Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
Rocco
Selena. She really was a royal pain in my ass. Always had been.
But I loved her. God help me, I loved her.
And she was right about one thing. Vex would never forget what she did to him. Demons didn't forgive. They didn't move on. They festered. They planned. And when they came back, they came back worse.
Maybe the answer was to leave New Orleans.
Both of us.
I wished I had faith in Rose the way Selena did. But I'd seen too much. Felt too much. Had too many things crawl inside me and take the wheel while I screamed behind my own eyes.
And something about the shard nagged at me. If it could really ward off possession, why hadn't we known that before? Angelo and Costin wanted it to protect their loved ones from being dragged to hell. That was the mission. That was all anyone ever said. Nobody mentioned possession.
So either Rose was guessing, or there was something about that shard none of us understood yet.
For the next couple of hours, Selena and I were at a standoff. She wouldn’t move from the door and I had no intention of physically challenging her. That would defeat my purpose of defending her.
Someone knocked on the door. “Rocco, Selena.” It was Valentin. “They’re ready.”
They? Alice must be assisting her. She was a powerful witch, powerful enough to stop time.
I cocked my eyebrow. “Can I leave the room?”
“Very funny,” Selena growled as she opened the door.
Valentin and Darius waited for us outside. They led us into Valentin's room. The beds had been shoved to the side to make space. I glanced over at Lucien. His color had returned and he nodded at me as I entered.
I couldn't hold his gaze. I looked away.
Raven came toward me and I braced. Waited for the slap. The accusations. Every word I deserved. Selena edged in closer, her shoulder pressing against my arm. She wasn't as strong or as powerful as Raven, but her protective instinct washed over me like a shield.
"I know what happened to Lucien." Raven's voice was steady. Controlled. "You attacked him, Rocco."
I winced. My eyes darted to the door. Maybe I should just get the fuck out of here.
"Look at me."
I forced myself to meet her gaze. Her eyes were hard, but not cruel.
"It wasn't your fault. Am I angry at what that demon forced you to do to Lucien?
Yes. But that wasn't you." She took a step closer.
"I have fought evil before. It manipulates.
It twists people into doing what it wants.
I have seen it break people." Her voice softened.
"It's never broken you, Rocco. Remember that. "
Something cracked inside my chest. I clenched my jaw so hard my teeth ached, because if I didn't, I was going to fall apart in front of all of them.
Raven glanced over at Selena. "This time, evil lost. You're brave, Selena. He should be proud of you."
"I am," I said. My voice came out rougher than I intended. I squeezed Selena's hand and she squeezed back.
Rose held the shard in her palm. Her eyes were bright, her color returned — she looked like a different woman than the one slumped against the tree a few hours ago. "Alice and I have been in contact with Tinker Bell. She found a spell that we think will work to keep any of us from being possessed."
The room went still.
"Tinker Bell did more research on the Lapis Umbrae stone," Alice said. She looked at each of us as she spoke. "The stone was used by angels when they fought demons on Earth — it was their weapon for sending demons back to hell. It shattered and was lost."
"Lost," I repeated. "Something that powerful just got lost?"
"Centuries of war will do that." Alice's voice was steady, patient. "What matters is what's inside it. The shard possesses some of the Archangel Michael's power. The same power that's in his sword." She paused. "Excalibur."
The word hung in the air. I stared at the shard in Rose's palm. That small, jagged thing held a piece of Excalibur. No wonder the demons couldn't touch it. Excalibur could kill them.
"What we're going to do," Alice continued, "is cast a spell, and the Lapis Umbrae will blaze a tattoo of Excalibur onto each of us.
The tattoo will carry some of the shard's power.
Tinker Bell believes it will act as a shield around our bodies — a shield that no demon can pass through. Not even Balthazar."
"Or Vex," Rose added quietly.
"You really think this will work?" I stared at the shard, mesmerized by the faint light still pulsing inside it.
Selena elbowed me. "You have to have faith."
Raven laughed. "The Archangel Michael is the strongest angel in the garrison. Do you really think he'd be armed with something demons could overthrow?"
Heat flushed across my face and I didn't answer her. It was true. I'd met the Archangel Michael. He never lost.
"Now." Rose motioned with her arm. "Everyone stand in a circle. I'm going to place the shard in the middle. Then Alice and I will cast the spell." Her gaze swept over each of us. "Everyone holds hands. Don't break the circle. No matter what."
We moved into position. Selena took my left hand, her fingers lacing through mine.
Raven took my right, and Lucien stood on her other side.
Valentin held Selena's free hand. Darius held Alice's and Lucien's.
Rose completed the circle between Valentin and Alice.
My heart thundered so hard I thought it would explode.
God, I wanted this to work. Please let it work.
Lightning flashed outside and the air crackled. The hair on my arms stood up. Was that — was that the Archangel Michael?
Rose placed the shard in the center of our circle. It pulsed once, faintly, like a heartbeat waking up. Then she returned to her place and closed the circle.
Thunder boomed outside, shaking the walls. Lightning split the sky again, closer this time. Beads of sweat rolled down my temples. Selena squeezed my hand tighter. I squeezed back.
Alice and Rose looked at each other, nodded, and spoke as one—
"By the blade of Michael, forged in heaven's fire,
we call upon the Lapis Umbrae.
Shield of the righteous. Sword of the divine.
Bind your power to blood and bone.
Mark us with the blade that cast the fallen into darkness.
No demon shall enter. No shadow shall claim.
By Excalibur's edge, we are sealed.
By Excalibur's light, we are shielded.
Gladius caeli, protege nos. Signa nos. Libera nos."
The shard spun. Slowly at first, then faster, faster, until it was a blur of white light hovering above the floor. The room grew brighter — so bright the shadows screamed off the walls and vanished.
"Don't break the circle," Rose called out, her voice barely cutting through the hum that was building in the air, in the floor, in my teeth.
Lightning exploded out of the shard — not one bolt but many, arcing wild across the room, sizzling into the walls, scorching stone. The air smelled like a forge. Like heaven was hammering something into existence right in front of us.
Then the shard found its targets.
A beam of pure white light slammed into my chest like a blade driven through my sternum.
I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. It was heat and pressure and power — ancient, furious, holy power — pouring into me like molten steel filling a mold.
I felt it carving into my skin, burning deeper, past muscle, past bone, into something underneath that didn't have a name.
Selena's grip crushed my fingers. Raven's hand was iron around my other fist. Even if I'd wanted to break free, they wouldn't have let me. I could hear Selena gasping, Lucien swearing through clenched teeth, Raven breathing in sharp, controlled bursts.
I arched my back and screamed.
The light blazed brighter — impossibly bright, bright enough to burn through my closed eyelids — and I felt it. A sword. Excalibur. Not a tattoo, not a symbol, but the memory of the blade itself searing into my chest like a brand. Michael's power. Michael's promise.
No demon shall enter.
Thunder boomed outside so hard the building shook. The windows rattled. The floor cracked beneath the shard.
Then silence.
Total, ringing, deafening silence.
The shard lay on the floor as if nothing had happened.
That small, jagged piece of stone, just sitting there.
All of that power contained in something I could close my fist around.
No wonder Angelo and Costin wanted it. It possessed the power of the Archangel Michael's sword — the greatest weapon in heaven's arsenal.
The room had returned to normal. No scorch marks. No cracked floor. No evidence that anything divine had just ripped through all of us.
No lightning flashed outside.
No thunder roared.
But I had a feeling the Archangel Michael knew we'd used his power.
I just hoped we didn't pay for it later.