Sacrifice (Revelations Book 1) (18 page)

"I see." Hannah glanced at Nico and Lucas and gave the slightest bow of her head. "We shall join this army then. I will call for a gathering, but for now the Virtues who are already here will fight."

Abby heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

Hannah headed to the door. "Do not mistake my allegiance as friendship, if you go bad I will be the first one to thrust my halberd through your heart. I'll deal with the consequences afterward."

Abby eyed Nico who was shaking his head but neither of them said anything until she'd shut the door behind her. When she was certain Hannah wasn’t coming back Abby cleared her throat. "Was she the only hold up or do the Personifications have a leader who doesn't want to work with me too?"

Nico draped his arm over her shoulder. "No, Justice, their leader, doesn’t care about what you may or may not be. They are in it for two simple reasons. One, it will be a good death to die in battle. And two, they don't want the world over run with demons any more than the rest of us. If demons take over, then the scales tip and personifications are all about balance. Too much of either side is bad as far as they are concerned."

She smiled. "I don't care what their reasons are, I'm just glad I don't have to justify my existence to anyone. So, we have the Virtues, the Personifications, you said there was some neutral factions. And what the hell is a de-whatever you called them?"

"Dei Caduti, the fallen. One Fallen in particular, his name is Enzo."

"Is he their leader?"

Nico shook his head. "No, they don't have a leader per se. He's extremely powerful, but more importantly he has spent centuries collecting secrets. I was hoping he'd know some way of breaking the spell."

She nodded and crossed her arms over her chest. "Without the fallen angel there’s no chance of me being human?"

"Arveda is still working on trying to break it. I just thought Enzo might be a quicker route." Nico gave a nod to Lucas, "Go ahead and go, I know you are dying to see Chloe. She's locked up at Arveda's."

Lucas gave an aggravated groan. "Why does Arveda have her on lockdown again?"

Abby cleared her throat. "Um, there's this guy who came to town and when Chloe saw him she freaked. She's hiding and he says... Well... He says they know each other but she doesn't seem to remember, all she knows is she's scared of him and wants him to go away."

All the color drained from Lucas's face. "Jack..." he snapped. Something flashed in his eyes, a murderous glare Abby never thought Lucas would be capable of.

She swallowed hard. "You know him? Who is he to her?"

"He's—" Lucas headed to the door. "If he's here and searching for Chloe than its worse than any of us could have imagined. As much as I don't like him being around, if he's here it means the end is coming. He's—"

Nico interrupted. "He's John of Patmos. We know."

"Then you know the End is here. He needs Chloe and I'm afraid it will destroy her."

Abby couldn't make heads or tails of what he was saying. "He's going to hurt her? But he swore he wasn't going to do that."

Lucas shook his head. "I don't know. I've got to see her."

He was out the door before either of them could ask anything else. Abby started for the door but Nico pulled her over to a small couch instead. "Come and sit. Let him go. You know no matter what he won't do anything to hurt Chloe. He'll protect her with his life." She nodded and sunk into the soft cushions. Nico kept his arm around her and pulled her closer. "Now, what took so long for you to get here tonight?"

In all the excitement of Hannah, Lucas's revelation of knowing Jack, and the bar full of newcomers she'd forgotten about what happened earlier. Sitting up she tucked her legs under her and splayed her hands over Nico's chest. "I remembered. I remembered everything. My old life, what happened, who put the spell on me, every minute of it." She shuddered thinking about what Chris and her parents had done to her. "All of it."

Nico frowned. "How did you remember it all?"

"I was looking through those photo albums again and I found some pictures hidden in the back. Next thing I knew I was remembering everything. I remembered how I ended up finding Arveda the first time. There was a man at Hex who sent me to her, but he said he couldn't stop what was going to happen. Then I remembered..." She lost her focus and stared past Nico. Her voice became flat as those memories rolled over and over in her mind once more. "It was my parents and my...boyfriend. They did this to me. He was a demon, I never knew it. They had been planning this ever since—"

"Ever since what?"

She regained her focus and locked eyes with him. "I was adopted. Not even really adopted, I think someone stole me from whatever life I was supposed to have and put me in the hands of those monsters." Her voice trembled. "My parent let that demon do terrible things to me, then they put that spell on me, allowed more demons to possess me, and dumped me in the desert hoping you would kill me." The old-her, Jane, would be crying over the details, but Abby wasn’t about to break down. The tremble in her voice steadied as she continued, "I was their daughter and they didn't care. They created this fake life for me while they were planning my death the whole time."

Nico pulled her against him and ran his hands through her hair. "Abby, it's going to be okay. I promise. I know it hurts, but it's better to know the truth."

She nodded. The pressure that had been building inside her started to subside. Something as simple and human as being held in Nico’s arms was enough to reassure her that this was where she was meant to be. "Will we ever find them? Can we make them pay for what they've done?"

"Revenge is never the answer, or so they say. I, however, am all for a little revenge from time to time." He pulled back and cupped the sides of her head. "I swear if we ever have the opportunity to make them pay for this we will take it."

She nodded and gave a half smile. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He placed a kissed against her forehead. "Anything else?"

Abby stared up at him. She couldn’t bring herself to mention her heart beating again. In her mind it seemed cruel to tell him that she’d had a truly human moment and he wasn’t there to share it with her. Finally, she shook her head. “Nothing really.” She paused and pulled the large feather out of her back pocket where it had been more than half hanging out the whole time. "Except when I had a break in the memories I found this on my lap." Nico's eyes widened as he ran his hand over the feather. "What does it mean?"

"It means we have our answer from the Dei Caduti. They aren't helping, or at the very least Enzo isn't helping. He did his part, apparently."

She leaned forward. "What was his part?"

"I guess it was unlocking your memories. He probably feels like he's done all he can."

"Would he happen to have an Italian accent?"

Nico narrowed his eyes. "Yes, why?"

"The man who sent me to find Arveda, had an Italian accent. He said he had some sort of family ties that kept him from helping."

"I wonder what the hell that means?"

Abby shrugged. "No idea."

Nico stood up and pulled her with him. "Let's not dwell on that dickhead tonight. I brought Lobo some of your blood bags from Alexander, let's go have a drink. The past isn’t going anywhere, we can deal with it later."

She smiled and followed him out into the bar. One thing was certain, with all of the bad surrounding them Nico could make it all disappear. Maybe she should be grateful for her parents doing this to her, in all of her straight-laced life she would have never come to this town, she would have never met Nico, or made friends like Chloe and Lucas. All in all, if the world was ending at least now she was living a full life with people who honestly cared for her. Anything was better than living a lie with people who were plotting her death.

The army was assembling at the church. Many gathered outside, unable to fit in the building. Inside, the different factions clamored to be heard over one another as they stood shoulder to shoulder, packed like sardines in a can. Even though they were crammed together with little room to move there was a clear division making it obvious where the Virtues stopped and the Personifications began even without knowing who was who. The Vampires and other creatures mingled freely with each other but they kept whatever imaginary distance they could from the others. How they would ever be able to fight together as a functioning unit was beyond Abby.

Her gaze shifted to Nico who fidgeted with the dagger in his hands. His eyes were a bit wild, like an animal trying to decide whether to fight or flee. To anyone else it would probably appear to be nerves, but she knew it had more to do with being inside the House of God. Nico wanted the meeting at the bar but Jack insisted it be at the church.

Hannah's disdain for Abby, Lobo, and almost everyone else there made this shaky alliance even more unstable. But they had one common enemy for now— Rosa. All of them had to put aside their dislikes and work together. Abby stood next to Chloe at the back of the church. Lucas had his arms wrapped around Chloe’s waist, and the tension in the room amplified as Jack took his spot with Nico behind the podium.

Jack tapped the microphone but no one seemed to notice. He repeated the action and still the groups were too busy talking amongst themselves. He inhaled sharply, brought his fingers to his lips, and whistled into the microphone. Abby winced and covered her ears while all heads in the church turned in Jack’s direction. "We all know why we’re here. None of us here want any sort of premature apocalypse to happen, so regardless of our own personal issues," he eyed Lucas and continued, "we will set them all aside and work together. Like it or not, Nico and I are in charge."

Hannah interrupted. "Why do you two get to be in charge?"

Jack pinched his lips together for a moment before answering. "Because I was here the first time the apocalypse rolled around and I happen to know how it all goes."

"So what? Just because you wrote the book doesn't make you the person in charge, we all read it, we all know what’s going to happen."

"Just because you read it doesn't mean you felt it.” He snarled in a mocking tone back at the Virtue. “You weren't there, Hannah, you didn't feel the fire on your face, you didn't live an eternity hearing the screams of innocent people being killed, tortured, and devoured by the armies of Hell.” Jack clenched a fist and slammed it on the podium. “You didn't bathe in their blood, you didn't taste the sulfur in the air. Don't try to pass off reading a book as firsthand knowledge."

Hannah fell silent as someone else in the crowd called out. "And what about the priest? What qualifies him as leader?"

His arms swept out wide. "Because they set this all in motion around him. The Whore singled Nico out. They placed the Key here in the hopes they could egg him into opening the Gates. He has a personal stake in this."

Someone else shouted. "Yeah, because he's fucking that creature."

Abby's cheeks burned red and Nico clenched his shaking hand around the hilt of his dagger, but Jack answered. "Shall we start a list of who's fucking who? Just because you’re a Virtue doesn’t make you a saint, Simon. In fact, I know some of you like to slum it at the red district, do you want me to air all of your dirty laundry?"

Lucas vanished from Chloe's side and reappeared between Nico and Jack. He held up his hands. "Cheap shots at each other will get us nowhere. Hannah has sworn we will help this cause and that’s what we’ll do. We will follow Jack and Nico, this is their rodeo and all of us will follow their directions. No one knows what follows better than Jack, no one knows Rosa better than both of them, and no one knows this town like Nico. They are our leaders, now let's stop bickering and let them lay out the plan. I'd like to wrap this up as quickly as possible to protect the people I love."

There was a collective murmur in the crowd and a unison of nods. Jack turned to Lucas and clasped his hand. "Thank you."

Abby’s ears perked up as she heard Lucas’ parting words to Jack. "I'll do whatever I have to keep Chloe safe even if it means teaming up with you. Just don't fail her this time."

There was a flash of sadness again in Jack's eyes. Lucas disappeared from the stage and materialized next to Chloe and Abby again. Chloe snuggled her face against his chest. Seemingly unaware of what the Virtue had said to Jack. "You're a better person than I am," she whispered to him.

He pressed a kiss against her forehead. "That's not true. You’re a great person."

She shook her head and all three of them went back to listening to Jack dole out directions. "I need a group to take the North sector of town."

Hannah again spoke up. "The Virtues will take it."

"No." Jack replied. "We need mixed groups, not just Virtues working with Virtues. We need volunteers to work together. A mix of talents will go further than clusters of one faction only working with themselves." Hannah clenched her jaw and he continued. "We will also need a large contingent to take the southern sector, that is where The Whore is building the larger of her groups. It doesn't help that the town graveyard is in that section. If she has any necromancers, which you can pretty much bet she does, they will probably start raising the dead." There was a wave of commotion from the crowd.

Jack held up his hands to quiet them, but Nico interrupted. "Quiet, this is what we are faced with. None of us like the idea of going up against an undead army but if that’s Rosa's plan then we have to be ready for it. The southern group will need a good mix of melee fighters and white magick users. If those are your talents sign up now."

The crowd was already splitting into groups, those who would patrol the north and those who would face the possible threat of undead in the south. Nico held up Jack's map of the town. "For those who haven't been in town long, this is where we are now." He tapped the spot where the church was circled. "Anyone who’s injured should be brought here, we will keep healers and the wounded in the building where they’ll be safe." He moved his hand to the location of Lobo's. "This is headquarters from now on. The back room is our war room, all planning will be done there. Anyone needing to recover, rest, refuel, this is where you can do it. There’s a bunker underneath the bar that’s set up with cots and blankets, and Lobo will keep a steady supply of food ready for you."

Next he pointed to his house and the Striga house. "This is where I live, it is where Abby sleeps during the day, there will be guards outside as long as the sun is up just in case the demons try anything to harm her. And the Striga house is always protected, unless you've been invited don't approach it. Arveda has stated she will roast anyone, friend or foe, who tries to enter her territory. Her only concern at this point is the safety of her daughters. Everyone understand?"

The crowd uttered their collective agreement and Jack pointed towards the door. "Those of you who haven't picked a patrol section stick around and we’ll put you on guard duty for the church and Lobo's for the night. Healers, you stay here, and everyone else head out. It's gonna be a long first night, best get to it."

Everyone headed to their places as Lucas kissed Chloe on the cheek. "I'm headed to the South." She started to protest but he placed his finger over her lips and shook his head. "I have to, Chloe. You know that."

She pursed her lips and wiped away the tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. "I know."

He vanished and the girls stood at the back of the church waiting for Nico to tell them where to go or what to do. Instead Jack approached them. Chloe stiffened and squeezed Abby’s arm. He held up his hands. "Ladies, if you are planning on patrolling I suggest sticking to the streets tonight and let everyone else get acquainted with the outskirts."

Abby pushed her shoulders back. Patrolling was just what she needed. "Okay." She nudged Chloe who slightly nodded in agreement. "We'll head out then."

He reached out as they were turning away and touched Chloe's arm causing her to jump.

He whispered, "I know the Virtue loves you, but you know deep down he's not the one for you."

Abby took a step forward, this back and forth with them had to stop for the sake of their current mission, but she didn’t move fast enough. Chloe's hand shot out and connected with his cheek leaving the sound echoing off the walls drawing all eyes on them. A pink handprint welled on his lightly tanned skin. The Striga’s eyes glowed the eerie purple color Abby had only seen once before. "Go to hell."

Abby's nostrils flared and she was about to say something but Chloe bolted from the room and Abby rushed to follow after her. “Chloe, wait up.” Not that she couldn’t catch up to her, but she hoped slowing their pace would help give Chloe time to cool down. “Just ignore him.”

Chloe tossed her hair over her shoulder and took a couple of deep breaths. “I will, but in the meantime let’s kill some shit.”

“Will that make you feel better? I mean, you never come hunting with Nico and I so I kinda figured you weren’t big on the actual killing part of hunting.”

She lifted her chin high. “I’ll make an exception tonight.”

Nico didn’t like Abby being out on her own, but the rational part of his mind chided him for his nervousness. Abby was his equal, not his subordinate and he had firsthand knowledge that she could take care of herself in a fight. He relaxed a bit. She’d shown that she was capable of handling herself while patrolling for demons. He and Jack were stuck playing referee for the different groups who were now expected to work together.

As he’d expected, half of the group was arguing over who would be doing what. After watching in silence for about five minutes Nico placed two fingers in his mouth and whistled loud enough to bring the squabbling group to complete silence. "Enough." He started pointing at random people. "You all take the high street, the rest of you the low. You all know your strengths. We shouldn't have to tell you how to use your powers. Remember to check your egos at the door, this is a war, not your own personal path to glory."

The not-so-stubborn ones left to do as they were told, a few stragglers muttered among themselves and a few looked to Nico. One of them called out, "And what about you, Father?"

"What about me?"

"Where will you be fighting tonight?"

"I'll go where I am needed."

Some snickers broke out and a Virtue replied. "That's code for he'll be sleeping with his blood sucker tonight."

Nico glared into the group. "If you don't like taking orders from me then get the fuck out of my town, but don't bitch when demons swarm your town next. If you’re going to stay then shut the fuck up, mind your own business, and do as you’re told. We have innocent lives to protect here, get to work."

As he started back down the street Jack sprinted to catch up. "Way to win friends and influence people."

"You're one to talk.” Nico’s tone dripped with sarcasm, “You were oh so smooth with Chloe tonight. I'd say I'm head and shoulders above you in the diplomacy department."

Jack shrugged. "I don't need to be diplomatic. I simply stated the facts."

"You ever going to clue me in on what’s going on?"

"Probably not, I think it's more Arveda's place to clear that particular skeleton from her closet."

Nico uttered, "So it all boils down to Arveda and more secrets. Color me surprised."

They walked the rest of the way in silence until they passed the cemetery. Nico pointed to the field of headstones. "See any movement out there?"

"Nothing. Maybe they haven't found a necromancer yet."

"You really believe that?"

"Nope. I think it's more likely Rosa is just biding her time. Trying to make us think she won't raise them."

"But she will?"

"Of course. She hasn't come this far to fail, she wants the end of days to happen. She has more riding on this than anyone."

"How do you know what she’s thinking?"

"We've, um, had some intimate moments. Back in the day."

"You and The Whore?" Nico busted out laughing. "Seriously. The Whore? I know it's implied in the name but come on, man."

"Oh fuck off, Nico. I know all about what happened when you two went to the city together. I was there. And I know what happened before you left the church. You were tempted by her too, old friend. At least when I was with her I knew who she was."

"You knew she was The Whore and yet you still had sex with her? Jesus, man."

"Better to know the enemy in your bed than to be deceived by them."

"I guess, but damn."

Jack shook his head. "I thought there might still be good in her, I wanted to save her."

"By fucking her?"

"No, you fucking moron. We were friends, as much friends as she could be. I cared for her, I thought Chloe was lost to me and I gave in. I thought she could change, that all of this mess could be diverted, but in the end there was no hope for her. Her soul was corrupted long before we met."

Somehow he could understand that, being lonely, feeling lost, seeking comfort. How many times had he done the same thing? Too many to count. "Why does she want the apocalypse to happen?"