Chapter Thirty-Seven
GABE HAD SEEN ENOUGH and stepped in opposite Sandal. “Okay, back up.” He tapped Draven on the shoulder to get his attention and break the pointless staring match.
Candra turned away and pressed her hand to her pounding heart, rubbing the spot firmly with her palm.
“Tell her everything, Draven,” Gabe instructed, returning to Brie and pulling her toward him, wrapping one strong arm around her shoulder.
Brie seemed frail in comparison to the rest of them, even Sandal, as if she had reached the pinnacle of her tolerance for stress. Growing up, Candra had seen her stony gaze many times before, warning her not to test Brie’s resolve.
Draven nodded, but he hesitated. Candra backed up, giving him room. She planned to get the blade from him one way or another, but figured if they knew something and it could possibly help…well, forewarned is forearmed and all that.
Draven’s eyes moved slowly over every person standing in the room before coming to rest on Candra.
“I’m sorry.”
“For?” she pushed. The fingers of her right hand twitched, wanting to reach out and touch him. Whatever troubled him noticeably diminished his usual swagger.
“I should have seen sooner, but I wanted to believe the best in her.”
Candra tensed, instantly taking note of Ananchel’s absence and remembering his reluctance to explain earlier.
“Ananchel helped Lilith get the Creation Blade and blackmailed Sebastian into ending his relationship with you.”
“What?” Candra exclaimed. Her body began to shake. Anger pulsed through her so hard, she barely registered Brie’s arm embracing her or her hand rubbing her arm in comfort. “Please don’t tell me that ageless tramp brought about the apocalypse because Sebastian didn’t want her keeping his bed warm anymore.”
“Candra, allow him to finish, please,” Gabe interjected. He had taken his jacket off and rolled up his sleeves. Like the rest of them, he could have used a shower. His clothes were ragged, creased, and smudged with dirt.
Draven pressed his lips together and nodded to Gabe. Gabe shrugged off the gesture, pulled up a seat, and sat down heavily. Candra had no idea how long it had been since any of them had slept.
“No. Ananchel’s demise began long before her intimacy with Sebastian. It seems part of Ananchel’s power allowed her to retain her memories and, unfortunately, her bitterness. She blamed Sebastian. She believed he was the reason we are still here. She was sure Lilith was our way back into heaven and realized too late that she couldn’t trust Lilith…”
Draven paused, his lips moving to form words, but no sound escaped. His disarming navy eyes widened as he tried over and over to say whatever it was that refused to come. Candra felt her body shift forward. She wanted to shake the rest from him. Her heart beat mercilessly inside her, thump, thump, thump, and her arms and shoulders ached the way they would if she’d been straining to hold up an enormous weight, which of course, she justified in her mind, she had.
“Where is Ananchel?” she asked slowly, tilting her head to keep eye contact when he tried to look away.
He took a deep breath and set his jaw. “I took her wings.”
“You—you took her wings?” Lofi stammered, clearly never expecting to hear that particular revelation from Draven.
“I did what I had to. There are no actions without consequences.”
Everyone except Nathaniel stood in shocked silence. He watched Draven with pity that spoke volumes. Candra imagined it had to have been as painful as ripping his own arm off. She shuddered, thinking of Ananchel describing how it felt for an angel to lose their wings.
“Where is she now?” Lofi asked.
“I’m not sure. She is no use to Lilith as she is, and our connection is gone forever. Two Tenebras are looking for her, but it’s difficult while staying hidden. If she finds someone to heal her, her wings will grow back in time, but…”
“But what?” Candra pressed.
Draven rubbed the back of his neck and released a loud breath. “She threatened to let herself bleed out.”
Just like Sebastian. Hesitantly, Candra closed the distance between them and placed her hand gently on his forearm. The tendons below his warm skin strained in reflex to her touch. He observed her closely, maybe thinking she was about to take advantage of his vulnerability. She couldn’t deny the thought was there in her head, but she chose not to act on it. Instead, her fingers ghosted over his flesh, the static making tiny hairs rise along the trail to his wrist. Candra slipped her hand into his and squeezed.
Her touch seemed a pathetic excuse for comfort in light of his loss. A tiny crescent formed at the corner of his lips. His expression grew brighter for an instant before the moment was lost, and he yanked his arm away roughly, flinging Candra back into the mind-set where she knew mourning lost relationships had to wait. She ground her teeth, refusing to give in to the wave of sorrow that would otherwise swallow her.
Candra spun in a semi-circle to face the others—everyone needed to hear what she had to say. No one said a word. She waited, and other than the noise of the city consuming itself droning on outside the walls, everything was silent once more.
“So this is how this ends?” she whispered. “We give in with hardly a whimper. People are dying. People I went to school with. Your customers…” Her eyes darted accusingly to Brie. “Your charges.” That could have been directed to most of them. “What about you?” She turned to Sandal. “Surely there are people you care for out there…and you.”
Nathaniel’s brow furrowed, but his shoulders remained strong. He appeared forever frozen in the stance of a generic nightclub doorman.
“Can—” Brie started. Candra silenced her with a raised fist and spoke through gritted teeth. “No. Don’t tell me I need to be protected again. I swear, the next person who tells me that will get my foot so far up their ass, they’ll be kissing my toes for a month.”
“I don’t think you understand what you stand to lose in this fight,” Draven said from behind her.
“Do you?” she fired back sharply and peeked over her shoulder to see him raking his hair away from his face with clawed fingers.
He paused, his eyes narrowing for a beat. She wasn’t entirely sure if he was attempting to read her or tell her something he didn’t want to say out loud. “Yes,” he answered solemnly, indicating the latter.
Candra’s heart seemed to stall inside her chest before the steady thumping restarted louder.
He’d figured out the truth she’d wanted to hide from. It had been staring her in the face from the first time she’d spoken to Lilith at school…even before that. She knew it when Sebastian had touched her in her bedroom after she’d faced off with Ananchel, the first time she’d met Draven. The sensations had all been confused and mixed up, riddled through with her teenage hormones and physical attraction. Hidden so deeply inside her, she had managed to convince herself she was going insane.
Fire tingled below her flesh and seeped through her bones and muscles. Candra closed her eyes tightly. Everything was suddenly so crystal-clear; the epiphany made perfect sense in a twisted way. She was tied to both Draven and Sebastian in a way she couldn’t escape. They’d both sensed the Arch’s presence in her, even when they didn’t realize it. She had an inescapable connection to them and to Lilith. Destined for all three in different ways before she was born, but ultimately, it had to be her choice. Now, the time had come for her to choose.
Thou shalt not kill…Candra closed her eyes tightly and saw her father behind her eyelids. The unrelenting rules of heaven left the Watchers languishing, forsaken in Acheron under a monsoon of evil about to obliterate them. Now, to save all its inhabitants, she too would have to defy heaven. She would have to take a life and fight sin with sin. Light filled every part of her, pulsing under her skin for a fraction of a second before it was gone—contained once more.
“So do I.”
“No!” Brie slammed her hand down on the desk beside her. “We are not going to do anything foolish here. We need to wait.”
“Wait for what?” Candra demanded. “Wait for Lilith to pick more of us off one by one? Wait until we run out of food here and are driven out like rats, weak and unable to fight? There are Watchers out there already, putting themselves on the line while we hide here. I’m not hiding anymore.”
Brie bristled, unable to come up with a fast retort. Candra accepted that it was the mother in her wanting to protect her child. However, there were countless mothers outside the walls of Saint Francis, and they were her responsibility too. Draven remained silent, although his presence pressed against her everywhere, as if his arms were around her body, restraining her.
“This is happening. It’s happening as soon as we can coordinate. So you all need to accept it. I know now what I’m capable of. I know why I’m here. I can send Lilith away. I can restore heaven.”
No one argued, and as they accepted her fate, Candra accepted it too.
“If I’m right, we don’t have a lot of time.” She directed the comment to Draven and used a softer tone. She didn’t intend to hurt him, but she needed him to set aside his personal feelings like he had done on so many other occasions. The truth was, she needed him more than ever to get through the next few hours.
“Sebastian switched the blades, but it’s a matter of time before Lilith realizes we have the real one. When she does, she will stop at nothing to get it back.”
“Sebastian,” Lofi whispered in a sorrowful voice no more than a breath.
“Whatever you need from us, we’ll do. What’s your plan?” Nathaniel stepped forward and placed a huge hand on Draven’s shoulder. Candra was unsure if it was a show of support or if he intended to restrain Draven.
Either way, it made no difference. Her insides coiled as tight as a spring ready to pop with the lightest touch.
