All That Falls (38 page)
Authors: Kimberly Frost
“There’s no ‘we’ in all this, Griffin. I don’t want to be anywhere near him.” She shook her head for emphasis. “You should turn yourself in to the police and confess to what he did to me. If you’re in jail, he won’t be able to do the same kind of damage. You can try whatever you want while you’re in custody. Read the Bible, pray, see a minister or a priest. Try everything.”
“Are you kidding me? Get locked up? I paid for this life with my soul. Please don’t ask me to give it up. I can’t do that. It’s not fair. I’ll find a way to keep him from hurting people.”
“Go,” she said flatly.
“Leave? Now?”
“Right now.”
“No, I’m not going. Not until you swear you won’t go to the police and accuse me of something. Not until you say you’ll think about this and try to help me figure a way out of it. You love me. You can’t just give up on me because I made one mistake when I was twenty years old. Think about the times we’ve had, how happy we’ve been.”
“Get. Out.”
His eyes narrowed and his face hardened. “Listen, this isn’t just my problem. He’s been with you. He’s marked you. He’ll use that connection against you, and you’re the key to whatever he’s got planned. Something that’ll create hell on earth.”
She raised the gun. “If you don’t leave, I’ll help you get rid of him once and for all.”
He shook his head. “So you’re just going to abandon me? I wouldn’t have done that to you. I would’ve stayed with you no matter what. I was going to marry you.”
“You can’t give yourself to me, Griffin. You already gave yourself to a demon.”
“Are you going to the police?”
“You should do it yourself.”
“And if I don’t?”
She bit the inside of her cheek, staring at the face of the man she loved. Losing him would tear her heart out, but she didn’t let her voice quaver when she said, “Then yes, I’ll do it for you.”
“Shoot me. If you want to destroy me so much, just get it over with.”
She winced, knowing that she probably should, but she just couldn’t. Not when he sat there quietly, staring at her with begging eyes. She shook her head. “Just leave. Haven’t you put me through enough tonight?”
His eyes rolled back and his body shuddered, then red eyes stared out at her. The demon clapped his hands. “Well
played. I’m sorry we won’t have more time together, Cerise.”
He darted forward and slammed a hand against her wrist as she pulled the trigger. The shot went wide, and the gun flew from her grip. They rolled on the floor, over and over, until the back of her head hit the wall.
He’ll kill me.
Through a haze, she grabbed Griffin’s hair and slammed his head on the floor. The red eyes blazed, and his hands closed on her throat.
She knocked her head into his and brought her arms up between his and forced them apart. When he lost his grip on her, she sucked in a breath and continued to batter him.
“Fucking useless mortal body,” he snarled.
She slammed the heel of her hand into his chin and he fell back. They scrambled toward the gun, and she reached it first. He sprinted across the room as she fired.
He flung the front door open, and she chased him outside. Something wet and foul splashed on her face. Snow mixed with something. The world spun.
She stumbled back, trying to wipe the poison off.
The demon swaggered to the edge of the porch. She tried to aim, but her eyes wouldn’t focus. She had to escape. She fell back into the house.
Lock the door!
She saw Griffin’s body jerk and fall to its knees.
“Not now, boy. I swear I’ll kill you,” he growled.
Cerise dragged herself up and wobbled to the door. She caught the edge and swung it. When she crashed to her knees, she heard him say, “I’ll be back for you, Cerise. And you won’t see us coming.”
She slammed the door shut and fumbled to turn the dead bolt. Then the world tilted and she slumped on the floor, fighting to stay awake.
No! Keep the gun! Stay awake. He’s coming back.
Blind terror made her feel sick, but she couldn’t sit up, and within moments everything began to fade. The pain of what Griffin had done. The details of the attack.
Had it really happened? The world felt hazy, like she’d been half asleep. Had it been a nightmare?
No.
Yes?
Emotions receded and with them her sense of herself. Dampened like a wet cloth had been draped over her, her life and her magic were muted, but the terrible pain was fading, too.
It was just a bad dream.
Rocked from the memory world, Cerise looked around. Sitting in Lysander’s living room, everything came into sharp focus. She felt as if a veil had been lifted. Her power surged, lightning streaking along her nerves.
She also felt all the pain and revulsion she’d suppressed. She’d been in love with someone who’d bowed to a demon.
I didn’t want to face it. When Reziel rolled my mind back, I was willing to let go of the truth to spare myself. I wanted so much to believe that Griffin had loved me the way I needed to be loved. I wanted to keep feeling how I’d felt when I was with him. Reziel exploited my pride, my desperation to be that girl—muse to a rock star, the great love of his life. I was used and abused. And then I forgot.
She swallowed.
A muse is no match for a demon in
disguise.
She looked up at the ceiling.
Forgive me. I protected my ego instead of protecting a divine gift. Let me recognize my enemy in whatever form he takes and I promise not to make that mistake again. Ever.
As though her soul was made of guitar strings, she felt heaven strike a chord.
“Did you take a play from your lover’s playbook? The silence, that’s Merrick’s thing,” Hayden said, nodding for Alissa to climb into the helicopter.
“You’ll know soon enough what Merrick’s thing is,” she said.
“Think he’ll rescue you?” he asked, smirking as he shoved her inside with the gun pressed precariously to her ribs.
“He will, if I haven’t escaped myself before then.”
He laughed. “Want to try your magic on me again? It worked so well for you the first twenty times you tried it.”
“What have you done to yourself, Hayden? To not feel the pull of muse magic, you must have cut yourself off from humanity.”
“Well, I crowned Jersey and shot your father and your bodyguard. Don’t you think that would be enough?”
“No. Even murderers have some traces of humanity left.”
“I must be in a class by myself,” he sneered. “Why aren’t you sobbing?”
“I’m in a class by myself, too,” she said coolly, though inside she felt ill.
“Not even going to mourn your father and bodyguard?”
“They’re not going to die.”
When Alissa had bent over her dad, his wound hadn’t looked severe, though it had been hard to tell in those brief seconds. But Ox had been shot several times. At least he’d been
breathing. She hoped he’d heard her voice when she whispered to him. Just the thought of the attack made her stomach knot. He’d been a loyal friend to Merrick and so protective of her and her dad ever since they’d come to the Varden. She swallowed the lump in her throat. She wouldn’t cry. Not yet. And never in front of the man who’d shot them.
“They’re not going to die? Why not?”
“Because I told them not to. Their humanity’s intact. My magic works on them.” She stared daggers at him. “They’ll be found in time.”
“I doubt it, but it makes no difference to me either way.”
“What do you care about?”
His eyes narrowed. “Go back to being silent,” he hissed.
“Why? What don’t you want me to know?”
He raised his hand. She didn’t flinch. When he actually did strike her, she deflected the blow fairly well, but it still knocked her back onto the metal floor.
“If you’re smart, you’ll shut up when I tell you to.”
“If you’re smart, you’ll let me go before you end up like the last man who tried to kidnap me. I decapitated him.”
He smiled. “You’re an icy bitch. I almost hate to kill you.”
“The feeling’s not mutual.”
They lapsed into silence for a few moments, then he said, “Merrick’s Lysander’s best friend. How did that happen? The ventala are beneath an angel’s notice unless they attack one. Is that how they met? Merrick managed to kill a demon, and Lysander befriended him?”
“No, it was Lysander who taught Merrick to kill demons.”
“Why? What was so special about Merrick?”
“Tell me why you care, and I’ll tell you how they met.”
“I don’t have to bargain with you. I can get you to tell me your deepest, darkest secrets any time I want. I’ve broken the sons and daughters of angels. In five minutes, I could hurt you enough to make you promise me anything.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You’re not Hayden. What’s your name?”
He didn’t answer.
“Shall I guess?” She glanced at the gun. “You shouldn’t do this, Reziel. It’ll end badly for you.”
His grip tightened on the weapon.
“Hayden, are you still in there? I’d like to talk to you.”
She saw his hand fly toward her and jerked back to avoid most of the blow. Her cheek stung where he’d hit her, but it had been worth it to find out who and what he was.
Reziel couldn’t face Lysander in a human body. There was only one reason he’d taken her. He planned to use her to open a gateway to hell so his true demon form could rise. And he wouldn’t be alone. With her muse blood, he’d be able to keep the gate open for much longer than he could with an ordinary person’s. He’d likely used Ileana’s blood to open a portal, which was how those six monstrous demons had gotten through a few nights before. But the gate obviously hadn’t stayed open long enough for him to rise himself. If her blood was more powerful than Ileana’s…
How many demons will enter the world if I let him spill my blood in a ritual?
She would have to escape or die trying. Those were the only choices she considered acceptable.
“Cerise,” Lysander said.
She turned and stared at his face.
“Are you all right?”
“I am,” she said, wiping the damp from her lashes. “Reziel poisoned me. He threw something tainted with black magic on me and because I was so devastated and didn’t want to live with the truth, it sapped my power and my memory. Now that I know, he won’t be able to blindside me again.”
“Merrick summoned me. He doesn’t do that lightly. We should see what’s happened.”
“Let’s go,” she said, sitting up. “Tell me something. Can’t a ritual be done to raise a specific demon? Using a human sacrifice?”
“Yes.”
She rose and walked with him to the window. He slid an arm around her and plunged them into the misty air, which felt chilly, but wondrous against her skin. She tightened her hold on him and was hit with a rush of adrenaline and exhilaration as he made a swooping arc. Nothing was better than dancing with Lysander. Except perhaps flying with him.
“Griffin sold his soul to become a famous rock star. Reziel brokered the deal. They were in close contact to the point of Reziel possessing his body. If Reziel had wanted Griffin to raise him personally, wouldn’t that have been an easy thing?”
“Not necessarily an easy thing. Griffin wasn’t a warlock. Performing black magic is complicated, and to raise Reziel several human sacrifices would’ve been needed, but with Reziel’s direct guidance, yes, it could’ve been done.”
“Reziel’s been trying to get his hands on me since last year, presumably because I’m a muse. Hayden was wearing the Ramones T-shirt I gave Griffin and he’s the same build. It could’ve been him in the picture that Ileana had. I don’t know if Hayden has the same tattoo as Griffin, but he might. They went to the same tattoo artist in San Francisco.
“Reziel could’ve been using Hayden’s body to get close enough to Ileana to abduct her.”
Lysander nodded.
“That three-pronged lightning bolt that’s in Griffin’s songbook was part of the artwork on the first Molly Times CD. It was also the charm Troy had on his necklace. Is it Reziel’s mark?”
“A trio of lightning bolts converged and hit the earth just before it cracked open and the damned angels were dragged into hell. I believe that’s how pitchforks became associated with demons. They turned a symbol of their fall into their calling card. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that Reziel uses a triple lightning bolt as a mark on his followers.”
“The night Griffin died, Reziel and I had a confrontation. He said he would come back. He said, ‘You won’t see
us
coming.’ At the time, I thought he meant he and Griffin would be back for me that night after I passed out.”
“Perhaps that is what he meant.”
“I don’t think so. When Reziel was using Griffin’s body, Griffin’s consciousness—or spirit or whatever made him who he was—was gone. And I don’t believe Reziel thought enough of Griffin to include him in a threat. Griffin told me he wouldn’t go along with Reziel’s plan to use me. I don’t think he was involved in Reziel’s grand scheme.”
Lysander waited, thoughtfully.
“When Reziel said ‘us,’ it made me shudder, made me feel
a sense of overwhelming dread beyond anything I’d felt all night, even when he was actually physically abusing me.”
“With your muse gift, your power to sense things is extremely acute.”
“It can be. Especially with an aspirant I’ve inspired. Reziel was in Griffin’s body and I was deeply connected to him. There was something in his voice.”
“I’m sure your instinct about Reziel’s feelings toward Griffin Lane is correct. Demons don’t credit men with much worth. I would be very surprised if by ‘us’ Reziel meant himself and a mortal man.”
“And I doubt Reziel’s endgame is to let a dozen monstrous lower demons into the world,” she said. “Even if they go on a killing spree and you don’t rally to fight them, there’s still Merrick and that archangel, Nathaniel, to pick them off. And if Reziel rose, they’d vanquish him eventually, too. It doesn’t make sense to do something small. Griffin said Reziel planned to create hell on earth. I think letting those six demons out was a dry run. If they’d succeeded in killing you, great. But if not, it wouldn’t matter because it was just a test to see what they could do using the blood of a muse.”
