Hellsbane 01 - Hellsbane (20 page)

“Teach me,” someone yelled from the corner. “I want to be an angel, too.”

His gaze shifted to the tables, the ticket holders eager, sitting on the edges of their seats. “My children, those prepared to rise higher, come forth,” he said. “Let my spirit enrich yours so that you might enrich others. Together we will alter humanity as a whole and complete the evolutionary struggle.”

Everyone seated in the front row of tables stood and a steel cord of nerves knotted in my gut. This was it—my chance to be near enough to the fallen angel to strike. But how close could I get before being discovered? I’d resisted the brainwashing power he was pushing through the audience, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep my thoughts straight the closer I got. Still, I had to try. I held my breath and filed along with the others toward the stage, forming two long lines. I followed like I knew the drill.

“Blessed are you. For you are in the presence of angels,” Hubert said to the rest of the room. “Behold, these once mortal men and women. They are without illness, without worry, without doubt. They are Dominions and Powers, the second order of angels here on earth. They follow the path I lead, rising higher and higher, and soon will be one with me at my side.”

The first two in line stepped up onstage, and Hubert reached out, taking their hands. The threesome closed their eyes, lowered their heads.

To the ignorant skeptic, this was all a huge crock. Hubert was a con artist scamming these people out of their hard-earned money. Looking at the three people standing onstage, a skeptic would claim they’d been swept up in Hubert’s elaborate production, compelled to play along. Who could tell?

I could. I could feel his power stretching out to the two unmarked nephilim, seeping into them, searching, tempting, calling to that part of them that was so familiar to him. Like calling like. I stood in line, the truth dawning. He was calling up their angel halves without triggering the illorum mark.

If he succeeded, they’d be nearly as powerful as angels without even knowing it. He’d be in control of them. His own army of human angels.

“I don’t think so.” I drew my sword, willing the blade to form.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

I couldn’t let a thing like Richard Hubert build his own superhuman army. The burning flesh sensation on my wrist began to ease. Like the nausea, it was a warning, sounding and then dissipating.

The weight of my sword settled perfectly in my palm, loose at my side. I stepped out of line, heading toward center stage with long, even strides. People glanced, eyes going from my face to my sword, alarm rising through their bodies as I passed. I didn’t stop, coming dead center, stepping up in unison with the next two nephilim in line.

The first pair was finished, already walking offstage. I could feel their power, same as mine, snaking out of them, twining through people, through minds, exploring. Power with no direction, no purpose—raw and dangerous. Placing these people in the hands of a Fallen angel seemed the worst possible fate.

The ballroom erupted the moment those farther back caught sight of my sword. Screams echoed through the hall, catching and spreading like fire in a windstorm as more and more people noticed.
Sheesh, it’s not like it’s a gun. No one is going to get hit by a stray swing
.
Probably
.

Metal doors banged against the brick walls, frightened people slamming through them, running for safety. Most of the nephilim stood their ground, Hubert having thoroughly screwed with their brains so they valued his Hell-bound life more than their own. They rushed onstage to gather around their personal archangel when most everyone else was running the other way.

The smell of brimstone turned my stomach a second before demon hands latched around both my arms. I glanced behind me. The demons were on either side, both dressed in the same Sherwani jackets as Hubert, peach and purple respectively. The one on my left was a few pounds lighter than his partner, but they were muscle, nothing more. Of course they weren’t going to let me get close enough to strike.

Didn’t matter. That’s not why I’d stepped forward.

“Illorum,” Hubert said, parting the protective wall of human nephilim in front of him so there was no one directly between us. “I’m so glad you decided to join the ceremony. I thought you might never move into action. I do hope you’re not planning anything…unfortunate.”

“Who, me?” I said, feigning innocence. Then I sobered up. “Archangel? Seriously? You’re lucky God hasn’t struck you down already.”

His brows shot up, surprised. He laughed. “God? Oh, you are new, aren’t you?”

Crap
. And here I’d been going for cocky experience.

“If God were going to raise a finger against me, if He could, don’t you think He would have by now?” Hubert said. “There’s no God here. The creature you speak of abandoned this world eons ago. He was impotent. These people have no need of a God so powerless that He’d allow the atrocities of mortal life to keep them stunted and unable to evolve into the masters of their own destiny, Gods in their own worlds.”

“Yeah, I don’t really know about all that garbage, but I do know you’re wrong about one thing. God has raised a finger against you.” I shrugged. “Here I am. Guess which finger.”

“Indeed,” he said. “Do you believe you’ll leave here alive?”

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, I’m pretty sure I will.” It’d be easier if I wasn’t surrounded by demons, with one of them squeezing his nails into my arm.

“Better illorum than you have tried.”

“You don’t know that,” I said.

“You’re right. I don’t know how good you are.” He clasped his hands behind him. “How good are you, my lovely, young illorum?”

Maybe it was me, but my brain went straight into the gutter.
Good at what?
I wanted to be grossed out. I mean, he was only one step above a demon from Hell. Right? But I was learning demons don’t always look…y’know, hellish. Fallen or not, Richard Hubert definitely had the alluring angel thing down.

It wasn’t just his muscled, manly stature, or his heart-melting, cool angel-blue eyes, or his smooth as silk voice, or even those shimmering golden locks a girl could lose her fingers in. It was…
him
. Call it charisma, charm, mojo, whatever, the guy had it in spades. Those cobalt eyes focused on me made my heart pound a little faster, made muscles low inside me warm and flex.

I liked having his attention. I liked having him talk to me, ignoring everyone else. I wanted to keep his notice. I wanted to hear him say my name. I wanted to see his lips turn to a smile for me, because of me. I wanted to be special to him.

Even knowing it was wrong, knowing his angelic powers were working me hard and fast, didn’t make it any easier to snap out of it. And knowing that pissed me off.

Apparently, anger is an amazing motivator for me. “Tell you what, have your demon dog let go of my arm, and I’ll show you how good I am.”

The bodyguard still holding my sword arm jerked me hard enough I stumbled back a step. I tried to yank my arm free, but he held firm, his fingers digging deeper.

“My apologies,” Hubert said. “Mr. Imad and Mr. Jalil are compelled by a fierce love and loyalty to me. They fear for my safety. To dissuade them would be to insult them.”

I scoffed. “Loyalty. Right. Why not? You got their banished asses out of the abyss.”

Another hard jerk, and I thought I heard something tear under the skin on my shoulder. Pain stabbed up to my brain, but I clamped my teeth down and kept my yelp bottled up.

“I did for them what I would do for any one of my brothers. Though I cannot say the gesture would be returned in kind.”

I huffed. “Oh, I’ve got a gesture for you.”

“We are judged and sentenced by a small group of elitists ruling by ignorance and fear,” he said, ignoring my comment. “The Council of Seven has no authority. There is no unseen God for whom they speak. It’s all been an elaborate hoax, and those of us who’ve refused to live by their oppressive, separatist rules have been cast out.”

“So, let me get this straight. It’s not God who smacked you down for raping human women and screwing with their minds. It’s just a bunch of jealous, uptight angels.” My hand adjusted for a firmer grip on the hilt of my sword. “And, why? To keep humans from evolving into what? You, right?” Disgust made an ugly noise at the back of my throat.

“They are hypocritical fools, using our progeny to do what they haven’t the strength or stomach to do themselves,” Hubert said.

“If you weren’t raping women, there’d be no progeny to send after you.”

“It is only rape if the female is unwilling.”

“It’s rape if the woman doesn’t have a choice,” I said, feeling my growing ire tightening my jaw. “Using your angelic charms is like drugging a woman. You take away her ability to think clearly, to make an informed, balanced decision. That’s rape.”

“That’s seduction,” he countered smoothly. “It’s no different than a handsome man’s smile, an eloquent man’s poetry, an endowed man’s prowess.”

“Except a woman can ignore a handsome smile or a snappy come-on line. When it comes to angelic mojo, a girl doesn’t stand a chance.”

“You seem to be having no difficulty denying the effect.”

My mouth snapped shut, and my brain flinched. He was right. I still felt the seductive draw from him, the desire to be the center of his world, to be touched and kissed and…touched by him. But I wasn’t about to chuck everything—family, friends, divine mission—and throw myself into his arms.

I could say no.

“I understand your concern.” His voice was softer now, as though he’d sensed my brain’s falter. “I share that concern. For eons, your species has been kept stilted and unchanging. The moment my brothers realized you would one day evolve to become equal to them, they began doing all they could to alter humanity’s course. Spreading false propaganda, twisting truths, and casting out those of us who would stand against them, chaining us in the bowels of the earth where our outcries can’t be heard.”

“And yet you stand here, surrounded by bastardized human and angel offspring, triggering powers in them they aren’t near capable of controlling or understanding,” I said. A few of the nephilim looked as though they were following the conversation; most stared like guard dogs waiting to pounce.

“These beautiful souls are the next step in human evolution.” He opened his hands, gesturing to the men and women crowding around him. “Their mothers were chosen to take our seed, to advance humanity. With my help, we’ve compensated for valuable evolutionary time. With my help, our children will become so much more.”

I loved my mom. She was the best. But she was just a normal woman, and this guy was full of it. “What if they’re not ready? What if by forcing evolution you’re skipping a natural, necessary progression? It’s like pushing a newborn bird out of the nest. Just because it’s got wings doesn’t mean it knows how to fly. You can’t give these people angelic power without teaching them how to use it.”

“Was your education so vast? Would you have your powers stripped because your magister’s teachings were lacking?” he said. “Are you any better, any more deserving, any more capable than these people? You would deny them the very thing that gives you confidence to stand here and argue your point with an angel? How very hypocritical of you.”

“I didn’t ask for these powers,” I said. “I didn’t ask to be chased by demons, to have my friend slaughtered right in front of me, to have my family put at risk, my life turned upside down.”

“That is not what I’m offering these people.” He took a step closer, and the crowd around him held their collective breath. Tension spiked, like air pushed into an over-inflated balloon. “I’m offering them the chance to be a part of the greatest thing mankind has seen since the birth of civilization. I am giving them the power to bring Heaven to Earth and live as the gods they were destined to be. I’d offer that same gift to you, if you’d take it.”

“Me?” Maybe he forgot why I was there.

“Yes,” he said. “There’s something about you. Something…different. Your power feels more like my own, more pure.”

My thoughts slowed, a dull ache starting behind my eyes, pressure building. It came on fast, pushed against my eyeballs and stuffed my ears. And then it was gone.

“You have a strong will…Emma Jane. No surprise you can resist my charms.”

He’d probed my mind. That’s what the sensation had been—he’d taken my name from my thoughts. Understanding dawned quickly. He’d forced his will, pushed his way through. That’s why it had hurt. I couldn’t stop him, hadn’t even thought to try. Who knew what other information he’d stolen?

Anger washed over me, thumping through my chest. He had no right. “Stay the hell out of my head, Fallen.”

His soft, pink lips curled into a smile, cocky—confident. “I was right. You are different. My, your father was clever.”

“My father was an engineer. He was a good man. A
human
. The bastard that raped my mother will be rotting in the abyss before long.”

“Such harsh, angry words from someone so curious, so unsure,” he said. “I can answer your questions, Emma Jane. I can help you understand, show you the truth. Join me, and I can help you become a force of nature.”

Questions? So many rattled through my brain, questions I didn’t want to think about. Could he tell me why this was happening to me, what it all meant? Will I ever be forgiven for what I am if I can’t find and kill my Fallen father? If I’m too sullied for Heaven and too angelic for hell, where do I belong? Who will want me?

The Fallen had looked inside me, deeper than anyone ever had. He knew the questions I’d been trying not to ask, scared of what the answers might be. If I was damned no matter what, did I want to know?

Yes
. I wanted to know. I wanted it so badly, the temptation of his offer tied my stomach in knots. I didn’t like
wanting
this much.

I clenched my fist, my gaze sliding to the demon holding my sword arm. Our eyes met, his so human no one would know by looking what he was. The hate I felt for him, for Hubert, for myself, choked at the back of my throat, and I let it fuel my glare. I jerked my shoulder, and he let me go.

“Your power is remarkable,” Hubert said. “I’d begun to doubt if such a pure melding of human and angelic spirit was even possible. But with your sword at my side, the mighty will kneel before us, and more like you will rise.”

My gaze slid back to him, and the hate inside me flared. The memory of Tommy bleeding to death in my arms stormed through my mind, of my mother seduced by a wicked angel, of these people, consumed by power they shouldn’t have. I wanted to stop him, to make him pay.

“I’m not here to join you,” I said, my voice deadly calm. “I’m here to take your head.”

The Fallen angel stiffened. I could see the war waging inside him, survival instincts urging him to put distance between us and pride refusing to show the weakness.
Good
.

“You’re mistaken, illorum,” he said. “You will join me or
you
will die this day. Either way, you’ve done more than you can possibly realize. My brothers will know our mission is within our grasp. We can birth an army formidable enough to put asunder the walls of Heaven.”

“Not if I kill the messenger. Ready to see how good I am now?” I raised my sword, both hands tight on the grip, blade high, ready to swing with every ounce of angelic force pumping through my veins.

Hubert didn’t budge. The conflict I’d seen in his eyes a moment ago was gone. His gaze was cold, devoid of emotion—ice. “You’re a fool.”

Maybe
.

Movement at the far corners of my eyes made me look. One side, and then the other. I was surrounded.

Demons, I guessed, judging by the pungent cloud of brimstone steaming off them. They stood shoulder to shoulder in a tight circle around us. The brainwashed nephilim huddled close to Hubert’s shoulder in front of me, making it difficult to land a blow without slicing my sword through one of them first. I’d manage.

“You will join me, Emma Jane,” he said. “I can let no other have you as mother to their legions.”

“Mother?” My brain shifted through all the possible implications. “Oh, hell no. Dude, trust me, you are never going to touch this.”