For the Birds Read online

  The battle wasn’t going well anymore. Jenni was dancing in a circle in the middle of the pit, making quick slashes in the air around her with the hunting knife. The demons had thinned out, but that meant they were being more careful about approaching her, taking their time and easing in little by little as she tired.

  Kevin’s back was pressed up against one of the outer cave walls. Six demons had him cornered. His swings with the scythe were slower and less accurate. He took a limb where he should have disemboweled or he thrust the blade when he should have decapitated. His arms didn’t have enough strength to follow through with the blows anymore, and he knew if he tried to he would only end up leaving himself open.

  Josie had run out of arrows. She leapt down from the ledge and snapped the neck of the first armed demon who turned his back on her, seizing up his weapon to join in on the battle in the pit. She was carefully making her way towards Kevin, but she was moving slower now too. She wouldn’t make it to him in time.

  Coreen and Saul were growing fat and weary after feasting on so many demon hearts. They were lazily pacing the entrance to the pit, swatting only when a demon came close enough to be a threat.

  Ammit stationed herself on the ledge where Caim had addressed the rebels. She was looking as swollen and nap ready as the hounds.

  I hadn’t seen Bub since I’d sent him off to fetch Maalik. I thought of him eavesdropping on the ship and wondered if he had seen Maalik disappear from the cave. It didn’t really seem to matter now. If we didn’t make it out of there soon, we were all going to end up in a rocky grave right along with the demon rebels.

  There were several demons working their way down the curve of the cave wall towards me. I decided to take Maalik’s advice and lifted the helm to my head just as a familiar whip curled around my wrist.

  Tisiphone, the Greek fury who had fled Tartarus to join the rebels, hovered above me on leathery wings. Her black eyes oozed blood, staining her pale flesh like war paint.

  Tisiphone and I had a history. It wasn’t a friendly one. She had tried to kill me, on more than one occasion. I’d survived by a thread each time. It hadn’t set well with her.

  “We meet again, little reaper,” she purred, jerking my arm and the helm away from my head. With a quick flap of wings, she wrenched me into the air with her whip, catapulting me against the cave wall behind her. The helm and my axe were rattled out of my grasp, and I felt my spine crack and crunch as all the air was knocked from my lungs. My skull throbbed, shooting sparks of white and red across my vision, and I tasted blood in the back of my throat.

  Caim took the opportunity to emerge from the shadows he had been lurking in while his minions took the brunt of the assault. He scooped up the helm with a hoot of triumph and looped his arm around Tisiphone’s bare waist as she landed next to him.

  “Let me keep her in one of the chambers. Please,” she pouted. “We already know that she’s not useful. Let me have my fun. The other one has gone stale. We can kill her now.” She was talking about Jenni.

  I glanced across the cave at my waning team. The thought that we weren’t going to make it out of there alive found me again, settling into a dark, sour place in my heart.

  A tiny fly rested on the tip of my nose.

  “Get everyone out of here,” I whispered to it. “The place is about to cave in. You can use the coins in the outer passage.”

  The fly circled the tip of my nose twice with a series of short buzzes before taking off.

  “What’s that, reaper?” Tisiphone stepped in closer to me, watching my mouth as it moved.

  “I said you look like shit. What’s Caim been feeding you, rats?”

  Tisiphone snarled at me. Her whip coiled around my neck. It tightened as she placed one of her heeled boots dead center on my chest, pushing me back into the wall, because I wasn’t having enough trouble breathing apparently. I was beyond being afraid of her. I don’t know if it had to do with the familiarity of our past encounters or if it was because I was just so damned sick of getting my ass handed to me. Either way, my mind was sharply clear and serene as I lifted my knee up just high enough to dig the hunting knife out of my boot and stabbed it through the thickest part of her calf.

  Half the hells must have heard her. The tip of my blade poked through the other side of her leg. It oozed dark blue blood that splatter across me as she retreated, lifting herself into the air with her leathery wings. The spell that held her beauty intact quivered. Her hair coiled in on itself, and snake heads appeared at the ends of each lock, hissing and snapping. It was enough to respark the terror in me. I shrank away from her.

  Caim watched Tisiphone, almost in awe of her true form. It was distraction enough for Beelzebub. He reassembled midair, landing on Caim’s back and crushing the demon king to the ground. The helm bounced against the rock floor, still locked in his grasp. He was quick to roll away, throwing Bub off as he scrambled to put distance between them.

  Bub’s expression was made of stone. “We have unfinished business, cousin.”

  Caim snarled at him, flashing his tarry chompers. He lifted the helm, positioning it over his head. “Ready when you are, bug boy.”

  “Still afraid of a fair fight?”

  “Fair fights are for sore losers.” Caim pulled the helmet down on his head, vanishing from sight.

  Beelzebub dissolved into an army of flies, and their invisible battle began.

  I was struggling to keep myself upright against the cave wall. My senses hadn’t all returned just yet, but I did notice the rest of the team making their way towards the exit. Ammit had found her second wind. She and the hounds were guarding the others backs as they hurried for the passage leading to the upper ledge. Kevin was carrying Jenni over his shoulder, and Josie followed them with backward steps. She had scavenged another weapon during the battle, a short, forked trident. She glanced at me from across the room and shouted to Ammit, pointing in my direction.

  I pushed away from the cave wall, just in time for Tisiphone to drop in and slam my back against it again. My hunting knife was still lodged in her leg. She clawed talon fingers down the cave wall on either side of my head.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” she said through fanged teeth. She wasn’t even trying to keep up her beauty spell anymore. Snakes snapped at my face as she leaned into me.

  My breath came out in a tight rasp as I tried to push her away. She squeezed in closer, drawing our bodies together like a vice. My lungs ached as she pressed all the air out of me. Her mouth opened, and she tilted her head down to bite into my shoulder. I panicked and kicked my foot up, catching the handle of my hunting knife. It tore deeper through her leg, and we both screamed as she ripped away from me, taking a handful of my hair with her.

  I didn’t give her a chance to recover. She rose a few feet into the air, and I sprang forward, grabbing the knife in her leg and jerking it free. The blade was slick with blue blood, but I held fast to it and slashed it across her opposite shin.

  Tisiphone howled. She spun away from me, snatching up her whip from the ground. I was so sick of that goddamned whip. She lashed out, but I was ready for her this time. I let the tail end of it wrap around my wrist. She jerked me into the air, and I let her, kicking off the cave wall behind me.

  I launched myself at her, burying the hunting knife in her chest all the way to the hilt. Her black eyes drooped and blue blood gurgled up from her chest and splattered across my face. I smiled at her, taking a bittersweet sigh of relief before her leathery wings gave out. We plummeted back to the ground. I landed on top of her, sending a fountain of blood up from her lips before she twitched and went limp. One less devil to haunt my nightmares.

  The cave was still crawling with demons. I retrieved my axe just as Ammit surfaced on my side of the battle.

  “Time to go,” she said through sharp crocodile teeth.

  The cave trembled. Rocks rained down on us from the darkened ceiling, pausing the battle long enough to draw leery eyes skyward, before the
fighting picked back up with desperate intensity.

  “Where’s Bub?” I asked.

  “Here, love.” Bub appeared at my side, the Helm of Hades in hand.

  “Caim?” I looked around the room.

  Bub growled. “Gone.”

  “We should be too,” Ammit grumbled beside us.

  The remaining demons were creeping in on us and blocking our way to the opening that led up to our escape route. Coreen was still waiting at the mouth, trapping the heathens inside the cave. She howled a warning note as more rock crumbled down above us.

  Bub handed me the helm. “Put it on. Ammit and I can make it across faster than you will without it.”

  I didn’t argue. I pressed the helmet down over my sweaty hair and swung my axe up to grasp it with both hands.

  Bub dispersed into a swarm, and the three of us plowed our way through the hoard of demons. I was careful to step around the rebels, only striking when my path was obstructed or when too many of them fell on Ammit. Bub reached Coreen first. A demon came for him, but he seized the thing by the throat, snapping its neck and tossing it aside to help clear our path.

  When Ammit and I reached the opening, she threw her hippo bottom against one of the supporting boulders of the wall. It broke loose and rolled into the pit, sending demons screeching for cover.

  We raced up the trembling passage, ducking into the one that led out of the mountain just before the ledge circling the pit gave way entirely. Ammit shifted back into her human body. Our exit was looking uncertain, but then I remembered that coin travel was supposed to be active in the outer passage now. I slipped off the helm, and Coreen wedged her slick body up against my leg. Then I coined us the hell out of there. Bub and Ammit were quick to follow.

  We hadn’t paid especially good attention to the grounds surrounding the mountain. When we emerged outside, we tumbled down a rocky hill and landed in a patch of coarse weeds.

  “Lana!” Josie ran over to help me up. The others were waiting on the cleared path we had made from the shore.

  “Where’s Maalik?” Kevin shouted over the rumbling. Jenni was out cold over his shoulder still.

  The mountain was coming down behind us. A few winged demons and sirens had managed to find a way out. They spied us from cloud of dust creeping up from the destroyed mountain.

  “Maalik’s fine. We’re not yet. Let’s go,” I said, lifting my coin again.

  We bypassed the tar pits and haunted grasslands, resurfacing along the coast. I could hear the sirens screaming their outrage in the distance. The song wasn’t as alluring from so far away.

  Josie pulled the tender boat out of its hiding place, and we all piled onboard. It was the longest ride of my life. My heart didn’t stop racing until we were back on the ship, and even then, I kept watch behind us, sure that the demons would give chase, but they didn’t. We had defeated them, and it was time for everyone to lick their wounds.

  I found Kevin, Josie, and Jenni in the captain’s quarters. Jenni was laid out on the bed, still unconscious.

  “What happen?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Kevin said. “She was fighting one minute, and then she just went out.”

  Josie was holding her hand. She pressed soft fingers to the cuts along Jenni’s wrist. “Blood loss. Maybe infection. She’s in bad shape.”

  I wrapped my arms around myself. “We’ll get her to Meng’s as soon as we dock.”

  Chapter 24

  “Life’s tragedy is that

  we get old too soon and wise too late.”

  -Benjamin Franklin

  Meng didn’t even look surprised to see us. She had us bring Jenni into a back room and ushered us out so she could get to work. The rest of us weren’t in too bad of shape. Minor scrapes and burns. The place where Tisiphone had bitten my shoulder felt sore, and my back and chest ached. I probably had a few broken ribs. The cut along my hip itched too.

  Jai Ling was busy mixing up tea for everyone. Meng had finally banned her from Asmodeus’s room, but all the new patients were making for a nice distraction. She was starting to sound just as cranky as the old bat whenever she had to mix up a special batch of tea.

  Bub slipped off to Asmodeus’s room to check in on him. I was surprised that he was still laid up, but Atropos’ shears were pretty wicked.

  I found Maalik in the room where Clair had been the day before. His wing was wrapped up tight, and he was stretched out on his stomach over the bed, trembling with each breath he took.

  “You made it,” he sighed when I came into the room. “Thank Allah. How are the others?”

  “Meng’s seeing to Jenni now. Everyone else seems okay, for the most part.”

  He looked down at my hip and then up at my shoulder. “Meng should see to you next.”

  “I’m alright,” I said, shrugging and then wincing at the pain that followed. “I’ve been in worse fixes.”

  “I wish you hadn’t been,” he groaned.

  “I know. I know.” I took the chair beside his bed and folded my arms over my legs. “You were great today. Thanks.”

  He frowned. “I was stupid today, letting that demon sneak up on me, leaving you behind in the middle of battle.”

  “If you hadn’t left, none of us would have made it out of there.”

  He squeezed his eyes shut against the tears I could hear in his voice. “You are too important to be put in such situations.”

  “Another just like me could be made tomorrow. I’m not so unique.”

  “No, not just like you.” He opened his eyes and looked at me with more tenderness than he’d spared me earlier in the day. “Not just like you.”

  For some reason, his kindness made me even more uncomfortable than his rudeness had. I broke eye contact first and cleared my throat. “I’m a lot more durable than you give me credit for.”

  His wings trembled as he laughed, and then he flinched in pain, still wearing a soft smile. “I’m beginning to see that. I never should have doubted you. I just didn’t know how else to show you that you were precious to me other than by keeping you safe from harm.”

  “It’s water under the bridge now.” I tried to smile at him, but the room was getting warm. I needed some air. “I better let you get some rest.” I stood to leave, but Maalik called my name as I reached the door.

  “Yeah?” I asked softly, turning around again.

  He gave me a pained look, like he wasn’t sure he wanted to ask, but he just couldn’t help himself. “Do you love him?”

  I hadn’t expected that. I didn’t really know how to answer. Bub and I hadn’t made it to that stage in our relationship yet, and I wasn’t sure we ever would. My first instinct was to say that I didn’t know. He was being too nice to tell him that it wasn’t any of his business. Telling him no wouldn’t have been entirely honest, and it would only give him false hope that I knew good and damn well wasn’t real. So I did the only merciful thing I could.

  “Yes,” I said. “I do.”

  Maalik blew out a slow sigh. “That’s all I needed to hear.”

  “I hope you heal quickly,” I said, backing out of the room.

  I halfway expected to find Bub waiting outside. His eavesdropping on the ship seemed strange to me, and I didn’t know what to make of it yet. Maybe it was accidental. At least, that’s what I wanted to believe. He never seemed like the insecure type to me before.

  At the end of the hall, I noticed Meng coming out of Jenni’s room. She wiped her hands over her stained kimono. It was a light blue color today, and it reminded me of scrubs typically worn by OR doctors and nurses.

  “How is she?” I asked.

  Meng looked up at me, too tired even to scowl. “Not good, but she heal. You can see her now.” She shuffled off down the hall without another word.

  Jenni was curled up on her side facing the wall. Her breathing was ragged, and I almost thought she was asleep, until she coughed and reached for the tea on the side table.

  “Jenni?” I circled the bed and sat
in the wicker chair in the corner.

  “Lana,” she whispered, setting the tea down and reaching out to squeeze my hand. Her fingers were purple and swollen, and her wrists were bandaged, but she held tight. “Lana, I was so stupid.” Tears streaked down her face.

  “No.” I shushed her, but she wasn’t having it.

  “So stupid. It was Apollo—”

  “Apollo?”

  “Only, it wasn’t Apollo. I should have known it wasn’t Apollo.” She pushed her head back into the pillow, closing her eyes. “I didn’t tell Josie. I know how she feels about him. I don’t know why I said yes. I’ve never been asked out by a god before. He wanted me to meet him at the harbor. Said a boat ride would be romantic. So stupid.” She sobbed, turning her face to the door so I couldn’t see her.

  “Jenni, you listen here. He was a god. Just not a very nice one. Anyone would have accepted an invitation if they thought it was from Apollo.”

  “I’m Grim’s second-in-command. What was I thinking? I don’t have time for dating. I haven’t dated in two centuries. Two centuries! I’m supposed to be past that phase.”

  “Phase? Come on now, there are plenty of deities who have been in relationships for thousands of years.”

  “Yeah, but they have scriptures and believers to hold them together, and most of them bicker and cheat on each other. So what’s the point?” She sniffled and rubbed the back of her hand under her nose. Then she rolled back over and gave me a hard look. “Why are they so interested in you, anyway? I swear, the only name that was mentioned more than yours was Grim’s.”

  I said the first thing that came to mind. “That special assignment last fall. Grim put me in charge after Coreen died. You remember? I can’t believe they’re still making a fuss over it.” It was getting far too easy to skim over the truth. I didn’t like the way it made me feel, but it was still the lesser of two evils. Keeping my head on my shoulders was still my number one priority.

  Jenni nodded stiffly, like she wasn’t quite sure if she believed my story, but I planned on sticking to it.