“Blood demons.” He grinned and shot Lilith a suggestive wink. “Are they anything likeyou?”
“What do you think?” she asked,coolly.
“Careful, Rourke,” I said with a laugh, jerking my thumb over my shoulder. “Or you’ll end up in as much hot water asthem.”
Them, meaning my four fallen angels, who had kept the whole prophecy thing a secret. They were merely silent inreturn.
The city rose up high before us. Tall buildings with pointed tips that scratched against the surface of the foggy sky. Gazing up at it, I couldn’t help but wonder at its beauty. It certainly wasn’t what I’d expected when I’d thought of demon cities. In my mind’s eye, I’d pictured a place painted with blood and engulfed in flames. But this city was startlingly normal. And it was then that I realized why demons tended to congregate in the human cities. Maybe part of it was because there were more humans there to harass, but it was more than that, too. That was where they felt most athome.
“Do you feel that?” Lilith whispered as we drew closer to the city. For a moment, I had no idea what she was referring to. I stopped walking and cocked my head, and there it was. Unlike the other side of the portal, I did not feel an intense, aching evil scratching along my skin. I felt the soft, timid caress of...humanity.
“We’ve come to the right place,” I whispered, swallowing hard. Somewhere within this city, we’d find the portal that would take us back home. But what would we find on the other side? Asmodeus was no doubtwaiting.
* * *
“This place isa lot more deserted than I was expecting,” I murmured as we passed street after quietstreet.
“It’s not normally like this,” Lilith whispered, swallowing hard. “I lived here once upon a time. It was bustling. The streets were alive at all hours of the day. It’s what drew me so much to New York. It was like this but...more.”
“Does this mean all the demons have gone to my world?” Rourkeasked.
“I wish I could tell you that’s not what it means, darling, but I’m afraid it does,” Lilith saidsoftly.
Great. So, in our absence, the demons had swarmed. This created a bit of a problem. Okay, more than just a bit. If there were that many demons in the human realm, how were we going to defeat them all? When the apocalypse had first occurred all those years before, that first wave of demons had caused so much death and destruction. They’d been eager, hungry, like rabid wolves let out of a cage. After awhile, things had calmed down to an extent. No, I wasn’t saying that it was peaceful, but the attacks were less frequent, the violence morerestrained.
These new demons would be just like the first wave. And I didn’t know if humanity couldsurvive.
With a deep breath, I stopped. The others, startled, followed my lead and gazed around us as if looking for whatever had made me pause in mytracks.
“You guys are going to think I’m crazy, but I don’t think we should close the portal when we go back through it,” I said in a rush of words before I could talk myself out of the idea. There were obviously a hell of a lot of problems with it, but...it might be the only thing that could stop this war once and for all. We needed to get the demonsback throughthe portal, back into their own realm. If we closed it, the humans would be stuck with themforever.
Ramiel’s frown deepened. “Of course we must close the portal. Not doing so would allow even more demons to swarm the human realm. As it is, there are far too many demons there for us to fight alone, as much as I wish the Order of the Fallen could. There are only six of us, Erela. Seven if you countLilith.”
“You damn well better count me,” shemuttered.
“And me,” Rourke added. “This is my fight, far more than it isyours.”
“You should probably add me in, too,” Isaac said, despite the fact that his body still shuddered from his recent fall to earth. “I know I haven’t been with you long, but this Order kicks some serious ass.” His smile widened. “Case in point. I don’t have to use Erela’s ridiculous made-up curse wordsanymore.”
“Fine,” Ramiel said. “Then, we’re nine. That still doesn’t change the fact that there are thousands of demons in the humanrealm.”
“Yep, and that’s my point.” With a deep breath, I stepped closer to him, my heart and my soul all too aware of the electricity that still crackled between us. And now that I knew the truth behind his rejection, it was even harder to ignore. I now knew he’d been only trying to keep me safe, but it had been wrong of him to push me away like that. He should have told me the truth all along. Like Az had said, it wasmydecision what to do with that information. Of course, it also meant that he cared, far more than he wanted toadmit.
“There are thousands upon thousands of demons in the human realm. And if we close that portal? They’ll be stuckthere.”
Realization dawned in his eyes, and he gave a slow nod. “I understand what you’re saying now. You want to keep the portal open so that we can usher the demons backthrough.”
“Exactly. If they stay on earth, we’re never going towin.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to just open and close it whenever we find some demons?” Uriel asked with a frown. “We have theamulet.”
“On this side, we can’t control where the portal gets opened,” I argued. “We’d have no idea what we were opening ourselves, and the rest of the world, up to. At least for now, we know it’s open in this abandoned city, not some highly populated place with demons who are hungry for somedestruction.”
Ramiel shook his head. “It’s a good idea, but there are problems with it, Erela. Once we send the demons through, what’s to stop them from coming back to earth? They’d have to find the portal again, just like we’ve had to do, but it wouldn’t take them very long. Your idea, while a good one, won’t solveanything.”
“It will if we send thousands of demons through it at the same damn time.” I threw back my shoulders and met Ramiel’s gaze, my whole body burning up from the idea of being able to save the world in one fellswoop.
Ramiel gave a slow nod. “Yes, that would definitely do it, alright. Any idea how you’d get thousands of demons to go home all atonce?”
