Judgment (The Alternate Earth Series, Book 3) (21 page)

“I want to come with you,” I tell her.

“We’ll all go,” Mason says.

A few minutes later, while Gabe and JoJo are still dancing to Chandler’s song, we phase to the wharf in New York City. I still can’t get used to how different the city looks now. Instead of standing as the most sophisticated metropolis in the world, it now looks like one that was left in ruins hundreds of years ago by a neglectful civilization.

Nina walks over to the side of the docks to search one of the metal pillars there.

“Sophia left something!” she calls out in excitement.

I hear Nina pull on something that was taped to the pillar. She walks over to us, feverishly opening the white envelope in her hands. Quickly pulling out the sheet of paper, Nina reads Sophia’s message and then looks up at me.

“What’s it say?” I ask, desperately wanting to know.

Nina grins and says, “Ravan has the dagger.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Relieved doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel after Nina tells me what Sophia’s letter says.

“Does Sophia have a plan? Does she say how we’re supposed to get it from Ravan?”

“Not exactly,” Nina says, pursing her lips as she continues to read the letter. “All it says is where we can find Ravan.”

“I thought Ravan was still at the White House…”

“No. According to this letter, she isn’t there anymore,” Nina replies looking back down at the note in her hands. “They had to move her because the humans were over- running the White House. They didn’t want her to be trapped in there.”

“Where is she now?”

“It says we can find her at Jered’s apartment,” Nina tells me with a shake of her head. “It figures his building would be one of the few left standing. I can’t say I’m surprised that a place that unholy has survived Armageddon.”

“Then we need to get over there now!” I say, feeling a boost of adrenaline course through my veins at the prospect of ending this nightmare once and for all.

“Wait, Jess. We need to think this through first,” Mason tells me, ever the cautious one. “We have no idea if Sophia has been compromised. For all we know, this might be a trap. Lucian knows that you want to get your sword back from Ravan, and this letter could have been left by anyone.”

“Sophia was the only one who knew where to leave a message for us.”

“No, she wasn’t,” Mason says meaningfully. “Dillon did, too.”

“I don’t think Dillon lied about wanting to help us,” Nina says, having been the one who dealt with Dillon the most, and also being a natural lie-detector since she never drank human blood.

“We don’t know what she faced when she went back to her parents,” Mason points out. “They may have convinced Dillon that we’re just using her. Whether this is a trap or not doesn’t really matter, though. We have to go, but we need to be smart about it and bring back-up just in case it is a set up.”

“Fine,” I say, feeling frustrated about the delay, even though I know it’s the right thing to do. “We can bring the whole damn castle with us for all I care. All I want to do is get the dagger from her.”

“Then we should go back and tell the others what we know,” Mason says. “We can figure out the best way to go from there.”

We immediately phase back to the castle. While Mason and Nina explain things to everyone else, I go straight up to our bedroom to grab my pistol and sword. I’m too amped up to explain things to people anyway.

I have a way to save Gabe. I’m not about to lose it.

When I return downstairs, everyone is up to speed on things and ready to go.

“So we’re sure the apartment this world’s Jered lives in is still standing?” Our Jered asks. “If this is just a ruse to get us there, I wouldn’t put it past them to lure us into phasing into an empty space.”

“It’s there,” Nina assures us. “I just popped over onto the street next to it to verify.”

“Ok, then,” Brand says, “let’s go get the dagger and Jess’ sword from Ravan Draeke.”

In my mind, I see myself and Ravan engaged in a duel to the death, with me coming out victorious and taking back my sword. With my sword back where it belongs, and the dagger safely in our possession again, the next step in our plan will be to find a way to use the dagger on Gabriel. Easy peasy…or so I hope.

Since this will be our second trip to Jered’s apartment in this world, Mason takes hold of my arm as we all phase over there.

The apartment is definitely not in the same pristine condition that it was on our first visit. For one thing, there’s no ceiling. The space is completely open to the night sky, where the portion of the moon that still revolves around this planet is inching ever closer. It looks so gigantic now that you would think it’s about to crash into us at any moment, and, in a way, it will be. From Josh’s and Wayne’s calculations, the moon will be entering into the Earth’s Roche Limit tonight. To me, it still seems like a countdown to something. I’m trying to stay optimistic about what that something is, though.

At this elevation, the wind whistles around the naked steel beams lining the hallway leading to Jered’s private graviton cage, where a surprise awaits us.

A gagged Ravan Draeke is tied with steel cables to a metal-framed chair. She’s lying on her side, in an awkward position that makes it look like she might have just tried to escape her bonds. Propped up against the black door behind her is my sword.

We all look around, thinking this has to be an ambush of some sort.

“What do you think?” Brand asks Xavier.

“I don’t like it,” Xavier answers as he surveys our surroundings with a critical eye. “This is too easy. It’s like she’s being served up to us on a silver platter.”

“I agree,” Malcolm says.

“Well, we can’t just stand here,” Nina tells the group. “We need to at least go down there and see what’s going on.”

“I’ve got your backs,” Slade tells us, taking up the rear.

As we make our way down the hallway, a sick feeling grows in the pit of my stomach. Xavier is right. This is just too easy. Nothing in this world has been easy for us, and I’m not naïve enough to believe our luck is changing on a dime.

When we reach Ravan, I stand over her and find myself staring down into her wide, frightened eyes.

“Why doesn’t she phase to escape?” I ask Mason.

“Lilith’s power to phase is limited to Heaven, remember? Since Heaven is cut off from this reality, she can’t phase.” Mason reaches over to the door and picks up my sword for me for safekeeping.

I bend down on one knee to slip the silky red material out of Ravan’s mouth to ungag her.

She doesn’t say anything, but her demeanor quickly becomes more defiant than scared.

“Why don’t you kill me and get it over with?” she asks, eyeing me warily.

“I should,” I admit, half wondering why I’m not doing just that. “But I need something from you. If you tell me where it is, I’ll think about letting you live.”

Ravan looks at me as if she wants to strangle me, but she says, “What are you looking for?”

“Where is the silver dagger?” I ask her. “The one we used on Gabriel to put him into stasis.”

Ravan looks at me as if I’ve lost my mind.

“Lucian destroyed it, of course,” Ravan informs me, like I should have already deduced this outcome. “He couldn’t risk you using it on him.”

I feel my heart sink so low inside my chest that it feels as if it’s suffocating my lungs.

“Are you sure?” I ask her, not ready to just take her word for it. “Did you see him do it? Or did he just tell you that he did it?”

“He told me, but I had no reason not to believe him. All I know is that he phased into Hell with it and didn’t have it when he returned. I would be happy to arrange a trip down there for you, Jess. Just undo my bonds and give me a weapon so we can duel in a fair fight.”

I look up at Mason. “Did she tell me the truth about the dagger?”

Mason nods, looking worried about what Ravan has said.

We both know what this means.

Even if Lucian didn’t destroy the dagger it’s still out of play, because he apparently took it to Hell. Without any way of getting there, we lack the means to retrieve it and end things forever.

I look back down at Ravan. “Who tied you to this chair and why did they leave you here for us?”

“That bastard, Lucian, did it,” Ravan spits out, like saying his name is poison on her tongue.

“But why?” I ask, perplexed. “What did he hope to accomplish by leaving you here for us to find?”

“I think he wanted you to kill me.”

“Again,” I say, becoming frustrated, “why? What purpose does me killing you serve? I can’t say I don’t appreciate having you trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey and offered up to me, but I know he didn’t do it out of the goodness of his heart.”

“I don’t know what’s going on in that addled brain of his,” Ravan admits agitatedly. “But if I were to guess, he knows that if he killed me himself, Gabriel would refuse to blow the last trumpet. He’s trying to use you to do his dirty work for him, the coward.”

It did sound like something Lucian would do. He could possibly even kill two birds with one stone with this plan. Ravan would be out of his way permanently, since she doesn’t have an heir to transfer her soul into, and Gabriel would be out for my blood to seek vengeance for her death.

“Does Gabriel care that much about you?” I ask her, finding such a notion hard to believe.

“The simple-minded fool,” Ravan says in disgust, “he’s always loved me, for whatever reason. I don’t know why.”

“Me neither,” I say, at least agreeing with Ravan on that one, small point.

I reach back down and grab the gag, slipping it back over Ravan’s chin.

“What are you doing?” she questions me harshly before I cover her mouth with it.

“Shutting you up until we can figure out what to do with you.”

After the gag is back into place, I turn to Mason and ask, “What do we do with her?”

“Use her,” my husband answers.

“How?”

“We use her to draw Gabriel out.”

I begin to shake my head because I don’t want to face the facts. With the dagger gone, we only have one option left open to us.

Two creatures formed of the same energy can’t coexist in the same space at the same time. Once Gabe touches Gabriel, both of them will cease to physically exist in this reality.

“Maybe with a little more time we can figure something else out,” I say in desperation. “I’m not ready to give up just yet. We still have some time.”

“Do we?” Mason questions. “We have no idea what Lucian is telling Gabriel right now. For all we know, he might have already told him you killed Ravan to get your sword back. They all know you would do it in a heartbeat, Jess. None of them would even think to question his story.”

“Well,” I say, coming up with another plan, “then we use her, but we trade her for the dagger or the trumpets. Gabriel can go into Hell. If that’s where Lucian has hidden things, then we’ll use Gabriel to fetch them for us.”

“But how are we supposed to get a message to Gabriel without Lucian finding out?”

“I can help you with that.”

We all look down the hallway and see Sophia standing there now. She holds up her hands, like she’s surrendering to us.

“And why should we trust you after you lured us here, promising that we would find the dagger with Ravan?” I ask her. “Instead, we find a present from Lucian.”

“I did what I had to do to gain Lucian’s trust,” Sophia explains. “He needed a reason to trust me again, so I told him that you wanted the dagger. Before I even got your message from Dillon, I already knew the dagger had either been destroyed or taken to Hell. I wasn’t going to be able to give you what you wanted, but I knew I could give you the means to get what you needed from Gabriel. You’re right; he
will
do whatever you want him to in order to save Ravan’s life. I’m not sure he’ll bring you the dagger, though, if it still exists. He would automatically assume you would want to use it on him again.”

“But you think he’ll bring us the trumpets?” I ask, holding my breath as I wait for her answer.

Sophia nods. “Yes, I think he will, if he can reach them.”

“How will we know if the trumpets he brings us are the ones that haven’t been used yet?” Malcolm asks.

“Once a trumpet is sounded,” Sophia explains, “it turns into ash. The two you saw Levi and Gabriel throw into the leviathan are the last remaining ones.”

“That should be enough,” I say to Mason. “If we have the trumpets, we don’t have to use Gabe.”

“That’s
if
he can get the trumpets out of Hell,” Sophia cautions. “I don’t know if he can, but it’s worth a try.”

“It has to work,” I say, unable to hold back the desperation in my voice. “I’m not sure I can survive the alternative.”

“You will if you have to,” Mason replies. “We need to be prepared for either scenario to play out, Jess, just in case.”

“I know,” I say, wishing Mason would stop busting my bubbles of hope every time I come up with an idea to save Gabe. I understand he wants me to remain cautiously optimistic, but, for Pete’s sake, could he just not be so damn logical for once?

“Why don’t we discuss this somewhere else?” Jered suggests, scanning our surroundings with a great deal of unease. “I really don’t like being here out in the open like this.”

Xavier reaches down and grabs Ravan off the floor with one hand, chair and all. She wiggles around and seems to be protesting hotly through her gag, but Xavier has no problem holding onto her.

“Where do you want to keep this thing for the time being?” he asks, unable to hide his disgust.

“Take her down to the basement in the castle,” Brand answers. “I’ll have Josh meet you down there to open the cell door.”

Xavier phases, with our prisoner in tow.

“I believe this belongs to you.” Mason hands my sword back to me, hilt first.

If I didn’t know any better, I would think the sword missed me. As I grip its hilt, I feel it vibrate slightly. It’s almost as if a missing part of me has finally been returned home.