Preston and Maddie stood in the entrance, their faces drained of color, but they didn’t say anything. Screams and wails could be heard in the distance, and the sky had darkened to a nighttime hue beyond the windows. The rumble of the storm continued past the windows. Rancid smoke drifted into the cabin and I took small breaths trying to keep my head clear.
I felt another contraction coming and lifted the blanket. “Push, Chloe—you have to push.”
“What’s the point?” Chloe lifted her head. Her eyes were filled with pain. “The world is coming apart.”
Tears flooded my eyes. She was right, but I couldn’t sit back and let my family die without trying to save them.
“There’s still hope,” Maddie cried. She knelt at my side and began praying aloud. “Please, Lord, deliver this baby safely into the world, and protect us all from evil. Deliver us to a peaceful place. Amen.”
I licked my lips and looked around. Timmy whispered a string of soothing words to Chloe and Maddie’s eyes were tightly shut, although her mouth continued to move as she soundlessly prayed. Preston mouthed the word “hurry” to me. He ducked when something small and sharp flew through the air, nearly hitting him. It impaled the side of the boat with a thud. Water lapped over his feet, spilling into the cabin. The boat was sinking.
I focused on my Gaia working its magic inside of Chloe’s womb. The baby’s heartbeat was strong and the Gaia had shifted her position, dropping her head down into the birth canal. The contraction built and I flung my head backwards, clenching my teeth.
What a horrible time to be born—into a world that was destined to become a part of Hell. Maddie had prayed from her heart. She hadn’t asked for everything to stop, only that we die in peace and salvation. I admired her strength in her faith, but I was selfish. I wanted my niece to grow up and ride a pony and date a handsome young man. I wanted her to get married someday and hold her own baby in her arms.
My face flushed with anger and my Fire stirred to life, taking the bite out of Chloe’s pain. Two of the Horsemen were fighting against Hell rising, and there was still the drone of aircraft in the sky. I wasn’t ready to concede just yet. I had to fight for my baby niece.
“What’s her name going to be?” I looked between Chloe and Timmy. For a brief instant, I saw a spark light up their faces.
“Faith. We’d talked about calling her Faith.” Chloe glanced sideways at Timmy and he nodded his head.
“It’s a fine name for our little girl,” he said quietly.
Icy, brown water lapped at my feet and the boat rocked, tilting sideways. Maddie fell against me and Preston put his arms around both of us.
“We’re going to drown if we don’t get out of here.” The urgency in Preston’s voice made my heart thrum harder. I couldn’t risk losing my Gaia to work with the Water element.
I looked over my shoulder, through the swinging door, toward the shore. Creatures crawled over the bank and three-headed hounds howled.
Insepth, where are you? I need your help, I spoke in my mind to him.
There was silence and my chest froze.
Chloe cried out and arched her back. My Gaia wrapped around baby Faith, growing her body and developing her organs. The power it took to do it made me dizzy and nauseous, but I didn’t let go. Even though my other elements were tugging at me to break away from Chloe, to save us all, I didn’t let go.
I heard the rumbling, and then crashing noises behind me, but I kept my gaze locked on Chloe’s face. “One more push,” I begged.
Chloe closed her eyes and her face reddened with her strain. With a long groan she pushed. Faith’s head crested, and then there was a gush of warmth as the baby slipped into my hands.
“Is she okay?” Chloe gasped, pushing away from Timmy to sit up straighter.
Faith was limp and pale in my hands. I called on my Gaia again just as Maddie pulled a tissue from her pocket. She vigorously wiped Faith’s nose and guided my hands to hold the baby in an upright position. The power of the Earth rushed through the newborn’s tiny body and with a jolt, she sucked in a wet breath and squawked loudly.
I sagged in relief as Maddie took my niece and handed her to Chloe. The umbilical cord was still attached and Chloe was bleeding. The boat rose out of the water and rolled backward. Water rushed out of the cabin and I looked up. Insepth was at the water’s edge, his hands outstretched.
“I can’t hold the land bridge for very long!” Insepth shouted. He was drenched, muddy, and splattered with blood.
I pushed to my feet. “What’s going on?”
“Samael controls the river—the Horsemen have been giving him fits, but they can’t hold off the Dark Angels much longer.”
“Cricket and Eae?” I forced the names out.
“They’re battling those creatures on the shore.” I followed Insepth’s pointed finger.
I could see Eae was using a long piece of metal as a sword and Cricket kicked and struck out with her hooves at the never-ending swell of creatures clamoring up the pile of rubble where they were making their stand. The three children were huddled on the ground between them.
“We’ve got to help them,” I said, taking a step toward Insepth. Maddie’s hand snaked out, grabbing me.
“I think she’s bleeding too much,” she said.
Timmy held Faith and Chloe’s head lolled to the side.
“Please help her,” Timmy pleaded through tears.
A gust of wind and a towering wave crashed into Insepth’s land bridge, crumbling parts of it. “I can’t hold it, Ember! We have to go now!” he yelled.
Preston faced me. “Tell me what to do,” he said calmly.
He was ready to die. I saw it in his eyes.
“Help me get Chloe up. We have to get to shore.”
“But the monsters are waiting for us!” Maddie said.
Chloe’s voice was weak, but her words sharpened in my mind. “Save baby Faith. There’s no time…”
“We’re not leaving you,” I said.
“You can’t save anyone if you’re dead!” Insepth complained, but he sunk down beside Preston and helped pick Chloe up.
My Gaia was mostly drained, but the small amount I had left I gave to Chloe, healing as much of her insides as I could.
A crash of lightning lit the black sky and I saw the shadow of a horse falling through the clouds. I followed the plunging image as it hit the surface of the river with a great splash.
The roof ripped off and wind pummeled my face. The boat’s walls broke apart, and then we were lying on the rocks and dirt that Insepth had worked so desperately to hold together. Wings flapped in the sky and a loud laugh shook the air.
“Nice try, love. But I grow weary of this game. It must end,” Samael said with a booming Angelic voice.
I didn’t look up. Maddie grabbed my hand, pulling me with her. I bumped into Timmy who was holding his baby tightly. His eyes were hooded in fear when he turned and held Faith out to me.
“Take her, Ember. Take her to safety. I have to stay with Chloe.”
“No, we’re going together,” I said, but I followed Timmy’s gaze along the shore.
To my horror, Hell beasts scrambled from the shore onto the rocky bridge, coming for us. Insepth and Preston set Chloe down and she wobbled. It was Maddie who took Faith from Timmy so he could help his wife.
There was nowhere to go. We were surrounded. Debris-filled waves slammed the sides of Insepth’s creation and monsters blocked the only way to shore. The sky above was filled with Fallen Angels and the Devil himself was there, waiting to strike.
Insepth wasn’t giving up. He crashed the part of his bridge covered with the evil beings into the raging river, and he hurled boulders into the sky at the Dark Angels.
I saw Eae go down and Cricket rear up as the creatures pushed against her. The screams of the children were drowned out by the barking of a frenzied Hell hound.
Sorrow wrenched through me. I’d tried so hard to prevent this from happening, but I had failed. Ever
yone I loved was going to be murdered in the most horrific ways imaginable. I couldn’t stop it.
Faith’s cries reached my ears and I closed my eyes. Faith was all I had now.
Lord, forgive me for being so arrogant to think I could stop Your wishes. I see now what a fool I’ve been. But please, please save my family and friends. Don’t let them suffer.
“It’s a little late for prayers to Him, love.”
I opened my eyes, and Samael was suspended in the air above me. His black hair blew back from his handsome face, and his white shirt was perfectly clean. It struck me once again at how Samael didn’t look like what I’d always imagined the Devil to be. “But if you pray to me, I’ll save them from the gruesome deaths awaiting them. I’ll save them all, sweet Ember.”
His voice was warm honey and the world quieted around me. The burning city and raging river disappeared. I could barely hear Faith crying.
I could save them from being torn apart. And how easy it would be.
Samael smiled with twitching lips, and I began to open my mouth when I spotted the glowing ball at his shoulder. It darted in front of me and a cool mist spread out below it.
Ila stared at me with a stern face and Riley yipped at her feet. The apparition lasted only a few seconds when Samael’s wing smashed through it, scattering it on the wind.
You can win without surrendering your soul.
The words were just a murmur in my ear.
My elements surged to life and I opened up to them, letting them fill me.
“You’re making a mistake, love. Even if you summoned all of your power and were fresh and strong, you couldn’t beat me. I’ll kill you, and then I’ll let my pets eat the rest of your party. The baby will be my special snack, and you’ll be the cause of it all.”
For an instant Samael’s face contorted and became sunken and skeletal. His teeth were like daggers and his fingers long and bent. This was what the Devil really was—he had been deformed by his evilness, just as Sin had been altered from her time in Hell, changing from an Angel into dragon form.
I had glimpsed his true face. But should I trust that Ila was right, that I really had a chance at beating the Devil and his army? If she was wrong, I was condemning my loved ones to gruesome deaths and perhaps no afterlife.
But I’d seen what had happened to Sawyer when he’d made a deal with the Devil. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake.
I narrowed my eyes, standing straighter. “I think you’re afraid of me.”
His glorious face returned and his chuckle turned into a hearty laugh. The vibrating sound rolled across the river and echoed between the buildings.
“Help me do this, God,” I asked before raising my hands and closing my eyes.
Even with my Gaia diminished, it still streaked out of me, joined by Fire, Water, and Air. The four elements weaved together in a tightly intricate pattern. The pattern grew into a steady stream that I aimed at Samael.
“Ember, no!” I heard Insepth shout.
As the elements left me, I felt my life being torn away.
The sky exploded into a million beautiful falling stars, and then there was nothing.
Chapter 31
Ember
“Open your eyes, Ember. It’s over.”
I knew it was Insepth speaking, but the words were fuzzy, distant sounding. My head throbbed and something sharp jabbed into my back. My lids were heavy and my stomach rolled.
I couldn’t ignore the prodding hands or stifled crying. I was afraid to open my eyes, but I blinked, seeing purple dots and darkness.
Through cracked lips, I said, “Is he dead?”
Insepth’s face sharpened into focus. Tears made trails down his smudged face. His blond curls whipped around his head in the wind and his lips quivered.
“You tried—you gave it everything you had—but it wasn’t enough.”
His words shot through my mind like a bullet and I pushed up on shaky knees.
The strange bubble of quiet that I’d been in when Insepth had first spoken disappeared and the world came to life with sickening madness.
A few feet away, Preston and Maddie huddled together. Maddie’s mouth moved and her eyes were closed. She was praying—and she was still holding Faith.
Chloe was crumpled on the rocks and Timmy stood in front of her, holding a broken oar in the air. Disjointed creatures with gray, slick skin, crawled out of the river and onto the rocks. Their eyes were dead and meat clung to their teeth. I couldn’t see Eae or Cricket. They had disappeared in a sea of monsters.
It was difficult to move my mouth and tears stung my cheeks. “What happened?”
Insepth’s arms went around me and he whispered, “You released everything you had, and many Dark Angels fell from the sky, but not Samael. He fled.”
“We have to help them,” I choked out.
“We’re spent—we’ve done everything we can.” The sky lit up, but Insepth’s hands held my face, forcing me to look at him. “I regret many things in my life, now more than ever. But you gave me something I never thought I’d have, and I’m forever your servant for that gift. I love you, Ember.”
His Earth trickled in, entwining with the little bit of Gaia I had left. They blended, filling me with peace.
“Kill her!” Samael called out from the clouds.
“Don’t look,” Insepth begged, trying to hold my face against his, but I found some strength and pulled back.
I turned toward the heat. Creatures and Hell beasts dropped away, allowing something to pass by. My heart suddenly came to life, pounding in my rib cage.
It was Sawyer.
His red eyes were fixed on me. Flames sprang to life wherever his feet touched the ground. His expression was hard and pale, and his lips were cruel.
He moved with demon speed and raised a large, blood-stained sword he carried into the air. Insepth turned and flung his arms wide, shielding me with his body.
The sword fell, piercing Insepth’s chest.
No, no, no…
Insepth slumped and his blood spilled onto my hands. He blinked up at me with pained brows, mouthing something I couldn’t understand. When the light left his eyes, I finally looked up.
Samael hovered above Sawyer. “Kill her—kill her now,” he prodded gently in an almost hypnotic drawl.
Sawyer raised the sword again.
I was ready to die, along with everyone else I loved. But not this way—not by Sawyer’s hand. And Samael knew it. He understood that being murdered by my former lover and friend was even worse than death.
“Please, Sawyer, you don’t have to listen to him.” My throat burned and my voice cracked. Insepth’s blood was all over me and Faith was crying. The world seemed to pause, waiting, as the sword trembled in midair.
Sawyer’s eyes glowed a blistering red and his pale skin was stretched tightly over his face. His hair fell in matted tangles around his head, and his clothes were splattered with blood. Where had my beautiful Sawyer gone? This monster glaring down at me certainly wasn’t the man I knew and loved. Samael had corrupted Sawyer, tainted him with an evil so foul that I couldn’t undo it.
He was lost to me.
I remembered the first time I’d seen Sawyer, and our first kiss. From the beginning, there had been an intense connection between us. I’d known he was a Demon, but I hadn’t been afraid of him. I sensed goodness in him. He hadn’t approved of what his Demon leader, Garrett, was doing to humans. There had been compassion in him that Ila and Ivan had recognized. And he’d only made a deal with the Devil to save me. It had always been about protecting me.
The swell of hatred I’d felt toward Sawyer for killing Insepth, my friends, and my dog, dissolved into tattered numbness. I blew out a deep breath, and I let it all go. The resentment and smoldering anger I’d carried with me since the day my parents had died disappeared, and my raging heart quieted. I was filled with a feeling of contentment I had never experienced before.
“I love you, Sawyer. I forgive you,”
I said.
I lifted my chin and closed my eyes, waiting for the end to come.
Chapter 32
Sawyer
I love you, Sawyer. I forgive you. The burning flame that had filled my vision for so very long lifted and I saw Ember.
She crouched on the rocks, and her dirty face was wet with tears. I heard the mad beating of her heart and felt the stir of her breath in the air. Insepth lay dead at her side and her brother swiped furiously at Hell’s soldiers, defending his wife. The human football player and Ember’s cheerleader friend huddled nearby, and I briefly wondered what they were doing here.
Then I heard the crying of a baby and my eyes shifted to search out the sound. The humans were holding a squirming, naked child, wrapped in a bloody blanket. I could smell the remnants of afterbirth still clinging to its newborn skin. I also sensed the familial connection to Ember.
All of these observations happened in an instant, and the place where my soul should have been swelled with horror. Years of soul eating pummeled my mind. I am evil, I have always been evil. But the day I’d seen fiery Ember walking out of the school with Ivan, everything changed. She had touched a part of me that had lain dormant for more than a hundred years. My humanity had been rekindled and I’d come alive. Ember had given me the one thing I’d craved most in the terrifying world that I belonged to—and she didn’t even know it.
“You are a soulless Demon. If my Father gets His way, you will suffer an eternity of pain for your sins. But if we succeed, you will be a revered member of my court. I will give you everything your heart desires. But first, you must kill the Watcher girl. She is your enemy. She stands in the way of your true salvation,” Samael whispered to me. “Do it. Do it now.”
I screamed and swung the sword.
Chapter 33
Ember
Sawyer’s wail made me dare to look. There was a whoosh of wind in my face, as the blade passed over my head and flew through the air with a hissing sound.
Samael’s eyes widened but he wasn’t quick enough. The sword pierced his chest and he fell backward onto his own writhing soldiers. His bellow reached over the river and onto the shore. Hell beasts scurried away from the flapping black wings, knocking against each other and sending others jumping into the water.