Part 13 (1/2)

Now I understood why Dorian had been so broody during his last months with us. He'd carried the weight of the world on his young shoulders. My heart broke with what he must have felt every time we were attacked, every time we saw a Norman die, every time one of our own was injured or killed. He'd been led to believe he could stop it all, and the sense of responsibility must have crushed him. He had to have been working up the courage to make his move from the moment he watched Lucas kill his Mimi, but his love for his father and me had held him back. His worry for us and the sister I'd been pregnant with had been the catalyst for him to make his move. And all that time I hadn't known. I hadn't been able to help him. I could have stopped him if I'd had any idea.

My blood boiled at the turmoil he'd been suffering. At what he was going through now. He was so young. Too young! How dare that f.u.c.king b.i.t.c.h plant lies in his head! I almost wished she'd come back to life so I could kill her again.

Especially because Dorian's sacrifice would all be for nothing.

He hadn't broken the curse. The Summoned wouldn't help us win any war. There was no sister of his to do this for. No Amadis. No humanity.

”It's time for you to leave,” Noah said. ”I can't-”

His words were lost as two Demons swooped into the cave's entrance, grabbed him in their claws, and carried him away. Tristan and I ran to the edge of the opening.

”Noah!” I yelled, opening my wings to take off after them.

”You can't follow them.”

The female voice came from below us, where a dark-haired woman dressed in a bikini with a sarong wrapped around her waist stood on the beach. She disappeared and reappeared on the ledge right before us, only her toes hanging on. Tristan and I both stepped backward, and I had to control the urge to wrinkle my nose at the sight of her. Her skin was a sickly pale gray with blisters and boils oozing yellow pus on her arms and chest. Her face might have been pretty with better coloring, except for the irregularly shaped, yellowish-orange irises of her eyes. She made the disgusted face I'd been holding back from making myself.

”I know. I'm atrocious,” she admitted. ”But if you think this is bad, you should have seen what I looked like when I first took this body. I'll get her back to normal soon enough.”

For the briefest moment while she spoke, I caught a glimpse of her true self-with oily, mottled skin, horns, and a tail. Her eyes changed, too, from the weird, spiky irises to none at all. No whites or pupils, only fire. Another zombie possessed by a Demon.

”Where are they taking Noah?” Tristan demanded.

The whites of the Demon-woman's eyes bled back in, and the fires returned to the freaky irises. ”To h.e.l.l, where he belongs. And you've overstayed your welcome down there ... for now.”

I shook my head. ”No.”

I didn't believe that. I still held hope for Noah. He'd promised Dorian he'd fight for us, which meant he wanted to convert.

”Or maybe they took him to Lucas. I don't know, and I don't care,” she said. ”I'm just glad it's all almost over. My lord and master will be here soon, and you will die. The boy is all Lucas needs.”

”What?” I gasped.

Tristan's huge wings came out as he advanced on her.

”What does that mean?” he growled.

Her ugly eyes filled with fear as his wings curved in toward her, but her full mouth curved into a smirk. ”That boy is all Lucas needs to drop the veil and open the Gates to h.e.l.l. Everything else is done and ready for my lord Satan.”

Chapter 14.

Tristan shoved the Demon-woman against the cave wall, and his wing curved around, the feathers pressed against her throat. But the feathers weren't soft and light, giving at the pressure. Their edges had become hard and razor-sharp, drawing a thin line of black blood.

”Where's our son?” he demanded, his voice frightening even me.

”Almost home,” she sneered.

”Is he with Lucas?”

She didn't answer. Tristan pressed his feathers harder into her skin. The line of blood grew thicker, dripping downward in several places.

”Where. Are. They?” he roared.

”I don't know. On their way to Hades? Maybe in h.e.l.l by now, talking to our lord. Making preparations.” She gurgled out a laugh. ”It doesn't matter. You can't stop it. But it's not too late to change your minds about who the true G.o.d is.”

Tristan's wing swished outward, slicing across the Demon's neck. The body slumped against the wall and slid down to the floor, while a black smoke emerged from it. The Demon gathered into its natural shape and flew out of the cave, then disappeared.

I ran outside and leapt to the beach below, where I spewed out a string of profanities while pacing back and forth. Tristan landed on the beach, too, but he stood perfectly still, his wings out wide, his arms crossed over his chest, and his eyes staring out at the water as black waves crashed onto the gray sand. The peculiarly shaped cliffs cast dark shadows over us.

”We have to go to Hades,” I declared. He didn't respond. ”We have to go to Hades, get our son back, and ... and ...”

I floundered for our next step, not knowing what to do after that. There wasn't much left to life on this Earth, but it didn't matter. As long as we had Dorian back and the three of us were together, we'd figure out the rest. Right now, all we had to focus on was getting to Dorian.

”It might be too late,” Tristan finally said through a clenched jaw.

I stopped pacing in front of him and stared at him with lowered brows. ”No, it's not! Don't say that! As long as the veil hasn't been ripped down, we have time. We're going to go to Hades and get him back before it is too late.”

”We'll be severely outnumbered. It's just the two of us.”

”And it will always be just the two of us. We're all we have now. He's our son, Tristan.”

He finally looked over at me, the gold in his eyes glinting. ”I know. I'm ready. I just want to be sure you are.”

I spread my arms out wide and turned side to side. ”Look at our lives. At the world. We have nothing more to lose, do we?”

”We could lose each other.”

My arms dropped to my sides, and my teeth gnashed at the thought of losing Tristan again. I forced my tight throat to swallow.

”We just can't let that happen,” I said firmly.

He gave me a sharp nod. ”Then Hades it is.”

We were about to launch when three winged women suddenly appeared in front of us. Although our last encounter had been rocky, I should have been happy to see my family again, but annoyance was all I felt.

”No,” Ca.s.sandra ordered. ”You cannot go to Hades.”

And that was why.

They'd obviously been watching us through the veil and now felt the need to stick their noses into our business. Why now, when nothing mattered? They hadn't done a thing before, when they could have made a difference. They'd sat back and watched the world crumble without so much as a word to give me some kind of guidance. And now they suddenly had something to say? Orders to give?

”We have to stop Dorian.” I placed my fists on my hips. ”Make him see the mistake he's making.”

They disappeared.

”He is not making a mistake.” Rina's voice came from behind me, and I spun around. She sat up on the ledge of what had been Noah's cavern. Her voice came softly, but easily heard. ”Dorian is doing what he needs to do.”