“Mithrans. Depart.” His power pushed out at us, as strong as when he was master of the city, but Koun and Tex didn’t run. They were feeding Eli and watching me. Bound to my orders now, not Leo’s.
I nodded in agreement and glanced at the door. The two left the church.
Bruiser held me closer. The shattered ends of my ribs ground together, stealing my breath.
Leo pointed and Eli, who was better after the blood, seemed to know what was needed. He motioned for Big Evan to help move a long altar-type table close. While they worked, Leo went to Lachish’s body, still bound to the altar. “Such a sacrifice on the credence table has desecrated it for the Host. This place will again be holy. I will see to it that it is cleansed and restored to its beauty for the faithful.”
Leo tilted his head to me, birdlike again.
“I require two knives. One can be any blade. One must never have been bloodied.”
Unbloodied kinda left out all of mine.
Fawn extended two knives, lifting the one in her left, saying, “Bloodied.” She lifted her right. “Unbloodied.”
With the bloodied blade, Leo cut through the ropes holding Lachish. He whispered something over her body and made the sign of the cross in the air over her. As he spoke, the crucifix I had dropped into the cavern of her belly gushed up through her cooling blood and viscera. Leo wiped it clean on a cloth and placed it in the same palm as the key. His body shuddered when they made contact and smoke rose from his hand. The stench of searing vamp was discernable beneath the burning reek of Mainet’s head and the cursed organs. Leo didn’t react to the pain, but it had to hurt.
Leo returned the bloodied blade to Fawn and lifted Lachish in his arms. He carried her out of the profane circle, placing her on a cloth-covered bench. Blood splashed from her wound over the cloth to the floor. Leo drew the edges of the cloth across her body, covering her. He closed her eyes and said softly, “Rest now, sweet witch. You served well.”
Which made no sense. Unless... Lachish protecting the heart had been some powerful position, like the witch version of the outclan.
And I had given the heart to Jodi, not even a witch. Somehow it had been passed up the witch food chain to Lachish.Dang. Had Leo made sure the heart got to her? Yeah. Of course.
Leo walked to the table that Eli and Evan had moved beneath the angel. He made a tiny jump, landing on top,perfectly balanced. He opened his burning hand and pulled the key and the crucifix out of his flesh. I could hear the ripping sounds from where I was held in Bruiser’s arms.
I could breathe with less pain, though I now felt as if I was being attacked by fire ants inside and out. My body was healing and that hurt. I leaned into my honeybunch and he cradled me closer. Onorio strength, to hold my weight so long.
Leo’s hand, where the cross and the key had rested, was healed. He put the cross around his neck on its tiny gold chain. He reached up with the key to unlatch the silver chain, but the angel spoke. “You are now the Heir.”
Bruiser jerked, just a tiny bit. Leo was from the line of the Heir. Sooo. Yeah. He was now the Heir.Crap.
“If you free me, my son, the power you could have claimed will be lost.”
“If we will finally be free as well, our souls returned, it is a bargain well struck, messenger.”
“I can promise your souls, but I cannot say if you and your kind will live or all die when that happens.”
“I no longer care. I am tired of collusions and intrigues and the power wars of Mithran life. I am tired of watching the Naturaleza hunt and bind and destroy humans. I am tired of killing. Tired of war. If we die to free you, you who have been chained for two millennia, so be it.”
The angel lifted a hand and placed it on Leo’s head. Again, Leo didn’t burst into flame. “You have answered well, my son. For your wisdom, I grace you with life. I grace you with power. I grace you with healing. But there are costs. Every drinker of blood will now have a soul. For many, having a soul will be a great burden.”
Leo laughed, the sound joyous, echoing in the church that had heard only screams and gunfire all night. “A blessing from an angel of the Most High could be nothing else.” He unlocked the chain and placed the key into the angel’s hand.
But the chain didn’t fall.
“Unbloodied blade,” Leo said, holding out his hand. Fawn stepped close and lifted the knife, placing the hilt into his palm. Leo sliced his palm and wiped his blood onthe chain. His bloody handprints marred the black skin and blue robe the angel wore. “There was no ceremony in the visions I had of this night,” Leo said. “There were only three things: the death of the Heir, the demon returned into darkness, freedom of the angel through blood freely given.” He touched his chest. “I had hoped for my soul, but I never saw it in the myriad futures.”
The blood on the silver chain bubbled. The chain fell and landed with a metallic clang on the table at Leo’s feet. “You are free, Hayyel.”
“As you and your kind,” Hayyel said, “will now be free.”
Leo’s head snapped back. He gusted in a deep breath. He screamed, that piercing ululation of death. Dropped to his knees. Leo fell to the floor, screaming, curled like a baby. My vamps, out on the lawn, screamed.
The sound was a sonic weapon, drilling into every nerve ending in my whole body.
My crown went hot, blistering hot.
Outside, my people fell to the ground.
