Chapter 17 The Watcher
Thaddeus's POV
Lumiel is screaming inside my head before we even reach my car.
"YOU LET HER WALK AWAY!" The celestial entity's voice burns like ice and fire mixed together. "The source is still alive! The infection continues spreading!"
"Shut up." I grip the steering wheel hard enough to crack it. "Just shut up for one second."
But Lumiel never shuts up. It's been seventeen years of this—constant pressure, constant demands, constant rage when I don't kill fast enough.
Cressida sits in the passenger seat, staring at her hands. She hasn't spoken since we left the hospital. Since she helped me kill her brother.
I can see her transformation accelerating. Black veins spreading up her neck now. Her shadow moves independently, reaching toward me like it wants to strangle. When she blinks, her eyes flash obsidian for longer each time.
Two weeks, Sable said. Maybe less.
"Where are we going?" she asks finally. Her voice sounds hollow.
"Somewhere safe. Where we can talk without police or devils interrupting." I pull onto the highway. "I have a warehouse in the industrial district. It's protected with celestial wards. Nothing supernatural can track us there."
"Will it stop me from transforming?"
"No. Nothing stops transformation once it starts. We can only slow it down or break the contract completely."
She looks at me with those scared, determined eyes. "Then teach me how to break it. Please."
"I DON'T CARE WHAT SHE WANTS!" Lumiel roars. "KILL HER NOW!"
Pain explodes through my chest. Lumiel can hurt me when I disobey. It's part of our binding—the entity has the power, I'm just the weapon it wields.
I swerve slightly. Cressida grabs the dashboard.
"Are you okay?" she asks.
"Fine." I grit my teeth against Lumiel's burning rage. "Just... my passenger is upset with my choices."
"Lumiel?"
"It wants me to kill you immediately. Thinks I'm being weak." I glance at her. "Am I being weak?"
She's quiet for a moment. "I don't know. Are you?"
Good question. In seventeen years of hunting, I've never hesitated like this. Never sat in a car with a contractor and actually considered trying to save them instead of execute them.
What makes Cressida different?
Maybe it's because she helped kill her own brother to try breaking the contract. Most contractors would never do that. They'd fight, deny, blame everyone else.
Or maybe it's because she reminds me of my little sister. Sarah was ten when the Hollow One killed her. She loved butterflies and always tried to help wounded animals. She would've grown up to be someone like Cressida—kind, determined, willing to sacrifice for others.
"You're thinking about your family," Cressida says softly. "I can tell. Your face gets sad."
"How do you know?"
"Because I recognize that look. I get it whenever I think about Landry." She wipes her eyes. "The good Landry. Before everything went wrong."
We drive in silence for a while. The city lights fade behind us as we enter the industrial district. Empty warehouses and abandoned factories line the streets.
I pull into a building that looks condemned but isn't. Inside, I've set up a safe house—weapons, research materials, medical supplies. Everything I need for hunting.
"THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE," Lumiel burns in my chest. "KILL HER HERE OR I'LL FORCE YOUR HAND!"
"You can't force me to do anything," I mutter.
"Want to test that theory?" Lumiel's power surges. My right hand starts moving on its own, reaching for the celestial blade.
I fight it. Muscle against muscle. My hand shakes as it slowly pulls the weapon from my jacket.
Cressida backs away. "Thaddeus? What's happening?"
"Lumiel is trying to take control." Sweat drips down my face. "It can override me sometimes. When I refuse direct orders."
My hand raises the blade. Points it at her heart.
"Run," I gasp. "Please run."
But she doesn't run. She steps closer.
"Fight it," she says firmly. "You're stronger than that thing. I know you are."
"I'm not!" My hand moves forward. The blade inches toward her. "I'm just a vessel. A weapon. I've been killing for seventeen years because that's what I'm made for."
"No." She grabs my wrist. Where she touches me, I feel her corruption trying to infect. Lumiel burns it away but the distraction is enough. "You're Thaddeus Corwin. You survived when your family died. You've been fighting monsters to save people. That's not a weapon. That's a hero."
The word hits me like a punch. Hero. No one's called me that before.
I wrench my hand back. Lumiel screams but I'm stronger. I drop the blade and stumble away from her.
"I won't kill you," I gasp. "Not like this. Not while you're still fighting."
"YOU FOOL!" Lumiel's rage is nuclear. "SHE'LL DOOM US ALL!"
"Maybe. But at least I'll die knowing I tried to save someone instead of just executing them."
Cressida stares at me. Then she does something unexpected.
She hugs me.
It's brief and awkward and I feel her corruption trying to seep through my skin. But it's also genuine. Grateful. Human.
"Thank you," she whispers.
Finally, she pulls away. "So. How do we break the contract?"
I pick up the fallen blade. "I've been researching devil contracts for seventeen years. Only found three successful contract breaks in all of recorded history."
"Three? Out of how many?"
"Thousands." I meet her eyes. "The success rate is basically zero."
"But three people did it. Three people broke free." She straightens her shoulders. "Tell me how."
Before I can answer, the warehouse lights flicker.
Then die completely.
We're plunged into darkness.
"The wards," I breathe. "Something broke through the celestial wards."
A cold laugh echoes through the building. Sable's voice surrounds us.
"Did you really think hiding would work? I'm bound to Cressida. I can always find her." The devil materializes in front of us, wearing her father's face. "And look—she brought you a new toy, Thaddeus Corwin."
"Get away from her," I raise my blade.
"Or what? You'll kill me?" Sable laughs harder. "I'm not physically here, boy. This is just a projection. You can't hurt me." The devil circles us. "But I can hurt you. Both of you."
"Why are you here?" Cressida demands.
"To deliver a message." Sable's smile fades. "You killed your brother. That was supposed to break you, make you embrace the darkness. Instead, you're trying to break the contract." The devil's eyes glow red. "So I'm accelerating the timeline. You don't have two weeks, Cressida. You have three days. Then your transformation completes whether you're ready or not."
"You can't do that! We had a deal!"
"I'm altering the deal." Sable leans close. "And here's the fun part—everyone you've infected? Their timelines are accelerated too. Three days until they all transform simultaneously. Including your precious Isolde."
My blood runs cold. "That's hundreds of people."
"Thousands, actually." The devil grins. "In three days, Veridale becomes a city of Hollow Ones. And Cressida gets to watch it all happen, knowing she caused it."
Sable disappears.
The lights flicker back on.
Cressida stares at me with horror in her black-flecked eyes. "Three days. We have three days to save everyone."
"We can't save everyone. We can barely save you."
"Then we don't save me." Her voice is steady now. Determined. "We save them. All of them. However we can."
"Cressida—"
My phone buzzes. A text from an unknown number with a photo attached.
It's Isolde. Standing outside Cressida's apartment building. Black veins cover both her arms now.
The caption reads: She's waiting for you. Tick tock.
Cressida sees the photo and her face goes white. "No. Not yet. She can't transform yet."
"Three days, the devil said. But Isolde's been infected longest after your brother." I grab my keys. "We need to go. Now."
"To do what? Kill her like we killed Landry?"
"To save her. If we can." I head for the door. "But Cressida? If we can't save her, if she starts transforming completely..."
"I know." Tears stream down her face. "I'll be the one to stop her. Just like with Landry."
We run for the car.
Three days to save thousands of people.
Three days before Cressida becomes the monster she's been hunting.
And Isolde is already waiting.