Page 9 of When Monsters Fight
I blinked away the dark spots in my vision, pushing away from him so I could inspect my handiwork. It took a moment for my vision to clear, but when it did, I wasn’t sure if my eyes were playing tricks on me, because the male standing before me was so far removed from the devolved watcher that it was difficult to reconcile the two.
This version of Kabiel had silver hair streaked with black. His eyes, silvery gray with flecks of blue, were framed by thick, dark lashes. His face was still angular with a sharp jaw and high cheekbones, but his lips were fuller…softer, and the biggest change, the one that told me that I might have pulled this off, was the reduction of his spider legs. Only two remained, jutting out of his back beneath his wings. The rest were gone, allowing him to stand firmly on his feet.
He turned his hands over and ran them down his chest, twisting his body to look over his shoulder, examining himself.
“She did it,” one of the other watchers said. His dark hair was shorn close to his scalp, and his features were broader, his frame stockier. “You did it.” He beamed at me, showcasing blunt white teeth.
“But it won’t last, Asbeel. Not unless we fix the relic,”another one of the watchers said. He had messy sandy hair and a leaner build.
“You’re right, Yomiel,” Kabiel said. “We need to make this gift count.”
He fixed his beautiful silver eyes on me. “We’re ready. Let’s find this door and get to Gehenna.”
I needed to tell him the full story about Lucifer, but not with Jilyana present. “Jilyana, why don’t you go back to the church and find Sarq. See if you can locate the door. We’ll join you in a few minutes.”
She nodded quickly and backed away, looking more than eager to be out of the forest and away from the shivering trees.
I waited until she was visible by the picket fence that surrounded the church before turning to Kabiel. “There’s more you need to know.”
He slow-blinked. “I thought as much. Tell me everything.”
Chapter 6
BEE
The basement is accessed through a door set beneath the stairs. It’s a cramped space, and Sarq struggles to fit his large, stocky frame inside and pull up the hatch in the floor.
“Let me?” I slip past him and fall into a crouch to get at the door. It sticks for a moment before coming free, and the distinct smell of mildew hits me.
A set of stone steps descend into darkness beyond. “It’s dark. We might need a flashlight.”
“One moment.” Sarq rummages on a shelf behind me. “Here.” He hands me a flashlight. “It should be wound.”
We had these at base too—flashlights that worked on kinetic energy. I switch it on, and a beam of light cuts through the darkness below. It’s not a wide stairwell, and for a moment I’m worried that Sarq won’t be able to fit, but he manages to squeeze down the hatch, taking up the rear as we descend.
Dark shapes loom around us—boxescovered with tarp and old furniture stored away, dusty and covered in cobwebs.
Once I’m on the concrete floor, I move away from the steps to let Sarq down. The scrape of a match is followed by the bloom of warm light that illuminates a large circumference of space.
I shut off the flashlight in favor of Sarq’s lamp. He takes the lead across the room, past a box filled with books and magazines wrapped in plastic. I make a note to come back and browse the literature. Maybe pick one book to take with me on our journey.
“The relics are in the chest,” Sarq says. “Shem purposefully warded it against celestials, and that includes watchers. Only a mortal can open it.”
“He planned for Rue to do this, didn’t he?”
“Yes.”
The chest looks mundane. No glowing runes. Nothing to make it stand out. Clever. But there is no mistaking the fizz of energy when I reach out to touch it. There’s power coating the object. I unclasp and lift the lid to reveal odd moth-eaten clothes.
“Underneath,” Sarq says.
A moment of rummaging and my fingers graze something cold and smooth. I pull out the curved piece of metal? Ceramic? I can’t tell what material this is, but then, it’s probably no earthly material.
The second piece is just as large. It’s impossible to tell what the object they originally made must look like.
“What is it?” I hold up the pieces. “What is the Morningstar relic? What does it look like?”
“It doesn’t have a set form,” Sarq says. “From what Shemyaza told me, the object could change, almost as if it were alive.”
