Chapter 21 #2
I take that in, blinking, my heart still wrecked from learning about all the suffering he’s gone through—then the penny drops, and I realize. “Wait. You totally set it up that way, didn’t you? That’s why you put yourself back into the watch! You knew I’d try anything to save you!”
“Ah now, don’t be cross.” He grins broadly at me and circles his index finger over the top of his head in the shape of a halo. “Some people think I’m an angel…”
“When it turns out you’re the real demon here!” I whack his chest with the back of my hand.
He laughs. I roll my eyes and huff and smile in spite of myself. He’s being very cute, his story is still tugging at the deepest parts of me, and at this point, it doesn’t really matter if he’s right or wrong. We’re together, here and now. He needs to be saved. And I believe in him.
That’s been enough all along.
“Okay,” I say. “I’ll try.”
He nods, eyes soft as he places his complete trust in me yet again.
I lace his fingers back through mine, squeeze his hand tight, and then close my eyes.
I don’t have to look too far to sense that I’m still encased in the toxic magic, and that it’s eating away at the last dregs of my incubus healing ability.
If I do nothing, I’ll be boiled away any moment now.
But that serene energy is still inside me. My monster was able to call for it and, on some level, even control it. And since I’ve come to accept that this part of me isn’t something separate, so long as I have access to this magic, I should be able to use it.
I want to live. And I really want Collin to live. So I dig deep, feel the strength of my spirit boyfriend’s warm palm against mine, and make myself believe with all my heart that’s exactly what the boundless serene power locked inside me is going to do: save us.
I need Collin and me to be safe from this barrier, and that’s exactly what’s going to happen! And it’s going to happen right now!
The mental command resonates through the magic inside me, like an echo. There’s a sharp moment of connection, like a key snapping into a lock—then reality violently splits open.
Collin’s fingers are wrenched from my grasp, and I plunge down like a roller coaster into boundless nothing.
The garden whips away to blackness, and it’s like before at the burning church, when I became the giant monster of fire—Alvin, small and limited, shrivels to a far corner in the background, while a more profound awareness expands into something vast.
My consciousness is now as wide as the sky and deep as the ocean. Bigger than that, even. I’m as endless as a wall built to contain all of Hell.
Suddenly, the barrier feels like nothing more than an extension of my own power.
The boiling around me immediately stops, and I no longer need eyes to see.
I am the wall, and its magic extends into our world.
Shapes bloom into existence around me—colorful Russian dolls of flesh and light that shift and churn—but it’s not difficult to figure out which is Valiente.
He’s the one all on his own to Alvin’s right.
Valiente’s arms slice through the air, frantic.
He’s commanding the kids to change the spell, to use their magic to push me off the barrier, so the siphons can reattach.
I know this because I can see straight down to the vile wasp-like parasite posing as his soul.
Its intentions are completely transparent to me.
The Vampire King is shouting too. Calling out “Oathbreaker!” Hoping that will change things.
It won’t. He’s just getting a taste of his own medicine. The small part of me that’s Alvin wants to savor his desperation, but this creature is being fed magical instructions from an ancient god, and that cannot be ignored.
I cast my attention to the rip in my wall and see ?avadeva for what he really is.
Not a giant corpse—that’s just convenient theater.
Bodies are for small things. This is a being of limitless power and hateful intention, full of hunger and decay and malice.
He ruled this world and many others long before humans evolved, and he hopes to rule again, reveling in unfettered decay.
But his plan is failing, and it makes his anger titanic. He thrusts massive talons of his essence directly into the barrier to grab Alvin’s body. The incubus boy has proven too willful for him to control, too dangerous, so he intends to crush him and snuff out my power.
It is a desperate move, because I am so much bigger than Alvin now, and it plays right into my hands.
Now that ?avadeva has breached the barrier, exposed his true self to its energy, my energy, I can use it like a weapon.
I will create a blast unlike any seen on Earth for millions of years, one strong enough to end a god.
Many humans will die—tens of millions, perhaps—and that’s unfortunate, but this ancient enemy will finally be vanquished, and that is righteous.
I move quickly to direct the immense power at my command, working to concentrate enough holy energy to atomize an eternal being, but…
?avadeva is not Alvin’s sworn enemy. This war is not his.
Not yet. Alvin needs the spirit in the watch and the humans to live.
He was willing to die to save them. And that small speck of me that’s the incubus boy swells at the thought that they could be hurt.
Refuses to accept it. Refuses to use this magic to harm this world.
There’s a strange moment when I both feel infinite and small, where I struggle, but it’s long enough for that tiny part of me whose voice is now so large, for Alvin, to grab hold of the barrier and issue a command:
END THIS!
My barrier responds and stabs out dozens of sharp, vibrating purple spikes.
One spears Valiente through the stomach, another skewers Rafa’s mom through the shoulder, and the rest rip through ?avadeva’s form like a meteor storm.
Valiente squeals in pain and terror as he is raised to the roof of the cavern like a pig on the tip of a spear.
His puppet of a wife cries out too. But ?avadeva refuses to give me the satisfaction of his screams. He chooses to spit out curse after curse instead—bitter, hateful words meant to instill fear.
I do not listen. Alvin’s voice drowns him out. Alvin wants these monsters gone and the children safe.
And for this brief moment, his will is mine.
I violently bring Alvin’s arms together in front of his body and command the exposed barrier to implode, to collapse into the tear Valiente formed.
The toxic energy rushes past me like a raging river, hurtling the god of corpses back to his ancient prison.
The two impaled vampires are dragged along with him, howling in his wake.
I then use the last of my magic to seal the wall tight, strong as it ever was.
Stronger, because this seal was made by someone of this world with a stake in protecting it.
There is still more I should do. So much more. But I have spent my power, and I am tired. Exhausted and empty, I plummet again into bottomless darkness, falling into nothingness.
No.
No. That’s not right.
I am falling, but it’s to the ground.
Sharp pain jolts through me as my hands and knees smash down against carved bedrock, and I crumple, slamming to the cavern floor onto my shoulder. Something lands with a light, metallic clatter beside me. Then everything is quiet.
The stone beneath me is cold. There’s a long moment where I feel crazy disoriented, unsure of who or what I am.
I was able to seize control of the magic, but just barely, and only for a few seconds at the end.
This was worse than at the church. The power was so much bigger than me, and it wanted things.
Things that would have hurt a lot of people. It was so easy to get lost in it.
But I’m me again. The real me. Plain old Alvin.
I suck in a breath and focus on the sensation of my chest going in, then out, trying to feel solid again in my skin.
But what truly brings me back to myself is the sound of sniffling and whimpering.
I open my eyes. The barrier is gone. So are both Valiente and Rafa’s mom.
There’s just me and the kids. They weren’t sucked into Hell.
They’re still by the walls of the room, but they’ve now gathered together on Emma’s side of the cavern, and they’re crying and hugging each other with relief.
Finally free of the Vampire King’s power.
I freed them. And didn’t blow up the world. Or myself. It’s finally over. For real, this time.
Not so bad for a stupid incubus boy.
I look around for Collin. I need to see he’s okay, too. He’s not here. But the watch is. It’s out of my pocket, closed-up again, and on the ground beside my knees. My bare knees.
Because I’m completely naked.
Awesome.
My incubus juice protected me from the dissolving magic, but apparently it can’t heal club clothes. Maybe I could have used the serene power to protect them (the watch is still here!), but I didn’t even think about it.
Not exactly a heroic pose, and potentially one more bit of trauma I’m exposing these kids to, but the important thing is they’re safe, right?
I turn to the huddled teens, throw on my best game smile, and am just about to get back to my feet when one of the boys startles and lets out a strangled cry of fear.
I follow his terrified stare to see five Hunter-vampires, poking their heads into the room like skulking dogs. These are the ones who were stuck behind the Hell wall upstairs. A protective barrier I just eliminated.
Right. I didn’t think about them, either.
Looks like it might be a little soon for that bare-assed victory lap. (Because apparently I’m not allowed to get a single freaking break!)