Sacrifice (Revelations Book 1) (31 page)

She smiled a little bit, finally mustering up the courage to lay her hand against the silver armor covering his chest. “The Hammer of Justice.”

He nodded. The tension between them melted away and Abby inhaled deeply before releasing the calming breath. He was back and he was hers again. Nico’s head dipped down and his lips lightly brushed against hers as he whispered, “I’m not going anywhere without you ever again, Abby.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

Nico and Abby returned to the main room hand in hand. The whispered conversations fell silent as all eyes locked on the pair, most of them had probably heard of Nico’s death. Meri’s body was gone and the only physical reminder was Lobo’s blood-stained clothes.

Abby gave Nico’s hand a squeeze. He returned the gesture. The humans regarded him with fear, the small group of vampires regarded him with caution, but a line of Virtues and Personifications formed down the center of the church to welcome him. One by one they saluted him with a fist over their heart before they clasped forearms with him pulling him in for a quick embrace. There were no questions from them, no accusations. They simply accepted him as one of their own. .

Graham made his way toward them. “Rosa is coming. We have to end this now, my cover can’t be broken.”

Abby narrowed her eyes. “Your cover?”

Nico leaned over to whisper, “He’s working as a spy in Hell; Rosa saw his face when he came to help me. She’ll sell him out in a heartbeat.”

Abby nodded. “Then we need to kill the bitch quickly.”

Nico smiled. “Indeed.”

“Let’s get this over with.” She was already gripping the hilt of the black sword, readying for the fight.

Nico barked his orders, “Everyone to the back, no civilians are taking part in this fight.”

There was a low murmur from those who didn’t want to trust their fate to a man they thought was dead. The doors of the church swung open and Arveda’s presence chilled the air. “Do as he says or suffer.”

A tightness hit Abby in the chest, her hands shook, and for a moment she thought she might break out in a cold sweat. After glancing around she noticed the humans were having a far worse reaction. Their faces drew gaunt, blue tinged their usually tan skin, and beads of sweat formed on their brows. Arveda snapped her fingers and the fear that was crippling everyone in the room subsided. The humans obeyed her command, quickly shuffling to the back rooms of the church.

Abby could almost respect the way Arveda commanded a room or in this case an entire population, but it was the lack of freewill that the Striga imposed on others with her magick that left a bad taste in Abby’s mouth. The townsfolk looked to her for guidance, help, and safety. Abby had no doubt that they would follow the simplest command from Arveda without the use of magic because they respected her position of power. They seemed to have a blind faith that she would always protect them and yet given the right circumstance or a very bad day that woman could level this town, kill everyone in it, and barely bat an eyelash. From what she’d seen Arveda had never given or shown these people anything other than disdain, but they’d follow her orders no matter what by will or by force. The woman turned her gaze on Abby, forcing her take an instinctive step back. “You and the Priest will fight this one alone.”

Abby nodded. “And what about you and your daughters?”

“We’ll be smiting anything that tries to come through that Gate as it closes.”

“Okay.” Abby paused, trying to think of something to say to a mother who’d just lost a child and had another one disappear. “Arveda, I’m—”

“Don’t.” Arveda’s face softened for an instant before bringing herself back under control. “It’s not your fault. I thank you for the sentiment, but you’ve nothing to apologize for. Chloe will come back to us and I have no doubt that someone, somewhere will make that Beast pay for taking Meri’s life. She will be avenged.” A banshee scream filled the air. Arveda snapped her head towards the door. “She’s coming. Kill her now, don’t hesitate.” She spun on her heels and headed for the back exit, calling her daughters. “Come girls, we have demons to destroy.”

There was no doubt in Abby’s mind that whatever demons the Striga encountered tonight would suffer for what had happened to Meri and Chloe. The women would want blood for their loss, even if it wouldn’t help ease their pain. She did a quick scan of the room. Only her and Nico remained. “Where’s Jack?”

Nico flashed her a grin. “He couldn’t be here for this.”

“Why the hell not?”

“We all have our issues, darlin’.”

Abby took a deep breath in through her nose. “And Graham?”

Nico glanced up toward the rafters. Abby followed his gaze. Something blacker than night melded with the shadows above them. The Dark-Soul was hidden, probably not from Rosa if she were looking hard enough, but enough to hopefully catch her off guard.

“So this is it, huh? Just you and me?”

“Yep.”

“Are we going to survive?”

“We’re sure as hell going to try.”

Abby crouched as the doors exploded inward sending splinters flying in all directions. They seemed to almost pause in the air, hovering for a moment as Rosa walked into the room. Her eyes locked on Abby. The Whore of Babylon snarled, “You’re still here?”

Abby spun the sword. “Haven’t finished what I started yet.”

Rosa laughed. “You think you can kill me?” She offered a bemused smile. “No, you think Nico will kill me, you’re just here to tire me out first.”

“I don’t need him to kill you, I’ll gladly do it. And he doesn’t need me to tire you out for him either.”

Rosa turned her attention to Nico. “Oh I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Nico seems to like it when I’m out of breath and panting.”

Abby gave her a bored stare. “I don’t care what happened between you two, it’s in the past.”

Rosa cocked her head to the side. “Nico, I’m shocked. You didn’t tell her about our night in the hotel room?” She looked back at Abby. “That, my dear, wasn’t in the past.”

Abby knew her face betrayed her for one brief moment. She did care, but it wasn’t a deal breaker, the Whore would use sex and jealousy as her weapon and Abby wasn’t giving in. Any woman would care, but a strong woman wouldn’t let it break her. “You aren’t baiting me into a reaction. That’s what you want.”

“You’ve already reacted, little girl. I can see it all over your face. Jealousy, betrayal.”

Abby shifted her stance from one foot to the other. “You see what you want to see. I’m not jealous of anything you had with him. He returned to me. After your night in the hotel and whatever you tried to make happen he told you that the two of you would never be together. And you know where he spent that following night? With me and every night after that. He’s always been mine. You’re nothing to him.”

Rosa snapped. She let loose a scream to crack the Heavens and ran at Abby. Abby dodged left and hit Rosa with the butt of her sword on the back of her head. Rosa was out of control. She spun around and lunged like a feral animal, all teeth and claws. Abby ducked, flipped her blade around and came up. Her fist crushed against Rosa’s jaw sending her back a few steps. “That all you got, old woman?”

Again Rosa screamed. Abby smirked as she dodged the poorly aimed attacks. Having a little fun Abby nicked Rosa with the tip of her blade, slashing a superficial gash here and there. Abby danced on the balls of her feet, taunting Rosa with a smug smile. The fun of out maneuvering her enemy ended when Rosa barreled into her sending them both to the floor.

Abby sprung to her feet and rolled her shoulders. Her vision blurred. The room was spinning and Rosa moved like a blur all around her.

Rosa delivered a series of blows to Abby’s gut. As she doubled over, she took a knee to the nose. Blood gushed down her face. Lesson learned. Abby shook off the pain. Standing back up, she focused on her target. Everything came into focus as she exchanged carefully crafted blows with Rosa.

She was regaining the upper hand, driving Rosa into a shadowed corner of the room where a beam from the broken door tripped her. Rosa fell to the floor. Abby cocked her head to the side and smiled. She had the urge to say something cocky, like in the movies when the hero delivers some witty line right before killing the bad guy. Instead Rosa kicked her foot out and toppled Abby. In a move Abby could barely follow Rosa was on top of her, claws aimed for Abby’s throat. Abby shot her hand up and grabbed Rosa’s neck at the precise time Rosa did the same. She squeezed as hard as she could, hoping to at least render her rival unconscious before Rosa could gouge out her throat.

Rosa’s claws grew longer digging into Abby’s neck. Abby muttered a quick prayer to whomever might be listening to a vampire. She flexed her fingers trying to dig in enough to force Rosa to let go, but before she could get a hold of The Whore’s jugular, Rosa’s body went stiff as a board. Any damage Abby had done was insignificant, but Rosa’s eye dimmed. Her body slumped to the side as Abby scrambled to her feet. Two daggers protruded from Rosa’s back. Nico stood above her.

Abby held her hand to her throat and coughed. “Is she dead?”

“No.” Nico pulled the hammer from his belt and held it up to strike. “But she will be.”

The sound of wings beating through a storm filled the air. A howling wind whipped through the broken door and sent the remaining pews flying. Nico shielded his face against the raging storm. Abby stumbled and took some shelter behind Nico’s broad frame. She heard a crash that must have come from Graham being knocked off his perch. She opened her eyes to try to see what was happening but all she could make out were items churning in the violent wind.

Somehow out of all of the noise came the sound of footsteps. Abby felt Nico tense at the approaching intrusion. The accented voice from her past echoed all around them as the winds started to calm. “This ends now, Nico.”

The man she’d met in Hex who had set her on her path stood in the church. Except now he was sporting midnight blue wings with black tips that sprung from his back and grazed the floor behind him. “He’s the fallen angel?” she whispered in awe.

Nico gave a nod and raised his hammer over Rosa’s unconscious frame. “You’re damn right it ends now.”

Nico flexed, about to strike when an invisible force hit both of them so hard they went flying back into the far wall. The angel was now crouching protectively over The Whore. “You will not harm my daughter.”

Nico pushed himself from the wall and started to move forward. “Enzo, you can’t stop us. She brought about the apocalypse.”

“She didn’t mean to.” Enzo gave a quick glance down at her and stroked her chestnut hair. “She only acts out of anger. Her mother made a rash decision, it damned Rosalie.”

“I don’t give a fuck what Maria did. Rosa is trying to end the world.”

Enzo stood up, walking toward Nico. “What would you do, Lynch? If this were your child? A child you loved more than life itself. Could you let someone else destroy her? Or would you do anything, move Heaven and Earth, to try to save her soul?”

Nico gripped his hammer tight. “She can’t be saved.”

“How do you know?” The angel’s eyes darkened. “Did God tell you that? You’ve killed an innocent, but clearly God’s forgiven you.”

“I didn’t kill Molly.”

“Not intentionally.”

“Your daughter set that whole thing up. She had Molly possessed, she had her killed, she killed Lucas.”

Enzo paused as if word of Lucas hadn’t reached his ears yet. There was sadness etched in his ancient face. “She will pay for what she’s done, but I can’t let you kill her.”

A rustling came from across the church, Graham stood and dusted himself off. “Old man, what the bloody hell are you doing here?”

“Taking my daughter home.” Enzo smirked and turned to the Dark-Soul. “And if you’re a good little boy I’ll even wipe her memory of you interfering with her plans so you can resume your spying in Hell.”

Abby cleared her throat. “How do you know that?”

Enzo laughed. “I’m an angel, one of the oldest. I know much and I help when I can.”

“Like how you helped me, when we met at Hex. You sent me on this path knowing I would die, knowing I would be turned into a vampire. You practically hand fed me to Rosa. How is that helping?”

She wanted answers, she wanted retribution, but she had a feeling she would get neither of those from him. “You are the key, Abigail, they would have set this all up without my interference. They’d already been practicing their spells on you by the time we’d met. You came looking for answers because you were blacking out. That had nothing to do with me. I pointed you to the people who could help. Yes, I knew you would die. It was predestined. And for that I am sorry. You, like my Rosalie, had your fate decided for you a long time ago. She is a victim as much as you are.”

“Bullshit, she started this whole thing.”

He lowered his gaze. “I’m taking my daughter and none of you will stop me.”

“Like hell we won’t.” Nico charged the angel and hit a wall of force that sent him back again. “Don’t do this, Enzo. I will hunt you down.”

“No, you won’t.” Enzo walked to Rosa and scooped her up. “You are the embodiment of Justice now, and coming after me isn’t just. You know now that redemption is possible for all living creatures, it’s embedded into your DNA. You will let us leave. Besides, your fight isn’t finished here.”

“What—” Abby paused and cocked her head to the side. Screams were coming from inside the cemetery. “The Gate,” She hissed.

Enzo nodded. “I’ll handle Rosalie and make sure she doesn’t cause any more harm.” He took something from his belt and tossed it to Nico. “Cast that as soon as we are gone. It will banish her from this town, she’ll never be able to get near the Gates, and at least one of her entryways into Hell will be lost. I’ve managed to seal off a few more as I’ve come across them.”