Keeper of Crows (Keeper of Crows #1)(59)

“Go, Carmen,” Gabriel said sternly. “If he gets the sword, any soul he touches with it will be sent to Hell whether they belong there or not.”

“And you? What happens if he hurts you with it?”

Gabriel shook his head. “Don’t worry about me.”

“Will it kill you? Or will it send you to Hell?”

“What’s the difference?” he asked pointedly. And he was right. There wasn’t one.

I ran. I had to hide the sword.

My feet stopped inside the stone walls, arms raised to cover my head every time the castle shook above my head. A single crow flew alongside me. The sword was wrapped in the fabric I’d wound it in while practicing, but it still needed to be contained. The veil had to be solidified. I needed to make it much stronger than what I’d been able to make it so far, because it was about to fail entirely.

Focusing on solidifying the fabric was easy. What was hard was ignoring the screams of the souls outside. I told the veil to let Lucifer in, and then Gabriel roared as a bright flash of light heralded the arrival of Satan himself.

Focus, I told myself.

The clashing of Gabriel’s sword rang out, metal on metal, and the shrieking intensified all over Purgatory. I moved to the balcony. Wisps of souls flew frantically through the air. I sent the crows to care for them and the birds obeyed, swooping to collect them.

Demons poured in through the torn fabric. No chance of escape for souls, they ran through the streets and hid in their homes. When the demons found them there, they tried to get away…but there was nowhere for them to go.

Below me, Lucifer, clad in white chain mail, collided with Gabriel, his pearly teeth bared menacingly. Gabriel shoved him away and regained his footing, but Lucifer was stronger. I could see it, feel it. He wouldn’t be stopped. He wanted Purgatory for himself.

The devil’s eyes snapped to mine and he smiled lazily.

Gabriel looked at me over his shoulder and shouted, “No!”

The half second it took for him to worry about me gave Lucifer exactly what he wanted: a moment of weakness. Gabriel paid for it as Lucifer drove a sword into Gabriel’s side with a fierce grunt. “She’s next,” the devil hissed into his former friend’s ear.

I knew he was coming for me. Gabriel was dying. Could he die? The veil was torn. Demons. Killing. Torture. The souls screamed.

Calling the crows, I told them to dispatch the demons. “Send them back to Hell!” I commanded.

Cawing in unison, they dove, shooting deadly feathers at those breaching the barrier, the demons who chased the souls, and the ones who dispatched them. I called to the Lessons to end the demons as well. Come into the city and stop them.

The crows and Lessons weren’t the only things that obeyed me. With everything in me, I called to the veil. Conceal me.

It stretched toward me from above, the fabric wrapping around my body until I couldn’t tell where it ended and I began. My vision of Purgatory was darkened, but clear through the swirling tempest. Lucifer flew to the balcony, searching for me. I released the sword from the fabric that bound it and clutched the handle in my palm, squeezing tight. The sword hummed, calling its master, but Lucifer couldn’t hear it, he couldn’t feel it, and he couldn’t see me.

“Where are you, Carmen?” he shouted into the castle. “We can come to a deal, you and me.”

The sounds of torment below didn’t bother him in the slightest, while it made my stomach sour. He made me sick, and I wasn’t in the mood for bargaining. I just hoped Gabriel could hold on a little longer.

When he began walking, I asked the fabric to stretch and move with me. When I was right at his heel, I shoved the sword of Lucifer into its master’s back, impaling him. His loud gasp filled the air, despite the cacophony of screams around us. I asked the fabric to fall away and it retracted.

“That was unexpected.” He coughed, eyes wide as he turned around to face me. The devil could bleed. He wiped a string of blood from his mouth.

But he would see no mercy from me. “You should have been more creative. Giving my father the only sword that could kill an angel wasn’t your brightest move.”

“He never would have betrayed me.”

“He was weak!” I screamed.

The darkness faded from his eyes, leaving them crystalline blue as he fell to his side, his feet scooting against the stone one last time as his muscles gave a jerk.

It felt like the darkness he lost had found its way to me, that it seeped into my tissue and filled my lungs. Calling the crows again, I ordered them to carry him away. The demons in Purgatory stilled as their master’s life faded into nothing, as he became nothing…nothing but a puddle of tar.

I sealed the fissure they’d made, and with it, entombed the demons that dared to attack this place. The crows dispatched them all with deadly accuracy. The only remnants of them were the oil slicks where they once stood.

And emptiness.

Everything was empty. So many souls were killed.

And Gabriel… Where was he?



Crows descended and carried me to where he lay beneath the balcony, wings outstretched, wincing in pain. He wasn’t dead.

“Are you okay?” I cried, my voice hitting an octave I didn’t know existed.

“You’re asking me if I’m okay? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine! You’re bleeding. Oh, God. What do I do?” I searched for something to hold to his side, where blood was bubbling like a spring. He coughed violently, making the blood gush like a geyser.