Declan fucking hated this place. He liked the woods, and he had nothing against million-dollar cabins in them. But this property, hidden deep near the Catskills in New York, belonged to his father, and the only memories he had of it were shit.
Suzanne released his hand after they’d all materialized on the grassy lawn between the cabin and the lake. “This is perfect. Wide open space but plenty of cover. Why do you hate it so much?”
He really didn’t want to talk about it, but he wasn’t going to keep anything from Suzanne. Didn’t seem right after all they’d been through, and after all she’d done to protect him. Besides, angels seemed to be pretty uninhibited when it came to romping around in people’s memories, and he didn’t need some asshole like Hawkyn deciding they wanted to find out the truth.
“My mom brought me up here when I was a kid.” He glared at the log porch. “I think she and my old man used this place as a getaway. They could meet on long weekends without his family knowing he was with his mistress.”
“And she brought you with her?”
“She was always trying to get him to acknowledge me. When I was little, I didn’t know what was going on, but looking back on it? Yeah, she was hoping he’d love us both and leave his family.” He looked out at the pristine lake where he’d spent hours swimming and playing in the canoe. Unattended, of course. “But the bastard loathed me. He ignored me in front of her, but when she wasn’t around...” He shook his head. “He tried to kill me.”
Suzanne had been scanning the nearby forest, but now her head whipped around to him. “Are you serious?”
“I wish I wasn’t.” He hadn’t understood the attempts for what they were until he’d learned, just last year, that his father had pulled strings to get him sent on the most dangerous missions while Declan had been in the military. That was when he’d put together the time his father had taken him on a hike and “lost” him in the woods, and that other time he’d “accidentally” knocked Declan off a cliff during another hike.
He looked around at the majestic mountain view, listened to the chirping birds and the soft breeze filtering though the trees, inhaled the fresh scent of earth and pine.
God, he fucking hated this place.
“We might as well get started. What’s Hawkyn going to do to me?”
Hawkyn’s voice boomed behind him. “Nothing that’ll cause permanent injury. I know you can’t afford more damage to the brain.”
“Hawk, knock it off.” Suzanne turned to the others. “Cipher, since you can’t fight, I want you to hang back and call for help from our brothers and sisters if we need it. Hawkyn, you’re in charge of the dagger, but anyone who gets a chance to use it on Morroc should. Sexy, Journey, and Maddox, find a place a few miles away to conceal yourselves. I don’t want Morroc to sense your presence or he might not show up. Cipher can text you when Morroc arrives. I’ll stay here with Declan and Hawk.”
Cipher didn’t look especially pleased to be relegated to hanging back in a support position, but Suzanne had explained that, as an Unfallen angel, he didn’t have any abilities that would help him out in a battle with an underworld creature. He was stronger and faster than any human, but on the supernatural scale, he was at the bottom. Plus, just being outside of Sheoul-gra or a protected space like the angel mansion was dangerous for him since he was subject to being kidnapped by fallen angels. Or something like that. Declan had been inundated with so much information that he couldn’t keep everything straight.
“Just FYI,” Cipher said. “Siechers don’t travel via Harrowgate or teleportation. They move through the earth, so Morroc will probably be emerging far enough away that we won’t feel the tremors.”
Suzanne nodded. “Okay, everyone. Stay sharp.”
As the angels dispersed, she turned to him and in a blatant move, took his hand. Declan swore he saw smoke coming out of Hawkyn’s ears.
“We’re going to end this today,” she promised.
“And then what?” He wasn’t even sure why he’d asked that, given that he could very well die in a few minutes. And truth be told, he’d never been a future-planner. He’d always lived in the moment.
But suddenly he wanted to plan tomorrow. And next week. Next month. Next year. And he wanted to plan those things with Suzanne.
“And then you can go back to your life and Suzanne can go back to hers,” Hawkyn said, his tone super assholish.
“Hawkyn,” Suzanne said, “I was going to ask you to give us a minute of privacy, but you know what? I want you to hear this.” She turned to Declan. “I don’t know what’s going to happen after we’re done here. But I do know that my primary concern will always be for you, whether I’m a Memitim or not.”
“What do you mean, whether you’re a Memitim or not?”
“I mean that I’ve more than likely ruined my chances for Ascension—”
“Suzanne,” Hawkyn snapped. “Don’t say that. I will do everything I can to make sure you Ascend.”
Silence dragged out for a moment. Finally, Suzanne said quietly, “I don’t even care anymore. It’s not what I want.”
Horror flooded Hawkyn’s face. “You don’t mean that. You’re young. You’ve let your feelings for this human cloud your judgment—”
“That’s very insulting,” she interrupted. “You think I can’t choose for myself what I want? You think love has made me stupid? I’ve been feeling this way for a long time. I’m not meant for this. Fifty years later, I miss the life I left behind when I thought I was human. I was happy all the time back then. Now I’m only happy when I’m cooking.” She cast a sideways glance at Declan. “Or when I’m with him.”
Hawkyn cursed up a storm, but his voice was barely a buzz in Declan’s ears. All that he could hear, over and over in his head, was what Suzanne had just said.
She inhaled deeply and turned back to Declan. “You probably feel differently—”
He didn’t even think about it. He tugged her against him and kissed her, mentally giving Hawkyn a big “fuck you.”
Which was aided by a flip of his middle finger. Hawkyn’s eyes nearly popped out of his head, and the fury in their emerald depths promised pain.
Pulling back, Declan looked down at Suzanne, wishing he’d approached her long ago, back when he’d thought she was human. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. You...and this world you’ve opened up for me. I always felt like I wasn’t going anywhere, like I was meant for more. I don’t want to go back to the life I had. I want a life with you, and I want a life in your world.”
“Hey!” Cipher called out from where he was lurking in some nearby bushes. “I have shit to do. Can we get on with it?” His hand popped out from some branches and he waved. “Sorry, dude. I know you’re going to get tortured and shit, and possibly die, but I have a hot date.”
“Yeah,” Hawkyn shouted back, “with your laptop.”
“It’s with a real female,” Cipher yelled. “Alice is later.”
“Who’s Alice?” Declan asked.
Hawkyn made an I-give-up gesture. “His laptop.”
Despite the dire situation his was in, Declan laughed. Steve would have loved Cipher. The reminder that they were here to slaughter the demon that had killed Steve sobered Dec up quickly. Cipher was right. They had to get on with it.
Making the mental switch into battle mode, Declan backed away from Suzanne. “I’m ready.”
“Declan, you don’t have to—”
“Yes, I do, and you know it. My pain is the only way to draw Morroc out.”
“Then let me do it.”
“Never,” he growled. “It would hurt you more than it would hurt me, and I doubt that’s the case with your brother.”
“Not even close,” Hawkyn offered. “I promise that everything I do will hurt you a lot more than it hurts me.”
Suzanne glared at her brother, and Declan almost expected a death ray to shoot from her pupils. Could angels do that?
“All right, all right,” Hawkyn said. “I’ll be gentle.”
She shot him one last glare before walking away, but a few feet from the gazebo where she planned to wait, she paused and looked back over her shoulder at Declan, the soft waves in her hair catching the golden sunlight and making her look every inch the angel she was.
Tears shimmered in her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
Declan didn’t have a chance to respond. Pain swallowed him whole, as if he was being chewed up by a giant shark. What the fuck was Hawkyn doing to him? Panting, his arm wrapped around his cramping belly, he looked over at the dickhead angel, who wasn’t even looking at Declan. He was watching his sister, his expression etched with misery as Suzanne buried her face in her hands and slumped against the gazebo.
Hawkyn didn’t care about Declan’s pain, but his love for his sister was fierce.
“More,” Declan gritted out. “I can take more.”
“I don’t know...” Hawk said, but dammit, Dec was tired of this bullshit. The longer he suffered, the longer Suzanne would suffer. He wanted the demon dead, and if he had to break every bone in his body to draw the thing out, that’s what he’d do.
“More!”
“No,” Hawkyn snapped.
“Why?”
“Because you want it.”
Okay, Declan was done with this shit. It was time to get serious. Time to make Hawkyn really mad.
“Asshole,” he spat. “You’ve been wanting to destroy me from the moment you saw me, all to protect your innocent little sister. Well, you failed.”
Hawkyn went taut, and his lips peeled back from his teeth and those giant fangs. “What did you say?”
“Declan, don’t!” Suzanne shouted, but too late. Declan had made his decision, and if Hawkyn killed him, well, at least Morroc would no longer be after him and Ian and Remy would be safe.
“I fucked her,” Declan said, locking gazes with Hawk. “Twice. And damn, she was good—”
He broke off as agony ripped him apart. Dear God, maybe Hawkyn could do the red mist thing, because it felt as if he was coming apart at a molecular level. Dropping to his knees, he screamed, and somewhere in the background he heard Suzanne scream as well. He hated that this was hurting her too, and although he’d never prayed for anything in his life, he prayed that when he was gone she’d find peace.
Abruptly, as quickly as it began, the pain ended, and something struck him like a truck, knocking him into a tree. Shouts and roars erupted around him.
Morroc.
And not just Morroc. The demon had brought friends.
“Fuck!” Maddox shouted as the Siecher demons swarmed the clearing.
Lightning bolts and fireballs flew from the hands of the angels, who had materialized from out of nowhere. Declan groaned as he pushed awkwardly to his feet. His ribs and spine screamed in pain as he ducked around a tree trunk to avoid what would have been a lethal blow to the head. As it was, Morroc’s fist punched a hole through the wood, stopping short of slamming into Dec’s shoulder when it erupted from the opposite side.
Then Suzanne was there, a scythe in both hands. “Take cover!”
It felt wrong to hide while everyone else was fighting, but he was the target, and he knew from experience that it was hard to fight an enemy when you had to worry about someone else’s safety.
Cursing his human shortcomings, he made a dash for the gazebo. Hawkyn rushed past him, dagger concealed at his side, but before he could reach Morroc, another Siecher tackled him, and they went tumbling into the lake. The dagger flew into the air, coming down in the grass a few feet from where Suzanne and Morroc were locked in mortal combat.
“No!” he screamed as Morroc pinned Suzanne, his razor claws punching through her torso and into the ground beneath her. Blood sprayed in a geyser, splashing the demon’s face in a shower of gore. Suzanne’s mouth opened, her silent scream gurgling through blood.
As Morroc raised his other fist in preparation to slam it down with the other one, Declan lost it. His agony, his terror, his instinct to protect the woman he loved, condensed in a ball of desperation and power that vibrated his entire body.
Heat built with searing intensity that concentrated along the lines of the tattoo on his back.
Morroc punched down, ripping once more into Suzanne’s chest. He was going to tear her in half. The terror in her eyes as she stared into his face made it clear that she understood what was about to happen to her.
Rage launched Declan into the air, completely off the ground. He didn’t consider how he was flying or why; the only thing that mattered was Suzanne.
He dipped low, scooped up the dagger where it was lying in a pool of her blood, and hit Morroc from behind so hard that it knocked the breath from Declan’s lungs.
The demon tumbled forward, taking Suzanne’s impaled body with him. Hawkyn, his leg twisted and one eye swollen shut, threw some sort of round weapon that looked like a sharp Frisbee made of ice. The disc sliced through the demon’s flesh, severing one of his arms at the elbow.
Suzanne rolled free, but when her body came to a stop in a crumpled heap, she wasn’t moving.
Roaring with the force of years of built-up rage, Declan slammed into the demon, coming down on its chest like Iron Man hitting the pavement. Morroc’s ribs cracked beneath Declan’s knee, and for the first time, fear flickered in the demon’s black eyes.
“This,” Declan snarled, “is for Steve.”
With a shout of pure, rabid pleasure, he plunged the dagger into Morroc’s right eye. The demon shrieked, his body bucking and quaking so hard Declan was thrown off with the force of a rodeo bull throwing its rider. He hit the ground and rolled instantly to his feet. All around, the other Siechers howled as their leader took his last breaths.
The angels, battered and bloody, moved in on the demons, but with their leader dead, the battle was over and, if Suzanne was correct, so was the vendetta against Declan. Tremors shook the ground as it opened beneath each of the monsters and swallowed them up.
“Hawkyn!” Cipher’s terrified scream echoed off the mountains.
Declan spun around, his jaw dropping at the sight of four winged people spinning a net around Cipher and then vanishing in a spray of what he could only describe as anti-light, an oily black plume that seemed to have a life of its own.
And when it cleared, Cipher was gone.
“No,” Hawkyn shouted. “No!”
Declan had no idea what that was about, and right now all that mattered was Suzanne. Ignoring his multitude of aches and pains, he rushed, limping, to her side.
“Did we win?” Suzanne’s voice, thin and reedy, called out as he dropped to his knees next to her.
“Morroc’s dead.” He wanted to gather her in his arms, but her body was beyond broken, and his medic training kicked in. He didn’t have enough hands to plug all her wounds, but with help from everyone—
“Back up, Declan.” Hawkyn kneeled across from him, clearly still shaken by whatever had happened to Cipher, and Sexy joined him.
“Fuck off, dickhead,” Dec snapped. “If you think I’m going to—”
“Sexy can help her,” Hawkyn said in a shockingly calm voice. “But you can’t be touching her.”
“Oh.” Feeling a little chagrined, Dec backed up as Sexy laid her hands on Suzanne’s abdomen.
“This won’t heal her as much as she needs, but it’ll stabilize her so we can get her to Underworld General.”
As Declan watched, the streams of blood pouring out of Suzanne’s wounds slowed and flesh began to knit together. As a former medic, he couldn’t help but be fascinated. If only humans could do that.
He reconsidered his wish. Humans could screw up anything.
“She’s going to be okay, right?” He looked up at Hawkyn, who nodded, but worry lingered in his expression.
“If she survives, it’s because of you,” Hawkyn said, his voice rough with emotion. “You know that, right?”
If she survives? Declan wasn’t much for praying, but that was before he found out that Heaven was real, and he sent up a silent “Please let her be okay” to anyone who was listening.
Unable to think about Suzanne dying, he looked over to the spot where he’d last seen the tech-savvy Unfallen angel who’d disappeared in a poof of evil. “What happened to Cipher?”
“Fallen angels.” Hawkyn’s body sagged, his head hanging from hunched shoulders. “They took him to Sheoul.”
Oh, shit. He remembered what Suzanne had said about that. It was bad. Really, really bad.
Journey limped over, his right thigh a mass of mangled flesh that didn’t seem to bother him all that much. Must be nice. Dec had seen humans keel over from a paper cut.
“I called Idess. She’ll get the ER staff prepped for Suzanne’s arrival.” Journey tapped Declan’s shoulder. “Yo, D. What’s up with your wings? I thought you were a measly human.”
“Excuse me?” Declan blinked, so focused on Cipher and Suzanne that he only heard half of what Journey said. The crazy half. “Wings?”
“You flew. I saw some sort of wing-things flapping like a hummingbird on your back.”
Hawkyn nodded. “I saw it too.”
“I totally missed it,” Maddox said, cradling his clearly broken arm. “Can you do it again?”
“I don’t even know how I did it the first time.”
“Your tattoo,” Suzanne rasped. Her eyes were closed, her face pale, but she was smiling. “It’s like it came to life. Right out of a comic book.”
“Okay, guys.” Sexy said as she wiped her bloody hand on her jeans. “Let’s get Suz to the hospital.”
The hospital that was also right out of a comic book.