Execution (The Divine Book 6) (30 page)

I pulled my phone from my pocket and called Rose.

"We've got the package. Are you in position?" I asked.

"Ready and waiting," she replied. "Not that I'm enjoying being stuck with Gervais for this. He's already made at least a dozen lewd comments about me and my sister." She made a sound of disgust. "I can't wait to be done with him."

"Just keep an eye on him. You know he can't be trusted."

"I know. I am."

"Great. We'll be there soon."

I hung up the phone at the same time Jane landed back on the fire escape. She didn't look pleased.

"It is up to us, diuscrucis," she said. "Michael will not allow Abaddon into Heaven under any circumstances. If we cannot contain him, he and the other archangels will attend to the matter personally."

That meant they would come down from Heaven and join the war between good and evil. One of the first things I had learned was that the archangels getting involved on Earth was bad. As in, Armageddon bad.

"Hey Landon, check this poop out," Zifah said.
 

I spun around. He had turned on the television. The news was showing a live scene of the carnage on the streets outside Rebecca's apartment. There was blood and bodies everywhere, though things seemed to have quieted down. The headline under the image said, "Are Monsters Real?"

"Shit," I said. "This is turning into a real mess."

"Yeah," Zifah agreed. "Look at that." He pointed to the lower left corner of the screen. "It's about to get worse."

I followed his finger. The camera was just barely covering the entrance to the apartment building. A flow of dark tendrils was just beginning to stretch out from it.

"Time to go," I said, feeling a chill at the sight. "He's on his way."

We took separate routes to Turtle Pond. Jane carried the trap via air, while Alyx roamed the streets, in part to test if any other mortals were affected by Abaddon's presence, and in part to ensure there were no other pockets of vampires attacking the city. Zifah and I went with Dante, making the instant trip from my living room to the balcony of Belvedere Castle, where Rose was waiting for us, a pair of binoculars in hand.

"He's coming," I said to her.
 

She wasn't startled by our sudden arrival. "I figured he would be."

"Where's Gervais?"

She passed me the binoculars. "Near the pond, over at that tree. He's been doing something to it for the last hour. Scratching some kind of runes into it."

I took the gear and peered through them. I could see the demonic scratches covered the entire trunk of the tree. Whatever it was for, it was intricate, the kind of stuff only a former archfiend like Gervais could manage.

"How do we know those runes aren't meant to catch you?" she asked.

"We don't, but if he grabs me and not Abaddon, he's as good as dead."

"Don't get too close to it anyway."

"I'll try not to."

I handed the binoculars back to Rose. Jane came down next to us a moment later.
 

"Where do you want it?" she asked, holding out the trap.

"I'll take it," I said. "Stay back here, out of sight. If I look like I'm in trouble, do something to help me."

"That is all?"

"Unless you have a better idea."

She shook her head and took a couple of steps back.

"Signore," Dante said. "If you are in trouble, I can grab you and get you out, as I did before at the apartment."

"No. I need to stay close to the trap. I can't help Gervais with whatever he's doing if I'm too far away."

"Understood. Please accept my moral support if that is all I may offer."

"Thank you, Dante. I know we've had our moments, but I'm glad you're here."

The poet smiled, even though I wasn't sure how much of that I meant and I didn't know if he could tell I was lying somewhat. "Me too, Landon."

Alyx came bounding through the park less than a minute later, leaping up onto the balcony and returning to human form.
 

"Did you have any trouble?" I asked.

"No, Ma... My love." She smiled at her almost slip. "It seems normal where Abaddon's power has not been. I don't believe Rebecca had time to order the full assault."

"Score one for the home team," I said. "I'm going to check on Gervais and get in position." I opened my arms, taking Alyx in them. "I love you."

"I love you, as well," she said, nuzzling my neck. I closed my eyes, taking in the feel of the contact. "If you die, I will avenge you. Even Abaddon will not be able to stop me."

"I know." I backed away from her. Was that a tear in her eye? I hope she had more confidence in me than that.

"Good luck, Landon," Zifah said.

"Yes, Signore. Good fortune," Dante said.

"Godspeed, Landon," Jane said, handing me the trap.

"Thank you all," I replied, taking it from her. "Be ready for anything."

Then I pushed, leaping from the balcony and coming down a dozen feet from Gervais and his tree.

"Ah, Landon. You have finally arrived," the fiend said. "It took you long enough."

"What is that?" I asked, pointing at the tree.

"My special surprise for Abaddon. Believe it or not, I had prepared it way back when I freed him from Avriel's Box, just in case he was not as amenable to release as I had been hoping. It will distract him."

"Distract him how?"

"Does it matter? When you fight him, get him close to the tree. I will activate the runes, and you will use the few seconds you have to retrieve the Fist and put him in it. Yes?"

I reached out with my power, sending it into the pond and finding the Fist of God there. I didn't trust Gervais. I knew whatever was going to happen; it wasn't going to be everything I was expecting.
 

What choice did I have? I couldn't worry about Abaddon and the fiend.
 

"Okay."

"Good. Good. And Landon, should you die, I will mourn you." He smiled. "I always wanted to be the one to do it, and I don't want to lose this world."

"At least, we can agree on that last part," I said.

"That is Rebecca in there?" Gervais asked, pointing at the trap.

"Yeah, she's in there."

He came close and rapped his knuckles against the lid. The scripture burned him, but he didn't seem to care.

"Serves you right for your failure, Rebecca," he said. "I hope you never get out of there."

I didn't know if she could hear him or not. I pulled the trap away. "Just get in position. He's on his way."

"Of course," Gervais said. He jumped, grabbing the limb of the tree and climbing into the higher branches where he couldn't be seen.

I walked fifty feet away from the tree, staying close to the edge of the pond. I put the trap down on the ground, leaning it against a rock so it would be visible from a distance.
 

Everything was in position.

There was nothing to do but wait.

We didn't wait long.

I knew he was coming long before he appeared. His anger was in full bloom, and the world around him felt his wrath. The sky darkened, the wind picked up, and the grass began to die beneath my feet, everything around me becoming dead at his proximity. I could only guess at the number of innocents who had fallen to his power as he had traveled from Rebecca's apartment. Thousands who had done nothing more than be in his path.

They were unfortunate casualties. I hated to be callous, but their deaths would hopefully save millions of others.

I glanced over at Gervais' tree. It too had succumbed to Abaddon's power, the trunk turning gray, the leaves wilting and hanging from dark branches. Gervais was hiding up in it, and he managed to remain that way despite the change. The runes remained visible and ready, carved into the bark.
 

I stood beside the trap, stone in hand, heart pounding an intense rhythm against my chest. The fear was reaching me as well, and I relaxed my power against it, letting it wash away. I could manage it for now. Would I be able to once he was on top of me?

I looked up to Belvedere Castle. The others had vanished, gaining some distance to escape the power. Was Rose still watching Gervais for me? I hoped so.
 

He crested a small incline, appearing before me, draped in his cloak, its tendrils spreading out two hundred feet ahead of him, writhing and twirling, snapping like snakes or scorpion tails. His face was hidden behind it, his form ethereal and inhuman. I stayed calm. I had to stay calm.
 

It was time.

"You came," I said, as the tendrils shrank back toward him and he neared my position.

"You knew I would come."

"I don't want to fight you."

"Because you know you will lose. This was your challenge, diuscrucis. Your decision to make. I did not ask for this."

"You asked me to destroy you. You made me promise."

"And I released you from that promise."

"I haven't released myself."

He chuckled, soft and low and terrifying. "And you have found a way, now that I wish to survive, to join my Judith in Heaven?"

"I have," I lied. Why not? "God will never let you ascend into His Kingdom. Archangel Michael will also not allow it. He would consider Rebecca, but never you. You destroy all that you touch. All that you become close to."

"That is not my fault. Lucifer made me this way."

"Did he make you destroy Judith when she was still alive?"

His silence was all the answer I needed.
 

"She's here," I said, tapping the trap with my foot. "If you want her, you need to get past me."

"Very well. Let us do battle with honor."

A sword sprouted from his hand, a black thing made of pure evil and death.

The obsidian spatha appeared in mine. I crouched into one of Josette's favorite stances, glancing over at the tree again. I only had to get him close.

He bowed to me, so I returned the gesture.

Then he attacked.

He kept this power contained, at first, coming at me only with the sword. He was good, ridiculously good, and we had done this dance once before. I had lost that time, and within seconds, I knew that if I tried to fight him straight up, I would lose this time as well.

I fell back, barely able to get the spatha in position to deflect a flurry of thrusts and jabs and cuts. I managed to turn my back to the tree, keeping my feet going and doing everything I could to avoid being hit.

"You were better last time," he said, his sword arcing over and nearly cutting through my neck. I barely bent myself to avoid it, kicking my leg out toward his knee, only to find it immovable. I pushed off, throwing myself backward to avoid a second attack, landing on the grass a few feet closer to the tree.

"I don't use the sword much anymore," I said. I was tempted to use my power, to throw him back with it, or pull his legs out from under him. What would be the point? Perhaps he would submit if I stabbed him, or perhaps he would simply release his contained power and batter me to nothing with it.

"It shows."
 

He caught my blade with his, throwing out his hand and catching me in the chest. The blow knocked the wind out of me and sent me another ten feet back toward the tree. I smiled inwardly. He was helping me, and he didn't know it.

Perfect.

I scrambled back to my feet, charging him before he might notice the runes. He brushed my first three attacks aside without effort, but I managed to catch him in the arm with a fancy move Josette had only used when she was sure it would win the day. He cried out in surprise but didn't slow, and I had left myself wide open. The sword came in at my heart.

I pushed against it with my power, throwing his arm wide and ramming him with my shoulder. He stumbled back a few feet and paused.

"It that how you want to fight, diuscrucis?" he asked. He sounded disappointed in me.

"I would have lost right there."

He chuckled darkly again, his power beginning to swirl around him.
 

We were ready for round two.