met my gaze with a palpable sadness that stole my breath away. I nodded to Abe and looked away to the skeletal figure beside him before his sorrow could infect me.
“Not pulling any punches are you?”
Azrael floated around the desk and drifted closer. “I warned you to stay out of the conflict, Triggaltheron, yet you persisted. You have only yourself to blame for what has happened here.” He gestured around him.
“That may well be true, but seeing how all life on Earth is probably gonna be wiped out in a day or two, I can live with my guilt that long.” The way things were going, I didn’t really think I’d make it through the day.
A rumbling laugh spilled from his blackened lips. “You are so much like your sire, defiant even in the face of overwhelming odds.”
“I’m nothing like my father.” Incensed at the comparison, the words spewed out like razors.
Azrael broke into a cadaverous grin. “You are, young Triggaltheron, you are. I see him in your face, in the spiteful fury that courses through your veins. Yet unlike him, you have no sense of ambition. You’re content to wile away your time amongst the pitiful humans as if they’ll ever accept you as one of them. You disgrace the glory of your bloodline.”
I spit at him, but Azrael batted it away with but a thought.
“Be grateful I hold your father in such high regard, little demon, otherwise I would have your soul for such impudence.”
My eyes flickered to Abraham, hoping I had his attention. We were only gonna get one shot at this. “You can shove that regard up your bony ass.”
The words out, I spun, pulling my pistol free, and went for Rampage. He needed to go if Abraham had any chance of getting away.
Caught off guard, the werewolf’s eyes went wide as he suddenly came face to face with the business end of the barrel. No time to aim, I squeezed the trigger like a madman.
An invisible force slapped the gun from my hand right then. The two rounds I’d managed to get off struck the wall just to the left of Rampage’s fuzzy head. They weren’t even close.
Rampage stood there wide-eyed and stiff-limbed as I was yanked off my feet and spun about. The room a blur, I felt gravity take hold again and I was rag-dolled onto my back, my breath knocked from my lungs.
When my eyes stopped spinning, I saw Azrael’s drawn out face just inches above mine. “There is no time for your childish heroics.”
A deep, gasping breath supplied me with enough air to answer, my voice hoarse. “What do you want?” It’s not as if I didn’t know, I just liked being difficult.
Azrael drifted back and I took advantage of the space and got to my feet. Abraham still sat in his chair, his glasses magnifying the sadness in his eyes. Everything happened so fast, he didn’t have time to budge, not that it would have done him any good.
“You well know what I want, Triggaltheron. Tell the wolf where to find Eve’s key piece and let’s be done with this.”
“I know what Marmaduke back there gets out of all this, but what’s in it for you?”
“My interests don’t concern you.”
“I’m thinking otherwise, seeing how you went out of your way to bring me here.” He obviously didn’t want to reveal his role in the bigger picture. Bad villain. He was breaking rule number one: the onus of the monologue is on the antagonist. Fortunately, Abraham was clued in.
“Like his lycanthrope minions, he stands to inherit the world.” Azrael shot him a murderous look, but Abraham kept going, undeterred. “His dominion death, Azrael has long since evolved from an angel to something far more closely related to the creatures that live in the shadows between worlds. When the Tree dies, he becomes a god; the only one left.”
The flames in Azrael’s eyes roared as he flew at Abraham faster than I could follow. He snatched him up by his throat and held him in the air before him. “Silence, mortal.”
Abraham’s face flushed pink as he tried in vain to breathe. His glasses hung from his ear, flickering under the fluorescent lights.
“Let him go,” I shouted as I took a step forward, digging deep to summon my magic, desperation giving me just enough spark to light the fuse. Rampage growled a warning close behind me.
“Had I not promised your father I’d respect his wishes with regards to you, I would eviscerate you where you stand.” He dangled Abraham before me. “I made no such promises regarding this pathetic creature. Now tell me where the key piece is or I’ll hang his lifeless husk upon the banner of your ill advised resistance.”
Even though he couldn’t breathe, Abraham’s position was clear. His reddened face screwed into a pained scowl, his eyes begged me to defy Azrael.
I thought of Rachelle. How could I tell her I’d let Abraham be killed, doing nothing to stop it? Yet, how could I not? I’d been willing to let Scarlett die on principle, believing the end of all life a greater choice than its submission. Once more my convictions were being tested. Should I stand in defiance and watch everyone I know die, or do I condemn humanity to enslavement, to be bred as cattle, food for the vamps and shifters? Was there even a choice?
My gaze shifted back to Abraham and he strained to shake his head, Azrael’s crushing grip limiting his motion. Tears moistened my eyes and threatened to drag them down. I forced them to stay with Abe’s and gave him a subtle nod.
“Like I told the bear, you can’t have it.” The words came out heavy, each syllable a nail hammered into the coffin of the greatest man I’d ever known.
Azrael’s mouth settled into a grim line, the fire in his eyes sputtered into blackened coals, which simmered in their sockets. “Impudent dog.”
Abraham stiffened and his eyes flew open wide. The purplish tint of his face began to fade, a pallor washing over him like the tide. He reached out for me, his eyes locked on mine, their green fading to white. His hand trembled, the flesh growing paler with each breathless moment.
Every voice inside my head shrieked for me to look away, but my conscience wouldn’t allow it. His death was my burden to bear, and I would own every horrific second of it. The image of a marbled Abraham seared itself upon my memory, blackened veins standing out like serpents against his graying flesh. I’d see the terror in his sunken eyes until the day I fell into my own grave.
His hand fell limp, as if weary of waiting for mine, and his arm swung down and then ceased to move. His irises, cleansed of all color, he stared hollow-eyed at me until his head lolled back.
Azrael laughed at his passing, his callous tune the dirge that accompanied Abraham’s soul into the abyss. The angel released him and Abe’s limp body fell to the floor with the gentle grace of falling leaves.
My heart fell with him, shattering on impact, jagged shards tearing me apart inside. Tears burned my eyes and I looked away at last, the image replaying inside my head. Agony constricted my chest and I panted to draw in air. My knees shuddered, and then gave way. I found myself kneeling on the floor. Bile clogged my throat and I sat there numb. The voices in my head were silent except for one. A small, still voice cried in the depths-
— I killed Abraham.
A shadow at the edges of my vision, Azrael hovered before me. “Save your tears, Triggaltheron, you will need their comfort in the hours to come.”
A frigid hand lifted my chin and drew my gaze to his. In his swirling sockets, the flames swayed and danced, their flickering forms becoming the images of Scarlett, then Katon, Michael and Rachelle after that. Each image dissolving, rancid flesh peeled back into a skeletal grimace, his threat needed no words.
He leaned in close. “Your mentor spoke true of my destiny. I will live on forever, the new God. Though I have made arrangements to repopulate the Earth, should I fail to obtain the key piece, I would much prefer a verdant kingdom to rule. There is even a place in it for you, should you choose to reconsider the folly of your misguided allegiance and hand the key piece over.” His blackened lips pulled back into a smile. “Your father would be pleased to see you embrace your nature at last.”
My thoughts a maelstrom, I drew in a deep breath to steady the tremors that rattled through me. Azrael grinned, his arrogance weathering me as though I were a stone. Sickened by what I’d done, I stared deep into the fires of his eyes and made my choice.
I spit in his face.
Too close to swat it away like he had the last, the thick ball of phlegm struck him right between the eyes. His
