Moonlight and Diamonds & The Vampire's Fall (44 page)

Chapter 27

T
rouble drove because he owned the big, bad Dodge half-ton diesel. The abomination was painted olive-green camouflage. Trouble thought the paint job ironic. His brothers snickered about it behind his back. He navigated the truck down the country road toward the club.

Zen sat next to Blade, arm wrapped around his and head tilted onto his shoulder. She was warm and smelled like sex and apples.

He kissed the crown of her head. “You got your halo along?”

“In my backpack. You told me never to go anywhere without it.”

“In case of emergency...” He wondered if it was wise to suggest such a thing? There could be no other option if things got hairy. “Put the halo above your head.”

He felt her peer up at him but he kept his eyes on the dark country road, peeled for red eyes or moving objects not in human form.

“What if it's too late?” she said in the tiniest voice.

He caught Trouble's glance that seemed to echo,
yeah, what if
? What if the angel within her was gone and wouldn't react to the halo and accept her earthbound soul?

“I'll have your back,” he said. “Promise.”

She snuggled even closer to him and he wished they were not driving toward danger, but instead away from it all. Could he steal a moment out of time to simply enjoy being with Zen? They'd shared a few moments of bliss, but that had been between running from demons and angels. Could life ever be normal?

Did he want normal?

“Yes,” he murmured. With all his heart and soul he wanted the freedom to exist without having to look over his shoulder all the time.

“Your brother Stryke lives a good life?” she asked.

“Uh...yes?”

“Do you want that?”

“Perfection? No.” Had she been privy to his thoughts? Or was it they shared a connection that they mustn't ignore? “I want peace,” he said. “Quiet.”

“Seems as if you have quiet out on your little plot of land far from the city and your family members.”

True. And he had been generally demon-free until Zen had entered his life.

“I've brought you something more,” she said. “The question is, will it be too much for you? Will you want to return to the peace you had when this is all over? Demons forced back to Daemonia and angels extinguished?”

“All I want is you, Zen.”

“You have me. Now let's see what you do to keep me.”

He looked down at her and she beamed up a smile curved beneath violet eyes. Violet? Was she so close to faery, then?

Trouble's grin was so loud that Blade could but smile in response. So he'd gone sappy. If Trouble said something he'd give him the fistfight he deserved. Only problem was, his brother would enjoy that too much.

“Kelyn's behind us,” Trouble announced.

He slowed the vehicle to a stop. Blade rolled down the window. Kelyn, his faery brother, called out to be heard over the idling diesel engine, “Need some help?”

“You bet. Follow us to the nightclub.”

“You going to kick more demon ass?” Kelyn yelled.

“With hope, no.”

But Blade knew that hope had long been siphoned from his soul.

* * *

After the brothers got out, Zen moved over to the driver's seat. They stalked up to the stone staircase before the mansion. There stood a man, or probably the demon Kesabel, waiting for him. Zen hadn't seen Kesabel so she could only guess.

She rolled down the window and the blond brother, Kelyn, was standing by the door. He said, “No matter what happens you stay in the truck. Blade's orders. And roll up the window.”

She nodded, but didn't feel like a weakling damsel who needed to be protected by the boys. She was smart enough to know to stay out of the fray, if that should occur. But that didn't mean she wasn't going to jump in should things require another hand. Though she saw no other demons in the darkness surrounding the mansion. And surely their red eyes would reveal them.

She tried to hear what Blade was saying to Kesabel, but the obnoxious rumble of the truck engine made it impossible. Trouble had asked her to keep it idling for a fast getaway, if need be. So she strained to hear through the closed window.

* * *

“You brought an army?” Kesabel asked as Blade stopped at the bottom step. The demon, clad in maroon leather armor Blade was all too familiar with, stood two steps up.

“If you consider three men an army,” Blade said, “then my numbers won't even blink should you call on yours.”

Kesabel chuckled. “You know my fellow Casipheans are few in this realm.”

“Right. You had to call out the
mimicus
denizen to help you. I see they lent you some armor. They don't scare me, Kesabel. You're going to have to try harder.”

“I'm not attempting to scare. I'm going for the win.” He made a show of glancing over Blade's shoulder toward the truck. “I see you brought our queen. If you would be so kind as to escort her into the club, we can get started.”

“Started?” Kelyn, who flanked Blade's side, glanced to him.

Blade shook his head at the idiot demon's audacity. “She has no desire to become your queen. Listen, Kesabel, and I say this with sincerity and the genuine desire not to slaughter more of your ranks.”

The demon crossed his arms. The small portion of his neck that was exposed revealed many of the dark runes, no doubt, wards against vampires.

“I spoke with Simaseel,” Blade said.

“The very angel who sicced you on us. You finally figured that one out?”

Yeah, so he'd been slow on that one.

“The angels sent Zen to infiltrate your denizen. If you invite her through the portal and make her your queen? She'll open Daemonia to Sim's ranks and they will eradicate you.”

“Impossible. Angels cannot access Daemonia.”

“Yeah? All right, then. Let's give it a go.” Blade made a show of turning toward the trucks. He didn't give a signal to his brothers to follow because Kesabel cleared his throat.

As expected.

“Truly?” the demon asked.

Blade nodded. “Sim wants to take you guys out. I assume because you possess divinity.”

“A faery tale. Fat lot of good divinity does us in Daemonia.”

“You don't actually know how to utilize it, do you? You know, you can fight the angels with divinity.”

“Lies told to you by the angel to lure us closer to the brink.”

“Actually, it was told to me by a halo hunter. What did he call himself? An angelologist.”

“A made-up word for a boastful human who thinks he knows things.”

“All righty. If you want to ignore the truth.”

“Divinity is but a remnant. Trust me, vampire. Are you or are you not going to allow Synestriel to approach the portal?”

“That's a big not.”

Kesabel scratched his head near the horn. “Then, we'll have to give her reason to want to make such a sacrifice.” The demon glanced at Trouble, who flanked Blade five feet to the right, and then to Kelyn, who stood to his left.

“There's nothing you can do that will make her come to you.”

“How about this?”

Blade saw the demon swing forward his arm, but as he deflected it expertly with a forearm, the demon's other arm shot up with an undercut. He felt the wooden stake enter his chest, plunge between rib bones and tear through heart muscle.

Gripping the wood dowel stuck in his chest, Blade dropped to his knees. Behind him Trouble and Kelyn swore. And Zen's scream was the sound that kept him in this world, alive, but struggling for consciousness.

Chapter 28

Z
en ran toward her lover, on his knees before the demon. The brothers hadn't had a chance to stop the inevitable staking. Even Blade hadn't seen it coming in time to retreat. Damned demon!

A skitter in the air averted her gaze upward as she ran. A black cloud swirled toward earth.

“Demons!” Trouble yelled. The eldest brother shifted to werewolf shape in a matter of seconds. His clothing tore and fell away from the incredible growing musculature, and his wolf head and maw tilted back to howl.

From out of the mansion poured the denizen in demon form, talons scything the air and wicked menace clouding the night atmosphere.

Kelyn grasped Zen's arm before she could get to Blade. “You're not safe! Get back in the truck.”

“No! He's been staked.”

And yet, when most vampires would disintegrate and sift to ash on the ground, Blade had not. He knelt there, gripping the thick wooden dowel as Kesabel looked over him.

“It's what the demons want,” Kelyn said. “To get you out in the open.”

Zen met her lover's fierce gaze. He yelled something at her, but she couldn't hear for the noise from above. It wasn't the usual demonic din that accompanied their ranks, but instead was populated with animal sounds of all species. They weren't demons...

“Angels,” Kesabel hissed. And to the heavens he shouted, “Thou shall not pass!”

The spoken angel ward was not effective when issued by a demon. Dozens of angels aimed for the ground where the vampire knelt, flanked by a werewolf and a faery.

Zen wielded her halo. She managed to make it to Blade's side. He stood, still clasping the stake.

“Get in the truck,” he demanded.

“Nope. Got a battle going on right now. And you look as though you need some help.”

“I'm fine.”

She studied the stake in his chest. “That's your definition of fine?”

“If I don't yank it out...” He winced. “I'm good.”

“Just need to process, eh?”

He nodded and managed a smile.

“Blade!” Kelyn stopped before Blade and Zen, back to them. He wielded a bow and arrow aimed toward the descending angels. “You good?”

Blade nodded to his brother. “Let's do this!”

* * *

The werewolf took a hit to the chest from two demons working in tandem. But even as the wolf's back landed on the ground, his arms arced forward, catching his attackers by the necks and crushing their heads together. He flung them aside and leaped into the fray.

Bow and arrows in hand, Kelyn utilized his wings effectively as weapons as he flew over demon heads and clashed with angels. Before placing the arrow to the bow, he sliced through his skin with the arrow tip. Ichor glittered on the sharp point. Sure poison that dropped the demons to the ground and momentarily stunned the angels.

Blade held strong, even though the stake in his heart pulsed and burned like a mother. But he knew to keep it in. Removing it would allow his heart to deflate and burst—sure death. He swung at Kesabel, then realized who it was and pulled the swing just before the halo blade slashed the demon.

Kesabel paused, hands up in surrender. “Take your shot, demon slayer.”

“You are not my enemy. Use your divinity,” Blade growled. “It's the only way to defeat these bastards!”

“But I don't— I've...staked you. And still you insist...” Kesabel studied his palms. “Really?”

All around the two men the battle raged, angels taking out demons and vice versa. The werewolf and faery had joined forces and stood back-to-back, with Zen at their sides. She wielded her halo expertly, having learned that throwing it toward an opponent would slice through skin and bone, and then the halo would return to her grip. Like a boomerang with unholy intent.

While Kesabel considered the power within him, Blade struck the angel who loomed overhead. The opponent grasped him by the wrist and took flight. Midair, Blade unfurled his wings, but one appendage was struck by a passing angel, and that upset the sword from his grasp. The halo blade fell to earth. Trouble looked up just in time to catch the sword and wield it, leaping over falling demons to go for the angel who shrieked in defiance.

Using his wings as weapons, Blade sliced at the angel but only succeeded in cutting arms and legs. He couldn't get to any part that would cause death. And really, the only effective weapon for killing these bedamned things was the halo blade or Zen's intact halo.

Fangs descending in anger, he resisted the urge to bite, for that would bring his death. And yet, death sat lodged in his heart. The organ pulsed and pushed blood around the wood column, yet had not given up on him. On life.

On Zen. He had to survive for Zen.

Sure that his brothers would have Zen's back while he was air-bound, Blade twisted in the air, bringing the angel around with him, so he was under him. He slashed his wing across the angel's, and his opponent retaliated with a howl. It was then Blade realized he fought Simaseel. The bastard who had tricked him into taking demon lives. Easy enough to do when he'd been so down on himself over the torture.

No longer. He would rise above his torment. He'd begun by helping out in the community. And he would continue by opening his heart even more. He could live life without always looking over his shoulder.

With a swift angle of wing, Sim turned them both in the air and forced Blade to ground. His spine and hips landed on the fieldstone staircase before the mansion. Blade felt his bones break, his jaw crack and his brain shudder inside his skull.

Sim clutched the stake, intent on yanking it out. “Time to die, vampire.”

“You first!” A sweep of the halo blade sliced the stake off right at Blade's chest. It cut his skin, it was so close. But it also shaved off the stake and released Sim's grip on it. The angel hissed, clutching his hand. Blue blood seeped from a slice on his fingers.

Kesabel landed over Blade and offered him a hand, tugging him up to stand. When the angel lunged for them both, Kesabel shoved the sword hilt into Blade's grip. “This belongs to you.”

Blade reacted and stabbed, piercing the angel through his glass heart. “Meet you in Beneath, asshole.” Sim yowled the horrifying din of the angels. A blue glow crept out at the sword wound. The tinkling sound of glass shattering preceded Sim's abrupt silence. The angel dusted to crystal ash and dropped in a mound at Blade's feet.

“Good riddance,” Kesabel said. “Duplicitous asshole.”

“Zen was his cohort,” Blade said.

“Indeed. Yet I scent a soul in her. She is not the queen for us. I took that from one of your brothers,” Kesabel offered, gesturing to the halo sword. “The werewolf was faring well enough with claws and fangs.”

Blade slapped a hand over his chest. The wooden stake sat flush with his rib cage and little blood seeped out around it. “You saved my life. What was that for?” he asked the demon.

“I figured out how this divinity thing works. And you know, it does repel the angels. Pisses them off, too, which is the sweet part. Thanks.” He clamped a hand on Blade's shoulder. “We may not have a queen, but the Casipheans will survive now that we know how to protect ourselves from our greatest foe.”

“So you're going to leave Zen alone?”

Kesabel nodded. “She's more faery now than anything. I'm not convinced she'd even become demon if she did willingly descend to Daemonia. And if it was all a plot to kill us, well, then...”

“Forgive me for the ranks of Casipheans I've killed,” Blade said. “I was doing what I thought right. But now I know it wasn't.”

“I believe forgiveness is a human weakness,” Kesabel offered. “Survival is a valuable trait to possess, especially for a vampire. No forgiveness is necessary. We will find a fitting queen. Some day. I offer you my friendship and a lifelong alliance, if you will accept.”

“I do.”

“You are a warrior, Blade Saint-Pierre.”

Blade slapped his palm into Kesabel's and they shook. And as an angel with fiery wings soared in toward Kesabel's back, Blade leaped over the demon's head and tangled with the predator. A slice of the halo blade took off the angel's head. Blade shoved him away quickly to avoid the blue blood that spewed out.

And as he spun in the air, taking in the grounds below, he saw the angels retreating with the Casipheans tight on their wake. Kesabel commanded his few but powerful forces. Below on the ground stood Kelyn, gossamer violet wings spread wide and bow aimed toward the sky. And with her shoulders pressed against Kelyn's shoulders, Zen held guard at his back. No enemies dared approach the twosome.

Trouble loped across the battlegrounds, sniffing at the fallen dead and dashing his claws through the heaps of angel and demon dust. He did not see the emaciated demon stalking close behind him.

“Ryckt.” Blade soared downward toward his nemesis, catching the demon through the shoulder with his pointed wingtip and lifting him from the ground seconds before he would have landed on Trouble.

The demon struggled but remained pierced through, even as he turned to face Blade. Suspended in the air high above the waning battle below, Blade looked into his enemy's red eyes for the first time as an aggressor.

And yet, he could not force himself to end the bastard's life, for his heart had altered.

“She didn't need to die,” he said. “Octavia. You used her to lure me to your denizen.”

“That I did.” Ryckt lashed out his long black tongue and managed to flick it across the wingtip that pierced his shoulder. “You going to crush me now, vampire? This armor is strong and sure.”

“Yeah? But it's got a weak point. I'm going to do for you what I should have done long ago.”

With a bend of wing, Blade forced the demon toward him and sank his fangs into the thick vein that pulsed on its neck. There was just enough room above the armor to get a good hold. He drank deeply of the horrible blood. His faery writhed with pleasure. But he would take no joy in this win. Spitting upon the wound, he then rubbed it into the open flesh, ensuring his ichor-tainted saliva seeped in.

“No!” Ryckt squirmed and Blade released him, allowing the demon to fall. He didn't make it to the ground in one piece. The burst of demon ash showered the other piles of ash below.

So his heart hadn't altered completely. That had been a debt he needed to pay. Now he could move on.

Casting his gaze over the ground below, Blade focused on one figure in particular. Zen looked up and her eyes met his. He slapped a palm over his heart and winced. He'd forgotten about the stake.

* * *

Zen watched as the man who would slay angels for her descended from the sky. His tattered black wings allowed the moonlight to seep through in the holes torn here and there. He looked a dark angel, but he was the furthest thing from a creature from Above.

And she was glad for that.

“All's well,” Kelyn announced. He'd stood beside her most of the time Blade had not been able to, taking out the enemy with bow and arrow. The faery was swift, to the degree that she hadn't seen him move most of the time.

Kelyn clasped her hand and the faint violet symbol on his wrist glowed. And in turn, Zen noticed the white marks on her inner elbows glowed.

“Does that mean...?” she said.

“I think you're sidhe,” Kelyn said. “Only time will tell.” He brushed her cheek and showed her the black smeared on his finger.

“That's not my blood,” she said.

“Good. You had me worried. There's Blade.”

The vampire landed on the ground behind them. His wings swept the air, stirring up a pile of crystal angel dust in a flurry.

Zen ran to her lover as he stumbled toward her. Hand clasped over his chest, only then did she remember he'd taken a stake to his heart. How could he be alive? Vampires died when staked through the heart. Had she only moments before he might suddenly be reduced to dust?

“No, please no.”

Just as her arms touched his, he fell to his knees before her. Head wobbling, he managed a weak smile up at her. “Love you,” he muttered. Then he dropped to his side.

“Blade!”

The werewolf shifted down to his four-legged wolf shape and loped over to his vampire brother's side. He sniffed at the wood stuck in his chest and growled lowly. Kelyn joined Zen and touched Blade's throat over the carotid artery. “He's alive.”

“He's got a stake in his chest.” Zen stated the obvious. “We have to get it out!”

“No.” Kelyn stayed her with a hand to hers. “That's the worst thing you can do. Pulling the stake out will cause the heart to explode. Right now, it's the only thing holding him together, so to speak. Have to leave it in and allow it to push out naturally as he heals.”

“That's crazy. He's going to die!”

The wolf barked, echoing his brother's insistence.

“Really?” She touched Blade's cheek. “He's cold.”

“He's going to need blood, and lots of it. I'll put him in the truck. Trouble, you drive into town and find blood donors. Zen, you go along with Trouble and he'll—” The brothers exchanged looks. Trouble nodded agreement to some silent command Kelyn had given him. Then the faery said, “I'll take him home. And hold vigil.”