The Devil's Backbone (A Niki Slobodian Novel: Book Five) (16 page)

“They think they are indestructible,” said Lucifer. “The Grace. These were my people. Most of them hated me, but I loved them. I kept them safe.” He looked away in disgust.

“We’ll stop them,” I said. “We’ll put them in the Pits again.”

“No,” he said. “The time for mercy has come to an end. It was mercy that sent them to the Pits before. Now, when they see my face again, there will be no mercy in my eyes. I can be cold, and I can be monstrous. When they see my face again, they will see their fate.”

“Their fate?” I said.

“You are not the only one who can carry death with you, Niki. I have torn enemies apart for less.”

“Lucifer, what’s going to happen?” I said. “What can they possibly achieve by releasing Typhon?”

He looked down at me, and blinked, the cool rage dissolving when he focused on me. For now. “The Grace have always only wanted one thing,” he said. “Hell. All of it. They want it for their own. Before, they were trying to bring forth a great number of foul creatures to take out the demons. A cleansing, they called it. The demons are a race older than time, but for whatever reason, the Grace deems them unclean. They want to wipe them out and make Hell their own.”

“So, releasing Typhon does what?” I said.

“When I went to them, when they transformed me, Leda took time to mock me. She said soon Hell would be hers and the World would be her master’s.”

“And everything there?” I said. “What will happen to the people?”

Lucifer met my eyes. “If Typhon emerges, nothing will survive. He has an insatiable hunger, and he consumes everything. What he does not consume...he is cruel. You cannot even imagine. The last time he walked the World, he infested it with monsters. His children, he called them. That’s why the Grace are obsessed with the creatures. The Yuki-onna,” he looked out at Erebos and his eyes darkened. “Whatever did this. Typhon's favorite thing about the humans, the Creator's pride and joy, is to hear their screams. Typhon is the reason the angels do not leave Heaven. The reason the Watchers were sent to the World. The reason the shinigama were created to imprison the gods. There was a time when all the gods walked the World.”

“What do the Watchers have to do with this?” I said.

“The Watchers were the only beings strong enough to fight the gods,” said Lucifer. “If they had turned against the Creator, they could have been gods. But they remained loyal. And for their efforts, they were singled out and slaughtered one by one by Michael's order. He was afraid they would cast him down, I hear. And they would have. On their own, Watchers are strong, but not unbeatable. Together they possessed a power of immeasurable strength.”

“But there’s only one left,” I said. “My father. And he’s not rushing to my side. He’s a stranger to me.”

“He will come,” said Lucifer.
 

“I don’t know,” I said. “I think he’s afraid. I tried to call him before this all started. He won't come.”

“We are all afraid,” said Lucifer. “We should prepare immediately. Can you take us to the Backbone?”

“Yes,” I said. “I can see it now. The spirits showed it to me.”

“How many can you take?”
 

“I have no idea,” I said. “No more than a few, I guess. But I can’t guarantee that I won’t just burn us all up.”

“Does it hurt?” he said. “Does it cause you pain to have His power?”

“Yes,” I said. “It feels like I’m burning up from the inside.”

He took my hand. “Can I help?” he said.

“How?”

“I’m not sure,” he said, frowning. “Can I help you carry it?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I don’t even understand how it works. I’ll feel better when these witches are dead and we save the world. All the worlds.”

“Niki?” Lucifer was still holding my hand. “It may be time to consider that we won’t be able to save it. We may die trying to save it.”

“The ghosts kept saying one thing over and over,” I said. “Sacrifice. They kept saying it.”

“Did they mean us?” said Lucifer.

I shook my head. “I don’t know.” I squeezed his hand. “Do you still want to run away?”

“More than anything,” he said. “But if we don’t fight, there will be nowhere to run to.”

“I should have said yes,” I said. “I wanted to. I just didn’t know how.”

“You’ll say yes next time,” he said.

“What if there isn’t a next time?” I said. “What if this is the end?”

“I’d rather die with you than anyone else,” he said.

“That is not comforting,” I said. “Do you have a plan? For the Grace?”

“I was hoping you might.”

“We’ll need Gage.”

“A combination of World magic and Hellion magic would be useful,” said Lucifer.
 

“You want Gage to work with a demon?”

“Magic from two different worlds can be incredibly powerful.”

“Have anyone in mind?”

“The best there is. Ashmodai.”

“Ash is a Caster?”

“Well, that’s not what we call it, but yes.”

“I have one other idea,” I said. “But you might not like it.”

“Why?”

“I have to go to the World.”

“I’m going with you,” he said.

“It would be better if I went alone. The guy I’m thinking of, you might make him nervous. He barely trusts me.”

“We were separated because I went off alone,” said Lucifer. “Now you want to do the same thing?”

“I have the Creator’s power,” I said. “There’s nothing in the World that can hurt me.”

“That's what I thought,” said Lucifer. “And then I was a dog.”

“A hell-hound,” I said.

“What’s the difference?”

I shrugged. “Hell-hound sounds more impressive.”

“Niki, I don’t want you going off alone.”

“We have to get ready,” I said. “You’re still naked and in need of rest. We have to make sure Matthew is protected so they don’t come looking for him again. And you need to get Bobby and Ash prepared. They probably need to go through some books. There isn’t time to waste. I’ll go. I’ll be back in less than an hour. I’ll grab my guy and be back before you know it.”

“You’re going to do this no matter what I say, aren’t you?” he said.

I tried for a smile. “Sorry.”

He grasped my arms and pulled me closer to him. He stared into my eyes and I felt my pulse quicken.

Sacrifice.

“If you die, I will never forgive you,” said Lucifer.

“I know,” I said.

“Be careful,” he said. “Stay alive.”

I nodded. “I’m going to find Aki. I think he can help us. It’s going to be okay.”

Sacrifice.

“I wish I believed that,” said Lucifer.
 

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

I braced myself for the pull of the souls as I touched down in the World, but as my feet met the road, I felt nothing. I frowned. There should have been dozens of souls waiting for me. And since Matthew was certain he had released monsters when the Grace had taken over his body, the lack of souls was eerie.

Something was wrong. I needed to find Aki.

He wasn’t where I left him, in Gage’s apartment. I found his shredded suit jacket in the hallway, riddled with the bullet-holes I had put there. I walked out into the street. The city was silent. No cars, no people, not even birds. I walked down the sidewalk, peering into the windows of shops along the way. It seemed as though everyone had just gotten up, dropped whatever they were doing, and left. Smoke poured out of a bakery where someone had left something cooking. Cars idled in the street, purses and phones left on the front seat.
 

I paused in front of Happy's Pub, Gage’s favorite hangout. I listened hard and after a moment I felt something. Whispers, breathing, heartbeats. I entered and a woman screamed, her male companion putting a firm but gentle hand over her mouth, shushing her. I frowned. The bar was crammed with people. Abbies. Happy came forward, frowning at me.

“Where is he?” he said.
 

“Who?” I said.

“Gage. What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything,” I said. “Bobby’s fine. He’s safe.”

“For now,” the man said. I noticed he was holding a shotgun. “I’ve seen it. He’s going to die and it’s going to be your fault.”

“What?” I said. “I told you, he’s safe. What the hell is going on?”

“You don’t know?” said a tall brunette woman nearby. I shook my head. “How can you not know?”

“She’s not from around here,” said Happy, scowling. “Are you?”

“Don’t take us,” said a small boy. “Please. We didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I’m not going to take anyone,” I said. “Just someone please tell me what’s happening.”

Happy exhaled heavily out of his nose, looking at me with disdain. Finally he nodded. “It came in the night,” he said. “No one knew what was happening at first. There was all this shaking and the news was reporting earthquakes. But I went outside and I saw them.”

An older man with a bolo tie shuddered and Happy patted him on the shoulder.

“I don’t know what they are,” he said. “But they’re big. Tall as a building some of them. They’re not like anything I ever saw.”

“Like monsters?” I said.
 

“I suppose,” said Happy.
 

“Where are they now?”

“Some of them left,” said the brunette.
 

“How do you know?” I said.

She shrugged. “I just know. I felt it. One of them stayed, though.”

“Just one?” I said. “How do I find it?”

“Just listen,” she said. “You’ll hear it.”

“You’re all Abbies?” I said. Happy nodded. “Where is everyone else?”

“Dead,” he said.

“Dead?” I repeated. That made no sense. If they were dead, I’d be able to feel it.

“It was like a goddamned Pied Piper,” said the old man. “It only happened about an hour ago. They all lined up, quick as you please. Like it was the damned DMV. And their faces were…strange. No emotion. Like they was robots or something.”
 

An hour ago. I was crying and telling Lucifer I loved him an hour ago. I should have been here.

“No emotion,” said the brunette with a haunted look. “There was nothing in their eyes. They were gone.”

Sacrifice.

I swallowed, not sure I wanted to know the answer to my next question. “Why did they line up?”

Happy suddenly looked stricken, as though he’d forgotten to hate me for a moment. He shook his head and his eyes watered. He looked at me. “They ate them. The monsters. Just picked them up, one by one, like candy. The worst of it was that they didn’t even scream. Didn’t run, didn’t wiggle. Didn’t cry. Just died.”

“What the hell kind of monsters are these?” I said.

“Are you going to take us?” said the little girl again.

“What?” I said. “No, I said I wasn’t.”

She crooked her finger at me, gesturing for me to come closer. I bent down and she turned my head to whisper in my ear. “Don’t tell the grownups,” she said, her little fingers on my face. She smelled like cherries. “They'll be afraid.”

“Tell them what?” I whispered back.

“They’re not monsters,” she said. “They’re gods.”

I turned to look at her and she let her hands drop from my face. I looked into her hazel eyes. She was around seven years old with chubby cheeks and wearing a dirty dress. But her eyes looked old, like so many Abby children I’d seen. They had shouldered so much in their young lives. I’d had the same haunted look about me, once upon a time.

“Are you sure?” I said. The girl nodded solemnly.
 

“They’re not like my mommy’s god,” she said, her voice low, as though no one would be able to hear her. “They’re not nice. They want to do bad things to us.”

“Us?” I said.

“People. They don’t like us. We're dirty and in the way.”

“How do you know?”

“I heard their thoughts when they passed by,” she said. Her lip trembled. “It hurt really bad when I heard them. Their thoughts didn’t feel right.”

I nodded and smiled gently at her. “Okay.” I held her hand. “You’ve been a big help.”

“Are you going to save us?” she said.
 

“I…” I looked around. All eyes were on me. “I’m going to try.” But even that flimsy promise sounded like a lie.

I turned to go and Happy grabbed my arm. I met his eyes.

“You can’t save us, you know,” he whispered. “This is the end.”

“It can’t be,” I said.

“I’ve seen it,” he said.
 

“Seen what?”

“The end of the world.”

 
* * *
 

When I took the car, it had a quarter tank of gas. It was on Empty after driving around the city with the windows down, looking for this thing.
 

A god. The little girl had said it was a god.

I had to drive on the sidewalk in places, where the abandoned cars clogged the road, and I stopped every few blocks to listen. When the car sputtered out of gas, I got into another one. Its gas tank was nearly empty. After that, I was near downtown and the cars clotted the streets. Purchased items had been left on the sidewalk where people dropped them. Groceries, garbage, even a painting on a large canvas. For a moment, the strange fire in me flared up, burning me inside my arms and legs and throat. I’d not felt it since arriving in the World. It could mean I was close.

I smelled dust and wet cement as I came around the corner. The windows in the building next to me rattled. Then I heard a scream. I felt myself running and then it was there in front of me, and I wondered how I couldn’t see it before.
 

It was gray as stone and blended in with the buildings around it. It was all sharp angles and jutting bones under leathery skin and when it moved it was like watching an insect. But its movements were fast, faster than an angel. Faster than me. I kept my eyes on it but I kept losing it, going left and right, back and forth, striking out at something in front of it. Like it was fighting. Until I realized it
was
fighting.

For a moment its opponent, a hundred times smaller but still holding his ground stopped, before rushing off in a blur again. But I had seen him. Tangled gray hair falling out of a ponytail. Grizzled cheeks. A Hawaiian shirt and wrinkled shorts.