But then, a spot on my left shoulder—exactly where her birthmark resided—began to itch. The skin warmed and tingled just like it had all those times she’d helped me.
I’m going to try something. I need you to trust me.
The heat intensified. That was as close to a yes as I was going to get.
I glanced over my shoulder and met Adam’s gaze. I winked and his eyes widened. A slow grin spread across his handsome face. His mouth formed the words, “I love you.” Then he leaned over and nudged Giguhl. The demon jerked and leaned down to listen. He nodded once and turned to say something to Nyx. Whatever happened, I trusted they would do what they could to help. I just prayed if everything went south, they’d also have the smarts to run like hell.
“Sabina!” Cain said. “Convince Lilith to let down the barriers or I’ll kill your mage.”
Adam cocked a brow. “Fuck you.”
I sucked a deep breath in through my nose and blew it out of my mouth. Some might call what I did next an act of faith. Others might call it the act of a fool. Either way, I knew in my gut it was right.
“Adam,” I said in a low tone. “Now!”
I ran straight for Maisie. My sister’s head jerked up a split second before I slammed into her spirit.
Her soul bore through my flesh like shards of ice. I gritted my teeth and struggled to hold on to her. Caught off guard, Maisie struggled against the warm prison.
Sabina, what— she screamed in my head.
I gritted out, “Trust. Me.”
“No!” Cain screamed. I heard the sounds of a struggle. Giguhl shouted something, and I knew he and Adam and Nyx were trying to subdue Cain but were not having an easy time of it.
The instant Maisie’s soul was perfectly positioned, our spirits snapped together like pieces of a puzzle. The instant our essences united, a shock of energy exploded outward from my body. Our body.
The force lifted our body from the floor.
Up, up, up. We were flying.
Far below, we could see Adam and Giguhl struggling with Cain. Nyx scrambled away, chasing a gun that slid across the floor. Lilith stayed safe in her little chamber. Clovis hid behind the throne, where the coward had gone the instant Cain’s army arrived. Farther afield, we saw Lilith’s garden surrounding the throne room. I realized then that it was the same garden Maisie had seen in her vision. The one she painted and showed me the night she told me I would be the Chosen. In it, I was flying over a garden toward a bright light in the sky.
She’d been half right. It was my body, but it was both our spirits.
Sabina?
Shhh, Maisie. It’s going to be all right now.
How do you know?
Look up.
A throbbing glow over our heads demanded our attention. It felt warm on our face, inviting. We willed ourselves to move faster, fly higher. We raised our arms above our head and focused on reaching the light.
So close now. We reached a hand toward the light, yearning for it. Just before we brushed the outer edges of this power, a deep voice echoed through our head.
Chosen.
The light spread and entered us. The force threw our head back and filled us with its heat, its energy. Power spread through us like lightning.
Secret knowledge filled us. A vortex of light swirled around our skin. Filled us, glowing from the inside. Our eyes saw eternity, our arms spread like wings, and our heart filled to bursting. Every ounce of power that had been taken from us returned with a vengeance—plus some. And when we screamed, it was not from fear but from victory.
The battle cry of a goddess.
It is done, the voice said.
Our body plunged. Down, down, down.
Our eyes opened. The power coalesced around us, a swirling golden cyclone. We heard every sound—shouting, fists pounding flesh. The individual heartbeats of every being in the room. Every thought. Every emotion.
We raised our hand and saw our own aura. Instead of the individual red of Sabina’s aura or the blue of Maisie’s, it shimmered pure gold shot through with deep, royal purple.
We are the Chosen, our souls whispered in stereo.
Miracle number five, I whispered to myself.
Together, we turned toward the fight.
The instant the mage and demon saw us, they stopped fighting Cain. Giguhl’s goat eyes flared and a huge smile spread his black lips. Adam paled. “Gods be praised.”
Nyx stood behind Cain, her trembling hand aiming the weapon at his head.
“Nicolette,” we said, our voices united into one. “Put it down.”
Tears streamed down her face. “He killed Tristan,” she sobbed.
“We know. But if you kill him, we will all die.”
Nyx’s eyes finally moved from the back of Cain’s head to look at us. Whatever the vampire saw made her drop the gun. Her eyes flared and she dropped to her knees, touching her forehead with her right hand.
Cain turned around slowly. When he saw Maisie and I in our new form—whatever it looked like—his eyes went wild. Like a snake’s strike, he grabbed Adam by the throat and held a brass blade to his jugular. “I’ll kill him.”
We smiled and waved a hand. The blade Cain held to Adam’s neck dissolved. Cain yelped and jumped back. “What—”
We lowered our head, gazing up at our prey. “Run.”
Cain’s eyes widened. “I’m not leaving without her,” he spat. “Lilith is mine.”
“Dude, seriously?” Giguhl said. “You need to take a hint already.”
Cain ignored the demon and raised his chin at us. “I am Master Mahan. You can’t kill me.”
“We are the Chosen.”
“No. I don’t believe it! It’s a trick!” Cain’s voice rose as the first hint of panic hit him. “Lilitu, tell them they can’t kill me.”
“Sorry, my love,” Lilith mocked. “But you are wrong. They can and they will.”
He whipped around. “But… but why? I love you. I have killed for you. I have done all of this”—he waved his hands around to indicate his grand scheme—“for us. So we can finally be together again.”
“Then you are a fool. I used your seed to create the first of my children. And, yes, for a time, I fancied myself in love with you. Until your true nature, your controlling ways, your temper, your fists, proved you were unworthy of that love. You did not deserve me.”
“Shut up, bitch.” He punched the barrier and ignored the sizzling sound of his knuckles burning. “You’re mine!”
Lilith raised an ebony brow. “You have never and will never measure up to my beloved husband, Asmodeus.”
“No,” Cain said through clenched teeth. “He’s hidden you away in this cesspool. Forced you to bear his children. How can you be happy here?”
Lilith shrugged. “I love him.”
Cain rushed Lilith’s protective circle, punching and kicking. He sobbed with rage, screaming obscenities and making oaths to profane gods if they’d help him force his love to submit. The shimmering walls sparked and sputtered with each strike. Wounds appeared everywhere Cain made contact with the shield. Lilith cringed back against the other side, looking genuinely worried he might somehow succeed in breaking her spell.
Finally, the human wore himself out with his rage. His shoulders slumped and his chest heaved. When he raised his head, his expression was feral. Every meager ounce of sanity he’d once possessed had abandoned him. With a scream born of insanity and murderous rage, Master Mahan turned toward Adam, Giguhl, and Nyx.
He lowered his head and grunted like a bull. In each hand, he held a blade.
We knew his intention before he took a step. He figured if he attacked our friends, they’d have no choice but to kill him and themselves in the process. Cain had accepted he would die, but he was going to take all of us with him.
He took two running steps.
We shot out a hand. “Usella mituti ikkalu baltuti.”
He froze.
We raised our hands and slowly inhaled. Cain’s eyes widened. The knives fell to the ground with a clatter.
Our chest expanded beyond all reasonable bounds. Our lungs were endless, hungry caverns. We watched our enemy pale and sweat break out on his skin. His body began to tremble. We enjoyed that part.
“No!” he moaned. “You can’t kill me! I am Master Mahan!”
The air tasted bitter. Cain’s skin began to blacken. Still we inhaled. Smoke rose from the singed patches and danced through the air. Still we inhaled. His face dissolved next. The mass of muscle and bone that remained stretched and emitted a sickening shriek. Still we inhaled.
The rest of his corporeal form dissolved into a million black particles. They flew through the air like beads of oil in water. We gulped down each acrid drop.
Once the body was gone, all that was left was a blackened aura. We consumed that, too, until finally, Cain’s entire essence writhed in our belly like the serpent who tempted his mother, Eve.
We closed our eyes. Cain’s dark power, his seductive energies swirled in our veins. We savored them. Images of torture, memories of his murders paraded through our head. We enjoyed them. His screams echoed in our ears. We treasured them.
“Chosen,” Lilith said quietly.
Maisie and I ignored her. The high was too delicious. The power too intoxicating. The promise of conquest too seductive.
“Sabina?” Adam’s broken cry burst through the haze. “Maisie?”
No, not yet. Maisie pleaded with me to hold on to the moment a little longer. We deserve this. Vengeance is ours, sister.
I smiled and licked my lips. Never had either of us felt more powerful, more absolutely immortal than we did at that moment. We wanted to fly. We wanted to impose our wills on the universe. We wanted to kill everyone who’d ever wronged us. And we could do it, too.
We were the Chosen. We were… invincible.
Chapter 40
I thought I was invincible once, too.” Lilith’s voice cut through the black cocoon of power wrapped around Maisie and me. A warm hand touched our arm. “But my own hubris brought me down.”
Our eyes popped open. The high of defeating Cain suddenly turned on us. Bile rose in our throat and we gagged against the bitter aftertaste of consuming all that evil. We lurched over and struggled to absorb the malevolent energy. But we were not meant to use evil as fuel. Our body lurched over and vomited black, tarry pools onto the marble. When we’d emptied ourselves of the last of Cain, the entire roiling mass was consumed by tongues of flame.