“But what about the deathwalkers? What about what happened ten years ago?” I swallowed, trying to get the full picture of what, exactly, Elijiah wanted.

  “The queen finally got privy to my antics ten years ago and tried to disperse me. But I’ve been preparing for this for fifteen years, that stupid old bitch! She called her deathwalkers from the mortal realm for reinforcements and gatekeepers to help solidify her defenses, but all she did was solidify their demise. I turned the destruction against her with the help of powerful demons and destroyed the deathwalker connection that originated from the angels of death. No more deathwalkers to act as liaisons. I continued to isolate her away from her allies. The gatekeepers were already prohibited from crossing into the afterworld without a protective invite. I simply needed to wait until you were twenty-five so that the binding magic of my contract with the queen would not interfere.”

  I didn’t want to ask but I needed to know.

  “Interfere with what? Where is the queen? Where are the other angels of death and the original deathwalkers and gatekeepers who fell victim to you all those years ago?”

  Suddenly I felt terrified of his answer.

  “You will claim the queen’s magic and I will rule. The afterworld must have a matriarch and Anthonia was to fulfill that role. It was her dying wish. So you will hold the placeholder for the queen’s magic and I will control you through your precious mortal, Priya. She has played such an interesting and important part in this plan. When your other mortal heartmate broke off your engagement, I was worried that you wouldn’t find another in enough time so that I could manipulate them. But here the fates decided to have a little laugh and give me the one person who had always been trying to destroy me in the first place.” He laughed loudly then, like this part of his plan was particularly amusing.

  “Now I have my perfect leverage. The queen has had her power siphoned off for the past decade to be transferred to another with the help of some ancient evil demon magic but, unfortunately, it takes a very long time. You see, the worlds lined up the perfect timing for me. I needed time to siphon her magic, to enact my plan, to push unrest, and to have you come of age and allow the contract of the queen to expire.” His wicked smile threatened to split his face in half.

  “The queen damns demons without realizing their potential. Volatile and dangerous, yes, but not useless. They can be manipulated and used for power, and it was my pleasure to use it against her.

  “And with the power of the queen, under my control through you, I can finally succeed. We will have an official joining heart ceremony. It will allow me to take control of you and the realm. Other angels of death have already pledged their allegiance to me. And those who don’t will have the same fate as Anthonia.”

  I gasped then, the full reality of the situation slamming into my chest.

  “As for the other deathwalkers and gatekeepers, they are in the dungeon with the precious queen, slowly rotting away and suffering for eternity. Gatekeepers have always been a cheap knock-off of the real power held in the afterworld. They will be the first to go.”

  My mouth fell wide open. I didn’t know what to think. My head spun and I had no idea what to say or do. Elijiah was so convinced and inundated with grief, anger, and thirst for power that I had zero ideas of how I would stop him. I didn’t know anything about the inner workings of the afterworld except for the few things I’d read in books.

  Could I really let him control me by threatening Priya’s life? Would I sacrifice the whole world for my love? I wasn’t ready to answer that question.

  Elijiah looked at me with triumph in his eyes.

  “We will be joined, similar to husband and wife in your realm. Then you will join with the queen's power, as her life force collides with yours and Anthonia’s. It will most likely be excruciating, but you will survive it or your love will be taken.” He stated matter-of-factly.

  “If you destroy the mortal realm then there won’t be much to control,” I said, my whole body trembling with fear.

  “Oh, darling. I want revenge. I want the queen stripped of her power and I want her to watch me burn down everything she loves, just like she did to me. She created this and I want to watch as everything she ever manifested is thrown into the hellfire by her beloved angels, the very beings that came from her own heart,” he said maliciously.

  “There isn’t anyone to oppose me now. I bided my time for so long and pleaded with the queen for forgiveness all those years ago, and now it’s my time to show her what a grave mistake she made. You, Lincoln, will help me do it. You will be the mother of death for all eternity and I will be the ruler.”

  “How do you know that I will cooperate? That I won’t sacrifice Priya’s life?” I said, struggling to get the words out of my mouth.

  “Because I know your mortal heart. I know you, Lincoln. I’ve known you your whole life, and you are loyal to a fault. You will not forsake her and if you do, I will simply work my way down the list of everyone you’ve ever cared about. Do not test me. I have been waiting years for this, and you have only begun to understand. One day you will see it my way. You will understand that the human realm should be our servants, not the other way around. The afterworld holds magic and powers beyond anything seen in the mortal realm. We are eternal rulers and they are but specs of dust in the never-ending loop of time.”

  I was stunned into silence.

  The longer I sat there, though, the more I could feel the whispers of my power coming back to me. I could feel the buildup happening but I didn’t know what it meant, a tsunami of power that would be mine to control. The afterworld seemed to give Elijiah more power. Maybe it would be the same for me since we were both beings of this world. If I could only control it, I might be able to stop Elijiah and rescue the queen. She would know what to do.

  She would save us, right?

  I had a loose plan forming in my mind.

  “I need…I need some time to think,” I said, suddenly bone weary. I needed to stall.

  Elijiah looked at me and smirked.

  “There is no stopping the inevitable. You will start to see it my way. But go think and rest. Tomorrow I will take you to start draining the queen.” He snapped his fingers, and the same bed I had awoken in earlier surrounded me.

  I mumbled something about food before sleep overtook me once again and I dreamed of a world where things didn’t involve death, deranged angels, and corrupted worlds.

  23

  I was forced from bed by the same woman. Apparently she was my babysitter.

  “What’s your name again?” I asked as she shoved me through the dingy hallways. The walls crumbled around us like the building had been falling apart and deteriorating for a long time. Everywhere I looked there seemed to be paint peeling, wood breaking, and plaster sloughing off. It felt like the queen wouldn’t last much longer if the state of her home was an indicator of how much power she had left.

  It didn’t look like this place could even exist for much longer. As we descended down a rickety set of wooden stairs, the air seemed to grow heavier with humidity and mold.

  “Selene,” she said, pulling my attention back to her as we navigated the creaky stairs into a large foyer. A huge rusted chandelier cast an eerie glow, with about half of its light bulbs functioning. Broken glass littered the floor while various wiring hung from above. All of it screamed safety hazard to me.

  “You might want to do some reconstructing,” I mumbled to her.

  She poked me with the tip of her sword and guided me towards what looked like a small room off the foyer lined with four elevators.

  “Are you sure these won’t break down?” I said skeptically. That sounded like my actual worst nightmare.

  “They are fine,” she snapped.

  She was wearing the same black uniform she had on the other day and I casually wondered if the angels of death ever wore anything else. The power that welled in the office with Elijiah ebbed and flowed within me. Sometimes I could consciously feel the dampener that Selene wore stifling me, and other times I would find moments of freedom or reprieve. Magic seemed to be quite the fickle thing.

  What, exactly, was going on in my body while I was in the afterworld? Why was this power appearing intermittently and why couldn’t I use any of it?

  If I could just figure out how to dispose of the damn dampener, maybe I could use the magic that was bubbling inside me. Or maybe the dampener was simply a part of Selene. I didn’t know, but I would need it turned off if I was to use any of the power that lay just out of my reach.

  “We are seeing the queen’s cage today.” She shoved me into the open elevator door. It was surprisingly well-kept compared to the other parts of the house. I tried to avoid my reflection in the all-glass walls. Exhaustion consumed my features. Purple circles appeared under my eyes and bruises littered my body. I could physically see the weight of all of this forcing my shoulders forward and down. I swallowed, trying not to let it get to me, but my healing abilities were greatly impaired by this damn dampener. They wanted me weak and pliable. It was hard not to let it all overwhelm me.

  I looked at where the buttons should’ve been and there were none. “Yeah, definitely broken,” I said, cocking an eyebrow at her. She rolled her eyes and we started to move.

  Slowly, we descended out of the glassy black tunnel and into a huge dome-shaped cave. It was lit up with a disturbing yellow glow and echoed with roaring, clawing, screaming, and snarling. I looked around, my gaze settling on rows and rows of various cages, all of which seemed to be layered on top of one another. There were flashes of movements and the sounds of thunder roaring around. This is what a demon prison looks like.

  Beneath the cells, a faint red glow escaped like lava oozing from a bottomless pit. We whooshed quickly down the glass tube, past the level of the prison. I craned my neck trying to get glimpses of all the creatures in cages, but I only got snippets of huge, bulbous bodies, grotesque creatures with claws, fangs, and other oddities.

  We entered a black tunnel again, then seemed to drop into a deeper layer of the prison underneath the red haze. There was no light here. No sound. The silence was oppressive. I wanted to claw at my throat and find my own voice but I was frozen under Selene’s nasty gaze.

  We finally ended in a halt and the doors opened.

  I didn’t know what to expect but Elijiah greeted us, looking irritable as ever.

  “Why is the queen so far down here?” I asked, trying to reach for any type of magical power I could find. I came up short. Damn it.

  “We have to keep her far away from the others. Can’t have her power acting up, now can we? She needs to be isolated from her creations as we drain her magical reserve,” he said in a clipped tone.

  He grabbed my arm and started guiding me through the dark tunnels of the compound. I tried to keep my wits about me, remember how to get back to the elevators, but we weaved around so many times that my head spun. My brain felt like mush as I tried to process all that I had seen and been told.

  I wondered how Priya was doing, if she was distressed or if she had contacted Mara. If Mara was okay. She would be worried sick. I literally left my best friend and girlfriend without so much as a “goodbye and I love you.” But thinking about them right now wouldn’t help me. I needed to focus on a way out of my current situation.

  Elijiah stopped abruptly and I stumbled forward. We stood in front of a huge metal door that was bolted shut. But Elijiah walked right through it, dragging me in as I winced, preparing my body to slam into metal. Instead, it opened up into another dark room that had a glass cage where a small, frail woman was collapsed in the corner.

  I gasped. My heart clenched, and bile rose in my throat. This was the queen.

  She looked old and young at the same time, like her image was a mirage flickering between timelines. Her skin was bone white, her full lips were cracked and bloody, her brown eyes looked exhausted and dulled. Dark, curly hair lay limply around her face. She looked like she’d been deprived of food, sleep, and shelter for years, which she had. It made me want to kick Elijiah in the balls.

  I remembered that the queen appeared in whatever age gave the seer most comfort. Her magic seemed to be wanting to keep up appearances, but it waned. She looked a thousand years old right now.

  “What have you done?” I whispered. The queen had been imprisoned for ten years, slowly fading away. I cursed Elijiah. How could he do this to her? I didn’t even know her but I felt connected to her. Elijiah deserved this torture, not her. How could he do this to the one who created him?

  It made my blood boil.

  “This is a remnant of her true form. Pity, as she was once a more formidable force,” Elijiah said lightly.

  I ran over to the glass and pressed myself as close as I could to her.

  I didn’t know what to call her.

  “My Queen?” I tried and her eyes which had fluttered closed opened slightly. Her eyes widened.

  “One of my children,” she said, reaching a hand to the glass.

  I wanted to sob and throw myself against the cage, until it broke into a million little pieces, and save her. How would the queen be able to help save the realm when they were draining the life out of her? She could barely sit up and stay awake, let alone save both worlds. She was in a tattered white nightgown. Her nails had broken off and her body looked too thin and frail.

  “You have Anthonia’s power. And mine,” she said, looking animated at me. So the queen knew there was something itching to be released from me, too. Was it truly hers? Again, I had so many questions.

  Does Elijiah know about this as well? Or maybe he knows that, either way, he has the upper hand and he can control it just as he’s been controlling the queen?

  Elijiah watched us like he was bored.

  “You won’t be able to save her. Nothing she tells you will help. She is too far gone, her power is almost completely depleted and compounded to this.” He held up a jeweled crown that had all the colors of the rainbow intertwined in the dark metal. It had intricate woven patterns that came to a point where a large blood-red ruby sat and pulsed at the center.

  “Once her power is gone and I put this on your head, Lincoln, it will forever be joined to you. Old demonic magic helped me create this mockery. Ironic, isn’t it? You will be controlled by the crown itself, which will be mine to manipulate.” He smiled broadly at it. The arrogance rolled off of him in waves.

  I nearly vomited from it.

  The queen scowled at him, but made no moves. Her hand slipped from the glass and she exhaled shakily. I squatted down next to her and leaned up against the glass. I didn’t know what to do.

  “Child,” she whispered when I was nearly at eye-level.

  “My power is almost gone, the boundaries that hold the worlds apart will break in three days’ time. Call the gatekeepers, there is only one week’s time before I am completely finished. Get them here to fight the angels. There is an oracle out there who will know where the fail-safe is. Find her. She will help save us as will you. I have done all that I can do,” she muttered hurriedly.

  I looked at her, then over to where Elijiah was clearly gloating over his contraption with Selene.

  I nodded, stood up, and walked away.

  How does one get an invitation or message out from the afterworld? I had three days to figure it out. And I’d be damned if I didn’t give it my best fucking shot.

  24

  “Do you angels of death not eat?” I asked Elijiah as I was seated across from him at a large gray wooden table. The dining room itself looked much like the rest of the house: broken, crumbling, and just plain sad. The table was long; it could’ve easily sat twenty people, yet we were on opposite ends. Elijiah didn’t have any food in front of him, he just sat staring at me like he was examining something underneath a microscope. I had what looked like chicken noodle soup in front of me, which I found almost amusing. Was this supposed to bring me comfort?

  “We do not need to eat, no,” he said, looking slightly amused. His large wings were open and took up about four feet on either side of him.

  “So in a week, I will be queen and you will be my keeper?” I brought a spoonful of the soup to my mouth. Surprisingly, it tasted really great. That made me even more suspicious.

  “If that’s how you want to see it, sure. But we will also be eternally joined in a binding ceremony, much like a wedding in the mortal realm except more…permanent.” He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. The way he said it made it feel intimate. Physically and emotionally tied together for eternity. Instead of crawling out of my skin like I wanted to, I took another spoonful of soup.

  I didn’t want to know what, in the actual fuck, it would mean to be joined to this man.

  “Right. I want to talk to Priya, and I want a guarantee of her safety, otherwise I won’t cooperate.” I squared my shoulders.

  I needed to get that message to the gatekeepers. And, selfishly, I wanted to see Priya. To touch her. To have her tell me this is all a bad dream and that I would wake up in bed with her and laugh about how real it had all felt.

  “What could you possibly do that I couldn’t defend against?” Elijiah laughed darkly.

  I didn’t have much to bargain with.

  “Information about the next great oracle,” I said, lying through my teeth. I needed to contact Priya, and I had a feeling this would get his attention, especially if the queen had brought it up. I was taking a huge leap of faith but I knew this was all I could bluff my way through.

  “I killed the last great oracle. I would know if there was another,” Elijiah said, squinting his eyes.

  “You did. But the gatekeepers took their next one underground because they feared for her life, similarly to how they feared for me. They weren’t taking any chances with their oracle after you slaughtered the last one, you bastard,” I said with an extra bite. It, at least, made me feel better being bitchy to him.