Rise of the Fallen (22 page)

“Relax my friend, I was merely returning her. She had a good chat with Markos.” Dorian smiled down at me.

I glared back at him. He had no reason or right to tell Soul where I was or who I was talking to. I gazed back to Soul, he looked a little uncomfortable.

“Dorian, can you leave? I think I should get to talk to her, too.” he said softly.

Dorian bowed his head to me and turned to leave, shimmering out of sight. Soul led me back inside and sat me at the table. The others were nowhere to be seen, which made me curious. Soul must have seen it in my eyes because he spoke quickly.

“They went out for a little bit. So … I suppose you know about Zaida then?” Soul asked, reaching out and taking my hand.

I looked down at our entwined hands and nodded, assuming that Zaida was Lilith's daughter.

“Good. I mean, I would have preferred to be the one who told you, but at least you know. Tomorrow we're going to ambush her. It'll be fine. I'll make sure that you're safe,” Soul sounded rather convincing.

“If you say so.”

“You do trust me don't you?” He lifted my chin to look me in the eyes.

I whispered a “yes”. It wasn't exactly a lie. He didn't ask to what extent I trusted him. I trusted him not to deliberately kill me, but I didn't trust that he wouldn't let anything happen to me.

“Where will it happen?” I asked.

“A few kilometres west of here. There's a little town surrounded by a swamp. She was last seen there, at least that's what Dorian said,” Soul said with a smile, happy that I was still a willing participant.

Well at least I now knew what I was getting myself into. I doubted
this would be as easy as he assumed. If Zaida is the only blood child of Lilith, Lilith wouldn't let any harm come to her.

“Maybe you should get some rest,” Soul said, gesturing to a single made-up trundle bed next to the window.

I wasn't the slightest bit tired, but I lay down anyway. I didn't want to talk anymore. This would all be over soon.

CHAPTER 17

It was just another long, boring car ride with very little talking. Except for Phebe badmouthing Markos. It was so much easier to endure that without him in the car arguing with everything that she said. Soul managed to keep to the speed limit, which normally I would have been happy with but I was actually in a hurry for this to be over and done with. I had had a bad feeling from the moment I opened my eyes this morning. We had been driving for three hours instead of just shimmering the demon way. We could have been there already, but no. Soul had to go and be difficult.

Slowly he pulled onto the road that led to the town. We travelled over a rickety old bridge that barely hovered above the vast swamp. The surrounding trees were dull and dying; branches and leaves littered the road ahead of us. The town's welcome sign listed the population as 267. I noticed a few young teenagers roaming the streets. The windows of most of the shops were boarded up; obviously not much to do in a place like this. Soul parked the car on the side of the road beside the shops and all four of us got out.

He silently led us into the centre of the swamp; I lost view of the town within a few minutes. I was hoping he wouldn't do that; I didn't really want to be stomping across unfamiliar territory. But we didn't have much choice if we wanted to find the girl. We walked together
for what seemed like an hour, but we still hadn't caught sight of Zaida. Soul turned to me and leaned down and kissed me hard on the lips.

“Bato and I will head east, and Phebe will follow you west. Stay together, Zaida is far too powerful to approach alone.” Soul was watching Phebe carefully, waiting for her to nod in acknowledgement before he walked away with Bato.

Phebe smiled and linked her arm in mine as we walked. It seemed silly, but I had a feeling she knew where she was going. The two of us stuck to the banks. For some reason I thought the boys would go straight and wade through the shallow muddy water. Phebe stopped suddenly, almost giving me whiplash.

“Keep going, I thought I saw something. I'll catch up,” she said.

Well, this couldn't end well; already she was ignoring Soul's instructions. It had to be a trick – or she was just impossible to work with. Either way, I was left alone. The water rippled beside me. I walked away from the edge; crocodiles and snakes freaked me out and I didn't want to get jumped. I'd take a demon over weird creatures any time. Funny, I would never have thought that before Cael left. I guess things change.

I turned back but saw no sign of Phebe. I considered going back and looking for her, but decided to keep going. The path deviated through the tall reeds and into an opening. Head down, I walked along the muddy path. It wasn't until I looked up that I realised I wasn't alone.

Zaida. Her bright, blue eyes were glued to my every movement, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. When she turned her head to the side I could see the resemblance; it was uncanny. Her image was that of Lilith, though as a child. It was unnerving to say the least. I had lost sight of Phebe; I was alone. Zaida grinned at me and disappeared. I looked around in curiosity, unsure if I should move or not. Phebe walked into view, ankle deep in the swamp. I breathed a sigh of relief.

I took one step forward then she put an open hand up to stop me,
her eyes flashing to the left. I followed her gaze and saw Phebe again. It wasn't possible. There were two and there was no way to tell the difference. With a shapeshifter there was no chance of figuring out which was the real Phebe.

“I'm the real Phebe! She's Zaida!” they both said in unison.

I prepared for the fight, letting flames overwhelm me. My head swung right, then left, watching the two Phebes. One continued to shout, “I'm the real Phebe!” The one in the water said nothing as I glanced in her direction, and I made the quick assumption that she was Zaida. Without another thought I threw the flames at her, setting her alight instantly. She screamed in agony and sank into the swamp, her flesh smoking before me. Then there was silence as she lay face down in the water. I looked back to the other Phebe and she laughed hysterically, morphing back into her childish form.

“That was just too easy,” she sneered.

I was silent, and then I saw them. There were bright red Emriahls, similar to those that I had seen in the car and in the alley. I stared at them in confusion as they began to get closer and encircle Phebe. Zaida raised a delicate eyebrow as she shot a glance between Phebe and I, then she laughed.

“How long have you been seeing the Emriahls?” Zaida said genuinely curious as she drew forward.

“It doesn't matter, Soul saw them too,” I said.

Zaida rolled her dangerous eyes. “Of course he can see them, he stole that ability from a seer named Ozul.”

I bit my lip nervously.

“My dear Emilie, you shouldn't believe
every
story you hear. Seeing the Emriahls is a gift, but you won't perish because of it. As for you
Zaida,
did you ever stop to think that the reason the soul catchers are surrounding her isn't because she's going to die, but because the Angel of Death wants to watch her?” Dorian's voice cut through the silence.

Zaida shot him an icy glare.

He moved forward quickly, backhanding her across the face. “Don't look at me like that! You knew this was coming.”

Soul came into view beside Dorian, followed by Bato. I stumbled back as Bato looked down at Phebe's lifeless body. He looked up at me and I uttered an apology. He trudged through the shallow murky water and reached an arm out to touch her but pulled back. He turned to Zaida with a murderous look in his eyes.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she laughed pointing at me. “It was all her!” I braced, now he would come for me. Bato pulled Zaida back by her hair and growled.

“You tricked her,” he said simply.

Soul placed his hand on Bato's back and pulled him away. Dorian exchanged a look with Soul.

“So what are you going to do, Dorian? You hold no power over me!” Zaida laughed.

Dorian ignored her. Soul moved between the other two and grasped Zaida's neck. He lifted her easily from the ground, causing her to gasp what sounded like a desperate laugh. Soul tilted his head to the side, leaning close to her face. He let out a breath over her face causing her to choke. A strange purple smoke rose from her lips.

There was pure fear in Zaida's eyes as the purple smoke streamed from her mouth and eyes.

“I find it rather funny that we have to fix the mistakes of the angels,” Dorian said with a sarcastic laugh. I stood watching the last of the purple smoke as it left Zaida's mouth, and entered Soul's. He took one final breath and smiled, dropping Zaida to the ground. She was still alive, which confused me, I thought the idea was to kill her.

“Dorian, care to do the honours?” Soul said casually, walking over to me and kissing me chastely.

Dorian had pulled a long, inscribed, silver dagger from his
overcoat and approached the quivering form of Zaida, crumbled on the muddy ground. He held out his hand for her and when she took it, he pulled her up to stand on her feet. He pulled her closer, as if he were embracing her. Zaida cried out and blood pooled in her mouth.

Soul leaned down and whispered in my ear, “I took her powers, leaving her mortal. It's the only other way to kill her, other than Samael taking both her immortal and mortal lives.”

I was in awe. They truly had thought of everything. Lilith was going to be angry, and the thought only excited me more.

Dorian stood back from Zaida's dead body and wiped the dagger on his pants. “I'd watch him now, Emilie. Part of Zaida's inheritance is lust. After all, Lilith is a succubus,” he winked.

Soul ignored him. “I think it's time we visited Samael.”

Bato nodded and disappeared in a flicker, followed by a grinning Dorian. Soul smiled down at me.

“I told you I could do this,” he whispered.

I nodded. I didn't think he actually could, but I was already being proven wrong.

“I wanted to ask you something.” Soul said in a low voice, taking my hands in his.

“What?”

He smiled and Markos appeared behind him. Soul raised a finger signalling me to wait a moment as he turned to face Markos.

“How many?” Soul asked.

“Two thousand, give or take a few.” Markos responded calmly.

Soul grinned, clearly impressed, “Excellent.”

“Two thousand what?” I asked.

Soul hadn't mentioned any other plans to anyone that I knew of, and the last time I saw Soul and Markos in the presence of each other they were locked together in hatred.

“Markos has helped create more of his kind. Rebuilding his
species is paramount to the plan.” Soul said with a smile, “We have somewhere to be right now, so you'll have to excuse us, Markos.”

Markos bowed his head briefly and disappeared into the trees. Soul squeezed my hand, and in an instant we were in a dark corridor. Bato was standing alone next to a stone wall, watching us approach. Soul pushed me behind him. Lilith was standing before us, her eyes aflame with anger. I had never seen her look more deadly, or more furious.

“You killed her, you killed my daughter,” Lilith hissed, her stance predatory.

“Poor you,” Soul laughed cruelly.

Her eyes narrowed, “Samael wants to see you.”

Lilith turned away from us, flickering to the great stone doors that towered to the roof of the hall. She pulled the doors open revealing a torch-lit great hall and a single throne on the platform at the very end. Soul didn't falter as Samael's figure appeared in a flash of dark smoke upon the throne, beckoning us to come forward. His face was bandaged and his wings spread wide, the cold eyes on the wings leering at us impatiently, lulling us into a trance like a deadly snake with its prey. Lilith's flickering shape appeared beside Samael and she leaned down to whisper secrets in his ear.

Soul led me into the hall. An eerie sense of dread overwhelmed me. The stains on the floor hinted at a massive loss of human blood and life. Soul stopped a few feet away from the platform and Lilith walked confidently down the stone steps to be level with us. The look in her eyes revealed that she knew that Samael would end our lives, that her hold over him was stronger than ever. She was truly the strongest and most deceitful demon to have ever existed.

Samael slowly rose from his throne, standing tall above us all. The cold burgundy eyes on his wings glistened in the torchlight as they looked over us. They lingered for a moment on Soul before he
walked down to the first step, standing directly behind Lilith. He tilted his head down to her and reached out, placing his hand on her left shoulder and squeezing down tightly. Lilith turned her head slightly, clearly in shock at his touch.

“Well kill them already! We don't need them, we can't trust them. Kill them now, Samael, before they kill all my children!” she commanded.

Samael let go and stepped around her. He came down the steps and stood in front of us. He didn't breathe or move at first, but the entire room began to shake as though it were about to crumble into nothing. An odd, dark mist of smoke appeared around Samael's hands and trailed down to pool around him on the floor. Instinctively, I took a step backwards, tripping on an uneven tile though my eyes remained glued to the smoke. Soul, however, was facing Lilith. Lilith was smiling, obviously pleased with herself.

Samael's many eyes stayed glued to Soul as he raised his hand, threatening to send the smoke forward. I held my breath and Samael's powers wrapped the smoke around Soul's throat. Soul began coughing loudly. There was no pleasure or accomplishment in Samael's eyes as he slowly attempted to suffocate Soul. I was just about to call out for him to stop when Samael turned to Lilith. The smoke was disappearing from around Soul's neck and now appearing as bonds around Lilith's wrists, legs and neck. Soul rose up quickly beside me. Lilith was choking, the smoke constricting her every movement. As Samael's glare intensified, the smoke began to overwhelm her. She continued to struggle for a moment, thrashing around trying to free herself, but soon all movement was stilled.