Page 25 of Unbroken

“No!” Lucifer jumps off the platform and walks toward Bishop who meets him head on in the middle of the room. “Let the fates decide when it’s enough!” he says as they both face off, eyes blazing. If we remain in this room much longer. . .

Trys crouches down to peer inside the cage beside me, studying her, the way she used to when she threw them both in cages when we were younger. Ty continues to circle quietly, waiting, calculating his moves decisively. I wish we could speak to each other telepathically because I wonder if he is thinking this through like I am. Do they feel this might be a trap? Is that what’s holding them back? I step closer, my leg brushing against Trys’s side, and I place my hand tentatively on his shoulder. A connection of any kind to keep him grounded. If any one of us acts on impulse, it will be him.

“Rodyn.” The sound of my name is like a beacon, as she calls me into her bright light, and I see this for what it is. We’ve been battling with our Demonic sides for a long time, it had all been a delicate balance of wills. We weren’t whole and our mother kept us that way, teetering on a knife’s edge while my brothers became more and more unstable and me more detached and compliant. Taking Lucifer’s blood gave us the balance we needed, yes it bound us to the Underworld, but our two halves were one now. This is an internal struggle of which side wins. What happens to our Humanity if we choose death, vengeance, and murder as two newly formed halves struggle for dominance? Wait, we aren’t Human at all. The realization hits me hard. Why hadn’t I thought of this? What happens to us if we are stripped of the attributes we equate to being Human? That’s what I should be asking myself. No, if we kill her, we will lose ourselves to our Demonic darkness with no way back. Lucifer wants this. He doesn’t want sons at his side, he wants beasts that he can control. Fuck, that’s it.

“No,” I say out loud. I look at Micah and I nod slowly as I back away from my mother’s cage. By the small smiles on Rook and Lyrik’s faces they’ve given me confirmation that my musings were correct. I just need to bring my brothers back from the brink. They need to look at our girl and remember.

Micah is all we need. We don’t need this. Our mother is already dead. According to Lucifer, our intended mother died before we were conceived. We don’t need this Demon’s blood on our hands. We have our prize. We already won. Let Lucretia or whoever she is rot.

As if sensing my decision, Lucifer turns his attention back to us. “Abaddon, show your sons who you really are. Shift!” Lucifer commands and my eyes move back to her once more. Her breathing evens out and I reach out to pull Trys away and put some distance between the two of them. My mother struggles to raise her head, the curtain of unwashed hair reveals a mangled face, both of her eyes are swollen slits of black, blue, and red bruising, blood drips from her nose and mouth as she dribbles a mix of blood and saliva on the front of her once white silk blouse.

“My boys, come to finish what your cowardly father couldn’t?” she rasps, sucking in a breath as she begins to laugh.

“I. Said. Shift!” Lucifer bellows and he leaves Bishop behind to march back over to us. Ty stops finally, standing shoulder to shoulder with me, his face an unreadable mask, his breathing calm, but I don’t feel anger. One down, one more to go.

“Kill me, don’t kill me. I’m already dead.” She spits and three teeth fly out of her mouth to land on the floor near our feet. “Kill me and unleash your darkness. It was the one thing I couldn’t force you to do, not without him.” Her body swings in Lucifer’s direction as he lands beside the cage.

“Shut up, bitch! Shift! Do it now.” He reaches out and closes his fist tight around her neck. We watch as he chokes her, she gags and sputters until she sags again on her chains. Lucifer releases his fist and steps closer as our mother shifts before our eyes. Her skin is red and unmarred, instantly healing from her many wounds and bruises. Multiple black horns grow out of her head, like a crown, twisted and gnarled. While her hair thickens and twists into long woolly ropes down her back. Her face elongates; sharp, angular features, a hooked nose and a wide mouth that house two knife-like serrated fangs tapering into sharp points over her bottom lip. She doubles in size and I can only imagine how tall she would be if she stood upright.

Trys whistles. “She’s an actual fucking monster. A real monster. Sunshine, she’s a beast.” He looks at Micah and points, acknowledging her finally with an aghast look on his face. Mouth falling open, he turns and mouths, “What. The. Fuck.”

I hold back a laugh. I watch Micah’s shoulders sag in relief as the tension visibly drains from her body. Rook pulls her closer into him, wrapping his arms around her protectively. Am I jealous in this moment? Fuck yes. I want that closeness, and as soon as I get a chance, I am going to tell her that, begging on my knees.

“You couldn’t help yourself, Mother. Should I call you Mother or vessel? The latter seems more appropriate. Don’t you agree, Ty?” Trys asks as he tilts his head from side to side.

“I agree,” Ty replies. “But do we fault her for her nature?” he counters and Trys brings his finger up to his lips tapping contemplatively.

I know this back and forth all too well, they will question it together until they come to a collective decision.

“Now that we know more about what she is, I don’t think we can. I vote we leave the island. I don’t like this show anymore,” Trys says with a shrug and turns toward Lucifer and walks past him but stops to pat the Devil on his shoulder.

“You don’t win this, Pops. I think we can go home now, sunshine.” He leaves us behind, like he didn’t just make a life altering decision and joins everyone else on the floor.

“What do you mean?” Lucifer asks incredulously as he looks from Trys then back to Ty and me.

“He means she’s yours to kill. We don’t care what happens to her. Furthermore, I don’t think you need us, really. You’ve paraded us in front of the Underworld, like prize ponies. So, unless you plan on fighting beside us against Michael and then die, we will never inherit this place. You thought we would take your blood, kill our mother, and become your loose cannons of wrath and darkness. Well, I’ve made my choice, it’s her. I followed her here and I will continue to follow her,” I gesture toward Micah, turning away from him without another word. Ty takes one last look at our mother and accompanies me.

“I am your sire! You are mine. Mine! I don’t give you permission to leave!” he bellows, eyes blazing furiously as his wings spread wide behind him.

“I want to see you try to stop them. I told you before. They are mine.” Micah steps in front of us as we reach the floor and folds her arms over her chest. “You don’t own them. They might be bound to the Underworld, but they aren’t bound to you. I think we are done here. I have a war to win. A war you should be fighting with us.” Micah turns her back on him as we all gather around Rook and Lyrik.

“I will do no such thing. If you want to die, then die. Ultimately, that’s what they were for. My own personal avatars who will fight in my place. They will die, and I will make more. Michael will too one day, and the game will continue.” I am not surprised by the smug look on his face, of course that was his intention.

“No! Nobody wins! We all die, including you, you, arrogant, self-serving, asshole!” Micah shouts. Lucifer’s smile falters and he looks to Bishop for confirmation at her words.

“She lies,” Lucifer says. “He wouldn’t, he promised.”

“He’s done being merciful, Luc. Honestly, I am surprised he waited this long with all of our tit for tat. You either join us in this fight or sit down here and hide, but I don’t plan on dying anytime soon, and I am going to make sure my daughter succeeds.” Bishop’s wings wrap around Marcus, Sam, and Esme, and they vanish before Lucifer can reply.

“You will all die,” Lucifer spits out, turning his attention to our mother. He snaps his fingers and she bursts into flames. Her screams are guttural and raw, ringing out all around us, her body thrashes wildly against her bindings.

Lucifer turns his back on us as he watches her burn. I guess it’s his way of dismissing us, and that’s fine by me. Purple and black mist wraps around us as we dissipate with my mother’s screams embedded in my memories forever.

ChapterFifteen

MICAH

We all step out onto the familiar gravel path just beyond the ruins of the gazebo at HellNight Academy. The world around us is dark and gloomy despite the sunlight beyond the foreboding gray clouds. Fog settles low to the ground like thick murky soup, shielding the burnt grass that was once vibrant and green. The charred trees seem to lean into one another, clinging to life with the last vestiges of their strength. It’s as if the sun can’t cut through the darkness that’s befallen this place and the land refuses to thrive. The Willow woods had been razed to the ground, a shell of its former self. The decimation is startling, even the resident flowers buckle under the lack of magic this place once held.

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