by Kristie Cook
The way God willed.
My faith may have only been the size of a mustard seed, but that was all I needed. That was what Sheree had been trying to remind me with her tiger mind. If that tiny amount could move mountains, then my people’s faith would surely win this war. And finally, my own belief was added to it. So I did what I hadn’t done in way too long.
I prayed.
Dear God, Angels, whoever’s listening, I’m so sorry for losing my faith in you. I’m so sorry for being arrogant and proud and dismissing your work around me. Please forgive me. I know only because of you, are we even alive. But my people need you. Please help them. They cannot fight this battle alone, but with you, they will find victory. I leave them in your hands. I trust in you to protect them. To protect my son, too. And if it is your will, I trust in you to protect me as I once again go to Hell and do as you have asked of me—stop Lucas and Satan.
With that, I tucked my wings behind me to make me more aerodynamic as I shot downward toward the flames. As they grew closer, though, a clawed hand grabbed at my ankle, stopping my plunge. The Demon whipped me to the side, tossing me into the air. I twisted around and shot at its horned head while kicking my leg free. I stared it in its black eyes as I repeated my prayer aloud. It covered its pointy, bat-like ears and let out a high-pitched screech as it soared away.
I fell backwards through the air, face up as lightning streaked across the formidably dark clouds hanging low in the sky. But something else caught my attention … made me gasp. Before I turned to dive into the pit of flames, I gave my wings a steadying flap to hold me for just a moment longer as I stared in awe at the glorious sight all around me. I finally saw what everyone else had known because their hearts and souls had been open to what I could not see with my eyes.
Angels.
Angels everywhere. With huge, white, feathery wings and long, flashing blades, Angels fought in the battle side by side with my people. Thousands, no, millions of them. Some slayed Demons while others fought with the Amadis and Normans against the Daemoni. The odds had flipped over to our favor, at least two to one.
Seeing with my eyes what I had felt moments before—that my people and the Normans were protected and would win this battle—I flipped over, closed my wings tightly against my back and sailed downward, into the fire. Like forked tongues, the flames leapt and licked at me, but as I came close enough to touch them, they suddenly separated, opening into a hole that became a wide tunnel through the fire. Ahead, Lucas’s and Dorian’s bodies continued falling. I flew for my son.
Chapter 25
A thirst for blood like I hadn’t felt in years tore through me. Alexis and I both shot Lucas, and our feathers sank into his chest with several satisfying thuds. But it was too little, too late. Our son’s body sagged, and then it dropped from Lucas’s grip, straight for the fire below them. Down, I presumed, to Satan, who waited for Dorian’s blood to open the Gates and free him from Hell.
The look that had been on Dorian’s face at that devastating moment would haunt me until my final day. Steadfast, determined, knowing. And, I believed, expectant. Expectant that his mother and I would stop the madness Lucas intended. But we were failing our son. I was failing him. We’d never get to him in time.
As we soared for Dorian and Lucas falling into the fiery pit, Alexis gave the order, and the battle began. Our people sprang into action, and so did the Daemoni. Were-animals roared ferociously. Vampires hissed and growled. Claws and fangs found their marks, spells streaked through the air, and metal clanged against metal.
And the Angels fought, too.
Many brawled with the Demons, while others dropped down to help the Amadis and the Normans against the Daemoni. With the Angels fighting alongside us, we’d win this battle and this war … as long as we could stop Lucas. And save our son while we were at it.
The Daemoni didn’t make it easy, though. They attacked both of us as we flew for the center of the fire-filled sinkhole. Powerful magic blasted into Owen’s shield around me, disintegrating it on impact, which was just as well. My powers were stronger when not shielded. With a wave of my hand, I paralyzed the three vampires that attacked me, while pulling shuriken out of sheathes in the straps across my chest. I threw the stars at the bloodsuckers and were-beasts targeting Alexis, and their razor edges sliced across their throats and lodged into their chests. They dropped away, leaving only two for her to fight off so she could push ahead. With a twist of my wrist, I killed the three paralyzed vamps, as well as the other Daemoni that came in my way. I’d forbidden myself from using that power since my conversion, but this was war. There was no time for combat, no time to contemplate the condition of their souls.
Alexis reached the center of the pit before I even crossed its outer edge, and without hesitation, she dove down through the flames. I froze for a moment as I watched my wife disappear, headed back to Hell.
I shouted profanities as I threw my power at the bodies rushing toward me.
But they didn’t fall away. In an instant, dozens of Demons, immune to my powers, had appeared, hovering over the pit, blocking my way. Their oily bodies and black eyes reflected the orange and yellow of the flames. I flicked more shuriken, decapitating several, and when I exhausted my supply, I reached behind me and released the swords on my back. And I charged, swinging and arcing, dropping heads two at a time. For every Demon I slayed, however, another appeared.
I growled with frustration. Why had Alexis been able to pass through, but they seemed intent on preventing me from doing the same? Had they not been fast enough to stop her? Had it been a mistake? Or did they purposely allow her but not me? Why— The realization struck me at the same time a Demon’s claw did.
“NO!” I roared as I swung a silver blade through the new attacker’s neck.
With renewed rage, I arced the swords furiously, side to side and back and forth, cutting my way through the pack of Demons. I had to reach the opening. I had to stop Alexis, or the hope for not only our son, but the entire world would be lost.
Blow after blow of the Demons’ claws and weapons pounded into my body, but I pushed on. Several Angels flew down and helped me, decommissioning the evil beasts to clear a path to the opening. Through the murderous red haze clouding my vision, I was surprised to see Rina and Sophia swinging swords and decimating Demons.
“You must follow her,” Rina said as she spun and slid her sword across a Demon’s horn, lobbing it off. It screeched in agony. Her sword swiped again, and the creature’s entire head fell. “She needs you.”
Sophia decapitated another on the opposite side of me. “She must stop Lucas, but she needs your help.”
“Be what she needs, Tristan,” Rina added, “and she will do what needs to be done.”
I threw an angry look at her. “Like Dorian needed to do?”
“She will be okay. Her faith is restored.”
“And Dorian?” I snapped.
“Save him,” Sophia commanded. I glanced over at her. “Bring back my daughter and grandson. They don’t belong there.”
We each sliced through more Demons, progressing toward the center of the pit.
“Of course,” I snarled. “But you and the Angels need to do me a favor when this is over.”
Sophia stabbed a Demon in the chest and swung it away, flinging it off her blade. “What?”
A black hole among the flames suddenly appeared. Angels fought off more Demons that swarmed toward me, trying to stop me before I flung myself through.
“Keep my family out of fucking Hell!” I yelled before I tucked my wings behind me and nosedived into the opening.
The aperture became a tunnel, barely large enough for my wings to spread and push me down. The fiery walls blurred all around me, streaks of orange, yellow, and white. I saw no signs of my wife, my son, or Lucas ahead, and I rumbled with anger.
“Alexis!” I called out with my mind, hoping hers would hear me. When no response came, I shouted out loud. “Dorian! Alexis!”
Th
e flaming tunnel disappeared, and I soared into darkness that swallowed my yells and everything else.
I dropped into the thick blackness of a complete void.
Chapter 26
I rocketed downward faster than the normal rate of falling, the flames around me blurring into orange and yellow streaks, but I couldn’t close the gap between Dorian and me. Of course, we were in some realm of Hell, where no normal laws of physics applied and distance was an illusion—a real life version of the universal nightmare of running for a door that remained forever out of reach. I flicked my hands in front of me to summon Dorian’s body, but he continued falling away.
The flaming tunnel gave way to a thorough blackness, much like my Hell I’d sat in for so long. I lost sight of Dorian and Lucas and everything else, including all sense of place. But the cool air continued to rush against my skin, so I knew I still sped downward. At the precise moment I realized I could slam into a wall at any time and thought about stopping, a pinprick of light shone, growing bigger by the nanosecond. I was racing toward the lake of fire. Two flecks below grew into Dorian and Lucas, still headed that way, too. I pushed myself harder, giving my wings a few hard beats. Dorian suddenly came within arm’s reach.
I opened my hand to grab his leg, but pain blasted into my arm and shoved me to the side. Lucas’s fist came around again, aiming for my head. I blocked his punch and flipped over, landing two kicks into his ribs. Taking advantage as he tumbled in the air, I shoved my hands at him, my power pushed him away, and then I dove again for Dorian. I’d barely flown a few yards when my whole body was yanked back and then hurled around, into a hard wall or pillar. Screaming pain tore through my back and torso.
“Fighting is pointless,” Lucas sneered, somehow able to hold himself upright without falling. “You can’t win down here.”
He twisted and hurled himself down toward Dorian. I followed, able to move faster than him now, while reaching behind my shoulder to retrieve the sword strapped to my back. When I passed him, I swung my arm out. The silver blade sliced across his torso. He let out a beastly howl. With a quick stab, I plunged several inches of the sword between his ribs, and then with a kick of my foot, flung him off. He soared into the distance to where I could see him no more, and he didn’t return.
I knew I couldn’t have killed him so easily, but I didn’t waste time wondering where he went. Maybe we got lucky, and Satan decided to eat him instead of possess him. I could only hope for such an outcome while I aimed for Dorian again as his body quickly plunged toward the lake of fire. I pushed myself harder than ever, swooped down at the last possible second, and grabbed him by the wrist right before a flame swirled around his foot. With another hard thrash of my wings, I turned us back upward and flew with all my power.
Earth’s surface could not be seen above. Not even the flames of the tunnel and pit. There was only blackness for as far as I could see. For all I knew, the opening had closed already, and I was zooming us toward a head-on collision with some kind of ceiling. But that was better than either of us plummeting back downward.
Dorian’s mind remained blank, but I could hear and feel a faint heartbeat. The wound in his neck must have healed up quickly before he could bleed out. The faintest trace of relief slid through me, and my little bit of hope blossomed further when I sensed the mind signature soaring toward us.
“Alexis,” Tristan yelled. “Go! Get to the surface! You carry the blood of their enemy’s youngest.”
My heart stuttered. Shit. Stupid me for not realizing that sooner. But it didn’t matter.
I have Dorian, I told him. He’s alive. Don’t worry—we’re getting out of here before Lucas comes back.
I’d no more than thought the words when a searing pain wrapped around my ankle and spiraled upward to my bare thigh. I glanced down as a fiery tentacle, reaching from the depths of the lake of fire, tightened around my leg. Tiny needles of ice pierced through my skin and wiggled their way deeper into my flesh. Another thin finger rose from the lake, stretching upward toward Dorian and me. My wings beat frantically against the air as I tried to pull my way free. With a snap, the tentacle pitched us to the side.
I slammed into a hard surface, and then was wrenched the other way. The force loosened my grip on my son, and he slipped from my hold.
“Dorian!” I screamed. “Tristan, help!”
The other tentacle wrapped around Dorian’s waist and pulled him away, out of my view. The one on my leg whipped me again, smashing me into another wall. One more time, and then everything disappeared.
I was pretty sure I stayed conscious, but all of my senses went blank. The lake of fire and the glow it put off had vanished, plunking me back into that black state of mind. My leg no longer burned from the cold or the fire. I could neither smell nor hear anything, and Tristan’s mind signature had disappeared. I couldn’t even decide if I was flying upward, falling back down, or remaining completely still.
Satan mind-fucked me again.
“And I enjoy it so much.” He didn’t so much as speak the words. More like he licked them down my back as they slithered over me, serpentine and slimy, making me shudder.
But if I’d really heard or felt them, they dissipated, leaving me in complete nothingness again. No senses. No feeling. Nothing. Except …
Excruciating agony tore across my upper back. A scream flew out of me and didn’t stop as tears filled my eyes and streaked down my face. I bucked and thrashed, trying to stop the attack, but unable to. I was pinned in place by some kind of force as pain like I’d never felt before sliced into my shoulders and down my back. My torso arched in and out and twisted side to side, but found no escape. Bones broke and my skin and flesh were shredded, drawing out scream after scream until my throat turned to sandpaper and my voice faded into silent cries.
“Can’t have you flying away again, now can we?” a snaky voice asked before I blacked out from the agony.
Chapter 27
The relief of seeing my wife carrying my son up and away from the depths of Hell had barely washed over me when ropes of fire whipped out of the blazing lake below. Like tentacles, they looped around Alexis and Dorian and snatched them back downward. And I was still too far away to reach them. I flew as fast and as hard as I could, but by the time I emerged from the darkness, Alexis was gone.
My muscles clenched, and an inhuman roar ripped from my stomach as I looked around wildly. Dorian. The cord of magma carried his flaccid body across the lake of fire. I flew farther down and across, after him.
“Dorian!” I shouted, hoping to rouse him, but he didn’t respond.
The tentacle whipped him to the far side of the lake and then uncoiled from his body, releasing him. He fell to the shore of black lava rock with a thud. I soared for him.
“Dorian, wake up.” I landed next to him and bent down to check for vitals.
He couldn’t die body and soul down here. Alexis would never forgive me. I’d never forgive myself. The second I felt a faint pulse, I sensed the other presence and sprang upward and around.
A falchion blazing with Hellfire swung toward me.
I bent backwards just in time for it to miss me and shot a ball of fire from my palm as I came back up. Lucas wielded the weapon with both hands, and with a jerk of his head, the flaming ball made a sharp turn and flew into the lake. He twisted the wide sword in the air and arced it back toward me again. I jumped out of the way and thrust my hands out to give him a hard shove of power. It had no effect on him.
“I have the power now.” His mouth widened in a grin. “All of it is mine for the taking. You, as you’ve come to prove, are worthless.”
He spun around and swung the sword. My feathers hardened into steel right before the blade carved into my left wing, and my whole body jolted as pain shot through every nerve. But my wing held. Lucas’s eyes narrowed, and his lip lifted in a snarl. Although it didn’t exactly feel good, he’d obviously hoped for more damage.
“You don’t matter anyway,” he growled, and
he turned toward Dorian’s prone body and swept the sword down.
I sprang in front of him and caught the width of the blade in my hands. Hellfire burned heat and ice into my palms and fingers as I gripped the falchion and yanked it free from Lucas’s grip. Before the Hellfire could do permanent damage, I flipped it in the air and caught it by its grip. I swung the weapon toward Lucas.
He only laughed.
And then disappeared.
“Coward,” I yelled.
He reappeared several feet away. I sprang at him, sword swinging. He jumped back another few yards. His chuckles echoed off the lava and nearby cliff walls, the sound like an aluminum can rolling over rocks.
“Come on, Seth,” he taunted. “Surely you can do better. Show me you still have it. Maybe I can find a place here for you after all.”
“Never,” I growled as I flew at him, the broad end of the sword aimed for his heart.
At the moment I thought it would plunge in, something large and looming crashed to the ground. Thick, iron bars suddenly surrounded me. Knocked the falchion out of my hands. I launched upwards but slammed into an iron ceiling. Lucas laughed as I dropped back to the ground. I charged at the bars between us. His whole body shook as his blue eyes lit up like lasers.
“A caged animal,” he mused. “So fitting. Isn’t that what you like, to be imprisoned under others’ control? And you could have had it all. You could have had this.”
He pounded his fist against his chest.
“As if I ever wanted to,” I growled.
He snorted. “Instead, you prefer to be a caged bird with your pretty little wings.”