Path of the Horseman (36 page)

Ciaran removed his hand from Maddy’s neck and
reached out for Josh. The hand that had been stroking Maddy’s hair
suddenly latched onto the top of her head, gripping her honey
blonde hair by the root and pulling sharply. She hissed in pain,
and I took a quick step forward.

“Please, Avery,” Ciaran said impatiently.
“I’m trying to make a demonstration.”

I froze in place, reading Maddy’s face as she
relaxed. I knew it wasn’t the worst pain she could be in, but the
thought of her in pain at all infuriated me to a depth I didn’t
realize I had. Tearing my eyes from hers, I watched Ciaran touch
Josh’s chest, right over his heart. The human betrayer flinched and
suddenly screamed, arching his back as if something was being
pulled out of his body.

Which it was.

When Josh couldn’t take the pain anymore and
collapsed onto the floor, clutching his chest and gasping for air,
Ciaran remained standing with something in his hand. A small,
silver wisp of light.

A soul.

Ciaran smiled at it, then curled his hand and
drew Josh’s soul over to his own body. He pressed his hand to his
chest, trapping Josh’s soul against him. The silver glow began to
fade as the demon absorbed the soul.

Josh stopped gasping. He sat up like a
recently reanimated corpse, staring at us with his new face. The
bruises and wounds were gone, replaced with pasty, blue-veined
skin. Josh’s steel blue eyes had turned bloodshot with dismal black
pupils.

“Josh,” Maddy whispered.

He heard her with new ears and looked at her.
Not with the desire and affection I’d seen before. But with
something more primal.

Hunger.

Maddy tried to move, but Ciaran cupped her
chin roughly and untangled his other hand from her hair to rest on
her shoulder.

“Shh,” the demon soothed. “It’s all right,
Madeline. Josh is feeling much better now. Aren’t you, Josh?”

A rumble came out of the newly Soulless man’s
throat. It was impossible to tell if it was a warning for Ciaran to
back off, or if he was fighting the urge to devour Maddy right then
and there. Fresh Soulless were always starving after they gave up
their essence.

“Josh here promised me his soul in exchange
for your suffering,” Ciaran explained, his body relaxed and content
at the feeling of a fresh soul in him. “He wanted me to spare his
little blonde darling of course,” he went on, petting Maddy like
she was a well trained dog, “but after what you put him through, he
wanted to erase you from existence. I have to say, I wasn’t keen on
the idea. Not when you’ve done so much for us.”

Vance’s words flickered through my mind.

“Your dead deputy said you made a deal,” I
said, grateful my voice was steadier than I felt. “What kind of
deal did you make?”

Ciaran smiled, glad I didn’t understand what
he was talking about. “I’m sure it crossed at least one of your
minds.” His burning coal eyes glided past me to Logan. “Perhaps
your oldest brother? He’s always been the smartest one, able to see
situations from more than just one angle.”

Logan didn’t say anything, but I noticed he
turned away from me. Dread began to fill me, spiraling out of
control before I could keep Ciaran from seeing it. The Paladin was
smiling and stroking Maddy’s hair.

“You didn’t really think your Heavenly
masters would give humanity another chance, did you?” Ciaran said
to me, like I was a child about to get a painful life lesson. “The
angels knew this world would never be pure again after what the
humans had done to it. They offered it to us, even before they
released you. You were meant to clear the world for demons. The
Second Coming belongs to me and my kind.”

A few months ago, I would have told myself
Ciaran was just doing what all demons do– lying. He was
fucking with my head, taking my most precious belief and warping it
into something obscene.

But I hadn’t seen any fresh human
settlements. Nothing clean grew from the dried out earth. Demons
ran amok, creating Soulless whenever they could. I hadn’t heard
anything from Heaven since they released me.

I knew demons enjoyed using the truth as a
weapon. I never imagined the sting would burn so deep.

“But as you well know,” Ciaran droned on,
“this earth isn’t the most entertaining place in the world. Hell
has become crowded with the damned souls you’ve sent our way, and
we’ve been forced to accommodate. My vassals and I were sent to
establish ground work, as it were. We were to find ways to support
our livelihood so the new residents would feel right at home.”
Ciaran’s grin turned my blood to ice. “That means restarting the
human race you so meticulously annihilated, and providing
entertainment for the next tenants. And believe me when I say that
all of them will pay handsomely in souls to see you four killed.
Really, it was just business.”

I was too stunned to move. I expected
Ciaran’s plan to be horrible, but this… this was far beyond my
worst nightmare.

The world was a clean slate for demons.
Ciaran had been collecting humans to breed for the demons he was
going to invite over. My brothers and I were going to be the main
event at the housewarming party where torture was the first and
only party trick on the schedule.

I did this.

Ciaran’s easygoing laugh got through the fog
of my mind somehow.

“You’re looking pale, Avery,” he teased.
“Maybe you can conjure a remedy for that. You still have time
before the guests arrive. Not much, of course, but now that I have
my last ingredient,” his fingers tightened around Maddy’s chin,
drawing her head back, “I can start laying down the welcome
mat.”

“If you take one drop of blood from her, I’ll
kill you.”

My brothers looked at me strangely, not
accustomed to the dangerous tone of my voice. Even Kade seemed
surprised at my anger. I barely remembered they were standing
there, sending a million warning glances my way. I didn’t fucking
care. I wanted to kill Ciaran more than I ever wanted to kill
anything during my supposed sacred mission.

More like the biggest, most glorious April
Fool’s Joke in history.

“Ah, but I won’t just be taking her blood,”
Ciaran assured me, before adding. “I only need one life. And I
don’t suppose you’ll be willing to trade–”

“No!” Maddy suddenly screamed. I jumped at
the urgency of her voice. “Don’t do it, Avery!”

I was so shocked to hear her again that I
didn’t see what she was doing until it was too late.

Cut off from his elaborate posturing, Ciaran
was unprepared when Maddy’s hand plunged toward his leg. I saw the
hilt of her knife bury deep into his bone. He barked angrily and
let her go. Opening him up for my attack.

I threw up my hands, drawing out as much
power as I could. I turned it into a funnel and launched it
straight at Ciaran’s chest. The demon snarled and turned up his
palms. Black and red demonfire radiated from his skin, billowing
into the air and consuming my black smoke. The heat was so intense
it incinerated my poison, killing all the bacteria and stopping it
from ever reaching him.

That was bad. It took a powerful demon to do
something like that, which meant Ciaran was moving up the ranks. He
wouldn’t remain a Paladin for much longer. He would turn into a
King.

The demonfire that erased my noxious cloud
started spreading out in a horizontal line, whipping in my
direction. Kade’s heavy hand was suddenly on my shoulder, wrenching
me back so he could bring up a wall of blood red fire. The churning
ropes of crimson smoke around Kade’s arms thickened as he tried to
fight off Ciaran’s demonfire. But I could see the veins in his neck
bulging under strain. Kade would never admit it, but his powers
were weakening as he used them to impress the humans he controlled.
If Ciaran found a way to open a Hell Door and bring a major demon
like Lucifer or Azazel to earth, Kade would be the first person
they chose to fight.

He would be the first one to die.

I snuck around Kade’s right, looking for an
open spot in Ciaran’s defenses to try poisoning him again. I had no
idea what Simon and Logan were doing, but they were standing on
Kade’s left.

I drew a ball of black smoke into my hand,
ready to throw it like a baseball. Then Josh got in my way. With
Maddy.

She’d been pulled away from Ciaran, unable to
get her knife. Josh had picked her up like she weighed no more than
a doll, despite her kicks and screams. Both Maddy and Josh were
shouting, one screaming to be released while the other begged for
calm. Maddy’s heel finally connected with Josh’s kneecap, and he
wasn’t able to hold onto her anymore. She slipped from his arms,
but not out of reach. He collapsed on top of her, scrambling to
grab Maddy’s wrists as she fought him like an animal.

He forgot that he had claws, and scratched
her hard enough to draw blood. I changed the direction of my throw
when I saw Josh’s bloodshot eyes widen at the enticing, tangy
scent.

Josh couldn’t resist. He yanked Maddy up by
her wrists, shoved her hair off her shoulder, and sank his fangs
into her neck.

Her scream was a dagger in my heart, slicing
into my core and twisting deeper when I saw the blood dribble down
her back.

My shot was ruined. There was no way I could
hit Josh without hurting Maddy. I was frozen in the entire chaos of
Kade and Ciaran’s fire battle, and Maddy’s sudden, explosive
pain.

The rush of heat from the firefight was the
only warning I had before Ciaran’s demonfire launched in my
direction. I dove to the side, missing the blast that swept over
where I’d just been standing. I covered my head with my hands as
the edges of the fire licked over my back, burning my machete’s
scabbard and part of my shirt.

The second the heat was gone, I scrambled to
my feet, lifting my hand, ready to draw on the locusts–

When a ruthless pain shot through my back. I
staggered against the white-hot agony of a million blistering
needles stabbing into me. I landed hard on my front, dark spots
filling my vision as I tried to fend off the pain. Every time I
moved, the needles stabbed deeper until I was immobilized.

Trickles of black and red demonfire ghosted
over me toward Ciaran, who was throwing Josh off of Maddy. The
pieces of demonfire that came off me were sent into Josh. The
Soulless slave screamed in agony, but Ciaran wasn’t paying
attention. Unable to twitch without torturing myself, I watched as
Ciaran sent crackling, electric demonfire at my brothers. Someone
who sounded like Simon shouted painfully.

It was just a distraction, however. Ciaran
used his mental connection on all of his Soulless, including the
agonized Josh. They snapped to attention and linked arms. Ciaran
picked up Maddy and threw her over his shoulder in a fireman’s
carry. He shot out another electric wave of demonfire to keep us
back, grabbed all of his Soulless, and disappeared in a haze of
ash.

The pain in my back stopped, relieving my
senses. But between that and the open wounds in my heart, I wasn’t
able to stay conscious.

I didn’t want to.

Waking up after that crushing defeat was the
hardest thing I’d ever done. I debated asking Logan to save the
world from me. Every time I tried to help someone, I ended up
making things worse. I wasn’t good at saving lives. I was only good
at shattering them.

But my oldest brother wasn’t feeling
merciful. And even if he was, I knew I couldn’t just walk away now.
Not when I knew what Ciaran’s plan was. Not when so many lives had
been sacrificed for no reason.

Not when Maddy was a hostage, and about to
lose her life.

Someone had healed me while I was passed out.
Probably Simon. He was the one standing outside the door of the
hotel suite when I finally dragged my ass out of the bed. I
devoured every edible item of food he left me, only because I knew
I would need all my strength for the final battle.

Because the next time I faced Ciaran, it
would be for the last time. I was going to kill the greedy,
business obsessed bastard, or he was going to do the world a favor
and vaporize me.

Both options seemed appealing right now.

Simon didn’t say a word when I left the hotel
room with my weapons and a moderately full stomach. He didn’t say
he was sorry, chastise me, or give me sympathy. All he did was
check on my wounds, and wrap his arms around his stomach.

“We should talk to Logan and Kade before we
go,” said Simon.

The two of us were almost constantly
fighting. We disagreed on nearly everything. We didn’t have that
much in common. We’d ignored each other for months before I dragged
him into my mess. Yet Simon didn’t try correcting what he said. He
was willing to come with me, knowing I would never ask. His
graphite eyes seemed clearer, the fear and nerves I so commonly saw
in them nothing but distant memories now.

I’d never been so grateful to have a brother
before.

I nodded to Simon, allowing him to lead me
through the hall, down the stairs, and into a room near the lobby
that looked like it held board meetings once upon a time. Nothing
remained but the dull brown wood panels and stale smelling carpet.
I’d barely stepped into the room when Simon was shoved roughly out
of the way, and a massive fist made its way toward my head.