Ascension: Sins of Eden Part 17

As he worked, Elise watched the angels preparing to transport the pickups. It was deeply unsettling to see someone other than James capable of performing magecraft, even if Makael looked much less confident of the technique.

Elise was relatively confident that they'd be able to kill most of the angels if they tried to pull anything. But she wasn't sure about Makael or Leliel. They'd be challenging to kill if it became necessary.

"I have a plan," she said in a low voice.

"Better be a good one," Anthony muttered.

"Aren't they all?"

"No," he said, squeezing her arm a little too hard, reminding her that she'd thought it was a good idea to grab an angry werewolf.

She pulled her arm from him. "Thanks."

Anthony just shook his head, muttering to himself.

Elise's mother, Ariane, emerged from one of the houses in the village carrying a bag under one arm. She was smiling at the farmer that she left, speaking to him in Chinese. Elise understood enough of the language to know that Ariane was thanking him, but she'd had no idea that her mother spoke it at all.

Ariane set the bag on the tailgate of the pickup and opened it. "How do you feel, ma fille?"

Elise felt like s.h.i.+t.

No, not s.h.i.+t. Whatever was worse than s.h.i.+t.

Neuma and Gerard were dead because of her; the army that had remained loyal to them was also dead for it. She had watched a boy fail to resurrect his mother and surrendered him to the enemy. Then she'd topped it off by getting a bite wound she couldn't heal, making an agreement with the angels, and earning the mistrust of her friends.

There really weren't any words for how Elise felt.

"I'm great," she said through her clenched teeth. "How about you?"

"Word of the angels' plan to transport us has spread. I'm worried that my daughter might have lost her grip on reality," Ariane said.

"Can we not talk about this, Mother?"

"Very well, but we do have to talk about something else." Ariane lowered her voice. "There's something that I should tell you. Perhaps both of you." She beckoned Anthony closer.

He flopped beside Elise on the tailgate. "This is going to be good."

"Metaraon and I spent much time talking at the end of my pregnancy, when he sequestered me in the garden. He was exhilarated by the knowledge that Adam's death was near. He wanted to discuss what was to come next."

"Next?" Anthony asked.

"Opening Eden," Elise said. "Metaraon had intended to enter the Origin and trigger the next genesis."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah. That."

Elise had filled him in on everything that she knew about the impending end of the world, including the part where she planned to open Eden using Abram's blood. Anthony had taken the news pretty well. As well as anyone could take such a suicidal plan.

Mostly, he just seemed annoyed.

"Metaraon made it complicated to open Eden because he wanted to be the only one who could do it." Ariane took Elise's hand. "But he left a shortcut for himself to utilize. If you have a witch create the circle at every gate at the same time, you only need to spill the blood of Adam's descendant upon one of them, and all will open."

Elise sat up. "All of them?"

"All of them," Anthony echoed, rubbing his chin.

She had been hoping that opening one gate would be enough to get them into Eden, considering how much the walls between universes were breaking down. Ariane's shortcut was a lot better than wild guessing.

"How do you feel about travel, Mother?" Elise asked.

"I expected you to ask that. Chew some of this." Ariane pushed the leaves into Elise's mouth.

They tasted bitterly foul. She tried to spit them out, but Ariane held her hand over Elise's mouth until she swallowed. "That's disgusting," Elise said, trying to wipe the dried leaves off of her tongue.

"That might accelerate your healing."

Her arm didn't feel like it was healing, but it wasn't aching as badly under the bandaging. "What do you know about healing demons bitten by werewolves?"

Ariane's look was withering. "I did serve in the Palace of Dis for years before you took it, ma fille. I know more than you'd think." She wiped her hands off and cinched the bag. "As for Marion..."

That name left an even more bitter taste in Elise's mouth.

"No leads," she lied.

"I'm beginning to fear, Elise."

"I promised to bring Marion back to you. I will." Even if Elise hadn't managed to save Neuma or the army, Marion would still be safe. She had to believe that was true.

Another man appeared beside them. Elise looked up and up to see Abel steaming in the cool air, every muscle tense. "I'm not going anywhere with those f.u.c.ks," he growled.

So he'd heard the news, too.

Elise seized his arm, leading him away from Anthony and Ariane, away from the angels, into the privacy of the darkness beyond the edge of the road. "Yes. You are."

His eyes burned with hate. "They killed Rylie."

"I know."

Her composure seemed to just make his anger worse. His lips peeled back over his teeth, and Elise heard the m.u.f.fled pop of bone from somewhere within his body.

He grabbed her arm, too. But his fingertips were now clawed. The sharp points dug into her flesh, leaving deep indentations that nearly bled. "They killed her," he hissed. "They need to die. Especially that one. She ordered the killing." He jerked his head toward Leliel. "I'm going to f.u.c.king kill her."

"Could you win in a one-on-one fight? Could you win against all of them?"

"Does it matter?" His voice was ragged, like his chest had been ripped apart from the inside.

"It matters. You're the only Alpha left."

Abel actually gave it a moment's thought before saying, "Yeah. I could take them."

"We have to get to the gates," Elise said. "You can't kill her." Anger blazed anew in his eyes, but before he could lose his temper, she added, "Yet. Not until they've transported the pack."

"I'm not going to play nice with these d.i.c.ks. I'm not going to pretend."

"I don't expect you to. I just expect you to be quiet until you reach our destination." The hand on her arm was starting to hurt, but he hadn't given her any new injuries yet. "There's no forgiving what Leliel did. What any of them did. If you think you can take them down without destroying the pack, I'm not going to fight you. For now, stand the f.u.c.k down and let me go."

His fingers unclenched. He'd left four perfect imprints of his claws on her skin.

"Your arm?" Abel asked.

"Fine," Elise said. He didn't need to know that the bite wasn't going to heal on its own.

The camp stirred with activity. The angels were ready.

Elise watched as blue light began encircling the vehicles, forming a rune in the sky. She inhaled the scent of the magic, like ozone and burning gra.s.s. She bet she could have cast the spell better.

"I need some of your wolves for the next leg of my mission," Elise said.

"No. I want them all."

"There are lives at stake. I might need their help."

"Tough," Abel growled. "I've got a score to settle."

Elise thought about fighting him on it, since the only reason he even had those wolf spirits was because she had given them to him, but she could tell that he was ready to fight over this. Abel was going to fight anyone and everyone who got in the way of avenging Rylie.

So she said, "Fine." She'd just have to kill the Fates some other way.

Abel moved toward the cars. When he moved, there was more motion behind him. The wolf spirits were trailing him at all times now.

As he left, she called to him. "Make it a fair fight, Abel."

His shoulders were tense, his eyes dark, rage in every line of his body.

But he nodded.

Ariane joined Elise. She was carrying her entire bag of tricks now, not just the herbs. "Do you want me to-?"

"Yes," Elise said. "Yes. I think we need to."

"Very well," Ariane said.

Elise waited until the entire group of cars was taken away in a flare of ethereal light. It hurt to watch the angels leave, knowing that they held the lives of people she cared about in their hands and that she couldn't follow.

Belphegor was a more immediate danger. He'd threatened her friends, and Elise only had so many friends left to kill.

Once the village was empty, Elise vanished into the night, taking her mother with her.

Belphegor would know she was coming. It was time to get a few steps ahead of G.o.d.

Eleven.

Elise had told Abel not to attack until the angels transported them to the gate in the Himalayas.

So he waited.

It hurt, but he waited.

He stood under the electric blue rune, watching one of those feathery-winged b.a.s.t.a.r.ds cast the spell, and he didn't attack. He saw Leliel, the one in charge, smile to one of her companions-and he still didn't attack. Even when he felt the wolf boiling in his blood, he didn't attack.

Summer stood by his side, all tangled up in the wolf spirits that followed him everywhere now. "Which one did it?" she asked, bathed in the blue light of magic. It brought out the lighter tones in her skin, the hints of gold in her hair.

"That one," he said, pointing to Leliel. "She ordered it."

Summer didn't seem surprised. "She's Nash's ex-wife."

"I'm going to kill her."

She bit her bottom lip. She looked down at her feet.

This was when it would come-the warning not to attack or do anything else likely to get him killed.

Instead, she told him, "I'll warn the guys."

She drifted off to tell Abram and Nash and even Levi. One by one, the men turned to look at Abel.

All of them looked as angry as he felt.

Abel gave a small nod to Nash, and Nash nodded back.

"Ten seconds," Leliel announced, her voice echoing over the farming village.

Ten seconds. Just ten more f.u.c.king seconds.

The pack drew in closer, gathering around Abel. The group was a h.e.l.l of a lot smaller now. It was weird to look at all those faces and see that people like Paetrick weren't among them. All of the people that Rylie had been friendliest with were gone. The nice ones, the people who didn't like to fight.

The ones who remained were the ones who didn't mind being werewolves. People who shared in Abel's aggression.

"Five seconds," Leliel said.

Summer was whispering to the witches, Brianna and Ariane. Warning them what was to come.

There was no way the angels could have missed what Abel was planning. They were spreading out around the edge of the circle too, watching him warily, waiting to see what he was going to do.