Sacrifice (Revelations Book 1) (33 page)

The field cleared quickly, the able-bodied Striga dragged the body of the Beast away. Moose gnawed happily on what looked like a meaty leg, and no one seemed to be in a hurry to take his prize away from him. Josephine carted off the head, swinging it by the horn while humming a tune. Abby smirked as she recognized the chorus of
Work It
by Missy Elliott. She would wager a guess that hauling away a severed head while humming hip-hop was not normal for anyone else.

Then again, nothing about this night or the weeks leading up to it were normal. She hoped one day she would be able to look back on tonight and not feel the stinging loss of friends and loved ones. Kara was eagerly trying to scoop up the remaining goo that used to be the heart of the Beast. Abby recoiled. “What are you doing?”

Kara snorted. “What? It could be very useful for spells. Waste not, want not.”

It wasn’t the strangest thing she’d heard, which in and of itself said a whole lot about the life she now lived. She searched and found Nico hovering over something. When she approached she was stunned to see he was kneeling next to Arveda and the old Striga was gripping his hand. They were so deep in conversation that Abby felt like it would be intrusive to come any closer. She waited for several seconds before clearing her throat. “Is she alright?”

Nico looked over his shoulder and smiled. “She’ll live, much to my chagrin.”

Arveda coughed in what sounded like an attempt to laugh. “Get me to the church, please. We have to make plans.”

Abby reached out to help Arveda to her feet and scowled. “Plans? It’s over, Arveda, we won.”

The older woman reached over, caressing Abby’s cheek as if soothing a child. “No, my dear. The battle is over. The war, unfortunately, has just begun.”

Again the church was bustling, the damage and debris from their fight with Rosa was being cleaned up by anyone who didn’t have a body to bury or a plan to make. Abby wandered around the room, picking up bits and pieces as others started to arrange the pews, recover any bibles, and other items. It looked a million times better than it had a few short hours ago. The humans were also helping and this time they didn’t bother to give her questioning glances, now they embraced her. Moose trailed behind her and she could see that some sort of glamour had been cast to make him look like a giant mastiff. They embraced Nico as well. He handled their praise, he talked freely, and most of all he reassured them that it was going to be okay. The old Nico would have scolded and rebuked them. Abby smiled.

Someone nudged her from behind, she turned to see Jack. “What are you smiling about?”

She nodded her head towards Nico. “Him. He seems, I don’t know, lighter. I guess.”

“He is. His soul doesn’t carry the burden of guilt anymore. He’s been absolved of Molly’s death, of his mother’s death, and of his many sins.”

She gnawed on her bottom lip. “Why would God have found him guilty of his mother’s death or even Molly’s? They weren’t his fault.”

“The guilt didn’t come from God. It came from him. He blamed himself. As irrational as it sounds, he blamed himself for not saving his mom. Even though there was no way for him to save her. He blamed himself for Molly even though he’d tried everything he could.” Jack paused. “Sometimes, we are our own worst enemies.”

“But he’s at peace now?”

“Yep, from what I can tell he’s forgiven himself and there is no better feeling in the world than that. He’s a leader now, one that will be followed out of love and loyalty.”

Arveda was standing at the damaged podium, looking tired and disheveled. Abby was surprised the old woman was still standing let alone addressing the crowd yet again. “Tonight we say goodbye to one of our own.” She paused and choked back her tears. “Meredith stood by all of you. She loved you.” Arveda’s eyes roamed the room until they settled briefly on Nico and then found their home with Lobo. “I was wrong for trying to keep her away from this world. I was wrong for trying to shelter Chloe, and now we’ve lost them both.”

The other Striga carried Meri’s body in, a white sheet over her still frame. She was beautiful, peaceful, but Abby winced, knowing that underneath the white sheet was the gaping hole of her mortal wound. Lobo and Nico probably saw it in their minds as well. Meri’s fiery hair fanned out like flames ready to engulf her porcelain skin.

Arveda stepped down from the podium and made her way toward her daughter. “Meredith, I am sorry I failed you. But know this, I will protect the things you held dear. This town, these people.” A single tear splashed down on Meri’s pale cheek, then Arveda leaned down breathing the words against her daughter’s ear, “And I will make him pay for taking you from me. His blood will coat the earth.”

Ah, there’s the Arveda I know.

Abby rubbed her forearms and shifted uncomfortably as Arveda kissed her daughter’s forehead and then waved over Nico. Nico simply stroked Meri’s cheek and gave a smile. “Good bye, old friend.”

He stepped aside and Lobo approached. Pain etched his face. His eyes were bloodshot and sunken in with dark circles underneath. Abby expected him to say something, anything. A goodbye. A heart-wrenching confession of love that they all knew existed. Some lingering words of revenge. She was ready for it, prepared for anything. Anything except what happened.

Lobo reached out, snipped off a lock of Meri’s hair and slipped it in his pocket. Arveda clenched her jaw, but the old woman stayed silent. The room was void of all sound, everyone seemed to be holding their breath, no one so much as moved. She knew they were all anticipating the same reactions that she was. Lobo laid his hand over Meri’s chest, right over the hole made by the Beast’s horn. He visibly swallowed as if he might finally speak, then he turned and walked away.

Abby blinked, he didn’t say a word. Nothing. Confusion boiled inside of her. Where was the resolution? Where was his declaration of love and revenge? Lobo stopped at the door. “I’ll go after Famine, she went south and I know the terrain. She’ll be heading to a heavily populated area. Somewhere she can make an impact. Probably Mexico City. I’ll keep in contact and let you know if I find anything.” He tossed something at Nico who caught it and opened his hand to reveal a key. “The bar is yours now. Take care of it.”

Abby’s mouth fell open. He was just leaving without closure, without grieving. She started to step forward but Nico’s large hand clasped her shoulder. “He’ll grieve when he’s ready.”

As soon as the door closed behind Lobo, the church took a collective gasp and broke out in mutters of concern. Arveda ignored the chaos and hummed quietly to herself as she and her daughters started to move Meri. Abby put her hand on Arveda’s arm. “Where are you taking her?”

“She’ll be entombed here inside the church like Lucas so that no demon can defile her body.”

Abby nodded. “Do you need help?”

“No, child. Striga take care of their own, it is forbidden for anyone outside of our coven to witness death magick.”

Abby took a step back. Whatever death magick was, she had no interest in witnessing it. The Striga made their way to the back of the church. Most everyone else headed to their homes, reassured that, no matter what, their lives in the desert would go back to normal once the sun came up. Personifications were eager to hear if Nico would be joining them back in the city while Virtues argued that he and everyone else should go as one group to track down the Seals one at a time.

The church doors swung open and Abby turned, expecting to see Lobo again, instead she found herself staring at two ridiculously gorgeous people. Humans. Or at least they appeared human, and since they’d just walked right into a church she couldn’t imagine that they could be demons. The woman was dressed head to toe in black, skin-tight leather. She had red hair that fell to her waist, not the color of fire like Meri’s, more like the color of autumn leaves, and blue eyes that practically glowed. Strapped to her back was a giant sword. The man standing next to her had shoulder-length blond hair, brown eyes that emitted the same eerie glow, and also dressed head to toe in black leather. The glowing eyes were definitely familiar. She still hadn’t forgotten the slight glow of Graham’s blue eyes.

One of the Personifications called out. “Little late to the party.” The woman offered a wordless reply by giving him the finger and the man simply shrugged and growled out sarcastically, “Better late than never.”

Jack parted the crowd and Nico joined him as they greeted the newcomers. Nico gave a polite bow of his head. “Sabina, always a pleasure. I see you brought your lapdog with you.” He regarded the other male coolly.

The name struck her, this was the woman Graham had asked Enzo about. Abby arched a brow and watched her. What were they? Other than the glowing eyes they bore no resemblance to Graham.

The man reacted with a snarl and from his back burst a pair of black, leathery wings, and short white horns sprung from his head. “You’re Dark-Souls?” she said aloud without thinking.

The woman nodded and gave a soft smile. “Aye. We are. And you are the vampire we’ve heard so much about.” It almost sounded like it should be an insult but not an ounce of malice dripped from the woman’s words. She directed her words to the crowd, “We would have come sooner, but you all know how the Order and the Mother Superior can be. Red tape and paperwork before every mission.”

Small talk again broke out. Abby tapped her toes impatiently, for a bunch of immortal defenders of mankind these beings all had a serious case of ADD. None of them seemed to notice when Arveda reappeared at the podium except for Jack and Nico, who quickly excused themselves and headed toward her. Abby hopped up on the stage as well, figuring it would be better to be in on the plan than to get left out of whatever was going down. Arveda tapped the mic and grimaced when no one gave her their attention. Apparently seeing a Dark-Soul, let alone two of them, was a rarity amongst the Personifications, Virtues, Vamps, and other allied creatures that Abby had yet to categorize.

Everyone in the room had apparently forgotten why they were all there until there was a clearing of someone’s throat. Jack spoke up, “We will need to start locating key players. If we can get our hands on our new prophet we would have an upper hand. Someone needs to locate Rosa, the Beast,” he paused and added quietly, “and Chloe.”

Alex cleared his throat. “Why a new prophet? I thought you were our prophet. Isn’t that why you’re helping us?”

Jack closed his eyes for a moment before speaking. “My abilities have weakened. This isn’t the apocalypse I had foreseen, it’s not the one I documented. My job was supposed to be over when I wrote Revelations, and the bulk of my abilities have been passed to another. A worthy prophet.”

The vampire folded his arms over his chest. “So you’re a prophetic dud now?”

Jack laughed. “I still have a trick or two up my sleeve. But this isn’t my time. We have someone new, someone who needs us.”

Arveda stepped forward. “My daughters and I can start scrying for Rosa, there is nowhere on Earth that The Whore can hide. I will find her.” She was back in her role as leader or at least the one person in the room that no one wanted to challenge at the moment. “As for Nico and Abby, they can’t leave Dusk unprotected.” Nico started to protest but Arveda held up her hand to silence him. “You are the patron saint of this town now. You protected them, you sacrificed yourself for them, and the people of this town need you. They need you both. You have a responsibility to them, first and foremost. Revenge is secondary.”

Nico gave a nod which made Abby tilt her head to the side. “You aren’t going to fight her on this?”

“No, Arveda is right. This town, our town, is more important than my revenge. Rosa will get what’s coming to her and when she does I hope I get to be there, but for now we have people to protect.” Nico turned to Arveda and Jack. “Who is our prophet? How do we find them?”

Jack took a breath, “Our prophet is being held by the enemy. We need a group to infiltrate—”

A deep voice from near the door spoke up. “I will retrieve the prophet.”

Jack took a moment and finally nodded. Abby on the other hand wasn’t so sure about who or what this person was. She leaned forward to take a better look. The darkness surrounding the stranger was unnatural, even her eyes could barely make out the subtle details of his silhouette.

Holy shit, he’s tall.

The figure towered over every male there and given the striking size of most of the warriors that was saying something. Everyone in the room seemed to be trying to work out who it was, all except for the Dark-Souls. Their reaction scared her most of all. They stood straight-backed, eyes wide, and rigid as if even a single twitch might bring about their death.

The man stepped from the shadows and his size was no longer towering. He was still tall, but on par with some of the taller men in the building. His brown hair was styled back and cut short and his clothes were unassuming to say the least. Jeans, and a grey hoodie didn’t make the man stand out as a fashion plate, but the air shimmered around him. He cast a cutting glance at Sabina who quickly looked at the ground and nudged closer to her companion.

Jack cleared his throat. “He won’t harm you, Sabina. We won’t allow it.”

She seemed to relax and the man, to his credit, passed by without saying a word to the Dark-Souls. He stopped at the front of the stage. “Leave the prophet to me. Gabriel has given me the task.”