Page 15 of When Monsters Fight
Where were Kabiel and his team?
I scanned the gray, rocky landscape that stretched out around us, but there was no sign of them. Was that a drop a few meters ahead of us?
The air crackled, and Kabiel and his team materialized a little to our left in various versions of a crouch. Kabiel’s gaze instantly found me, locking on like a homing beacon. I raised a hand to let him know I was good.
But where was the doorway we’d come through? There was no visible sign of it on this side. Shit.
Gabriel squeezed my hand, turning me to face him. “Rue? Are you all right? You’re breathing fast.”
Now that he mentioned it, yeah, I was having a little trouble with my breathing, and it had nothing to do with panic. Maybe the journey had affected me? Maybe it was the air here? “I’ll be fine.”
“What’s wrong with her?” Kabiel demanded, almost accusingly.
Gabriel’s frown was the only indication that Kabiel’s tone irked him. “I’m not sure.” His emerald eyes narrowed, and he gently pressed his fingers to the pulse at my throat. “Your heart is having to work harder here. It would be dangerous for you to exert yourself.” Then to Kabiel, “The atmosphere isn’t optimal for her.”
Kabiel growled softly as he scanned our surroundings. “The doorway is nowhere to be seen. We can’t take her back.”
Even if the door was here, I wouldn’t go back. “I’m fine.”
I’d considered that the atmosphere might be less than perfect for my biology, but Lucifer had asked me to come, and surely she wouldn’t have done that if she thought I’d die along the way. “I’m sure I’ll acclimatize.”
“Or you could die,” Kabiel said. “There could be toxins in the air that slowly kill you.”
Gabriel shot him a hard look that clearly saidseriously?
“She should be aware of the risks,” Kabiel continued. “We move fast. Get this done and get her out of this place.”
I had to agree. “But which way do we go?”
“Can you feel the relic?” Kabiel asked. “Did Shem teach you how to scry for it?”
“He told me, but we never had a chance to put the theory into practice.” My heart sank. “I’ll try now.”
We had no idea where in Gehenna we were, but if wewere close to the relic, scrying for it would tell me. I closed my eyes and reached for the door inside me. But instead of opening it, I pressed my hands to it first, allowing the residue of the power to infuse my phantom palms and asking it for its guidance.Help me find you. Draw me to you. I cracked open the door to the Morningstar a teeny fraction and focused on the vibration of power inside.
Shem had explained how I could use it to pinpoint the location of a relic, but we’d never done so in practice. Kabiel had been our locator for each one. But this time, I focused on the vibration, asking it to guide me to the parts that made it whole.
A tingle of acknowledgement passed through me and then a hard tug drew me to my left, then to my right, then left again until my body was torn.
What the fuck? My eyes snapped open to Jilyana’s face. Jilyana, who had a relic piece inside her, and to my right stood Kabiel with the bundle containing the other two relic pieces.
“This isn’t going to be easy with relics around me already.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ll shield the relic inside me first, and you hand me the other two. I might be able to shield them too.” She held out her hands to Kabiel, but the watcher ignored her and looked to me.
We’d spoken about my suspicions, and he was waiting for permission to give her the precious fragments.
Jilyana exhaled softly, her expression weary and wry. “You don’t trust me. I understand that, but if we’re going to survive in this place, then you need to give me the benefit of the doubt.”
She was right; if we were going to get through this and find the final piece, then we’d have to trust her to help us.Besides, we were in Gehenna now, and if she planned to betray us and run off with the relics, she wouldn’t get far.
“It’s okay, Kabiel. Give Jilyana the relics for now.”
Kabiel handed her the bundle, and she hugged it to her chest looking across at me with such warm gratitude that it made me feel like an absolute shit for doubting her.
“Let me see if I can hide them,” she said. A strange hum filled the air, and the hairs on my body quivered. “Try scrying now.”
I took a deep breath and repeated the steps. This time, there was no tingle of awareness, no awakening, which meant that Jilyana had succeeded in hiding the relics. It also meant that we weren’t close enough to the fourth relic for the power to pick up on it.
