That was when the lights came back on in the stairwell. And as the demon easily walked through the the crowd of Brothers and bastards, even while they stabbed at her and tried to catch her, someone emerged down at the base of the steps.
Someone else… arrived.
On the far side of her see-through body, a blond-haired male in a black suit stepped into the hall.
Were those roses in his hands? Like… a dozen red roses?
And it was like he didn’t see what else was in the basement: The guy only had eyes for the demon, the transfixion so complete, it was as if he were under her spell.
V hissed to the group: “Retreat. We need to get out of here. That motherfucker in the suit is the son of the Omega and we’re all wounded. Retreat, now.”
Balz wanted to argue. He wanted to fight. He wanted the fucking Book and to hell with Lassiter. But as the warriors began to dematerialize out one by one, their broken bodies bearing the toll of the shadows’ impacts, he knew he was out of gas, too.
The angel was his only hope.
As he admitted defeat, the last thing Balz saw before he closed his eyes was the blond male grabbing the demon and pushing her up against the wall. Their heads came together as their bodies fused into one… and then, with those red roses still in his hand, the male tilted his head and kissed Devina like he had been waiting his entire life for her. As if she were his one true love.
Balz intended to dematerialize out. But his body wobbled on his feet, his vision got wonky, and he couldn’t seem to remember what he was doing or why. Out of hope, without a plan, and knowing his mate was dying…
What was all that copper he was suddenly smelling?
“Oh, shit,” he heard V say. “Jesus, Balz, you’ve been stabbed.”
Oh. Well. That explained the smell—
His last thought was of Erika.
Maybe he’d see her in the Fade.
Right…
…about…
…now.
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Exactly nine minutes before Devina arrived at the building downtown, at precisely thirteen minutes before Sahvage led Balthazar down into the basement there, Rahvyn returned to Luchas House one last time. She was careful to hide what she had with her in her jacket, and after checking in with the social worker, she went upstairs. On her made bed, with its smoothed duvet cover and precisely stacked pillows, she took out that which had called to her.
The Book was warm to the touch, and as she put her palm upon it, it seemed to get even warmer, as if her body heat compounded its own.
The temptation to open the tome was overwhelming, and she felt as though the thing wanted her to lift its cover, the pages ruffling themselves between its hard, leathered confines.
It was alive, she realized. Living though it did not have breath or heart rate.
“You have caused much trouble,” she said.
A shudder registered under her hand, contrition made manifest.
“I know you did not mean to. But you are responsible for what you have wrought. You must know that.” She petted the bumpy cover to soothe its feelings. “In that, you and I are much the same. We are neither one nor the other, neither good nor evil, and that means we are by definition bad. We are agents of chaos, we are not right for this world.”
She passed her hand down its spine. “And that is why you called me to you, is it not. You know you have done wrong and you are tired of being used. You assess the balance of your deeds and recognize more ill has been done with you than you can bear. You need to just get away.”
The Book seemed to let out a sigh, air leaving the bottoms of its pages.
“All right, then.”
Rahvyn looked around the tidy little room, and recalled setting up the furniture with Nate. All had had to be built of pieces and hardware provided, from the bed to the bureau to the bedside table. It had taken them quite a while, and as they had worked together, there had been such hope in his face. Distracted by her own troubles, she had been ignorant of his affection at the time. But she had recognized thereafter certain looks that he imparted upon her and tried to hide, a special warmth entering his voice and his eyes, whenever he was in her presence.
She had cursed him twice, hadn’t she.
Once with eternal life. The second with unrequited love.
Putting her hand in her pocket, she took out the cell phone she had been given, one of so many new instruments and mechanicals that existed in this era. She was not sure she would miss any of them.
She would miss Nate, however.
Calling up his number, she dialed and listened to the ringing. She kept her hand on the Book as she awaited him to answer. He did not.