Chapter 42 #2
The rest of us make it to Jaxton and Remy. The Crimson Templars pull pistols and swords when they realize their position is compromised, but they’re no match for my pack. We leave corpses and broken ballistae laying where they once stood, and I hack the ballista that hit my father to splinters.
“That should be all of the weapons that can take Lucifer down,” I say. “The other Scions are already inside.”
“Then let’s join them, mate,” Hayden answers, lowering himself so I can climb on his back.
“I’m not too heavy for you like this am I?” I joke, tightening my grip on my sword.
“Never,” Hayden chuckles, then he leaps off the ledge.
We land in St. Peter’s Square and run over to Lucifer. He’s huddled behind an obelisk, yellow tendrils of light pulsing from his fingers, healing the wounds he took from the bolts. He’s lost some blood, but he looks okay other than that.
“Thank you,” Lucifer sighs as he looks up at us. “I knew those weapons would kill a lot of Scions if they weren’t focused on me.”
“They almost killed you,” I point out, still concerned.
“They will probably have more of those weapons inside,” Lucifer warns.
“Wait,” Wyatt holds up his hand. “Listen. Helicopters. More are coming.”
“We need to move,” Hayden shouts.
Jaxton shifts to his true Human Form and helps Lucifer stand.
Hayden lowers himself to his belly so I can hop off and check on my father.
Helicopters get closer and I hear a missile whizzing through the air before it hits behind us.
The reverberation is so strong it knocks me to my feet, but I recover.
Hayden rushes behind me to make sure I’m safe before we push ahead, more missiles hitting near us.
“I can fly,” Lucifer assures us. “I’ll take care of the ones in the sky.”
Lucifer leaps into the air, spreading his glorious wings, and races toward the helicopters.
They are no match for him. He cuts through one with his flaming sword, spins, and throws the sword into the rotor blades of the next one.
The blades jam and the helicopter spins out of control.
Lucifer retrieves his sword and goes after the next helicopter.
“Take cover!” Storm yells out as helicopters plunge towards the Vatican courtyard.
Fiery explosions rock the ground and we take cover until Lucifer lands. The skies are safe. The only Crimson Templars left outside are dead ones. Most of the other Scions have made it inside. We can hear more explosions, screams, and the sounds of a raging battle.
“Let’s finish this,” Lucifer commands, taking flight and zooming towards the door.
We catch up and push our way inside, stepping over many dead Templars and a few dead Scions. I mourn the loss of those who have come to fight for their right to exist and lost their lives, but this war isn’t over yet. Not until we kill all the Crimson Templars and rescue the angel Gabriel.
“Gabriel is below us!” I call out.
“Let the other Scions handle this. They’re already winning,” Hayden transmits. “We’ll go after Gabriel.”
“Down the stairs,” Wyatt points them out.
“Forget the stairs. I’ll make a new entrance,” Lucifer calls out, jumping into the air and landing with a thunderous impact that cracks the floor. “Might take a couple tries.”
We stand back until Lucifer and the nearly one-ton combined weight of Hayden and Jaxton open a hole in the floor.
I jump onto Hayden’s back and the pack leaps into the opening, landing on the next floor, which is mostly filled with artifacts.
It’s a lot quieter here but screams of death echo above us.
“Where is he? Can you sense him, daughter?” Lucifer asks.
“Still below us,” I reply.
“Either in the grotto or the necropolis,” Lucifer rumbles.
“Templars!” Storm shouts.
A dozen Templars rush our location and the pack charges, but Lucifer is faster. He lands in front of the wolves, wings spread, and absorbs the bullets before tearing into the Crimson Templars. The pack finishes off those Lucifer didn’t take down, and we continue on.
Once we’re downstairs, I see tombs. Large marble caskets with honored saints and artwork depicting their deeds. I would have been thrilled to see this, once upon a time, but it no longer interests me. Nothing here does, knowing the truth of this place. We rush past them until more Templars appear.
“They’re guarding something,” Hayden transmits. “Otherwise, they would have already joined the battle.”
“We’re getting closer,” I tell my mates. “I can sense him. He’s incredibly weak.”
“These Templars are stronger than the others!” Wyatt cries out as a swipe from a sword nearly takes off his leg.
“Wyatt!” I scream, sprinting over to him and killing the Templar as Wyatt limps away.
“These aren’t like the others,” Lucifer thunders, fury powering his words. “These are the ones that have been drinking angel blood.”
He’s right. These Templars move like the ones that attacked us in Chicago.
They’re faster, stronger, and more accurate with their shots.
Hayden and Remy get shot and have to take cover.
Jaxton plows into the Crimson Templars but even he is no match for their strength.
One of them hurls him into a wall, but he kicks off and sinks his teeth into the helmet, trying to rip his head off.
“Can’t fucking… too strong,” Jaxton transmits.
Storm shifts into his true Human Form and is hit by a few bullets as he jumps on the one Jaxton is fighting. That gives them enough momentum to pin the Templar down and rip off his head. They work the same system on another, leaving the headless corpse bleeding out on the floor.
I nearly get decapitated fighting one, but duck in time to only lose a clump of my red-highlighted hair.
Damnit! Extra pissed off now, I swing my fiery blade in a backhanded blow that separates the bastard from his head.
Turning from that little victory, I find myself facing another.
I raise my sword to fight when a flaming sword tip suddenly bursts through the Templar’s chest. Lucifer had dispatched the rest then finished off this last one by running him through from behind.
Fathers are really good that way, apparently.
“Wyatt’s hurt. Everyone’s hurt,” I wail, kneeling beside Wyatt.
“I can heal them,” Lucifer soothes my despair, dropping to a knee beside me.
More Templars appear, but not as many, so the wolves are able to finish them off while Lucifer heals Wyatt. Once things are quiet, he heals the rest of the pack, even a cut on my arm that disappears with a golden shimmer.
“Really glad we have an angel on our side,” Hayden sighs. “I have a feeling it won’t get any better from here.”
We run into more Templars as we continue through the grotto, but don’t suffer anymore injuries fighting them.
We push our way down some stairs and emerge into near darkness.
It’s quiet, the atmosphere hushed. A recognizable scent hangs in the air.
One I wouldn’t have recognized before we fought the vampires.
“Death,” I whisper. “Not just old tombs, either. Gabriel’s here. Somewhere.”
“Yeah, there’s more than an angel down here,” Jaxton growls.
An eerie groan echoes and the hair on the back of my neck bristles. I’ve heard that before and so has the rest of my pack.
Vampires.
“Vampires? Here?” Wyatt questions. “What the hell are the Crimson Templars doing?”
“Fledglings!” Remy calls out.
We see them approaching, but when they get closer, we realize they’re not fledglings. Not like the ones we’ve fought before. These are Crimson Templars who have been turned. Hayden goes after the first one, but the armor makes it harder to remove the heart.
“These are way too strong!” Hayden yells.
“They’ve been turned by angel blood,” Lucifer’s voice echoes off the stone walls. “But they’re still mindless vampires. Use that to your advantage. Rip off their armor before you go for the heart.”
I can’t do much except parry with my sword, because it can’t pierce the armor that the Crimson Templars are using.
Lucifer doesn’t have that problem, because he’s so strong he cleaves them in half when he hits them.
But his instructions are what we need. The pack pins the fledglings down, tears off their armor, and then bites through what is left to destroy the heart.
“Are all the Crimson Templars vampires?” I question as we continue ahead.
“Not all of them,” Lucifer replies. “Drinking angel blood won’t do much for a human… But vampires… that’s a problem.”
“At least we’re immune to their bites,” I say, shuddering a little.
“Gabriel should have been as well,” Lucifer says. “But clearly they’ve found a way to get his blood, even if they can’t bite him.”
I’m only half-angel and a blood transfusion changed Daisy. Drinking it gave my mates immunity to the vampire bites. I’m not sure what pure angel blood could do for a vampire, but I’m sure it isn’t good. Not for us, at least.
We run into more vampires as we get deeper into the necropolis.
Some of them are older vampires, but not ancient.
I’ve learned the difference now. They’re more of a challenge than most of the ones we fought at the school, but with Lucifer’s help and my mates enhanced size and strength, we’re able to make our way through them.
“Ahead,” I say, pointing to large, wooden double doors. “Gabriel is on the other side.”
“Stay behind me,” Lucifer orders. “I’ll rescue my brother.”
Lucifer grabs the doors, rips them off their hinges, and rushes into the room.
We follow behind him. It’s an enormous chamber that stretches so high the ceiling is lost in the shadows.
The walls are lined with stone shelves stacked floor to ceiling with ancient caskets and burial niches.
Thousands of them, creating a macabre tower of the dead.