10. Colt

Colt uses his body to block the passageway in front of him as he's led towards their purchase. He can feel Gabby close behind him, and although he can't see him, he knows Nathaniel is nearby as well. Gabby is buzzing with energy, her movements quick and jerky as they make their way deeper into the bazaar.

After the purchases were made, Asher's cage was removed from the premises for everyone's safety. According to the auctioneer now before them, their prize is deeper within the ground and they must follow him to collect it.

Try as Colt might, the deeper they get into the abyss of this magical city, the more he feels like this may be a trap. He turns, sharing a concerned look with Gabby. She nods as she worries her bottom lip with her teeth. She can sense it too. Colt looks from her eyes to her bag, and obediently Gabby's hand slips inside. He can see the muscles in her forearm stiffen as she grabs the spear and readies herself to fight. Colt resists the urge to spread his wings defensively. They need this auctioneer alive, at least until they have Asher in sight.

Finally, the hallway opens up to an expansive room with a river running through it. There's a ship on the dark, still water, and Colt freezes in place when he sees cult members loading Asher onto the ship.

"What the hell is this?" Colt snarls.

The auctioneer turns on him with a flourish. The man grins, rotten yellow teeth flashing, and he begins a chant.

"We've been set up!" Gabby snarls, ducking underneath Colt's legs and driving the spear into the warlock's chest.

"Two birds with one stone, right? Or in my case, an angel and a demon?" a woman in robes says as she steps on the gangplank of this ship and begins walking towards them as if she hasn't a worry in the world. "I've been waiting for this for a long, long time…"

She throws her robes back, revealing tight leather over bronze skin. Her clawed fingers curl as she rises from the ground, an incantation slipping from her ruby lips.

"A witch!" Colt shouts, flinging his wings out defensively to guard Gabby.

"She doesn't stand a chance," Gabby hisses between clenched teeth, then taking to the air.

The witch finishes her spell and hurls a ball of fire at Colt and Gabby. They watch it come as if in slow motion, and right as it's about to hit, they move to the side and let the ball fly through them as if it was never a danger at all.

"Is that all you have?" Colt spits.

The witch's face contorts in fury. She launches fireball after fireball at them with no luck. Cult members begin running off the ship, flanking her. Some have swords and some have guns, but none of them stand a chance. There comes a roar of anger from where the river leads out, and Colt grins as Nathanial flies in on his alabaster wings and shoots his own fire down on the enemy.

"Let's finish this," Gabby snarls as she dives into the men and spins. She flies through the crowd of cult members like a cannonball, throwing them to the ground in a screaming mess.

Colt meets the witch's gaze, and her fury is embodied in her dark aura. "You will never win, even if we die today, even if you get the last stone?—"

Colt flies forward and silences the witch with a hand on her throat. He squeezes, smiling into her face. "If we have all the stones, all you are is defeated, which means we win."

"Foolish demon, the stones are just half the battle!"

Colt's eyes narrow at her words. He relaxes his hand, deciding to keep her alive for a little longer.

"Why do you hesitate?" Nathaniel snarls. He swoops down and impales his heavenly sword through the witch's chest from behind. "We don't have time for this. We have to get Asher to Gabriel!"

"Nathaniel!" Colt roars. "These people know something we don"t! We can't keep killing them!"

"Anything they have up their sleeve will amount to nothing with the power of the Heavens against them," Nathaniel says arrogantly, then turns to slay more of the cult members.

Colt glowers at him, diving towards Gabby and coming up to guard her back. "There's something we're not seeing," he warns her as his own demonic sword is summoned to his hand and he hacks and slashes at the remaining cult members.

"There's always something that we don't know, Colt. We have to focus on the things we do. We know where the last shard of the obsidian is, and we know Asher is on that ship."

Colt and Gabby spin as one, ending the last of the men near them and spinning into each other"s arms. They still in midair, gazing at each other. The last shard is theirs. Before either can speak, a roar of fury echoes from the bowels of the ship.

"Asher," Gabby says, her gaze tearing away from Colt's and falling on the ship.

"Let's get what we came here for, shall we?" Nathaniel asks from the air.

Colt looks around—the ground is littered with bodies. The sounds of battle have faded to nothing. They've killed them all, and the only thing standing in the way of them claiming the last shard is a bit of wood and a shapeshifter it's holding.

"Do we have any idea at all who this guy is?" Gabby asks, taking the first step onto the ship.

"Kenna said he's more powerful than anyone we've encountered yet," Colt says.

"A powerful shapeshifter who can be anything and anyone," Nathaniel adds.

Gabby sighs and puts her hands on her hips with a determined gaze. "Time to go meet a badass? Let's go!" She storms onto the ship, determination in every step, and goes straight to the cargo bay below.

The black glow emanating from the stone lights the entire belly of the ship. The light seems to waver, like something alive. In the center of the ship is the large cage, the obsidian shard floating above it. Inside the cage a man sits, his rugged body folded in the cross-legged position with his head facing the stone above the cage.

"Have you come to release me, or kill me?" Asher growls as his eyes settle on Gabby as she approaches the cage.

Colt steps around Gabby, his own determination to protect her just as her drive to get the final piece of the obsidian. Asher takes one look at him and rises to his feet, his tremendous size making him tower over all of them.

"Demon!" he hisses.

The glamor he's hiding behind melts away as celestial fire burns through from the inside out. Asher roars, facing Colt with an angelic presence that can only be rivaled by that of Gabriel himself.

"Angel Uriel…" Colt breathes, summoning dual demonic blades as he prepares to fight.

"Uriel? The Uriel?" Gabby gasps. "You mean to tell me we've been searching for the stones this angel divided millennia ago and now he's here kept under lock and key by one of those very stones?" She almost smiles as she shakes her head. "How did you end up imprisoned by your own mission?"

"Release me, and I will tell you everything," Uriel says, lifting his chin.

"They will release you, brother, but you will be coming with me," Nathaniel says, walking up behind Colt and Gabby and drawing a celestial rune in the air. The rune sparks to life, burned by celestial fire so bright Colt has to shield his eyes. "By the power of the Archangel Gabriel, I have come to retrieve you to assist in the battle of good and evil."

Uriel narrows his eyes, making Colt tense even more. He trusts archangels as much as he trusts the kings of Hell.

"This is Gabrielle, daughter of Archangel Gabriel. You will do her no harm, and you will refrain from harming her demon as well," Nathaniel finishes.

"Angels keep pets now, do they?" Uriel barks a laugh, but he doesn't disagree with the rules of engagement. "Release me from this cage, we have little time. The scales of good and evil are tipping. Take the stone, Gabrielle. It is time we angels interfere with his blasphemous attempt to rend the world into chaos."

"He's my boyfriend, not my pet!" Gabby snaps at him, but she flaps her wings and flies to the top of the cage. She lands with a clang of metal on her hard soles and kneels before the stone. "Finally," she breathes.

Colt holds his breath from below. She reaches forward, each inch taking an eternity in his mind and when she touches the stone, the light flashes bright and brutal. Everyone but Gabby flinches away, covering their eyes, but she stares on, unbothered. She plucks the stone from where it hovers and her body cascades into shivers. Her wings tremble as she lifts off the cage and flies backwards.

Colt watches her with trepidation. Power is billowing off her in waves, the stones in her bag seem to sing now that they are so near to each other.

"Finally!" Uriel roars, and his wings explode from his back, knocking the bars of his cage to the ground. His wingspan shocks Colt, and he takes a defensive step in front of Gabby. Uriel smiles dangerously and stretches before turning to face Nathaniel, preparing to speak.

The thundering sound of footsteps comes from the entrance to the cave, and Colt watches as Kenna falls from the passageway and clambers to her feet. Her face is contorted in fear as she runs to him, and behind her Colt sees more of the cult coming.

"We have to go, now! We have to get back to Mercy City!" Kenna warns them, falling into Colt's arms in a bloodied heap.

"I can sense it," Gabby whispers. "Vladmir is on the move. I can feel him through the stone, something is happening!"

"There are reports of magical activity out of control back home," Kenna agrees. "We have to go back and help them! There's nothing else we can do here!"

For the first time since touching the stone, Gabby looks up at Colt and smiles. "We've got what we came for." Something flickers over her face. "We don't have much time," she mutters, taking wing and flying towards the cave exit.

Colt looks from her to Uriel, to Kenna. Things are moving fast. Too fast.

"We will meet you in Mercy City," Uriel says, watching Gabby rise into the air. "You know what you have to do now?"

His only response is a curt nod of Gabby's head. She knows now what she must do, where she must go, and it chills Colt to the bone.

"Nathaniel, will you take Kenna back with you?" Colt asks, and passes the vampire hunter to the angel with the briefest of nods. Colt needs to keep up with his angel, or he may lose her forever. He bursts from the cave entrance and darts through the sky faster than he's ever flown to catch up to her. Gabby's eyes are vacant, her body and wings moving as if she's not controlling them at all.

"Where are we going?" Colt roars over the wind, but Gabby doesn't reply. Her lips move, but no sounds are coming out. She has the core stone tucked against her chest and it seems she speaks to it instead of Colt.

Fear like he's never known, not in Dunabar and not in the cells of Hell, make Colt's blood run cold. Whatever these stones are capable of is about to be revealed and he isn't ready for whatever truths may come of it.

Gabby banks hard to the right and Colt watches as a large graveyard comes into view. His breath hitches in his throat when he recognizes it for what it is—the oldest graveyard in the middle east, Uyun al Hammam. They've flown to Jordan. Gabby tucks her wings in, diving at high speed toward the center of the cemetery. She lands in a flurry of dust from the ages, and Colt lands near her.

As the dirt settles Colt feels an ominous and oppressive energy, like he's been here before.

He looks toward Gabby and his stomach drops out. She"s standing on a large round table looking every bit the avenging angel. Her wings curl around her, her face full of excitement as she raises her hands in front of her. She's chanting in Aramaic, oblivious to everything around her. Slowly, the stones begin to float out of her bag. Gabby breathes a sigh, as if she's witnessing true beauty, and with a wave of her hands the stones float to their designated spot on the table.

"The dream," Colt whispers, the sense of deja vu weighing him down in place.

Gabby stands amidst a swirling maelstrom of dark energies, the seven pieces of the obsidian arrayed before her like shattered stars. Her angelic form seems both fragile and resolute, a beacon of hope amidst the encroaching darkness. Colt"s heart clenches as he watches her, a knot of fear tightening in his chest. He has never seen her so vulnerable, yet so determined.

Her smile, though small, carries a weight of determination as she raises the core shard above her head. It"s a gesture of both defiance and acceptance, as if she"s embracing the inevitable struggle ahead. Closing her eyes, Gabby begins to chant, her voice soft yet commanding, weaving a spell that seems to draw power from the very depths of the abyss.

Colt feels a surge of energy ripple through the air, a palpable force that seems to buffet him from all sides. He staggers backward, the ground shaking beneath him as if unable to bear the weight of the magic being wrought. For a moment, he fears he might be consumed by the sheer magnitude of it all.

Then, with a blinding flash, a pillar of dark light erupts from the ground, splitting the sky asunder. Colt shields his eyes, his heart pounding in his chest as he struggles to make sense of what"s happening. When the light finally fades, leaving only the echo of its brilliance etched into his vision, he slowly opens his eyes.

Gabby is there, sitting on the edge of the makeshift altar, her form bathed in the soft glow of the now whole obsidian. She looks weary, drained by the effort of wielding such potent magic, yet there"s a finality about her that speaks of victory.

"It"s time to go home, Colt," she whispers, her voice barely above a breath. Her eyes, the color of storm clouds, meet his gaze, and for a moment, he"s lost in their depths. There"s a sadness there, a recognition of the toll their journey has taken, but also a glimmer of hope for what lies ahead.

As Colt kneels before her, his heart and soul in suspended animation, he realizes that he has no idea who's just won.

And in that moment, as he reaches out to take Gabby"s hand, he realizes he's about to find out.