Beyond the veil, Quinn watched as an eclipse of demons took to the sky, black leathery wings tracking Aaron’s golden ones as he led them deeper and deeper into the Underworld and away from her until they were nothing but tiny dots over the horizon.
Her fists beat against the ethereal barrier, kicking up particles of fog, which danced and swirled around her as she screamed his name.
Anger and revenge welled up within her, and her power swelled, ready to erupt. No, not helpless, not anymore. Quinn paced in front of the thin wall between the seam and the Underworld. If she could see Lilith through the veil, maybe she could kill her. She was Eol Ananael; she had to try. Hands pressed against the barrier, she centered herself, calling on the light within. Buzzing filled her head, and the wall of fog vibrated beneath her touch.
Lilith! she called.
The sound of hoof beats on stone echoed in the distance, turning Quinn’s way. A silver steed, legs enveloped by smoke, raced across the bleak landscape of the Underworld. On it, a woman, cloaked in shadow dragged a body behind her.
Quinn’s heart hammered against her ribs, and she tried to calm herself with three deep breaths. Aaron, encased in a cocoon of spider webs, thrashed and kicked, the burnished feathers of his wings pushing against his bonds as his body was trailed across sharp rocks.
I swear, if you hurt him, I will kill you. Do you hear me, Lilith? I will fucking kill you if you so much as scratch him.
Laughter echoed across the veil. You dare threaten me? Bring the box to me before the eclipse, and I might let you live. As for the boy? His fate is in your hands, Eol Ananael, as his blood is on the hands of your Sentinel. Remind me to thank Azrael for his little gift.
Quinn swallowed, fighting not to take the bait. Lilith first, then she would deal with Azrael. Putting questions about her Sentinel out of her mind, Quinn focused on the task at hand: to release a killing wish and end Lilith’s life once and for all.
A few more feet, and Lilith would be at the border, close enough for Quinn’s power to reach. Lilith skidded to a stop before the wall of fog, her horse rearing under her command. Silver eyes, so cold they made her gasp, locked on Quinn’s and wouldn’t let go. It was now or never.
Power surged from the pit of Quinn’s stomach, hot and angry, but before Quinn could release it, a shockwave of energy rocked her mind, casting her out of the seam and thrusting her back into reality. Colors swirled to life as time resumed, and she was back in her body, arm outstretched, Aaron’s name on her lips.
“No!” Quinn screamed as the world came rushing back to life. Unfrozen, Reese and Marcus ran over to her, but she pushed them away, intent on one thing and one thing only.
The power that built up inside needed release, and if she couldn’t have Lilith, she would have the next best thing. Sensing her intent, Azrael’s eyes widened, and he spread his wings to take flight.
Quinn stretched out her hand and released her command as a bolt of white light from her fingers. Azrael hung in mid-air, a snarl on his face. “You stupid girl,” he hissed.
“What are you doing?” Reese asked. “Quinn? I thought you said he was your guardian.”
“Are you, Azrael?” Quinn asked.
Azrael didn’t even squirm in her grasp. His defiance pricked her essence like thorns, but her strength had grown, and anger fueled her now. She wouldn’t let go until she got answers.
“You betrayed me. You knew where Aaron was all along.” Quinn gritted her teeth and used her energy to squeeze an invisible hand around his throat. His eyes bulged, and he pawed his neck.
Marcus patted Quinn on the shoulder and whispered in her ear, “You’re killing him.”
“Immortals can’t choke to death, but I’m sure it’s uncomfortable to have your essence crushed. There’s only one way to kill an immortal. Give me your blade, Azrael. You know the one I mean, the one you stole from Kaemon when you tricked him into Aaron’s body, the one you used to slit Aaron’s throat after he jumped in to save me.”
Shock cut Reese and Marcus’ faces.
“Aaron would have lived if it wasn’t for him,” Quinn said to Marcus.
“He would have died anyway. I have told you before, it was his destiny.” Spittle flew from Azrael’s mouth.
“A destiny you chose for him. You could have saved him. Now, give me Kaemon’s blade.” Azrael’s arm shook as he tried to resist her, but in the end, he reached into his scabbard, pulled the Qeres blade from its sheath, and handed it to Quinn.
Drunk on revenge, Quinn positioned the tip of the blade to the hollow of his throat. “Aaron showed me everything. I can still feel the pain of the poison running through his body. Our bond let me feel the depth of your betrayal, Azrael. Do you know what Qeres really does to an immortal essence?” Quinn pressed the cold star-blade into his skin. “Time to experience it firsthand.”
Azrael didn’t flinch. He stared at her with his golden eyes. “Go ahead and finish it then. Have your revenge, but I know what you really want. I feel your desire radiating from you like sunlight. It burns hot inside you, this need to bring him back. I might know a way.”
“Tell me.” Quinn tightened her grip on his essence, and the light beneath his skin flickered in pain.
“Release me,” Azrael panted. “Let me take you to Arcadia until the solar eclipse has passed, and I will help you rescue the boy.”
“No, you will take me to the Underworld. Now.”
“I can’t let you.” Pain etched lines into Azrael’s usually smooth face.
“Let me? You have no hold over me, Azrael.” She pushed the tip of the blade a little farther into Azrael’s skin, and he flinched.
“Don’t be foolish. Lilith will kill you. You’ve read the prophecy. You are Eve’s tears and her sin turned to flesh. The Trinity refers to your essence, the perfect balance of human, demon, and angel. If you fall, descend into the Underworld, Lilith will have what she needs to break the lock. You are the sacrifice. We must leave for Arcadia, tonight. There is no other choice.”
“Lilith can’t do anything without the box, Azrael, and I have the box. It’s my bargaining chip. It’s my life. I hold all the cards here.” Quinn cocked her head. “There’s something you’re hiding. I can sense it.” Quinn forced her will upon Azrael, using their link to dig for an answer she wanted, but his thoughts were evasive. Like a breeze, they were constantly changing, moving, flickering, to the point she could never quite get a hold of one.
“If you are going to meet the Queen of the Underworld, you will need to do the same. Keep your thoughts flowing, do not let her pinpoint any specifics.”
“I am not in the mood for lessons.” Quinn forced her will upon his essence, and his eyes widened. “You will keep your mind still and reveal what you’re hiding.” Seizing on a fleeting thought in Azrael’s mind, she flexed her fingers around the hilt of the sword and pressed the tip once again into the hollow of his throat.
“When did you take it?” Azrael shuddered as she ran the tip of the blade across his bare chest. “You will show me.” Quinn growled. Even though he didn’t resist, she tore through his mind anyway, without a care for his feelings. He didn’t care about hers. There. She seized the moment and replayed the image of Azrael reaching a hand through her car and into the bag while she and Marcus tried to convince Reese that demons were real. So that’s where he had disappeared to.
“Where is it now?”
“I gave it to one of her minions,” Azrael said with labored breath.
“The part in the prophecy about chaos and betrayal, it refers to you, doesn’t it, Azrael?” It took everything she had to keep from cutting his heart out with Kaemon’s blade. “Did you know about the box all along?”
“No, I believed the box of Agathe to be nothing more than a myth, until today. Even though the Dominions knew of the prophecy, they weren’t sure the rumors coming back from Eden were authentic. But all myths are grounded in truth, and I recognized it the moment I saw it in your hands. It found you. Don’t you understand? Destiny drew it to your essence, to Eve’s essence incarnate. Once the box revealed itself, I saw an opportunity.”
“An opportunity for what? Betrayal?”
“To keep you from going to the Underworld and killing us all.” Fear spilled from Azrael’s essence, not just for her, but of her. She could taste it, bitter and metallic on her tongue. Good. Let him understand how much he underestimated her. “And you thought you could give Lilith the box, and I would just run off to Arcadia and leave Aaron there to rot?”
“I didn’t think it would be easy, but I planned to drag you to Arcadia kicking and screaming if I had to, until the eclipse was over, ensuring the prophecy would not come to pass. That box means nothing without you; so as long as you stay away from it, Lilith’s plan will fail. Everything I did was for the greater good.” Azrael actually believed what he’d done was right. Quinn could sense his conviction “Everything I did was with The Light’s approval.”
“And did The Light tell you to kill an innocent boy?” Quinn asked, digging deep into his mind to root out the answer. “How did killing Aaron that night in the river serve the greater good? And Kaemon, my real Sentinel, what about him?”
He tried to hide the truth from her, but she was stronger now, her power surging. Azrael had interpreted his orders as he saw fit. As long as it got the job done, The Light turned a blind eye. After all, he was chosen because of his penchant for bending the rules.
“So you killed them both out of petty jealousy?” Tears streamed down Quinn’s cheek and she swiped them away with the back of her hand.
“It’s not like that,” Azrael begged. “The Dominions watched Kaemon’s bond to you grow. They feared he would be distracted, that his feelings for you would cloud his judgment. His unwavering love made him reckless, made him weak. I should have been your Sentinel to begin with, but the Dominions chose Kaemon because they thought he might lead them to the box. For me, they cast a darker, more sinister role.”
“You were playing both sides?”
“As I was commanded.” Azrael’s agitation showed in the ruffling of his feathers. “When the Dominions began to lose trust in Kaemon, they saw an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. I would take care of their Kaemon problem in the guise of leaving you unprotected for Lilith’s attacks, and they would restore my rightful place as your Sentinel in exchange. But prophecy has a strange way of fulfilling itself. Aaron, Kaemon, they were factors unaccounted for. With Kaemon’s essence still in the human realm, our plans failed. A human can only have one Sentinel after all, and Kaemon was still bound to you, even in a mortal body. Nobody foresaw this outcome.”
“So, Aaron, Kaemon, they were collateral damage in all this? I’m so sick of lies, Azrael.” Quinn flourished the Qeres blade in his face, the tip just shy of cutting into his eye.
“Aaron would never have survived without Kaemon’s essence. Kaemon should have perished when I bound his soul to Aaron’s dying essence. But prophecy has a strange way of creating loopholes to ensure the balance. Believe what you will, but I am here to help you, to protect you.” Azrael didn’t plead, didn’t beg, his tone was matter-of-fact.
“I don’t need your protection anymore, can’t you feel it?” Energy crackled around her. “I can protect myself. I can rescue Aaron and kill Lilith in the same breath. I’ll take the fight to her instead of hiding in Arcadia, end it now. Then my life, all of our lives, can go back to normal. Don’t you understand? Aaron would never leave me in hell.”
“Your power may have grown, but you still lack control. Look at yourself, Quinn, so full of hate. This is what she wants, to divide us. Your rash decisions will be the death of you and of all humanity. Don’t you understand? That’s exactly what she wants, to use Aaron as bait to draw you to … what is it you humans say? Home field advantage?”
Quinn lowered the sword and loosed her grip on Azrael but commanded him to stay where she could see him. He slumped against the wall and rubbed the back of his neck. Maybe he was right about one thing. She was a fool to walk right into Lilith’s trap and risk everything for one person. Saving him would be selfish, but her heart wanted to do the selfish thing. Going to Arcadia made sense, let the eclipse pass, and then turn the fight back to the Underworld. That’s what Aaron wanted her to do. Quinn pinched the bridge of her nose, her head and her heart were in direct conflict with one another, and she paced.
Through the front window, the sun dipped beneath the horizon, the fiery orange and red hues that painted the evening sky reminded her of the molten beauty of Aaron’s new wings. Every second away from him felt like eternity. No telling what Lilith would do to him. She couldn’t let Aaron sacrifice himself for her again. Sacrifice. She stopped mid-stride.
“The voice of the sacrifice will break the lock, restoring darkness unto the light … ” Quinn recited the last sentence of the prophecy, mulling over its meaning. “It never says who the sacrifice is. It never specifies. If Lilith kills Aaron, if he dies sacrificing his life so that I might live, wouldn’t that fulfill the prophecy?” she asked Azrael.
Azrael whirled around ruffling his feathers in agitation. He didn’t know how to answer. She could sense his confusion and shock as he ran the scenario through his thought process. When he didn’t try to reassure her she was wrong, Quinn’s heart slammed against her chest. Wide, burning amber eyes met her own, and his dread scraped across her barrier and intensified her own horror.
“No. That’s not possible.” Azrael shook his head. His pace quickened, wings thrown wide.
“But it isn’t specific, is it? By not rescuing Aaron, couldn’t he become the sacrifice? Are you willing to bet the human realm on it?”
Azrael rubbed his temples, his jaw tight. “If she kills him … ”
“She will kill him if I don’t show up. If I hide like a coward, he will die, and the box could be opened anyway.” Quinn gripped the handle of Kaemon’s sword, the star-blade suddenly heavy in her hand. “You said yourself that prophecy was the way the universe balanced Lilith’s defeat in Eden. It’s why Kaemon came back as Aaron, why we happened to be at the same school, why he ended up in the Underworld. Everything he’s done is to keep me safe. What if hiding in Arcadia is useless? What if she opens the box anyway, using Aaron? If I don’t come to her, she’ll be angry enough to do it.”
“Even with all your powers intact, even if you managed to open a door to the Underworld, you wouldn’t know where to start. Your bond to Aaron has been severed; you have no idea where Lilith is keeping him.” Azrael got down on one knee in front of her and bowed his head. His wings fell forward, cloaking him like an inky cape. “If you are so stubborn that you would undo a millennium of planning for love, then let me help you. You will need me. I will not leave your side. I have vowed to go where you go and protect you no matter how stupid you are. I swear it.”
“And how do you plan to do that, Azrael? Angels can’t enter the Underworld, it is forbidden, you said so yourself.”
“My essence is tainted enough to enter. In order to gain her trust, I had to prove myself to her … ” he cleared his throat “ … to do a few unsavory things over the years. I have been to her palace, and I know how she thinks; she believes I’ve betrayed The Light for my own benefit. We can use that against her.”
“Haven’t you?” Quinn shifted Kaemon’s Qeres blade to the side of Azrael’s neck and against his jugular. “Why should I trust you now?” She would make him beg, make him grovel.
Azrael beat his wings and threw his arms wide.
“Use your powers and read me. I will strip my barrier down to nothing. Dig as deep as you want, I will not resist. All I have done has been for you.”
“Then why the secrets?” Quinn asked. “Why not tell me everything from the beginning?”
“Understanding only comes through walking your own road, not by walking someone else’s. Wisdom and knowledge are two different things. Ask Eve what it was like to gain untold knowledge but not have the wisdom to comprehend what it meant. Would you seek her path? Banished, ashamed, forever changed? Would you let Lilith destroy everything Eve did to build a life for her children here?”
Quinn grabbed his chin with a hand and wrenched his eyes to hers. Azrael didn’t resist as she searched his memories, his thoughts, looking for any hint of a lie, of betrayal, but everything Azrael said was true. He was there to protect her, to protect humanity. He truly believed everything he’d done was for the greater good, every sacrifice, every decision.
“Are you really going to trust this guy after what he did to Aaron?” Marcus asked.
“He’s telling the truth.” Quinn released her hold on Azrael but kept the Qeres blade in her hand.
“How do you know that?” Reese asked.
“I read him. He can’t hide from me, not anymore.”
“You say walking my own path leads to wisdom. I can see it now; there is no way to avoid this prophecy. I choose to go to the Underworld, to face my fate.”
“And if you are wrong about Aaron being the sacrifice?” Free from her control, Azrael rose gracefully to his feet, squared his shoulders, and clasped his hands behind his back.
“Then we must make sure nobody dies by her hand.”
“The way is dangerous.”
“Just tell me.”
Azrael sighed. “Your blood is the key. It has the power to open doors to new realms.”
“So I bleed a little, and the door to the Underworld opens? Sounds simple.”
“Simple? No. Your blood is only part of it. You can’t just stand in your room and prick your finger. To get to the Underworld, you will need to find a place where the veil is thin, a place touched by darkness. And then there are binding runes to keep demons from coming through the open doorway. And if everything goes according to plan, then you will be able to travel to the Underworld.”
Quinn studied Azrael. “A place touched by darkness?”
“Yes, a place where tragedy happened, where the demons have already ripped a hole. There, the seam, the veil, doesn’t exist. The human realm and the Underworld will overlap with no resistance.”
Quinn chewed on a thumbnail. “Like Jeff’s house?”
“You can’t go there,” Reese said. “It’s a crime scene. There’s tape all over the house. Our friend died there, Quinn. It’s wrong, it’s creepy.”
Quinn held her hand up to silence her friend. “Is the veil thin enough there?”
Azrael nodded. “But we will need time to prepare, and we must act fast. The eclipse starts in a little more than forty-eight hours.”
“Then we better get started.” Quinn pulled out her phone and dialed Caleb’s number.
“Who are you calling?” Reese asked.
“Reinforcements. We’re going to need all the help we can get.”