Days of New: The Complete Collection (Serials 1-5) (63 page)

Lucifer didn’t speak, but his eyes were wide with trepidation. He nodded and turned them toward the fight.

Chapter Eight

“H
e was worried about you, you know.”

Clark turned around, his hair catching in the morning breeze. His toes were inches from the cliff’s edge, where he’d been watching the sunrise. Michaela walked from the woods behind him and onto the rocky point that overlooked the sweeping gorge below. The air was warm with the coming spring; there were even a few splotches of green far below.

“Who?” Clark asked, turning back to the sunrise when Michaela stopped beside him.

“Zarachiel. He told me that he thought all this was changing you, hurting you. He saw how you were being ground down beneath the weight of all this, and it broke his heart. He didn’t know how you would make it through. But he was wrong.” Michaela smiled, and Clark felt like nothing bad had ever happened between them. “I like your hair.”

“I was aiming for impressing the ladies. With it being the end of the world and all.”

“The world isn’t ending today.”

“You sure about that? Where’s Gabriel?”

With a long, heavy exhale, Michaela sat down, letting her legs dangle over the edge of the rock outcropping. “Hell changed him, but he has good intentions. They finished off the Loyalists earlier. They’ll be back here soon.”

“I’m surprised you’re not busy with the souls.”

“Souls can wait today. Taking care of the living is more important right now.”

As if her words had conjured them, the sky darkened. A shiver slipped down Clark’s spine. The hiss of a thousand wings sounded above his head, rustling the dead winter branches around him and Michaela, stirring an unnatural breeze. The fallen angels’ shadows slithered over the rock at his feet as if they were rising up from Hell and not simply flying over his head. Finally, he looked up. But he only saw black. Black wings. Black eyes. Fallen angels. An entirely too large legion of them.

“Hopefully there will be some living to take care of after this,” Clark said.

Behind them, Gabriel stepped out of the trees, followed by the holy Archangels and the rest of the holy angel legion. Over half of his army had black wings of their own, and Clark wondered how the fallen angels loyal to Gabriel would feel about fighting their own brothers, who had sided with Lucifer. But then, that wasn’t anything new with this group of angels. Clark sighed and turned back to look down into the gorge, where the fallen angels had settled, filling in the low ground while Gabriel and his angels took the high, their numbers spreading out along the cliff on either side of Clark and Michaela and looking down to take in their opposition.

With angels, it wasn’t about who had the low or high ground. When they fought, the battle would be in the sky. Gold blood would fall like rain, feathers—black and white—like puffs of smoke from a slow-burning fire.

“It’s time,” Michaela said.

Clark nodded. It was time. “I hope Maya is okay,” he said mostly to himself. “Wherever she is.”

Chapter Nine

L
ucifer had been silent the entire flight to Kentucky from Alabama. Not that Maya was bothered by the quiet. She’d allowed herself to enjoy the flight, feeling the oddly warm springlike air on her body as they wove their way back north. She wanted nothing more than to never touch the ground again, but that was just a fantasy.

The fallen angels had settled into the narrow basin of the gorge in Kentucky, close to the cabin and the underground caves, but Lucifer had flown on a way, deeper into the woods, and set Maya down there.

“You’ll be safe here,” he said, searching her eyes for something. But the isolation felt worse than if she was right in the mix. From where she stood, she could look up to the rocky outcropping far above their heads and see the line of holy angels, white wings blazing in the sun, standing there. Somewhere up there was Clark and Camille and Michaela.

Maya looked back at Lucifer. He stood a few feet away from her, waiting for her to say something before he left to fight. “I guess it’s time then,” she said.

Lucifer frowned at her words, his shoulders tensing as he looked back through the woods to where he left his small army. When he finally met her eyes, he asked, “What happens to me if I fight?”

“You fight.” Maya shrugged. “But I’m here with you. And I’ll be here when you’re done fighting.”

“Why?”

“Because I love you. And while I don’t believe in this fight you’ve chosen, I believe in my fight for you.”

Apparently he didn’t like that answer much either; his frown deepened. “What happens to me if I
don’t
fight?”

“I’ll still be here. Waiting for us to go home.”

“Because you love me,” Lucifer added, his voice fading.

“It’s my superpower,” Maya said with a smile that didn’t completely reach her eyes.

She didn’t harbor much hope that this would be the time she finally got through to him, but he seemed to truly consider her words for once. She was fighting against nearly an eternity of Lucifer convincing himself that he was an ugly, unlovable devil. Who would stand a chance against that? He’d told her that people didn’t love ugly things, but she’d felt the truth in her response that her ability as a Nephil was to love him. That she was created with that one special power, one superpower. Iris St. James may be able to foretell the future, but Maya could do the impossible: love an ugly devil. When her smile widened, it stretched up to her eyes.

“Maybe I’ll try talking with Gabriel first…”

She didn’t think she’d heard him right. Blinking in confusion, she processed his words over and over as he shifted from foot to foot. He looked incredibly uncomfortable, incredibly lost.

Not trusting her voice, Maya just nodded, her eyes brimming with tears.

“I love you,” Lucifer whispered, his voice like a little child’s.

“I love you too.”

He started away, heading back through the woods, but off at an angle away from his troops. Pausing, he looked back over his shoulder, a dark shadow passing over his face. “Stay safe,” he commanded. “Stay hidden. Don’t move from here until I come back for you.”

Maya sighed happily. “Nothing will happen to me, Lucifer. Go talk to Gabriel. And be nice.”

Grinning, Lucifer ducked back into the woods, his slender form slinking through the trees until he’d disappeared from view. Maya looked around the little clearing where she stood. The trees were massively tall and thick, but one had fallen nearby. She settled herself onto the slightly rotten trunk and waited.

She didn’t have to wait long.

Through the trees, twigs snapped underfoot and bushes were rustled. Maya rose from her position on the trunk and waited for Lucifer to appear. He didn’t.

“Dante!” Maya called, rushing forward. “What are you doing here?”

“Miss,” Dante gasped out. The little demon doubled over, clutching his round sides as his chest heaved. His mouth hung open to suck in more air, and his wings draped limp with exhaustion at his sides.

“What is it, Dante? What happened?”

“I came,” Dante gasped out, “to warn you. The twins saw Lucifer head up to talk to Gabriel.” Dante finally straightened, though he still clutched his side like he had a cramp. “They are very angry.”

“What are they going to do?”

“The twins want to ensure that Master will fight. They want to make him.”

“How?”

Dante gave her a look, and Maya understood. “You need to hide, Miss.”

“Oh, Dante. This is bad. If something happens to me,” Maya couldn’t finish the thought. She started to shiver even though the day wasn’t a cold one. “We can’t let Emim and Irin ruin this.”

“I know, Miss. I’m here to help.”

Maya reached down and squeezed his hand. “Thank you, Dante. What should we do?”

“
Run
.”

* * *

“What’s taking him so long?” Gabriel asked, his words like a growl, ripping into the breeze. Beside Clark, Camille rolled her eyes.

Clark waited for Lucifer to rocket up through the dip of the gorge and race into the sky to take the higher position. But nothing happened. And Gabriel didn’t signal for his troops either.

“Maybe he hasn’t had his morning coffee yet. It is pretty early.” Clark’s jaw cracked with a massive yawn, which made Camille yawn, as if it was contagious.

“It’s not the time for joking,” Gabriel snapped.

Michaela ignored them both. “You two should go to the cabin. We don’t want Lucifer or his troops to see you and take you so they can extract the magic.”

“Extract?” Clark asked. “Geez, you make me sound like a petri dish or some shit.”

“Besides,” Camille added, picking at her cuticles, “we’re not going anywhere.”

“Exactly. Are your nail beds flaking?” Clark leaned over to look at Camille’s fingers.

“Seriously—”

“Yeah, look.” Camille interrupted Michaela and held up her hand for Clark to inspect. “Do you think I need some kind of lotion?”

“Well, in my experience—”

“Both of you shut up. Just shut up.” Gabriel strode away from the rock’s ledge and gathered with his soldiers by the wood’s edge.

When he was gone, Michaela just stared at Clark until he shrugged. “What? I can’t help it that he’s so sensitive.”

“You shouldn’t antagonize him.”

“Also not my problem.”

“Going back to the cabin—”

“Not happening,” Camille chirped, still picking at her nails.

Michaela shook her head. “I’m glad to see you two are back to normal, but I’m not going to lie, you both were easier to deal with when you were beaten down and ready to give up.” She blew a piece of hair out of eyes and scanned the gorge below.

“What do you think is really taking him so long?” Clark asked, keeping his voice down so Gabriel didn’t hear. Camille looked up at his question, her eyes going between him and Michaela.

Michaela sighed, still looking down into the gorge, where they could just see flickers of black slicing underneath the tree limbs as the fallen angels walked and shifted about. “I honestly don’t know, and it worries me.”

“What if—”

Clark didn’t get to finish. From directly below the rock’s ledge came a gust of wind and suddenly, as Clark blinked, Lucifer flew up right in front of them, his clothes rustling in the wind from his wings. Michaela’s hand went to her sword, and Clark sensed the entire holy angel army’s attention behind him. But Lucifer had no one with him, and he held up his hands.

“I’m not here to fight,” he said. “Yet.”

“Then why are you here?” Gabriel asked, coming back to the ledge.

“I want to talk with you.”

“Talk?” Gabriel snorted. “Are you serious? After all you’ve done?”

Lucifer didn’t acknowledge the jab. Instead, he said to Michaela, “I’m sorry about Zarachiel. He was a good angel.”

Slightly taken aback, Michaela nodded, though Clark still saw her hand resting on the hilt of her sword. “How’s Maya?” Clark asked before Gabriel could wind up his argument.

Lucifer didn’t smile exactly, but his entire face softened at the mention of her name. His wing beats slowed fractionally, as if his entire body had relaxed just thinking about her. “She’s fine. She’s waiting down below.”

Clark nodded. Beside him, Camille’s tension rolled off her body in waves, but she kept her mouth shut, eyes far away to the other ridge across the gorge. Michaela’s hand finally fell away from her sword; she must have noticed the change in Lucifer too.

“Is she the reason you’ve come to talk?” Michaela asked.

“She’s the reason I’m going to try. I still have every intention of fighting you,” Lucifer said this last part to Gabriel. “I had nothing to do with Zarachiel’s death. I don’t want to make this a bigger issue than it really has to be. All I want is Clark’s magic, and I think he’s willing enough to give it to me.”

“Why would he do that?” Gabriel said. Raphael and the other holy Archangels filled in behind him, voicing their support to Gabriel without words. Lucifer didn’t even acknowledge them.

“Because we had a deal.” Lucifer made to land on the rock outcropping, making Michaela, Clark, and Camille step back to allow him space. He settled on the ground with a soft exhalation and lowered his wings, as if he’d been flying for a long time.

Gabriel opened his mouth, but Clark said quickly, “If I give you the magic, you’ll go without a fight?”

“If Gabriel can let me go without his precious vengeance.”

“You’re the reason Zarachiel is dead!” Gabriel lifted his lips into a snarl, the other Archangels nodding their agreement.

“That’s a little far-fetched—even for you, dear Gabriel.” Lucifer smoothed a hand down his shirt and flicked off invisible dirt from his pants.

All the while, Clark had studied the once-great fallen angel. He’d never claimed to know Lucifer well, but Clark was better equipped than most to judge the angel. And though there was still a hint of madness shifting in Lucifer’s black eyes, the angel mostly looked calm and grounded. Enough so that Gabriel appeared to be the raving lunatic of the group. Somehow, some way, Maya really had saved him.