All That Falls (36 page)

It wasn’t possible. When he left the world, so would she. And time was running out. He felt the prophecy roaring toward its conclusion. They had days left, not years. And then she’d have an eternity to blame him for depriving her of her life. What if she turned away from him? Refused to be with him in the afterlife? He didn’t think he would be able to stand it. It would be like losing heaven all over again.
Please not that.

If she has to banish me from her presence, don’t let it be forever. Don’t let the world despair and fall to ruin at the loss of divine inspiration when she leaves here. Make it possible for her to forgive me. I’ll wait as long as it takes,
he prayed.

“Lysander,” she said.

He looked at her, feeling as though all the air had been sucked from his lungs. She was meant to be his. He felt that to his core. Unless this was part of the sacrifice he had to make to redeem himself. His punishment for falling from grace and for allowing Reziel to kill Felice? Had heaven given him Cerise, the woman he really wanted, only to take her away?

“Lysander,” she repeated.

“Yes?” he asked, his hands fisted tight enough to make his fingers cramp.

“The other reason I came back was because if I hadn’t, Reziel would’ve won. I’ll give you up for mankind’s sake and for my daughter’s, but I’m not going to let hell get you by killing me.”

Lysander’s smile didn’t reach his eyes, but he nodded. “He underestimated you.”

“I want to make him regret that for so many reasons. Not the least of which is that he took control of my friend’s body in order to shoot me.”

“Your friend?”

“Hayden. He shot me, but it wasn’t him. The way he walked and spoke…his eyes—” She grimaced. “I’ve met Reziel
before, but didn’t know it,” she said, stiffening. “Hayden’s not the first Lane that Reziel’s possessed.”

What?

“A demon of Reziel’s power and energy couldn’t enter the world and force his way into a human body without a serious compact with someone.”

“I don’t know how he’s doing it. I’m just telling you he is. I need Griffin’s songbook. That’s the key. I feel it.”

“The cell tower has been repaired. I don’t understand why I can’t reach him,” Alissa said as she and Ox waited in front of the elevator.

“He’s probably in some part of the club where there’s no signal. I’m sure it won’t be long before he calls you back,” Ox said, holding the door open for her.

“Dad, come on!” Alissa called. “Leave that bag. It’s too heavy.”

“Go ahead. I’ll catch up,” Richard said, trundling out with a massive bag that contained two manuscripts, a laptop computer, two days’ worth of clothes, and a pair of reference books on the Bosnian conflict that he “couldn’t work without.”

He snapped his finger and pointed at the blank wall. “The pair of you shouldn’t do this.” He glared at the wall and began to march back and forth.

She frowned at his agitation. Just what was going on in his head? And were Merrick and Cerise and Lysander all right?

“Dad, we’re not leaving until I reach Merrick. You’ll have time to go back for your things.”

“Man plans. God laughs,” he said, getting on the elevator with them. They descended to the floor below and exited into the hall.

“Why do you think we’ll be leaving unexpectedly? What did you see?” Alissa asked.

“Nothing, but that’s hardly the point,” he said. “I believe in what I can’t yet see. How else could I write books?” He paused and dropped his bag. “No!” He shook his fist at the empty corridor. “Putting on brave faces while you break each other’s hearts? You don’t deserve what you’ve been given!” He clutched
his temples, wincing. “How am I supposed to concentrate on my writing with all this turmoil in my head?”

“Dad,” she said gently.

“No,” he said, dragging his arm away from her. “I need some room. Let me pace.”

“I don’t think I should leave him out here alone,” Alissa said to Ox.

“Mr. North, you gotta come in the apartment with us. You can pace in there. There’s plenty of room, and if you need more, I’ll shove some furniture against the wall. C’mon now,” Ox said, unlocking the door.

“Orvin, wait!” Richard shouted, spinning toward him.

But it was too late.

When the door swung open, Alissa only caught a glimpse of a young man before the explosion of gunshots.

Following coordinates that Reziel the sneaky bastard had given her, Tamberi climbed down the ridge. When she smelled sweat and muse blood, she smiled. She’d found the cave. She pushed aside the tree branches that covered the opening and dropped inside the hole that burrowed into the mountainside.

Tamberi clicked on the small flashlight she’d brought and drew her gun. Reziel had no reason to want her dead when she was helping him but Tamberi trusted no one, least of all a demon who’d been keeping secrets.

A frumpy, dirt-smudged woman who barely resembled the highly polished Etherlin muse lay on the ground on a stained mattress.

Loving the new digs. Must be quite a step down from her mansions,
Tamberi thought, and her smile widened.
The muse of architects and designers held captive in squalor? How the mighty have fallen. Do you see this, Cato? I hope you freaking see this.

The muse squinted at the light that Tamberi shone in her eyes.

“Leizer, please,” Ileana Rella rasped.

“Who’s Leizer?” Tamberi asked.

“I thought—oh, thank God! Thank God you found me. I’m Ileana Rella, one of the Etherlin muses. I’ve been held prisoner by Hayden Lane. He made me call him Leizer, made me keep our affair secret. He was so much younger I didn’t want people
to find out. I thought Cerise might interfere or be angry because he’s young—but there’s nothing young and fresh about him,” Rella said.

Tamberi arched a brow. The woman must’ve been half out of her mind from dehydration and isolation to be talking so much.

Rella rattled on for several more moments before finishing with, “He’s a sociopath! A monster!”

Good for him.

Rella got up slowly, obviously stiff and sore. “Are you a hiker?”

“No,” Tamberi said, “but I am going to get you out of here.”

The muse broke down then, loud sobs wracking her body as Tamberi unlocked the cuffs around her wrists that chained her to the wall. Tamberi rolled her eyes as she tossed the shackles aside.

Tamberi’s stomach growled, wanting another sip of muse blood. She’d licked some of Cerise Xenakis’s blood from her leaking wounds, but Tamberi hadn’t dared to stay long in the catacombs knowing Merrick and his angel pal would eventually come looking for Xenakis.

Still, stopping to lick the wounds had been worth the risk. Muse blood was delicious and invigorating. Tamberi’s wounds healed faster and her senses sharpened under its influence. The trouble with biting Rella was that her blood was going to be used for something big. Something more important than quenching Tamberi’s thirst. So for the moment, Rella was safe.

“You’re not Etherlin Security. Are you with the American authorities? The FBI?” Rella asked.

“We don’t have time for questions, Miss Rella. Let’s get going before he comes back.”

The color drained from Rella’s face, and she shut her sniveling mouth.
Finally!

At least Merrick’s muse and Cerise Xenakis showed a little backbone when they were under attack.

Dorie pushed her feet into her boots and tied the sash of her sweater. She glanced at the clock again and then reread Hayden’s text message.

Hey, gorgeous. Hope ur doing good. Have some stuff to tell u in private & need ur advice. It’s about Alissa North and your sister. Can u meet me? Without ES breathing down our necks? Don’t want them to overhear b4 u and I decide what to do.

Dorie’s heart sped in anticipation. Yes, she’d talk to Hayden, the cute and famous rock star who was offering to tell her things she already should’ve been told by her own family. She was tired of being kept out of the loop. She had just as much right to know what was going on with the other muses as Cerise or the council or ES. Troy had told her things, but Troy hadn’t really known what was going on with Alissa North until it was too late.

Hayden lived in the Sliver. He was more plugged in to what was happening outside the Etherlin, which was key at the moment. It was so stupid of Cerise and Alissa to get involved with the fallen.

Dorie didn’t care what happened to Alissa, but Dorie had to make sure that Cerise didn’t throw her life away over some fallen angel, no matter how good-looking he was.

Dorie’s heart thumped as she went downstairs. She could go out through the kitchen and the backyard. Part of the woods didn’t show up on the security cameras, and if she stayed in the shadows, she could get to the spot by the lake where she was supposed to meet Hayden.

She had to admit that even though she considered the Varden a filthy gutter, it was pretty cool that Hayden could go in and out of it without a problem. He was street-smart from before he’d become famous.

Of course, she wouldn’t have looked twice at him if he weren’t a rock guitarist and a millionaire. No lowlife trash for her. Muses should have some standards. Why the hell couldn’t Alissa see that? Alissa, who had always acted so elegant and uptight. She certainly hadn’t been what she seemed. Dorie was going to watch everyone around her more closely from now on. You just never knew what people were hiding.

They’d found the catacombs’ exit. On the street, Lysander held out a hand to Cerise and waited. She hesitated. She didn’t want to get so close to him. She didn’t trust herself to.

Dangerously beautiful,
she thought.

Cerise barely kept herself from grimacing as she walked over to him and then turned so her back was to his chest. He stepped forward and put an arm around her waist.

It overwhelmed her, the feel of his muscles, the smell of sandalwood, and the desperate ache in her gut. Being bound meant they were never supposed to be separated, but she would have to give him up soon. And it was killing her.

Heaven had shown her the key to giving her life meaning, and if she fought to live, heaven would see that she had the opportunity to fulfill that promise. She also knew that, more than anything, Lysander wanted to go home.

The blood bond will have to be severed.

It was a thought that made her want to wail. She wished she could ignore the future fate of the world and hold on to him with both hands.

No, I need to do what’s right.

We won’t necessarily be apart forever. Maybe when I get there, he’ll be waiting.

She would cling to that hope. Anything else crushed her.

His wings beat, and they rose slowly into the sky. His voice was low in her ear, his breath rustling her hair. He pointed into
the distance and said, “That’s where you live. See the inverted triangle of lights? It’s from the paired cupolas on your house and the light on your gate.”

He went on to explain why he’d chosen to live in a mountain and shared more stories of teenage Merrick who had helped him build it. Lysander was being kind she realized, filling the silence with conversation that didn’t challenge her on the choice she’d made—to live her own life rather than stay with him.

He was trying to put her at ease. And that just made it harder. By the time they reached the windows of his place, she was blinking away tears and biting down on the inside of her mouth.

He unlatched the enormous hinged window and pulled it open. He set her inside and stood on the ledge while his wings folded into his back. Then he stepped down and pressed a switch.

A light blinked on, and her jaw dipped open. Like its owner, the dwelling was like nothing she’d ever seen. She walked to a wall to examine a twelve-inch-tall mural that had been carved around the entire room. It was, she realized, the story of the world. She followed it back, studying the moments from history that he’d chosen to include. Wars, of course, and tragedy, but also great buildings and inventions. Finally she reached the place where there was an image of him on his knees with another angel holding a dagger to his back. His depiction of Reziel betraying him.

She turned away and was confronted by a small sculpture of a dancer. She walked closer to the shelf it rested on, but stopped when she realized that she was the girl carved in alabaster. A sketchbook sat next to it and she opened the book, finding lots of drawings, including many of her—in the dance studio, standing in her backyard, sitting in her bedroom window seat. He’d been watching her, had been with her all along.

She closed the book and set it gently on the shelf.

“You occupied my thoughts from the moment I met you,” he said. “You were never supposed to find that out.” He offered a self-deprecating smile.

“I know it might have been easier if we’d never met—” she whispered.

“We had to meet. Reziel was in your life. Our paths
crossing was inevitable. And being attracted to each other…that was inevitable, too.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m not,” he whispered.

She looked over her shoulder at him, tears prickling her eyes. She strode to him and slid her arms around his neck. She hugged him tight.

“I want you to be able to go home, but it’ll be so hard to lose you.”

His arms tightened around her, crushing her against him. “You won’t lose me.”

She bit her lip. “Okay, enough,” she murmured, pulling back. “Reziel thinks I’m dead and that my death will leave you distracted and upset over the loss of your chance for redemption. He’ll make his move soon. We need to know what he’s planning and what he’s capable of. Can he possess anyone he wants? Anyone he’s met or had contact with?”

“I don’t think so. The female ventala, Tamberi Jacobi, raised him. She’s likely orchestrating whatever he needs done.”

“Yes, but I don’t think she’s working alone. Troy had demon blood around his neck. Ileana is involved with some architect who’s going by the name John Leizer. Tamberi could’ve had something on Troy and maybe she just hired some guy to seduce Ileana, but I can’t help but feel that there’s a missing piece. Something that I need to know…I keep coming back to Griffin’s book and the night that he died. Was Tamberi in the rented house? Did she come alone or with the demon? I need to remember.”