Evil (34 page)

Oh. God. That was embarrassing.

“Yes.” My father leaned closer and sniffed the air. “I can smell your love, too, but it’s going to be the same. I will strip you of your honor, your pride. You will fall at my feet, and you will be like all the others. You will beg for your life, and it won’t matter. I will take my daughter’s life first. Make you watch that. I want you to hold that memory in your mind, and then I’ll send you back to your father’s kingdom. You will fall back to hell, and he’ll never let you return to the ground. That will be your ending.”

Kellan’s growl was deepening, becoming more primal. He was going to act soon, and I didn’t know what he would do. I worried, for the first time scared for Kellan’s life. Sweat dripped down my back, mixing with the cold shivers wracking down my spine, too. My palms grew warm, and I began trembling. The fear was creeping in. I couldn’t hold it at bay any longer.

This was the end. I felt it coming.

“Father.” Damien jerked forward. His eyes were wild, skirting between Kellan and Sachiel. “You said I could return to my family after this.”

“Yes, yes.” Sachiel’s eyes were gleaming as he continued to stare at Kellan, hard. “I will uphold that promise once I’ve taken both of their power.” He swung to Aumae, who froze with her hands in the air. “And I see you brought me an extra treat. Aumae, it’s been so long.”

She had dressed in a black sweater with a hood pulled over. It was knocked off and her hair was blowing in the wind. Her arms froze, blood dripping from her fingertips, and her eyes were wild and dilated like Damien’s. I traced the blood. I couldn’t see where it came from since her sweatshirt was black, but she was wearing a white dress underneath and the ends were red. She stepped forward, and I saw her feet were barefoot. They were bloodied as well, mixing with dirt.

What was she doing?

As I thought that, she spoke in my mind,
“You and Kellan hold on to each other. Hold on to Damien as well.”

“What are you doing?”

“Pay me no mind, child. I have loved you like a daughter. I’ll not let this asshole take you away, not until your time is done.”
She raised her arms.
“And it’s not done, not by a long shot.”

“Aumae?” Sachiel drew closer to her, his head tilting the other way. “What are you doing?”

“You.” She sneered. Her eyes turned black. “You used my sister for another child. You picked her on purpose, knowing she was half-messenger, and then you assaulted her body when you tried to rip your daughter from her womb.”

“He did what?”

Damien moved closer to me, his hip bumping into mine. “Get ready, you guys.”

No. I shook my head. Damien didn’t know something else was going on. The plan wouldn’t work. I reached back and found Kellan’s hand. I felt his tension. He knew my aunt was going her own way. He tucked me behind him.

I murmured to him, “We all have to be touching.”

Kellan nodded, still tucking me behind him.

Damien frowned, hearing me. “What? What are you talking about?”

Sachiel was drawing closer to Aumae. He was curious, but that would shift. Whatever Aumae had planned, it wasn’t good. He would kill her, if he were smart. He’d strike first before she could finish whatever she was doing.

“Kellan.” I thought,
“We have to do something. We have to stall him.”

“I know.”
Then he spoke up, “You can’t beat us all.”

It worked.

Sachiel turned to us, his back now to my aunt. “Is the begging already starting, demon?”

Kellan growled, actually showing his teeth. His anger was boiling up, but he was keeping it contained. “Without Shay, I’m a full demon.”

“My daughter is three-fourths messenger. My son is half-messenger. Aumae is half herself, and you, yes, I suppose you are almost a full demon. There’s a small sliver of humanity in you. I can see it. It’s like a pumping heart. It’s doomed to turn black within the hour, but even then, you are no match for me.”

“Guys,” Damien said under his breath. “What is going on?”

“I thought you were supposed to drain us of our powers. That was your plan, wasn’t it?” Kellan wasn’t backing down. He moved even closer to my father. I went with him, but clamped onto Damien and jerked him with us.

“What are you doing?” he barked at me.

Kellan ignored us, saying, “But you couldn’t take on my father.”

Sachiel was silent, not moving for a full ten seconds as he stared down Kellan. “You wouldn’t.”

“I would.”

“What are they talking about?” Damien whispered to me.

Kellan answered for me, “Calling my father.”

“What?” he whispered again to me. “That wasn’t the plan. Why are you guys changing the plan?”

“The plan?” My father didn’t sound surprised. “So you were going to betray me, my son. You were going to see your mother, your siblings, even that human father of yours. They’re still looking for you, you know.”

Damien froze behind me, growing more still with each word my father said. All the blood drained from his face.

“And now you’ll never see them. Now, you won’t even go to the above with me. I’ll cast you out.” Sachiel shared with Kellan the same ominous look. “You’ll both be in hell for the rest of your eternity.”

“Not unless I call my father forward.”

Kellan sounded so sure. Even I paused at that, frowning at him. Was he—no… Would he?

Sachiel shared my thoughts. “You’re lying.” But there was doubt in his statement. “You wouldn’t. You’d need—”

And as he said that, Kellan reached around me and jerked Damien forward. He wrapped an arm around his neck, the other holding a knife to his throat. Damien went completely still, his chest barely moving, and Kellan pressed the knife harder to his skin. He lowered his head, holding my father’s gaze steadily. “I would. I need a sacrifice mixed with my demon blood. That’s all I need, and he’d be here. I have no problem taking the life of the guy who betrayed Shay.” His arm tightened over Damien.

Thunder erupted, and lightning smashed down behind us. It wasn’t close, but close enough where I felt the electricity go through my body, jolting me.

“Kellan.” Damien’s Adam’s apple bounced up and down. “What are you doing?”

“Shut up.”

I moved to their side, grabbing on to Damien. Aumae said we needed to maintain contact, all three of us.

“You’re a part of this, Shay?” Damien asked me.

I ignored him, staring at my father. “Kellan will do it, and you know it.”

“I don’t believe you. His father is as much a fan of his as I am of you. I have no problem killing my own child, not if it betters me. His father is more ruthless than I am.”

“You can’t take all of us on, and I’m sure once his father arrives, he’ll go straight for you. We’ll get away. You won’t. The odds are not in your favor.” Something new had risen up in the air. I felt it now. It was low, but building in power. It was like an invisible river. It was first a small trickle, wetting our feet, but it grew and grew. I felt it growing and its current was a strong pull. It was sweeping around us, threatening to pull us away with it, whatever it was. I glanced over my father’s shoulder and saw Aumae there. Her arms were in the air. Her eyes were black. The wind was picking up just around her. It was circling her, whipping and snarling. I was shocked my father hadn’t heard it yet. Whatever she was doing, it was new power, power that wasn’t there because of him. He should’ve noticed, but he was still locked on Kellan. He believed his threat and he was focused on what would happen if Kellan’s father did arrive.

He was saying something to Kellan.

Kellan replied, a savage retort.

I tuned them out. I could only focus on Aumae now. The wind stopped. The current was all around us, zapping against my face, my hair, my back. It was completely enveloping us.

“My child
,” Aumae thought to me, walking toward us. Her hands lowered, and she dripped blood onto the dirt.

“What are you doing, Aumae?”

“I am saving you.”

“How?”

“This is why I sought you out. Kellan thinks he sent for me, but it was the other way. I sent a suggestion in the wind for him to seek an ally. I knew he would come to me. This is why I remained on Earth after your mother left. You are that reason. This moment is that reason.”

“What—”
I started shaking my head. No. No. Sadness, grief, pain. All three rolled into one, and I felt them low in my gut. I was going to live. I felt that joy, too, but the mourning was already there. I felt her intentions before I fully knew.
“Aumae, please don’t. We’ll find another way.”

“There is no other way. This is the way. This was the reason for me being here. There was never another way.”
She lowered her head a fraction, so her eyes could look right into my core.
“The other plan was never going to work. Your father is too powerful. Now, my child, I will tell them above about you. You will be protected, and your father will be persecuted. Do not worry. I will watch over you from the other veil. I will be there, along with your mother.”
Then, she called out, her voice strong and clear, “Sachiel!”

He whipped around. “Wha—”

She held her hands in the air with a knife poised at her throat.

The throat—it was always the throat. I winced, feeling the blade against my own throat, even though it wasn’t. It was only against my aunt’s.

My father put two and two together. “No!” He looked around, feeling the new power finally. “No, no, no.” He kept whipping around. “You couldn’t have done this.”

“It is done.” And with those words, my aunt sliced her own throat.

Blood gushed from her, and my father began clawing at his own throat. As her blood rained out, so did his. His was darker, almost black, and his entire body was soon drenched. He fell to his knees as her body went to the ground. Her eyes had rolled inside, but I felt her touch on my shoulder. It was a gentle touch, a goodbye and a reassurance. She whispered into my ear, “Goodbye, my sister’s child. Until you may join us in another life.”

Then, she was gone, but the rest of the spell was only starting.

My father’s blood was draining out of him at a racing speed, but he was fighting it. Whatever she’d done, he began to chant, summoning his power to break it. Wind began whipping around us again. The thunder and lightning started crashing, filling up the darkness. This was why she warned for us three to remain connected.

An arm slid around my waist. It was Kellan’s, and he pulled me into his chest. He yelled into my ears, sounding like he was far in the distance, “We have to become anchored.”

I yelled back, lifting my mouth to graze over his ear, “How do we do that?”

“You guys!” Damien was yelling to us, too.

I clamped my hand tighter on his arm. Kellan grabbed his other arm. He pulled us even closer and yelled at Damien, “Use your power. Secure a hold in the ground.”

“What?”

“Just do it!” Kellan yelled back and crashed his forehead to mine. As he did, we were linked in mind, body, and soul. Together, we sent our magic down into the earth, going further and further. We were roots, growing out like a tree, claiming our stand where we were. It was working. We weren’t going anywhere. And the farther our roots spread, along with Damien whose root was right beside us, the stronger we were becoming.

I could hear my father raging. He was fighting the spell. He reached out, grabbing me, but Kellan shoved him back. As he did, the power grabbed my father’s body and swept him away, far away. The farther he went, the wind began to fade.

Suddenly, it was done. We were there. We were alive, and my father was not. His body was a hundred yards away, but no. As we pulled back, withdrawing our roots until they were back in our own bodies, we separated and went to stand over Sachiel’s body.

He opened his bloodied eyes and coughed.

“He’s still alive.”

“Not for long,”
Kellan thought, bending by my father’s head.

Sachiel met my gaze. “Your aunt bound her life to mine.” He coughed again, blood spilling over his lips. “Bitch.”

Damien fell behind us, becoming silent.

I had no words. There was nothing to say. Unprecedented grief sat on my chest. Aumae sacrificed herself for me. I’d never been loved like that, but my eyes fell on Kellan. That wasn’t true. I had been loved like that, since I was six years old when Kellan saved me from his father, saying,
“Dad, let her go.”

Kellan took out the same knife he’d held to Damien’s throat and laid it against my father’s. I held my father’s gaze for just a moment. There was no sadness or regret there. I thought there might be. There was just anger, and without a word, Kellan moved his hand—and I turned. I didn’t have to see my father die to know I was freed.

Finally.