Chapter 30 Delilah
Chapter thirty
Delilah
She moved so quickly; I had barely registered her words before Helena was in front me again, the knife clutched in one shaking hand as she reached for me with the other.
I didn’t think, just reacted. Raising my arms, I crossed them before me, attempting to protect myself.
But the strike never came.
Without conscious thought, a surge of power rose within me, cresting up and breaking like a wave, the energy spilling like a tsunami across the ashen ground and plowing into Helena.
The force halted her in her tracks and knocked her backwards, her feet leaving deep grooves in the ash as she struggled against it.
For a moment, neither of us moved, Helena’s scarred face blank with shock as she blinked at me in surprise.
I was sure my face looked the same.
What had I just done?
Whatever it was, it wasn’t much, but it was enough to give Archer time to act.
Which was good, because I seriously had no clue how to do it again.
“I warned you once, Helena.” Archer stepped between us, rising to his full height—which was several inches taller than he usually stood—and looming over Helena like Death himself. “Back away from my witch.”
Her chin lifted, her terrified eyes wide as she quivered under the weight of his demonic presence.
I couldn’t blame her; Archer typically carried an air of strength and power, something that had attracted me to him long before I had been willing to admit it.
But here? In this form?
There was no denying that he was the ultimate predator. As I stood behind him, watching as his sleek black wings pulsed with his rage, I could fully admit that I was far more turned on than I was afraid.
And I was absolutely afraid. Things had changed rapidly in the last few hours, and I no longer knew where I stood with Archer.
If I had ever known.
“I must deliver her to Belial,” Helena pleaded, as though she could appeal to reason and convince Archer to allow her to take me. “You know what this means. She will be the spark that signals the end of Lucifer’s reign.”
“You lie.”
“They will never stop hunting her,” Helena went on, ignoring his taunt.
“You know this. She will never be safe from the Order of the Broken Veil.” She shook her head, smiling grotesquely.
“When Belial gets his hands on her, he will not be merciful. Her screams will ring throughout the deepest circle of Hell and—”
Helena’s words cut off with a sickening gurgle. Archer’s spread wings blocked most of my view, but I was able to see Helena’s feet dangling off the ground, kicking frantically as she choked on her final breath.
“Belial will never touch her.” Archer’s words rang out across the barren landscape like an oath, and something within me preened.
When it was over, and Helena had fallen still and quiet, Archer huffed out a growl and tossed her body to the side. I grimaced as I watched her limp, bloody corpse land in a pile like a puppet with its strings cut.
I tried to feel sympathy. I tried to feel disgusted by Archer’s actions, but all I could manage was gratitude. Helena had been a true threat, and Archer had stepped in front of her and protected me.
Again.
Archer turned, his wings tucking behind him like a cloak, and faced me. His face was contorted into an angry scowl, his chest heaving as through he’d just run a mile. In one hand he held the raw meat of Helena’s still-beating heart.
“You killed her.”
“No one tells me what to do in my own fucking realm.” Glancing at the bloody pulp in his hand, Archer shrugged, tossing the heart over his shoulder casually without a second glance. “And no one threatens what’s mine.”
He stared at me, like he was waiting for me to respond or freak out or something, but all I could do was nod.
Because his words rang true down to my very soul.
My response appeared to satisfy him because Archer turned and strode to Helena’s body, crouching down and cleaning his hands on her clothes, then stood with a decisive nod.
“Alright, witch. Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
Then, like I’d seen him do several times before, Archer swept one arm wide in preparation to make a shadow gate.
Only, this time, nothing happened.
He frowned, head tilting to one side in consternation, before he arced his arm up again, the movement swift and sharp.
“Fuck.” he muttered to himself, moving his arm a third time. When it still didn’t work, Archer took another look around, his eyes widening in realization. “Fuck!”
“What’s wrong? Where’s the gate?”
He grunted, his shoulders rounding as he shook off his agitation, then ground out, “It’s not working.”
“What’s not working?” My voice rose with my growing panic. “Your magic? But you brought us here!”
Subconsciously, I reached for the pouch, needing Pandora’s comforting presence, but all I found were the ragged remains of shredded canvas hanging from my chest. Fingers shaking, I removed the ruined pouch and tossed it next to Helena’s body, hoping with all my heart that Pandora was safe back in Boston, and that we’d be together again soon.
“I didn’t, actually,” Archer replied, his expression full of a strange kind of yearning. “I haven’t been able to access Hell in over twenty-five years.”
“You’re joking,” I stated, even though it was clear that he wasn’t.
That information was more than a little shocking.
As a member of the Demon Nobility, Archer should have been able to come and go from Hell as he pleased.
If what he was saying was true, it could only mean something terrible had happened in the reigning hierarchy among Hell’s denizens.
Power shifts were never good, especially if they shifted closer to chaos.
“If you weren’t the one who brought us, then how did we get here?” Archer said nothing, just looked at me pointedly.
“Me?” I shook my head, my denial instant. “No way. Impossible. I don’t have any magic.”
But was that still true? Even as I said the words, I could feel it, pulsing within me, larger and more animated than anything I had ever felt.
It had started the moment Archer had placed the collar around my neck, I’d just been to distracted with all that had been happening to really understand what it meant.
But even though I was shaking my head, I knew what Archer was saying was true.
I finally had magic.
“Deny it all you want, little witch, but the fact remains that I was not responsible for our journey here. We know it wasn’t her.” He sneered toward Helena’s mangled corpse. “So that leaves only one other option.” Archer turned back to me, his dark, fathomless eyes serious. “You.”
“But...how?” Even a fully trained witch wouldn’t be able to transport three individuals between realms.
“My guess is the piece of the Fallen Key.”
“I only have a piece,” I protested, unfolding my fist to reveal the item I’d retrieved from inside the golden orb.
It was smaller than I’d anticipated, and appeared to be made out of some kind of smoky glass, flat on one side, and domed on the other, like a big marble that had been cut in half.
Holding it up, I could see that the circumference was wrapped in some kind of silver wire, with a twist on one end making it look like a gaudy piece of costume jewelry instead of an ancient magical artifact.
“Which is probably why we only came as far as Purgatory. We will likely need the full Key to gain access to Hell itself.”
“And it doesn’t look like a key at all,” I mused.
“It doesn’t have to look like a key to behave like one,” Archer said, a touch of impatience in his tone.
“Now, if you could please get us the fuck out of here, I’d like to return to my preferred body.
” He shook his head and stared down, his massive paw-like feet shuffling restlessly.
“I hate coming back here unprepared. The forced shift just cost me a seven-hundred dollar pair of Italian leather loafers.”
I started to laugh, then stuttered to a halt when I realized exactly what he’d just said.
“You want me to make a shadow gate?”
“No,” he sighed, making me feel like a child he was having to explain the basics of life to.
“You are a witch. You don’t have demon magic, which means that a shadow gate isn’t something you are capable of creating.
What I want you to do is use whatever transportation spell you worked to bring us here to take us back to Boston so we can get on with our mission and shut the Order down once and for all. ”
I blinked at him, my heart thudding.
“I didn’t do a spell, Archer. I don’t know of any spells that would transition us between planes, and I certainly have no idea how to do it now. Whatever I did, it was completely unintentional.”
The snarl he released was pure animalistic rage, his wings flaring open wide as he clenched his fists and released his anger to the empty gray sky.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me!”
“Why can’t you do it?” I questioned. “Just make a gate and get us home.”
“I can’t just make a gate, Delilah,” he spat arrogantly.
“No one has been able to do that since Lucifer disappeared. Not even me.” He threw his arms up gesturing to the empty expanse around us.
“Not to mention, when you zapped us to Hell with your reckless use of magic that you clearly don’t understand, you managed to drop us into the one place in the entire realm that prevents me from accessing my own fucking power. ”
“You can’t access your powers in Hell?” I asked, shocked.
“I can access my powers in Hell everywhere except this single fucking location.”
“Which is?”
He sighed, his wings shifting with the movement in a way that almost had me smiling.
“The Void.”
The words felt ominous, but they meant nothing to me. He must have seen that in my expression, because he sighed again, his wings once again tucking behind him as he closed his eyes in clear exasperation.
“It’s a part of Purgatory cut off from the rest by a magic so ancient, it predates just about everything. A place where you can only access your own magic if given leave to do so.”
“So, who do we ask?” I pressed. It seemed simple enough. “Who’s in charge here?”
“Astaroth.” Archer spoke the name like it had personally offended him
“Great. Let’s go find him and get your magic back.”
“It’s not that simple, little witch.” Archer went to run a hand through his hair, only to realize his horns were currently sprouting from his head, impeding the movement, and I wondered just how long since he had allowed himself to be in this form.
If I had to guess, I’d say it had been a while, which was a shame, because the longer I stared at his demonic face, the more I liked it.
“Nothing in Hell is given for free, and Astaroth is a bastard. He’ll ask something of me that I won’t want to give.”
Archer looked at me, his heavy brows drawn down low, and I wondered what he was thinking. What could be asked of him that would put that look on his face.
“Is there another way out of here?” I asked.
“Unfortunately, no. Once you enter the Void, you have to pay the toll to leave. You’ll wander forever if you try to avoid Astaroth’s payment.”
“So what you’re trying to say is either way we’re fucked, right?” I shrugged. “Might as well see what he wants. Maybe it won’t be so bad.”
“I assure you. It will be bad.”
But Archer still placed his fisted hands on his hips and turned his head from side to side, surveying the landscape as he tried to decide which direction we should go.
While he did that, I untied my necklace and slid the wire loop of the first piece of the Fallen Key onto the chain beside my clay pendant.
When the two pieces touched, a bright spark burst forth, there and gone again so fast I wasn’t even sure I’d seen it.
“Alright,” Archer said, clapping his hands decisively. I blinked at him, tucking the necklace with its two pendants into my dress for safe keeping. “This way. Follow me and stay close. I have no wish to have to pry you from the jaws of some infernal hellbeast because you can’t do what you’re told.”
“Yes, sir,” I said, offering him a mocking salute.
The growl that he released was more heat than anger, but I forgot all about it when Archer turned and began to stride away from me across the barren wasteland that was the Void.
“Uh, Archer?” I asked, my eyes wide as I stared after him in shock. “Do you have...I mean. Is that a...tail?”