The Flame Never Dies (11 page)

It wasn't that the rest of us objected to Eli's faith. It was that most of us had little of our own after discovering that generations of our ancestors' souls had been consumed by those claiming to be our spiritual leaders. Everything we'd ever been taught to believe in had been proven not just false, but
foul.

The only things we
knew
could save us were vigilance and violence. The only people we
knew
we could count on were those gathered around our campfire.

“What did you pray for?” Maddock asked when Eli looked up, and his thoughtful tone caught my attention. Reese would have asked the same question with sarcasm. Devi would have asked it out of skepticism. But Maddock…

As usual, Maddy was merely curious.

“I was giving thanks and asking the Lord to put more demons in my path so I can strike them down in His name.” Eli took the spork Grayson handed him and dug a flake of fish from his fillet.

Anabelle gaped at him. “You were asking for
more
demons?”

Eli laughed at her horrified expression. “I wasn't asking for a second demonic invasion. I just asked the Lord to keep pushing the ones that are already here into my path so I can fulfill my life's purpose by killing them.”

“You just mean the degenerates, right?” Reese said. “Because you guys seem to need help with Kastor's people.”

“My fellow sentinels and I are perfectly capable of taking on any of the lions from the pit, but the oldest among us have already served their purpose and the youngest—like Tobias—are not yet ready. I ask only that the worst of the horde be put in
my
path rather than theirs.”

“Sounds reasonable,” I said. I felt the same way about protecting Mellie.

“But do you really think that's your purpose?” Devi asked around a bite of bread.

“It's ours, just like it is yours. There is no more noble pursuit, considering the state of the world. Every demon we strike down is felled through the strength the Lord has bestowed upon us, and—”

“Well, then he bestowed it all wrong.” Reese's voice was so sharp I actually choked on a bite of greens and had to cough it up.

Eli's spork clattered onto his plate, his meal suddenly forgotten. “Excuse me?”

“You guys are out there impaling degenerates through the eyeball and calling yourselves warriors, but all you're really doing is setting the demons loose to search for new hosts.
That's
what you did to your brother's killer. You released him.
We
fry the bastards right out of this world.”

“I cannot deny that the Lord has blessed you in ways he has not seen fit to bless me, Reese.” Eli's glance at Grayson made it clear that he wasn't just talking about exorcist abilities. “Nor can I presume to understand his reasons. I did what I could for Micah, with the gifts the Lord has given me. I freed his soul so he could find peace, and so that somewhere, a new child can live.”

“I hate to tell you this,” Reese began, though he didn't look like he really hated it all that much. “But your brother's soul is gone. Once a demon starts munching on it, there's no getting it back. On the bright side, that means he's not in pain. He's not…anything.”

Eli's quiet smile was somehow both peaceful and patronizing. “We believe that the souls of the faithful will be returned to the well upon death—clean, whole, and at rest. I've released his soul. Micah is at peace.”

“That's beautiful,” Grayson breathed.

“That's horseshit,” Reese insisted. “The well is empty. Babies die within minutes of birth. That wouldn't be happening if you were freeing souls with every kill.”

Eli contemplated him somberly. “Only the souls of the
faithful
can be restored. The souls of the faithless will be destroyed. The well is empty because there aren't enough people of faith left to fill it. Which means that disbelievers are just as much of a drain on the well of souls as demons are.”

Devi turned to me with both brows raised. “Is he serious?”

Grayson glanced from face to face across the flickering flames of the campfire. “Souls at peace. I think it sounds…serene.”

“Serenity must be earned,” Eli said, setting his half-eaten dinner down in front of the fire. “We fight evil in this life so that we may find peace when it is over. Such is our burden. Such is our faith.”

Devi rolled her eyes and tossed her thick, dark braid over her shoulder. Anabelle looked…confused.

Reese exhaled heavily. “I'm sorry, Eli, but there is absolutely no evidence of—”

“If there were evidence, it wouldn't be called faith,” Eli interrupted, and the sharpness in each word said he was finally starting to lose his temper.

“That's right. It'd be called truth.” Reese leaned so close to the fire his knee almost hit the grill. “What you're talking about isn't religion, it's delusion.”

“Reese!” Grayson gasped. “There's no need to be rude!”

“Since when is the truth considered rude?” he demanded.

“Okay, everybody calm down.” I set my spork on my plate and held both hands palms out, hoping to deescalate the discussion. “Let's not—”

Melanie's piercing scream sliced through my sentence. Everyone stared, and I turned to see my sister clutching her round stomach, firelight flashing over the pain written in every line on her face.

“I think the baby's coming.”

“T
he baby?
Now?
” I said, and when Melanie nodded, I stood up in a panic and suddenly forgot everything I'd learned about childbirth over the past five months. All I could think about was that the baby was on its way and I hadn't found it a soul.

I would have to say hello and goodbye to my new niece or nephew in the same breath.

“Nina.” Finn stood, and when he took my hands, I knew he recognized the fear in my eyes, if not the true source. “Calm down. Mellie's scared enough for both of you.”

I couldn't make my heart stop racing. I hadn't had time to teach her everything she needed to know. I hadn't had time to write a letter to the baby. I hadn't had time to say goodbye to Finn….

“It's okay.” Eli handed his plate to Grayson, his argument with Reese apparently forgotten. “Melanie happens to be in the company of no fewer than a dozen experienced midwives.” He gave us all a firelit grin. “Not including me.”

“Nina…” Melanie groaned my name as Finn let me go to give us some room. Fear danced in my sister's eyes. “It's too early.”

“She still has another month to go,” I said, and Eli frowned.

“Okay, let's give her some space,” he said, and everyone who wasn't already standing got up and backed carefully away from the campfire, taking their food with them. On his way out of the clearing, Reese picked up the plate Eli had set down and began to eat the meal he'd given away minutes before.

I couldn't really blame him. We all knew we might be in for a very long night.

At least, that was my greatest hope.

“This could just be false labor.” Eli spared a moment for a reassuring smile at my sister. “So I'm going to get my mother. She's the most experienced midwife we have. Nina, you and Anabelle sit with Melanie and try to keep her calm. Start timing her contractions. If this is false labor, they'll probably be weak and erratic. But that could be true even if this is real labor. First babies can take well over twelve hours to make their appearance.”

Melanie groaned, and I squatted to take her hand.

“What about us?” Finn set his plate on a tree stump, his dinner forgotten. “What can we do?”

Eli glanced at the other members of our surrogate family, who'd gathered to stare awkwardly at my sister, unsure how to help. “The rest of you can gather some pillows and sheets. Blankets. Whatever you have that will make her more comfortable.”

While the rest of us were occupied with our assignments—busywork though they may have been—Eli went to get his mother. As I watched him wind his way between the neighboring campfires, I realized that the other members of the Lord's Army knew that Melanie had gone into labor, but as a courtesy, they wouldn't bother us until and unless they were asked for help.

Finn and Maddock cleared away our plates, taking the occasional bite as they worked. Reese wrapped his hands in extra shirts to protect them while he removed the folding grill from the fire and set it where no one would accidentally bump into it in the dark. Devi and Grayson grabbed several of our bedrolls from the back of the SUV and helped me prop Mellie up against them to make her as comfortable as we could.

I kept up a quiet conversation with my sister—assuring her that she and her baby would be fine and asking about the names she'd been considering—while Anabelle counted the passing minutes on her watch, waiting for the next contraction.

When she finished her assignment, Devi excused herself from the event with a mumble and a graceless gesture I couldn't interpret, then headed for one of the other campfire groups, where several of her new training buddies were waiting for their fish to finish grilling.

Devi had no interest in childbirth, and every interest in a second helping of dinner.

Several minutes after he'd left, Eli returned with a tall, thin woman in her midforties. Her thick, dark curls were cropped close to her head and she carried a worn hand-stitched leather satchel over one shoulder. “This is my mother, Damaris,” Eli said. “Mom, this is Melanie Kane.”

Flickering firelight revealed deep wrinkles in the woman's forehead and unwavering confidence in her dark eyes. She squatted on the mat next to my sister. “It's an honor to meet you, Melanie.”

“Hi,” Mellie returned, then grimaced and clutched at her stomach.

“Eight minutes,” Anabelle said, without looking up from the watch she held angled toward the firelight.

Damaris's eyes widened. “Well, that's progressing faster than I expected. What month are you in?”

“We think she's at the end of her eighth,” I said when Melanie appeared unable to speak.

“Okay,” Damaris said as if she'd come to some conclusion. “That's not great, but it could be worse. We don't have the medication and equipment necessary to stop your labor, so the best we can do is make sure your son or daughter makes it safely into the world. After that, it's up to the Lord. Do you understand?”

Melanie nodded, and I squeezed her hand. If Damaris's Lord didn't step in on the baby's behalf, I would.

And with a sudden jolt of alarm, I realized I had no idea how best to do that.

I'd need to die instantly, to make sure the baby got my soul in time. And I'd need to be near the baby when it happened. But I couldn't do it in front of Melanie—she'd never get over the trauma.

“Is this your first labor?” Damaris asked, and Melanie nodded again. “Where is the father?” Eli's mother glanced at Reese, Finn, and Maddock in turn, and they all shook their heads, then took a couple of steps back, just to be clear.

“His name was Adam,” I whispered to Damaris. “The Church had him executed.”

“I'm so sorry,” she said to Melanie. “But the Lord never gives us more than we can bear, so you must be a strong woman indeed. Even if you don't know it yet.” She patted Mellie's denim-covered knee as my sister exhaled slowly through her mouth. “Okay, let's take a look.” She reached for Mellie's calves to angle her toward the firelight, but my sister screeched and pressed her knees together.

She turned to me, her eyes wide and shiny with unshed tears. “Nina…”

“Okay, hon, I know you're scared, but you have to let Damaris examine you. If we were still in New Temperance, you'd be used to this already. You'd have been getting checkups once a month.”

“I know,” Mellie said. But the fear did not fade from her eyes, and she made no move to take off her jeans.

“I'm sorry,” I said, turning to Damaris. “She's never had an obstetrics exam.”

“I've had one,” Melanie said, and we both turned to her in surprise. “At the jail.” When they'd held her on charges of fornication and unlicensed pregnancy, as well as suspicion of possession. “They tied me down. Don't let them tie me down again, Nina,” she begged, and my heart broke for my sister all over again.

“We don't do things like that here, honey,” Damaris said. “I promise. I just need to see how far dilated your cervix is. Do you know what that means?”

“Of course.” Melanie looked more than a little offended by the question. “I've read seven books on pregnancy, labor, and delivery. I just…the reality feels different than I expected.”

“And this is just the beginning.” Damaris gave her a comforting smile. “Are you ready to be examined?”

“I want to change into my gown and robe first,” Mellie said. We'd found them both—as well as a selection of maternity clothes—in a shipment headed from a factory in Solace to a department store in Constance. Melanie looked up, and her gaze settled on Grayson. “Could you grab my hospital bag? It's in the front of the cargo truck.” She'd had it packed for weeks, just like the books advised, even though we didn't have an actual hospital to take her to.

“Of course.” Grayson grabbed the large hammer she'd been training with and turned toward the far side of the campsite, but Eli put one hand on her arm.

“I'll go with you.”

“I can take care of myself.” Grayson let the hammer thunk into her palm.

“Good for you,” he said, smiling after her as she took off for the parked truck, which formed part of the perimeter of the campground.

Damaris gave Mellie another gentle smile, then turned to look up at her son. “Eli, go grab my flashlight and see if Brother Isaiah has any batteries left for it. We're gonna have to do better than firelight for this little one.”

“We have flashlights,” Maddock said as Reese returned from stowing the cooled camp grill. “I'll grab the one from the SUV. Reese, can you catch up to Grayson and have her grab the other one from the truck?”

“She went to the truck? By herself?”

“It's just across the clearing, and she's armed,” Eli said.

“She's also a degenerate magnet. A largely
untrained
degenerate magnet.” Reese took off toward the truck and Eli jogged after him, while Maddock headed for the SUV.

“Okay, they'll be back with your gown in a few minutes. Let's get you ready to change,” Damaris said, and my sister voiced no objection when the older woman began removing her sneakers. “The first thing we're going to do is—”

“Grayson!”

Reese's shout startled me so badly I would have fallen into the fire pit if Finn hadn't grabbed my arm.

“Grayson!”
Reese raced into the center of the large clearing from the darkness at the back of the truck, carrying Grayson's hammer. He was lit on all sides by individual cooking fires, so even from across the camp I could see that the hammer glistened with fresh blood.

“Oh no…” I felt the warmth drain from my face, leaving cold shock in its place.

Eli appeared from the shadows a second later, dragging something in the dirt behind him.

“Mellie, I'll be right back,” I murmured, gesturing for Anabelle and Damaris to stay with her. I jogged across the clearing with Finn on my heels, his rifle in hand, but Maddock and Devi beat us there.

“She's gone,” Reese said as a drop of blood plopped onto his boot from the head of the hammer. “Someone
took
her.”

“It looks like Peter died trying to help her.” Eli pulled the body he'd been dragging into the clearing, and several members of the Lord's Army gasped. I recognized Peter as one of Brother Isaiah's grandsons, a sweet man in his early twenties who'd obviously died from the gruesome dent in his skull. But…

“The Unclean didn't do that,” I said, and Eli frowned down at me. “Degenerates would have torn him apart trying to get to his soul, and even a demon in its prime would probably have ripped his throat out or crushed his skull. Most of them enjoy the visceral
experience
of the kill.” They'd invaded our world—and our bodies—because their own lacked most physical sensation. They wanted to feel, taste, and hear things. Including death. “Demons only use weapons when they need to avoid exposing themselves to an audience.”

The Lord's Army had clearly spent more time killing human hosts than observing the demons hidden within them.

Eli glanced from face to face in confusion, then down at Peter's corpse. “Then who…?”

“Grayson.” Devi took the bloody hammer from Reese and held it up to the light from the nearest campfire. “Her weapon, her kill. But she wouldn't have done it unless her life were in danger.”

Brother Isaiah made a stern noise in the back of his throat, at the front of the crowd already starting to gather. “That's unthinkable. Peter would never have—”

“He was possessed.” Finn turned to Maddock, and his hand tightened around the rifle strap. “Kastor got to her through the Army. Nothing else makes sense.” He lowered his voice and whispered the rest, his gaze practically begging Maddock for…something. “You
know
I'm right.”

Maddock gave him the smallest of grim nods, and when Devi's gaze met mine from across the dead body, I realized she had heard Finn too.