As Jordan lurched along the shoreline, he clutched a fist against the wound in his belly. He was unsure if he was healing. He feared he had cast most of his angelic essence, along with his blood, into that demon. Still, an ember of fire burned in his belly, suggesting some dregs remained, but he felt even that fading fast.
Still, he kept marching onward. His other hand dragged Legion’s black sword behind him, still dripping with the demon’s blood. He continued through the damnable fog as it smoked out of the broken piece of the gate behind him. After slaying Legion, he had fled the worst of that gibbering, maddening horde, as they gathered in those mists, greeting the larger abominations that slowly slouched into this world.
Let them… as long as they leave me alone.
He followed the only path open to him, sticking to the bank of the lake, cautious of the two remaining planes of the pyramid that still blazed across the ice.
Farther out, the cone of Lucifer’s white light continued to shine, but even through the black mists, Jordan knew the purity of that white light was dissipating. With the gateway broken, it would only be a matter of time before that dark angel broke free.
When that happened, Jordan was determined to be at Erin’s side, if only to hold her cold body one last time. Still, a glimmer of hope remained inside him, driving him forward, one hard step after another.
Maybe she’s still alive… maybe I can kiss her one last time.
Finally, a ruddy glow appeared through the mists. As he drew closer, he saw it was the fiery sphere around the Sanguis pillar. He stumbled out of the worst of the mists and hurried forward — only to find that sphere empty.
She was gone.
He leaned on the sword and searched around, realizing he was not entirely alone.
The lion cub waited at the edge of the lake, his gaze fixed on the ice. Jordan limped over to him, following that intent stare.
Two figures moved out there.
Rhun… and Erin.
She marched alongside the Sanguinist, clutching the Blood Gospel in her arms. The glow of the book cast them both in a golden light.
He wanted to cry with joy, to run to her side, but all he could do was fall to his knees at the edge of the lake, knowing he could not cross this outer plane of the fiery pyramid. He struggled to understand how she still lived, how she got through that barrier.
Had the book healed her, had its glow allowed her to pierce that fiery veil?
“Erin!” he shouted, wanting if nothing else to see her face again.
She heard him and turned.
The lower half of her face was covered in black blood. She spotted him, but there was no joy in her eyes, only sorrow. Rhun glanced back, exposing the wound on his own throat.
Jordan knew the truth. It was not the book that had healed her; it was not the glow that had let her pass the barrier unharmed.
I’ve lost her.
Rhun touched Erin’s arm, and with one last desolate look, she turned away.
“She is gone,” a voice spoke behind him. It was Elizabeth, soaked in blood, most of it her own.
Jordan glanced toward the fiery blue pillar on that side, where Elizabeth had been guarding the Aqua stone. It still blazed strongly.
“I was driven away,” Elizabeth explained. “Some massive beast, churning with tentacles…”
Jordan didn’t care. He returned his attention to Erin.
Elizabeth confirmed his worst fear. “I hear no heartbeat.”
A tired sadness filled the woman’s words — mourning not his loss, but her own.
Elizabeth sank to her knees beside him. As a strigoi, she could have crossed that barrier, gone out onto the ice. But she plainly had no reason.
Rhun was lost to her, too.
43
Erin wanted to turn around, to go running back to Jordan.
Rhun must have read her desire — not because they were blood-bonded, but simply because he knew her heart, even this new silenced one.
“You must go to Lucifer,” Rhun said. “That is your destiny now.”
She knew he was right, so she continued across the ice, clutching the Blood Gospel to her chest, taking strength from it to keep going. With each step, the book cast out its glow more brightly, pushing back against the darkness, burning through the heavier mists.
A scatter of twisted beasts came charging toward them, breaking away from the siege around Christian and Sophia. Something black shot out of the mists overhead and dove at them. Erin barely got a look at the featherless, reptilian shape before it struck that golden light around her and burst into flames.
Rhun tugged her aside as its body crashed to the ice.
Upon seeing this, the other beasts split away, fleeing that glow, slithering back into the darkness, wanting nothing more to do with that golden light.
She and Rhun hurried on, careful of the cracks in the ice, winding their way toward Christian and Sophia. The pair was not doing well. They were an island in a roiling mass of demons.
Christian had removed the sacred chain from the chest and slung the heavy links around his neck, even though the silver must burn him. He whipped the loose end of the chain like some sacred bola, lashing and striking out at the demons. It ripped through the horde as if those links were made of molten steel.
Still, Christian’s face streamed blood, and his robes hung in tatters around him.
Next to him, Sophia was even worse off. The small woman noted their approach and perhaps that was all she had been waiting for — holding out only this long by sheer force of will.
Erin saw it in her eyes.
Don’t…
Sophia gave one last valiant effort, swinging around and spearing a beast in the back before it could attack Christian. But to do so, it forced her to let her own guard down. The horde was upon her, swarming over her, bearing her down.
Christian tried to fight to Sophia’s side, but there were too many.
Erin finally reached them, bringing her golden light, scattering the beasts. Something dark and spiny leaped away, leaving behind a broken body on the ice.
Erin skidded to a stop and covered her mouth.
No.
Sophia, earnest and kind, was gone.
Erin trembled, but Rhun steadied her.
“Only the book matters,” he said. “It must reach Lucifer.”
She nodded. Or Sophia’s sacrifice would be in vain.
Still, it took a small push from Rhun to get her moving. Soon, though, she was running, flying across the ice, her limbs powered with preternatural strength, aiming for that cone of light. Demons gave way before that glow, but they no longer fled. They hissed and snarled in her wake, as if they knew that they would claim her soon.
And they might yet get that chance.
Even the Blood Gospel could not withstand such palpable evil for long. The golden light had begun to tatter, torn by those mists, shredded by the malevolence found here. The deeper she went, the worse the damage.
Rhun and Christian did their best to compensate, flanking her, keeping away anything that dared to approach. Christian lashed out with the chain and struck a loping hairless ape. The hiss of burning flesh accompanied the creature’s agonized shriek as it rolled clear of their path.
Erin concentrated on their goaclass="underline" Lucifer continued to strain from his throne, shattering new links. His wings, feathered by black flames, battered against the brilliance that imprisoned him. Each strike dimmed that light, streaking it with darkness.