Sidney, though he called himself a traditionalist, had said she should keep the ring on before the wedding. “We’re making our own traditions now,” he’d said.
So she’d given him his wedding present early. The flattened band, forged with Liam’s oversight from the remnants of discarded spectacles, had made Sid laugh and then kiss her. She couldn’t decide which she liked more, the laugh or the kiss; she’d have to indulge in both again, often.
She turned again to check the blades tucked into the chevron sheaths down her spine. Sneaking into a church in the middle of the night on Halloween in a demon-stalked city called for a certain amount of armament.
Therese peeked in the door. “Ready? I don’t think he can last much longer.”
Alyce tilted her head. “He’d wait forever.” When the women snorted in unison, she added, “But I don’t think I can.”
Jilly straightened, as if rising from a strategy table. “Let’s do it then.”
The women filed out, and Alyce looked at herself another moment. Something flickered in the shadows behind her, but she didn’t turn. Her past was just that—behind her; though not to be forgotten for the strengths it had given her. She walked to the door with her head high.
There were no flowers; the last night of October in Chicago had begun with a hard frost. There was no music except the longing sigh of some wayward draft in the rafters. There weren’t enough bridesmaids for all the groomsmen arrayed near the altar.
But there were candles, dozens of little white votives in cracked tumblers, scented of nothing but sweet wax, and all the more lovely for the darkness around them.
And there was Sidney.
She walked down the aisle alone, her gaze on his.
His smile was small, gentle, but when he took her outstretched hands, the power that surged through her was beyond everything.
A bit of metal clinked against her ring, and she looked down at the key he pressed into her palm.
“I found us a place here,” he murmured. “It’s small—seems talyan are paid worse than Bookkeepers—but it has a library and a roof garden with a glimpse of the river, and we can walk to work. I haven’t signed yet, but it’ll be ours if you like it.”
“Does it have a good kitchen? I want Therese to teach me how to cook.”
“You don’t have to cook for me. If we’re going to find Thorne, I’m guessing we’ll be out most nights anyway.”
“I’m not doing it just for you,” she said. “It’s for me. And for us.” She squeezed his hands and smiled up at him. “I’ll bring the knives.”
They turned to stand side by side.
Liam rested with both palms planted on the haft of the war hammer propped between his feet. “I am no priest. Obviously. And words at a wedding are usually about starting a new life together. Which seems unnecessary when it’s so damn clear the bride and her groom are eternally bonded, not by their demons, but by the fitting match of their souls. So I’ll just wish you happiness.” He stepped back and took Jilly’s hand.
“And peace,” Archer murmured.
“Passion,” Nim countered with a wicked grin.
Sidney raised Alyce’s hand to his lips. The ring warmed to his breath when he whispered against her skin, “And love.”
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
abrasax: An angelic-possessed’s blessed weapon.
ahāzum: A gathering of djinn; forbidden since the First Battle.
ascendant: The rise of a demon within a possessed human; refers to the initial incident of possession and subsequent risings.
birnenston: Also, brimstone. A sulfuric compound leached from some demonic emanations interacting with the human realm.
desolator numinis: “Soul cleaver”; a demonic weapon.
djinni: djinn (pl.): Upper echelon of demonkind; fallen angels who are content to stay fallen.
djinn-man: A human possessed by a djinni.
ether: The elemental energy of spiritual and demonic emanations.
feralis: ferales (pl.): Lesser demonic emanation encased in a physical shell of mutated human-realm material. Physically strong, but not so impressive in the brains department.
heshuka: The unknown darkness; from Aramaic.
horde-tenebrae: Blanket term for lesser demonic emanations, including malice, ferales, and salambes. Also, tenebrae.
ichor: A physical by-product of demonic emanations not compatible with the human realm.
league: Isolated clusters of possessed fighters assigned to high-density human-population areas with the mission of reducing demonic activity.
malice: Incorporeal lesser emanation from the demon realm, typically small and animalistic in shape with protohuman intelligence.
mated-talyan bond: The synergistic combination of male and female possessed powers.
reven: The permanent visible epidermal mark left by an ascended demon.
salambe: Highly emanating demonic form from the same subspecies as malice.
solvo: A chemical version of the desolator numinis; produces opiatelike effects in humans while splitting off the soul.
sphericanum: The realm of angels, separated from the human realm by the gates of heaven. Also used in reference to the ruling body of angelic powers.
symballein: A token, such as an engraved metal disk, that is broken into two pieces and used to establish identity when reunited; from Greek.
talya: talyan (pl.): 1. Sacrificial lamb; a young man (Aramaic). 2. A human, typically male, possessed by a repentant demon.
tenebrae: Blanket term for lesser demonic emanations, including malice, ferales, and salambes. Also, horde-tenebrae.
tenebraeternum: The demon realm, separated from the human realm by the Veil.
teshuva: A repentant demon seeking to return to a state of grace.
Veiclass="underline" An etheric barrier between the human and demon realms and composed of captured souls.
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Jonah knew he’d finally broken through Nim’s resistance when she numbly agreed to return to her apartment to clean up and kicked up hardly any fuss when he didn’t bother asking her address as they got into his car
“You followed me home,” was all she said as she settled into the passenger’s seat, and she sounded more resigned than angry, so he neither confirmed nor denied.
Bewildered as she was, with her new demon scarcely settled and its capabilities still unknown, he didn’t want to risk pushing her. Not if he didn’t have to. The soothing power of a hot shower was allowable, now that she couldn’t convince herself her world was still the same.
Her teshuva had already sealed over the scrapes on her knee, and the ugly bruise on her hip was fading fast. But the streaks of blood on her tawny skin remained, and the feralis had spattered ichor on her, burning holes in her already indecent shorts.
He retrieved Mobi’s case from the backseat while Nim unlocked the security screen on the front door of the old brick building. Side by side, silent, they walked past the rows of mailboxes. He paused at the elevator, then had to hurry a few long steps to catch up with her when she opened the door to the stairs.