Sweet Reckoning
Page 85

One by one the Neph were taking the Dukes down, getting slashed and shot at as they fought, disarming them and holding them captive. Another round of gunfire rang out, and I heard Zania scream.
Kopano lay on his back, Zania pressing her hands against the hole in his chest, which was bright red.
“No!” I screamed. I started to run to him, but Kaidan pulled me back.
“You can’t enter the fighting,” he said.
Kope was lying right in the midst of the chaos.
Like a raging bull, Sonellion charged through the crowd, heading straight for me. I took a lunging stance and prepared myself. Dad and Blake came at him from both sides when he was three feet away. They knocked his legs out from under him, and I stabbed the sword down through his chest. A dark fizzle rose from the wound, and his chest puffed as his soul was extinguished.
I stood again and looked toward Kopano. With a sinking feeling I acknowledged that he wasn’t breathing. Alocer pushed his way past people and dropped to the floor next to his son, across from Zania.
Alocer was shaking his head. “It’s not his time.” And then he surprised us all. Half of the room stopped fighting to watch as Alocer’s spirit left his body. Immediately his former body heaved in on itself, as if having a heart attack, and fell over, lifeless. Alocer’s dark spirit hovered above Kopano’s body, and then slowly settled himself downward, entering his son’s skin.
Kopano was being possessed.
I held my breath. Zania was holding Kope’s head, murmuring in Arabic. The possession caused his frame to jolt, but his soul didn’t fight it—a sign of how far gone he was. And then Kope’s chest rose with a sharp intake of breath.
Zania gasped and said, “He’s healing!”
I let out a relieved laugh of joy, still holding the sword at the ready.
As Kope healed, his body began to jolt and thrash. His soul was fighting Alocer’s soul. Before it could get too bad, Alocer pulled himself from his son’s body and watched the scene from above. He’d saved him.
Several screams sounded from the other end of the room, and I looked to see Caterina clawing at Ginger while Marna tried to restrain the girl. She was like a wild animal, but the twins were able to get her down with the help of an older Neph woman who grabbed Caterina by the feet and held tight. When Caterina let out a screech and bit Marna’s hand, Ginger punched her in the face, and the girl went limp.
The fighting grew and I couldn’t believe the violence surrounding me. The blood. The screams. Weapons were being taken and tossed. Dukes, who weren’t accustomed to losing, were going berserk as more and more of them and the opposing Nephilim were being detained.
“It’s time,” I whispered.
“Yes,” Kaidan said. “Do what you have to do.”
He pressed me back against the wall and blocked me as fighting continued in front of us.
I concentrated on the sword, unwilling to close my eyes with all the surrounding chaos. I began my prayer out loud for all to hear.
“Father”—my voice trembled with emotion—“let your will be done—”
Pharzuph charged for me, a complete madman with glowing red eyes and gelled hair flying out of place. Kaidan’s knife arm went up, but before he could release, my father took Pharzuph down to the ground, crushing his windpipe and holding him there. Kaidan went to one knee next to them.
“It’s too late, Father. This is your opportunity to make amends. Please consider it.”
“I will not grovel at His feet!” Pharzuph choked out.
My heart hurt to see Kaidan’s hope for his father, which was sure to be shattered.
Kaidan looked up at me, pained but resolute, and nodded for me to continue.
“I pray forgiveness for the souls who once betrayed you and have reconciled. Return them to their rightful home, and let those spirits who still harbor hatred be returned to hell—”
The room filled with terrifying shrieks that made me flinch down into a crouch and hold the blade higher. An overpowering warmth and lightness spread over me. The room, which had been so dark, was brightening.
“It’s working!” Kaidan said. “Keep going!”
Kobal broke from the mob and rushed toward me with his teeth bared in fury. Blake and Kopano grabbed him, and Marek stood over him with a gun pointed to his face.
I prayed louder now, and as the words left my mouth I felt a sense of . . . magic. I didn’t know how else to explain it—as if I’d called upon something ancient and mystifying. There was going to be a reckoning here tonight, both sweet and terrible.
My voice shook with emotion as I spoke loudly. “Please, banish all the demons from earth!”
And then something else began shaking. The ground.
At the very last second, I knew there was one more element essential to my task—one more prayerful request that had nothing to do with the prophecy. I spoke faster as the earth rumbled ominously.
“I ask with all my heart that the demon stains be washed from the souls of all Nephilim, both here on earth, and those who came before us. Please allow us a chance at redemption.”
A furious gurgle came from the earth, and the room tilted, throwing us all off our feet. The sword flew from my hand, immediately extinguishing its glowing blade. It rolled and bounced into a giant crack in the floor, where the earth was opening. Leather chairs and tables were thrown around the room. The dark-winged angels were torn unwillingly from their places in the air, and from their human bodies, shrieking and flailing, being spiraled downward into the gaping hole. We watched as Pharzuph’s soul was pulled by invisible arms out of his handsome young body and sucked down with the others. Kaidan stared at the hole where his father disappeared.