Ties That Bind: A Muse Urban Fantasy (The Veil Series Book 5) (19 page)

Chaos. “Do you mean Dawn?”

“The girl?” He narrowed his eyes and listened. “Yes, it would seem so.”

“Is she…controlling them?”

“I believe so. We will know more once we’re inside.” He moved to wrap his arms around me.

“Wait.” I shivered. “Do you hear Stefan?”

“The Winter King is close. We must hurry.”

Li’el carried me close to the tower. He hovered outside a window, allowing me to ignite the Scorsi clinging to the stones, and then shoved me inside with an ungainly push. I fell to the floor of a chamber. Thirty or so pairs of Scorsi eyes swiveled toward me. They clung to the walls and ceiling, their barbed scorpion tales twitching.

“Lovely.” Straightening slowly, careful not to make any sudden movements, I stoked the fire inside me. “Hi, there. I don’t suppose we could talk about this—” They lunged. All of them. At once. Instinct blasted fire from my flesh as I cringed away. Thirty demons burst into ash clouds, and dust rained over my lava-veined skin. I spat out their remains with a curse.

Li’el-shaped air swirled in through the window, churning ash in his wake. “Come.” The door flung open, seemingly of its own accord, and lessers spilled into the room. With no time to think, I focused tight bulbs of heat and struck at anything that moved. They burst apart, one after another, after another, until the flow slowed, and I was able to press forward into a hall. The walls rippled with demons. The ceiling heaved. I killed them all, cremated them as easily as the flick of a light switch, and walked on, leaving a trail of settling ash in my wake.

Yes, this was my purpose.
Was it any wonder they called me destroyer and death-bringer? They were right. It
felt
right. As I carved through the demons, their numbers blurred until I no longer saw individuals. Their deaths continued around me, and I walked through their ashes—chin up, wing relaxed—toward the throne room.

T
he scene greeting
me inside the vast throne room was, predictably, one of chaos. I‘d entered a storm of demons, and for a few breathless seconds, couldn’t make any sense of the madness. Jerry, in his huge multi-winged reptilian body, pinned a screaming Dawn down onto the massive table. Eel-like chaos tendrils lashed and knotted around her, trying to unmake the King of Hell, but the aura of symbols around his body deflected her horrible power. She bucked and snarled, fury burning in her ink-black eyes.

I took a step inside, and time slowed.

Demons poured in through the windows and spilled across the floor. A wave of claws, wings, teeth, and blood—so much blood—swelled around two princes of fire and ice. Stefan and Mammon fought, side by side, one with a sword and shield of ice, the other brandishing the elemental blade. Were they holding back the demons so Jerry could kill Dawn? The walls, the ceiling, crawled with demons, all desperate to tear into Jerry. Chaos swirled in the air, the colors of the veil spiraling in a furious maelstrom above our heads. And Dawn’s screams rose above the baying demons.

Li’el hovered around me like a fog and then vanished, only to reappear a blink later behind Mammon. He hooked his arm around Mammon’s throat, spread his wings, and yanked the Prince of Greed out of the melee. I drew in a breath to warn Li’el. Maybe that was my cue to tear the fire from Mammon’s soul, but even if I had, it wouldn’t have been in time to save Li’el. Mammon turned on Li’el with a bone-jarring roar. He didn’t hesitate, didn’t even blink. He snatched Li’el by the throat, dwarfing the Prince of Pride. Liquid fire rolled over Li’el’s flesh, rushed up his wings, and flash burned his feathers to dust, all before he could pull his vanishing act. Li’el let out a terrible, heart-wrenching howl and burst into a cloud of dust, not dead but definitely gone. It had all happened in the space of a few seconds. No time to react, to think. Li’el was a fool, blinded by his own foolish pride. Demons surged into the space he’d occupied. Stefan reeled in a flurry of biting ice. Dawn screamed, and finally instinct kicked me into the melee. I funneled a blast of heat ahead of me and carved a path through the demons toward the heaving mass of chaos that was Dawn. “Jerry, stop!” Demon snarls smothered my shout. A claw nicked my wing. I spun and blasted the nearest demon. Another knocked into me from behind. I twirled, kicking out, pinned him down with fire, and blasted him apart. But there were too many. They rained from the ceiling. The floor boiled with demon bodies. “Jerry!” I tugged my arm free of a grip, punched at some
thing,
blasted another. I was tiny compared to these demons. As quickly as I incinerated them, more rushed in. I turned, stumbled, and fell to a knee. Claws tore at my wing, my shoulder, my arms. They’d rip me to shreds in seconds. If I went nuclear, I’d kill every demon in that chamber, including Stefan and Dawn. If I didn’t, I’d be dead in minutes.

A leathery cat-like beast burst through the demons, knocking them aside. It whipped its three heads around and tore chunks out of anything that moved. Another surged in from my left. Jerry’s neko demons, my guardians. They were protecting me. Fire surged across my flesh, but it wasn’t enough. Hunkered down, I blocked out the sting of claws and the bite of teeth and called to the netherworld heat. It came, fast and hungry, spilled over my flesh, and burned blue. As I rose to my feet and called it all, liquid flame turned blinding white. Demons scrambled and tore over each other to get away. Finally able to breathe, I pushed forward toward the table.

The King of Hell loomed over Dawn, terribly demon. He leaned all of his monstrous weight through his arms and pinned her tiny thrashing body down. Underneath Dawn, inside the stone table, the anti-elemental symbols swirled. She seemed so small, held down by the King of Hell, but the fury rolling off her was no small thing. Chaos tendrils whipped and lashed.

“Stop.” My demon voice came from the part of me crowned Destruction. It was an order spoken with enough weight to pull Jerry’s slitted eyes to me.

“Destruction, go!” Jerry snarled. “You should not be here.”

“Let her go—”

Mammon hooked an arm around my waist, swung me around, and shoved me into the mêlée of demons. It had to be Mammon. He was the only demon in that room who could touch me without bursting into flames. Demon bodies tumbled over me and promptly exploded in clouds of ash. I pushed to my feet and turned to find Mammon standing between Dawn and me, wings spread, head dipped as though ready to charge. Demons clawed at him. He plucked them off and tossed them aside. Fire churned in his dark eyes.

Dawn’s cries sharpened, and she broke into sobs. “Muse—M-Muse! Make them stop! Make them stop.”

Mammon stretched his wings wide and stood firm. He knew I could tear the fire out of him, knew I could destroy him. “Half blood, Destroyer, leave. There is no place for you here.” Mammon’s thick demon voice reached me even through the din. It always had.

“Don’t do this to her!”

“It is the only way.”

The only way? I’d thought he wanted to hand Dawn over to my father, and here he was, fighting side by side with Stefan? Just whose side was he on? “No, there must be…” The floor trembled. Tightness stretched across my skin, and a cool blast of fresh air trickled over me. I smelled pine and wood mulch, scents I knew well. Demons bayed and yipped. The veil rippled. The air thinned, and behind Jerry, behind the empty thrones, the shimmering veil dissolved, revealing the inside of Blackstone, Akil’s house. A groan rumbled through the fortress. Great jagged cracks snapped through the walls. Debris rained from above. Chunks of stone fell and clattered into the scattering demons.

Dawn’s little voice turned dark and vicious. “I will unmake you all! Let me go! Let me go!” Her dark tendrils spun outward in all directions and plucked with blinding speed at anything and everything. She hooked into one of Mammon’s wings and ripped through the membrane. Jerry’s unearthly roar scattered demons, and still the very air itself shook. She was unmaking
everything.
This had to stop. Now.

I lunged for Mammon, but he knew me too well. When I dodged the sweep of the elemental blade, he anticipated my low lunge. He scooped me out of my dash and tossed me as easily as tossing a ragdoll across the room. I plowed into a bank of demons and tumbled in a mass of demon flesh, vaporizing those unlucky enough to cushion my fall. Dawn’s screams and howls clawed at my skull. My humanity told me this was wrong. It was all so very wrong. There had to be another way.

“Muse…” An ice-encrusted hand appeared in front of my eyes. Stefan shone like the Winter King he was, but for the two black handprints branding his chest.

“You have to stop them.” I reined my heat in and settled my hand in his. He tugged me to my feet. I was ready to go back into the fray and stop Jerry, when Stefan blocked my path. “Get out of my way,” I snarled.

“No.” His wings opened wide. “You have to let her go, Muse.”

I pushed by him, ignoring the sparks where we touched. Any demons in my way, I incinerated. Stefan’s icy touch coiled around my leg. Bars of ice locked together directly in front of me, and Stefan’s presence burned cold against my back. I could melt his ice. I could melt him. I flicked out my claws. I could fight him, but I...wouldn’t.

“Muse, she can’t be saved. But you can.”

“What?” Slowly, I turned.

A lesser demon flew in from Stefan’s right. He launched a dagger at it. The beast cried out and collapsed at Stefan’s feet. He kicked it aside without taking his eyes off me. “She’s chaos. If you save her, she’ll create chaos in Boston—wherever she goes. She can’t go back. Ever. She belongs here, but you don’t. Jerry’s restoring the veil. For good. No more calling power from beyond the veil, no more demons in Boston. Once the veil’s up, it’s over. Anything this side stays this side, forever. The most important thing you can do right now, for her and for you, is nothing.”

Walk away? Leave? But Dawn… “They’re killing her.”

“No, they’re controlling her.” He held out his hand. Behind him, Akil’s house shimmered like I was looking through a mirror into a life I’d fought so hard to protect. A real human life. My life.

Jerry’s deep and powerful voice rippled through the air, and the veil quivered. Chaos lashed above. The demons hunkered down, caught between fleeing and obeying their king. He spoke in the old language with an accent deep and rich. On the walls, inside the surface of the table, and all over Jerry, the symbols throbbed and twitched.

“Muse, look at me,” Stefan said. “Look at me, just me, not Dawn, not the demons. See me.” I did. He stood close enough for me to see how his ice armor sparkled, how honesty warmed his eyes. “Let go of the netherworld.”

“Muse, save me!” Dawn shrieked. “You said I’d be free! Don’t leave me here.”

Guilt sliced through me. I couldn’t leave her. I couldn’t let her go through this alone, surrounded by monsters. If she stayed, I stayed. Nobody should be alone in the netherworld. Stefan must have seen the horror on my face. He snatched at my hand and yanked me after him.

“No!”

He dragged me behind him and ran for the hole in the veil. I pulled and jerked. Ice latticed around my forearm, pushing into my flames. It locked around my wrist like a manacle. He yanked me through the hole, and from one step to the next, I was back in Akil’s house, naked, steam rolling off my pink human skin. Behind, the veil fizzled, and Dawn’s bloodcurdling screams went on and on.

“Don’t.” Stefan panted, turning on me, eyes wide with fear. “Don’t go back.”

“I…” I swallowed. She cried my name. Over and over and over. “
Save me.
You said you would. You promised. Don’t leave me. Don’t go!”
Stay with Stefan, or fulfill the promise to a lost little girl?

“Muse…” Stefan rushed me and clutched my face in his cool hands. “There’s nothing you can do. Let her go. Please. I can’t let you go back. I won’t let you sacrifice your freedom.”

She couldn’t be saved. But I could.
Walk away.
It was the right thing to do. “You’re right...” I panted. “You’re right, Stefan.” I had to leave her. I’d known it since Jerry had asked me to save her, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. She’d trusted me. I’d betrayed her as Akil had betrayed me. I would have to live with that.

“Wait—” I tore free of Stefan’s grip and spun to face the breach. “Akil?”

Stefan gripped my shoulders, fingers digging in. “No.”

The edges of the veil fluttered and wove themselves together. Healing. Once it closed, there was no going back. Inside the hole, demons quivered, Jerry loomed over the table, and Dawn thrashed—screaming my name. Mammon stood at the foot of the table, his eyes not on Dawn, not on the demons, but on me.

“Stefan, let me go.” I fixed my gaze with Mammon’s. Stefan’s grip tightened. “You said everything this side stays this side. Forever?”

“Don’t—”

“I can’t leave him like this.” I twisted out of Stefan’s grip. He snatched at my arm, yanking me around to face him, and held tight. “Dammit, Stefan.” I pushed against him. “I have time. I can get to him. Don’t make me fight you.”

“Muse.” He growled, eyes sharp. He’d fight to keep me here. He always fought for what he believed in, right to the very end. “You’d said you’d always be here.”

“I will.” The pain on his face struck at my heart like a dagger. He thought I’d chosen Akil. My determination fizzled but didn’t die. An honest, hopeful smile tugged at my lips. “I’m coming back.” I touched his face. I wanted to explain that this wasn’t about leaving him, but there was no time. He didn’t believe my words. And when I pulled back, he let me go.

I turned to face the netherworld, took a sharp breath, ready to dive back into the storm.

“This is what he wants.” Stefan’s words captured my heart in ice.

“What?” Inside the churning madness, Mammon glared back at me.

Stefan said, “When we fought Akil outside the Institute, I’d have killed him, Muse. I wanted to. But the words he said... He said it had to be this way. That I didn’t need to kill him because he’d make sure this was the end. He told me to tell you, that when the time came,
you have
to let him go
.”

I froze. My gaze burned Mammon’s, and while the storm of chaos raged around us, I read the naked truth in his demon eyes. This was his final goodbye. “No.” I stepped through or tried to. But Mammon appeared an inch from my face and shoved me back into Stefan’s iron grip.

Caught in Stefan’s arms, I snarled, “Mammon, you son of a bitch, you let Akil make this call! Don’t shut him away like this. He’d want to be here. He’s Greed. This is his choice. Don’t take his freedom, Mammon.”

“Freedom?” Dark laughter rumbled from Mammon’s throat. His wings flexed. “I am Akil. He is I.” His skin quivered and peeled apart.

Stefan’s grip relaxed, and I blinked away for a second. When I looked back, there stood Akil on the other side of the veil. I sighed,
thank god
. “Ahkeel, step through. Quickly, before it closes for good.”

He looked down and adjusted his cuffs as though he had all the time in the world. A muscle fluttered in his jaw. It was absurd. While chaos churned the throne room into madness, while the demons howled and Dawn’s screams punctured it all, he stood there, immune to it all.

“Akil?” I whispered, my voice so quiet inside the empty house. But he heard me. While the netherworld crumbled around him, he heard me. His dark eyes met mine.

“Before you saved my soul,” Akil said, “you spoke of freedom. Do you remember?”

“What? No.” The ragged edges of the veil constricted, shrinking ever closer. He could still step through. There was still time. “Quickly… Please.”
Move, damn you!
“It’s closing fast.”

“You said,
‘To be free, I cannot be with you.’
”

I had a vague memory of saying something like that, but now was not the time to quibble over words. We could argue about it to our hearts’ content once the bastard stepped through the veil. I held out my hand. “Take it, Akil.” He didn’t even look down, just peered into my eyes while I glared back at him. Amber burned the fringes of his black pupils. His lips quirked in his typical sardonic smile.
You stubborn, impossible bastard.
Tiny lines gathered at the corners of his mouth. They hadn’t been there before. It was as though he’d aged—changed.