Katia felt anger boil up inside at Satan’s cold and calculated pronouncement. Keir must have felt it too as he reached out and took her hand in a gesture of comfort. Instead of comfort, the moment their hands connected that strange electric charge took hold again. Katia’s body began to buzz with energy. The air around the twins became thick, like a nasty storm was brewing. Sparks started to dance along their arms, little blue flames popping and crackling. Satan’s eyes grew large in confusion. Katia wanted to laugh. She wasn’t quite sure what was happening herself, but anything that threw him off his game was good in her book.
“I’ll kill him now if you don’t stop that immediately,” Satan bellowed.
In perfect synchronicity, Katia and Keir turned to look at each other, and that was when all Sheol broke loose.
Chapter Thirty-Six
From Luc's position on the cross, all he could do was stare at the scene unfolding in front of him. Luc could hardly believe what he was seeing. They were yin and yang, each one mirrored in the other. He struggled against the dark magic that held him immobile, desperation to get to Katia was his only driving force. Luc felt the sting and burn as Satan dragged his finger through the wound on his chest, the pain only serving to renew his struggle against the invisible bonds that held him. The air in the courtyard suddenly ionized. Luc could feel the electricity skipping over his skin. The twins turned to face each other as they joined hands. Sparks began to fly through the air, radiating off the duo. A shockwave travelled through the courtyard as though the twins were standing at the epicenter of an atomic bomb. The sound echoed off the stone like canon fire. As the shockwave travelled upward, the glass in every window of the castle shattered, raining dagger-like shards upon the battlefield. Flames licked out of the windows like tongues of a great serpent hell-bent on destruction. Halja was burning. The blast must have shocked Satan into dropping his defenses, the courtyard was suddenly awash with movement. Angels and demons dropped their weapons as they yanked out the chunks of glass embedded in their skin. Confusion reigned as everyone looked up at the thick black smoke billowing out of every opening, blocking out the burnt orange of the sky.
Luc felt blood begin to trickle down his body, dripping over his face and neck to splash on the ground. He knew he was going to die here, but he would be damned if Katia was going to witness it. Gathering what little strength he had left, Luc cried out to her, hoping she would be able to hear him through the strange force that had her in it's grip.
“Katia! Go, get out of here!” Luc’s voice was hoarse and could barely be heard over the din. He felt his heart sink as he looked into Katia’s face and saw only an otherworldly light glowing behind her beautifully flawed eyes. Suddenly, Satan’s voice boomed through the courtyard.
“Enough!”
Katia turned toward Satan, piercing him with a look of pure hatred that turned to abject despair as Luc felt a burning sensation at his neck. He felt a strange warmth as his remaining strength drained away. He eyed the ground not far beneath his head, seeing the river of red that was pooling beneath him. It was kind of pretty, he thought, ruby red like a gemstone. Luc heard Katia cry out, and saw her brother clutching at her, trying to hold her back as she made a move to run toward him.
“Bind your soul to me and I will save him,” Satan said from Luc’s side.
Katia dashed to the bottom step of the dais and reached her hand out to Luc, touching his face so lovingly it broke his heart. “I’m so sorry...I love you.” The tears ran freely down her face as her hand shook with the force of her emotion.
Luc tilted his head into her palm and replied, his words slurred with blood-loss and pain. “I know...I will always love you.”
Katia leaned forward and gently kissed Luc on the lips, the most chaste kiss they’d shared, but somehow the most meaningful. Luc tasted her sadness in the tears that trailed down her face to salt their kiss. Not wanting to miss a moment of this goodbye, Luc almost didn’t hear Keir’s voice as he spoke softly from behind his sister.
“You have so much more to live for. Let me do this for you.”
As Katia pulled away from him, Luc could see realization dawning in her eyes. “No!” She shouted over her shoulder.
“Flesh of my flesh, mind of my mind, soul of my soul, once split in twain join together forever.” Keir reached forward and grasped Katia’s hand in his own. A pulsing light travelled down his arm and up through their joined hands. As the light reached the place over Katia’s heart it flashed so brightly Luc momentarily squeezed his eyes shut. Katia spun to face her brother as he stood rooted to the spot in shock. His skin began to turn a sickly grey and his lips started to turn blue.
“Keir,” Katia said with a catch in her voice. “I just found you...I can’t lose you.”
Crystals of ice began to form over Keir’s skin as he replied in a whisper. “You have so much to live for. You have a great love. I know who I am now, that’s enough. You know what to do.”
Satan’s dark laugh resounded from the dais. “In absentia luci, tenebrae vincunt. In the absence of light, darkness prevails.” He cried out. A thick, dark fog began to move throughout the courtyard slowly blocking out the remaining light. The blackness slithered past Luc. It looked like smoke, but brushed against him cold and thick, briefly snaking around his neck as though it were planning on choking
