Hope you guys are doing well. I've been busy finishing up my research project, preparing to switch workplaces and I also recently got engaged. Thought I'd write a quick update nonetheless—enjoy :) Thank you so much for your lovely comments on the last chapter! I can't reply some of you since you've disabled PMs, but know that I read and appreciate your reviews very much!
They were in an Edenium prison.
The bars, the chains and even the floor glowed the same unearthly gold. Judging by the darkness and the cold, they were underground.
Now that Issa could sit up properly, she saw a single flickering candle beyond their cell. There were also steaming mugs—which meant their guards would return at any moment.
"You're a demon, aren't you?" Paul's eyes were wide.
"Does it matter if I'm helping you?" Issa said.
She reached for his ankle chain but Paul recoiled, gripping his chain as though about to strangle her with it.
"She's not a demon," Rosalie rasped.
"Then what is she?" Paul demanded.
"Our only chance to stop the Apocalypse! Even if we open Heaven's gates, Michael himself couldn't generate more power than her. I don't know why it's so hard to understand." Rosalie sagged against her bindings. "Why are we fighting each other like this?"
Issa froze.
She'd been so distracted—by Edvardiel's wings, by Lucifer, and by her memories—that she'd missed all the signs. This was how Lilith worked. This was how it always started.
Divide and conquer.
The first Acolyte sent to take down a city was never sent to conquer. Their first task had always been to divide. To weaken.
Issa freed Paul. She reached for Rosalie, but the other woman shook her head. "Don't bother. They broke my legs."
"I'm not leaving you behind."
"You can barely stand," Rosalie said. "Go before the guards come back. Keep Alice safe for me."
"Your child—"
"...is long dead," Rosalie's good eye swivelled towards the ceiling. "Just go."
Issa freed Rosalie anyway. Gold leached from her cuffs, the Edenium crumbling to dust. With every Edenium thing Issa drained, she felt slightly less weak. Still, something felt very wrong about draining Life instead of moulding it.
"We can help you," Issa said as she freed Jessica, turning the younger girl gently around and tearing a strip of her angel dress to bind her bleeding arm. "We'll—"
"Someone's coming!" Paul said.
Issa moved. In a second, she'd turned the Edenium lock to dust and knocked out one of the guards. The other opened her mouth but Issa grabbed her from behind, cutting off her air supply. Something silver flashed at the corner of Issa's eyes. A gun. She struck the woman's wrist and it clattered to the ground. Another strike made the woman go limp. Panting, Issa lowered the unconscious woman to the ground and felt in her belt and pockets.
Keys. Knives. More guns.
Beside her, Paul stole weapons from the other guard, strapping a rifle and dagger to his body with trembling hands.
Issa picked up the fallen gun.
The cartridge was loaded with golden bullets.
Issa touched her crudely stitched wound, pausing to catch her breath. Everyone used Edenium weapons. Why hadn't Sue done the same?
She staggered to her feet, dragging the guard into the cell. Paul followed suit, and they locked both guards inside after carrying Rosalie, Jessica and Mike out.
Rosalie hissed in pain as they helped her lean against the bars, her legs bent at an awkward angle. "This isn't going to work." Her eyes flickered to the blood blooming over Issa's dress.
"We can do it," Issa said. "Paul and I…" She straightened, ignoring the throbbing pain. "We'll help you."
"No, Issa. Paul needs to help you." Rosalie gripped her hands. "You have to stay alive. You have to stop the Apocalypse."
No. Not again.
She'd lost Yassper, she'd lost—
Issa shook her head.
"Listen to me. Think of what's going to happen to Alice if you die. Do you want her to go through what you did? To go through what my daughter did?" Rosalie gave Issa a violent shake. "She was sixteen when she died, Issa, sixteen—"
"I'm not leaving you! I… I can't. I can't lose you too."
Rosalie exhaled and pulled her into an unexpected hug. "Then come back for me," she said. "Deal with the trouble upstairs and come back for us." She pried one of the guns free from Issa's belt and picked up two knives from the ground. "Now stop wasting time and go."
Paul swallowed. "We should go before more of them come down."
Issa's eyes felt wet. "I promise," she said. "I promise I'll come back."
Rosalie's swollen eye looked worse in the candlelight. "Go get them."
Just before they rounded the corner, Issa saw Rosalie slump back against the wall.
They ran through the long corridor, past empty Edenium cells stained with dried angelblood. The scent of Paul's fear was thick in the air. Sweat rolled down his temples and his hands shook.
Issa glanced at the rifle he'd strapped to his body. "Do you know how to use that?"
Paul wiped the sweat from his temples. "No…" His voice was faint. "But it can't be that hard to pull a trigger, right?" His knuckles were white around the rifle as they reached the bottom of a stairway. "I hope Jacob got away."
Issa clenched her fists.
There were too many coincidences. Jacob had been there when Tanya had pushed her. He'd been there when she'd been poisoned. The note Sue had given her had been written by him.
"I think…" A sharp pain shot through her wound as they climbed up the stairs.
"Issa?"
She couldn't speak. The stairs swam in and out of her vision.
Paul's face was ashen as he looked down at her. "I took eight bullets out of you. Most people would be dead after one."
Issa struggled to breathe. "I'm… not going… to die."
Paul looked around and then back at her, his fear turning into determination. "Climb on my back."
Issa glanced at Paul. He'd gained some weight since they'd come to Eden but he was still malnourished from the Apocalypse. Unlike the rest of them, he was completely human. She shook her head. "I don't think—"
"Just do it."
Issa dragged herself onto his back, locking her arms around his shoulders.
"Sorry," she said, as he huffed and puffed up the stairs.
"I knew Eden was too good to be true," Paul panted as they reached the top. "We should've turned back the moment we saw those bones."
As they quieted before the door, listening for voices, Issa desperately hoped she was wrong. She desperately hoped that this was only the people of the Garden trying to kill them and not a larger plot led by Lilith.
Because if it wasn't, then all Hell was about to break loose in humanity's last safe haven.
