Good Side of Sin (44 page)

“Just say when,” Omega replied calmly, and then a spray of bullets left his rifle, sending three more enemies to the ground.

Two arrows left Damien’s bow at once, both connecting with their targets. “Why don’t you two pussies settle it by seeing how many of these fuckers you can kill? Whoever kills the most has the bigger pecker.”

There was silence for a brief moment, and then, “I’m going to need more silver bullets,” from Omega, and, “Can I borrow your long sword, Damien?” from Thoros.

The rush of battle was exhilarating. It felt natural to slay demons, and I wondered why I hadn’t considered joining the LOD before I had been given the ultimatum.

I glanced over my shoulder, looking for Ethan, again. He hadn’t had a problem keeping up with me, nor had he had a problem taking care of business; he had shredded at least as many—if not more—fallen angels as I had demons.

It was comforting to know that they couldn’t really touch him, even if they wanted to they couldn’t; he would annihilate them on the spot. Even knowing this, I still felt better being in front of him; we didn’t need any surprises today.

A dozen or so angels, including Rhyan, Abigail and Alexandra, had run ahead of us to fight through the crowd, giving us a semi-clear shot to the front door of the mansion. Once in, our back-up had separated in groups of two so they could scout out the house. Sounds of scuffling could be heard from all four corners of the massive mansion, but luckily most of Lucifer’s minions had gone outside to fight.

I didn’t like being in the house. I felt too exposed inside where anything could attack us without warning. I had actually felt more comfortable seeing my opponents rush at me with their weapon raised than feeling their stares as they lurked in the shadows and behind half-open doors of the dark house.

I knew it was probably a stupid move on my part—people always got murdered in basements in horror movies—but I needed to set Lameria free. If Aries had been weary of her before, then we definitely needed her now. Plus, even help from someone like her was important at this point.

I took Ethan’s arm—I was not touching those glowing hands of his—and led him to the basement door.

After taking one last look around the empty foyer, we slipped through the basement entrance. The smell of decay and stale air was thick enough to offend my sense of smell and activate my gag reflex. I swallowed the urge down with a guttural moan.

I heard a thump and then something that sounded like wings flapping. I shoved Ethan against the stair wall and went completely rigid.

“Don’t even breathe, Ethan.”

“That’s easier said than done. I’m still alive. I’m going to need oxygen to stay that way, Josselyn.”

“Well, just do it quietly, and stay here; I’ll be right back.”

He grabbed my arm in a panic—thankfully I didn’t burst into flames. I suppose he’d figured out how to use that particular gift already. I was happy God picked a fast learner to be His alflight.
“You’re not going anywhere without me. Take me with you or we can stand in this spot the rest of my life. And I’m pretty sure I can keep you from moving if I have to.”

I rolled my eyes, knowing he couldn’t see it.
“Fine. Just be quiet and stay behind me.”

I didn’t wait for a mental reply; I let my foot drop silently to the next step down, and then the next. I knew there was a turn in the staircase soon, so I reached out with my hand to feel for the wall, but touched something else. It was fabric, like cotton or flannel, and I realized too late that there was a firm chest of a man behind the soft material.

Despite my warning to Ethan, I opened my mouth and screamed, simultaneously shoving Ethan in the direction we had come.

A big hand covered my mouth and jerked me back against him. I heard him shush me, and then a blinding light flared, illuminating the stairwell, and once I could focus clearly, I realized the light was coming from Ethan’s hands.

The male holding me exhaled heavily as he whispered my name. “Josselyn. Thank God!” I turned around and gave a sigh of relief as Baddon looked down at me with shining, bright blue eyes.

The light to the basement came on at that time and most of the missing angels and half-souled were there, looking at me.

“Where is the demon? Where is Marcus?”

“Oh, so you already know about that jerk?” Lameria said. “Good. That’s one thing we won’t have to try and explain.”

I nodded, but refused to make eye contact; I couldn’t talk about Isaiah right now, and I knew she would see the truth in my eyes. “We may need your help. The seer has been our enemy all along. Alexandra says we should expect her to show up with Emma soon. She thought the demon and Marcus were holding all of you hostage—”

“They were,” Baddon said, “but Troy got us out before he left for Heaven to try and stop—”

“Geoffrey?” I said.

“Is that the archangel who is siding with Lucifer?” Coen asked.

I nodded. “Yes, and he has Troy now.”

Baddon made an agitated noise and paced away from us.

“Where are the others?” I asked.

Lameria shrugged. “Fallis is siding with—”

“No, he isn’t!” Baddon shouted in her face. “He’s just possessed by them. Fallis wouldn’t turn against us with how he’s been grinding my ass about being careful and not leaving the house unless we stay in groups of threes, like Josselyn told us to. He is the only one that ever listens.” He threw out his arm, gesturing toward the other four angels from Troop C. “Even these assholes break more rules than Fallis. I have no fucking clue how the son of a bitch ended up in Hell in the first place!”

“Fraud,” Coen replied. “He was a scam artist in his former life as a human. A damn good one, too. That’s why Lucifer gave him the gift to make people see things that aren’t really there. He could have been fooling you this whole time—”

“No,” Baddon said. “Just shut up. I refuse to listen to this bullshit.” He turned back to me. “Fallis has been taken, we think Damien got away somehow, and I have no idea where Phoebe is.”

“Damien is outside fighting with Thoros—”

Baddon’s eyes popped wide. “Thoros? So, everybody came back safely? Is he all right?” He ran his hands through his crimson hair. “Christ, I’ve been going out of my mind with worry.”

I swallowed nervously, desperately wanting to keep the conversation from drifting anywhere near the topic of
everybody
coming back safely. “He’s fine. They were going to make sure Ethan and I got inside the house, and then follow us shortly after. You know how men are—they wanted a piece of the action. And now that I’ve found all of you, we need to locate Geoffrey and Marcus, and send them to Lucifer, where they belong,” I finished up quickly, and then turned to walk back up the stairs. I froze mid-step when Lameria cleared her throat.

“Where is Isaiah? You haven’t mentioned anything about Isaiah, and I was told that he left with you. But—you haven’t spoken of him, so… where is he?”

I took in a shaky breath. There were eight steps back to the top. I could run up them, leave her question unanswered and—simply hate myself for being a coward. I would want to know, if Thoros had done the same thing. It would be tough to hear, but I would
need
to know. I turned my head to look at her. She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She knew something was wrong.

My eyes flicked to Baddon as he started speaking. “Where is the archangel, Josselyn?”

I sucked in a short breath, and looked back to Lameria. “Isaiah stayed in Limbo.”

Lameria’s hand flew up to cover her mouth as she shook her head. “It’s not true,” she said, her voice squeaking under the strain of the words, and denial clear in her shining eyes. “I must go get him. Melina and I have always—”

“Isaiah doesn’t remember you. He gave up his happiest memory to cross the ferry when we first arrived, and then refused to accept it back before we left. His happiest memory was the first time he saw you, so he has not a memory of you at all now. I’m sorry, Lameria.”

She stood there in silence for a long while, and then seemed to come to terms with the fact that she would never see her soulmate again. She stood up straight and jutted her chin out in the arrogant Lameria-style, and then she simply shrugged as if I had told her nothing more than the sky was blue. “Well—I don’t suppose I should have expected anything less. After all, he has already said his good bye.” She pushed by me on the stairs and walked up to the main floor. Over her shoulder, she said, “Are you just going to stay down there or are we going to serve a few one-way tickets to Hell? Let’s make this quick; I need a shower.”

Thoros heard his name being shouted through the thick crowd and looked up to find the source. Malcolm gave him a wicked grin, spun with nunchuks in hand and knocked his opponent out with a quick series of whacks to the head and chest area. Then he jogged over to him.

“Who’s that?” Damien asked as they reached the front steps of the porch, just as Malcolm arrived.

“Malcolm—Damien, a friend and one of the best shots with a bow you will ever have the privilege to meet. Damien—Malcolm, the angel who helped Josselyn get Rhyan through the seven sydes of Hell. He’s…” Thoros sighed heavily, as if the words would physically hurt when he spoke them. “…also a friend.” He grinned, happy that it hadn’t been so painful after all.

Malcolm shook hands with Damien. “Yeah, I recognize him from the Syde of Sloth. You freaked Rhyan out with that whole snake transformation.”

Damien smiled and a forked snake’s tongue slithered out of his mouth to taste the air around him. Malcolm shuddered and quickly jerked his hand back. “I liked him. Although I did lose five minions to Velan when the little bastard made it through all the sydes. Not that it matters now, since I’m not a prince anymore.”

Thoros shook his head as he looked at Malcolm’s choice of weapon. “Nunchuks? Really?”

Malcolm skillfully whipped the loose end of the weapon through the air around him. “Why not? I’ve always wanted to see what it was like to use them.”

Omega raised an eyebrow. “You thought that choosing a weapon you have never been trained to use was a good idea? You do know that we are here to save the world, right?”

He shrugged. “Yeah. I like a challenge.”

Omega rolled his eyes as he turned toward the door. “The demon doesn’t bring a weapon at all and the angel brings a child’s toy to an epic battle of Good versus Evil—why the hell am I surprised the world is coming to an end?”

Thoros ignored the remark and walked into the house with his machete up, ready for anything that might attack them. It was dark, but he had lived there for the last three months, so he knew his way around pretty well.

The barrel of Omega’s rifle quickly came up to aim at an opening door, but Thoros knocked the business end of the weapon toward the floor with his hand. “Jesus Christ, Lameria, do you want to get shot?”

“Thoros?” Josselyn shouted from somewhere behind Lameria, and he ran forward to meet her. She emerged from the basement and pushed Lameria out of her way, so she could throw her arms around him. “I found them—well, I found most of them.” He hugged her to him and watched Baddon emerge from the basement door. A line of people followed behind him.

He took the time to shake his best friend’s hand—he’d known Baddon had wanted to accompany them to Limbo. “Sorry it took so long, brother. We had a few unexpected delays.” Thoros’ eyes flicked to Omega.

“Can we save the love story for later?” Lameria chided. “I don’t want to miss my only chance to choke an archangel.”

Thoros growled low in his throat. “Was it really necessary to set her free?” he said, but began making his way up the steps of the grand staircase after her.

“Alexandra and the others are waiting for us outside the library,” Ethan said. “Geoffrey says he will only talk to me, and that he will damn the souls of my dad, Emma and Troy if anyone else tries to enter the room. Can he really do that?”

Thoros glanced at Josselyn, but the expression on her face didn’t help ease his mind. Jesus! An archangel with the ability to damn souls! Seriously? They had to get control of this guy, and quick!

Josselyn took Ethan’s shoulders in her hands and looked him in the eyes; she didn’t bother hiding the fear in her own. “Ethan, God picked you for a reason. You were chosen to be what you are even before you were born. I’m sure I don’t have to stress to you how important you are to us, but I will. The balance is in your hands. Whichever side you choose to be on will win. Geoffrey will try to trick you. Ethan, he will promise you anything to get you to choose Lucifer’s side. I can’t promise you that everyone is going to come out of this alive; in fact, there is a big chance not everyone will. But I can promise if you let Lucifer win, Heaven, Earth and everyone you know and love will belong to him.”

Ethan swallowed. “He’s going to kill Troy, Emma and my dad if I don’t choose to follow him, isn’t he?”

Josselyn sighed heavily. “It kinda looks like that’s his plan.”

Ethan was silent for a moment, and then he spoke softly. “Tell me something, Josselyn… If you were in my shoes and the archangel had Isaiah, Malcolm and Thoros…” He took in a deep breath, and so did Josselyn. Thoros knew what direction the boy was headed with his thinking. “…what would you do?”

“I would do whatever was necessary to save Heaven and Earth first, and then I would do my damnedest to save the people that were counting on me.”

“And if you couldn’t do it?”

“I would die trying.”

Ethan nodded. “I believe you would. I hope, when the time comes, that I’m as strong as you are. God should have picked someone like you to be one of the gifted few.”

Josselyn gave him a smile. “God picks all of us to play a part. It’s up to us to accept the challenge.” She tilted her head in the direction of the library. “All of us are here because we believe you have accepted yours. We believe… in you. This is your time to shine. Don’t worry; we don’t leave our friends to fight their battles alone.”

Without another word, Ethan turned and walked toward the door of the library. Josselyn and the rest of the group followed after him with troubled thoughts and heavy hearts.