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TRACKING RED HAD BECOME easy in the past months. I’d of course found her initially back at the Hotel. I’ll come back here. I always come back here, she had told me, and so she had. When I’d seen her, my heart made a strange beat, almost a skip and then a change in its cadence. At first I’d thought it was just my attraction to her, but over time, I realized there was some sort of mystical connection between us. My heart acted as a tracker to find her. The only place it hadn’t worked was in the Hotel itself.
But I could judge by her note that she had left the Hotel. My concern was whether I could find her in time. Lynlee was an added complication. She had done me a huge favor, and I wasn’t unappreciative. It was unfair to keep her from her honeymoon any longer, so I had to deliver her back to Beck before I did anything else.
“Maybe I can help. I may not have been able to defeat a demon, but I can still hold my own.”
I offered her a wry expression. “Miss Lincoln, I know very well you can hold your own. But this isn’t your fight. And you have a husband waiting for you.”
She gritted her teeth, and I knew she was tempted to press. The woman might be madly in love with her human, but she liked a good fight and a challenge. Still, she inclined her head in agreement, and off we went.
After depositing her at her hotel, I orbed to the foot of the Elba Mountain. Glancing up at the dark cliffs, there was no way to know if Red or Nassor were up there. I could just as easily transport to the entrance of her cave, but I decided against it. Instead, I hunched my shoulders and closed my eyes.
A tight pressure began at my shoulder blades, and I groaned when my wings began to emerge. They grew outward along my back towards my feet, and when they were fully deployed, I drew my head towards the sky and my chest outward, flapping them a few times to get a feel for them. I hoped flying would be like riding a bike, because I certainly hadn’t done it in a very, very long time.
Within moments I was airborne, rising in an upward spiral between the peaks. When I was close to the cave, I straightened my flight, aiming like a bullet for the opening. The times I’d been here before I’d tentatively put my hands forward to enter. A magical shield had prevented me from stepping fully inside. I hoped that with some momentum perhaps I could break through. If not, I might very well crack my skull on the invisible wall.
There was a glowing light, reddish and pulsing, inside the cave which was entirely different than anything I’d seen before. Amazingly, I entered without difficulty, tilting my feet to the floor and coming to rest just inside. I blinked, then released a growl of outrage when I saw Red, suspended in air by a magical tether wrapped around her throat.
Nassor spared me a glance, but the sardonic grin on his lips said he didn’t expect I would be much of a threat. There was good reason for that. I had only to examine him to see the traces of demon raging through his blood. Whatever Nassor had been before, he’d made a deal with the devil for powers that were likely equal to if not stronger than mine.
Red was flailing, her lips turning blue as the demonic magic tightened around her neck and cut off her breathing. There was also a nasty bleeding gash on her head. She was reaching towards her captor, hand clawing for him, and I knew she was trying to get to his heart. Still, the shifty man was cleverly holding her just out of range.
My eyes surveyed the cavern, finding a pile of stones nearly as tall as I was along the wall behind Nassor. I put my hand out, palm towards it, and used my powers to snatch the bottom rocks out of the mound, sending the rest of them plummeting onto the other man’s back.
He dropped to one knee and released his hold on Red. She fell with a thud, her body going limp. Nassor was thoroughly angry now, and that rage was directed at me. He stood, barreling towards me with fisted hands and a chest that was throbbing with an eerie red glow.
I dropped my head and charged Nassor with my shoulder. When I struck him, the two of us went rolling, both getting in blows to each other’s chest, stomach, side, wherever we could reach. My vision was blurred by the red-hot rage that had been stoked inside me the moment I’d seen him strangling Red. I wanted to kill him, but I wanted to make it as painful as possible.
He pinned me beneath his body, and I clasped him with a clawed hand just below his ribs. My fingers ripped into his skin, tearing it away in a ghastly chunk that had him wailing.
But it didn’t slow him much. Nassor’s hands circled my throat, cutting off my windpipe. I reached up to stop him, realizing that it wasn’t actually his hands around me, but that same magical energy he’d used on Red. I kicked him in the groin with my knee, and he fell backwards, though managing to still keep hold of my throat. The world was starting to tunnel in on me.
I spotted a flash of fiery hair behind him and saw Red, legs braced apart. She had one arm wrapped around her body as if protecting an injury, while the other was outstretched towards us. When our eyes met, I read a silent message there, blinking my eyes to tell her I understood. I leaned my body back just a bit, and the grin on Nassor’s face said he believed he was wining. Just as he clenched his magical noose tighter around my neck, I pushed my weight forward with all of the strength I had remaining.
The victorious look in his eyes disintegrated, and his mouth dropped open into a huge “O.” Not a sound passed his lips before his eyes rolled back into his head, and he fell to the stone floor.
Though I had possession of my neck again, getting my breath was difficult. I gasped and hacked and coughed, clasping my throat as I slid to my knees. Nassor’s body was withering, shrinking into almost nothing before my very eyes. I looked up to see Red standing over both of us, her hand holding the pulsing red object that had been his heart.
Words couldn’t describe the emotion felt when I saw Vicente appear in the cavern, a pair of glorious white wings spread out behind him. He’d looked at once majestic and menacing as his eyes had focused on Nassor, who was slowly trying to strangle the life out of me.
A warrior angel come to rescue the phoenix.
I’d been more than a little surprised by the unbelievable strength of the man I’d been tracking all of these years. The curse he’d put on me long ago had been proof enough that he wasn’t above dabbling in witchcraft to get what he wanted. I hadn’t expected that he would also have somehow acquired demon magic.
When Vicente’s power had knocked me loose from Nassor’s hold, I’d collapsed to the floor atop a jagged stone. The blow instantly cracked several of my ribs and had me all but unconscious for several minutes. Thank goodness I awoke when I did because I wasn’t sure how much Vicente had left in him. I limped towards them, holding my ribs. It was hard to breathe, and I had a feeling my lung might be punctured. Still, when Nassor was pushed backwards, I lunged forward and stabbed my hand into his body to grab his heart.
I was breathless but doing my best to control my breathing because panting only resulted in a stabbing pain through my side. I clasped the relic in one hand and turned my attention from the lifeless being at my feet to Vicente, who was kneeling over, holding his body up with one hand and his throat with the other.
“Are you all right?” I murmured, crouching low to examine him for injuries.
He gazed up at me, his eyes a little bloodshot but their dark depths peering so deep I thought he was looking for my soul. I broke his gaze, swallowing as I stood and went towards the small golden sarcophagus at the center of the cave. Using my magic, I lifted the lid and set it aside, then moved to place the relic with the others.
“Wait ...” Vicente’s voice was hoarse, and when I peered over my shoulder, I saw him reaching out to me.
“Don’t worry, angel.” It was an effort to cool the tone of my voice, but I managed to keep it mostly devoid of emotion. “I’m not running anymore. I’ll finish my mission, then I’ll go back with you. You can return to your Conclave triumphant, your prisoner in tow.”
I’d made that decision months ago. Yes, I had to see my duty done, but so did Vicente. And if I’d killed his friend, his student, then prison was probably no less than I deserved. At least now with Nassor dead, I wouldn’t suffer for all eternity.
“Why would you do that?” he asked, struggling to his feet, then walking slowly towards me. I wasn’t sure if he would understand my words, but clearly he did. I would have two choices upon completing my mission. I could return to stasis, awaiting my next venture as a phoenix. Or I could relinquish the title and give up the power to be reborn. If I went back with him, it would mean I would one day die.
“I have some honor in me, Vicente, even if I am an assassin. I killed an innocent. MA ‘at is a concept we Egyptians understand well. The balance must be restored.”
When he got to me, he paused, staring into my eyes with a look I couldn’t read. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and he inhaled quickly before grabbing my shoulders and pulling me against his chest. I moaned in agony, the fire of my broken ribs bringing stars to my eyes. But I clutched at him, unwilling to let even the pain keep me from enjoying his embrace one last time.
“I’m sorry, Red. I’m so, so sorry for what I did. I can’t ... I can’t expect you to forgive me. Please, can you try to forgive me?”
Tears stung my eyes, and I bit my lip to keep from sobbing. I hadn’t counted on an apology, didn’t even think I deserved one really.
“Duty. Your duty,” I whispered.
He pulled back, hands cupping my cheeks to force my eyes to his. “No, Red. That wasn’t duty, that was vengeance. That was my way of striking out at a person I loved because I thought she had betrayed me. But that was the real betrayal. The most important lesson my god taught me was the one I forgot. Love, Red. The greatest is love.”
“You love me?” My legs felt like they were going to collapse under me. I fisted his shirt in my free hand to keep myself upright.
“I love you.” His lips descended on mine, kissing me with bruising enthusiasm. And love. Yes, so much love.