myself jealous of all she has to lose, which makes me feel like an asshole. She took all the shit life had dealt her and she created something beautiful, something worth fighting for. And here I am, feeling sorry for myself when I have nothing left to gamble away. My sister will be fine, and honestly, she’ll be better off. I can’t be making things any easier between her and Cain, especially after taking off with The Redeemer. With me out of the way, she won’t feel torn to choose between us, if it ever came to that. Because she would choose me—no doubt. She would choose me and suffer in silence because she couldn’t be with the one she loved. And I can’t do that to her. Not after she’s already experienced so much pain because of me.
I exhale my self-loathing and climb to my feet, ready to just focus on the battle ahead.
“I’ve got a few extra weapons you can use.”
The edge of Gabriella’s mouth curls and she shakes her head. “Don’t need them. And neither do you. Niko told me what you can do. It’s one thing to be able to tap into the pliable minds of humans, but demons too? I wonder what else you’re capable of.”
“Not enough, honestly. It’s too difficult to try to hold several at once, and then it takes me a few minutes to recharge.”
“And your holy light?”
“It takes a good bit of concentration. I have to channel all my focus into one concentrated ball. It’s easier when I have someone or something to draw from that can put me in that dark headspace and make me think of all the fucked up shit that I try to forget.” Which worked wonders when I had to face off with Adriel in the ring. Not so much when we were surrounded by a horde of demons, three Seraph, and all their zealots though.
Gabriella stands and claps me on the shoulder. “Then you should do just fine.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because the world is literally coming to an end in a matter of days and we’re leading the charge. The demon you’re in love with is murdering by the dozens. Not to mention, you’re roommates with the Devil. I’d say you’ve got plenty of fucked up shit to draw from.”
She’s right, but then again, she’s wrong. Because while I’ve got more baggage than Samsonite, being here with Lucifer hasn’t been all bad. Last night was definitely not what I planned, but it wasn’t solely on him. We were drugged, and I’m just as responsible as he is. I’m just glad I was able to scrub it from my mind before morning, although I don’t really like the idea that he knows something I don’t. However, considering how many women he’s slept with, our romp is probably a distant
memory by now.
We rejoin the men out in the sitting area just as they’re wrapping up. I feel awkward as hell, but I sit and engage as they fill us in on the mission, which they’re expecting will be child’s play. According to Dorian and Niko, Aurora has never been a fighter, and Gabriella could take her out without even trying. Still, I worry for her and her unborn child, but I tamp it down. It’s not my place, and she knows the extent of her abilities better than I do. She is a queen for a reason.
The Dark royalty take off to recharge their strength, agreeing to meet us at the designated time and place. And by recharge, I know they mean breathing. A chill snakes up my spine as I remember the breathing ritual Nikolai and I shared. It was so sensual, so intense. Would the three of them do it together? I know Niko is fond of his sister-in-law, and in some ways, his feelings for her have been borderline inappropriate. They’re supernatural and don’t conform to human standards of modesty. So maybe a breathing session/Dark ménage isn’t as outlandish to them as it sounds to me. Shit, honestly, it sounds pretty hot.
I’m pulled from my smutty Dark royalty fanfic only by the realization that I’m alone with Lucifer. He hasn’t spoken to me yet, not since he let the Death cat out of the bag, but he watches me, those swirling violet eyes regarding me pensively. I know he’s rueful, but that doesn’t change the fact that he kept this secret from me for so long.
“So this was it, wasn’t it? Your big insurance plan in case the world goes to shit? Uriel was telling the truth.”
“Yes.”
Lucifer scrubs a hand over his face and I notice how weary he looks. I remember he told me he doesn’t sleep. It seems as if the day has caught up to him and we still have a mission ahead of us tonight.
“And you didn’t think this was something I should know? From the very beginning? I’ve spent time with each of the First Women, and you knew that. I would have liked to have known that we were all interconnected and destined to start the apocalypse.”