Seal of Destiny (30 page)

“You can’t do this, Divinity! There are rules. Argus has Fallen!” Lucifer scowled.

Divinity only flashed him a cryptic smile. “Yes, there are rules, and I make them.”

“I’m not going home empty handed after this fiasco.” He changed tactics and jerked his head toward the slab. “What about the human?”

“Him you can have,” she said, her nose wrinkling in extreme distaste.

She snapped her fingers and vanished with a poof, the glowing clouds following close on her heels.

While humming an off-key rendition of “Onward Christian Soldiers,” Lucifer sucked the soul of Norman McClaine into a small glass jar. He screwed the metal lid on tight and held the tiny, shimmering ball up to the ceiling, jangling the contents before tucking it securely into the pocket of his suit coat. “Ah yes, Norman. You’ll make a fine addition to my collection.”

• • •

The Scion emerged outside to find a swirling mass of chaos.

Christos!
Was this the end of the world? Xander stared into the raging skies above. Black clouds swirled, highlighted by the occasional burst of lightning. Animals attacked each other across the vast preserve and fire erupted from gaping chasms. Distant explosions rippled the air and tremors rocked the ground. The Scion braced against the brutal gale and looked to him for direction.

“It’s the Seal,” he shouted, the wind stealing his words. “Opened.”

Mira’s lifeless body still hung from Kagan’s arms. Kagan held her close and gazed into the sky. Xander cringed.
Poor bastard.

Chago coughed, fidgeting. “What can we do, K?”

“I’m taking her to Divinity,” Kagan said, his brittle tone signifying a desperate man on the precipice.

Xander looked at the others. Wyck still carried Zoe’s unconscious form.

“The rest of you take Zoe to Wyck’s and wait.” He leaned in to stroke Zoe’s cheek and wiped a streak of blood from her face. “Please be careful. She’s fragile.”

The warriors flashed away with Zoe. Once they were gone, Xander turned to Kagan. He struggled to keep his voice quiet, cushioning his statement.

“There’s nothing Divinity can do, Kagan. Mira’s gone. The Seal’s been opened.”

“No!” Kagan shot him a venomous glare. “If you ever say those words again, I’ll kill you.
Capisci
?”

“Fine.” Xander scrubbed a hand over his face. He took in Kagan’s shell-shocked expression and the fear in his eyes. He knew those emotions, had lived the nightmare firsthand. “But I’m going with you.”

“To them that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of paradise.” — Revelation 2:7

“No! I won’t leave her.”

“There’s nothing you can do for her right now, Kagan. She’s safe with me.” Divinity’s gaze narrowed at Kagan’s vehement refusal. She glanced at Mira’s lifeless body and the still-seeping wound in her chest. Strong emotion clouded the warrior’s face, his expression flickering between sorrow, anger, and stubborn defiance.

After a brief battle of wills and a quick aside with Xander, whose calm reserve and quiet assurances seemed to break the stalemate, Kagan relinquished Mira. He knelt and laid her on a marble bench along the wall, pressing a kiss to her forehead before standing to face Divinity. His tone was quiet, steadfast. His voice cracked as he uttered the words. “I’ve never asked for anything. Don’t make me beg.”

Divinity gave a curt nod. She sensed his pain and the amount of pride his admission had cost. Things were progressing better than she’d planned. A small smile touched her lips while she waited for the warriors to depart the room. Yes, all was moving according to schedule. She stepped toward Mira and placed a hand on her forehead, sending a wave of healing energy through the girl’s depleted form.

A knock at the entry interrupted her regeneration. Jaw clenched, she pounded across the floor to yank open the front door.

Lucifer lounged against the doorframe, a lascivious grin plastered on his mottled face. “’Ello, dearie.”

How dare he desecrate her sacred ground? Divinity joined him on the porch. A strong wind swirled around them and clawed at their clothes, driven by her anger. “You bastard! We had an agreement, damn you. Now the first Seal has been opened, and the girl is dead. You will pay for this disobedience!”

Light radiated from Divinity’s being, in pace with her increasing fury. She leaned farther in until her nose was millimeters from his. The insolent creature thought to challenge her? Lucifer shrank away, shielding his face. “I was not the one who broke the Seal, nor did I kill her. It was the work of your half-breed Nephilim.”

She scowled, the air vibrating around them with shimmering heat. “They are
not
my creation. The Nephilim will be punished. Severely. Our agreement was to protect the Seals. You failed.”

He bared his jagged teeth and hissed. His forked black tongue flicked out over his thin lips and his eyes sparked red with taunting. “Fix it, Divinity. Do it. Return her pitiful life. You want to.” He glanced over her shoulder and shrugged, his countenance transforming to its usual pimpish smarm. “Besides, she doesn’t appear dead to me.”

“What the hell are you talking about? She’s — ” Divinity swung around. Through the nearby window, she saw an angel kneeling beside a now alert, sputtering Mira. She spun back to face Lucifer. “What did you do?”

“Me? Nothing.” Lucifer ignored her accusing stare and withdrew a clear glass jar from inside his suit coat. The container’s warped lid was screwed on crooked. New dents appeared with each strike of the sparkling blob of light imprisoned within, struggling for freedom. “Here. I believe this yours. For the time being.”

Divinity took the jar and scanned the peeling masking-tape label stuck to the front. Letters scrawled in a black marker read:
Argus’s Soul
. She bit back the smile threatening to blossom. The frenzied blob inside the container stilled.

“This is not over, Devil.” She walked to the entrance and swiveled toward him again, planting a stern expression on her face. “You and I will be talking later.”

“Depend on it, dearie.” She slammed the door on his oozing smirk.

“What’s going on?” Divinity approached the being at Mira’s side. “The girl was dead.”

“Not sure,” the angel said. He rose to his full height, towering over Divinity. “I walked through and she was sitting here. Asked me who I was and then requested the Scion, Kagan.”

Divinity crouched in front of Mira and enfolded the girl’s chilled hands in hers. “Mira, do you know where you are?”

Mira shook her head, her gaze full of confusion. Divinity waved to a passing handmaiden and soon a glass of brandy appeared. She pressed the snifter into Mira’s trembling fingers. “Drink.”

After several minutes, the jitters ceased, and Mira began to peer around the place with curiosity. Divinity smiled and handed Mira’s empty glass to the angel before helping her stand. She slipped an arm about Mira’s waist and led her toward the den. “Mira, dear, you and I have much to discuss.”

• • •

Mira sat in a high-backed leather chair and focused on the dancing flames in the fireplace while Divinity spoke.

“Do you understand what happened today?”

She tried to force the memories to the surface. Flashes of the holding cell at Tolbert and the long, dark trek to the auditorium bobbed to the forefront of her mind. Being strapped to a table. Zoe’s panicked calls for help. Oh, God! Where was Zoe?

Her brow furrowed. Kagan’s voice drifted through her muddled thoughts. His lips brushing hers as she shivered on the hard stone. Cold. Bone-deep cold. Like she’d never be warm again. The last recollections were of chanting, pain, and endless darkness.

“Do you love him?” Divinity asked as she sat forward in the wing chair across from Mira’s.

Love him? Kagan? Yes, yes, yes.
Mira’s heart thundered. Her mind screamed in rebellion. She stared at Divinity, unable to answer.

Divinity pinned her with a level gaze. “Your current state is temporary, Mira. I’m not sure what conspired to revive you, but whatever it was I don’t trust it.” She got up and walked toward the large mahogany desk, her expression contemplative. “Your rebirth has put me — and you — in a very tenuous position.”

Mira frowned. Temporary? She was going to die again? She swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. She thought of Zoe and Xander and her other new friends. Above all, she thought of Kagan. How could she leave him? Did she love him? Hell, yes, she did. Her rational mind be damned. She found Divinity watching her.

“You must make a choice, and there is little time for deliberation. If you understood the true feelings of your heart, the decision would be easier. For both of you.”

“Both of us?”

“Kagan will be affected by your actions as well.”

Mira dropped her gaze.
Great
. One more crappy choice in a life filled with shitty luck. Best to deal with the problem fast. Like ripping off a bandage. “What are my options?”

Divinity pulled a large leather bound book from a nearby bookshelf and returned to her seat near the fireplace. “Let me show you something first.”

• • •

Kagan zipped through his shower, washing away the accumulated metallic stink of Nephilim blood. A quick, fizzing tingle charged his belly. His nerves rapid-fired with wild excitement, filling him with ecstatic, zinging energy.
Mira!
He dressed pronto and rushed from the room.

Xander strode out from an opposite doorway at the exact moment Kagan entered the hall.

“I need to go, Xan. Something’s happened to Mira. I can feel it, feel her,” he said.

Xander kept pace beside him as they raced toward the foyer. “Promise me you won’t get your hopes up, all right?”

He slid a sideways glance at Xander, tamping down the sudden rush of anger brought on by his friend’s words.
Dai!
Hope was all he had left. Kagan inspected Xander closer and noted his drawn features and the dark circles beneath his eyes. “The accident still haunts you, doesn’t it,
amico
?”

“Every day.” Xander’s clipped answer echoed in the now empty foyer.

Kagan stalked to the bench. No trace of her. “Where the hell is she?”

Xander opened his mouth to reply when an angel drifted in through the opposite entryway. He held up a hand in the face of Kagan’s furious glare. “She’s fine. Divinity is speaking with her.”

Alive! Mira was alive!
Relief flooded Kagan. Uncontrollable laughter bubbled forth. He rushed from the room, heading in the direction of the den before pacing back in again when he found a closed door. “She’s alive, Xander.
Cristo
, she’s alive!”

Xander smiled and pulled the angel aside. They conversed for several minutes before the being departed as fast as he’d appeared.

Kagan flopped down on the bench where Mira had lain only an hour earlier, lost to him. Now, by some miracle, she’d been returned to him. He’d never leave her again. He wasn’t sure how they’d succeed.
Oca!
He didn’t care. Mira was his
Anim Fidelis,
and they’d find a way.

“No one seems to know why Mira survived.” Xander sat down beside him and leaned forward, resting his forearms on his thighs. “The angel said one minute she was dead and the next she was sitting up, talking. Strange.”

“I don’t care, Xan. She’s mine. I will not allow her to be hurt again.” Kagan scrubbed his face and leaned back against the cool marble. “I’m going to ask her to be my wife.”

• • •

Divinity cracked the door open and Kagan pushed through, racing to Mira’s side. “
Carissima
, I thought I’d lost you forever.”

Mira’s heart leapt when she spotted him. It was criminal for any man to be so handsome after what they’d experienced tonight.
Mine!
No. Not mine yet.
She reached out a shaky hand and touched his chest. “I know.”

He gathered her close. His whispered endearments of love twisted her heart. Would he be as quick with those words once he learned what was required to keep her alive? A slight cough had Mira squirming from his embrace. His grip softened enough to allow her to slip to his side. Divinity stood before them, her expression serious. “This is not finished, Kagan.”

“Mira’s alive.
Grazie, Divinita
.” He clasped Divinity’s hand to place a reverent kiss on the back.

“The Seal was opened, Kagan. The others have now been activated as well.” Divinity studied him, gauging his reaction. “With Mira’s life returned, the Seal’s power has been contained.”

“The problem’s solved, then.” He tucked Mira closer. She shuddered beneath his arm.

“Not quite. Mira’s spirit is not secure. Somehow her soul has been temporarily reunited to her body, but it will eventually escape again unless permanently bound.”

Kagan’s grin never faltered. “Then bind away.”

Mira bit her lip. He couldn’t possibly grasp the implications of his words. “Kagan, you better listen to Divinity’s explanation before you make a decision.”

Divinity picked up the leather-bound tome again. “I must warn you, Kagan. The binding ritual is not long, but it is permanent. If you choose to proceed, you will be bound to Mira forever. Are you willing to accept this?”

Kagan gazed at Mira and gave a definitive nod. No hesitation. Mira’s heart skipped. She searched his gaze but found no fear, no regret. Only joy. Her own happiness threatened to overwhelm her. Mira couldn’t suppress her blossoming grin.

Divinity walked to the odd houseplant in the corner and plucked a piece of tiny fruit from its branches. She returned to the couple and held out the glittering prize. Mira trailed her fingers over it, energy sparking from its ruby red surface. Divinity raised a hand in warning.

“You must both understand what you agree to if you eat this.” Divinity’s solemn gaze flicked between them. “Mira, by consuming this you will become immortal and linked to Kagan for eternity. One can never leave the other and one cannot survive without the other. Kagan, you must also eat of this or she will die. Your immortality will be forever linked to her survival. Do you accept?”