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“Sabina!” Cain said. “Convince Lilith to let down the barriers or I’ll kill your mage.”
Adam cocked a brow. “Fuck you.”
I sucked a deep breath in through my nose and blew it out of my mouth. Some might call what I did next an act of faith. Others might call it the act of a fool. Either way, I knew in my gut it was right.
“Adam,” I said in a low tone. “Now!”
I ran straight for Maisie. My sister’s head jerked up a split second before I slammed into her spirit.
Her soul bore through my flesh like shards of ice. I gritted my teeth and struggled to hold on to her. Caught off guard, Maisie struggled against the warm prison.
Sabina, what— she screamed in my head.
I gritted out, “Trust. Me.”
“No!” Cain screamed. I heard the sounds of a struggle. Giguhl shouted something, and I knew he and Adam and Nyx were trying to subdue Cain but were not having an easy time of it.
The instant Maisie’s soul was perfectly positioned, our spirits snapped together like pieces of a puzzle. The instant our essences united, a shock of energy exploded outward from my body. Our body.
The force lifted our body from the floor.
Up, up, up. We were flying.
Far below, we could see Adam and Giguhl struggling with Cain. Nyx scrambled away, chasing a gun that slid across the floor. Lilith stayed safe in her little chamber. Clovis hid behind the throne, where the coward had gone the instant Cain’s army arrived. Farther afield, we saw Lilith’s garden surrounding the throne room. I realized then that it was the same garden Maisie had seen in her vision. The one she painted and showed me the night she told me I would be the Chosen. In it, I was flying over a garden toward a bright light in the sky.
She’d been half right. It was my body, but it was both our spirits.
Sabina?
Shhh, Maisie. It’s going to be all right now.
How do you know?
Look up.
A throbbing glow over our heads demanded our attention. It felt warm on our face, inviting. We willed ourselves to move faster, fly higher. We raised our arms above our head and focused on reaching the light.
So close now. We reached a hand toward the light, yearning for it. Just before we brushed the outer edges of this power, a deep voice echoed through our head.
Chosen.
The light spread and entered us. The force threw our head back and filled us with its heat, its energy. Power spread through us like lightning.
Secret knowledge filled us. A vortex of light swirled around our skin. Filled us, glowing from the inside. Our eyes saw eternity, our arms spread like wings, and our heart filled to bursting. Every ounce of power that had been taken from us returned with a vengeance—plus some. And when we screamed, it was not from fear but from victory.
The battle cry of a goddess.
It is done, the voice said.
Our body plunged. Down, down, down.
Our eyes opened. The power coalesced around us, a swirling golden cyclone. We heard every sound—shouting, fists pounding flesh. The individual heartbeats of every being in the room. Every thought. Every emotion.
We raised our hand and saw our own aura. Instead of the individual red of Sabina’s aura or the blue of Maisie’s, it shimmered pure gold shot through with deep, royal purple.
We are the Chosen, our souls whispered in stereo.
Miracle number five, I whispered to myself.
Together, we turned toward the fight.
The instant the mage and demon saw us, they stopped fighting Cain. Giguhl’s goat eyes flared and a huge smile spread his black lips. Adam paled. “Gods be praised.”
Nyx stood behind Cain, her trembling hand aiming the weapon at his head.
“Nicolette,” we said, our voices united into one. “Put it down.”
Tears streamed down her face. “He killed Tristan,” she sobbed.
“We know. But if you kill him, we will all die.”
Nyx’s eyes finally moved from the back of Cain’s head to look at us. Whatever the vampire saw made her drop the gun. Her eyes flared and she dropped to her knees, touching her forehead with her right hand.
Cain turned around slowly. When he saw Maisie and I in our new form—whatever it looked like—his eyes went wild. Like a snake’s strike, he grabbed Adam by the throat and held a brass blade to his jugular. “I’ll kill him.”
We smiled and waved a hand. The blade Cain held to Adam’s neck dissolved. Cain yelped and jumped back. “What—”
We lowered our head, gazing up at our prey. “Run.”
Cain’s eyes widened. “I’m not leaving without her,” he spat. “Lilith is mine.”
“Dude, seriously?” Giguhl said. “You need to take a hint already.”
Cain ignored the demon and raised his chin at us. “I am Master Mahan. You can’t kill me.”
“We are the Chosen.”
“No. I don’t believe it! It’s a trick!” Cain’s voice rose as the first hint of panic hit him. “Lilitu, tell them they can’t kill me.”
“Sorry, my love,” Lilith mocked. “But you are wrong. They can and they will.”
He whipped around. “But… but why? I love you. I have killed for you. I have done all of this”—he waved his hands around to indicate his grand scheme—“for us. So we can finally be together again.”
“Then you are a fool. I used your seed to create the first of my children. And, yes, for a time, I fancied myself in love with you. Until your true nature, your controlling ways, your temper, your fists, proved you were unworthy of that love. You did not deserve me.”
“Shut up, bitch.” He punched the barrier and ignored the sizzling sound of his knuckles burning. “You’re mine!”
Lilith raised an ebony brow. “You have never and will never measure up to my beloved husband, Asmodeus.”
“No,” Cain said through clenched teeth. “He’s hidden you away in this cesspool. Forced you to bear his children. How can you be happy here?”
Lilith shrugged. “I love him.”
Cain rushed Lilith’s protective circle, punching and kicking. He sobbed with rage, screaming obscenities and making oaths to profane gods if they’d help him force his love to submit. The shimmering walls sparked and sputtered with each strike. Wounds appeared everywhere Cain made contact with the shield. Lilith cringed back against the other side, looking genuinely worried he might somehow succeed in breaking her spell.
Finally, the human wore himself out with his rage. His shoulders slumped and his chest heaved. When he raised his head, his expression was feral. Every meager ounce of sanity he’d once possessed had abandoned him. With a scream born of insanity and murderous rage, Master Mahan turned toward Adam, Giguhl, and Nyx.
