Run, little bird, and hide yourself good, because when I find you, you’ll regret crossing me.
I stared up at him. Fifty yards and hundreds of people lay between us, but when our gazes locked, I could feel him in me and me in him. We were back in his castle, his soul laid bare. Anger and hurt so deep it was bottomless rose up to greet me, and even now I reached out and began to hum. We were the point and counterpoint in the universe. He was a wound and I was the needle and thread that would sew him up.
I fell into those eyes and under that spell once more. I sucked in a bite of air, and when I released it, our surroundings disappeared.
The change of scenery was so sudden, and the devastation in front of me so extreme, I staggered back.
“Whoops,” Oliver said. “Wrong exit. Hold on.”
“Wait,” I said.
San Francisco sat across the bay, the tightly packed buildings dotting the landscape. Only, much had changed since the last time I’d seen it.
The Bay Bridge canted sideways, part of the roadway dipping towards the water. Beyond it, I could see the partially exposed skeletons of several skyscrapers, like some great beast had taken a claw to them.
“What happened to this place?” I asked, my voice desolate.
“Demons,” Leanne said.
I swiveled to her. Her eyes, which had been going in and out of focus, were sharp once more.
“This is the work of demons?” I asked.
“Mainly. Some of it was just collateral damage from human and angel counterattacks. They’re fighting back.”
The world blurred as I blinked back tears. Indirectly I’d caused all of this.
“Oliver, can you show me more?”
“You know I hate to be the voice of reason,” Oliver said, “but we shouldn’t linger on ley lines more than necessary. Especially not when that possessive vampire of yours is waiting for you back on the Isle of Man. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but patience isn’t his strong suit.”
“Please,” I said. “I want to see what I’ve done.”
“She’ll be fine,” Leanne said. “Show her two more cities.”
Athens was smoldering, the Parthenon all but wiped away. Rio de Janeiro had been all but leveled, and the city’s Christ the Redeemer statue was nothing more than a pile of rubble.
I gasped when we returned to the Isle of Man. We ended up next to Nona’s cottage.
An instant later, Andre was clasping me to him. He pressed a kiss to the crown of my head before pulling away. “Soulmate, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
He searched my face. “What has put the darkness in your eyes?”
“The devil has arisen to conquer the world,” Leanne said, back to focusing on nothing. “He uses borrowed power to live and breathe, and he has come here to destroy.”
Dread settled beneath my skin. While I’d been fighting for my life, the devil had been taking over the world. I felt him pulling from my connection even now.
“The devil is here?” Andre said, releasing me.
“Yes,” Leanne hissed. “And he comes for you and your mate. Beware of Bishopcourt. The battle between worlds has begun, and the heart of it will play out inside its walls. To go there is to face certain death, but you must if you wish to save the world.”
All at once her eyes rolled back and she pitched forward. I caught her as she fell.
Dazedly, she blinked up at me. Her gaze sharpened. “You know what you must do.”
My jaw set in grim determination. The time for running was over. “I need to end this.”
“You need the quill,” Andre added.
I turned to him, forgetting for a moment that I’d told him about the celestial quill in the letter I’d left him several days ago. “I do.”
Andre whipped out his phone, and called one of his men.
Quill? The devil’s voice flowed like water through my mind.
I released Leanne to massage my temples, trying to not think about anything.
“Soulmate?”
What are you hiding from me?
“Stop it,” I gritted out.
“Who’s she talking to?” Oliver said.
“The devil,” Leanne answered.
Andre closed the phone. “Bishopcourt is already surrounded,” he said, taking my hand and rubbing his thumb over my knuckles. “Many beings are expecting our return.”
Consort, I’m coming for you.
I made a noise at the back of my throat. “He knows something’s off.”
That was all the warning Andre needed. He scooped me into his arms. “It’s alright, soulmate. We’re ending this now. The fairy is right, you need that quill. I know where it is, and I’m going to get it for you.”
The vampire has put the nail in his own coffin.
“Oh God,” I moaned, “the devil’s listening. He wants you dead, Andre.”
“What’s new?” he said. He rotated to my friends. “Oliver, Leanne, a taxi is coming for you. It’ll drop you off at a nondescript apartment in the city.” He looked down at me. “From here, soulmate, we go it alone.”
The countdown had begun. Now it was a race to save the world.
We’d left Oliver and Leanne back at the ley line, and began sprinting towards Bishopcourt, the place Leanne had foreseen us dying.