Origin (Eternal Sacrifice Saga Book 2) (34 page)

I blew out a breath.

“Are you okay?” She pursed her lips.

I had to be careful with Phoebe. There wasn’t much I could pull over on an empath as strong as mine.

“Yeah. I just miss you. I’ve forgotten how nice it is to just hang out. Be young. Since all this Genesis stuff came on, I kind of miss humanity.”

I dropped her hand.

“Humanity is boring.” Phoebe shrugged.

“Yeah, well I think I’d like a bit of boring now and then.” I blew out a breath.

“So what did you need me to do, for this record thing?”

“Help me write a song. And when it’s time to perform, I want you there with me. One more time.”

“I’d be honored.”

“Perfect. We begin tomorrow. Tonight, I need some me time.” I stood. “This is the only place I can get any peace.”

We dispersed to our rooms, and around midnight, I closed my eyes and focused on Cade’s beautiful face.

“You awake, blue eyes?”

“Hello, love. Would you like a visit?”

“Please. And bring Remie.”

“Something you’d like to tell me?”

“Late night recon. Bring your dagger.”

“Always.”

I stretched out on the full size bed, staring at the celiling fan spinning above my head. I closed my eyes and concentrated on visions. I hadn’t had one in a few days. Not since returning to Aravot from my last projection.

A few minutes later, a portal opened, and Cade and Remie shimmied through.

“Chayah.” Remie bowed his head.

I nodded back.

“Hello, love.” Cade bent down and pulled me up into his arms. “I’ve missed you.”

“It’s only been a few hours.”

“A few hours too many.” He kissed my neck.

I pulled back and motioned to a chair in the corner. “Have a seat, Remie.” I sat on the edge of the bed. “So tonight, I want Cade to come with me. We’re going to jump into the dark realm and do some digging. I need to find out where Lilith is, and if we can sneak any information. I need to know if she and Samael have made any contact. Then tomorrow, I’m going to work with Phoebe on a song for the demo deal. I taught her how to use her ring to shield herself today. Why wasn’t she trained on its use, Cade?”

“I don’t know, it’s something to ask Raz.”

“Gabrielle trained me a little,” Remine said. “I’ll work with Phoebe. Maybe Julian or Raz can help?”

“Good. So tonight, you stay here, watch Phoebe so Cade and I can project. If you need anything, just talk to us.” I glanced to Cade. “Can he do that yet?”

“He’s getting better.”

“Okay, Remie. Show me.”

Remie closed his eyes, obviously concentrating. It was kind of cute.
“Is this okay?”

“Perfect. Now me. Can you hear me, Rem?”

“Loud and clear, Chayah.”

“Good. I want you to work with Phoebe. Practice talking to her. I know she’s human, but she’s an empath, and you two have technically converged, so keep trying. I’m sure she can do it, she just needs practice.”

“Will do,” he said. “When will you two be back?”

“Im not sure, it depends if we can find anything or not. The more we stumble on, the longer we’ll be. Whatever you do, don’t leave before I get back.”

“Got it.” Remie stood. “Am I dismissed? I’d kind of like to see my wife.”

I nodded. “You’re dimissed. Go get her, tiger.”

Remie rolled his eyes then left the room, closing the door behind him.

“I was going to do this alone, but since I’d be spending enough time without you, I asked you to come with me. And you don’t know anything they don’t, so I figure it’s still safe.”

“Thank you for thinking of me.” He smirked, holding my jaw in his hands.

“Anytime, blue eyes.”

I opened my hands to form a portal, but Cade covered them with his and stopped me. “Let me be the man for change, eh?”

“You can be the man anytime you want.” I winked.

“Perhaps if you’re a good girl, when we return?”

“Now you’re talking.”

Cade

It only took a minute of focus for Zoe and I to Converge, and in an instant, we were soul projecting into the dark realm. Zoe opened a portal when we arrived, and we slipped through, materializing into the Fifth plane.

With demons and Fallen on the move, now more than ever, we needed to remain hidden.

They would sense a gate breach when we opened a portal the traditional way, but if we began in soul form through astral projection, Zoe could cloak us to where we could not be detected.

It was a seamless skill Zoe had learned millennia ago and easier on our bodies than trying to remain in Origin form. Her trick had served us well for over four thousand years, allowing us to take private missions into the dark realm.

Even after decades away, Zoe performed flawlessly.

“You’ve been out of practice for twenty-one years, yet you managed it with such ease and grace.”

“You impressed?” She straightened up, raising her eyebrows.

“Always.” I surprised her, leaning over and stealing a kiss.

“Okay, we need a shield. Cloak us, blue eyes.”

“Et arma.” I said the words quietly while Zoe focused on her ring, keeping us covered. In an instant, we were hidden from view.

“Nice job, blue eyes. I give you a 9.87 score on the landing.”

“What?”

“Sorry, Olympics reference.” She rolled her eyes. “Geez, tough room.”

“I’ve missed your jokes.”

“No you haven’t, you’re not even laughing. Okay, where are we going?”

She began mumbling to herself beneath her breath, something she often did in the past, but I hadn’t noticed much since we met in Chicago.

Chayah had truly returned.

“Raz said they must be in the Fifth realm, so we’re starting here. With Micah. He’s never been good at keeping secrets. I almost think we can whisper into his head and get some intel that way.”

“You really just wanted an excuse to see your Newborn, didn’t you?”

She shook her head, ignoring me, and began walking. “Let’s move.”

Poor Zoe. She never did well away from her children. This had to be difficult on her, like it was for Lailah and Elijah.

We searched through dank, empty halls of the Fallen compound. It was as if the place had been deserted. After ten minutes of wandering in circles, we’d yet to find anything or anyone.

“You sure he said Fifth?” I asked. “What about that interim realm they were in before?”

“They said Fifth.”

“Is this truly the Fifth? Seems too quiet. Or did your tracking system get us to the wrong location?”

“Nope, my GPS is right on track, blue eyes. If we don’t find anything soon, we’ll just call this a bust and move on to the next level.”

Wandering the deserted Fallen compound was odd. The Fifth was the lowest of the low for the average dark being, where most demon and Fallen hid out when they descended from earth. There were actually seven levels to the dark realm, but no Eternal was allowed to descend below the Fifth without consent.

The theory was the darkness below the Fifth was unbearable. Unspeakable. For fear of our lives, Genesis law stated no Eternal was allowed further than the Fifth without petitioning the Council. Though Zoe technically
was
the Council, and she would do as she must with or without the other Elder’s consent.

My loyalty and my duty was to protect the Eternal Mother, often from herself, but I was also sanctioned to follow her lead. That often meant compromise.

Now and again, I would become adamant about particular things if I truly believed her Origin to be in danger, but overall, it was my duty to follow Chayah’s lead, not to lead her.

Though it’s been said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, I trusted my Gemini. She led with love, which was all Genesis could ask of our leader.

“Okay, love. I think we should call this. I don’t see—”

“Shh.”
Zoe put he finger to her lips.

A light shone a hundred feet ahead and voices, familiar ones, drove through the darkness.

“Keep walking,”
she whispered in my head.

We approached the light, slow and steady, remaining as quiet as possible. They couldn’t see us, but if we were too loud, they could hear us, which was why we now spoke internally.

“Dude. You’ve got to be the smartest damn Eternal I’ve ever met.”

“Yeah, well they weren’t so smart either. They didn’t realize I was paying attention, but I was.”

“Micah,”
Zoe mumbled.

“So the Trees are here. Where’s the closest border?”

“Man, Lilith already knows all this shit. She was there before, right?”

Zoe’s heart raced and mine tried to catch up.

“Yeah, but since that bitch slammed her—”

“What bitch?”

“Zoe.”

“Watch it man, Chayah’s not a bitch.”

He eyed Micah. “After Zoe got Lilith in the chest with that dagger, Lilith’s not been the same. She’s weak. Azriel’s making steps to push her out. We think he’s going to take over. He’s just using her now. We got this. Who the hell needs a woman running the show down here anyway? She wasn’t good enough to run the Garden, she sure as hell ain’t gonna run the dark armies.”

Zoe’s mouth popped open, fists clenched, as if ready to attack.

I set my hands on her shoulder.
“Relax, love.”
I held in a laugh.

“Isn’t Azriel behind her?”

“Hell no, especially now that she’s changed. He’s just on a revenge mission against that Eternal bitch.”

Micah leaned in and glared.

“Sorry. Chick. Zoe got him kicked out anyway.”

“Well technically, he got himself kicked out.” Micah scoffed.

“Whose side are you on? You know if you’re gonna make it around here, you need to stop saying shit like that. You ain’t no Eternal no more, you’re Fallen now.”

“I’m not a damn Fallen, asshole.” Micah lunged at him with his dagger. His Eternal Dagger.

How did he defect with that? Why had it not changed if Micah was truly defected?

The demon put up his hands in surrender, and Micah backed off.

“Dude. Back the truck up. Shit.”

“What are you doing? Get the hell out of here.” Micah’s Fallen Gemini walked in, kicking out the demon.

“Did you find anything out?” She asked Micah quietly once the demon was long gone.

“Just that Azriel is after Lilith’s position as head Fallen.”

“Yeah, well Lilith’s not Fallen. And after that dagger in her chest, she’s not fit to rule the dark realm. He’s right, she’s weak.”

“So who’s gonna run it?”

“Azriel, probably.” The Fallen girl shrugged. “He is who we’re after.”

Micah moved closer to the girl, but she rolled her eyes, body tense, clearly aggravated by something.

They may be Gemini, but she didn’t appear as happy as Micah.

“I don’t know about all this, Lahnie. If I’m up for it.”

“I knew it.” Zoe threw her hand over her mouth. “
Shit.”

“Did you hear that?” The Fallen came out into the hallway. She stepped back, and I moved to the side. She glanced out the door, up and down the corridors, then she went back into the room.

Micah bent over and pulled out a dagger.

Zoe’s jaw dropped open, eyes wide.

“Here.” Micah passed off the dagger to the Fallen. “I jacked this before I left Aravot, just like you asked. What do you want with this, anyway? It’s an Eternal Dagger.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Lahnie took the weapon.

“Only Eternals can wield those things, right? Raziel said they don’t work if a Fallen or Demon wield them, it’s just a regular old dagger.”

“He’s right.” She grinned. The Fallen girl, Lahnie, held the dagger in her hand, running her finger along the shiny metal blade.

“Whose dagger is that?” Micah asked.

Zoe looked at me, and I shrugged.

I’d not seen it before, either. And I knew nothing of any Eternal missing a dagger.

Only it wasn’t truly Eternal.

It was silver and hadn’t been activated yet.

“All right, we best get back before Azriel suspects something,” Lahnie said.

“So what are you going to do with it?” Micah asked. “What’s it for? The least you can do is fill me in.”

The girl grinned. “It’s my
Get out of Jail Free
card.”

~

“So you agree, there’s something odd going on with the Fallen girl?” I asked Zoe as we moved through a portal, landing back in her room at Phoebe’s. “And the dagger was unassigned. I have no idea who it would belong to.”

“We need Raz.” Zoe looked up toward the ceiling. “Raz, come talk to us. Just you.” Zoe spoke into the air.

A moment later, Raz opened a portal and drifted in with the wind.

“Chayah. Cade.” He bowed his head. “How did the mission go?”

“We saw Micah and Lahnie, his Gemini.” Zoe pursed her lips. “What more have you learned about her?”

“Nothing other than what we already know.”

“What exactly did she do?” Zoe sat on the bed. “You mentioned she tried earning back her wings, remind me why was she denied?”

“Rumor was she became emotionally involved with a human, and she was punished. She petitions the Council each incarnation, trying to gain back her wings. And every thousand years, she’s been rejected. I’m surprised you do not remember her.”

Zoe exhaled, leaning back onto her elbows. “I do, but her exact circumstances were never revealed to me. Gabrielle never told me why she fell.”

“Who rejected her?” I asked.

“Gabrielle,” Raz responded.

Staring at the ceiling fan as it spun over our heads, Zoe exhaled.

“They have a dagger,” I said. “One of ours.”

“Whose was it?” Raz asked. “Every Eternal Dagger is accounted for.”

“It was unassigned.”

“Stop.” Zoe sat up, shaking her head, palms out. “Stop. No more.”

Raz and I glared at Zoe, eyes narrowed.

“Well then.” Raz rose to his feet. “I think my work here is done.”

The words unspoken in the room said more than any story ever could. And for the moment, our story would have no happy ending.