Page 37 of Camael
"The whole city becomes his playground," Isis finished grimly. "We need to move. Now."
"You should sit this one out," Camael told Amelia. His massive frame vibrated with protective instincts.
"Not going to happen, big guy." She met his gaze with steel in her own. "This is what I was born for. It’s why I’ve been tortured the past few days. What my ancestors prepared me for. And if you think I'm sitting this one out, you clearly haven't been paying attention."
His curse would have made a sailor blush, but he didn't try to stop her as she checked her magical arsenal. The crystal went into one pocket while the Key remained at her throat. "I'll coordinate from here," Izzy offered from her position by the tactical displays. The vampire princess's sapphire eyes tracked movement on the screens with lethal focus. "The Dark Warriors are already in position. I can direct them where you need them."
Camael nodded sharply before turning to his crew. "Move out. Formation Delta." His wings spread wide as his Sword of Light blazed to life.
The Rowan sisters, their mates, and the remaining DarkWarriors went to their vehicles. The angels hit the mansion's courtyard and didn’t hesitate. Wings snapped out in perfect formation as weapons materialized. The pre-dawn air crackled with power as the Angels of Retribution launched skyward. Camael's massive arm wrapped around Amelia's waist as he lifted her into the sky. The city spread out beneath them. Its streets empty except for things that shouldn't be walking. Three minutes of flight that made her stomach rebel, and they were there.
They hit St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 under Camael’s cloak. The Cities of the Dead had become exactly that. The spirits of the deceased were being twisted by Lucifer's power into weapons against the living. Amelia moved through the ancient tombs with the crystal in one hand and the Key around her neck.
The first wave of corrupted spirits manifested like someone had given darkness a physical form. They moved through centuries-old stone with impossible grace. Their essence was twisted by Lucifer's power into something that would have givenhimnightmares.
But Amelia saw them differently now. The crystal revealed their true nature - neither light nor shadow but pure potential. She didn't try to fight them with either force. Instead, she reached for the harmony she’d been hearing during each of the visions. Power surged through her as she coaxed the energies to dance together. She allowed it to happen naturally.
"Holy shit," Remi breathed as he watched her work. His blade hung forgotten at his side. "She's reminding them what they used to be."
"Now that's some serious mojo," Malachi added as he took out a demon trying to flank them. "Think you can teach that trick to the rest of us?"
Amelia shook her head while remaining focused on herwork. Camael moved like her shadow. His Sword of Light kept physical threats at bay while she dealt with the spiritual ones. The Angels of Retribution spread through the cemetery in perfect formation. This wasn't a battle they could win with celestial steel alone.
A particularly nasty spirit manifested between the Dupree family crypt and the restored tomb of Marie Laveau. It moved like oil on water and carried traces of power that made Amelia's magical core shiver in recognition. "Now that's interesting," the thing said in a voice that sounded like gravel in a blender. "The Key-bearer thinks she understands the old ways."
"I understand enough," Amelia countered as she gathered power that felt more natural with each passing moment. The crystal in her hand pulsed like a second heartbeat. "You're not behind these spirits. You're trying to awaken something. Something that should stay buried."
The thing's laugh could have stripped paint. "Very good, little witch. But you're too late. The Prince of Lies nearly has enough power to punch holes in the barriers between worlds."
"He can try, but he won’t succeed,” Amelia replied through gritted teeth as she tried to send the thing back to its resting place.
"Ah, that’s where you’re wrong. There's nothing you can do to stop it." The spirit lunged for her with tendrils of pure evil.
Amelia didn't try to fight it with light or shadow. Instead, she reached for the harmony she now understood had always existed. The crystal in her hand blazed with power as she touched the spirit's essence with the energy. Its scream echoed across dimensions as the corruption burned away from it. The spirit’s eyes went wide and then softened inunderstanding. It showed Amelia exactly what Lucifer had planned before it dissipated.
As she expected, the plan was loaded with demonic horrors. Barriers between worlds shattered like glass. Creatures that had been locked away crawled through the cracks. And the world began to unravel as it lost the threads that held it together.
Amelia gathered her power and faced the corrupted zombies. The Key at her throat blazed with ancient energy as she reached for something deeper than battle magic. She touched their essences with peace. With rest. With the quiet that should have been theirs. One by one, they stilled. They faded and turned to ash as they returned to their eternal slumber. The last one dissolved with a sigh that sounded almost grateful.
"We need to regroup," she said, turning to Camael. Her legs felt like overcooked pasta. Exhaustion hit her hard. She stayed upright through sheer stubbornness. "This was just a test run. He's going to keep doing shit like this unless we find him and stop him."
"Back to the mansion," Camael ordered as he gathered her close. "We need a new strategy."
They landed a few minutes later and headed for the war room. Izzy was eating some gumbo while the tactical displays lit up three screens behind her. "That was quick,” she told them around a mouthful.
"The zombies were easy for Amelia to deal with, and there weren’t many demons. He’s keeping us busy, so we can’t get ahead of him," Rami said as he cleaned demon goo off his blade. "We need to figure out where he’s holing up."
"We need to track his energy signature," Amelia corrected as she spread her grandmother's maps across the table. "He's using massive amounts of power to wake the dead. That has to leave a trail we can follow."
"The Dark Warriors have been monitoring supernatural hotspots," Izzy reported without looking up from her screens. "There's a pattern to his movements, but it's like he's deliberately leaving false trails."
"What if we're thinking about this wrong?" Malachi suggested as he studied the map. "Instead of chasing where he's been, we predict where he's going. There have to be places in the city with more spiritual juice than others."
"Places where the power runs deeper," Amelia agreed as her mind raced. "Ancient crossroads, convergence points..." She pulled out her grandmother's journal. "Nana mapped all the major locations in New Orleans. If we overlay that with recent activity..."
"We can triangulate his most likely targets," Camael finished. His ice-blue eyes blazed with battle light. "And set up an ambush."
"It's going to take serious coordination," Rami warned. "We'll need eyes on every possible location."
