Lucca (37 page)

Gideon glanced at Lucca. Of all the
Watchers, Gideon stood up for him, had faith in him the longest,
but Gideon’s eyes were shadowed with doubt. None of the Watcher’s
truly trusted him. All Kasadya had to do is drop a few
incriminating words to make them question his loyalty and they fell
for it.

What did he expect? He had been banished
from the Watchers’ realm, and with good reasons.

Lucca turned away. He couldn’t join their
fight. He had his own to contend to. He withdrew his sword and
waited for his father to come at him. He’d keep Juliet safe as long
as he could. She stood on the stage doing her best to reverse the
spell and release Raziel. He heard the Archangel speaking to her.
Maybe he had a plan of his own to break the spell, but with the
clanking of metal and screams of the injured and dying, he couldn’t
make out what the Archangel was saying to her.

Arizul swooped down from the sky and landed
before him with his sword raised. Lucca once thought his father a
fearsome warrior, but now he looked worn and used. His wings had
lost their radiance, his hair looked matted and unwashed, and his
eyes were dimmer, missing the usual piercing fire beneath his
gaze.

A scar on his father’s neck drew his
attention. The raw flesh had yet to completely heal. “Who’s been
sucking on your neck? I’d say your girlfriend’s been a little
rough.”

His father’s sudden vicious flash of hatred
made him flinch. Yet he shouldn’t have been surprised. His father
never looked upon him with anything other than loathing. “All we
want is the book, Lucca,” his father said, as if all this mayhem
was his fault.

“Tsk, tsk. Everyone wants the book, but I
believe I’ll give it back to the original owner.”

“Raziel doesn’t need it,” he snarled, his
anger simmering near the top, ready to explode. “In a few moments
he’ll no longer exist.”

Lucca frowned, but he didn’t have time to
wonder what his father meant by those words.

Arizul made a growling sound in the back of
his throat and his fangs lengthened. “You’ve been a disappointment
to me from the day you were born.”

Lucca wasn’t a cowering little boy anymore
and he didn’t need his father’s approval to be the man he wanted to
be. His father sided with evil. He’d like to say he was surprised,
but the argument remained tucked away since the truth was evidence
enough.

Out of the corner of his eye, Lucca saw
Kasadya strode forward, his attention on Raziel as he lifted his
arms. Words like a song, high pitched but beautiful, rose above the
fighting. It was the language of the Angels, but the words were not
a prayer, but a curse. Raziel fell to his knees, covering his ears.
Lucca ignored his father and went after Kasadya. He swung his
sword, but the Satan sensed his intent and turned his magic on him.
The blast sent him flying back. He hit hard against the bleachers,
but he ignored the pain and jumped to his feet again.

Kasadya strode toward him. He was tall and
dark in coloring, a being not to be crossed, but Lucca kept his
sword poised anyway.

Arizul flanked the Satan and waited there
for him to give an order. Kasadya inhaled deeply, expanding his
chest as he did so. “Your son is purer than you, Arizul. His aura
is like breathing in clean air,” Kasadya said, surprising Lucca.
Sure he could fit the bill of a purer person than his father, but
so could a murderer on death row. “You didn’t quite beat the
humanity out of him, did you, Arizul?” Kasadya’s voice dropped to a
purposeful octave as he smiled.

Not from lack of trying,
Lucca
thought, but he kept the information to himself. Terror was a new
emotion for him, but looking into Kasadya’s eyes filled with the
promise of torture made his skin crawl. He wanted to back away, but
his feet felt as if they’d been encased in cement. He had a hunch
Kasadya held him under his power, pinned him like a butterfly on a
corkboard. If his wings hadn’t been bound, he feared Kasadya would
find great joy in plucking each feather from his back.

“Where is the book, Lucca?” his voice hissed
like a snake.

“Who conjured you from your prison?” Raziel
demanded. The Archangel wasn’t free from his confines yet, but his
attempt to draw Kasadya away from Lucca was commendable.

Kasadya leveled his gaze at the Archangel.
“Raziel, my dear brethren, I don’t believe it is any of your
concern. You never called me after my sentencing. You never wrote.”
He spoke in a singsong voice. “A true friend would have done both.”
His jovial persona didn’t fool anyone when his eyes blazed to a
cool red.

Raziel took a step, but the magical cage
barred him from continuing forward.

Kasadya chuckled. “You’ve been witch
trapped. Isn’t it utterly splendid? Don’t worry, I’ll deal with you
next.”

Lucca caught sight of Zaiden and Eli who had
managed to break away from one onslaught, but came up short when
four more demons took their place. Blaize fought two demons by
himself. Gideon shot off arrows as fast as he could, but the
shadows were moving in on him.

The Shadow demons wore armor. Lucca hadn’t
noticed it before, but now he could see the outlines of the
breastplates. Their daggers gleamed bright in their hands as they
slashed without remorse.

Lucca had come here tonight believing
Barachiel was the enemy. Now he would take the Archangel of
Lightning over Kasadya, the angel of torture and death.

Kasadya returned his attention back to
Lucca. “You will join me. You have nothing left for you here. Your
brethren only had your wings bound, but after this betrayal…” he
let the unsaid words hang there like a gauntlet. Kasadya held out
his hand.

The restraints holding Lucca vanished as if
the offer had released him, giving him the choice.
Free
will
, he thought, and his gaze waivered over to Juliet, her
face a mask of worry for him. Even when his loyalty hovered in
question, she stood by him. He turned back to Kasadya and raised
the sword to eye level. “I think not.”

Kasadya let his hand drop as he threw back
his head with a roar of laughter. “Do you think your little toy
will harm me?”

Lucca planned on finding out. He stepped
forward with intent to thrust the weapon into Kasadya’s heart, but
before the blade could make it’s mark, the Satan waved his hand as
if he flicked an annoying fly aside. Lucca’s sword burned golden
red, heat rising from it as if he’d thrust it into flames. He lost
his grip on the weapon, his palms blistering from trying to hang
onto it.

Lucca cursed under his breath. He backed
away, but came up short. His father had circled around behind him.
He didn’t have to see it to know his father’s fine thin-tipped
dagger pressed into his back. The blade could easily slip between
his ribs and pierce the heart. He held still. His eyes found
Juliet’s again. He wanted to see her face when his father ended his
life.

“Call Barachiel,” she shouted to him, but
with the roar of the fight, he could only read her lips.

His brows furrowed for a moment then
realized what she meant. Why hadn’t he thought of this sooner? He
grasped his arm, covering the tattoo as he commanded an audience.
Lightning sizzled across the sky like a crack opening the heavens.
Thunder clamored louder than the fight that ensued.

The Archangel had heard the call.

Kasadya glanced heavenward with a curse. He
moved swiftly like a whirl of black silk and smoke. His hand took
hold of Lucca’s arm in a crushing grip that made him cry out in
pain. Kasadya uttered words Lucca didn’t recognize, a chant of some
sort. He swung his free arm in hope of throwing Kasadya off guard
and making him lesson his grip, but Kasadya only increased his
hold, bringing him to his knees.

Juliet screamed for him, but the roaring in
his head drowned out her words. The bones in his arms snapped as
Kasadya crushed them. His vision went in and out, the black taking
over before he blinked it away again. He glanced up seeing a
glimmer of hope, but as the sky opened up for Barachiel’s arrival,
Kasadya shimmered Lucca away from the human realm. Lucca’s only
triumph was that the Satan had left Owen behind.

Chapter Forty-Four

The Shadow demons slithered back into the
crevice in the earth. Smoke choked the amphitheatre with a sulfuric
glaze, making those left behind gag on their own spit.

“The demons are leaving.” Blaize forced the
words out between hacking coughs.

Barachiel stood in a golden shimmer of
light, his weapon poised. He had arrived swooping down to chase the
demons back to the open portal. He closed the opening as the last
Shadow demon disappeared within the void.

Juliet ran to Owen, scooping him up in her
arms. The boy moaned. His eyes fluttering open to stare up at her.
“It’s okay,” she told him. “You’re safe.” Owen’s eyes opened fully
now and he threw his arms around her in a fierce hug.

Zaiden wiped his face with the back of his
hand as he searched the amphitheatre. “Where’s Lucca?”

Barachiel’s gaze swept the perimeter. “He is
no longer here in this realm.” He then leveled a look on the
Archangel in the witch’s trap. “You have been avoiding us,
Raziel.”

Raziel’s dark gaze didn’t lighten as he
stared at Barachiel, but he didn’t defend himself either.

Zaiden fumed in a pace of frustration.
“Lucca tricked us.”

“So it would seem,” Barachiel said, egging
on the situation for no particular reason. “I am on your side,
Nephilim. I want justice, too. Two humans unbalanced the portals.”
He shook his head dismay. “Kasadya is free because of it. The
timeline cannot be changed without consequences.”

Raziel’s silver blue eyes frosted with
anger. “You are wrong.”

“Am I?” Barachiel lifted his brows.

“Why should we believe you,” Zaiden
countered. “You, or one of your Archangel friends, fried two Time
Guardians. How do we know you weren’t responsible for releasing
Kasadya, too?”

Barachiel’s expression showed his annoyance
at being questioned. “I have not fried the Time Guardians. That was
Kasadya’s doing.”

“Angel fire was used. Only Archangels
possess it.” Zaiden lifted his brows. “Go ahead, talk your way out
of this one.”

“You know nothing, Nephilim. We knew the
Time Guardians were jeopardized when the portal for the underworld
opened. We traced the breach to Arizul, but Kasadya cloaked
him.”

“An Archangel tortured the Guardians for
answers,” Gideon accused. “I read the imprint.”

“You’re a clairvoyant,” he said with
surprise.

“Yes,” Gideon said not backing down.

Barachiel looked away first. “Leroy had a
vision of Arizul and Kasadya using them to free the other Satans. I
was making sure he remembered everything before I released
him.”

“They do not know of Apparitions,” Raziel
said. “And did you find out everything you wanted?”

Barachiel turned his look on Raziel. “No, if
I had, I’d know where your offspring is hiding.”

Raziel shook his head. “Tell the Watcher why
you had to free the Apparitions. Go on. Tell them how it was you
who tipped off Kasadya who the Time Guardians were. You’re so
obsessed in finding my child, you don’t care who you harm in the
process.”

Barachiel looked like he wanted to kill
Raziel. His eyes blazed brighter and his hand rose.

“Tsk, tsk,” Raziel shook a finger at him.
“Michael won’t like it if you fry me.” He sat down on the stage,
sitting with his legs crossed in a comfortable manner. “Finish the
story.”

Barachiel looked at the Watchers. “The Time
Guardians inhabit human hosts, so that they grow old as the human’s
do, but once they’re compromised they must be released to be
reborn. We needed new hosts lined up and a quick extraction. I got
to Leroy first, but Kasadya took out Purcible before I had the
chance to release him. I’m sure Kasadya’s intent wasn’t to let the
Apparition go, but his over zealous torturing accomplished the
freeing process anyway. Leroy and Purcible are inhabiting new
bodies.”

“Did anyone see what happened to Lana? She’s
gone.” Everyone turned toward Ryden. She’d come down from her
perch, atop the bleachers to see if her cousin survived Kasadya’s
attack. Apparently she had. Eli was covered in demon blood, but
Ryden didn’t care as she eased into his embrace.

“The witch slinked out without my notice,”
Raziel said. “But I can assure you, Lucca did not go with Kasadya
willingly.” He met Zaiden’s gaze and held it with a challenge.

Zaiden’s nostrils flared, looking as if he
wanted to say more, but Blaize interrupted him.

“Raziel is right. Lucca gave the code that
he was in trouble.”

“What code,” Eli asked.

“Poet was our code word back in the day. He
told Kasadya the poet had the book.”

“So he used a code word. What does that
mean? Does Lucca have Raziel’s book or not?” Sarice demanded. Her
hands were on her hips, her gaze pinning her brother down for the
answer.

“He has it. And before you ask, I have no
idea where he hid it.”

“I might be able to answer that.”

All eyes turned toward Eli.

“Lucca gave the book to me.”

Chapter Forty-Five

Zaiden, Sarice, Blaize, and Juliet returned
to Gideon’s apartment. The Guard of Judgment, who had been in
charge to watch over Owen was nowhere to be seen. Either he was in
league with Lana or they had yet to find his ashes. Zaiden would do
a thorough search later. They had more pressing issues at hand.

While Eli and Ryden informed the elders of
what transpired, they were planning their next course of action.
The discussion ended up turning into a yelling match as the night
wore on.

Owen sat up, sleepy eyed. After his ordeal,
he’d fallen asleep on the couch. He yawned before focusing his gaze
on Juliet. “Why is everyone shouting, Auntie Jules?”