Authors: Christine Fonseca

Lacrimosa (23 page)

“Call them off,” I whisper. My eyes narrow, focusing on Azza. “Call them off, and I’ll hear you out.”

The Dark One laughs. “You’re trapped here. You’ll do whatever I want. But, to show how accommodating I can be, I’ll do what you ask.” He nods again and the creatures retreat, slipping back into the dark crevices of the shadows. With a wave of Azza’s hands, the wounds covering Aydan’s body are gone.

I lower my sword in an act of submission.

I hope he buys it.

“Why am I here, Azzaziel? What do you want?”

“I think it’s time you knew the truth about your boss.”

I tighten my fingers around my weapon and look away. Like I’m going to believe anything
he
has to say.

“Mikayel and I were friends once. Did he tell you that? Best friends. Some would say brothers.”

“I don’t believe you. And what does that have to do with me or Aydan?”

“Patience, Sentinal. Patience.” Azza circles me and continues his story. “We trained together. Served the Council before the Dark Times. That is, until he betrayed me.”

I don’t want to hear his lies. I turn and look at Aydan. The rage in his eyes matches my own.

Azza spins me around to face him. “Mikayel knows more about love than you think.”

His words, lies, spark my memories. The pain in Mikayel’s eyes when I talked of redemption. The grief I felt in his heart.

No, this isn’t right. It can’t be. Only lies. Azza’s lies.

“I’m not listening to you. Now release me, before the army of Mikayel shows up.”

“Not before I finish my story.” His eyes harden and his voice reeks with impatience. “You see, Mikayel once loved another angel. Just like you.”

I feel the color drain from my face. More lies.

But maybe…

“Oh yes,” he says, drinking from my torment. “He loved a beautiful creature that served with us. Their love was forbidden by the Council. So he tried to choose duty over his feelings. He hid away his love for her. Let it torture and confuse him. He lost his edge, putting the rest of us at risk.”

My heart pounds in my ears as I let his lie fill me. “Why are you telling me this?” I whisper.

“I couldn’t let him destroy himself. Or risk destroying the whole of Celestium. So I found a way to release the angel’s hold on him. I convinced her to let go of Mikayel. Renounce her vows. Choose mortality over him.”

The words wrap me in temptation. I want them to be true. Want to be angry with someone other than myself.

“I took his love and forced her out of Celestium. But it didn’t help. He threatened to follow her. Vowed to forsake everything…for her. I couldn’t let this happen. Celestium needed him. So I went to her first. I found another way to release her hold on him.”

“You killed her,” I say.

“She killed herself.”

Revulsion fills me as I glare at the Beast before me. I imagine Mikayel, broken by the death of his love.

Just like me.

“Mikayel didn’t understand the sacrifices I made for him. He hated me for her. I saved him from himself and his foolish love. And yet he treated me like a monster.” Azza stares into the empty space around him. “The Council stripped me of my grace, my immortality, everything. I was cast out to the Abyss.”

“You deserved to be cast out.”

Fire lights his molten eyes. A sardonic smile twitches on the corners of his mouth. “But I refused to be tossed aside. I found a different form of immortality. Through the souls of the worthless humans I used to protect. Imagine it, something so insignificant and frail was the key to another life for me. I drank their souls, fed off their torment and pain. And then I taught others to do the same and made my own army.”

“You’re a monster,” I spit.

“I’m a survivor. And for that, I am persecuted.” Azza’s eyes glaze over as he turns away from me.

“Mikayel will defeat you.”

“He’s already tried. He’s sent armies of Sentinals against me and they’ve failed. They’ve always failed.”

I seize my chance and raise my sword to Azza’s back.

“You can’t defeat me, little Sentinal,” he taunts. “Only Mikayel has the power to do that—him and his Sword of Truth.”

“I’m sure I can hurt you, though.” I lunge forward, slicing a long gash into his shoulder.

“You don’t scare me, Sentinal,” he howls. “Not one bit.” He counters my next blow.

I block and counter, unleashing my anguish. Mikayel’s anguish. The clash of our blades sends a flurry of sparks into the air.

“You’ll be afraid when Mikayel shows up.”

I spin out of Azza’s attack.

“
If
he shows up.” He lunges again, catching only air.

“He will. And when he does—“

“When he does, his precious Sentinals will be slain, your Aydan will be gone, and his nemesis will be nothing more than a cry on the wind.”

I circle back around, leveling my sword at his neck.

I hear Aydan still clawing at the barrier.

I have to get to him.

Mikayel
, I call.
Succurre.

Aydan’s image invades my thoughts. Pictures of his flesh burning at Azza’s hands. His howls rip through the fragments of my mind, cracking the mask that holds back my emotions.

Azza presses into my sword. “If Mikayel comes, your precious Aydan will die. But not before he’s tortured.”

I look from Azza to the demons, enraged. I push the sword into his neck, breaking the skin. A stream of blood trickles down his demonic flesh.

Azza grabs the sword, letting it slice his hand. He growls as he pulls my weapon from me and clutches my arm. “There is another way,” he says through clenched teeth. “We can help each other.”

“There is nothing you could offer me that would make me help you.”

“Mikayel has lied to you. He makes you suffer for a love he understands. He forces you to kill Aydan. And for what?” Azza watches as I swallow back my feelings. “To prove that love cannot exist for your kind? To follow a rule that has no meaning? To justify his own actions so long ago?”

I cannot listen to him. Cannot be seduced by the words I want to hear. I grab my dagger and ignore the heavy confusion sitting on my chest.

A smile glints through Azza’s empty eyes. “I offer you a chance to stay with Aydan. I offer you...his life.”

“I’ll never work for you, Azzaziel. Never.”

“Even if it is the only way to save Aydan?”

Temptation.

I would do anything to save him. Anything.

Azza’s lip twitches. He knows I’m wavering, weak. “I want you to convince Aydan to take his oath to me. To bear the mark.”

“And bind himself to you forever? Force him to forget who he really is? No!” The tension in my voice betrays my thoughts.

“Who he really is?” Azza laughs. “He is
my
UnHoly. He does
my
bidding. And you will make sure it stays that way. Or I will make sure he dies. By your hand. Or the others.”

The other team. Oh no. I forgot about them. Death at their hands will be worse. Torturous, even.

Aydan asked me to do it. Me.

“The other team will be here soon. Aydan’s weak. Hungry. He is no match for them. They will kill him swiftly. But not if you help me.”

“You won’t let them hurt him.”

“You would rather me kill the other team?” Azza asks. “You’re more like me than you realize.”

The weight of my choices crashes through me, causing my legs to wobble. My mind betrays me as picture after picture confirm my fears.

Azza killing Zaapiel.

Aydan receiving the dark marks, forever bound to the Beast.

Mikayel casting me into the Abyss.

Every moment that passes fills me with anguish, confusion, rage. Aydan is right—the only solution is to end his life now. By my own hand.

Before Azzaziel can mark him. Before the other team arrives.

Before Mikayel sends his army.

I thrust my dagger into Azza’s chest. “I am nothing like you. And I will never let Aydan complete those vows.”

Azza screams as he wraps his spindly claws around my neck and squeezes. “You will regret those words, little Sentinal.”

The air around me rattles. Deafening sounds—demonic shrieks, Azza’s laughter, and Aydan’s screams—fill my ears.

“No!” Aydan yells as I hear his claws finally rip through the protective barrier. “Let go of her.”

Everything spins into focus when the invisible wall falls. Dark creatures flood the courtyard. Aydan rushes to my side.

“Or what?” Azza snaps. He tightens his grip around my throat. My skin sizzles from his touch. My lungs scream for air. I stiffen my neck against his hold.

Too late.

My mind begins to fade, my world darken.

I feel Aydan’s arm swing around me. Feel the concrete as my body collides with it.

The second team of Sentinals arrives with swords drawn. They attack the dark creatures littering the space, forging a path to Azza. And Aydan.

Hands grab me from behind, pulling me from the battle.

“Let go,” I mumble, barely conscious. I have to help Aydan. Protect him

“Nesy, it’s us.” The voice is familiar. Calming. “We have to get you out of here.”

Cass.

I turn to the voice, feeling like I’m living inside a dream. A nightmare.

They pull me towards a vortex flanking the garden. They want to take me away.

No. Not now.

“I need to help Aydan! He’s weak. He won’t be able to fend them off. I’m not ready to lose him this way.” A sob escapes. “I promised I would be the one. Me. I have to help him!” I try to wrestle myself free from their grasp.

Through tear-filled eyes, I see Aydan. He pushes away from the Sentinals, parries their blows.

The warriors are fierce, unleashing jabs and thrusts too numerous to count. They speak the words that will cast him into the eternal flames.

Dark creatures scream in horror as swords slice into their skin. The ground opens around the battlefield, sucking in the wounded demons.

Zaapiel takes the lead position—my position—in the attack. His war-hardened eyes never waver. He edges his way to Aydan, nicking his battle-worn skin.

Aydan clenches his jaw and backs away.

I watch in horror as Zaapiel corners Aydan against the sculpture of Mikayel. “Please,” I say to my friends. “I have to help him!”

I yank free and run towards my love, my sword drawn. Years of training possess my thoughts. I raise the sword over my head, prepared to strike. “I don’t want to do this, brother.” I have so much more to say. Confessions of my love for Aydan. Anger at Mikayel for his impossible task. And blinding hatred for the one who started this so long ago—Azza. The words turn to ash in my mouth. My fingers tighten around my sword.

“Step down, Sentinal.” Zaapiel’s deep voice rattles the ground. “Mikayel—“

“Gave me until tomorrow,” I interrupt. “I’m still in charge! You
will
yield to me!”

Zaapiel growls. “For now,” He lowers his weapon and takes a step back.

Chaos explodes around me as I try one last attempt to end Aydan’s misery. I raise my sword and thrust it forward, mouthing the words that will seal my lover’s fate. Azza forms through the chaos, sending me hurtling backwards. The sword drops from my hands, never piercing Aydan’s heart. Never finishing my task.

Sentinals and dark creatures battle as a tempest swirls around me. Zane pulls me away. I retrieve my human host before Zane and Cass can force me into a portal. Demons strike the Sentinals and the vortex begins to close.