Extinction (The Divine Book 7) (20 page)

I shivered when Dante reappeared in the alley, in the same spot he had vanished earlier. That's how off-kilter the atmosphere had left me.
 

"Signore, are you well?" he asked.

"I'll survive," I replied.
 

"How did it go?"

"I got the mimic stone."

"What about the third eye?"

"Bradford was the best they could offer last time, so I wasn't expecting much. Bianca did tell me there's a ring in the Berlin facility. I have to go and get it. I could use a lift."

"Of course. All of my life I have dreamed of being your personal teleportation device."

I eyed Dante, raising an eyebrow. "Sarcasm?"

"An attempt to create levity through humor."

"It works for Obi. For you? Not so much."

"I will leave it to him in the future then." He put his hand on my shoulder. "Shall we?"

"Let's go."

Dante delivered me a short distance from the facility, which turned out to be a relatively nondescript high-rise in downtown Berlin.

"Are you sure you need the eye?" he asked as we both looked at the building.
 

Even from the distance, I could see there were half a dozen men in suits milling around outside trying to look like they weren't part of the security detail, which consisted of another half a dozen men in uniforms. Judging by the location, this Nicht Creidem hideaway was a higher value target than the garage in New York would ever be.

"Not completely," I replied. "I'm working on the assumption that the Fist can go invisible because of Rebecca's natural ghost power. If I'm right, getting my hands on an eye will lessen the handicap quite a bit."

"It is a big assumption. Even if the Fist is using her power, it may not be manifesting the same way."

"I know, but we need an edge if we're going to have a chance, and this is the only thing I can think of."

"It is not a bad idea," Dante said. "But that is only the outside security. I imagine it is tighter on the inside."

"You don't think I can make it through? I absorbed the power of an archangel."

"One simple artifact used in a clever way can negate any amount of power."

Just like the Box had been able to hold the Beast, and Abaddon before him. Of course, there had been nothing simple about the Box.

"I know. I'll be careful."

"I'm not able to penetrate their defenses against the Divine, but I will wait for you here, signore. I will be prepared for a quick getaway if you need it."

"Thanks. Wish me luck."

"Good luck, Landon."

I headed down the street, away from the Lord of Purgatory. I glanced back over my shoulder once as I closed in on the building, just in time to see him duck into a coffee shop.
 

Typical.

"Excuse me," I said, reaching one of the supposed-to-be undercover security guards.
 

He turned to look at me, his head tilting to the side like a dog as his secondary senses registered confusion about my nature.

"My name is Landon. Also generally known as the Diuscrucis. I need to borrow something from you."

I had told Dante I would be careful. This wasn't exactly careful, but it was a lot more efficient.

He said something in German that sounded like 'red alert' or 'alarm.' Then he tried to punch me.

I stepped out of the way, grabbing his wrist and throwing him to the ground behind me. I could hear him cry out as he bounced into a passerby, and then more shouts started going up. The uniformed guards were drawing their guns while civilians did their best to clear the area.

I put my hands up. "I just want to talk. There's no need to-"

I saw the muzzle flash, heard the report, and felt the bullet enter my chest. It hurt going in, and it hurt as I pushed it back out. I pulled my power up ahead of me, catching the follow-up volley, slowing the slugs to zero velocity before they could touch me again.

"I tried to do this the easy way," I said, even as I threw the captured lead out ahead of me. It whipped back toward its origin, catching most of the shooters in their hands and causing them to drop their weapons.
 

I began walking toward the entrance. The guys in the suits charged toward me, producing blessed and cursed knives as they did. I gathered my power close, waiting for them to close in before pushing it out around me and into the ground. They tumbled over against the shockwave, leaving my path clear. I didn't slow as I reached the uniformed guards, who were on their knees near the entrance clutching bleeding hands.

 
I went inside, throwing my power up again as a second round of gunfire erupted against me. I spotted the dozen or so Nicht Creidem soldiers on the inside, outfitted in bulletproof vests and dark fatigues, carrying heavy rifles and swords on their hips.

"Hold on a minute," I shouted again, this time in German. "I didn't come here to fight."

They didn't react to my words, lowering their guns when they saw how ineffective they were and charging at me with swords. Bullets couldn't kill any Divine, but they were able to slow some down and wound them enough to make the close range stabbing easier.

I pulled my power close, running it through my veins and into my muscles, using it to toughen my skin and increase my strength. I could feel the increased energy I had captured from Raguel, and I flexed my limbs in response to the power.
 

The first guard reached me, his sword flashing in a quick maneuver that I had no trouble following. I batted the blade aside with a bare hand, knocking it from his grip, and then shoved him with the opposite hand. I pushed harder than I expected, sending him hurting into another guard and knocking them both down.
 

I felt something hit my back, and I turned to see a runed sword against my firmer flesh. I grabbed it and snapped it in half, and then threw my power out below me, pushing myself into the air and across the lobby, landing on the reception desk.

"Seriously," I said again. "Just wait a second. I want to borrow something. Nobody else has to get hurt."

There was still no reply. The guards came at me again, trying to coordinate their movements to overwhelm me. I threw my power out again, knocking them over a second time. This was a fight they couldn't win, not unless they had a prison to catch me in or a weapon that could deflect my power.

I hopped off the desk and headed for the elevators. One of the guards charged me a third time. I slapped the sword from his hand and grabbed him, turning him easily and taking his head in my arms, positioned so it would be too easy to break.

"Why won't you listen?" I asked.

"I told them not to," Sarah said.

She swept in through the front of the building, her wings flashing as they reflected the light.

I froze, letting the captured Nicht Creidem fall to the ground in front of me.
 

"Uriel's blade, brother?" she said, landing between me and the exit. "Your intention is to kill me and take my power?"
 

She sounded hurt.
 

Bianca had done a good job convincing me she was playing for the right team.
 

Damn.

"You were going to kill me back in Italy," I said.

"Out of necessity."

"Same here."

"I'm trying to save humankind. Isn't that our job?"

"You said I was breaking the balance, not keeping it."

"Yes."

"So are you."

"Yes."

That answer stopped me in my tracks.
 

"Are you surprised?" she said. "I know how my story ends, Landon. I've seen it, remember? When all the others are gone, when you're gone, I will be gone, too. That is the way it must be."

"If you destroy all of the Divine, there will be nothing left for anyone."

"I don't believe that. I have seen it."

"You haven't looked far enough. Things won't fall apart in an instant, but they will over time. Everything is connected. Everything is related. You can't kill an archfiend without another taking their place. You can't destroy two realms without destroying the third."

"It will all be destroyed if I do nothing," she said. "How can I stand by and watch everything die because of me?"

"Because of you?" I asked.

"My existence caused your existence. I helped unlock the Beast. I was the reason you stayed when you could have left this world behind."

I felt my anger growing. "Is this about fate or guilt?"
 

"It is about what is and must be. The Nicht Creidem seek the end of the Divine, and with their help, I will achieve it."

"You aren't listening," I said.

"No. You aren't listening, brother. There are always three, remember? You cannot change what is or what will be."

She wasn't making any sense. Whatever was in her that was causing her to do this, it had stolen who she had been. The realization was as painful as if she were already dead.
 

I looked over her shoulder. I wasn't ready to fight her, which meant I needed to get away, the third eye be damned. The problem was that Dante couldn't pass through the entrance, his Divine power blocked by hidden runes and scripture. But if I could reach the other side, he could bamf us out.

All I had to do to reach the other side was time walk myself.

"Let us finish what we started, brother," she said, moving toward me, her wings wrapping around her, the tips pointed my way. "Dante can't intervene this time."

"You're making a mistake, Sarah," I said. "A huge mistake. I know you think you're doing the right thing, but you aren't. You're going to destroy everything. You're going to become everything your father wants you to be. Everything the Beast tried to be."

"You don't know anything about it," she screamed, so loudly it cracked the glass inside the lobby. "I am saving these people from us, and from him. I am protecting them from our chaos and destruction and death. I am sparing them from our reckless, wanton ambivalence."

"You aren't," I said calmly. "You're killing them."

"No," she replied softly. "I'm only killing you."

She swept forward, so fast I could barely follow the motion. I clutched my power tight, dropping it behind me and falling backward into the spacetime bubble. It popped open on the other side of her, and I hit the ground closer to the entrance, a little disoriented but desperate to escape.

"Stop him," she said, spinning around.
 

The Nicht Creidem jumped into action, rushing toward me as I stumbled to my feet. The front of the building was only a short distance away, and I could see Dante on the other side, running toward it.
 

A serrated feather was sticking out of his side, and blood was running from a deep gash in his neck.

Somehow, Sarah had gotten the drop on him. Damn it.

He could have gone back to Purgatory to heal. He should have, but didn't. He stayed to help me.

I spun to face Sarah again, throwing my power out like a wall. It knocked the Nicht Creidem back, but did nothing to her, as she cleaved through it with her wings once more.
 

"I don't know who you are," I said.
 

"You never did," she replied.

I pushed off with my power, sending myself hurting back, through the cracked glass and out into the street. I hit the side of a car, denting it inward and coming to rest, every one of my ribs broken. Dante reached me as Sarah took to the sky, rushing toward us.
 

"Dante, get us out of here," I said.

"I cannot, signore. I'm too damaged. I can only return to Purgatory."

"Why don't you?"

He looked into my eyes with his own. They bore deep into my soul, giving me an instant chill.

"Take up the sword," he said.

"What?"

"There is no time. Use Uriel's blade. Capture my power. Now." His tone was serious, furious, commanding. His eyes burned red, in a way I hadn't seen in years.

"You want me to kill you?"

"No, but you must. Do it."

He had reached under my coat and retrieved the blade. He pulled it from the sheath and held it out to me. I looked past him to Sarah, who would be on us in seconds.

"Dante," I said. "I can't."

He smiled sadly and nodded.

Then he shoved the blade into his gut.

"Take it," he said, releasing the hilt. "Take the power, or you are going to die."

I didn't have time to say anything. Not thank you. Not goodbye. Not anything. I grabbed the sword, the rune at the end flaring as I did.

The pain was intense. Excruciating. So much more so than it had been with Raguel. Dante was the Lord of Purgatory, maybe not on a level with God or Lucifer, maybe not even as powerful as Zifah, but he was no slouch. I was barely able to contain the agony, to fight against it and throw myself away from the car as Sarah came swooping down, wings stabbing at me, slicing violently through the fallen poet.

She screamed at my evasion, and I rolled over in time to see her toss Dante aside. He fell to dust as she did, scattering into the breeze.