Hades (51 page)

… I love you for you, not for what you can offer me.” Did that

mean he’d want me to accept Jake’s offer? I didn’t know

and I wished I had someone to guide me. Al I knew was

that the prospect of sleeping with Jake, horrible as it was,

was easier to imagine than the prospect of losing Xavier.

The truth was I’d do whatever was required of me to keep

him safe.

“Al right,” I agreed, my eyes brimming with tears. “You

win. I’m yours.”

“Good,” said Jake. “You’ve made the right decision. I’l

send Hanna up to help you get ready. I want to make good

on this deal tonight … just in case you should change your

mind.”

WHEN Hanna came up to see me her face was ashen and

she was clutching a garment bag under one arm.

“Oh, Beth,” she said softly. It was the first time she’d

cal ed me by my name and it struck me by surprise. “I wish

it hadn’t come to this.”

“How’d you find out?” I asked in a dul voice.

“Word spreads quickly around here. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, Hanna,” I said, swal owing hard. “It’s no more

than I expected from Jake.”

“I hope that after al this … someday … you’re reunited

with Xavier,” she said. “He must real y be something.”

“He is.”

Thinking of Xavier was the only way I could get through

this ordeal without breaking down. If Xavier lost his life

because of me, it would be worse than an eternity in Hel .

“Come on,” Hanna said, patting me gently on the back.

“Jake is expecting you in an hour.” She unzipped the

garment bag and withdrew what looked like a long bridal

gown.

“Do I real y have to dress up?” I asked dejectedly. I didn’t

want any fuss. This was going to be horrible enough without

the accompanying theatrics.

“The prince has picked out a dress special y,” Hanna

said. “You know what he’s like, he’l be offended if you don’t

wear it.”

“Do you think I’m doing the right thing, Hanna?” I asked

suddenly, compulsively smoothing the threads on my duvet.

My mind was already made up, but I wanted reassurance

from someone so I didn’t feel quite so alone.

“What does it matter what I think?” Hanna busied herself,

picking invisible lint off the dress as she tried to avoid the

question. I knew she hated to think her opinion counted for

anything, for fear it might get her into trouble.

“Please?” I asked. “I real y want to know.”

Hanna sighed and stopped what she was doing. When

she looked at me her wide brown eyes were ful of

sadness.

“I made a deal with Jake too once,” she said. “And he

betrayed me. Demons wil say anything to get what they

want.”

“So you think he’s lying to me? That he’l hurt Xavier

anyway?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Hanna said. “What you’re about to do

wil haunt you forever … but you wil never forgive yourself if

you don’t. You need to know you did everything you could to

keep Xavier safe.”

“Thank you, Hanna,” I said.

Hanna nodded and helped me into the virginal white

gown and satin shoes. Then she wove tiny pearls into my

hair. Jake had done this deliberately, it was his own twisted

form of irony. In his head he’d probably built this up to be

some kind of romantic reunion instead of the business

arrangement it real y was. The dress was as tight as a

corset around my waist and fel in undulating waves down to

the ground. It had a decol etage that showed off my

alabaster white skin. Wel , I thought bitterly to myself, it was

the right dress for the occasion … just in the wrong place,

with the wrong person.

While Hanna was fastening a pearl necklace around my

throat, Tucker came up to the suite and his face fel when

he saw what I was wearing.

“So it is true,” he said softly. “You sure y’know what you’re

doin’?”

“I don’t have a choice, Tuck,” I replied.

“Y’know, Beth.” He sat hesitantly on the edge of my bed.

“I know things seem pretty bad at the moment … but I’ve

never admired you more than I do right now.”

“How do you figure?” I asked. “Not much to admire if you

ask me.”

“No,” Tuck said, shaking his head. “You might not see it

now, but you’re real strong. When Jake first brought you in,

nobody thought you’d last a day. But you’re tougher than

you look. Despite everythin’ you’ve seen, despite everythin’

they’ve done to you—you stil got faith.”

“But I’m letting Jake win,” I said. “I’m giving him what he

wants.”

“Naw,” Tuck said in his husky voice. “Givin’ him what he

wants would be refusin’ … puttin’ yourself first. You’re givin’

up somethin’ real special and Jake knows you’re doing it

outta love. You hate him more than anythin’ and yet you’re

gonna give yourself to him to protect the person you love.

That’s gotta be eatin’ him up.”

“Thanks, Tuck.” I wrapped my arms around him and

buried my face into his neck, which smel ed of warm hay. “I

never thought of it that way.”

As I stared at my reflection in the mirror, I thought maybe

Tucker was right after al . Maybe I needed to stop thinking

of this as an act of sordid unfaithfulness, but rather as the

ultimate act of love.

32

The Sword of Michael

I had a few minutes to myself before it was time to go.

Hanna and Tuck left me alone, figuring I needed some time

to gather my thoughts. I couldn’t help myself and started

projecting almost before they’d closed the door behind

them. I wanted to see Xavier one last time; I wanted his

face to be the last thing I saw before I gave away a

precious part of myself. I knew if I could hold on to the

memory of him in my head, I’d be able to get through this.

My family had already arrived in Alabama. It would’ve

only been about a two-hour drive, but I was stil surprised to

find they’d gotten there so quickly. As far as I could tel ,

Broken Hil was a sleepy little town much like Venus Cove.

The train station was no longer in use. The wooden

benches lining the brick wal s were littered with rubbish and

the old-fashioned ticket booth was unattended. Weeds

the old-fashioned ticket booth was unattended. Weeds

sprouted from between the tracks and crows pecked

uselessly at the dry ground. I imagined it would have once

been a charming little place, brimming with life. It was clear

that since the train crash that had claimed so many lives the

residents had steered clear of it and now it was nothing but

a derelict shadow of its former self. The Chevy pul ed up

beside the rusted tracks and my family stepped out. Ivy

sniffed the air and I wondered if she could smel sulfur given

off by the portal that had to be close by.

“This place gives me the creeps,” Mol y said, stil

lingering in the car.

“Stay where you are,” Gabriel told her and for once she

didn’t argue.

“So what now?” Xavier asked. “Any idea what we’re

looking for?”

“It could look like anything,” Gabriel said, bending down

and holding his right palm above the earth. “But I think it’s

embedded here in the tracks.”

“How do you know that?”

“The earth is always hotter above a portal into Hel .”

“That figures,” Xavier sighed. “Al we gotta work out now

is how to open it.”

“That’s the problem,” Ivy said. “Our combined power isn’t

enough. We need back up.”

“Damn it.” Xavier kicked the ground with the toe of his

boot, sending pebbles flying. “What was the point of

coming here?”

“Michael wouldn’t have sent us on a wild goose chase,”

Ivy murmured. “There must be something he wants us to

Ivy murmured. “There must be something he wants us to

do.”

“Or maybe he’s just a douche.”

“Indeed,” said a disembodied voice behind them.

They al spun around in time to see the archangel

materialize before them, his towering form shadowing the

tracks. He looked exactly the same as the first time we’d

seen him, fair-haired and glowing, his powerful limbs much

larger than the size of an average human. His wings were

retracted.

“Not again,” I heard Mol y groan from the car and she put

her head between her knees.

Gabriel and Michael acknowledged each other as equal

warriors by bowing their heads in recognition. “We have

fol owed your instructions, brother,” Gabriel said. “What is it

you would have us do now?”

“I have come to offer you my help,” Michael replied. “I

bring with me the most powerful weapon throughout

Heaven and Hel . It can open a portal as easily as popping

a cork.”

“Thanks for sharing that vital piece of information earlier,”

Xavier muttered il -humoredly.

“It was for me to decide when the time was right,”

Michael said, fixing his eyes on Xavier. “The Covenant met

to discuss this unforeseen predicament. Lucifer knows the

power of the angel he holds hostage and he plans to use

her to achieve his own ends.”

Michael’s words struck a chord with me. For him to know

that, it meant that al this time I hadn’t been alone. Heaven

had been watching al along. Did I dare to hope that al was

had been watching al along. Did I dare to hope that al was

not lost?

“How does he plan to do that? Bethany’s no puppet,” Ivy

protested.

“That we cannot know,” said Michael. “But divine

essence in the hands of any demon is dangerous. Lucifer’s

aim is to bring about Armageddon—the final battle—and

he hopes to use the angel to his advantage. The forces of

Heaven must retaliate.”

“How exactly does Beth fit in?” Xavier asked.

“She’s a catalyst, if you like,” Michael explained. “The

demons want to trigger a ful -scale war, but we wil not

descend to their level. We wil show them the might of

Heaven without the need for bloodshed.”

“You were always going to help us, weren’t you?” Xavier

said suddenly. “Why couldn’t you have done that right from

the start?”

Michael inclined his head slightly. “When a child breaks a

toy and his parents immediately buy him a new one, what

lesson is learned?”

“Beth is not a toy,” Xavier began hotly, but Gabriel put a

restraining hand on his shoulder.

“Do not interrupt an angel of the Lord.”

“Heaven can always intervene,” Michael continued. “But

He chooses the appropriate time. We are merely His

messengers. If Our Father righted every wrong in the world,

nobody would learn from their mistakes. We reward faith

and loyalty and you have demonstrated both. Besides, your

journey is not over. Heaven has plans for you.”

“Plans for me?” Xavier repeated, but Michael only fixed

him with his powerful glare.

“Let’s not ruin the surprise.”

It was a shock to hear what Michael had to say. He ran

with the big guns in the Kingdom and I had doubted my

rescue was high up on his agenda. But it seemed that

Lucifer was playing a more dangerous game than I’d

realized. Michael seemed to think we were on the brink of

war and that Heaven needed to reaffirm its dominance. I

stil had no idea how he planned to break through the portal,

but he seemed confident in his abilities.

“The portal?” Ivy gently reminded him, anxious not to lose

any more time. “We are here for a reason.”

“Very wel ,” Michael said, and from beneath his flowing

robes he withdrew an object so bright and glorious that

Xavier had to turn his face away.

The long, flaming sword pulsed in Michael’s hand ready

to do his bidding. It burned blue at the edges and looked