Obumbrate (23 page)

Vens, part of the Queen's personal arsenal, stood shoulder-to-shoulder, a horrifying never-ending sheet of black.

I barely had time to process what was happening before everyone leapt into action. Kayden grabbed one of my arms, flinging me behind him and onto the ground as he screamed something. Three Vens instantly descended upon him, and I watched Kayden vanish under a tangle of limbs.

Scrambling up to my feet, one of the remaining three Vens made a grab for me. Fire ignited with fury on both my hands. With a single swing, I clocked one of them, fire burning at the skin with a sickening smell.

Smoke curled around me, forming into a solid shape. Hands wrapped around my upper arms, a voice whispering in my ear, and I screamed. As if it reacted to my fear, blue fire laced up my arms, ensnaring the Vens that had locked onto me, boiling his hands. He released me, dropping to the ground in a flurry of screams and shouts. He swung at me, connecting a burning fist to my temple and throwing me to the floor.

For a moment, everything swirled in a daze. All six Vens were ganging on Kayden, dancing around him in a tight circle. Kayden's lips moved, eyes shining a sparkling obsidian as horns began to grow from his forehead, his true form coming forth. No one paid attention to me.

Something hard pressed at the inside of my left thigh. I fumbled through the fabric, finding a hidden pocket I hadn't known. A small, purple bottle had been stowed away inside the dress, identical to the one I had seen in the apothecary.

An idea seized my mind, one wild enough that it would end all of this, once and for all. Standing, I uncorked the purple bottle and held it out in front of me, eyes narrowed on the tip. Fire curled over my fingertips, the purple bottle growing hot in my hand.

Kayden snapped his eyes up at me from over his shoulder, shock quickly turning to wild horror. As if on cue, all six Vens turned around to watch me too. Fire bloomed on my hands, the twisting blue and black working in slow motion as it swirled over each finger before reaching the bottle. It raced up the sides, diving into the liquid as a new, hotter fire began to spiral skyward out of the bottle.

"Essallie, no!" Kayden turned to rush for me. But it was too late.

With a final breath in my lungs, I felt my wings explode from my back. The bottle shattered at my feet, setting everything ablaze.

I accepted this; death would be a welcoming gift to end this maddening war. I would stop the world from burning out by setting it on fire.

Only a second went by before the explosion rocked the hallway, sending everyone flying in different directions. But I didn't care. I only knew one thing.

We would all die.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

MONSTER

Bodies were everywhere.

The hallway looked like a building after a raging, uncontrollable inferno. Destruction littered everywhere; broken and burning pieces of timber lay splintered, chunks of marble scattered on the floor, the smell of ash and burned flesh heavy in the air. Blood splattered every surface. Smoke clouded like a thick, unyielding haze.

I tried to take breath, but found only ash coating my throat. I coughed, trying to clear the burning taste from my mouth. Something was pressing on my chest, making breathing impossible.

"Essallie..."

Two eyes, swirling with a molten amber and raven black, met mine.

"
Kayden,
" I forced out, pushing him off of me. He landed beside me with a groan. Already I was getting to my feet, amazed at how little had hit me from the blow. "What happened?"

He said nothing, rolling onto his side, and I instantly understood why. His back had been shredded in the blow, the glass and marble acting like a monster, eating at him alive. He had protected me from the blow, throwing himself on me in the last moment of the explosion. Crouching down against the broken glass and blood, I tried to ease him into a sitting position.

"Why didn't you let me die?" I asked out of my bewilderment, my voice hoarse. He could have easily let me fall prey to the Queen without a blemish on his non-existent soul. "You could have finally been free."

His voice was dry, but the words he spoke sang with an unparalleled truth. "I gave up trying to imagine a world without you."

I watched the expression in his eyes turn soft, dim glimmers of something kind shining inside them. He reached out to stroke my cheek, his thumb igniting sparks from my skin, like flicking a lighter on. "You remind me of someone." He paused. "For a second I thought...maybe part of them was reincarnated into you."

I studied him carefully, running my eyes over the cuts and burns that littered his body. He looked like a giant mess of ripped tissue paper. I wondered if the blow left him delusional. "Who do I remind you of?"

He shook his head, the broken look on his face nearly crippling me. Rising to his feet, he stumbled and gently swore. "Doesn't matter who. What matters is that where this person went, it isn't possible to come back."

"Don't stand up," I started to say. I'd barely made it to my feet when he spilled forward, collapsing into my arms. Adjusting my stance to save us from a spill into broken glass and blood, I muttered under my breath. "You have got to be the heaviest thing made of smoke. Ever."

Leaning off of me, Kayden grinned like a jackal, blood smeared across the bridge of his nose and cheek like blush. If we weren't in the middle of a pile of dead bodies, I might have smiled too. "Admit it," he said. "You like this. You wouldn't know what to do without me."

I ignored his words and the hammering in my chest, doing my best to keep him from dragging us to the ground.  Alarm bells rang in my head, reminding me that Ari was still missing from the party. "How exactly do you get better? Because there's no way I can carry you like this forever."

For a second his gaze returned to the serious Kayden I was accustomed to. "Do you really want the answer to that?"

I locked eyes, prepared to dish the first retort on my tongue, and stopped. Even with his brooding stare my heart felt like it could explode at any moment. I didn't want to look away from him, because what if that last time I saw him was his last? If he died right now, how far did I really think I could get before I'd break down and sob? I realized that while I told Ari my scars were his to guard, Kayden had the same right, maybe even more. I couldn't see the final picture without him, couldn't stand the thought of letting him go. And yet, if I didn't...

"Essallie?" Kayden tilted his head to the side.

Something screamed inside of me to respond. Something, anything. Anything that didn't involve flinging myself into him and kissing him like I'd never see him again. I had to hate him, hate him to the very core so Ari wouldn't kill him. So my heart would survive the break. Demons and angels didn't mix, they couldn't. No amount of love could fix something like that.

"What a pity to interrupt something so
lovely
."

I looked up in shock, staring through the heavy smoke blanketing most of the destruction. Two figures, outlined in black, came into view. Fire instantly blazed my knuckles, Kayden wrapping his arms around my shoulders as I let him free from my grasp.

Ursula stood alongside the Queen, both wearing elegant black gowns and hair styled to sit in twisted spirals above their heads. But where Ursula looked soft and beautiful, the Queen looked composed and assured, smiling knowingly to me.

"My, what a mess you've made of this place. Still, how nice it is to see you again, Essallie," the Queen purred, half-lidded eyes regarding me curiously. Gesturing to the blown open door on her right, she turned to walk inside. "Come, I'm sure we have much to discuss."

The pounding in my heart froze, replaced by a slithering sickness swirling in my gut. One look at Kayden told me we had no choice- to run would mean death for both of us, and while I had no qualms about using myself like a human bomb against the Queen, I wasn't about to put Kayden and Ursula in the middle of it.

Following the Queen inside, I waited until the door clicked soundly shut before I breathed. We were standing in a room almost as large as the balcony, its walls and floors the same shimmering black from the bookkeeper's. Five small pedestals, all evenly spread out, stood in the center of the room, a floating blue orb dimly glowing just above.

The Queen gave a dismissive gesture to Ursula. "Take Kayden and leave. I'd like to speak to the Nephilim-"

"
Essallie
," I corrected with a snap.

She paused, only the faintest of twitches betraying her calm demeanor. "-Essallie, in private."

Beside me, Kayden gave a the Queen a smile. His stance was strained as he visibly tried not to attack the woman dressed so elegantly before us. "Now isn't the best time. We're both injured, thanks to your idiot squad. You'll do better by letting us go."

"And ruin all my fun? You have no say, Kayden darling," the Queen replied sweetly, smiling. With a flick of her hand, Kayden exploded into smoke, hurtling out the door with Ursula sauntering in tow.

The door sealed behind me, I found myself alone with the Queen. A woman who wanted me dead, for reasons unknown. Fire lit on both of my hands, the burning in my stomach spreading to every end of my body. If she wanted to start anything, I would be ready to take her down in a fight of flames.

Walking with unparalleled grace, the Queen moved carefully through the room, putting the floating orbs between us. Her gown was much like Ursula's; a tightly fitted bodice, wrapped in swaths of black shining fabric cut in a daring low neckline, the bottom flared out with layers for extra flow. Around her neck rested a small, red pendant heart nearly identical to my white one.

When she spoke, her voice was boring, like a drone reciting an age-old quote. "I see you found your way back to Charon."

"Hope you didn't waste too many brain cells on that one."

"And still just as snarky as the day we met." Her tongue clicked in disappointment. "Tell me, is that Kayden's influence working on you, or all your own?"

I stiffened, the fire on my hands burning brighter. "If you wanted to keep me on your good side, you should have made mention that it wasn't the world who was out to get me, but yourself. You play a good game, Lucretia."

She stopped moving deeper into the room, her bare shoulders rising in a display of controlled anger. They dropped as she turned, any signs of her rage masked. She reached out to touch one of the orbs, fingers running down the side and back up.

"No one has spoken my name to me in such a manner in over three hundred years." Her words seemed to betray her bitterness, but her tone of casualty off-set the mood. "It's almost refreshing to hear someone rebel against me for a change. Of course, that still doesn't change the outcome of our conversation."

"Which is what?"

Her eyes met mine, a frightening smile revealing sharp teeth. "I always get my prize, Essallie."

"Yeah, well not this time." I felt my bones begin to rattle and shake, the potion's effects wearing off. Like a snake shedding its skin, Lilix's appearance washed off of me, leaving my true self unveiled to the Queen.

The Queen appeared unfazed by my declaration of resistance. If anything, she smiled a little wider, relishing the idea of a battle to obtain whatever it was she so desperately wanted from me. "I take it my two favorite Vens won't be returning for future assignments?"

"Don't know, want to ask them yourself?" I stepped further into the room, the glow of one orb cast on my face. The reflecting shine of a gold plaque, posted on the black pedestal, caught my eye. A name I didn't recognize, Adia Cassidy, had been etched in dark red. "Why are you sending people to capture me, Lucretia?"

"My desire was only to bring you to me, never to hurt you," she said gently, moving closer to me. Her fingers lingered over another orb, whispers growing in my ears each time she touched one. "My intentions are more noble than you think."

"I'm sure they are," I spat, putting as much sarcasm into my voice as I could. "Except the evidence between the Vens attacks sort of put a hole in your promise of peace."

"You wouldn't understand." Her tone turned sharp and dark. "You've never come so close to having everything you've ever wanted, yet still be so far."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

With a flick of her wrist, two black bands snaked out of the dark, binding my wrists, immobilizing me. I struggled against the bands, the black burning into my skin as my fire did little to slice through them.

"You are a miracle, Essallie. A miracle I have been dreaming of for over three hundred years. Your very existence is proof that I have not waited in vain on the word of a madwoman, but a true prophet who told me that one day I could have a child again."

"Wait a minute, you said you lost a daughter. But you can't have children," I stared, shock spreading on my face as the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place. "Unless she wasn't yours to begin with."

"She was not mine, but a gift given to me nonetheless." Fists formed at her sides. "When she perished, I lost everything. All that remains of her now is a memory, a tiny spark in my dark heart. I was destroyed, knowing my line would die with me, a disgrace to my family.

"A woman approached me one night, wild with the fever of a premonition. She spoke of a Nephilim who would be able to give me the thing I searched most for, all I would need is her blood and mine to mix."

I jerked against the bands, twisting my hands and wrists in futile attempts. "News flash. Even if I could give you wanted, my clock is running out. I'll die before you can do anything with me."

"That's where you're wrong, Essallie." She nearly darted across the room to put her hands on my face, nails digging into my cheeks. "It's already beginning. How else do you think you've lasted this long? On
faith?
" She let out a dark, harsh laugh. "You're smarter than that, think Essallie."

"I don't know-"

She pushed my face away in disgust, stalking off across the room. Shark-tooth shaped burgundy scales grew from her unblemished, pale arms, creating the illusion of sleeves. "Funny, how blood ties into everything in our lives. It defines relations, connections, unspoken words performing the impossible. Everything always boils down to blood." She paused, reigning in the rising wild sound of her voice. "What a shame, Chase couldn't leave you be that night at the circus."