Authors: Christine Fonseca
Lacrimosa (10 page)
“Feel better now?” Azza emerges from the shadows, pride glinting in his eyes. Pride and satisfaction.
He owns me.
Azza leans into me, whispering into my ear. “The next time you displease me, I will choose a closer victim. One I know will bring you great pain to kill.”
I clench my jaw, fighting back the rage born from his words.
Nesy.
Screeches and howls fill the night as Azza’s creatures pour forth from the shadows and feed on the dead girl. I watch them shred her body, eat her flesh. My knees wobble as I spit out the bile filling my mouth. Lightheaded and dizzy, I am forced to face the truth. This
is
who I am now—nothing more than the Beast. Destined to serve Azza and rule the dark creatures. Destined to kill.
I don’t know which feeling to experience first. Anguish. Guilt. Shame. They meld together and crest over me. I face my master, one thought on my mind—
Better to die, than to be his servant.
In a single heartbeat, I prepare to attack. Azza will pay for the centuries I’ve served, for every act I’ve committed at
his
bidding.
A sudden blast of wind streaks through the dark alley, stopping me cold. Bursts of emerald, indigo and golden light fill the space as three angels emerge from the center of the brilliance, swords drawn.
I hear Azza’s howl as he steps back from me and disappears into shadow. The angels run to the half-eaten carcass strewn across the concrete, their wings unfurled behind them. They toss aside the demons, slamming them into the stone wall of the buildings that line the narrow corridor.
“Cass, Zane, trap them,” the golden angel orders as she turns to face me, poised to strike.
Two angels chant and bursts of light erupt from their hands. A cage forms around Azza’s creatures. They howl and gnaw at their prison.
The Beast surges through me, releasing a feral growl. “You have no purpose here, angel.” I push out of my host body, sending it crashing to the ground. My wings extend to their full expanse, as I steady myself for the attack.
“
You
are my purpose, UnHoly.” The golden angel’s voice echoes through my skin, resonating in my soul. “It is time for you to meet your end. Feel the eternal flames of the Abyss.”
She lunges towards me. But I anticipate her move and duck. I grab for my weapon, the short sword of the UnHoly. Forged of black metal it bears the creed of the Beast, of Azzaziel’s realm.
Meus tripudium est prognatus ex tuae tormentum et poena.
From your torment, my joy is forged.
I may not want to serve Azza, but I will not be taken out by some angel with a sword. The Beast won’t allow it. “I will never submit to you, Sentinal.” I slash at her, coming up empty.
She moves too fast and each blow catches only air.
Not good.
“You cannot beat me, UnHoly,” she taunts. “The Abyss waits for you.”
Each word infuriates me, baiting the monster inside. I hack the space around her, fueled by my newly found power—a power supplied through Mandy’s death.
The angel parries each blow, countering with force. “Your time here is finished,” she yells as her blade pierces my side.
The blade sends a wave of pain across my vision. The Beast screams and rage floods my senses. Black blood leaks from the wound, splattering on the pavement. I suck in a breath, ignoring the searing anguish.
Lunging forward, I rake my sword across her arm. The cut slices through her armored skin. She sucks in a breath, her eyes wide with shock. She counters my attack, slicing the air around us. Metal screeches against metal as our fury collides.
A soft white light empties into the alley. The strange girl, Lori, spills out of the club, screaming “No!”
Impossible. She shouldn’t be able to see any of this. The golden angel is as surprised as I. Finally, my chance.
I barrel into the angel, pinning her against the wall. Wrapping my clawed hands around her throat, I squeeze, ready to end this once and for all.
“Let go of her,” Lori yells.
Azza, emerges from the shadows, cloaked in his humanity. “Ah, our Seer.” He says as he grabs the not-so-human girl. “At last.”
A scant “no” escapes her lips before Azza cups his hand over her mouth. “Now, Aydan. It’s time.”
I watch Lori and Azza disappear into the shadows, my claws still around the angel’s throat.
“Unhand me,” she snarls, her voice hoarse. She thrashes against my hold, unable to move out of my grasp.
Blurs of indigo and emerald light run towards me.
“No, stay back. Guard the others,” the golden angel commands, still pushing against my hands.
My claws dig into her neck and a trickle of silver liquid snakes down her skin. I stare into her fierce eyes, admiring her determination and strength.
My breath catches in my throat as I see her. Really
see
her. Deep blue eyes that seem to reach into my soul. Chaos simmering under a surface of calm. I furrow my brow, unable to free myself from her glare.
“Nesy?” My claws open and I stumble backwards. “It can’t be,” I whisper.
Released from my grasp, the angel pushes past me. “Lori! Lori!”
“Elle!” Lori’s voice floats through the shadows. “Help me.”
“Lorelei?” The angel says, choking on the word. She opens a portal into the shadow, ripping a hole between the worlds. Her gaze meets mine and for a moment time is suspended.
“Elle?” I whisper, watching the three angels disappear into the void.
Elle.
Chapter 13 – Confessed Emotions
Nesy
I squeeze into the pitch darkness with Cass and Zane, our glowing skin the only thing illuminating the darkness. A breeze drifts through the surrounding mist. The scent of the Dark One, ripe with putrid flesh and death, flows with the wind.
“It sure smells like Azzaziel here. He must have come this way.” I say, wrinkling my nose. Moss covered stones poke up through the ground, looking more like decaying ruins than anything else. Mist floats between the stones and the ground. This place is like nowhere I’ve ever seen, no where I’ve ever been. The space in between the worlds.
Azzaziel’s realm
.
Muffled screams fill the air around me. I run towards the sound, desperate. Lori saw me. As an angel. She called me by my human name from so long ago.
Not possible.
“You’re too late,” a voice says, seeming to come from the stones that surround me.
I draw my sword in a single motion and spin in the direction of the sound. “Show yourself,” I command.
Tendrils of black smoke emerge from the stones, forming a face.
Demonic smoke. Great!
“The girl you seek is not here.” The smoke-voice says.
“Where is she?” I growl, frustrated. “Show me.”
“I cannot show what I do not know.” The smoke thins until it disappears entirely, replaced by a suffocating silence.
I really hate demonic smoke. Nothing more than a trickster, you can never really trust it.
“She’s not here,” Cass whispers “I can’t feel her.”
“That’s not possible,” I snap. “Azzaziel was only a second ahead of us. Lori has to be here somewhere. It’s a trick.” I pound the cold stone wall next to me.
Elle…Elle…
Lori’s voice repeats my human name over and over, looping endlessly. For a moment I begin to think she could be my sister.
I shake the wish away, angry. “Blazes!” I yell into the darkness. “We should’ve been faster. We can’t let him hurt her.”
“She is
not
your assignment.” Zane’s frustration is palpable. “We shouldn’t even be here. Your duty is to—”
“Don’t lecture me about my duty, Zanethios. There is no way I am letting Azzaziel hurt that girl.”
“Then take care of Aydan, as Mikayel ordered you to. The Council will send others to take care of the Dark One.” Zane clenches his jaw.
I’m sick of his anger. His judgments. “And Lori?” I yell. “Who protects her?”
Cass stares at me, a look of shock on her face. Yelling is not exactly Sentinal behavior.
She moves closer and I feel her heart reaching for mine. “Why is she so important to you? What aren’t you telling us?”
I ignore her question, still hoping against hope that Lori and Lorelei are the same person, that my sister lives.
Definitely not Sentinal behavior.
“She called you Elle.” Again Cass pulls forward my emotions.
No
. I won’t let her into my heart; not now, not until I can figure this out.
“She
saw
you. She saw all of us.” Zane’s voice frays my already frazzled nerves. “How is that possible?”
I pace, unable to think clearly. “Zane, what do you know of the Seers?”
Zane looks surprised at the question. “Seers? Azzaziel killed them off centuries ago. Why? What does this have to do with that girl?” Zane shakes his head, trying to find the answers in my thoughts.
I lock eyes with him, feeling every ounce of pain, every moment of frustration as I shove him from my mind.
“Why did Azzaziel go after them?” I ask, still staring at Zane. “The Seers?”
“He needed their souls. According to the rumors, he was trying to make an army of UnHoly, one that could defeat the Sentinals. An army as strong as Azza, but subservient to him. The Seers were the key to his play. Or at least, that is what the rumors said. Drinking the soul of a Seer could give the UnHoly unmatched strength. The Seer’s soul would awaken the Beast in a way that would make the UnHoly immune to the swords of the Sentinals. They would not be able to kill them. Only Mikayel’s sword could prove fatal. Just like with Azzaziel.” Zane’s expression softens as he speaks. “But that was before.”
“What do you mean
before
?”
“The Seers are gone, Nes. And Azza has no army.”
“What if he didn’t fail? What if the Seers are still alive and in hiding?” My mind whirls around tonight’s events. The mist swirls at my feet, matching emotions swirling through me.
“Impossible,” Zane says. “The Council would know if he had raised an army. And the Seers
are
dead. We’ve had no reports of their presence for more than a century.”
I turn away. I don’t care what the Council thinks, the Seers are not dead. Not all of them.
Azza just took one.
“Nes, what aren’t you telling us?” Zane’s tone is laced with impatience, frustration. And worry. “Nes?
“Lori saw us. In angelic form. You know what that means. She must be a Seer. It’s the only explanation.” I inhale the rest of my thoughts, not willing to tell them—tell him—everything. “That’s why we have to find her; before Azzaziel can kill her.”
“If she is a Seer, Nes, she’s already dead.”
Anger coils around my body.
“There’s more, isn’t there?” Cass asks. “Lori called you by your name, your past human name. Nesy, is she—?”
I can’t answer the question; can’t force myself to say the words. I’m not ready to accept that truth, no matter how much I may want it. I’m not ready to accept the emotional torrent it would bring.
“Is she what?” Zane looks from Cass to me. “Nes?”
Nothing. Only silence.
“Lori is Nesy’s human sister, Lorelei.” Cass looks at me. “Isn’t she?”
I can’t speak, can’t think, can’t breathe. I walk away, anger and pain filtering through my thoughts.
The breeze, the unholy stench, wraps around me, reminding me of where I am. I have to find Lori before Azza ends her life.
Something warm drips down my neck and arms, a thick silver liquid that sizzles as it hits the ground. My blood.
Perfect.
My head is woozy and I grab one of the moss-covered stones, trying to steady myself.
“Let me look at your wound,” Zane says, reaching for my arm. There is no anger now, no frustration. Only concern. “Please.”
I flinch and pull my arm close. “It’s fine. A scratch.”