Chapter Forty-Two
Fee
Retreat.
Failure.
We were all thinking it.
But at least we were safe…for now. Lilith, the savvy queen, had a hideout in a mountain several miles from Imperium, accessible only to her and Samael.
It was a vast cavern, hewn into the mountain and kitted out with neat metal bunkers. Several fire pits were dotted about, and a waterfall made up the back of the cavern, pooling into a stream that cut around the outside of the cavern and filtered away into the rock face. It was enough to accommodate the rag tag dregs of a decimated army.
“Is this all that’s left?” Grayson asked.
“Yeah,” Hunter said. “Azazel took a headcount and less than a hundred demons made it here. The rest were either captured or killed by Mammon’s army.”
He was sitting beside me, his arm brushing mine. He’d stayed close ever since he found me on the battlefield. He’d carried me most of the way here while my broken tibia healed.
His scent lingered in my nostrils, comforting, familiar, exciting. I still couldn’t believe he and Grayson were here. They’d come to be with me, to help me and warn me about Cain.
Fucking Cain.
My head ached from the fighting, and the loss, and the potential shit that was still waiting to hit the fan.
Mammon had the Keep and Cain was coming.
“What are we going to do?” Cora asked the question on everyone’s mind.
We were huddled around one of the firepits, but no one had even attempted to start a fire. The atmosphere was one of dejection, and most demons had a glazed look in their eyes as they staggered to and fro like aimless zombies waiting for a whiff of live human.
Across the cavern, Lilith and Samael were in conversation with Azazel, Mal, and Conah. Keon and Uri administered to some wounded close by. Uri’s healing power wasn’t as strong here, but he did what he could, and Keon did the rest. They made a good team, working side by side.
I was lucky the people I loved were safe, but how long would they stay that way while they were here with me?
I covered my face with my hands. “We can’t fight Mammon without an army, and Cain…I need to warn Samael about Cain.
I pushed to my feet and wound my way over to the fallen. Samael looked up as I approached and his face broke into a warm smile.
“How is your leg now, blossom?” he asked.
“Healed.” I hadn’t had a chance to thank him for saving me. “If you hadn’t intervened when you did… Thank you for saving my life.”
His brows pinched. “You’re my daughter. I will not allow any harm to come to you.”
A lump formed in my throat. “And I can’t allow any to come to you, either.”
He tilted his head to the side. “What is it?”
“Cain is on his way here. We believe he wants to kill you. Uri spoke to the Oracle in the Beyond who told him that if Cain succeeded, a world would fall. Is it true that the Underealm is linked to you? That the toxic air from the pit will spread and kill everything?”
Samael closed his eyes with a sigh.
Lilith looked sharply at Samael. “Cain’s alive?”
Samael sighed. “It’s a long story, love, and I will explain it all to you later,” He focused on me. “Yes, the story is true. But I’m not so easily killed. Even if Cain does come to the Underealm, he doesn’t possess the power to end my existence. I am the first. I am the divine’s chosen.”
I wanted to be soothed by his confidence, but unease niggled at the back of my mind, and then it hit me. “I think Cain ate the Dread that were trapped on Earth.”
Samael went very still. “What did you say?”
Lilith made a strangled sound. “Samael, the Dread are one of the first armies of the divine.”
Samael’s mouth tightened. “If he comes then I will speak with him. He is my son, and I will make peace with him. But right now, we must focus on Mammon and find a way to claim back the Keep.”
But there was more he needed to know. “It’s not just him that’ll be coming. He’s bringing vamps that carry the reaper virus.”
Silence greeted my statement before Lilith broke it.
“Outliers can’t enter the Underealm,” she said haughtily.
The rules were only rules until someone found a way to break them. “My Loup mates managed to get here, and I’m sure these vamps have been modified to allow them to withstand the Underealm’s atmosphere.”
Conah cursed softly. “With the attack on the Keep, I was unable to get a message to the labs to continue work on the vaccine.”
The flare of fire drew my attention to a nearby pit. It looked like someone had decided we needed heat, and I could already feel the warmth beating against my skin.
“Enough,” Samael said. “We can’t focus on Cain. We must focus on Mammon. The longer he maintains control of the Keep, the more time he has to fortify and forge alliances.”
“We have no army,” Mal reminded him.
I scanned the battle-scarred and battle-weary troops. “And the ones we have aren’t in great shape.”
Fuck, it was getting hot now. I shrugged off my coat, and something dark fluttered to the ground.
Esmael’s feather.
Oh… Wait a donut-sucking moment. An idea formed in my mind, farfetched but a possible solution.
“What if I could get us an army?”
“How?” Lilith snapped, all dark-eyed derision.
I crouched to pick up the feather and then held it up for all to see. “With this.”
“A feather?” Samael looked confused, but Conah and Mal’s expressions cleared
“Fee,” Mal said. “This just might work.”
“Can someone please tell me what you’re talking about?” Azazel demanded.
But Lilith was staring at the feather with a mixture of awe and horror. She reached for it but decided against it, curling her fingers into her palm and dropping her hand.
“Seraphim,” she said softly.
“Yes. It’s a Seraphim feather. Conah, Mal, and I met one. We saved him, and he gave me this to call upon him if I needed. I think there are more, and I think I may be able to convince them to fight alongside us.”
“This can’t be,” Lilith said.
“Why? Because you had them hunted and killed?”
Her eyes narrowed. “You have no right to judge my actions.”
“Why not? Because you’re a queen and queens are always right? Like when they ask their sons to kill a whole bloodline because of jealousy and misinformation, or when they threaten to kill a woman because they don’t like her face, or maybe when they turn people they profess to love into puppets.”
Her eyes widened slightly at that, and her mouth compressed into a thin line. I held her gaze before sliding it toward Keon then back to her. Yeah. I know, bitch.
The blood drained from her face and her throat bobbed. “If the Seraphim fight with us then they have my word they will be pardoned. They will not be hunted again.”
I didn’t even bother to hide my disgust. “I don’t think they give a shit what you think, but sure, I’ll pass that along.”
“It’s not safe right now,” Azazel said. “Mammon will have scouts looking for us.”