The Wicked Within

EIGHTEEN

WE TOLD THE OTHERS WE’D be back and then hurried from the hospital. As I crossed the street, I could see the orange glow of fire in the distance. The French Quarter was burning. The fighting within the Novem must have gotten worse. Locals and tourists fled past us. I saw several kids from Presby being led by their parents. They crammed Canal Street, where EMTs, firefighters, and Bran’s contingent of police tried to keep the peace, directing everyone to the hospital and to several buildings along Canal. There at least they were out of the main fighting. There were several officers trying to keep the crowd from fleeing toward the ruins of the business district—to so do meant certain death.

In the square, flames poured out of Presby’s upper floors. The Novem was at war. Jackson Square had become a battlefield. Sebastian might be right. The god might be our only hope, because once Athena launched her attack, there would be very little resistance if this kept up.

We were on the corner near the Pontalba Apartments and the Cabildo when the ground trembled beneath our feet. The stone pavers erupted, roots shooting from the ground. They wrapped around our legs, tightening until the pain made me scream.

“Get down!”

Immediately I dropped as a ball of green light came at us. Sebastian had very little time to call upon his power and cast a thick blue shield around us. The green energy hit with staggering force. The shield broke, but the power was already dispersing. Holy shit. Sebastian was building a ball of blue energy in his hand.

The witch lurked beneath the large oak in the corner of the park. An earth witch. A smoky green haze surrounded her. She was our age, scared shitless, and I guessed she was attacking anything that came close; I might have been too if I was trapped and confused and had no clue what was happening. Most of the families probably had no idea. They were following the lead of their family heads. They were dying for nothing, friends fighting friends. And it wasn’t confined to adults. There were several fighting who were in my classes. If they knew the truth, things would be much different.

Another hit from the witch sent me to my knees, the roots still holding me tight. “Can you trap her? Get inside her head?” I yelled over the sounds of the fight, not wanting the girl to die, just to wise up and get the hell away from the square. Our eyes met and Sebastian nodded. I knew he was weakened from earlier, but he closed his eyes, drawing energy around him.

A vampire approached in a blur from behind Sebastian. I grabbed the dagger I always kept in my boot and threw it, aiming for his throat, but hitting him in the eye. The blade sank deep. It wouldn’t kill him, but it would keep him down for a while. The roots finally broke. I stumbled forward as the witch broke her hold and ran away. I went for my blade and spied Bran one door down from Zoe’s apartment. He and his daughter, Kieran, were covering a family as they hurried beneath the second-floor balconies, around the corner where others were there to escort them to safety.

“Is Zoe up there?” I asked, running up to him.

“They’re next. We’re trying to evacuate as many families as we can,” he tossed over his shoulder as we followed him up the stairs.

At the landing, Bran paused to catch his breath. Blood splatters and smears covered his face, sword arm, hand, and sword. In the small space he was intimidating as hell. Kieran was a mirror image of her father, only a lot smaller and younger than me by a couple of years. It was on the tip of my tongue to ask why she hadn’t gone to safety with the others, but I stayed quiet. Kieran was his only daughter, the only child he had left. I knew he’d keep her by his side. Bran had once boasted that Kieran was so talented with a sword she could’ve separated my head from my body when she was ten.

“We need help, Bran,” I said.

My words sank in, and he knew exactly what I meant. “Oh no. No fucking way, Selkirk.” He glanced from me to Sebastian and back again. “No. Not happening.” He pounded on the door, calling for Zoe’s parents.

“Bran.” He whipped around, the point of his sword at my throat. His face was grim and completely unmovable.

“No.”

Zoe opened the door. Oh shit. Goose bumps spread up my arms. Her eyes were milky white. The tip of Bran’s sword dropped. He grabbed Zoe’s shoulders. “Zoe. Where are your mom and dad?”

She didn’t answer, not even when he shouted her name and shook her gently.

“They must be out fighting,” Sebastian said.

Two vamps surged up the stairs, one hitting me in the back, sending me flying down the hall. I landed hard and rolled, ending up with the vampire on top of me. I grabbed his face, about to put all my power into it, when a sword stuck through the guy’s throat, the point stopping an inch from my chin. Blood sprayed on my face. I twisted away, scrambling from underneath him as the sword withdrew and sliced the head from the body.

For a moment I couldn’t move. Bran loomed in front of me, reached down, and plucked the head off the floor. Another headless body lay on the landing. Kieran, sword dripping, leaned over and picked up the head like some avenging Celtic war goddess.

“You have power, use it,” Bran said roughly as I got up.

I managed to find my voice, wiping the blood from my face as best I could. “I was about to.”

He walked toward Kieran, and together they tossed the heads down the stairs, a fair warning to any who might want to come up.

We herded Zoe into the apartment and shut the door. Bran went to the window to survey the scene outside. I joined him. It was getting bad. Presby was burning and across the square, one corner of an apartment block was on fire. “We have to do something,” I said quietly. “What if this god is good? What if we can ask for his help in exchange for waking him?”

“You said so yourself,” Sebastian added. “We’re screwed.”

Bran’s jaw ticked as I stared at his profile. Down below, cries and breaking glass could be heard over the sounds of magic exploding and snarls and shouts. “We find out more about the god first and then decide.” He glanced back at his daughter, worry on his face. “You talk to her. Bastian, Kieran, and I will keep watch. Cut all the lights. We don’t want to draw attention. We do nothing”—he looked at me pointedly—“until we know more.”

I drew in a deep breath and went to Zoe as Sebastian killed the lights. Kieran stepped back, a little freaked out by Zoe’s white eyes. She was a fighter, not an exorcist. Neither was I, for that matter. Bran opened the door and took up position on the landing, while Kieran covered the doorway. Sebastian was the last line of defense between me and them if they failed.

The fiery light from the square lit the room in a dim, eerie glow. It made Zoe look even creepier. I knelt down in front of her.

“Zoe. It’s me, Ari.” I cleared my throat. “I want to talk to the god who speaks to you.” Nothing. “Zoe. It’s me. The god-killer.”

The corners of her mouth drew back into a smile, like some puppet master was pulling the strings. “Wake me up,” the strange whisper came from her lips. “Wake me up and I’ll set you free.”

“Who are you?” I asked. “I won’t wake you up until I know who you are and why you want to return to our world.”

Zoe went silent for a long moment. I was about to try to get the god talking again, but then she spoke, fast, as though uttering a prayer that hadn’t been uttered since time began. “I am Yesterday. I am He who is Above. Born under the Morning Star. I am the Sun and the Moon. Ruler of the Skies. Guardian of Pharaohs. I am the Great Falcon. I am War. I am Protection. I am He Who Comes Forth Advancing. I have opened a path. I have delivered myself from all evil things.”

The room seemed to still, the sounds from outside dimming. I didn’t know what had changed, but I sure as hell felt that something had. Bran stood in the doorway, his face pale, his sword arm limp, his eyes dazed.

Zoe clutched the front of my bloody shirt and pulled me so close our noses brushed. The voice was urgent and demanding. “Now bring me back.”

Zoe shoved me away with a force that was not her own. I landed on my rear, heart pounding. The sounds from outside raged on, filling the dead silence. Explosions lit the dark room with flashes. Glass shattered down the hall, bringing everything back into focus. We were running out of time.

“What now?” I asked Bran as Zoe sat down, her legs crossed and her hands resting limply in her lap. Her eyes were locked on me. Then they shifted to Sebastian. “Wake me up and I’ll set you free.”

That was the offer. Made to me, and now to Sebastian. He just stood there, staring at Zoe with troubled eyes. “That’s the bargain,” I said. “Whoever wakes him up is set free from their curse.”

“Vampirism isn’t a curse. It’s part of my makeup,” he answered. But I could see the longing in his eyes.

“And that god can change you back. To the way you were before . . . before the temple. That’s what he means.” I wanted it to be true. Sebastian could go back to the way he had been. And at that moment, I knew it should be him and not me. “Right, Bran? That’s what it means.”

“Yeah, that’s what he means. And if he’s the father of Athena’s child . . . Athena won’t stand a chance.”

“Who is he? Is he good? Do we wake him?”

“Yeah, he’s good. But you have to remember, Athena was good once too. It’s a risk. One I think we—”

Bran was hit from behind by a massive black wolf. They rolled into the apartment as Kieran shouted, leaping aside just in time. Bran and the wolf smashed through the coffee table and hit the far wall, denting the drywall. Teeth gnashed, and angry red claw marks appeared on Bran’s chest. Sebastian was building energy over his hand. I ran to help Kieran as a second shifter appeared.

Through it all, Zoe sat waiting.

A vampire joined the fray on the landing. I chanced a look over my shoulder to see Sebastian shove a massive ball of energy at the wolf, knocking it off Bran. Bran recovered and swung his sword to lethal effect.

The landing was filling up. Shit. We were going to be overrun, trapped. Damn it. I exchanged a desperate glance with Sebastian. I ducked and landed a punch to the vamp’s midsection, shoving my power into my fist when I did. She screamed. I spun again and grabbed her wrist, still pouring my curse into her. As she spun away from me, her arm broke off and she smashed into the wall.

Kieran killed the second shifter. But she was tiring too. Bran hurried to fight by her side.

“Ari!” I spun at Sebastian’s call. Confused, I hurried over as he closed his eyes. The hairs on my arms lifted as energy, thick and suffocating, gathered in the room. His hand clamped down on my wrist. And then the scene froze.

Everything froze—but us.

“God, Sebastian. What are you doing?” My heart skipped. He was bleeding from the nose. I reached out but he caught my hand.

“Go to Zoe. Wake up the god.”

“But—”

“Hurry. I can’t hold them all for long. This is what we’ve been after. A way to end your curse. A way to end Athena.”

I should’ve been jumping at the chance. And yet, it didn’t feel right. I couldn’t believe I was saying this, but, “I’m a god-killer, Sebastian. If this god rises and wreaks havoc, I’ll need to stop him. I can’t do that if I don’t have my power. I can’t risk giving it up until all this”—I waved my hand—“chaos with Athena is over. My chance lies with the Hands. This is your chance. You take it.” Pain squeezed my chest. “You do it. You never wanted to be a vampire. You never would have been if it wasn’t for me.”

He shook his head, frowning. “No—”

I grabbed his shoulders. “Yes. You have to. It’s killing you, being what you are now. I can see it.” My throat went thick. “It’s your turn. Mine will come later. If we raise this god, I’m the insurance policy. If all goes to shit and he’s crazy like Athena, I’m the only one who can kill him. And if he fails, I’ll still need my power to bargain with Athena. She’ll kill me if I’m curse free. It means her child will never be resurrected.”

Sebastian trembled from the massive amount of power he was using to freeze our tiny corner of the world. He couldn’t keep it up much longer. His gaze flicked to the frozen battle on the landing. Relief filled me. He was going to do it. He gave me a sharp nod, swiped at the blood trickling from his nose, and then stepped back.

“If this works, I’ll meet you someplace safe . . . at the hospital,” he said. “Just stay out of trouble until then.” With a parting look, he closed his eyes and raised his hands, pulling in energy and moving in a beautiful flowing motion, gathering it like I’d once seen him do in his father’s garden. And then he shot out his arms, opening his eyes. They flashed bright blue. I was pushed by the force, stumbling as I watched our attackers disintegrate.

In the blink of an eye, Sebastian had Zoe in his arms and was gone.

Gone.

And we were left stunned by the magnitude of his power.

Bran recovered and stalked toward me. “What has he done?”

“He’s going to wake the god.”

“Goddamn it, Selkirk! We agreed!”

“But you said—”

“I never got to finish what I was saying. Do you know what he’s waking? A supreme fucking deity!”

“Who—”

He seized Kieran’s and my wrists. “We’re getting out of this apartment. If I’m going to fight, I’ll do it out in the open.”

“Bran.” I pulled against him. “Wait. Who is the god?”

I was almost afraid to know.