21

LIGHT DETONATED IN the center of the path. Jesse fell backward onto the grass. A nearby Celtic cross tumbled off its pedestal and crashed onto a grave marker. Taiya fell to her knees beside Nathan. Everyone covered their ears.

In the spot where Jesse had stood was an orb of light about ten inches in diameter, suspended five feet off the ground. I walked forward and realized I could see inside it. Lamal was there, smiling at me. He looked different, but I knew it was him. He was standing in the cemetery; the same statue of Mary was behind him that was in front of me. But everything was bright and golden. Leaves were on the trees, and I could feel the sun on my face through the orb. I was dizzy with happiness.

"You did it, Sloan," he said. "I'm so proud of you."

"You're home now?" It was both a question and a statement because I already knew he was.

He nodded. "I am. Thank you."

"What happens now?" I asked.

"Follow the path," he said. "You'll know the way." He held up his hand. "Until we see each other again."

I didn't want to say goodbye. I didn't want the window to disappear. I wanted to go with him.

But before I could touch the orb, it fizzled out, and the cold of the cemetery stung my skin again.

I shook my head to clear it, then looked around. Warren had hold of my arms from behind. Enzo and the other members of the team were searching the sky. Nathan and Reuel were kneeling beside Jesse. "Is he OK?" I asked.

"He's coming around now," Nathan said. "I don't think he's hurt."

About that time, Jesse's hand twitched. Then he flinched away from where Nathan was trying to take his pulse. Quickly, he scrambled across the grass, the same terrified look on his face that we'd seen on him before. He jumped to his feet, stumbled a few times, then took off at full speed down the path.

"Should we go after him?" Nathan asked.

I shook my head. "No. Let him go. We've done enough to that poor man."

"Where's Taiya?" Enzo asked.

I spun around and didn't see her anywhere. My heart pulsed with panic. "Taiya?" I called out.

"Over the hill, walking down the path to the east," Fury said over Enzo's radio.

Enzo's head whipped to the left, so I took off in that direction. When I reached the top of the slope, I saw her staggering along the road like she was drunk. "Taiya!" I called again.

She didn't stop.

Our whole group had caught up to me. SF-12 was on full alert, searching the horizon through the scopes of their M-4s. Everyone called her name.

She veered off to the right under an old, half-rotten tree. Then she stopped suddenly in front of a white marble angel. It stood at least ten feet tall and was pristine by comparison of every other monument in sight. She fell onto the grass in front of it.

"Taiya!" I yelled again.

Warren grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop. "Wait. I feel like this is a trap."

He was right. Something was off. The stillness, the cold, the quiet…it was all unsettling. I closed my eyes and swept the area with my gift. "There are angels here that aren't accounted for."

"Still," he said. "We need to leave."

I nodded. "I have to get her."

I ran forward with Warren right beside me until we reached her. She was staring up at the angel. The rest of our group gathered around us. Nathan walked forward and used his sleeve to wipe the inscription on the pedestal beneath the angel's feet. He gasped as he took a step back.

I read it out loud in English even though it was written in Katavukai.

"Nadine Gravelle. An angel in human guise."

Warren pulled on my sleeve, tugging me back a few steps. His eyes searched the ground, and suddenly I realized what he felt.

Absolutely nothing.

The grave beneath the stone was empty.

"Warren?" A female's voice behind us chilled my soul.

We both turned slowly as a woman stepped onto the path from the other side of the road. She wore a long, dark emerald dress that swept down to her black boots. Her hair was black and straight past her shoulders. Her olive skin was pale like she was sick or even dead, but she was human. Of that, I was certain.

Enzo's fist was in the air signaling to Fury, wherever she was, to hold her fire.

"Warren?" the woman asked again. "Is that you?"

I'd seen her before. I covered my mouth with my hands. "It can't be. Nadine?"

Her face brightened. "Yes." She and Warren had the same smile.

Warren's arm came up protectively in front of me. He moved me slightly behind him.

"My son, I know this is confusing, but I need you to listen. You're in great danger here," she said, coming even closer.

He put up a hand to stop her. "That's close enough. I'm aware of the danger. My mother is dead."

She turned her palms up. "But I'm not. I'm here. Touch me. Put your hand in mine and see that I'm real."

Neither of us moved toward her. The breeze caught her hair and blew it across her face. I focused on her soul. It was pure, as beautiful as she was.

"Phenex knows you are here. This is a trick. You must leave this place at once," she said.

"How?" Warren asked.

"They all know you are here," she said, her strange eyes pleading. One was black, the other was the color of fire. "They are coming!"

No sooner had the words left her lips—a sonic boom shook the cemetery. Nadine rushed toward us as Phenex appeared. The devil child thrust a long knife at me, but Nadine lunged between us. My supersensitive ears could hear the blade rip open her green dress and slice through her guts.

I screamed.

The crack from a rifle echoed off the tombs, and Phenex floundered back and to the right a half step. When she swirled toward me again, her right eye and the surrounding bone was missing. There was no blood. "We should have known to find you here, Praea," she hissed, unhindered by the wound.

A second blast knocked Phenex to the ground. Fury had blown out her knee.

There was another boom, and suddenly Azrael was on top of Phenex. He threw her across the lawn, slamming her body into a statue of Mary. It crumbled into a thousand pieces. "Sloan, help Nadine!" he barked.

As I dropped to the ground over Nadine, there was another boom, and I looked up to see The Destroyer coming right at us. Warren shoved me down and jumped over me, colliding midair with Abaddon. He unleashed his devastating power, flipping the angel back through the air and sending him through the front door of a sealed tomb. When Abaddon pulled himself from the rubble, SF-12 all fired at him at once. His body shook violently as it was riddled with bullets. Warren dove toward Taiya to shield her from the bullets.

"Sloan, now!" Azrael shouted as Phenex came at him.

I looked at Nadine. The knife was buried to the handle in her stomach, just below her sternum. Before I could send my healing power into her, I was knocked forward from behind. I slammed face first into the dirt before Phenex grabbed my hair and slung me across the grass. In my peripheral, I thought I saw Azrael flailing in the air, impaled on something jutting out from a statue. Maybe it was a spear.

When I hit the ground, I rolled and popped up on my knees. Phenex limped toward me, her knee almost completely healed. I stood and squared off with the demon, moving slowly in a wide arch, each of us silently daring the other to make a move. It was Nadine who caught us both by surprise. When Phenex was close enough, Nadine grabbed her leg, yanking her to the ground.

"Kill her, Sloan!" Nadine gurgled.

In a second, my hands were around the child's throat, and I sent every ounce of my killing power into her. Cracks of light splintered through Phenex's face before rupturing into the air. Her eyes were wild with terror—and then completely absent. I realized it was Maria now, lifeless at my fingertips as a shower of shimmery black ash rained down on top of us.

Azrael bellowed in pain, and I looked back as the statue that held him exploded by some unseen force. He fell to the ground and Nathan rushed to help him. Abaddon lurched forward, blood covering what had been a white shirt when he arrived. Reuel's heavy fist connected with Abaddon's face, knocking him sideways toward Warren. Warren blasted him with his power again, and this time The Destroyer disappeared with a loud crack!

Blood oozed from Nadine's mouth, but Maria's body was between us. I used my power to lift the child off and gently place her on the ground. Then I crawled back to Nadine.

I grasped the handle of the knife and pulled. Nadine lurched forward in pain. Her eyes locked on mine and I heard Azrael's voice in my head: "Trust no one."

That's when I saw it.

The Morning Star stared back at me.

I recoiled, scrambling away from her.

From him.

An introduction wasn't necessary; his identity was branded on his spirit. So was the evil that was synonymous with his many names: The Morning Star. Lucifer. Satan. The Devil. Leviathan.

Even though I hadn't grown up in church, I'd heard of him my whole life, but this was certainly not what I'd envisioned. There was no tail, no horns, no pitchfork. Even beneath the polished, feminine exterior that was Warren's mother, The Morning Star was beautiful and aptly named. His spirit gleamed white, brighter than any I'd ever seen before. Evil, however, radiated from his being like an electromagnetic pulse. I could feel it. The baby could feel it.

Azrael stood near me. "Do it now, Sloan! You have the power to save her."

My chest heaved. I couldn't catch my breath. Realizing I was still holding Phenex's bloody dagger, I pointed it at Azrael. "This was you! This was your plan all along!"

The Morning Star rose from the ground, cackling with laughter that prickled my spine and turned my stomach. "He did well bringing us to this place, didn't he?" The smile on Nadine's face was sickening. Her teeth were coated with blood. "It's a very poetic setting, Azrael."

"It's a good place for you to die, Leviathan," Azrael said with a sneer.

Nadine's head tilted. "Come, come. We both know that's not why we're here. I must say, I was beginning to wonder if you'd failed me, old friend. But here you are, delivering as promised."

"He delivers nothing!" I shouted. "You're not taking my daughter."

He spread out his hands. "I don't want to take your daughter from you, Sloan. To separate a child from its mother is cruel." He pointed to himself. "I am not cruel. I want to make this world a better place for all of us, and you have the opportunity to help me. Isn't that what you want? To use your gift to help others?"

My mind flashed back to images of Kayleigh Neeland, the first little girl I'd saved with Nathan.

Suddenly, The Morning Star was standing right in front of me.

"This could be a world free of its great oppressor. Sweet girl, aren't you tired of being a pawn in someone else's game?"

I threw the dagger down and laughed with heavy sarcasm. "Yes! Yours!"

He wagged a finger at me. "It's not my game, child. You and I are but similar pawns, only on opposing sides of the board. Make no mistake, I am no more the game master than you are." He extended his hand. "Join me, and we can end this together. Sloan, you can be free to govern your own existence, to make your own choices and live a life you want. Not to play a role which has been forced on you by an unseen tyrant."

"Sloan, look at me!" Azrael screamed. "Don't let him inside your head!"

I whirled toward him. "Should I let you inside my head instead? You're on the same side as he is, Azrael. I know the truth now." I gestured around to Warren, Nathan, and the rest of Azrael's crew. "We all know the truth about you!"

The Morning Star clasped his hands together. "She knows, then, about your fall from grace. And your son knows too."

Azrael held up his hands, pleading with me through his eyes. "Sloan, this isn't what it seems." He took a small step toward me. The front of his shirt was torn and bloody.

"I think it's exactly as it seems! 'Weak humans.' That's what you always call us, like this world would be better if we were in our rightful place beneath you. Or if we no longer existed at all. Even your own son. You said it. That Warren's better without the weaknesses of being human." I pointed to The Morning Star. "You're no different than he is. You lie, manipulate, and bend us to your will. Just like he does."

The Morning Star laughed again, this time at Azrael. "She makes a brilliant point. I like her."

"You," I hissed. "This is what I think of your plan to help the world." With a twist, I backhanded The Morning Star with my power, knocking him back a few steps.

With a smile, he wiped more blood from his mouth. "Are you certain, Sloan?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Go to hell."

He laughed, then slowly opened his arms as wide as he could stretch. When he threw his head back toward the sky, a wave of electric force blew me backward into Nathan and Reuel. I crashed into them, and the three of us toppled over like bowling pins falling in a painful heap onto the ground.

As I pushed myself up, I saw Azrael fire at The Morning Star, blowing him off his feet through the air. He skidded across the grass, spraying up rocks and dirt as his body dug a path along the graves until Nadine's skull connected with the face of a faded monument. Azrael pounced on top of him, but he was instantly overpowered. The Morning Star rolled and pinned him against the grass by the throat.

Azrael didn't seem to be fighting as hard as he could. It might have been because he was in cahoots with the demon, but if that were the case, why fight back at all? A flashbulb memory flickered to life in my brain: the image of my brand of toothpaste laying in the drawer of the Claymore penthouse bathroom.

Azrael was fighting for me. I was certain of it. And the only reason he was having trouble using his full power against the demon was because it carried the face of the woman he loved. I'd felt the same months before in my dream when Nathan had tried to choke me, and I had no choice but to use my power against him.

I needed to blast The Morning Star, but I feared Azrael would be caught in the crossfire.

Just then…

"Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees flooded the cemetery.

Azrael's ringtone caught us all by surprise, including The Morning Star. In that fraction of a second, Azrael threw a punch with his fist that connected with his face—with Nadine's face—and knocked the demon off him.

As The Morning Star flailed to regain his stance, I caught him with my power and jerked him up into the air, suspending him above us. I tightened my invisible grip until he squirmed against it in pain, then I lowered him to eye level with me. "I don't know how you took Warren's mother, and I don't care, but it ends here tonight. You end here tonight."

I searched his eyes and found Nadine while Barry Gibb crooned the "Stayin' Alive" hook in the background.

Holding her tight with my life force, I flung open my right hand and let death sizzle and crackle at my fingertips. I took a deep breath in. I blew it out slowly and released all my killing power into The Morning Star.

Burning pain sliced through my belly.

My concentration broke as my killing hand connected with The Morning Star…with Nadine.

A blast from Fury's rifle drowned out my scream.

Phenex's dagger clanged against a tombstone, splattering the marble with blood. My blood.

Nathan tackled Taiya.

She was screaming.

Azrael was screaming.

Nadine was silent.

I collapsed to my knees beside her lifeless body and covered my abdomen with my hands. Over her, suspended in the air, was the black rippled spirit of The Morning Star. It condensed into a tight sphere and came right at my face. When it collided with my head, a burning, liquid heat spread through my body as he filled me.

A quiet whisper spoke deep inside me. "This is only the beginning."

Everything went black.