“I’m not listening to you!I never want to see you again!”
Lucifer jerked like he’d been struck, opened his mouth, androared.
Then, while his roar still echoed in the banquet hall and out into the corridors, he blinked out of sight, as if he’d never existed.
I stood frozen for a moment, gaping. Then whirled, searching the room high and low. Had the Fallen just moved out of sight? Would he attack? What—
A strange, strangled noise rose behind me and I turned again… to find Gall on his knees, eyes staring into the void, with a look of horror and fear.
Then he toppled to the floor, and began to convulse.
50. Hummingbird
~ DIADRE ~
‘Resist… Resist… the Fallen cannot kill you. They rule through fear, and force you to do their evil for them—resist and be free!’
I’d lost track of the hours spent running the halls, using my mind to reach those who were open, and my blade to end those who weren’t.
At first, while hidden in the shadows of an intersection of hallways in the eastern part of the palace during my hunt for the Council members, touching minds and seeking targets, I’d been stunned to see Jann arrive with a roar. The Neph answered him—those loyal to Lucifer—and he responded.
Like a hummingbird in flight, he swept gracefully into the fray, cloak flaring behind him, his blade sliding through the neck of one Golden Eye, and into the chest of another, before the enemy Neph realized what was happening. I’d seen Jann fight before, but not like this. As if he’d embodied his fear, he’d become a harbinger of death. Dancing, turning, ducking—and leaving body after body in his wake.
In our enemy's moment of breathless shock, our allies found their opening. Minutes later, only our allies—new and old, but all green-eyed—remained upright.
Cheering and applauding, the men descended on Jann with thanks and admiration. But he only muttered a few words, ducked his head, sent one pained glance towards me in the shadows, then took off.
The others thought he led a charge and followed—as did I—but we were all wrong.
The moment he’d set the same trap as before—roaring his greeting to those following Lucifer, then launching into them like a child lopping daisies until the others caught up and could finish the job—he continued on his path. And this time, only I followed. Or tried to.
For the first few corridors I was able to pace him, to obscure myself in the shadows and watch while he devastated any Neph that didn’t respond to my call toResist.I watched on proudly, tearfully, as he proved again and again that his heart was good, and he stood to destroy evil.
With his cloak floating and flaring, his golden hair flying, his blade severing men from their lives, he looked like nothing more than the angel of death.
Yet, he never smiled.
There was no banter with the others when a battle was won, and no time taken even to clean his blade. He didn’t stop to breathe, or rest. He plowed on, harvesting the grain of the Fallen-loyal Neph, and ignoring the cheers of his brothers-in-arms.
I couldn’t keep up. There were too many minds to meet, and show the truth. Then, as the troops moved on looking for their next battle. A scream rose behind us.
Slipping into the shadows, I froze at the sight of a handful of servant women being pulled bodily from a cupboard, wherethey must have hidden for the hunt. One of the Neph bastards, the Golden Eye with fine robes and massive shoulders, who’d so grossly pleasured himself as he watched his comrade rape a slave, had discovered them. He pulled them out of the dark little space one by one, by whatever he could reach—an ankle, a wrist, hair…
There were four of them, all dressed in low-servant’s brown. All terrified. Too frightened to fight, though together they might have at least resisted him.
I didn’t bother shrouding, just slipped my blade from its sheath and slipped up behind him. One of the women saw me approaching and gasped, but he’d barely begun to turn when I landed on his back.
He jerked like I’d hurt him, back bowing, though I knew my weight was little to him—but before my blade even touched his flesh, he began to shake. His limbs threw wide and he shuddered, a strange, strangled choke puttering in his throat.
The women screamed and watched, wide-eyed, as the Neph dropped to his knees, then toppled backwards. I was forced to throw myself off him and away, or be crushed. I landed hard, but rolled and came up on my feet, blade drawn.
The Neph lay on the ground, jaw wide like he was being choked, eyes wide and glassy, and his body convulsing.
I stood over him, watching his eyes roll back in his head, and his skin turn a strange, steely gray.
Within moments, he was nothing but a twisted corpse.
The women rushed me, crying, thanking me. It took some time to explain to them that I hadn’t killed him. That I didn’t know what had. And to convince them to return to the cupboard, which seemed the safest place for them.
