Soul Conquered (18 page)

Noah

Screw the press conference. Screw
Lucifer for trying to distract me by keeping me busy with this media circuit. Media
circus
is more like it. His plan may be working, but I’ve also realized
something. I thought I still wanted to rule, but that isn’t what’s important
anymore. Not if I can’t protect the people I love. And I don’t want to be
anything like Lucifer.

It’s all pomp and circumstance with him. Illusion and fear.
Manipulation to gain control.

Why?

If you have ultimate power like that, why mess with people’s
heads? Why not just pull out the fire and brimstone and take over?

It’s clear Lucifer doesn’t care about righting wrongs by
punishing people in Hell. No—he’s doing it all for some ulterior purpose.
And whatever that purpose is, one thing is for sure: he hates humans. And
anyone who was once human.

He believes he’s better than the rest of us.

He’s wrong.

I wanted to clear the air with my sister before I had it out
with Lucifer, but it looks like she’s busy with her own little drama. Not that
I want to think about my sister and what she’s planning on doing. Yuck.

The important thing is to find Lucifer before he finds Keira
and tries to punish her again. It isn’t her fault I took the dagger.

When I get to the lobby, I’m surprised to find it empty. My
first thought is that I’m late for my own press conference and that everyone is
in the ballroom waiting for a guy who isn’t coming. But when I check my watch,
I see that I still have fifteen minutes.

Wait—I
had
fifteen minutes three minutes ago,
when I left Grace and the James Dean-wannabe, and this watch is precise to the
second. Lucifer made sure of that. I tap it. Nothing. The second hand’s not
even moving.

This has Lucifer written all over it.

I race forward from the elevator, searching for a clue as to
what’s happening. It doesn’t take long to find it.

In the lobby, Lucifer and some tall black dude with a bald
head are facing off, circling each other like two guys in a street fight.
Lucifer’s eyes flash with blue lightning, and his lips are curled in a snarl. The
other man appears calm—even kind—but intense. Keira stands behind
Lucifer, looking lost and afraid. No one else is around, not even the people
who work here.

Who is this guy facing off with Lucifer? I’m jogging toward
them when the ground buckles beneath me. The entire structure rumbles and
shakes like a giant earthquake just hit, but I doubt this is a natural disaster
based on Lucifer’s face, which is scrunched up with intense loathing.

I dodge and roll to the left to avoid a fissure that cracks
right through the marble flooring. When the shaking pauses, I jump up and dash
forward. I have to find out who this dude is and how he’s impacting my plans
for Lucifer. “Hey!” I shout. If I get their attention, maybe they’ll stop
destroying the place long enough for me to reach them.

“Hey! What’s going on here? Who are you?” I ask the bald
guy, coming to a stop next to Lucifer and strategically blocking Keira from
view. Maybe she’ll be able to sneak away.

“Good evening, Noah. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”
The guy’s voice is deep and echoes in the open space. There’s something
pleasant about it that makes me want to smile.

I resist the urge. I’m still trying to assess whether this
guy is a helpful distraction or a bigger threat than Lucifer to the rest of us.

“My name is Michael Griffith, and I’m here to chat with my
old friend.”

Chat? That didn’t feel like a chat.

I glance at Lucifer, searching for a hint, but he keeps his
gaze fixed and deadly on this Griffith guy, who directs his attention to
Lucifer again.

“All I want is to reclaim what’s mine. Give me Grace. If you
cast her from Hell, I can take her back to where she belongs,” Griffith says.

“You cast her out of Heaven. She’s mine now. And if she does
her job, Josh will be, too.” Lucifer ignores me and continues to circle. He
throws out a hand and the earth shakes again. Griffith mirrors him, and thunder
cracks
above, so close that it sounds as though the ceiling might split.

“You’re going to destroy the hotel. Let’s all take a step
back and be reasonable,” I say, hoping one of them will listen. This is clearly
about more than my sister.

“Yes, Lucifer. Be reasonable,” Griffith says.

More violent shaking ensues. Keira squeals, and I turn to
find her backed into the wall, fissures opening all around her until she’s
standing on a tiny island of marble.

“Stop it!” I scream, turning back at them.

The bald man drops his hand. “This should stop,” he agrees.

“You cannot stop what’s already set in motion, Michael,”
Lucifer snaps.

“I’m simply trying to right some wrongs that I made, starting
with Grace,” Michael says in a reasonable voice.

“I take it you’re from upstairs,” I say, trying to distract
them and diffuse the situation before they accidentally hurt Keira. Or worse.

Michael smiles at me. “Yes. You could say that.”

“He’s not supposed to be down here,” Lucifer says just as
Grace and Josh race over to join us from the stairwell. Guess the shaking
interrupted their private time.

“No. I am not. And I accept the consequences.”

“What consequences?” Grace asks, searching Josh, then Keira,
then myself for answers. I’m as confused as she is.

“Tell her,” Lucifer says with a sneer.

“I cannot return to Heaven once I’ve descended to Earth. I
made a choice, and I do not regret it.”

Everyone gasps—well, everyone except me. I’m still
trying to catch up.

“No!” shouts Josh. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t feel like wasting time arguing with you,” Michael
says with a chuckle. “Nothing you could have said would have changed my mind,
Josh.”

I motion for Keira while they’re all distracted, and she
leaps across the fissure and into my arms, where I steady her against me. She’s
frightened, and I’m not sure if it’s because of Lucifer or the presence of this
guy from above. Either way, I press her close and bury my lips in her hair,
rocking her slowly back and forth. It feels so good to have her in my arms.

“Well, you’ve doomed yourself for no reason because you will
never have her back!” Lucifer screams, and rubble begins to fall from the
ceiling. Great chunks of plaster and giant crystals from the chandeliers rain
down around us. I fall to the ground over Keira, trying to shield her. I see
Josh do the same with Grace.

The two are circling again, and Lucifer is paying no
attention to anything else. This Griffith guy is the perfect distraction. Now
is the time to strike.

I stand, balancing precariously on the shaking ground. The scent
of brimstone burns in the air around Lucifer as I creep closer. Waiting until
his back is to me, I pull out the dagger and thrust it forward.

The bald man screams, “No!” and thrusts out his hand. Instead
of sinking into Lucifer’s back, the blade meets an invisible wall and shatters
in an explosion of sparks. I’m thrown back and hit the ground as shards of
metal and jewels fly through the air. One jagged piece sinks into my shoulder,
and blood pours from the wound as I scream.

“Noah!” Keira cries my name and runs toward me, but
Lucifer’s realized what happened and sends her flying back into the wall with a
horrible
thud
.

“No!” I scream, clutching my oozing wound and stumbling to
my feet. “Why? Why did you stop me?” I ask, staggering toward the bald man.

“Lucifer may be the Devil, but he is my kin,” he says,
sadness in his eyes.

Lucifer walks up behind me as I near the man from Heaven.
“You couldn’t kill me with that anyway, Noah,” he says. “There’s only one thing
that can, and that’s not it.”

“What can kill you?” I ask, my teeth clenched. The pain in
my shoulder is horrible, and I’m feeling dizzy from the loss of blood.

“Tell you what—I’ll show you what can kill my brother
here instead.” Lucifer shoves me hard, and I fly into the other man’s arms. He
falls back, and I land on top of him. His face is millimeters from mine, and
his eyes grow large with fear. As he begins to shudder, I roll away, leaving
him covered in blood from my wound. Smoke curls from his shirt and skin
wherever it touches him, and he begins to blister, skin shrinking and peeling
before my eyes.

“No!” Grace screams. “No!” She and Josh run to his side, and
Josh tears off what’s left of the man’s shirt in an attempt to get my blood
away from him. His bare chest reveals gray wounds, blistering and spreading out
from each point of contact toward his heart.

I wonder why Josh didn’t die this way when we fought. My
blood was all over him. The gray’s already taken nearly all of the Angel’s body
now, and he’s convulsing on the ground.

Keira’s made her way back to me during all the chaos. She
takes one look at my face, and this time it’s she who pulls me into her arms
and cradles me, kissing the top of my head. My mind is racing. Why does my
blood kill Angels from Heaven? Does that mean I really am evil?

“No, please,” Grace touches the dying man, but screams,
falling back on the floor and scooting away. She holds her palms up—they’re
blistered and burned.

“You belong to me,” Lucifer says to Grace, eyes sparking.
“You cannot touch an Archangel, no matter what his
feelings
for you.”

I don’t care what Grace is—I know who she is inside.
She’s the best of the best of humanity. If she can’t touch him, it isn’t about
our true nature. It’s about these fucked up rules of Heaven and Hell.

“You’re my brother…” Michael says, looking past me to
Lucifer.

“You should have never come down here.” Lucifer stalks
toward him, face twisted. “I can’t let you ruin everything I’ve worked so hard
for. And for what? Grace and the rest of these miserable humans?”

He turns his gaze on Josh, who’s on the floor near the dying
Angel, concentrating as he presses his palms over the graying skin. “You think
you’re powerful enough to heal him? You’re nothing but a pet of my dear
brother’s. You were such a miserable human that you were sent to Hell, where
you should have remained forever for your sins. You might call yourself an
Angel now, but you’ll never be half the being Michael was.”

Lucifer leans down and spits on the floor near Josh. “Go
ahead and try to heal him, Joshua. Let’s see what happens, shall we?”

Grace

“Heal,” Josh whispers, placing his
hands over Michael’s heart.

“See? You can’t save him,” Lucifer says when nothing happens.
“Don’t waste your time trying.”

Michael reaches up, grabbing Josh by the shoulders, and struggles
to speak. Tears swim in my eyes, not from the pain in my hands, but from the
horror of what’s happening and what’s become of me. If this doesn’t confirm my
nature as a Demon, I don’t know what does.

“I believe in you, Josh… Grace…” Michael says, “…and Noah.
Whatever choices you make.” His hand slips from Josh’s shoulder. His head lolls
to the side. He dies with a smile on his face.

My body shakes with sobs, but I barely feel it. I can’t take
my eyes off the body before me. He sacrificed himself to bring me to Heaven. He
knew he’d never go back.

Josh is kneeling next to me now, healing my hands. But it
doesn’t stop the tears or the memory of what burned them.

“Don’t bother,” Lucifer mocks, standing over him. “She’s
going to feel much worse in a minute.”

Josh’s head snaps up, rage in his eyes. He looks wild, and
his head is surrounded with a golden glow. I can’t help but cringe back from
this vengeful Angel before me.

“No,” I whisper, like a prayer. He can’t win a fight with
Lucifer. I can’t watch my beautiful Josh be destroyed.

But it’s too late—he’s up and on Lucifer in an
instant. An explosion of sound resounds like a shock wave when they meet.
Lucifer cries out—a terrifying noise. My heart pounds as Josh and Lucifer
crash through the counter of the main desk, the oak top splintering and
spraying like a million darts. They disappear from view behind the wreckage.

None of us dare to move as sounds of a scuffle rise from
behind the ruined counter. Noah clings to Keira, both staring fixedly at the
spot where Lucifer and Josh disappeared. If I didn’t know better, I’d say Keira
was praying. I would pray, too, but I can’t even breathe. He has to be okay. He
has to. After what feels like an eternity, but must be only seconds, later,
Josh comes flying over the remnants, crashing to the ground beside me and
clutching his arm, which is as red and burnt as my hands were before he healed
them.

His breathing is ragged, and he’s sweating. I rush to his
side, pulling his head into my lap.

Lucifer’s hand rises above the counter before the rest of
him follows. His perfect façade is cracked. His clothes are torn. His hair is
mussed. His face and parts of his body are blistered and raw.

“You hurt him,” I say to Josh with a mixture of shock and
awe. “You actually hurt him.”

“And now I’m going to hurt what Joshy loves most,” Lucifer
answers, stalking toward us. “I’m going to tear you apart, piece by tiny piece,
like I should have done from the very beginning. First you steal Josh from me,
then you stop Cam—who would have been a much more agreeable protégé—but
even that’s not enough for you, is it? Just look what you’ve done to Keira.
She’s practically ready to join the church choir.

“Grace Howard, you’ve been nothing but a thorn in my side
since you died. It’s time to remove you from existence.”

Keira

This is the end for the lovers. It’s
not going to be pretty, and I’m more scared than I’ve ever been. Are we next?
Will he end me first, or will he make me watch Noah die? I can’t handle that. I
can’t.

What Josh did just now was moronic, impetuous, and amazing.
I never knew Lucifer could be hurt by a lesser being. I cling to Noah, hoping
he’ll behave. If he cowers when it’s over, then maybe—just
maybe—Lucifer will spare us both. He still needs Noah, but with what he tried
to pull…

Noah stands suddenly, and I try to haul him back down. “Where
are you going?” He ignores me. “Don’t be stupid,” I warn.

What I really mean is “don’t be brave.” I can’t encourage
this. He’s
human
, for Hell’s sake.

Noah turns and kisses me. It’s not what I expect, and tears
burn my eyes, sizzling over both our faces as he puts all his emotion into this
one act of love. And that’s exactly what it is. It’s different, this kiss. It
feels like he’s saying goodbye, so I can’t let it end.

But it does, and he swipes at my tears with his thumbs,
smiling down at me with those damn beautiful eyes of his. I’m scared. I’m so
damn scared that I’m trembling.

For my entire miserable existence, I’ve believed that I’m a
horrible person. That I deserve Hell and that I should get as much enjoyment
out of corrupting other souls as possible because that’s all that was left to
me. Then Noah showed up and made me question everything. He wasn’t perfect,
either, and that made me realize we were both still worthy of love, something
no one had ever made me feel before. He’s my proof that real love does exist,
and that it’s possible for anyone. Noah is everything I’ve ever searched for
and so much more, and he’s about to do something so
good
and
stupid
that
I’m pretty sure he’s not only about to die, but that I’m about to lose him to
Heaven.

I could try and talk him out of it—beg, plead, and cry
until he stays by my side, no matter what happens next.

Or…

I press my palms to either side of his face, enjoying the
feel of his roughly shaven skin. I inhale his scent of cloves and try to steady
the thrumming beat pounding in my chest and head. I’m about to lose him.
Forever. But for the first time, I’m determined to help
save
a soul—his
soul.

“Go get him,” I say, barely in control of how hard my
body’s shaking.

Noah grins, and he’s so handsome, it looks like he’s
glowing. Or maybe he looks blurry because of all the tears streaming down my
face, tears I’ve kept inside for so many centuries.

Either way, I drop my hands to my sides, and I let him go.