Infernal God

16

"We're all ready," Kassiel said. "The fae are opening the temple doors now."

I nodded, before turning to Zel. "Do you still want to do this?"

She scowled. "Want to? Not exactly. But it needs to be done, and I'm the best person for the job."

I took her face in my hands and stared into her dark eyes. "Promise me you'll fight Famine and will somehow remain yourself. I can't lose you too, Zel."

She put her hands over mine and gazed back at me with determination and love. "I promise. Long ago I swore to protect you and to fight by your side, and I'm not stopping now."

I nodded and stepped back, blinking away tears in my eyes. "I love you."

"Don't get all mushy on me, little angel," Zel said with a grin, her face softening. Then she brought me in for a tight squeeze and whispered, "I love you too, but don't you dare tell anyone."

The temple door opened with a loud rumble and a plume of dust, and Zel and I stepped back to watch. I couldn't see anything inside except darkness, but Callan and I could fix that with some angelic light.

"Let's move," I told my team, gesturing toward the entrance. So far there was no sign of Nemesis or Fenrir, but I didn't want to stick around and wait for them to show up either.

Theo went in first with some of his guards, along with Callan, who lit the way with a bright ball of hovering light. I went in next with Azazel, Damien, and Kassiel, using my own light to illuminate a dusty stone corridor with stale air, barely large enough for two of us to pass through side by side. More of my gargoyle guards trailed behind me, along with a few fae warriors at the back. The rest stayed outside, in case any threat should arise there.

The hallway became more of a tunnel, slanting down, down, down. No one had been inside this temple in thousands of years, and as we went deeper into the Earth, the space became more and more oppressive. I couldn't wait to get back outside.

Eventually the downward slope of the tunnel led us to another large door, this one covered in magical runes just like Pestilence's and War's tombs had been. The air here was especially stifling, and my stomach turned at the horrible power emanating from within the tomb. The baby kicked too, and I rested my hand over her, trying to silently reassure her.

"This is it," Callan said. "Famine's tomb."

Kassiel examined it closely. "It's built right into the temple itself."

Belial gestured at Damien to go forward. "You're up. Make us proud."

Damien grimaced, but stepped close to the door and pulled out a small knife. Only a few people could open Famine's tomb, including Oberon himself, or one of his daughters—and my son Damien. To do so, you had to be born in this realm, with the blood of one of the people who had sealed the tomb originally.

Damien looked over at me and I nodded, though inside I was trembling. We had to do this, but that didn't mean I was ready for what was about to happen. Were we really going to release the third Horseman upon the world? Would this plan work, or were we only bring doom upon ourselves?

Damien drew the blade across his palm in a neat slice. I winced, but he didn’t so much as flinch, and then he pressed his bloody hand against the tomb's door. The runes began to glow, casting all of us in an eerie green haze. Then the door flew open with a burst of power so strong it knocked all of us back. I slammed against the nearest wall, and only my newly-remembered air magic cushioned my blow and protected the baby.

"I'm free," a horrible, croaking voice sounded from inside the dark depths of the tomb, and then a cloud of sickly green seeped out of the tomb with the smell of decaying plants and rotten food. As we all recovered from the blast and got back on our feet, the green fog coalesced into the vague shape of a woman, though her features were blurred and kept shifting like smoke. "I am Famine...and I must feed. Who will make the sacrifice and gain my powers?"

"The third Horseman is a woman?" Callan asked beside me.

Zel rose to her feet and dusted herself off. "I will make the sacrifice."

As soon as the words had left her mouth, one of the fae guards moved behind her and stabbed a sword through her chest. I screamed as Zel was impaled, then saw through the fae guard's magical disguise—revealing a gorgeous woman with fiery red hair. Nemesis.

I blasted her back with a gust of air, while Callan jumped forward to catch Zel as she fell. Blood gushed from her chest, and I cursed myself for not allowing Marcus to come with us, and for not seeing through Nemesis's illusions sooner. I'd barely paid the fae guards who'd followed us inside any attention, and now Zel was dying. What could I do?

"Take her body and heal her," I yelled at Famine, as I desperately tried to cover Zel's wounds and stop the bleeding. Zel was barely conscious, her body shutting down as it tried to heal itself.

"No," the rasping, feminine voice boomed. "She is too weak. She would not survive."

Two gargoyle guards I recognized suddenly rushed into the area, and one of them yelled, "My queen, shifters attack outside the temple! We're surrounded!"

I swore under my breath, and turned to the others with me. "Defend the perimeter and get Zel to a healer! I can stop Nemesis myself." When my sons all looked like they would argue with me, I held up a hand and yelled, "Go!"

Callan carried Zel outside, and I prayed it wasn't the last time I would see her alive. Damien and Kassiel followed, along with some of the guards, though Theo and Belial stayed with me.

Famine's form began moving toward the exit too. "I hunger...who will feed me?"

"I will," Belial said, moving in front of Famine, shielding the rest of us with his body. My heart lurched into my throat at the thought of my son becoming a Horseman—but he was also probably the best option here, I was sad to admit.