Faith (Soul Savers Book 7) (39 page)

Nails as long as
pencils and sharpened to vicious points grasped onto my limbs and dug
into my skin—one around my left wrist and the other on my right
ankle. Their thin wings whooshed against the air as they flew in
opposite directions, trying to rip me in two. I twisted around and
shot them both. The silver bullets penetrated their thick hides and
lodged into their flesh, eliciting ear-piercing screams. They dropped
back for a moment, but mere bullets wouldn’t kill them, and
they continued to fly at me. I shot at them again, slowing them, and
I swerved around other Demons as I soared toward the pit. The Demons
followed, but I didn’t care. As far as I was concerned, I was
leading them back home.

I sped straight for the
center, leaning forward to angle downward. As I headed for the flames
that had swallowed my son’s body, I thought,
They’re
in your hands now.
And as soon as those words crossed my mind, an
epiphany hit me. By going after Dorian and trying to stop Lucas, I
was leaving my people behind to fight the battle here. But I wasn’t
leaving them on their own. I felt this truth in my heart and in my
soul. I knew that what they were doing—fighting for the world,
for humanity, for
good
—was the right thing to do, and
somehow, no matter what happened, everything would turn out right.
The way it was supposed to.

The way God willed.

My faith may have only
been the size of a mustard seed, but that was all I needed. That was
what Sheree had been trying to remind me with her tiger mind. If that
tiny amount could move mountains, then my people’s faith would
surely win this war. And finally, my own belief was added to it. So I
did what I hadn’t done in way too long.

I prayed.

Dear God, Angels,
whoever’s listening, I’m so sorry for losing my faith in
you. I’m so sorry for being arrogant and proud and dismissing
your work around me. Please forgive me. I know only because of you,
are we even alive. But my people need you. Please help them. They
cannot fight this battle alone, but with you, they will find victory.
I leave them in your hands. I trust in you to protect them. To
protect my son, too. And if it is your will, I trust in you to
protect me as I once again go to Hell and do as you have asked of
me—stop Lucas and Satan.

With that, I tucked my
wings behind me to make me more aerodynamic as I shot downward toward
the flames. As they grew closer, though, a clawed hand grabbed at my
ankle, stopping my plunge. The Demon whipped me to the side, tossing
me into the air. I twisted around and shot at its horned head while
kicking my leg free. I stared it in its black eyes as I repeated my
prayer aloud. It covered its pointy, bat-like ears and let out a
high-pitched screech as it soared away.

I fell backwards
through the air, face up as lightning streaked across the formidably
dark clouds hanging low in the sky. But something else caught my
attention … made me gasp. Before I turned to dive into the pit
of flames, I gave my wings a steadying flap to hold me for just a
moment longer as I stared in awe at the glorious sight all around me.
I finally saw what everyone else had known because their hearts and
souls had been open to what I could not see with my eyes.

Angels.

Angels everywhere. With
huge, white, feathery wings and long, flashing blades, Angels fought
in the battle side by side with my people. Thousands, no,
millions
of them. Some slayed Demons while others fought with the Amadis and
Normans against the Daemoni. The odds had flipped over to our favor,
at least two to one.

Seeing with my eyes
what I had felt moments before—that my people and the Normans
were protected and would win this battle—I flipped over, closed
my wings tightly against my back and sailed downward, into the fire.
Like forked tongues, the flames leapt and licked at me, but as I came
close enough to touch them, they suddenly separated, opening into a
hole that became a wide tunnel through the fire. Ahead, Lucas’s
and Dorian’s bodies continued falling. I flew for my son.

A
thirst for blood like I hadn’t felt in years tore through me.
Alexis and I both shot Lucas, and our feathers sank into his chest
with several satisfying thuds. But it was too little, too late. Our
son’s body sagged, and then it dropped from Lucas’s grip,
straight for the fire below them. Down, I presumed, to Satan, who
waited for Dorian’s blood to open the Gates and free him from
Hell.

The look that had been
on Dorian’s face at that devastating moment would haunt me
until my final day. Steadfast, determined, knowing. And, I believed,
expectant. Expectant that his mother and I would stop the madness
Lucas intended. But we were failing our son.
I
was failing
him. We’d never get to him in time.

As we soared for Dorian
and Lucas falling into the fiery pit, Alexis gave the order, and the
battle began. Our people sprang into action, and so did the Daemoni.
Were-animals roared ferociously. Vampires hissed and growled. Claws
and fangs found their marks, spells streaked through the air, and
metal clanged against metal.

And the Angels fought,
too.

Many brawled with the
Demons, while others dropped down to help the Amadis and the Normans
against the Daemoni. With the Angels fighting alongside us, we’d
win this battle and this war … as long as we could stop Lucas.
And save our son while we were at it.

The Daemoni didn’t
make it easy, though. They attacked both of us as we flew for the
center of the fire-filled sinkhole. Powerful magic blasted into
Owen’s shield around me, disintegrating it on impact, which was
just as well. My powers were stronger when not shielded. With a wave
of my hand, I paralyzed the three vampires that attacked me, while
pulling shuriken out of sheathes in the straps across my chest. I
threw the stars at the bloodsuckers and were-beasts targeting Alexis,
and their razor edges sliced across their throats and lodged into
their chests. They dropped away, leaving only two for her to fight
off so she could push ahead. With a twist of my wrist, I killed the
three paralyzed vamps, as well as the other Daemoni that came in my
way. I’d forbidden myself from using that power since my
conversion, but this was war. There was no time for combat, no time
to contemplate the condition of their souls.

Alexis reached the
center of the pit before I even crossed its outer edge, and without
hesitation, she dove down through the flames. I froze for a moment as
I watched my wife disappear, headed back to Hell.

I shouted profanities
as I threw my power at the bodies rushing toward me.

But they didn’t
fall away. In an instant, dozens of Demons, immune to my powers, had
appeared, hovering over the pit, blocking my way. Their oily bodies
and black eyes reflected the orange and yellow of the flames. I
flicked more shuriken, decapitating several, and when I exhausted my
supply, I reached behind me and released the swords on my back. And I
charged, swinging and arcing, dropping heads two at a time. For every
Demon I slayed, however, another appeared.

I growled with
frustration. Why had Alexis been able to pass through, but they
seemed intent on preventing me from doing the same? Had they not been
fast enough to stop her? Had it been a mistake? Or did they purposely
allow her but not me? Why— The realization struck me at the
same time a Demon’s claw did.

“
NO!
”
I roared as I swung a silver blade through the new attacker’s
neck.

With renewed rage, I
arced the swords furiously, side to side and back and forth, cutting
my way through the pack of Demons. I
had
to reach the opening.
I had to stop Alexis, or the hope for not only our son, but the
entire world would be lost.

Blow after blow of the
Demons’ claws and weapons pounded into my body, but I pushed
on. Several Angels flew down and helped me, decommissioning the evil
beasts to clear a path to the opening. Through the murderous red haze
clouding my vision, I was surprised to see Rina and Sophia swinging
swords and decimating Demons.

“You must follow
her,” Rina said as she spun and slid her sword across a Demon’s
horn, lobbing it off. It screeched in agony. Her sword swiped again,
and the creature’s entire head fell. “She needs you.”

Sophia decapitated
another on the opposite side of me. “She must stop Lucas, but
she needs your help.”

“Be what she
needs, Tristan,” Rina added, “and she will do what needs
to be done.”

I threw an angry look
at her. “Like Dorian needed to do?”

“She will be
okay. Her faith is restored.”

“And Dorian?”
I snapped.

“Save him,”
Sophia commanded. I glanced over at her. “Bring back my
daughter and grandson. They don’t belong there.”

We each sliced through
more Demons, progressing toward the center of the pit.

“Of course,”
I snarled. “But you and the Angels need to do me a favor when
this is over.”

Sophia stabbed a Demon
in the chest and swung it away, flinging it off her blade. “What?”

A black hole among the
flames suddenly appeared. Angels fought off more Demons that swarmed
toward me, trying to stop me before I flung myself through.

“Keep my family
out of fucking Hell!” I yelled before I tucked my wings behind
me and nosedived into the opening.

The aperture became a
tunnel, barely large enough for my wings to spread and push me down.
The fiery walls blurred all around me, streaks of orange, yellow, and
white. I saw no signs of my wife, my son, or Lucas ahead, and I
rumbled with anger.

“
Alexis!
”
I called out with my mind, hoping hers would hear me. When no
response came, I shouted out loud. “Dorian! Alexis!”

The flaming tunnel
disappeared, and I soared into darkness that swallowed my yells and
everything else.

I dropped into the
thick blackness of a complete void.

I
rocketed downward faster than the normal rate of falling, the flames
around me blurring into orange and yellow streaks, but I couldn’t
close the gap between Dorian and me. Of course, we were in some realm
of Hell, where no normal laws of physics applied and distance was an
illusion—a real life version of the universal nightmare of
running for a door that remained forever out of reach. I flicked my
hands in front of me to summon Dorian’s body, but he continued
falling away.

The flaming tunnel gave
way to a thorough blackness, much like my Hell I’d sat in for
so long. I lost sight of Dorian and Lucas and everything else,
including all sense of place. But the cool air continued to rush
against my skin, so I knew I still sped downward. At the precise
moment I realized I could slam into a wall at any time and thought
about stopping, a pinprick of light shone, growing bigger by the
nanosecond. I was racing toward the lake of fire. Two flecks below
grew into Dorian and Lucas, still headed that way, too. I pushed
myself harder, giving my wings a few hard beats. Dorian suddenly came
within arm’s reach.

I opened my hand to
grab his leg, but pain blasted into my arm and shoved me to the side.
Lucas’s fist came around again, aiming for my head. I blocked
his punch and flipped over, landing two kicks into his ribs. Taking
advantage as he tumbled in the air, I shoved my hands at him, my
power pushed him away, and then I dove again for Dorian. I’d
barely flown a few yards when my whole body was yanked back and then
hurled around, into a hard wall or pillar. Screaming pain tore
through my back and torso.

“Fighting is
pointless,” Lucas sneered, somehow able to hold himself upright
without falling. “You can’t win down here.”

He twisted and hurled
himself down toward Dorian. I followed, able to move faster than him
now, while reaching behind my shoulder to retrieve the sword strapped
to my back. When I passed him, I swung my arm out. The silver blade
sliced across his torso. He let out a beastly howl. With a quick
stab, I plunged several inches of the sword between his ribs, and
then with a kick of my foot, flung him off. He soared into the
distance to where I could see him no more, and he didn’t
return.