Page 73 of Commanding Flame and Shield
“Funny, Aren.”
“The one Iwasn’talive for? I know as much as any of you. Demons infiltrated the hierarchies of the Light. Our bodies are vulnerable when we’re earth bound too. And they opened the gateway and waged a war like nothing ever known. The mortals were plagued and faced famine. But we…we were ravaged by the servants of the underworld. There was no rest. It wasn’t until the angels beat back the horsemen of the apocalypse that things turned our way. But not without unspeakable losses.” Aren nodded at me.
“Legend has it that The Great Commander led our warriors through an assault on the underworld. He joined St. Michael in a great attack on Hell itself, taking the fight to Satan and Abaddon before they could recoup. But Abaddon—”
“Tore The Commander’s soul in two,” Alvara finished the story, somber eyes jumping from me to Aren, and back.
“Evidently Abaddon wasn’t as powerful as we were led to believe. The Great Commander is said to be a warrior so fearsome it’s hard to look on him when he rises. He only circles back during the gravest of battles. And he must survive the human world long enough to ascend. He led us to victory in the battle of light and dark, but not without sacrificing himself. A soul split in two…” he shook his head as he continued, “I never knew what to make of that. But martyrs are supposed to move on to Heaven. They’re not supposed to come back. His sacrifice saved us all—gave us the advantage long enough to throw the horsemen back where they belonged and seal the gates to Hell. I always believed that The Great Commander was at peace…If August is, in fact,TheCommander, then Ally’s dark visions hold true. The gates are about to open again.”
TWENTY-NINE
WITCHING HOUR
ALVARA
August set his hand on the small of my back, letting me know he was there, that I wasn’t alone.
“We will not be afraid. We will not bow down. If God is with you, who can be against you? Right? Steel yourselves and lean into your Faith. If we are to remain in the in-between for this battle, we will see...everything.” Aren drank the last of his tea and then wrinkled his nose. “Anybody want something stronger?”
I did. I wanted to drown the rush of fear that had crept into my body, the suffocating ice that reached into the depths of my soul. The sound of a horn reverberating in my mind.
“Shouldn’t God’s army stay sober at this point?” I mused.
Aren smirked. “Even Jesus drank wine. You don’t suppose we’re more anointed than he was?”
“Were we going to drinkwine?”
He pulled a bottle of red off the counter and swiped our tea bags out of the line of empty mugs. Each of us was poured a few ounces of his favorite merlot, and I drank, grateful that it warmed my chest, where a winter of horror had set its icy fingers. I was about to open my mouth, to ask him about Sarah’s memories, about mine, and August’s. But Aren’s eyes trained on me.
“I’m sorry. I don’t have more answers, kid. Before my lifeline, I’m afraid.”
I nodded. Mind spinning, heart pounding. And then I saw August’s eyes were studying my face, flitting between my eyes to my mouth, and then down the line of my body. There was a hunger there that echoed in my core. The very feel of him, his hand on my back, and the magnificent energy rolling in waves down him, threatened all the discipline I’d built for myself in hundreds of years of effort. Like he was my home, not the walls surrounding us. As I scoured his face, my breathing steadied, and I anchored myself in him. In his scent.
One of the younger seers—Morganite—came into the common room, her blonde locks tied into a braid down her back. Her frame was slight, not as muscle bound as the rest of us.
“Alvara, there’s a bit of a disturbance I don’t understand. I thought you might make sense of it.”
“It’s probably just Samhain. Witching hour is approaching, and the energy gets ten kinds of twisted.”
I nodded to Aren, eyes lingering on August for a moment before I turned to follow her out of the room, unwilling to actually leave him there. Like I was leaving a body part behind. But I followed her into the hall, where the gate still sat sealed. The seers had gathered in the bright space at the end of the tables by the door. Their eyes found mine, desperate, and their lips pressed against their teeth.
“It’s…fluctuating. But we don’t understand it. It’s not like anything is trying to get in. But like…”
I felt the intense pull of the energy from where the door was, its strength undeniable. “Like it wants us to come out.”
The others nodded. I took a cleansing breath, trying to clear my head, and stepped forward. The energy was magnetic, but eerie, not of our world. But not…demonic…either. Earthbound? But mortal humans didn’t have a way to reach us here. August appeared by my side, and I looked to him, raising my eyebrows.
“I heard my name.”
My brows pinched together. “Nobody called your name. We haven’t really said much for that matter.” I narrowed my eyes, replaying the last minute studying the door. But August’s attention was fixed on the space where the door would be, and his eyes looked far away.
“They’re…calling to me?”
Chills ran down my arms, and I turned on him.
“They?”
“I don’t know who, but I just…know. Like I knew the demons were in the hospital. I don’t understand it.”
