Page 11 of Samhain Savior

“We walk in shadow to preserve the light,” Vine said, his face serious.

They looked to me, four sets of eyes that looked both human and not at the same time.

I knew what came next; I’d said theCreed of Shadowsmore times than I could possibly count. I had the words tattooed on my body for fuck’s sake.

But it wasn’t enough to simply know the words. I had to believe them. I had to believe that what Modi said was true.

That the Order of the Broken Veil was going to rue the day they thought they could go against my crew and win.

That their souls would scream in Hell for eternity.

“We are theUmbra Fratrum,” I said, feeling those words down to my very core. “And we don’t fucking lose.”

Chapter four

Archer

“What do you mean you’re leaving?” I asked, watching as Modi opened a shadow gate. Staring at it, I could see a thick forest bathed in moonlight, the soft smell of detritus coming through on the night air. It was clean and crisp and it gave me absolutely no indication of where he was actually headed.

“I’ve already been away too long.”

“Away? You just got back!” I stared at my friend—my brother since time began—in anger and exasperation. “Asmodeus! What the hell is going on? For fuck’s sake, you’ve got to tell mesomething.”

“Archer,” he sighed, turning to face me, and his expression stopped me cold.

Heartbreak.

In all the eons that I’d known him, I’d never seen Asmodeus look so thoroughly destroyed.

Not even after our fall.

“Please, my friend.” His voice was a tortured whisper. “If you have ever, in all our time together, trusted me...trust me now. I’ve told you all I can. The rest is up to you.” Running a hand through his shaggy hair, Modi sighed, looking truly exhausted, and I wondered—not for the first time—just what had happened to him in the last twenty years. “Samhain approaches and time is running out. You must gather the pieces of the Fallen Key before the veil is at its thinnest. Find and protect the Everwood witch and stop the Order before they cause any more problems.” He took a breath, his jaw clenched tightly. “Do your duty, Archer. Protect the Light.”

I nodded, my jaw clenching at the lack of information he was providing, but knowing I’d pushed him as far as I’d be able.

The demon king was only so forgiving, even for those he considered brothers.

“We won’t let you down.”

For a moment, neither of us spoke. We'd been through wars, apocalypses, and just about everything in between—but this felt different. More final somehow. Modi's eyes held secrets I couldn't fathom, and a pain thatwent deeper than anything we'd shared before. Whatever had kept him away for twenty years, whatever this mysterious woman meant to him, it was tearing him apart.

“I know.” Holding out his hand, he looked at me, and the confidence in his gaze gave me strength. I reached out, grasping his forearm tightly, feeling his fingers dig into my flesh as he grasped mine in return. “When you have found what you’re looking for, come to me at Fallow Hill. You must return before the moon rises on Samhain.”

“But, the witch? How will we—”

“Trust me,” Modi said, a gleam of something new and surprising in his fathomless eyes. “When you find her, you’ll know.”

With that, he departed, stepping through the gate and disappearing into the darkened woods.

“What the fuck are we supposed to do now?” Vine asked, his sudden question breaking the silence.

“Asmodeus was quite clear, I believe,” I replied, my mind whirling with all the information he’d given us—and highlighting all the gaps he so blatantly left as well.

“You call that clear?” Vine gave a scathing laugh. “I’ve seen complex quantum physics equations that made more sense than whatever it was Modi just dropped on us.”

“New York or Boston?” Corson asked, ignoring Vine’s ramblings.

It was something we’d grown accustomed to over the years.