Darkest Knight (24 page)

Rafe studied the charm in his hand. “How…?”

I shook my head. “I’m not sure how it works so you’ll have to wing it.” I stepped back to give him room. “Clear your mind and concentrate on what you want to become.”

“What if it doesn’t work?”

“Then we’re screwed,” I said. “Or at least I am. It means I’ll get bonded to Aydin and once again be a slave to the gargoyle’s curse.” I shrugged and tried to smile, but my lips felt numb. “Maybe it won’t be so bad this time around.”

“Your only other choice is out of the question,” Rafe said with conviction. “I know that now. I’m sorry I failed to realize it sooner.”

Though I already knew his answer, I had to ask the question. “Do you love me, Rafe?”

His eyes filled with sadness again. “Of course I do, but as a brother loves a sister. You and I are family and I’ll always look out for you.”

I rushed to him and wrapped my arms around his neck to give him a fierce hug. He gently hugged me back and planted a light kiss on the top of my head before pushing me away.

He bowed his head and closed his eyes, the changing charm clutched in both hands. The blood from his new brand would be enough to invoke the spell inside the key. Were we doing the right thing? I wasn’t even sure it would work on an angel, or if the change would last. Scariest of all, I didn’t know if there were side effects to using this charm.

There was a slight rumble beneath our feet and the air inside the room heated as if a fire burned at its center. Rafe’s body glowed with angel light that suddenly turned red, as did his wings. I started to panic. The Fallen’s wings were black, not red. My anxiety swelled and just when I thought the change was over, his feathers turned raven-black like his Fallen brothers.

twenty-five

RAFE BLINKED HIS EYES OPEN. “DID IT WORK?”

I stepped up to him and my hands shook as I ran my fingers over his gleaming black feathers. “Yes.”

“It’s only temporary?”

I nodded, though I wasn’t a hundred percent sure. “As long as you have the charm, you can turn into anything you want.”

A wistful look crossed his face and I knew what he was thinking. He idolized my ex-angel grandfather. Though he could disguise himself as human whenever he wanted, Rafe could never actually be one. The charm would allow him to
become
the human he so desperately wanted to be.

We were running out of time. I needed to save all the contents of my knapsack, but the sack itself was too obvious not to get noticed. I grabbed my filthy T-shirt from the floor and tore it into strips. After lifting the hem of my dress above my hips, I used the rags to tie the feathers, scrying mirror and horn of breath to my upper thighs. I shoved the empty knapsack in a bureau drawer and slammed it shut.

Holding out my hand, I said, “Give me the changing charm and I’ll hide it for you.”

Rafe reluctantly dropped it in my palm, and when he did, his feathers turned white again.

I thrust the iron key toward him. “Quick. Take it back!”

Eyes puzzled, he grasped hold of it and his feathers returned to their glossy black hue. “Why? What happened?”

“The change won’t hold unless you keep the charm with you.”

“Where will I put it?”

I glanced at the white tunic he was wearing. “Can you tuck it under there somewhere?”

He nodded and lifted the fabric to slide the key down the front of his loincloth.

I suspected our allotted time had expired and expected the door to open at any second. Rafe took hold of the front of my dress and dragged me so close that my breasts pressed against his chest.

“Hey!” I slapped at his hand. “What are you—?”

He made a long, jagged tear down the center of the gown.

“There. Think that’s believable?” he asked.

I’d never been ravaged before so I really couldn’t say, but I didn’t have to. The door flung open and Soriel stood staring at us, his eyes taking in the view. He glanced from one to the other and nodded, though he didn’t appear happy with what he saw. I thought I knew why. He had done what he assumed we just finished doing and look where it got him.

When Soriel presented the unhappily wedded couple to Maria, her eyes brightened with sheer joy. She barely gave me a second glance, but her gaze raked Rafe from head to toe and a drop of drool glistened at the corner of her mouth.

“Magnificent.” The word escaped her lips on a breath. I couldn’t argue with her there. The stark contrast between his black feathers and porcelain-white skin made Rafe a stunning fallen angel.

“Come to me.” She leaned forward on her throne. “I’m thirsty.”

I tasted bile at the back of my throat. What had I done? Saved myself and Aydin, but what about Rafe?

My gaze jumped to my father, who was fully conscious now. Though his beating happened less than an hour ago, the bruises on his face had already yellowed in healing and the skin around his scabbed lip appeared pink and healthy. I heaved a sigh of relief, but his furious expression gave me a jolt. He stood behind the throne, still shackled, and glared daggers at Maria’s back. He wanted revenge for his indignity and for my capture. Pharzuph stood about fifteen feet from him with his attention on his daughter and nothing else.

Aydin watched in silence, his large gargoyle head held high, his powerful body tense. Though his expression was impossible to read through his feline features, his eyes were not, and I sensed what he must be thinking. He waited, knowing a time to act was minutes away. The shaman appointed as his keeper stood just out of Aydin’s reach. Heavy circles of iron manacled Aydin’s ankles, and though this kept his wings from taking him far, they could still extend. I wondered if the shaman had considered a gargoyle’s wingspan when he chose where to stand.

“Kneel,” Maria told Rafe, who stiffly complied. I couldn’t see his face at this angle, but I observed his rigid posture and the bunching of his shoulders. He knew Maria fed on the Fallen and that he was about to become today’s feast.

I refused to watch so I studied the audience—our wedding guests—to divert my attention. The squires stood beside their fallen angel husbands, their faces slack as if having already given up. Definitely not knight material for the Hatchets, but perfect for Pharzuph’s plan to have half-angel offspring he could control. Each squire was in a different stage of pregnancy, from the baby bump to ready-to-pop. One squire’s shoulders shook with quiet weeping and she brought her hands up to cover her face. The angel beside her grabbed her wrist and yanked her hands down. She stood stoically still after that, the tears drying on her face. I had to get her out of here. I had to save them all.

I looked away from them just in time to see Maria’s mouth latch onto Rafe’s bleeding wrist. Her face appeared serene, like a suckling baby, and she moaned with pleasure. Then her forehead creased with concern and her eyes stretched open in surprise. She dropped Rafe’s wrist as if his flesh burned her mouth.

She screamed. A long, wailing scream that reverberated against the walls of the cave and made my ears ring. Rafe stood and backed up a step. He appeared puzzled while watching Maria choke and gasp, his blood still wet on her lips.

When Pharzuph saw what had happened and lurched toward the throne, Barachiel splayed his fingers and the air inside the room went completely still. Maria’s Fallen entourage jumped to attention and made a move to rush at the throne, but abruptly froze in place. My father had stopped time outside the circle. Inside the circle was a whole different story.

Time continued unabated within our bubble of protection, giving Pharzuph the opportunity to attack my father again. But Barachiel was ready for him. His manacles slipped off his wrists and he clutched Pharzuph with the ferocity of an enraged beast. Both dark angels glared at each other with red eyes that glowed with hatred. Their bodies pulsed a vibrant green light.

The shaman searched through the pouch he wore, probably looking for a magical instrument of some kind to stop my father. The tip of a long bat wing smacked him on the back of the neck and he flew forward, his bald head cracking against the back of Maria’s throne. He collapsed and never got up again.

Maria clutched her throat, her eyes staring wide at me in a silent plea for help. I had no idea what was happening to her.

“It’s my blood,” Rafe said in a flat voice while staring at Maria. “She’s been nourished by the Fallen for centuries and now my Arelim blood is…” He swallowed and turned his attention on me, his brows tilted in sorrow. “I never meant for this to happen. She is Geraldine’s child…” His chin quivered and he caught Maria in his arms as she toppled from the throne.

Barachiel and Pharzuph were wrapped tightly together in a wrestling match for power. The strain on Barachiel’s face was mirrored on Pharzuph’s and both angels struggled to win. My father’s gaze flicked to me as he yelled, “Finish it!”

I felt confused, unsure what I was supposed to finish. I knelt in front of Maria, whose lips were turning blue, her face even more pale than before. Rafe’s blood had dried to a brown stain on her chin. The whites of her eyes had turned as red as her father’s and her tears made crimson streaks down her cheeks.

“Please,” Maria breathed, the word followed by a gasp. “Chalice, help me. Don’t let me die.”

I saw Xenia then, the frightened young girl on an uncertain path. She was the real Maria underneath the insane facade of a life her father had forced on her. She wasn’t meant to be the bitch queen Pharzuph had created.

I’d never had the chance to meet my mother, but Maria could still meet hers. She deserved to know the miraculous woman who’d given up her own life for the truth. The woman who started an order of knights dedicated to helping, not hurting. Maria should be one of us.

I heard an anguished cry and jerked a look at the two battling angels so magnificent in their primal struggle for dominance. Someone had to lose and Pharzuph’s determined expression made it clear it wouldn’t be him. “No!” he screamed as he watched his child go limp in Rafe’s arms.

Pharzuph tried to wrench away from Barachiel, who redoubled his efforts at clutching him in a bone-crushing embrace. My father caught my eye and his sadness was so profound I nearly collapsed myself. Red tears streamed down his face as he mouthed the words,
I love you.
And then both he and Pharzuph vanished from sight.

“Barachiel?” I shouted, and jumped to my feet. “Father! Where are you?”

I ran to where the two had been fighting and felt the air quiver where I stood. It had a viscous quality, and it sucked at me like it wanted to take me wherever it had taken my father. That’s what I wanted, too. I had to find him!

Rafe grabbed my arm and yanked me back to the throne. “My God, Chalice! What were you doing? Your body was fading and I could see straight through you.”

And then I knew. Barachiel had banished Pharzuph, but while wrapped in the same spell he had banished himself as well.

“He’s gone,” I said numbly, then saw Aydin, who stood with his arms held open to me in invitation. I ran to him and he folded himself around me like a wall of protection. He comforted me with his strength and his faith. I needed him so bad I could hardly stand it.

Barachiel’s hold on time was slipping. I watched over Aydin’s shoulder as the Fallen gradually found movement again. They stood silent and lost in the sudden absence of their leader.

Soriel was the first to approach the circle. His anxious eyes took in the damaged woman still draped over Rafe’s arms, her eyes open and staring. Her spirit was gone.

Face contorted with anguish, Soriel collapsed to his knees and his head drooped forward as his shoulders shook with grief.

The other angels appeared confused. They stared at Rafe, assuming he was now one of them. If they only knew, and I was glad they didn’t. The squires gazed dumbfounded at the aftermath of the scene they had missed. Though time moved on, paralysis remained. They were all waiting for the next shoe to drop.

“I know what to do.” I moved out of Aydin’s embrace. “I can bring her back.”

Rafe shook his head. “Not even the Arelim can bring her back. Even if we were on the other side of the veil, Maria had so much Fallen blood running through her veins that it’s beyond our ability to help her.”

“It’s not beyond mine.” I lifted my gown and slid the horn of breath out from under the rag tied around my thigh. I crouched beside the throne. “Lay her down, Rafe.”

“I’m not sure this is wise,” he told me.

“Maybe not, but I’m doing it anyway.” I positioned the tip of the horn between Maria’s blue lips. “I owe it to Geraldine. She deserves the chance to see her daughter again.”

I remembered how this had worked with Rusty so it didn’t surprise me to see her chest rise and her ashen skin begin to pink. The dark circles under her eyes faded to pale lavender instead of the deep purple that had been there before. Even her lips seemed to warm from the energy flowing inside her and now looked more rose than gray. Maria appeared more human than I’d ever seen her, even while she masqueraded as Xenia.

She coughed lightly at first, bloody foam dribbling from her mouth. She started to gag and I tipped her to her side so she could expel the blood she had swallowed. Rafe’s blood.

Her eyes blinked open and she asked, “What happened?”

I answered with a question of my own. “Do you know where you are?”

Fluttering her eyelids, she turned her head one way and then the other, her eyes swiveling in their sockets. They brimmed with tears, normal tears, not bloody ones. She shook her head. “Who are you?”

I frowned. “I’m Chalice, remember? We’re inside your father’s crystal cave on the other side of the black veil. This is your home.”

She rose to her elbows and Rafe reached out to brace her arms so she wouldn’t fall. One look at him and her face contorted with fear. “A demon!” she yelled.

Maria had seemingly forgotten everything. Did she even know who and what she was?

“Maria, this is Rafe. He’s an angel and wants to help you,” I said softly.

She shook her head. “His wings are black. He’s a demon. And why do you call me Maria?”

“Because that’s your name.”

Appearing confused, she said, “No, it’s not. My name is…”

I waited for her to go on and when she didn’t, I prompted, “What
is
your name?”

Maria rested her back against the cushions of the throne. “I don’t feel well.”

She was disoriented. We had to get her away from here.

The dark angels outside the circle appeared agitated now. Seeing their mistress alive had inspired them to talk amongst themselves and they didn’t look encouraged by what they saw.

I stooped down to rummage through the dead shaman’s pouch and found the key to Aydin’s manacles. “Rafe, say something to them,” I said as I unlatched the loops of iron that bound Aydin’s ankles to the floor.

“What should I tell them?” Rafe asked.

“Make something up to pacify them until we can get away.” I had three fallen angel feathers and I needed at least four to get us to the other side of the veil. I gave Rafe a cursory glance, then dismissed using one of his feathers, which were nothing but a disguise. My gaze swept the floor inside the circle and I spotted a plume on the ground where Barachiel and Pharzuph had fought. Good enough.