Extinction (The Divine Book 7) (30 page)

I fell back, screaming, as the power of a son of Satan began pouring into me. I could feel my body convulse, every limb superheating in an instant. I writhed on my feet, holding the blade inside the demon's gut, drawing in every last bit of power.
 

I stumbled as Zifah turned to dust, reaching out and grabbing the wall to brace myself.
 

I took a few heaving breaths and then made my way back into the boutique. The Fist was moving again, bending to lift Adam in its arms and turning toward me.

He didn't look good. His body was steaming, the scripture on the Fist causing him to burn. He stared at me, his eyes dim.

"I thought you left," I said.

"It wouldn't have done me any good to stop the Fist until you were close to Zifah," he replied. "I thought taking them by surprise would be best."

"Turns out it was. You didn't have to take me by surprise."

"I had to get back at you somehow."

He smiled. His body was burning away slowly. "Do you believe in second chances, Landon?" he asked, eyeing Uriel's sword.

I nodded. A long time ago, I had needed a second chance as much as anyone.

"Would you?"

"You might die."

"Whatever happens, it has to be better than the alternative."

"Okay."

He closed his eyes as I drove the tip of Uriel's sword into his chest. I pushed my power into it, feeling his Divine energy gathering, and replacing it with something else. I still didn't know if the transfer would work on a real Divine.
 

As the process was completed, his body healed. Even the metal arm that had been affixed to him fell off, as a replacement limb sprouted from the stump. Finally, his red eyes turned blue once more. He shifted himself, falling from the Fist's cradling posture and standing in front of me.

"Did it work?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think it did," he replied, looking at his new arm. "Amazing."

"You wanted another shot to get back to Heaven," I said.

"You had better stop Sarah then, so I get to take it."

My attention was diverted by cursing outside the storefront. I slipped past Adam and the Fist, leaving the shop and finding Obi holding Gervais by the neck.

"You beat him?" I said.

"Don't sound so surprised, man," he replied. "I'm feeling pretty damn motivated right now." He looked past me. "Since that hunk of metal isn't moving, I assume you got Zifah?"

I could feel the demon's power rippling through me with the rest. I was quickly approaching god-mode if I hadn't reached it already.

"Yup."
 

I approached Gervais.
 

"All that planning. All that scheming. You lost again."

He glared up at me without speaking.

"You have ten seconds of existence left, and you have nothing to say?"
 

"I'll be back, Landon. I always come back."

"Not this time."
 

I shoved Uriel's sword into him, feeling the sharp bite as his power transferred to me. I had never felt more satisfied with anything as I did watching him turn to ash in front of me.

"It seems a little anti-climactic," Obi said. "After all the shit he put you through."

"I don't need drama," I replied.

"You ready to take on Sarah?"
 

"Almost. Not quite."

He was surprised. "You need more power than that?"
 

"No, I don't think so."

"Then what is it?"

I turned back to where the Fist was standing with no one to control it. I approached it, gathering my power as I did. The scripture would protect it, but not enough. Not now. I reached out, wrapping my power around it and pulling. It came apart at the seams, ripping open in a bright flash of light as the sigils tried to protect it and failed.
 

The power allowed me to see her then, her form barely visible against the backdrop of the mortal realm.
 

"Rebecca, don't go," I said.

She looked at me, frightened.
 

"You've done a lot of bad things, but you've done a lot of good things, too," I said.
 

"I only wanted God to love me," she replied.

"You can't force it. You have to earn it."

"I tried."

"Over years. Over the course of a lifetime."

"It's too late. I've done too many things wrong."

"It isn't too late," I said, holding up Uriel's sword. "I can give you another chance. Do you want it?"

Her eyes welled with tears. "Yes," she said.

I jabbed the blade into her. I felt it gain purchase on her otherwise invisible form, my increased power allowing it to cross the space between this realm and that one. I fed my energy through it, changing hers, removing it and replacing it with a new form to house her soul. She materialized back into the real world, as naked as the day she was born.
 

"Oh, man," Obi said. "You look like Bruce Valanch. Good thing we're in a clothing store." He grabbed the nearest thing from one of the racks and handed it over.
 

Rebecca took it, clutching it in front of her, her face flushed with embarrassment. The fact that she was embarrassed was a good sign.
 

"Thank you, Landon," she said. "I know I don't deserve this." Her eyes were wet, the tears rolling down her face.

"Make the most of it," I said. "You won't get any more chances."

"I know."

I turned to Obi. "Do you want me to leave you here with them, or drop you somewhere?"

"What do you mean?"
 

"I know where Sarah is," I said. "I know where every Divine on the planet is. I can feel them all. Sense them all."

"You're going to go to her?"

"No. She's going to come to me. But not here."

Obi looked at Adam and Rebecca. "I'll stay," he said. "These two will need a little help getting settled."

"Okay. In that case, wish me luck."

"Good luck, man," Obi said, stepping forward and man-hugging me.

I clapped him on the back, and then stepped away, looking over the three of them one last time.
 

Then I went somewhere else.

The where was a split-second decision. I needed a place where there wouldn't be too many people, and where a battle between two powerful entities wouldn't cause a lot of collateral damage. At the same time, Sarah was still part mortal. She couldn't withstand the extreme temperatures of a place like Death Valley or the North Pole.

Instead, I ended up standing in the middle of the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. It was as good a place as any, and a better place because it was wide, open, and flat. I would be able to see Sarah coming from miles away, long before she arrived.

Not that it mattered. With my increase in power, I could already see Sarah coming. I could feel the power of every Divine in the mortal realm, and she was easy to spot. Her signature was different from all of the others. Instead of running hot or cold, she was even and plain, a white light instead of a colored one. Could she sense my power in return? Would she have continued approaching if she could?

She had said I was the problem, that my existence was throwing the balance out of balance for as much as I attempted to steady it. So much of my experience over the last few months had proven it to be true. It was something I knew in my soul. Something I could feel. At the same time, I also knew now that my return to the fight had been necessary. I also had a niggling feeling that there was a higher power behind it. That God wasn't just on my side now, but that He had been on my side all along, even as the angels had sought to get rid of me with the Fist.

It was all conjecture, but standing out on the salted plains watching Sarah swoop in on wings of red and gold, I had the feeling He wanted me to fix what Gervais had broken.

He wanted me to stop Sarah, to return her to what she was always supposed to be, and in turn, make right all that had been wrong since Dante's decision first to send back Charis, and then me.

At least, that's what I was coming to believe.

"Brother," Sarah said, as she fell from the sky, landing smoothly a dozen feet away.

"Sarah," I replied. "Thanks for coming."

"You didn't leave me any choice."

"You had a choice. You could have come to London. You could have interfered there."

I didn't know why she hadn't. A vision, I assumed.
 

"Too many innocents," she replied. "Too many mortals in harm's way."

It wasn't the answer I was expecting, but I appreciated it. She wasn't a monster, not by mortal standards. She wasn't looking to kill regular men and women.
 

Only Divine.
 

"I don't want to fight you," I said.

"I don't want to fight you, either," she replied. "If you submit to me, if you allow me to do what I need to do, we don't have to."

"You know I can't do that. You'll destroy the mortal world. People need Heaven and Hell, even if they don't know it."

Her wings spread out wide behind her, the razor edges gleaming in the sunlight.
 

"Then let us-"

I hit her with my power. All of it with one blow. It pummelled into her, enough to knock her over, to send her sliding backward across the salt nearly a quarter of a mile. It wasn't meant to hurt her, not yet. It was meant to send a message.

She wasn't immune to my power anymore.

She returned to her feet, taking to the air and launching toward me like a bullet. I could feel the onrush of displacing air as she charged, and I gathered my power again, throwing it out like a net. I wrapped her up in it, turning and throwing her away from me. She shot aside again, tumbling end over end before regaining herself.
 

I drew Uriel's blade, holding it in front of me, waiting for her to strike again.

I didn't wait long. She swooped in, the speed of it breaking the sound barrier and causing a thunderous clap as she arrived. I pushed myself up and back, reaching the sky, closing the distance with her.
 

We were both airborne, locked in melee. Her wings served to both hold her aloft and make rapid strikes against me, while I held tight with my power, bringing it to bear to keep my skyward while parrying her attacks and looking for an opening.
 

Her left wing came in at my neck, and I slapped it aside while her right targeted my gut. I blocked that one too, caught by surprise as her fist came in, nearly hitting me in the nose. I faded from this realm to avoid it, becoming vapor just long enough to avoid the blow. She crinkled her eyebrows in surprise anger, flipping backward and coming to rest on the plains once more.
 

I followed behind, landing a few feet away.

"You put yourself at a severe disadvantage, letting me reach Gervais. I took Rebecca's power." I blinked from the mortal realm to that one for a moment. I didn't seem to be able to remain there to take advantage of the time difference, but it was still useful enough.

"Did I?" she asked.
 

I heard the rumble in the distance and realized my mistake.

I pushed out my power, circling it around me as a dozen missiles honed in on me, fired by the Nicht Creidem forces she had rallied. I had been so busy watching the Divine, I had neglected her allies in the fight, as well as the firepower they had to bear. Explosions rocked off my Divine shield, the force of it threatening my concentration. I found the beacon attached to my arm, planted there during the skyward duel and threw it to the ground. Then I teleported, crossing to the other side of the Flats in an instant.

I saw the helicopters in the distance, an entire squadron of them approaching with Nicht Creidem on board.
 

The missiles had been little more than a distraction, what could they do?

I turned as Sarah swooped down on me, taking advantage of that distraction, barely getting my blade up in time to knock aside an approaching wing. She stepped up her assault, coming in faster and more furious than I could believe. I used my power to leap backward, keeping time with her offensive as the choppers continued closing in.
 

There was no respite from her assault. No time to do anything but defend. I ducked and jerked, blocked and dodged, in awe of her Divine energy while at the same time fearing that for all I had collected, it still wasn't enough. She continued coming, relentless in her pursuit, even as I began teleporting across the field.

She was fast, so fast, her wings carrying her to my new location within seconds, forcing me back into defense without a break. Her demonic side made her a natural born killer, a predator, a huntress.

The Nicht Creidem drew nearer, the choppers circling us. I could see the pilots watching us fight, ready to move at a moment's notice. What were they doing here? They couldn't shoot at me again without risking Sarah.

At least, that was what I thought before the bullet hit me.

It came as a single crack from one of the choppers. I saw the muzzle flash, and a moment later something big and heavy hit me in the chest, blasting right through me and causing flesh and bone to explode away. I cried out, falling back, losing my balance at the sniper's ambush. I fell to the ground as Sarah landed on top of me, her wings sweeping forward for the kill.