God of Destruction (34 page)

“The arrogance of you mortals knows no
bounds,” Mainyu chuckled. “I have already proven to you that your
earthly weapons cannot injure me.”

Kierlan ignored him, squeezing the trigger in
retaliation.

Just as he expected, Claire fell to the floor
as the back of Mainyu’s head exploded in a bloody mess. The god
collapsed forward, the remnants of his head stitching together
while he lay, corpse-like, in the dirt.

Ziba rubbed her shoulder as agony exploded
through her upper body. She scrambled to her feet, getting some
help from Kierlan when he ran, panicked, across the room. “What are
you doing?” she demanded hoarsely. “You know it just makes him
angry!”

Kierlan pulled her face abruptly to his,
crushing her lips to his in a bruising kiss. It only lasted a
second, but the heat that traveled up into her face burned
eternally. His fingers twisted into her long locks while her hands
caressed the back of his shaved head. She was familiar with the
elation coursing through her veins.

She’d felt it before.

By the time he, reluctantly, pulled away,
Ziba was pleasantly surprised to realize that she hadn’t needed to
visualize Bomani. Claire could only lay in wait in the back of
their mind, enjoying exactly what she’d wanted for so long.

“Wh—?” she gasped, breathing heavily as she
recovered from the searing kiss.

Kierlan shook his head. “Get rid of him. You
said she could do it, so tell her how!”

Ziba nodded dumbly leaning forward in an
attempt to kiss him again. Before her lips could meet his, he
backed away, pointing his gun at Mainyu’s head so he could shoot
him repeatedly each time he tried to regenerate.

Shaking her head to clear it, Ziba strode
back to Alex while the brunette tried to decipher the words before
her. Ziba cleared her throat, snatching the paper away.

Hearing Claire approach her, Alex mumbled, “I
can’t read this!”

Ziba looked between Alex and the page, trying
to find some hint of her lost sister in the human before her.
“You’re the only one who can use this page, Alex. Shireen’s powers
are still inside you, and if you can read the spell three times,
he’ll be sent back to limbo.”

Alex spat through clenched teeth, “Which is
useless
information if I can’t read the goddamn thing!”

Ziba glanced down at the paper, easily
reading the words in her native language. “Just repeat what I say
three times. Everything will go back to normal.”

Alex’s eyes flashed to the dome surrounding
her boyfriend. “What about James? Will that thing let him go?” she
pleaded.

A click behind them echoed through the room.
The silence following it seemed louder than the roar of the bullets
that had greeted their ears moments ago because they all knew what
it meant.

The girl’s spun to face Kierlan, whose
terrified gaze was turned exclusively to the worthless gun in his
hand. Watching Mainyu’s skull knit together, he dropped the gun,
backing away from the body on the floor.

Out of bullets.

“Claire?” he whimpered, wondering how the god
was going to kill him when he finally stood up. “Anytime now.”

“Yes!” Ziba gasped. “Everything will be back
to normal! Quick, before he gets up!”

“Say it, say it!” Alex said, her back finally
pressing the jagged edges of the wall.

Ziba watched Mainyu pull himself slowly to
his knees, his arm reaching out to support himself on Kierlan’s
shoulder. The mortal man instinctually backed away. “Elle ot bill
ogg nah ooh tna wah ee.”

In a questioning tone, she repeated the
words.

Mainyu’s head snapped up, recognizing the
words. “No!” he growled, immediately forgetting Kierlan and
striding toward the girls.

Kierlan followed his path with his eyes,
realizing immediately where Mainyu was heading. “Say it again!” he
ordered, running to catch up with the god. He grabbed Mainyu’s
shoulder, trying to spin him off his path, but he barely budged.
“Stop! Leave them alone!” He continued to uselessly pull at
Mainyu’s shoulder, but his efforts were in vain. “Son of a
bitch!”

Abruptly, Mainyu stopped and Kierlan knew
immediately that he was in trouble. Mainyu placed his hand on
Kierlan’s shoulder, forcing him erect while he pulled his other arm
back. Ziba and Alex watched in horror as Mainyu’s free hand shot
out like a spear, stabbing Kierlan cleanly through the stomach.
Kierlan, doubled over and breathing harshly, made no sound but a
strangled cough as he fell onto his back, tearing Mainyu’s arm from
his flesh.

Ziba felt like she was watching history
repeat itself. Horrorstruck, she stared down at Kierlan on the
floor.

“Kierlan!” she cried, wishing she could run
to help him. Unfortunately, her cry made Mainyu turn quickly on his
heel to face them. Narrowing her eyes, she whispered, “Say it
again.”

As Mainyu swiftly approached them, Ziba swept
across the floor toward him, propelling herself at his body. Behind
her, Alex spoke the line again, watching Claire. She couldn’t
pinpoint the cause but, whoever the blonde in front of her was, it
was not her best friend.

Ziba curled her legs around Mainyu’s face,
frantically flailing her fists into his face.

“How could you? You are a
monster
! You
have killed everyone I love! Now, you will die!” she screeched,
clawing at his eyes as he shook his head pathetically away from her
nails. “Alex, one more time!”

Confidently, Alex said it a final time.

“Now banish him!” Ziba shrieked.

Alex stared incredulously at the blonde. “How
do I do
that
?”

“Just say, ‘Angra Mainyu, I banish you!’” she
ordered.

No sooner had Alex obliged that Mainyu cried
out, outstretching his arms. A light began in the center of his
chest, growing larger and brighter while he screeched louder. Ziba
closed her eyes, a pleasant smile on her face while she enjoyed the
radiant warmth shining off him.

Alex covered her eyes, backing up as the
light mixed with an unnatural wind that blew her hair back. Beside
her, the shell covering James began to chip away and his flesh
showed through the darkness.

Mainyu’s yelling abruptly ended with a final
explosion that sent Alex flying into the wall, again, and crashing
to the floor. However, it wasn’t that that forced her into her
second fainting spell in two days. When she peeled her face from
the floor, looking up to find Claire in Mainyu’s place, she found
an empty space.

Both Claire Strong and the god of destruction
had vanished.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Paris, France; July 1
^st
, 2012

Alex was pulled from a deep sleep by the
nagging feeling that she was forgetting something very important.
She picked up on the sound of deep, even breathing before anything
else, but the incessant beep of her heart monitor was quick to
follow. She opened her eyes, wincing when she was blinded by the
burning light above her. With a groan, she turned over, instantly
freezing when she felt something protest.

“You’re awake,” the unmistakable voice of an
angel sighed, yawning through the deep sleep in his throat
voice.

She forced her eyes open, searching for him
through the sleep crusted in them. Finally, his honey-blonde hair
shone out of the corner of her eye. Grunting and adjusting herself,
she glared distastefully at the IV in her arm before her gaze
settled on James, her face turned up in a smile. Despite how glad
she was to see him, she couldn’t help but grimace, wondering how
she’d ended up in that unfamiliar room, aching in places she’d
never felt before. What did she need to remember…?

It all came back in a flood.

“Don’t move, baby,” James advised, pulling
himself onto the bed beside her, careful not to disturb the IV
protruding from the inside of her elbow. “You won’t be getting
anymore morphine for a little while.”

Alex couldn’t help the tears that formed in
her eyes, silently spilling over her cheeks. All she could see in
her mind’s eye was Claire’s face, twisted with a small, pleasant
smile before she disappeared into thin air, banished to a place she
wasn't sure existed. Her head slumped back into the immaculate
pillows, her body finally shaking from violent crying. Every bone
in her being objected.

James leapt to his feet, leaning over her to
fervently press the call button. “I’m sorry!” he pleaded,
continuously pressing the button. “I know, it hurts. I’m sorry!
I’ll get you a nurse. I’ll get you pain medication, anything you
want.”

“It’s—” she sniffled, trying to hold back her
need to wail. “It’s not that!”

He hesitantly retracted his hand, taking a
seat beside her on the hospital bed. Planting a kiss on her head,
he said, “I know, sweetheart.”

“I just,” she wiped her eyes with the back of
her free hand, “I can’t believe she’s…gone!”

“Shh, shh,” he murmured, hugging her tightly
into his side. “It’s okay, it’s okay.”

“How can you s…say that?” she blubbered.
“We…
I killed
my best friend!”

“Alex!” James demanded, staring hard into her
tear-stricken face. “Claire isn’t dead. And she’s not gone.”

Jerking her head up so fast she had whiplash,
her sobs suddenly died away. “What do you mean? I
saw
her
disappear, James, just like
him
,” she spat venomously.

James rubbed his hand comfortingly up and
down her back. “We didn’t
kill
Mainyu and Claire. We
couldn’t do that even if we wanted to.”

She shivered, leaning into him. “Then, where
are they?”

“They were only banished. To another plane,
one of emptiness,” he explained, gauging her reaction.

“She’s trapped in another world with
him
?” she exclaimed, trying to sit up again. “What are we
waiting for? We have to get her back!”

He, gently, restrained her from getting out
of bed. “That would be impossible, right now.”

She laughed, letting herself fall back onto
the mattress. “Impossible? I don’t believe in
that
anymore.
We just have to use the page again…right…?” she trailed off when he
solemnly shook his head.

“They took the page with them,” he muttered.
“The last page.”

“Oh.”

“I have everyone…up there,” he gestured
sharply toward the ceiling and cleared his throat, “working on it.
As soon as we can think of a way to get her back…
without
bringing Mainyu with her, we
will get her back
.”

“You mean there
is
a way to get them
back,” she said, gazing hopefully up into his face.

“There is, Alex,” he explained, “but it’s not
something we’ll be doing. We can’t risk the world again. Even for
Claire.”

“But I thought she was your responsibility to
save?” Alex demanded. “Shouldn’t we be doing something…any—?”

“I don’t want to fight with you,” he
interjected. “Claire isn’t my responsibility. I had to keep her
safe so that Mainyu couldn’t get her and—”

“But he does have her.”

“And take over the world,” he finished as if
she hadn’t interrupted.

She bit her lip, feeling tears rise again.
“So there’s nothing we can do, then.”

“Not yet,” he confessed. “We just have to
wait for my bosses to tell us where we go from here.”

“Bosses?”

He winced, realizing he hadn’t intended to
tell her about them. “The people who assigned me to this case in
the first place. The other angels. My bosses.”

“What do they do?”

“They deal with all the guardian angels. They
make sure that we’re all following the rules,” he said.

She took a deep breath. “You have rules?”

“Of course. And they’re the ones that punish
anyone who breaks the rules,” he continued.

“And I suppose bringing Mainyu and Claire
back would be breaking those rules, right?” she demanded
bitterly.

Jaw dropped, he retorted, “You shouldn’t even
be thinking about doing that, Alexandria.”

“So it’s against the rules?”

“Of course it’s against the rules,” he
enthused. “That’s probably the worst thing they could possibly
make
a rule for.”

“What would they do if you…
broke
that
rule?” she asked, barely able to meet his eyes.

“We’re not talking about this,” he
snapped.

“Why
not
?!”

“We can’t endanger so many people for our own
selfish desires. Getting Claire back isn’t gonna do us any good if
we die!” he explained.

“We’ll just send him back, again,” she
challenged.

“And what if we can’t?” he spat. “Nothing
good can come from resurrecting Mainyu.”

She glared at him incredulously. “Then why
did Natalia do it?”

He shook his head, remembering something else
he’d have to break to her. “I have no idea.”

“Well, we can ask her. Where is she? I
knocked her out in the catacombs, what’d you do with her?” she
inquired.

James ground his teeth. “She got away.”

Alex blinked, hoping she just hadn’t heard
him correctly. “What?”

James shifted uncomfortably. “When you passed
out, I had to get you and Kierlan out of there before he bled out.
The place was collapsing. Taran took the car. So, I left her there
while I brought you two here, by…
otherwordly
means, I guess
you could say. I went back to find her when you were under, but she
was already gone.”