He planted a kiss on my forehead. “Maybe not, but at least we’ll put up one hell of a fight, right?”
“Come on, guys!” Valva waved us to follow her.
I turned to Tristan, Nyx, and Horus. “Stay close and watch your backs.”
Valva led us through a large entryway dominated by a curving staircase carved from smooth black stone. We went under the stairs and emerged into a gigantic open-air… something. Tall walls built from charred bones and ash spread out from the entrance in a broad circle. But the center was a lush botanical garden. Overhead, there was no ceiling but a starlit sky dominated by a huge full moon.
“This way,” Valva said. She stepped onto the packed dirt and ducked under palm fronds and darted around huge, foul-smelling flowers. “Watch your step—most of these plants are carnivorous.”
As she spoke, a huge Venus flytrap snapped six inches from my head. I jerked away, bumping into Giguhl. “Easy,” he said, steadying me. “It’d be super embarrassing if you got eaten ten steps away from your destiny.”
Valva forged ahead through the dense foliage until she finally parted two huge elephant ears to reveal an open-air throne room of sorts. The thrones were huge and made from human skulls painted bloodred. The marble floor was a refreshing change of pace from the body part theme, but otherwise everything was blood and bones.
I looked around, expecting to see Lilith or maybe Asmodeus lounging indolently on one of the thrones. Instead, a familiar face grinned at me from next to the stone blood fountain to the side of the throne.
“Oh shit,” Giguhl breathed. “What’s he doing here?”
“Sabina, darling.”
I gritted my teeth. “Clovis.”
Clovis Trakiya both had and hadn’t changed much in the months since Giguhl dragged his ass down to the Pit of Despair. His auburn hair was a tad longer and he wore a black robe instead of a business suit. Clovis was half vampire and half demon, and when I’d known him in the mortal realm, he’d appeared in his urbane, vampire form. But now he was flashing horns and his skin was red and leathery. Despite his demonic makeover, his smarmy grin was the same.
“Welcome to Irkalla. I’m sorry I didn’t have a chance to greet you personally when you arrived, but, well, the Great Mother had me preparing some surprises for your arrival.”
“I bet she did,” Adam said.
“Lazarus,” Clovis sneered. “I’m surprised to see you.”
Adam crossed his arms. “And why is that?”
Clovis picked an invisible speck of lint from his shoulder. “Figured Sabina would grow tired of your pedestrian appeal by now.”
“Cut the shit, Clovis,” I said. “Where’s Lilith?”
Clovis stood straighter and grinned. “She’ll be here shortly.” He leaned forward and whispered, “She likes to make an entrance.”
“What are you doing out of the Pit?” Giguhl demanded. “Last I saw you, you were receiving some sweet back-door attention from a gaggle of Lust demons.”
A shadow passed across Clovis’s face. “Let’s just say I convinced the Great Mother I could be more useful to her as an assistant. Better than that pussy David Duchamp.”
I crossed my arms. No doubt David blamed me for Clovis taking over his position, since it was my fault the asshole was in Irkalla in the first place.
As for Clovis’s success in manipulating the situation to his benefit, well, I wasn’t really surprised. Despite his many and varied faults, Clovis could be exceptionally charming when he wasn’t double-crossing me or conspiring to take over the dark races.
“Is this going to take much longer?” I demanded. “We’re kind of in a hurry.”
Clovis raised a dark brow. “If I were you, I’d curb my tongue when she arrives. She doesn’t respond well to demands.”
As if he’d summoned her with his warning, Lilith arrived in a dazzling display of pyrotechnics. Black smoke and flame flared up from the floor and when they disappeared, the Great Mother herself struck a pose in front of us.
I’ve known a few powerful females in my time—priestesses, leaders of entire races, goddesses—but even Hekate’s awe-inspiring appearance paled in comparison to Lilith’s dominating presence. It saturated the air like ozone after a lighting bolt.
I fell to my knees. All around me, my team did the same, dropping like flies to the floor.
I didn’t dare look directly at her. My hands trembled. It was one thing to think about meeting the Great Mother. In theory, I knew she’d be powerful and intimidating. But kneeling before her felt like… straying too close to a black hole.
“Look at you. Trembling like a child.” Her voice was as dark as midnight. “It pleases me. Rise, Sabina Kane.”
The unbearable weight of her gravity made standing gracefully impossible. I kept my eyes on the ground.
“Look at me, child.”
I licked my suddenly dry lips and took a deep breath. And looked into the face of the Great Mother.
My vision at Vinca’s pool hadn’t done her justice. The air escaped my lungs in a hiss. Turns out my black hole analogy hadn’t been so far off, after all. It was as if the mortal’s god had molded her out of night itself. Two massive black-feathered wings unfurled behind her, kicking up a breeze every time they twitched. Her hair reached the floor and in its black mass, shifting shapes appeared like holograms. Her eyes were obsidian marbles. Her skin was ebony, dark and perfect and cold. Black iron fangs flashed when she smiled. The only color on her face at all were two luscious red lips that explained a lot about the origins of lust.
“Why have you come?”
I froze. Was this another test? The final test? I cleared the butterflies from my throat. “I have come to prove that I am the Chosen.”
The mother of the dark races threw back her head and laughed. The sound reverberated through the air, making the ground shake. Nearby, Horus made a choking sound, his hand flying to his throat. Black veins exploded on the surface of his skin and smoke escaped his ears. His body twitched and convulsed. The more Lilith laughed, the worse his suffering became until he was convulsing on the ground with bloody froth escaping his blackened lips.
“Stop!” I yelled.
Lilith’s eyes cut to mine and the laughter cut off abruptly. While she held my gaze, she snapped her fingers and smiled at me.
Horus’s body burst into flames. The conflagration was intense but brief. In no time, Lilith’s spell consumed him completely, leaving not even a scorch mark on the marble.
The silence that followed pulsed in my ears in time to my staccato heartbeat. I wanted to demand an explanation. To rail against Lilith for her cruelty. But she’d just killed Horus on a whim to prove she could. The message was clear. She’d kill us all without remorse if it pleased her.
From the corner of my eye, I saw the stoic expressions of my team as they each struggled to keep their own reactions under control. Behind Lilith, Valva stood beside Clovis. The vampire-demon looked like he was enjoying the show. But Valva’s eyes moved restlessly between the void where Horus used to be and her mother. Despite her obvious upset, it seemed even the flighty demon knew better than to challenge her mother.
“Prove that you are the Chosen?” Lilith said. Said it like she hadn’t just tortured and killed one of my team. Said it like we were discussing the weather and not the fate of all of her children. “Silly girl.”
My mouth worked as I tried to form words, but Lilith wasn’t done.
“You are not the Chosen.” She snapped her fingers.
A door opened in the bone wall surrounding the throne room. A female with curly red hair and alabaster skin emerged. Beside me, my father gasped and took a step forward. “Phoebe?”
My mother’s head jerked up and her eyes widened at seeing Tristan. At my other side, Nyx stiffened and all the blood drained from her face.
My stomach dropped in sympathy for all three of them. For Nyx, Tristan’s reaction was the ultimate proof that he’d never gotten over Phoebe. And for my parents, it was the first time they had seen each other since before Maisie and I were born. What should have been a joyful reunion was instead a reminder of sadness and betrayal.
Tristan caught himself before he rushed toward her. As if he suddenly remembered that their love had been a cruel trick played by a psychotic mastermind. His posture stiffened and he crossed his arms. Phoebe noticed the change and a dark shadow crossed over her face. She glanced uneasily at Lilith, who raised a brow. “Bring her.”
Phoebe nodded jerkily and reached back through the door. She led another female into the throne room. A female with red and black hair and my blue eyes.
All my concern over the tension between my mother and father evaporated the instant I recognized the surprise Lilith had invited to the party.
“Oh gods,” I whispered brokenly. I fell to my knees. “Maisie?”
Chapter 38
My gaze wouldn’t leave my twin. She looked… healthy. So different from the tortured waif who’d been under Cain’s thrall. Her red and black hair glowed with health and her curves filled out her black chiton.
“Sabina!” Maisie cried brokenly. She tried to break away from our mother’s hold, but Phoebe held her still.
“Maisie?” Adam whispered.
“Silence!” Lilith thundered. She waved a hand and a wall of shimmering magic surrounded Maisie and my mother. Their heads jerked around and their mouths moved, but no sound escaped their prison.
Frustration rose in me like a hot wind. What game was Lilith playing? Plus, as I watched Maisie’s and Phoebe’s agitated movements in the circle, something niggled at the back of my mind. Something about Maisie’s movements was off. I scanned down her body and gasped when I realized her feet didn’t touch the floor. “She’s still dead.”
A feline smile stretched across Lilith’s full lips. “Well, of course she is.”
“Maisie?” I called.
“Don’t bother,” Lilith said. “The circle is just a precaution. You sister knows she is forbidden from interfering with your test.”