Black Howl (27 page)

I pressed forward, sensing weakness. Nathaniel stumbled backward. I slipped the blade into an opening and it slid into his shoulder.

There was no time or chance for mercy. I ripped upward with all of my strength, and Nathaniel howled. The cut exposed muscle from his collarbone to the shoulder joint, and blood spread everywhere, staining his white wings. He dropped his own weapon and staggered backward, snarling at me.

“You are hell’s own bitch,” he said, his face white.

“Thanks. I hate you, too,” I said, and blasted him in the face with nightfire.

He fell to the ground, out cold.

“That’s one problem taken care of,” I said.

I nudged his ankle with the toe of my boot to see if he was playing dead. He didn’t move. I picked up his sword, which was a lot longer and heavier than mine and felt significantly less friendly in the hand.

I turned back to the battle to see my little band of brothers finishing off the last of Azazel’s soldiers.

We were bloodied and bruised and burned. Samiel bled from a gash in his forehead. Both wolves had small cuts and burns in their fur. Gabriel looked pretty good except that several of his feathers had been torn from his right wing, giving him a slightly lopsided appearance.

I rubbed my hand over my face, felt the long, tender marks where the lava had burned my skin.

We turned as one toward Azazel’s throne.

He wasn’t there.

“THAT SNEAKY COWARD,” I SWORE.

Beezle fluttered down from his vantage point near the ceiling. “He snuck out when it became obvious that you were going to win. He went in there.”

Beezle pointed to a back door behind the throne room. I knew that there was a kind of parlor back there, and doors to other parts of the castle.

I started toward the door, but Gabriel grabbed me around the wrist.

“There is no point in pursuing Azazel through the castle,” Gabriel said. “He knows this place far better than you do.”

“Besides, we came for Nathaniel,” J.B. said.

We all looked toward Nathaniel’s still form.

“I guess we’re going to have to carry him out of here,” I said.

That was when the room exploded.

The windows crashed in, glass flying everywhere. Gabriel pulled me toward him, sheltering my face as hundreds of charcarion demons came pouring in like clicking beetles, over the walls, up to the ceiling, and surrounding us. Everyone assumed the back-to-back position again, protecting one another. Wade snarled at the demons as they came closer. I brandished the two swords in front of me.

The demons circled us, careful not to come within reach of a blade or a wolf’s jaws. J.B., Samiel and Gabriel seemed to be holding their spells back, waiting to see if the demons attacked.

There was the sound of applause from near the main doors, and a path materialized in the horde of demons.

Azazel stood there, and beside him—Antares and Focalor.

“You?” I spluttered. I was well aware of the fact that I sounded like I spoke dialogue from a bad movie. “You and Focalor? You and
Antares
?”

This last was practically a shriek. Antares had tried to kill me more times than I could count, and he’d nearly succeeded twice.

Antares smirked at me from behind his father. Focalor could not hide his delight. The three of them walked toward us, the charcarion demons bowing low as they passed.

“Yes,” Azazel said silkily. “A Grigori does not give up his children, no matter what provocation.”

“What about me, then?” I said angrily. “You seemed pretty willing to sell me to the highest bidder.”

“Antares has demonstrated his loyalty to me time and again,” Azazel said. “He has put his own life at risk on numerous occasions as he pretended to be a traitor to the court.”

“I thought Focalor was your sworn enemy,” I said.

“It has suited us to pretend thus,” Azazel replied.

“So it’s been you all along,” I spat. “You created the
technology. You set up the operation. You sent Nathaniel to recruit Amarantha.”

Azazel nodded, as though I were a good pupil.

“Why?” I said, thinking of the cubs, all the humans, who’d lost their memories. “You have broken the laws of Lucifer’s kingdom. You’ve harmed humans for your own gain.”

“Do not quote chapter and verse at me,” Azazel said. “You, who defy Lord Lucifer and the Grigori at every turn. You, who cleave unto the laws only when it suits your purpose.”

“I’ve never killed an innocent for money,” I said. “Don’t compare my actions to yours. I thought you were the right hand of Lucifer, his most trusted advisor.”

“I have played that role for centuries untold,” Azazel acknowledged. “But I have waited, always waited, for my opportunity. And now it has come.”

“You’re crazy,” I breathed. “Open warfare against Lucifer? Do you really think you can seize power?”

“I do not think,” Azazel said. “I know. You cannot comprehend how many of the Grigori have longed to be rid of him—his arrogance, his changeability, his cruel whims. We have been at his mercy since time untold. And now we will band together and overthrow him, and a new order will begin.”

“A new order in which humans are subservient to angels?” I guessed, and seeing the answer in his eyes I felt anger pushing at my skin. “You would turn humans into nothing more than slaves, to be used by vampires and faeries and demons at will?”

“Yes,” Azazel replied. “And even you, Madeline Black, cannot prevent this. All over Lucifer’s kingdom the dominoes have begun to fall. And there is no savior to come for you now, no ally that has not sacrificed himself already to stand at your side.”

I felt a trickle of dread. Not for myself, but for Beezle and Gabriel and Wade and Samiel and Jude and J.B. I’d thought I’d assembled a pretty badass collection of backups, but all I’d really done was gather all my friends in one place so we could be killed together.

“And what of the Morningstar?” I said.

“You may have noticed that Lord Lucifer has been out of touch of late,” Azazel said. “Wherever he may be, he is not available to answer your cries for help.”

“You think I care about me?” I said furiously. “I’m talking about the complete and total destruction of you and your stupid plans. Lucifer is stronger than all of you put together. He won’t allow you to enslave humans.”

“You are overestimating Lord Lucifer’s strength,” Azazel said. “He has survived thus far on cunning and guile, two qualities that he has used to manipulate us against one another for centuries. He has maintained absolute power by playing the Grigori and the other supernatural courts as if we were nothing more than pieces on a chessboard. No more.”

“You’ll lose,” I said with certainty.

“And you will die regardless,” Azazel replied. “You shall not leave this court alive.”

Beezle tightened his claws on my shoulder. The rest of us pressed together more tightly as the demons inched closer.

“Don’t bother trying to fight off the demons,” I said to Gabriel in a voice barely a whisper.

I felt rather than saw his nod. I knew he understood.

Azazel and Focalor turned to leave the throne room. Antares gave me a cruel smile.

I blasted him with nightfire and he fell to the ground screaming. The demons descended on us. I dropped Nathaniel’s
sword and scooped up Wade under one arm before he could attack. Gabriel grabbed Jude, and we all took flight. I passed Wade to Samiel in midair. Several of the charcarion demons that clung to the ceiling released their hold in an attempt to fall on us and knock us to the ground. J.B. blasted them out of the way with his wand.

Azazel and Focalor had stopped and turned to see what was happening. Azazel seemed amused as he looked up at us hanging near the ceiling.

“You will have to come down eventually,” Azazel said.

“Everything does,” I agreed. I felt the buildup of power inside me, and I dug deeper than I ever had before. I would get only one shot, and I needed it to count. “Gravity is a powerful force.”

I blasted the electricity spell out, and it exploded in a torrent of lightning from my hands. But I wasn’t aiming for Azazel or Focalor, as much as I would have enjoyed frying them both. I aimed for the ceiling.

There was a terrible crack, and half the ceiling came down.

Electrical wiring sparked, and wooden cross beams ignited.

Charcarion demons cried out as they were crushed. The ones that were not turned into mosquito splats rushed toward the door. Azazel and Focalor shouted at them to stop, blasted the demons for disobeying, but their desire to live overrode their instinct to obey. The two Grigori were overrun by the panicked horde.

Samiel’s shoulder was hit by falling debris and he lost his grip on Wade. The wolf tumbled toward the floor, barking and howling.

I shot downward to Wade, heedless of the falling chunks of ceiling, and grabbed him out of midair. The others followed
me as I swooped through the room. I aimed for one of the broken windows, thinking it would be safest to get out of the throne room.

I pulled my wings in to fit through the shards of broken glass and discovered that the windows overlooked a giant sweep of landscaped garden. There were beds for flowers and sculptured hedges in the forms of animals, all covered in a heavy blanket of snow. I imagined it was quite magical in the summertime with everything in bloom. I had never actually looked out those windows before. Usually when I was in Azazel’s court I was too busy thinking up excuses to leave as soon as possible.

I flew most of the way across the lawn to the place where it bordered a forest, landed heavily in the snow on my knees and put Wade down. He nudged me with his head and I patted him tiredly.

The others came out behind me. Gabriel pulled me to my feet.

“Think we can catch a portal out of here?” I asked hopefully.

Gabriel shook his head. “I already attempted the spell as we flew. Azazel has blocked us from exiting that way as long as we are on his land.”

I glanced back at Azazel’s mansion. Charcarion demons flowed out the windows and over the lawn toward us, shouting and screeching their battle cries.

“What are the chances, do you think, that his property ends here?” I asked.

Gabriel shook his head. “It does not. Remember, I lived here for many years. Azazel owns acres of land. He desires complete privacy for his court.”

“So we either stand and fight, or we run through the
woods being chased by demons for hours on end,” J.B. said.

“We could try to fly…” I started.

“And carry the wolves for how long?” Beezle asked.

“They can’t be any heavier than you,” I retorted.

The demons were getting closer.

“I’d rather stand and fight,” J.B. said.

The wolves barked in agreement.

Samiel nodded.

Gabriel took my hand. “At least we will die together.”

I shook my head and let his fingers drop. “We are not going to die.”

The demons poured over the hill, a mass so large that they seemed one giant monster. Where had they all come from? Hadn’t I killed most of them?

“Madeline, their numbers…”

“Screw their numbers,” I said, my face hot and angry.

I’d had
enough
. I was tired of running for my life, fighting monsters, getting blasted by spells. I was tired of worrying about the lives of those whom I loved, lives that were in jeopardy because a bunch of angels wanted power that they would never possess.

From the moment I’d learned I was Azazel’s daughter, my life had been an unending battle. The faces of the dead swam before my eyes. Patrick, my best friend, killed by Ramuell. The people slaughtered by the nephilim at Clark and Belmont. The murdered wolves of Wade’s pack.

Even the living had not been left unharmed. The victims who screamed in padded rooms at the Agency were proof of that.

All of them had been caught in the cross fire of a battle they hadn’t even known of, a battle for supremacy over all
creatures. A battle that Lucifer was determined to win, and that his enemies were equally determined he lose.

For the first time the power of the Morningstar came when I called, easily, naturally. I rose up above the others, my wings outspread, the light of the sun moving through me.

The demons covered their eyes, fell to their knees. I raised my arms, hands open, and let the magic in my blood take over. The clearing was filled with light.

When it was over, all the demons were gone.

I fainted.

I woke up in Gabriel’s arms, everyone huddled around me at the edge of the forest.

“What?” I croaked. My throat was very dry. I felt like I hadn’t felt in a long time—like my magic had run out, and that it would take a good long time for it to come back.

“You fell out of the sky,” Beezle said. “For some reason, everyone’s concerned.”

“I can get up,” I said to Gabriel.

“I am not sure that you should,” he replied.

“Well, we all know how Maddy feels about what she
should
do,” Beezle said.

I pushed to my feet and immediately stumbled. My legs felt like jelly.

“You see how well she listens,” Beezle said.

Gabriel put his arm around me. I did not want to admit that the only reason I was upright was because he was holding me there.

The mansion was silent before us. The snow on the lawn had been melted away by my spell. No creatures crawled through the broken windows.

“Do you think I killed them all, or is Azazel just marshaling his forces for another round?” I asked.

“Oh, I’m sure he’s more determined to kill you than ever,” Beezle said.

“We’ve got to get out of here,” J.B. said.

“Azazel will have closed his lands by now,” Gabriel said grimly. “I have seen him do it only a few times, but it is a spell that he has in place to prevent the escape of prisoners. We will not be able to leave by foot or by air. He cannot allow us to leave and notify Lord Lucifer of his plans.”

We all looked helplessly at one another. Would we be trapped here like rats running around a maze, fighting until Azazel managed to wear us down?

“Gabriel, there has to be some way of getting out of here. You lived here with Azazel for years. A secret tunnel that leads off the property?” I asked.