Enchanting Wilder (43 page)

I bottle that memory up inside me and push it with all my might into the circle, and as I do that, Kai, Wood and Candy do the same, a ball of red light emanating in front of us.

“Holy crap,” Wood says.

“Don’t let go!” Kai demands. “It’s working! We just have to keep going. Send her every good emotion you have. Make her feel what you feel.”

The words she said to me in her letter echo through my mind, her love for me and the freight train that I am. How she knew I’d leave her for my angel duties. But what she didn’t know is no matter the duty, Godly or Pursuer, I never intended on leaving. She’s a part of me. Nothing would ever change that. Even if that meant going to Beneath with her. Our lives are entwined. I want forever with her, no matter the circumstances.

My love, like a freight train she thinks I am, it barrels into the circle, shoving into the red wisps of light.

“I see her! She’s just outside the entrance of Beneath. They have it spelled, that’s why we can’t see.” Kai breaks his connection with me and I do the same to Wood. “Let’s go,” Kai says, his eyes back to their normal color, walking with purpose to the top of the hill.

“How are we supposed to penetrate the spell?” Candy asks, the wind picking up.

“Feel that?” he asks, pointing around us. “They’re trying to block us out, but we’re all her family. We all have a connection to her. They can’t stop us.”

The invisible force field around the cross is strong, I can’t walk through it but I can see it. I pound on the outside, feeling like an animal in a cage.

“Let us in, you assholes!” I shout, feeling valiant. If they’re angels, too, I can do something about it. Witch angels, apparently, but I can level with them.

Sally, McKenna and Candy’s Spirit Guide, materializes in front of us. “You must stop,” she says with melancholy. “A verdict has been reached. The Leaders know of McKenna and her past, and they are to take her to Lazarus.”

The Leaders’ prison? Like hell that’ll happen.

“No.” I shake my head. “Help us get in there. I can talk to them.”

Sally crosses her arms. “I’m sorry, friend, but I cannot. What’s done is done. They see her as a threat. She’s the child of the most powerful demon in the world.”

“But, you don’t see her like that,” I say. “You have to help me. You have to make them see.”

She looks down at the ground.

“Please, Sally. I’m begging you.”

“Are they willing to hear her out?” Wood asks, stepping closer to me.

“I’m afraid not,” Sally says. “They sometimes can’t see beyond their ridiculous prejudice.”

Candy sniffles, and I wrap my arm around her. “Listen, Sally. I’m going to find a way to her. I know where Lazarus is and how to get in. God knows of McKenna’s presence. He won’t allow this to happen.”

Sally’s eyes drift back to me. “Heaven is a democracy, Declan. God doesn’t have complete say anymore. He birthed too many angels for that.”

“I don’t believe that. He is King.”

“He might be King, but his servants are conniving. There isn’t anything I can do.”

I let go of Candy to stand in front of Sally. “Quit acting like you’re a helpless child. I know of your strength and I know of your sway. You returned my memories, remember?”

She nods, tears dripping from her eyes.

“Help us get her back. If they kill McKenna, it’ll be an all out war in her name. That’ll be more bloodshed than any mortal war this world has ever seen.”

Sally wavers, my words swaying her. She plays with the hem of her shirt, not saying anything.

“Well?” I test.

She blinks at me, her mouth turned down. “O…okay.”

“Yes?” I double check, feeling a little more confident.

“Yes.” Sally smiles and raises her hands high into the air. “Patefasio!”

Instantaneously, the concealed barrier dissolves and The Leaders, dressed in all white robes, turn to us. Fifteen or so of them surround McKenna, closing in on her.

I’m the first to reach the circle. “Leaders, I ask you to let McKenna go and release her to me.” I sound authoritative, but I’m pretty much talking out of my ass. I have no say in what they do but I can sure as hell try.

One of The Leaders, a woman with jet black hair and coal black eyes, turns to me. “Under what grounds?”

“I am Aget, and by the order of God, I say you hand her over to me.”

The group of Leaders laugh. “Aget? The Good angel?” one of them scoffs. “Oh the great and powerful Aget. You’ve been gone for years now. You have no rule over us.”

I straighten up my back, attempting to look as big as possible. “That may be true, but did God approve this little field trip of yours? You know of McKenna’s origin. You take her or kill her, there will be a war on your hands.”

A man with drooping skin and sagging eyelids steps forward and, for the first time since we got here, I get a glimpse of McKenna. She sighs at the sight of me, but then instantly goes back to a look of panic as the group closes in on her again, filling the gap of the old man.

With both hands under the arms of his robe, the man walks to me, his long black boots coming far too close to mine. “A war, you say? Why do you know these things? Are you a traitor?”

One of my eyes twitches and I stand my ground. “In your eyes, I’m sure I am. But McKenna, she may be half-demon, but she is good. You know of the work she’s done as a Strix to help the world. You’re just going to vanquish her because of the blood that runs through her veins? You’re supposed to be forgiving creatures. The Leaders have been governing for as long as humans have walked this Earth. Are you to kill so easily without hearing what McKenna has to say?”

The old man thinks for a long minute, his eyes boring holes into my face. “You present a good point, Aget. She has done well for our coven, and though she has demon blood running through her veins, a tiger can change its stripes.”

I breathe a sigh of relief and I hear Kai, Wood and Candy do the same.

The ground beneath us begins to open, rattling our bodies. As the entrance to Beneath opens, Maker steps out in her long, red flowing dress, a black staff in hand.

The Leaders all stare at Maker with unbelieving eyes, but they don’t budge from McKenna.

“Ah, ah, ah,” Maker chastises, wagging her finger. “You are to let my daughter go now.”

The woman with the jet black hair steps up. “And why would we do that, demon?” she spits, disdain clear in her tone. “You are nothing but a tick, stuck to the underside of this world. Go back to where you came from.”

Maker laughs. “Say what you want, but you know I could take you out with the snap of my fingers. Allow her freedom and I will take pity on your little motorcycle group of idiots.”

The Leaders gasp and Sally gives me a hard stare, pushing me to jump in.

“Everyone listen up,” I say, commanding their attention. Before my fall to Earth, I was able to command thousands of soldiers. Gathering a group of holier than thou witch-slash-angels and one bigheaded demon-slash-witch shouldn’t be too hard. “Let McKenna speak. She is the reason we’re here and unless anyone can read her mind, you need to let her explain herself.”

The Leaders step to the side, and McKenna pushes her hair out of her face, taking a good look at me. A broad smile on her face, she bites her lip and then looks down at the ground.

Unable to stop myself, I walk through the group of white-coated douchebags and take her hand, bringing it to my lips.

Her eyes shine with unshed tears as she looks back up to me and I smile. “It’s your time, Mighty. What are you going to do with it?”

With Declan’s hand in mine, and a heart full of love from my family, I gulp and look to the scary, white-robed Leaders. “Yes, I was born with demon blood, and yes, I’m also half-angel, but what you don’t know is my heart. For centuries, I was forced to stay in Limbo where my mother kept me and my brother,” I say, looking to Kai and then scowling at Maker. “We were forced to live out our days in solitude, hoping for someone to let us out of our cage. When forced with that sort of torture, do you know what happens to the soul?”

Everyone stays quiet, so I continue, “It looks for hope. It yearns for something better than what it’s been given. And when a demon has faith, it holds onto its humanity.”

“A demon with humanity?” the older Leader heckles. “That’s unheard of.”

I shrug a shoulder. “Unheard of, yes. Unlikely? No. Myself and my brother are prime examples of it. When Kai was brought out of Limbo, he regained his humanity and found a way to help keep me from harm’s way. Even though he didn’t know I was his sister, or that we were connected in any way, he sought me out and kept me safe.”

“And because the Sawyers took McKenna in and showed her another way of life,” Sally adds, “her humanity latched itself onto her demon side, blanketing it with mercy and compassion.”

“I can still do all the things a demon can do. I can use Manifestation. What Kai and me have is something that can change our entire world. We have the ability to take control over Beneath for the better. It’s going to take time, and I’m going to need help.”

“Uh, hello?” Maker snaps her fingers, looking a little like a valley girl. “I might be dying, but I won’t let you do that to what I’ve created. There’s a balance in this world.”

I tilt my head. “You cannot live forever, Maker. Yes, there’s a balance that needs to be maintained, but I’m going to tip those scales the moment I have the opportunity.”

Maker’s eyes go wide because she knows I’ll do as I say. She didn’t think I’d latch onto my humanity when I found out the truth. Just like the demon, Mrs. Carlson thought. But I’m holding on for dear life, the lure of the darkness only adding to my empathy.
I refuse to be her.

Maker stomps her feet and begins to retreat back into her hole when The Leaders, as a group, stop her, wrapping her in a spell to keep her in place.

“You are never to return topside, do you understand?” the old man Leader threatens. “We only allowed today because we know of your identity now, but you’re nothing but a disgusting cancerous stain on the world. Until your last breath, you’re to stay away from humans.”

Maker narrows her eyes, and, in a flash, the bottom of her staff pounds the ground, the power of her spell knocking us all over. Some Leaders tripping over themselves by her force.

She glares at us, her sharp teeth sneering its hateful glare.

One by one, demons ascend from Beneath, making their way toward us. Ready and willing to fight to the death.

One demon, a girl, younger than me, with dark red eyes, latches onto the Leader with black hair and clasps onto her neck. Blood pours from the Leaders throat and she drops to the ground, her stark white robe now tainted with crimson.

Like a flash on a camera, things become intense very fast.

Declan grabs me, pulling me to the side, twisting his knife in his hand.

Wood grabs onto Candy, cocking his gun, pointing it at anything that comes close to them.

Kai buckles down, producing his ancient knife, standing strong against anyone who might come at him.

Demon after demon come out from Beneath, outnumbering us. I begin to panic, sweat seeping through my shirt.

Declan stabs one in the heart, dropping the body to the ground. Pushing all of my magic out of my hands and into a demon behind us, I stun it, knocking it on its ass long enough for Declan to use his knife, piercing through its chest.