Chapter 20 Archer
Chapter twenty
Archer
What the fuck was that ?
I turned away, my confusion as overwhelming as my anger, as I headed for the house, needing to put distance between me and the witch.
How had she done that? Chased my shadows away?
In all my many years roaming the earth, no mortal had ever managed such a feat.
Other powerful beings had come close, some even managing to nearly rival me in power and control, but in the end I had always had the upper hand.
There were very few who could best me, and at this point, nearly all of them were on my side.
Asmodeus. Vine, if he ever stopped fucking around long enough to give a shit about power. Hell, even the Leviathan, although no one had seen his sorry ass for an age. All of us nearly equal in strength and stamina.
In truth, only the Dark Lord himself stood above us, and that was his due.
After what he’d been through, no one would dare to challenge him.
But whatever Delilah had done, it had been strong. Alarmingly so.
And that wasn’t the only alarming thing about the feisty little witch. Clenching my jaw, I tried to tamp down on the memory of her in my arms, pushing it out of my mind. One moment I had been ready to throttle her, the next, I was tasting her sweet lips, my shadows exalting at the contact.
I didn’t understand the unbearable need to touch her. It was like a compulsion, and in that moment, there was just no way I could have fought it any longer.
There was no excuse for my behavior; giving in to Delilah’s temptation would do nothing but endanger my brothers. I couldn’t afford the distraction the witch was proving to be.
I should just end her sorry life and be done with it.
It would be the smart thing to do, but for some reason, even the thought of hurting her was abhorrent to me.
Threat she may be, but I wasn’t quite ready to be done with Delilah and the mystery that she was becoming.
I did my best to hide my smirk as I thought about all the delicious ways I could torture her to get my answers.
I’d find a way to reveal her secrets, one way or another.
Tucking that puzzle away for later, I pushed past a glaring Corson and back into the house, the sound of breaking glass greeting me. Vine and Mal were in the kitchen, Mal still holding that ridiculous hedgehog, both of them seemingly content to watch for now.
“Uncle, please.” Persephone’s voice was pleading, almost desperate, as she tried to calm her raging uncle.
“Balance!” Nathaniel screamed, sounding hoarse, like he’d been yelling all day. “Samhain comes! The broken veil requires balance.”
Entering the hall, I saw him, his hair a mess where it had fallen out of its queue, attempting to shake off Persephone’s clutching hands. Nathaniel turned, his eyes wild as he caught sight of me, and I could smell his fear as it clouded up the hall.
“Archer!” Stumbling toward me, his boots crunching over a broken picture frame, the shards cutting through the image of Percy’s smiling face, leaving carnage in his wake. “Archer, please. You must understand. I didn’t have a choice.”
“A choice for what? Nathaniel, you’re not making any sense.”
“Secrets upon secrets.” Vine’s words were quiet, but I felt their weight settle across the room like a fog.
This was going to be bad.
“I didn’t want to tell them,” Nathaniel muttered, clinging to my shirt as he stood before me, his eyes pleading.
“You have to know I didn’t.” Spinning away, he turned back to Percy, whose worried face was white as a sheet.
“My darling, forgive me. I was trying to protect you. The veil...it requires balance. Balance. Balance.”
Eyes glazing over, Nathaniel began pacing, muttering under his breath the same words I’d seen repeated in his journal.
Desperate. Final. Samhain. Balance.
Over and over, he mumbled, like a man possessed.
“Nathaniel?” I asked, my worry rising.
“Savior,” he muttered, still not looking at me. “Samhain requires a savior.”
“Uncle,” Persephone tried again, her hand trembling as she reached for him. For a moment he calmed, his face cradled in her palm as he stared at her lovingly. “What balance? What do you mean, Uncle?”
“When the cross-quarter fires burn bright, the blood of the Light will be spilled, opening the Veil.” He spun from her, his eyes wild as he pointed at me. “You must protect the Light!”
“Nathaniel—”
“I’m sorry, Archer. I didn’t want to do it.”
“Nathaniel, what did you do?”
Releasing a sob, Nathaniel’s face crumpled as he finally met my gaze, shoulders shaking with the force of his tears.
“They were going to hurt her.”
“Who?”
“The Order,” he wailed miserably. “They came. They wanted information about the Key, but I refused. My loyalty is to the Brotherhood, Archer. You know this. But—” he trailed off, looking once again at Persephone where she stood, crying by the door. “I couldn’t let them hurt her.”
“You’re the leak? You are the one who broke your vow as a Guardian and betrayed the Brotherhood?” He nodded pathetically, unable to speak the words out loud. “Nathaniel, why didn’t you reach out to me?” I snarled, my temper flaring. “I would have come. We would have protected you both.”
“I couldn’t leave my church!” he insisted, one hand going to his throat as if the very thought was abhorrent. “So I had to tell them. When you arrived, I had no choice but to tell them.”
“Tell them what, Nathaniel?”
He let out a breath, his shoulders deflating.
“I told them she was here.”
No one spoke. No one even breathed, as we all realized what Nathaniel had just done.
“You informed the order that I was here?” My voice was quiet, but it carried a threat just the same.
“No!” he insisted, his head shaking, face reddening at the accusation. “I left you out of it! I swear. Just the witch. I only told them about the witch.”
“How did you even know she was with us?” Corson asked. “You only just got here.”
Turning his head, Nathaniel looked at Percy, and she had the decency to appear ashamed.
“What?” Persephone asked acerbically, throwing a glare at Delilah, who had joined Vine and Mal in the kitchen.
Standing between the two massive demons, she looked fragile and small, almost like a child, with her too-large dress and wide, alarmed eyes in the face of Percy’s venom.
“She’s just a witch.”
“And what are you?” Delilah shot back, her hands once again cradling the pouch with the hedgehog inside. “Besides a burden on everyone around you?”
“I’m a woman who knows how the world works!
” Percy stepped toward Delilah, her taller frame allowing her to loom over the witch menacingly.
To her credit, Delilah didn’t flinch, lifting her chin to meet Percy face to face.
“I’ve lived several lifetimes. Seen kingdoms and empires rise and fall.
You are an infant compared to me, to what I’ve seen and done.
I’ve lived through half a dozen wars, seen friends age and die around me, and stood by my family through it all. Can you say the same?”
At those words, Delilah’s bravery seemed to falter, her brows pulling low as she hunched her shoulders defensively.
“When my family is threatened, I would do anything to protect them.” Turning back to me, Persephone shrugged. “Even hand over one useless witch.”
“And what were you promised for your treachery?” Mal asked, his rough voice sounding angrier than I’d ever heard it.
“Safety.” Percy moved to stand next to her uncle.
“They promised they’d leave us and my uncle’s charge if they could take the witch and go.
They never said a word about you or your brotherhood.
They only said that a witch would come looking for the secrets of the Guardians.
Frankly, I was shocked when you showed up with her.
” Her face softened, and for a moment, Percy actually looked remorseful.
“You weren’t supposed to be here, Archer. ”
“But I am here, Persephone,” I snarled, feeling my shadows rise as I turned back to Nathaniel. “And your betrayal will not go unanswered.”
“I didn’t betray you!” he insisted, falling over himself in an attempt to justify his actions.
“I had no idea you would be bringing the witch. They simply said to watch out for her and to inform them if she arrived looking for the Key.” His gaze shot to Corson, then Vine and Mal, trying to find one ally in a sea of disappointed looks and angry glares.
“I didn’t betray the Umbra Fratrum. They said she was a threat. I was protecting the Key, I swear it.”
“You betrayed the Brotherhood. The binding contract between you and the Dark Lord himself. You took a sacred oath and you just pissed all over it.”
“They told me they would take the witch, that my oath would not be compromised. They were going to hurt my Persephone, Archer. It was the only way.”
“We’re going in circles,” Corson ground out, his hands flexing at his sides with unreleased anger. “They are both guilty. I know you have history with them, Archer, but the laws are clear; you wrote them yourself. Oathbreakers suffer the fates they have earned.”
“Fuck you, Corson,” Percy spat, and Delilah let out a soft gasp. “You’re always so high and mighty. You think I don’t know what you do when you think no one is looking? Nathaniel isn’t the only one breaking his oath around here.”
Corson frowned, but said nothing.
“The law is the law,” Mal droned, and Vine only shook his head sadly.
“Sorry, Percy.”
“It was my oath, not hers. She didn’t—” Nathaniel started to defend Persephone, but she cut him off.
“Then I’ll make an oath of my own.”
The ring on my hand flared with heat, my inner monster stirring at the prospect of making a deal. I could feel the magic curling inside me, a hungry creature ready to feast.
It had been too long.
“Persephone, no!” Nathaniel grasped her arms, shaking her lightly. “You cannot. You know what he is! There will be no backing out of it.”
“I am aware, uncle. I know what this will cost, and I’m willing to do it.” She gently pushed him away, patting his hand before moving to stand before me.
“Archer, demon of the crossroads. I wish to make a deal.”