Chapter 16 New Plan
SOUNDTRACK: Angel Song (feat. David Draiman) by NOTHING MORE
~ MELEK ~
Sleep eluded me that night. Every time I sank towards it, I was back in the moment when Gall slumped, bloodied and unbreathing on that stage, and my body, flooded with panic, roared awake again.
Thank God Yilan was able to sleep. She lay curled into my side.
We’d returned to my chamber—a hassle because we were forced to remain silent—but neither of us wanted to be far.
We needed to hear from Jann, make sure Diadre was safe, and be accessible if a chance to take Gall and Istral away made itself available.
Because we hadn’t even had to talk about that.
If we could steal them away, we would. Neither of us understood what Lucifer had done tonight, or how, but it was clear what he believed he’d proven.
The Nephilim weren’t following Gall, they were following the Fallen, who had set up Gall like a puppet on his knee.
Now it appeared he wanted Istral there too.
Figureheads. To what purpose, we didn’t know, but we both agreed, we needed to get them out of here.
Even against their will. Finding the space to get both of them—because Yilan was utterly clear on that point—was the impossible part of this.
Gall was so rarely alone, and Istral refused to leave him…
I was both warmed and appalled by that.
Yet, there was nothing we could do until we heard more from Jann about what had happened behind the scenes.
And so, here we were. Me, staring at the ceiling and praying for my son’s life, my mate exhausted from crying and laying against my side, buried in the blankets.
When the door to the locked sitting room opened from the corridor, Yilan leaped like a cat, whipped out of the bed, and her feet hit the carpet at its side a blink behind mine. Both of us smoothly retrieved the weapons we secreted every night, before the door had clicked closed.
Half crouched, I raised a hand towards her, cautioning her to remain behind me, as I stalked for the bedroom door. Both of us slept in our clothes, and kept the door well-oiled and cracked open for precisely this moment.
I was halfway across the floor, when a deep voice hissed in the other room.
“Melek! It’s me!”
Jann.
I shuddered to a halt, and Yilan visibly relaxed—but then we caught eyes in the dark, and both tensed again.
He wasn’t supposed to come here. Ever.
Signaling to her to remain at my back, I tip-toed to the door and leaned across that gap until I could see through with one eye, and made out Jann’s hulking form standing in the center of the room, with his hands up to show that he held no weapons.
Shaking my head, I opened the door silently and stepped into the gap. If he was here personally, it had to be bad.
“What the fuck, Jann?” I breathed.
“I’m sorry, but this couldn’t wait, and I couldn’t trust it to a message,” he whispered. “Almost everyone is still in the city, celebrating. The risk is… minimal.”
I scowled at him, but Yilan pushed forward. “Thank you. For coming yourself. I wouldn’t have trusted anyone else’s word.”
Jann’s brows rose. I looked at my mate with surprise as well, but I wouldn’t discourage her trust, so I just turned back to Jann. “Tell us.”
Giving me the second surprise in as many moments, Jann slumped into one of the chairs and dropped his face in his hands, clawing back and forth and into his hair like he was trying to rub the memories from his eyes.
“We were told not to protect him from himself,” he muttered finally. “I believe the words were, give him enough rope to hang himself.”
Pure, undefiled rage coursed through me.
Jann lifted his head and met my eyes in the dim light.
“Lucifer knew he would fail. Whatever he’s been doing for Gall, whatever he’s done that makes Gall confident and clearheaded, he didn’t do it tonight.
That was the Gall we know on that stage. Floundering.”
“I know.”
Jann nodded once, but his jaw got tight. “I couldn’t intervene, Melek. I never imagined it would go so far—I thought Lucifer just wanted to humble him. By the time I realized, it was too late.”
“I know.” I made myself say the words, because I believed they were true. But flames of anger flickered in my chest.
Yilan’s hand flattened at my back. She knew too.
“We need to get them both out of his grip. Together,” I muttered.
Jann nodded once, but then looked away. Even in the dark I could see how pale he was.
And when he lifted a hand to push his hair back off his face, it trembled.
“The problem is, I think… I think Lucifer holds Istral in some place that’s…
outside time. I don’t know how to explain it better.
But I don’t think it’s in this realm. He took us there once, and when we returned it was as if time hadn’t moved since we left.
One moment we were in a room, the next in a dark space that looked similar, but too many shadows and no noise from the outside, and—”
“Like me, in the tent when he warned me,” Yilan breathed at my back.
I’d forgotten. She’d described that when Lucifer took her after our battle at the edge of the Shadows of Shade, it was as if the rest of the world disappeared. As if she’d been separated from reality. She couldn’t explain it.
“We can’t reach her when she’s there,” Jann whispered. “We can’t even find her unless he takes us there.”
“That makes sense,” I said. Yilan stiffened.
“Wait, you said he took you there—when?”
Jann went still. “At the beginning. And again tonight.”
“You didn’t tell us that’s where you thought he had her?” Yilan hissed.
“I didn’t know. The only reason I believe it now is because when he gathered us tonight, when he stepped away and disappeared… I would have sworn I saw light, and a room…” He grimaced. “I’m still not sure, but it tracks. Why we can never find her unless she’s with Gall and—”
“Why didn’t you tell us sooner!”
“Because I didn’t know!”
“You knew about the space, you said he took you!”
“You’ll forgive me if I’m not at my best right now, Yilan. There have been several more important details to navigate than where I had a fucking meeting!”
I raised my hands as Yilan sucked in a breath to answer, and they both went still and looked at me.
“Let’s just be glad we have gained a clearer picture. We need to know if you know where Gall and Istral are right now? If you’ve learned anything more than what we saw in the Coliseum?”
Jann slumped again, shaking his head. “Lucifer took them from us, and sent us back here. I couldn’t find any believable reason to ask for his time before they disappeared, plus the others were there… I have to be careful.”
I nodded, but I could feel Yilan’s unease through the bond.
“Did you get a chance to speak with Gall at all? Are we… are we sure it’s him?” I made myself ask.
Jann met my eyes, his face tight. “I know for certain the man who attended the Coliseum was the Gall of old, and after… that seemed like him as well. He was confused, and overly-relieved when someone else provided an answer. Istral clung to him, and I think she’d know if he was… off.”
Yilan nodded. “She said it’s him. She said he was healed. She said…” Yilan gulped. “She thinks Lucifer gave her power to save him.”
My stomach flipped. When Yilan told me that, we’d both been sickened by it.
Jann’s jaw went tight. “Of course he did. He was proving himself. I don’t know why he bothers putting Gall and Istral between him and the Neph. He’s clearly showing all of us that it’s only his power that we follow.”
I looked at him sharply, but Yilan stepped past me and stood facing Jann with her hands fisted at her sides—which meant she’d secreted the blade she pulled. A signal that she trusted him? Or that she didn’t want him to know she was armed?
“First of all, we don’t follow him. Let’s all agree that Lucifer doesn’t save lives, unless it benefits him and his… darkness,” Yilan hissed.
Jann met her accusing gaze. “You know what I meant.”
“Do I?”
I tugged her back by her sleeve, because this wasn’t going anywhere good. “Did Lucifer tell you anything that might be a clue to his plans, or intentions for Gall?” I asked Jann desperately.
He shook his head sadly. “I’m just sure that Gall was there and alive at the beginning and… at the end as well. It was him, Melek. I really don’t think that was a trick. They’re still cleaning his blood off the stage.”
“Lucifer doesn’t save lives,” Yilan hissed.
“Then Istral does,” Jann shot back.
“Regardless,” I growled, glaring to remind them both that we were on the same team, “the next step is to get them both away, though I don’t know how to—”
“There’s no fucking way,” Jann growled. “We rarely see Gall without Lucifer as well, and we don’t see Istral without both of them.
Unless you think you can spirit them out under the nose of the Fallen, the only option is attack.
We can have a team set aside to grab them when the fighting begins, but—”
“No. Not after what we just saw. Next time Gall takes a mortal wound, Lucifer might not have mercy. And if Gall dies, we lose Istral too.”
“All of us lose if we’re stupid about this,” Jann muttered. “Melek, I’d back you against any mortal being, but the Fallen aren’t limited in this world like we are. There’s no way to kill him, and—”
“Which is exactly why we have to find out how to get Lucifer’s eyes off of them. Until we have the pieces in place, we can’t do it. Timing will be crucial—”
“Wait,” Jann stopped me. “Timing for what is crucial? An assault—a battle? Or a kidnapping?”
I clenched my jaw. “I’m not certain—”
“Not certain?” Jann leaped to his feet, but kept his voice to an angry whisper. “Are you fucking joking, Mel?”
Yilan tensed again, but I squeezed her arm to keep her quiet. “I said, we get the pieces in place, and we learn what we can. We move when we’re sure—”
“Move in what way, though? Because there’s a massive difference between a battle where we raze this fucking place, and a mission where we’re stealing something.
First and foremost—if we’re stealing people, everyone else gets to stay alive, and that can’t happen, Melek.
Not if we want to live after it. We have to—”
“We haven’t made any decisions yet. We’re just agreed that some kind of intervention is necessary. That’s why we need more information.”
“But—”
“Did you find Hever?”
Jann blinked and Yilan twitched.
“Yes,” he said uncertainly.
“Do you trust him?” I asked.
“Yes.”
Yilan muttered a curse, but I ignored her.
“Then use him. If he wasn’t there tonight, tell him exactly what happened.
Everything you know. Ask him how we move against that.
Tell him we’ll consider anything. No matter what.
It’s time to start bringing the troops across the Raven Peaks.
They’ll be well rested now. So, let’s start flying them through. ”
Jann’s jaw dropped, but his eyes brightened. “So, you will attack?”
“I told you, I don’t know. I do know we need to get Gall away—and if we can do that, we’ll get Istral too. If we can take Valgorath too, then yes. We’ll kill every last one of these bloodthirsty fuckers who cheered for my son’s murder. Then finally this world might get some peace.”
“Melek—” Yilan whispered, concerned.
Instead, Jann looked happy. “About fucking time.”
“We’re still a long way from that, Jann.”
“We’re finally moving in the right direction though. Don’t worry, Mel. I’ll pick Hever’s brain myself. We’ll figure this out.”
I nodded as he got to his feet. As we bid him farewell, and Yilan offered to shadow walk him away from the chamber so there was less risk of anyone knowing where he’d been, I wished I felt the same strength of conviction and confidence that I sensed from Jann.
I knew I had to get my son and his mate out of the clutches of the Fallen.
The only question was… how?
God, we need you. Where are you? When is your power going to show up for us?