Faith (Soul Savers Book 7) (38 page)

“What is he
doing? You said the curse was broken!”

Noah looked over his
shoulder at me, his eyes dark with grief. “Dorian has broken
it. But he is not released from it.”

Terror gripped me.
“
What?
What does that mean?”

“He’s the
first male born to the Amadis from both Jordan’s and
Cassandra’s direct bloodlines,” Noah explained, his voice
low but nonetheless easily heard. “He’s the only one ever
in existence who could break the curse. He’s done just that by
choosing to sacrifice himself by giving himself willingly, without
desire for power or lust or anything else in return except for
freedom of the Ames men.”

“Which he is one,
too,” I insisted.

Noah turned back toward
Lucas and Dorian who now floated above the center of the pit. “His
commitment set us free. Keeps us free.”

My whole body trembled,
my heart beating louder than the Shaman’s drums. “No.
This can’t be!”

I sprang into the air
and flew toward the center of the valley while keeping to its outer
edge, close to the mountain. My eyes took in everything, my mind
searching the thoughts of the thousands of Daemoni before me. Their
excitement escalated, fed by the sickest, most malevolent images that
brought bile up my throat. Demons dropped from the sky, their
leathery wings beating against the air a few feet above the Daemoni’s
heads. The darkness of black magic and evil from the pit rose and
curled over my skin and feathers like a shadowy, acidic fog that made
my nerves raw. I jumped when Tristan dropped in next to me.

My eyes landed on two
women and two men at the far edge of the pit, directly across from
us. Rene and Cruz curled their bodies around Victor and Edmund. The
Weres’ eyes glowed yellow like the cats they were, excitement
filling them as they gazed at Lucas and Dorian with a deep hunger.
Their lips curled away from their fangs, and their claws lengthened,
shredding Edmund’s and Victor’s shirts. Victor, like all
of the vamps among the Daemoni, let out his fangs, and millions of
demonic eyes glowed red or yellow as they watched. Unable to contain
themselves a moment longer, Rene and Cruz burst into their feline
forms, and Weres everywhere transformed, too.

Roars and howls sounded
around the valley, and all coherent minds concentrated on the chant
of, “Do it! Do it! Bring us our lord!”

Not even Tristan had
the power to silence them. Not this many at once. Tristan, Owen, and
I together were still no match for Lucas and his dozens of sorcerers
scattered in the crowd, thrilling for the moment to use their darkest
of magic. We could only watch in horror until Tristan saw our
opportunity … or first blood was drawn.

“Do you think
Dorian and Lucas are shielded?” I asked him.

“Probably. And
shooting anything to find out could be seen as first strike.”

I didn’t even
want to fight. We certainly wouldn’t be the ones to throw the
first punch.

Lucas’s hand
wrapped around Dorian’s wrist, and he turned in the air so they
both faced Tristan and me. His eyes locked onto mine, and his lips
curled upward in a grin that made the hairs on my arms stand on end.
Dorian’s gaze came up to us.

Don’t do this,
I begged him.
You can get away!

“
No, Mom, I
can’t. This is what I want. This is what I’m meant to
do.
”

No, it’s not!

His eyes pleaded with
me to understand, but I refused to accept his decision. I fisted my
hands and yanked, trying to use my power to pull him to us, but he
didn’t budge.

“So glad you came
to witness this, my daughter.” Lucas’s voice, usually icy
and smooth but now low and gravelly, beastlike, easily carried to us.
“Your payment for everything you’ve taken from me is much
appreciated.”

A growl rumbled in
Tristan’s throat, and my own echoed it.

Dorian, he’s
using you.

He tipped his head in a
small nod. “
But I had to free the others so they could fight
for you.
”

My throat constricted,
and tears blurred my vision.
I know. And we thank you for it. But
you don’t have to do this. Please, Dorian. He’s opening
the Gates to Hell.

The corners of his lips
lifted almost imperceptibly, and his eyes hardened as they held mine.
“
He’s going to try. You must stop him.
”

I blinked the tears
away and stared at my son. At the man he had become, hovering bravely
by Lucas’s side.

“He’s so
much like you,” I said to Tristan.

His large hand wrapped
around mine. “No. I don’t have the courage he possesses
in his little finger.”

“He won’t
forget the stupid curse and just break free.”

“Of course he
won’t. He’s our son,
ma lykita
.”

Lucas threw his
white-blond head back and bellowed out a terrifying laugh. “Oh,
no, you’re mistaken. Dorian is no longer yours. He’s
mine
now.” He leveled his head, and his gaze fell on his army. “Are
you ready, my children? My brethren?”

The Daemoni and the
Demons roared in response. The flames in the pit jumped and grew,
leaping higher as though trying to taste the sky. The evil voices
fell back into their chant, only louder and faster, their feet
stomping and their fists pounding the air. The Shaman’s drums
beat steadily. Dark magic spells soared through the air.

My eyes darted over the
scene. “What is he doing? I can’t read his thoughts. His
mind’s just full of excitement and anticipation for the power
he’ll have.”

“I imagine Dorian
has to make some kind of official declaration of his allegiance. See.
There are the Ancients.” Tristan nodded to the left side of the
pit, where several cloaked figures stood. The Ancients. The
originals. Demons themselves.

Lucas lifted his hands
above his head, barely quieting his followers. “The time we
have been waiting for has finally come. The soul we needed has given
himself to us. After millennia of bowing to the humans and allowing
the Angels and Amadis to dictate over us, we can finally be free!”

The crowd cheered. My
own army prepared for the battle that was obviously about to
commence, no matter how much I wanted to prevent it. Weres burst into
their beastly selves. Vampires let their fangs protrude and their
nails lengthened into claws. Magical energy sparked over the
fingertips of our mages. But still, I held back my order.

“There has to be
a way to stop this,” I whispered to Tristan as electricity
crackled across my own palm and fingers.

“Unleashing your
power will only start things. Are you ready for that?”

I closed my fist before
I lost control of the charge building inside.

“
I love you,
Mom and Dad,
” Dorian whispered.

We love you, too,
little man. Always
, I replied, my wings closing around me as
though they could protect my heart from the commitment in his eyes
and voice.

“Let us call to
our lord and welcome him!” Lucas bellowed as he turned himself
and Dorian in a circle. “Let us give our lord what he needs!”

The Daemoni and the
Demons let out a collective sound that made my skin crawl and lifted
the hairs on the back of my neck. As the terrible, Satanic screech
continued emitting from their mouths, they all turned toward us, and
crouched, ready to pounce.

The noise undulated and
then transformed into clearly audible words. “The blood of our
enemy.”

“The blood of our
enemy!” Lucas confirmed, his voice echoing over the valley and
against the mountains. Then one hand waved toward Tristan and me, and
his other darted out toward Dorian as though to grab him by the
shoulder and show off his claim, so quick even I didn’t see the
blur of movement. At that millisecond in time, the world stopped.
Time stopped. No, not stopped. It ceased to exist in natural terms,
as some movements came in the slowest of slow motions while others
flashed by.

Dorian’s eyes,
locked on mine, widened for the briefest fraction of a second that
lasted minutes, and then tightened. His mouth, full like his
father’s, flattened with determination. Lucas’s lips
continued moving in slow, exaggerated motion, the syllables drawn out
and lost on me, silenced by the whir in my ears as the most horrific
feeling a mother could have slid down my spine, over my soul. My
focus centered entirely on Dorian, and I entered his mind, finding
memories of Tristan, me, Mom, Owen, and the rest of our family
flashing by in quick succession.

“
Love …
you,
” he whispered before his mind blacked out.

Then his head began
falling to the side as a thick line of crimson stretched across his
throat.

My
breath froze in my lungs. My heart toppled along with my stomach. My
brain refused to translate what my eyes witnessed, because it
couldn’t possibly be right. Lucas couldn’t have possibly
slit Dorian’s throat.

Could he?

No. No, no, no
.
It didn’t make sense. I was missing something. Lucas had no
reason to kill Dorian. He had every reason to keep him alive, on his
side. So what the hell just happened?

These thoughts ran
through my mind in a millisecond that felt like hours. Lucas’s
lips were still moving, his hand hadn’t even reached his side
yet. The blood on Dorian’s throat hadn’t even started
dripping.

“THE BLOOD OF OUR
YOUNGEST
ENEMY.” The words he’d been speaking
while cutting my son’s throat finally reached my ears and
computed in my brain.

Jolted me into action.

“NOOOOOOO!”
I screamed as I whipped my wings out. Several feathers, hard as
steel, shot out of the edges, turned over, and flew like arrows
toward Lucas. I wished I would have known they’d do that
earlier, especially when they pierced through his shield. Before he
knew what hit him, my purple ones and many of Tristan’s silver
and black ones peppered into Lucas’s chest. His fireball
disappeared, and he hung in the air, holding Dorian’s
slackening body and staring at us open-mouthed.

Tristan and I launched
ourselves toward him and Dorian, while the Daemoni and Demons fell
eerily silent. For the briefest of moments, I was sure all anyone
across the valley could hear was the sound of Tristan’s and my
wings whooshing through the air. Thoughts were confused and jumbled
as each side still tried to grasp what just happened.

It had all been so
quick, but I knew. And I opened my mind to all of the Amadis and the
Normans waiting with bated breath.

FIGHT!
I
ordered.

And with a roar,
shields dropped and the battle began.

As Tristan and I
advanced toward the pit, the confusion and shock in Lucas’s
eyes cleared and his mouth crept into a vile grin. Then he opened his
hand and released Dorian. My son’s body plummeted downward,
into the pit of flames. And Lucas followed.

“NO!” I
screamed again as I flew faster through the valley. “Dorian!”

A spell of black magic
whirred toward me, but one of Owen’s green streaks blocked it
before it hit my shield. I hadn’t reached the edge of the pit
yet when two Daemoni vampires leapt into the air and grabbed at me,
dragging me downward. I spun out of their holds while releasing the
guns from their holsters and kicking each vamp in the head as I did
so. With perfect clarity and focus, I aimed my guns at their hearts
and shot them both. They fell immediately, their hands scrabbling at
the silver bullets lodged in their chests. A dark gray werewolf
lunged at me, its claws catching my calf and raking through my
leathers and skin as its muzzle snapped and snarled, trying to latch
on to me. I trained a gun at its head and pulled the trigger. With an
arf
, it went down. Before I could push myself higher into the
air, two more Daemoni blocked my way. A paw with extended talons
headed for my face, but I blocked it with my forearm, ducked, and
spun. With flying fists, elbows, and feet, I fought them off of me,
and then shot them in the heads for good measure.

Remorse immediately
tried to trickle in and slow me down, but I had to shove it away.
Whether the souls had hope or not, I had to choose between my life or
theirs, between my son’s life or theirs. I would choose my son.
I couldn’t waste time, breath, or concern worrying about them
when I had to reach Dorian and Lucas.

I rocketed myself
higher into the air to avoid more Daemoni obstacles. Below me,
Tristan fought off several others, but I had to leave him. I had to
get to Dorian.

Thinking the air was
safe was a critical mistake—Demons chased me now. One of them
shot a ball of fire at me, Owen’s shield around me sizzled as
it was devoured, and the fireball slammed into my leg. My leathers
singed upwards, but no heat burned my skin. Rather, icy needles shot
into my flesh, like the freezing cold of Hell had done while I was
down there. Another ball of Hellfire hit my other leg, and then a
third burnt off my leather jacket, leaving me in my vest and leather
pants that barely covered my butt now. When a fourth ball soared at
me, I kicked it away with my combat boot. I couldn’t see where
it went because two Demons zoomed in on me.