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 against 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.”
“How many lessers do you think have intruded the city?”
He shrugs. “Hundreds. Thousands.”
I take a whiff and grimace. I just thought I smelled traces of death and extreme poverty. Not the telltale signs of elevated demon activity.
We follow Cain’s car into an extended-stay parking garage, which to my surprise, is fairly empty, aside from the stripped and vandalized cars parked on the lower floor.
“A lot of people were able to evacuate. Good,” Lilith notes, her eyes scanning the busted up vehicles, most likely checking for any signs of lurkers.
“They evacuated the city?” I ask.
She nods. “As much as they could. But those who couldn’t afford to leave were left behind.”
Sister and I would have fallen under that category. She would have refused to leave, considering the hospitals are at max capacity. And there is no way I could scrape up the cash to flee, not that I could ever fathom leaving without her. We would have hunkered down in that rickety-ass apartment, Brenda the bat in hand, and prayed no one broke in. Or worse. And I would’ve feigned helplessness, all the while creeping into the minds of those intruders, and forcing them to turn their malice on themselves. I probably would have been strong enough to fight off the first to come for us, but then what? Who would have come to our rescue?
We park on the upper level, giving us a clear view of the city below. Once we’ve filed out of the cars, I go to stand on the edge, peering down at the haunting darkness stretched below us. It’s nearly pitch black without the twinkling lights of bustling businesses and skyscrapers illuminating the sky, but somehow, I catch glimpses of activity below. Mostly shadows, but I can definitely see movement and make out shapes.
“Last chance. You sure you’re up for this?” Niko asks, sidling up beside me.
I glance over my shoulder at the others. There’s a map laid out before them on the hood of Cain’s SUV. I should be over there discussing strategy, but honestly, none of that will matter once we hit the streets. They may know demons, angels, and other creatures of the night. But I know my city and its people. And there’s nothing anyone can plan to prepare us for what lies ahead. Desperation makes people do desperate things. And no one knows more about that than me.
I look back to Niko and shrug. “And if I’m not?”
“Then you should stay behind. I don’t want you out there if you’re not one hundred percent ready for this. I know you’re strong, but strength has nothing to do with it…not if we’re forced to face off with Legion. I’d rather know you’re safe.”
“Me staying behind will only make things worse. I’ll be worrying about you, about them, and about Legion. I’m not running. Not from any of you. Not from him.”
Niko wraps an arm around my shoulders and squeezes me to his side, releasing a breath. “What is it with me and stubborn, beautiful girls?”
I smile, despite the leaden dread in my gut, remembering the words he spoke in my bedroom in Hell. “You definitely have a type.”
“Yeah, but I think after this—if I make it out alive—it’s time for me to settle down. I’ve been a bachelor for most of my hundred-plus years. Young for an immortal, but still old enough to know that I don’t want to die alone.”
I return the intensity of his hold, pressing into his side. “You won’t. Not if I can help it.”
“Yeah,” he shrugs. “However, I am immortal. And you… well, no one knows what you are.”
I swallow thickly, unable to fully digest the idea that I could possibly live forever. I’m unlike any Nephilim in existence. There’s no way to truly comprehend what that means.
“And what about your lost love? Amelie?” I question. I’ll unpack my mortality if and when we make it out of this city alive.
His eyes glaze over as he stares out into obscurity. “She’s where she belongs. She was too good for this world.”
I nod because I don’t know what else to say. I guess at the end of the day, warlocks aren’t much different from anyone else. We all just want to belong to someone who loves us despite our demons. Just someone to hold our hand and make us feel less alone in this big, wide universe full of unseen terrors.
I’m not surprised when we’re summoned to rejoin the group. I could hear every word they were saying, just like I can hear the screams and cries below. Waiting until daybreak isn’t an option. Death approaches. I can feel it.
I thought we were already armed to the teeth, but apparently not. Toyol opens the trunk of their designated ride, revealing his precious swords. Cain stalks over to seize even more guns and ammo. He presents me with four magazines, taking the liberty of clipping them to my holster.
“We think he’s gone farther south,” he murmurs.
I nod. “I’m not surprised.”
“You’re not?”
“If this area is in shambles, then the Southside must be engulfed in flames. I’d imagine he…they…would be drawn to the destruction.”
“They?” Cain lifts a dark brow.
“The lost souls. He’s…he’s not himself. He wouldn’t leave on his own accord.”
“You’re right. He wouldn’t.” A deep frown lines his forehead. “Driving into it would be too risky. He’d know we were coming. So would Uriel.”
“I’m not sure which is worse,” I mumble before I can stop myself.
“Me neither.”
We lock eyes, both biting down on the guilt tainting our tongues. But it’s true. If Legion isn’t Legion, there’s a good chance he will attack us. And none of us wants to fight him, even if we could. At least we could kill Uriel with a clear conscience. Well, clear-ish, in my case.
We all finish preparing in silence, each one of us burdened by the prospect of hurting someone we love, or even worse, dying trying to save him. Uriel is still very much in this fight, but Legion is the priority. There is no facing off with the Seraph without him. But I have a feeling that we’ll have to go through them to get to him. It’s a lose-lose situation, but there is no Door #3. There are no other options. We’re staring down the barrel of a loaded gun, with no clue as to who will pull the trigger.
I’m not surprised that the parking garage elevator isn’t working, considering that the electricity has been cut—whether on purpose or an act of vandalism—so we quietly take the stairs. Cain and Toyol lead, weapons drawn. Phenex and Jinn take up the rear, braced for any movement at our backs. Lilith and Andras weave through the group, moving right to left in a dance so seamless, you’d think it was choreographed.
This is the Se7en at work. This is the band of assassins that have singlehandedly executed countless would-be murders and terrorists, while also battling lesser demons doing Lucifer’s bidding. I didn’t fully grasp how deadly they truly are until this moment. And while that makes me feel a tiny bit better about this suicide mission, I don’t relish the irony of them hunting their leader, the one who was the first to stand up for humanity. The one they followed to Earth in a search for purpose—for redemption.
When we hit the bottom level, I can feel my heart pounding out of my chest, and I’m certain the others can hear it racing like a techno beat. This is it. This is what I’ve been training for. This is what I was created for. To betray. To destroy. To kill.
I am the weapon to make Legion fall to his knees. And I’ve just been activated.