“Merihim will be there,” Lilith said in a low voice. “You and I both owe him for what he’s done to us.”
Although he knew what Merihim had done to him, Warren had no idea what the demon had done to Lilith. For her to carry a grudge for thousands of years, it had to have been something.
“It’s time,” Lilith said. “There must be a reckoning among all of us. You have an army now. Heal them. Make them powerful. And we will conquer Merihim once and for all.”
Warren wasn’t convinced.
“If you don’t,” Lilith said, “Merihim’s creation will come for you in your sleep again. This time you might not escape so easily.”
That gave Warren no choice. He didn’t want to have to face another night that had Martin DeYoung and his mother’s murder in it. Those nightmares were bad enough when he’d caused his stepfather’s death through his suggestion. But to have to live through nightmares where Martin wouldn’t die was too much.
Regretfully, Warren got up from bed and walked to the door. When he turned back to the bed to address Lilith, he discovered that she was gone. For a moment, he wondered if he’d dreamed her as well.
No, she whispered into his mind. Go. You have much to do.
Warren went.
FORTY-NINE
Lyra Darius was back in Temple Church as the Battle of All Hallows’ Eve was just beginning after the Hellgate opened. Demons had attacked the convoy Lord Sumerisle had put together to get his granddaughter out of harm’s way. After the vehicles and the demons had been destroyed, Lord Sumerisle had asked Lyra to escort Jessica to the Underground entrance beneath Temple Church. There would be people there, Lord Sumerisle had said, who would be able to care for her.
Out on the church grounds, demons had massed and attacked. The contingent of guards—other military people who worked with Lyra and whom Templar Lord Sumerisle had sent—had managed to hold off the creatures long enough for Lyra to get Jessica inside the church. They wouldn’t have managed that without Keira Skyler and her Cabalists. All of them had worked together to save the young girl Lord Sumerisle believed would be a major force in the fight against the demons.
“What’s going to happen to Grandfather?” Jessica asked. She was eight years old. Even though she’d been told about demons since childhood, she’d been confronted by monsters tonight. That had left her shaken.
She’s just a child, Lyra thought as she went through the church doors. Why would demons want to harm a child? The whole idea sounded monstrous. But, she supposed, that was exactly the point after all, wasn’t it?
“He’s going to be fine,” Lyra answered. But she thought, He’s going off to die. When she’d heard what the Templar planned, and why, Lyra hadn’t been able to feel it was all a waste. But the demons knew that the Templar were going to be their hardest battle. It would be better if they thought they were all dead.
Somewhere deep inside her heart, though, Lyra hoped the Templar succeeded.
“I saw them,” Jessica said. “I saw them.”
“I know.” Lyra ran through the dark church with the child at her side. They were scarcely more than fifty feet from the stage where the entrance was supposed to be.
Outside in the church cemetery, gun blasts and frightened voices continued to echo. It sounded very much like the war that it was. Lightning flashed through the large stained-glass windows.
“Grandfather always told me about the demons,” Jessica said. “I knew he wasn’t lying. He’s never lied to me.”
Except for tonight, Lyra thought. When he told you that he’d see you soon.
“But I just didn’t expect to see the demons,” Jessica said.
“I know. Try not to think of that now. Come on. We’re almost there.”
One of the high stained-glass windows suddenly exploded inward. Bright, colorful glass spun across the church. A Reaper demon—huge and winged, man-shaped but clearly a demonic thing with horns, talons, and fangs—came through the window holding Keira Skyler.
The First Seer of the Cabalists looked incredibly demonic herself. Thick pieces of demons’ horns stuck out on both sides of her head. Her skin was pale against the demon hide she wore as armor.
The Reaper demon bit into Keira’s chest and pulled out her heart. It tossed the organ into its mouth and chewed as Keira slumped dead in his embrace. Then the demon turned its attention to Lyra and her young charge.
Lyra hauled Jessica to temporary safety behind one of the heavy pews. She pulled out her machine pistol and stared at the evil thing. Its ruby eyes focused on her. Hiding wasn’t an option.
“Keep going, Jessica,” Lyra encouraged the young girl. “Keep going!”
True to her heritage, Jessica bravely got her feet under her and ran toward the hidden entrance.
Lyra pointed the machine pistol and opened fire. The demon, almost three times her size, swung a hooked sword that cleaved through the pews and reduced them to splinters. Lyra kept firing, but it didn’t seem to do any good. She hid behind a pillar as the Reaper charged after her.
It growled and swung the massive sword into the pillar, shattering it. Lyra kept firing and running, ducking the wicked blade as the demon swung it again and again.
Across the church, Jessica reached the hidden entrance and opened it. Lyra took solace in that, then one of the Reaper’s wings lashed out and caught her, knocking her to the floor and almost robbing her of her senses.
“Lyra!”
Hearing the child’s voice, the evident panic and worry, focused Lyra. She pulled her head together just as the Reaper yanked its blade from the stone floor and turned in Jessica’s
