Julian’s wings fold back, disappearing from sight. He strides to the window and holds up a hand, reading the energy the demons are carrying. They’re still chanting, and more and more have joined in.
“What are they saying?” I rest my hands on my stomach, some of the pain starting to register now that my fight-or-flight instinct is wearing off.
“They’re not speaking Enochian?” Lucas asks, sounding startled. “I’ve never heard that language.”
“It’s an ancient demon language,” Julian tells us. “And they’ve grounded the angels.”
“Grounded the angels?” I repeat.
“The demons have formed a barrier around the house. I can get in, but I can’t get out.”
“Then I’ll get you two past the barrier,” Lucas tells us. “You can fly then, right?”
“Right.” Julian puts his ear to the window. “I think that would be wise. They’re setting up for the ritual Bael was going to use.”
I swallow hard and feel like I’m being watched again. If Paimon has to have seen me in a room to be able to project there, the safest place for me right now is the fucking wine cellar. The idea of going underground with no clue what’s going on around us scares me, though. I shouldn’t have protested against Lucas wanting to install a top-of-the-line security system. I took it as an insult to my magical defense system, but dammit, being able to watch the demons would at least let us know what’s happening.
“We need to take the kid upstairs,” I start, voice coming out all shaky. “Into the guest room at the end of the hall. I never go in there.”
Lucas picks up Caleb, and we all go upstairs. I close the blinds, and Lucas lays the kid on the middle of the bed. Casting a silence spell on the room for good measure, I cover Caleb up and perch on the edge of the bed. The demonic chanting is louder on this side of the house.
“What are they going to do?” I ask Julian. “For the ritual, I mean.”
“It doesn’t matter because it’s not happening,” Lucas says. “You are going to cross the barrier and go to the Covenstead. Or anywhere that’s not here.”
“The Horsemen will follow,” Julian warns. “And they will create new demons.”
“Paimon is behind everything,” I tell Julian, not sure how much he was able to piece together. “He’s the one who wants the ritual done. But he’s in Hell. He can’t have me if he’s locked up. There’s no way in or out at the moment.”
“Except we escaped.” Julian leaves the room, going across the hall so he can look out another window.
“Watch the kid,” I tell Pandora. She shifts into cat-form and sits on the bed next to Caleb, curling up at his side. I wince when I get up, back hurting. I have little cuts on my arms from being pulled across the ground, and there are leaves in my hair.
Lucas takes my hand, and we go into another guest room. Julian is looking out the window, watching the demons. A tall, black horse trots up and down the line of emaciated demons, carrying a rider wearing long black robes. He holds an old-fashioned scale in one hand and the reins loosely with the other. His horse has eyes the color of a smoke-filled summer sky, and the grass dies beneath the horse’s hooves with each step.
Famine.
Two Horsemen are here, sent by a demon for me and me alone.
“Bael’s plan was to strip you of your divinity, leaving just enough to get through the gates,” Julian starts, moving away from the window. “Still, that wasn’t guaranteed to work.”
“Paimon said he watched the others try and fail and has a different plan,” I say, twisting my hands.
“You spoke to Paimon?”
“He spoke to us,” Lucas answers. “He was able to astral project his voice somehow.”
“I think it’s his consciousness,” I go on. “That’s why he was looking inside earlier. He needed a mental map. Between the gates being closed and the wardings, he could only project his consciousness.”
Julian looks at me for a moment and then watches the demons again. Suddenly, something crashes downstairs, and the sound of breaking glass makes my blood run cold. Scarlet barks, and the plodding of her thunderous paws echoes through the house. My familiars bound forward, and I can see through their eyes that demons have broken through the living room window and are pouring into the house.
“Get to the attic,” Lucas tells me, but no matter where I go, I’m going to be a sitting duck. The demons are inside the house. They’re coming for me. Hiding is only going to slow things down. We must fight, and we must fight now. “Go!” He growls and speeds away.
The blade appears in Julian’s hand, and he gives me a pained look. Everything we’ve fought for, everything we’ve tried to prevent is happening. My father risked everything so I could live. He did what he had to in order to keep my true identity hidden, no matter how much it hurt. Twenty-six years of secrets and lies, of risking everything, could crumble tonight.
We can’t let that happen. Not just for me but for the whole world. I close the door to the guest room and get an enchanted dagger from my room. Hiding in the attic isn’t going to keep the demons from coming. Lucas and Julian could tear through every single one of them downstairs, but more will come. Paimon enlisted the best fighters he possibly could in this war, and the Horsemen tip the playing field in the demons’ favor.
Hiking up my dress, I hold onto my stomach with one hand and keep the dagger extended in the other and go downstairs. Lucas and Julian are to the side of the foyer, fighting the demons coming through the window. Holy fuck, there are so many. Two demons spot me and try to go around Lucas. He punches his hand through their chests, yanking out their hearts. The human bodies fall motionless to the ground, and the demons escape, black smoke billowing out the window.
A woman in the front yard screams, and my heart skips a beat. Is she innocent? The demons don’t need a trap to get me outside. They’re already in. She screams again, calling for help.
Binx and Freya take out demons that are carrying some sort of round white gemstones. The stones clatter to the ground, and one rolls over to Julian. He grabs a demon by the head and sends a blast of yellow light into its skull and then picks up the gemstone. I throw my enchanted dagger at a demon coming at him, hitting it right in the chest.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper to the human the demon had been possessing, holding out my hand to telekinetically bring the dagger back to me. Like the teenager and the kid, not all these people are dead yet. I hate that we can’t save them.
Julian drops the gemstone and stomps on it, cracking it into a dozen pieces. “I’ve seen this before. I know what they’re doing,” Julian says, slashing his dagger at a demon. The human body the demon is wearing is at a point of decay no one can come back from. The dagger plunges into the demon’s heart, and black smoke comes rushing out of the wound. It whooshes to the broken windows, going to find another body to possess.
Going on impulse, I throw a bright blue ball of hellfire at the twisting smoke. It crackles, and with a screech, the smoke blows up. Ashes fall to the ground.
“You need to run, Callie,” he tells me. “They’re going to extract your divinity. All of it. And since you’re half archangel, they can use it to blast open the gates of Hell so Paimon can come out and possess you.”
“If all my divinity is gone, I can’t be used to sit on the throne.”
“They’re just taking yours.”
Elena has more divinity in her than we thought, and it’s just enough for Paimon to use so he can sit on the throne.