“I really don’t know!” my father cried.
Taking a deep breath, Kobal’s grip on himeased, and my father’s frantic movements calmed. “How are you ableto bring down the seals? Youarepowerful, but not nearly somuch as she is.” Kobal’s golden eyes burned into mine as he held mygaze. “I can feel the difference between you two.”
I blinked back the tears in my eyes; he’dknown I needed to hear that right now more than anything else.
“Because it’s all a form of life,” I said,not knowing how I knew the answer to his question, but I did. “It’sall a cycle, as you once told me. I can draw on the power of life,and he once could too. Maybe he never knew he could do it while hewas alive, but in death he’s learned how to draw on the power ofthe dead. He thrives on it; that’s why he’s colder than any of theother wraiths. Colder to me thanallof those wraiths on thehill combined, because he feeds fromthem.”
A muscle twitched at the corner of Kobal’sright eye. “I see.” His attention focused on my father once more.“How long have you been in Hell?”
“Fifteen years,” my father replied.
He’d died when I was seven, and I’d neverknown. I couldn’t understand why this saddened me, but it did. Thisman had helped to create me, and he’d vanished off the face of theearth without me ever having sensed or known of his passing.
“And you’ve used the other wraiths to keepyou hidden from demons as you’ve fed from them. That’s how Luciferfound you,” Kobal said. “Your power was growing, and he had a newway for you to focus it.”
“None of us were here to notice it growingeither,” Bale said and glanced at Magnus who shook his head.
“I’ve heard no rumors of such a thingamongst the wraiths or demons,” Magnus replied.
“Lucifer has only known of him for a shorttime. The seals have only been falling for two months at the most.If Lucifer had known about him sooner, the seals would have startedtoppling as soon as he found him,” Kobal said.
“I learned quickly how to protect and hidemyself after the first demon fed from me,” my father said.
“How many others like him do you think therehave been over the years?” Bale asked.
“Not many, maybe not any. They would havebeen destroyed if uncovered,” Kobal said. “And I have a feeling ifthat first demon had taken more from him while feeding, he wouldhave been too weakened to do what he’s done.”
“Could there be others like him in here nowwho could do the same?” Corson asked.
Kobal studied my father for a minute. “No,the angel lines have been thinning down for centuries now. He wasmost likely the last of the descendants left before River. Any ofthose souls who have entered here would have been uncovered by nowif they had grown in power as much as he has. If there are anystill here, they have become far too weak over the years to be athreat anymore. Also, I’m sure once Lucifer uncovered this one, hewent in search of others like him. They would be here helping ifthey existed.”
Leaning against the wall of the broken seal,I stared at the man across from me as he watched me. “And now Ihave chosen the winning side,” he said to me.
I snorted and Kobal’s lips skimmed back tobare his fangs while he spoke. “As I said before, you’re powerful,but she’s more so.”
Something shimmered in my father’s eyes; asuperior air surrounded him as he smiled at me. My gazeinstinctively shot to the ceiling, but I saw nothing there.However, I couldn’t shake the feeling something more was coming.Somethingbigger.
CHAPTER 40
River
“He must be weakened, Kobal,” Magnus said.“And you are the only one with the ability to drain a soul to thepoint where they are completely incapacitated.”
“Can’t we… ahh…” Hawk trailed off as heflicked a guilty glance at me.
“Destroy him?” I finished when Hawkwouldn’t.
“We can neither create nor destroy a soul,”Magnus replied. “But Kobal can feed deeper and longer from themthan any of the rest of us. This wraith will be of no use to anyoneafter Kobal is done with him.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat andstepped away from the wall. Kobal’s gaze slid from my father to meand back again. I sensed his hesitation. This man had never been afather to me, but I wouldn’t be standing here if it wasn’t for him,and Kobal knew it.
“Kobal, he must be incapacitated,” Magnuspressed.
“Go on,” I said quietly to Kobal. “He has tobe stopped.”
“Are you so different than me if you allowthis?” my father asked me.
“She is far different than you!” Kobalsnarled at him.
