Shock held him immobile as the ground in front of Montmeurtre opened, swallowing a swath of land an entire city block in length.

Fait chier.

With his broken wing, Ash couldn’t fly to the sinkhole. Forced to go on foot, he leapt, running and jumping across the cobblestone roads between him and the demon tower.

He ignored the pain, bounding as high as he could using his good wing to balance him as he landed. It was painful, and he was probably scaring the crap out of anyone who saw him, but he couldn’t stop.

All hell was breaking loose.

The ground was rolling under his feet. A series of warning tremors was building in intensity as he went. Somewhere, the sound of running water rushed, the roar too loud to be anything except a break in the Seine’s banks. A smaller explosion came from the direction of the Trocadero, most likely from a gas pocket igniting.

Every type of disaster that plagued the city was back, hammering each corner of Bastille with renewed force.

It made sense. Six Firehorses were powering this storm. The city had never had to contend with more than one disaster at a time before.

Shrieks and screams filled his ears as he ran. He put his hands over them, trying to shut out the cries for help. This was only the first wave of destruction. If he didn’t get the cursed out of the city, the carnage and ruination would continue. He had to plug the leak at the source.

He made it down to the sinkhole a few minutes later. Sirens wailed in the distance, but the emergency response teams were keeping a wide berth from Montmeurtre.

Ash was prepared to scale the pit. His goal was the demon tower, where he assumed the kidnapped Firehorses were being held captive, but he was hailed by a familiar voice.

“Ash!” Kara yelled.

He couldn’t see her at first. He ran around, trying to catch sight of her dark hair. She called out again, drawing him to the edge of the pit. There she was at the bottom, dust covering her hair and face like a brown veil.

She had her arm around a blonde woman who was covered in even more dirt and blood. “Madeleine?” he asked.

Dr. Brès looked terrible. Her face was swollen and bruised, with purple and green discolorations under the caked-on dirt. She was holding her arm against her chest as if it was broken.

“Did Sij do this to you?” he asked, jumping down to lift the wounded woman in his arms.

Madeleine blinked at him, her eyes zeroing in on his bloody wing. “Did she do that to you?” She craned her neck to get a better view of the damage.

“Later, Doctor,” he said, urging her back down. His injury could wait. “We have to focus on getting the Firehorses out of the city.

“Damn it. How hurt are you?” Kara broke off, running behind him to check the damage.

He turned and nudged her forward. “Where are the others?”

“Pablo and Demetria are dead,” Madeleine said. “Pablo wouldn’t cooperate with Sij after we arrived in the city, so she cut his throat—almost took his head clean off. The rest scattered after Kara cut us loose. We thought the tower was going to come down on top of us because it was shaking so violently. I think I saw Didier clear the field before the pit opened, but Demetria was buried under me. She was crushed.”

Madeleine shook her head, blinking back tears. “It was crazy. I didn’t know Sij could move like that. And the way she got us here—she told us she had found a colony of wild geese, and we were going hunting. It wasn’t until we were almost in the city that we realized something was wrong. But then, she pulled out a knife and said she’d find all our relatives and friends and kill them if we didn’t come with her.”

Tears streamed down her face freely now. “Pablo didn’t believe her. He tried to fight, but she was so fast. And then Roget tried to run away, back to the tunnels, and she caught him like that,” the doctor said, snapping her fingers. She shuddered. “After they were dead, she carved them up and tossed them into the road like they were trash.”

“Sij wanted them found,” he said. If they hadn’t, then she couldn’t confront them and make her last stand.

Kara was muttering a blue streak under her breath. “I can’t believe Sij turned on us like that. She’s been with us for years. True, she wasn’t always pleasant to be around. Sometimes, she was a downright pain in the ass, but she was skilled and reliable. And it turns out it was just to sabotage us all along. I swear, I’m going to kill that bitch if it’s the last thing I do.”

“Already done,” he admitted. “Let’s just get the others back to the wasteland. The destruction will calm down once they are out of the city and as far from the demon tower as we can get them.”

Madeleine threw him a troubled glance. “I think it’s too late. Sij said there was only one way to stop it once the chain reaction started.”

He tensed. “Did she tell you what it was?”

The doctor blinked, looking behind him to Kara and then back again. “No.” She shook her head, meeting his eyes steadily.

Ash heaved a sigh of relief. Good. That meant he still had time to find another solution. He glanced back at Kara as they hurried along the edge of the pit, scanning for survivors.

“Anything she said would have been a fabrication,” he said, continuing the uneven path. “Demons always lie,” he added for good measure.

They found another Firehorse a little farther on. Thierry had been one of the oldest. He’d been impaled in the leg by a large splinter of wood. He was unconscious, but still breathing.

“I think I can stop the bleeding,” Madeleine said. “It hasn’t pierced an artery. The splinter went through muscle.”

“Do it,” Ash agreed, gesturing for Kara to follow him. They threw a litter together, so they could drag the wounded out of town.

Kara knelt in front of him, tying a length of fabric they’d found to two scraps of wood. “You’ll have to go overland,” he told her. “The tunnels will be too unstable, and there may be more tremors or worse.”

“I have to go?” Kara asked. “But you need me. I have to stop this.”

“I don’t think you can,” he said, glancing at Montmeurtre, turning just in time to see another stroke of lightning hit it. The smell of ozone stung his nostrils. “We’re too close to the tower for your blood to make a difference this time.”

Her face was white as she squinted at the top of the tower. “It all started here, didn’t it?”

He didn’t answer. Sometime in the future, Kara and I will come back here and we will end this—without anyone having to sacrifice themselves.

Ash cleared his throat. “How many others are left unaccounted for?”

Kara and Madeleine looked at each other, counted on their fingers. “There are two more.”

Madeleine finished bandaging Thierry’s leg. “It’s Adele and Didier.”

“Didier?” Kara looked worriedly at their dust-covered hands and clothes. “He has asthma.”

The doctor straightened, annoyance flicking across her face. “Why didn’t he come see me?”

“Okay, let’s not get sidetracked,” he said, holding up his hands. “I’ll find those last two. Just get Thierry as far from here as fast as you can.”

Kara’s expression was mutinous. “But—”

He held up his hands. “Please, my love.”

She pursed her lips, her eyes going from him to Thierry and Madeleine. “All right. But hurry,” she grumbled, refocusing on the litter.

Ash didn’t watch them go. He began to search for the last two Firehorses, searching the area around the tower in an expanding circle.

Smoke was rising from several places in the city. The klaxon was wailing non-stop. In the distance, people poured into the streets.

It shredded his heart turn his back on the chaos, but his mission was clear. He kept up the search alone. No one ventured close enough to the tower, which was probably the only reason he found the pair hiding in a hole.

Adele took one look at him and screamed her head off. Merde, she was one of the Firehorses he’d left in the wasteland a few years ago.

“Adele, stop it,” he called out, snagging her with one hand. “Sij is dead. I’m just taking you back to Kara, damn it.”

The girl continued to struggle in his grasp.

“She still has nightmares about you,” Didier wheezed, limping after them.

Ash held Adele with one hand while he bent to examine Didier’s ankle. “Can you walk on it?”

“More like hop,” Didier replied.

Ash nodded and began to speak when Adele bit him. “Damn it, woman. Don’t make me drag you the whole way,” he snapped, losing his patience. “You know you need to leave town. You can walk with Didier on your own—he needs the help.”

Adele stopped whimpering. Chastised, she kept her lips sealed shut as he shoved her gently in Didier’s direction.

“Do you think you two can make your own way back to your base in the desert? Kara’s heading overland with Madeleine and Thierry.”

“Kara’s alive? Does that mean she’s not going to save us?” Adele was sobbing now. She turned to Didier. “Why didn’t Madeleine tell her?”

“How could Kara save you?” Ash frowned.

“Sij said she could. There’s this ritual…”

He didn’t hear the rest of what she said. His ears were ringing with a high-frequency buzz that overwhelmed all other sound.

Sij had told them. Madeleine had known the whole time.

Kara wasn’t going to the wasteland. She was in the demon tower.

“Get to the wasteland,” he said, shoving the pair forward before starting to run toward the tower.

“Please don’t stop her!” Didier called after him. “It’s the only way to end this!”

* * *

Ash sprinted up the winding staircase of Montmeurtre, his wing dragging behind him.

Please don’t, he pleaded silently, unsure if he was pleading with an absent Kara or God.

He burst into the altar room, his chest pumping and adrenaline screaming as if he was preparing for battle. But this wasn’t a fight he could win with his fists or his strength.

He was too late.

Kara was sitting upright on the altar, covered in blood. She turned to him, her lips as white as the skin on her cheeks.

Her dark eyes shone like coals against her pale face. They lit in recognition when she saw him. The bloodstained knife clattered to the floor.

Ash was at her side before she could speak. “Kara, no! What did you do?”

Her hand landed weakly on his arm under his shoulder plate. She’d lost too much blood to grip with any strength.

“I found the right spell runes in the scroll.” Her voice was a ragged whisper.

Ash had never cried before, but tears were obscuring his vision, making it hard to see her. He swept Kara up in his arms, pressing her face against his.

“Don’t leave me,” he pleaded.

“We have to end it,” she said, touching his face with her hands. “But it’s going to be all right. I promise. When I see your face again, it will be in Heaven…forever,” she promised.

Except that would never happen. Not with her demon blood.

“Kara, I love you,” he cried, his hot tears spilling into her sable hair.

There was no answer.