My words echoed in the room. Sokolov looked stunned. Suddenly, I doubled over in pain. The building trembled in its foundation, like an earthquake had rolled beneath it.
“What’s happening?” J.B. said. “What’s the matter?”
I couldn’t speak. It felt like a thousand swords were plunging into my body. My throat was filled with magic, choking me.
I opened my mouth, and all the magic that I had possessed as an Agent poured from me in a stream. At the same time, there was a rending sound as the back of my coat and shirt tore open. I screamed as pain ripped down both sides of my spine, falling to my hands and knees. Beezle flew out of my coat.
And then it was over.
“Gods above and below,” Nathaniel said.
I stood up, feeling sick, and turned around. Jude, Samiel, J.B. and Nathaniel all stared at the ground.
My wings lay on the floor, the roots that had dug into my back torn free. I could feel the blood running down my back, pooling at the base of my spine.
I’d lost my wings, and for a moment I felt despair.
Sokolov chuckled behind me. “What will you do now, Madeline Black, without your magic?”
I turned slowly back to face him. “I may not have my Agent’s magic any longer, but I am still the goddamned granddaughter of Lucifer.”
I blasted him with nightfire, and he flew across the room, smashing into the wall.
“Well, that was unexpected,” Beezle said, fluttering beside my shoulder. “What now?”
“They’re going to let us walk out of the building,” I said. “Everyone here felt that tremor, and they’re going to know who caused it.”
Nathaniel took off his overcoat and wrapped it around me. I looked like a child, the hem dragging on the ground. Jude and Samiel helped J.B. back into his shirt and jacket.
“We’ll have to do first aid later,” I said apologetically.
J.B. nodded. “It’s fine. I don’t want to spend any more time here than I have to.”
“Going to renounce your wings, too?” I said. “Come on, be a rebel.”
He gave me a half smile. “How about I just not show up for work tomorrow?”
“It’s a step,” I said. “Pretty soon you’ll be a wild and crazy rule-breaker like me.”
He shook his head. “There’s no one like you.”
“Thank the Morningstar,” Beezle said. “Because I don’t think this city could handle two of her.”
The six of us hobbled into the hallway in various states of disrepair. The passage was still empty. I was surprised there weren’t five dozen Agents waiting to take custody of us.
“So what happened?” I asked Jude as we waited for the elevator.
“They were waiting for us when we came through the portal,” Jude said. “Bryson and a bunch of his buddies. Sokolov’s cronies had come for Bryson and taken J.B. before we got there.”
They took the Agents and then arrested us, Samiel signed as we piled into the elevator. We were just glad that you hadn’t come through the portal yet.
“Did you really kill Azazel?” Jude asked.
“Oh, yes, she did,” Beezle said.
“And blasted his whole army into smithereens,” I said. “So that problem’s gone.”
“I don’t know,” Nathaniel said. “Focalor is still out there. He was working closely with Azazel, remember?”
“With any luck Focalor was in the mansion when it disintegrated,” I said.
“I don’t think you’re that lucky,” Beezle said as the elevator doors opened.
A bunch of special-ops Agents stood there with machine guns raised.
I calmly stepped out of the elevator. All the Agents backed up.
“Guys,” I said softly. “Since I’m here and Sokolov isn’t, what do you think will happen to you if you don’t let us by?”
Nobody spoke. I walked toward the exit. Dozens of Agents blocked my way.
They all moved aside as I passed them. The others followed me, the lobby tense and hushed.
I pushed open the doors of the Agency and went out into the cold night air. The lights of the city shone like stars.
The others gathered around me on the sidewalk.
“How will we get home?” J.B. asked. “You don’t have any wings to fly.”
“I can carry you,” Nathaniel offered.
“Jude can’t fly, either,” I pointed out. I took a deep breath. “Let’s walk home.”
“Walk?” Beezle said. “It’s, like, six miles from here.”
“What do you care? You’ll probably get carried most of the way. Anyway, this is my city,” I said. “And I want to see it from the ground.”
“Oh, it’s your city, now, is it?” Beezle said, settling on my shoulder. “Now you’re getting delusions of grandeur.”
“I’m the one who keeps it safe,” I said as we turned north. “So that makes it mine.”
“If it’s your city, does that mean all the Dunkin’ Donuts belong to you, too?” Beezle said hopefully.
My laughter rang out in the darkness, and for a moment everything seemed a little brighter.
Hours later, when everyone had been fed and watered and had bandages applied, I sat on the front porch by myself, wrapped in a blanket, looking up at the sky. My coat had been destroyed again. I was going to have to ask Lucifer for a new one—if he ever answered my phone calls.
I’d showered off the layers of blood and dirt and felt shiny pink and clean, like a newborn seeing the sun for the first time. My own child fluttered contentedly inside me.
Everything I had done in the last few days I’d done for my baby, to keep this child safe. I knew that things were not over with the faerie court, and that Focalor was probably still lurking about somewhere, waiting to pounce.
But I’d killed Azazel.
I’d thought that when Azazel was dead, I would feel complete again, that the empty place inside me would be filled up by the satisfaction of vengeance.
It wasn’t.
Gabriel was gone, and killing Azazel hadn’t brought him back. The hatred that had driven me had faded with Azazel’s death, and now there was nothing in its place.
Just the ache where Gabriel had once been, and would never be again.
“Okay,” I said, my throat tight with unshed tears. “Okay. I love you. I will always love you, and I’m letting you go.”
I put my face in my hands and cried.
For the first time in days, the snake tattoo on my right palm wriggled.
I looked up, and there was Lucifer.
“Where the hell have you been?” I asked. “I thought you were dead.”
“No need to sound so hopeful,” Lucifer said, coming to sit beside me. “You killed Azazel.”
“He was…”
“Trying to kill you at the time. I know. I’ve heard this before,” Lucifer said.
“It’s still true,” I said. “You could have made things a little easier on me.”
“By sending you after him as Hound of the Hunt?” Lucifer said, his eyes bright. “But then you would not have found the missing Agents; nor would you have destroyed Azazel’s army.”
“You could have sent me after him before he took the Agents, before he raised the army,” I said through my teeth. “Don’t you care about the innocents that could have been harmed because you want to play games? What if I’d failed?”
Lucifer shook his head. “You would not have failed. You have caused quite a stir, my dear. Quite a stir. The Grigori are most displeased with you.”
“Rein them in, then,” I said. “That’s your deal, not mine.”