by Ciara Graves
I stopped when I smashed into a chain link fence. Junior tore the blades from his shoulders and threw them at me at the same time. One missed by a hair, but the other hit its mark.
“Filthy bastard,” I shouted as blood seeped around the dagger jutting from my bicep.
His wings expanded, and he lunged forward, clawed hands outstretched, aiming for my throat. Up close, he looked even more like Hadariel’s evil spawn. He slashed downward, toward my chest, until I rolled out of the way. He hefted me into the air then threw me.
The air was knocked from my lungs, and black spots filled my vision. I couldn’t call on my hellfire to save me. He’d cut it off somehow. If there was no way for me to get it back, this devil was going to gut me.
He threw back his head with a ferocious roar, then stalked through the street toward me.
I shook out my right hand, the other not functioning well with the dagger in my arm.
“Come on,” I said with a growl, shaking it harder. Sparks appeared at my fingertips. “Just one flame. That’s all I need. One damned flame.”
The sparks sputtered, grew larger. I laughed in relief. Then they sizzled and went out as the sensation of iron bars tightened around me until I thought my ribs would crack from the pressure.
“Seriously?”
Junior grunted in what I assumed passed for laughter. His wings stretched wider, giving him an intimidating stance. His hands flexed, and those long claws glimmered in the light from the fires all around.
The ground rumbled as explosions erupted. I guessed Bryan had found the grenades and put them to good use. I gripped the dagger in my hand, ready to fight this evil beast to the death when a shotgun blast came from behind him.
“Hey, asshole,” Lela shouted.
She fired again, and Junior whirled around to face her. He snarled. She fired another round and another, hitting him in the shoulder and the face.
“Get out of here,” I yelled, but it came out as a croak. “Lela!”
“Mech, run,” she called back.
Junior leapt into the air and rushed her.
Her scream was a knife to the heart, and then I was moving. It wasn’t fast enough. Junior spun back around with his hands wrapped around the shotgun Lela clutched close to her chest. He headbutted her, and she staggered. The gun was torn from her hands. She looked like she was about to go down for good, but instead, she fell to her knees, drawing two daggers.
When she came back to her feet, she slashed the daggers through Junior’s wings. He shrieked, his arms swinging wide to snatch her. He was too slow to catch her until he kicked out her legs and sent her sprawling across the broken concrete.
“Lela!”
Whatever injuries I’d endured were irrelevant. I charged him, ready to bury my dagger—the one I’d yanked out of my bicep—into his neck.
His right wing was suddenly blocking me. It threw me back again, and I crashed into a corrugated metal wall. It clanked around me, dented from where my head collided. My vision blurred, and I glanced down at my hands. The corruption pouring out of his skin was worse than what came from the abominations. It wasn’t just kicking my ass. It was draining me of strength, too.
And if it was strong enough to do that to me, it could kill Lela if she came in contact with it for too long. She had to get out of here.
Junior blocked my view of the street. His right wing drew back again, and a large, pointed spike broke through the leathery skin. I told my body to run, but there was no response. His eyes flared crimson as his lips parted, revealing two sharpened rows of teeth. He might’ve been an evil being spewed from the pits of Hell in front of me, but those eyes were all Hadariel. This creature was a part of him.
He drew the spiked wing back.
I braced for the strike aimed at my heart.
Out of the corner of my eye, a silhouette moved.
Just as the spike was ready to drive into me, the silhouette rushed between us.
Lela’s eyes widened as the spike drove into her chest.
Chapter 9
Mech
Time stopped.
Then it seemed to rewind and play again in slow motion.
Lela had charged in between me and the devilish creature. The spike pushed through her body and erupted just under her collar bone on the left side. Her blood spurted over my face. Her eyes went wide, then a strange calmness came over her.
“Lela,” I whispered, grabbing hold of her arms.
She shuddered then fell limp against me as Junior yanked his wing free. He backed away with a confused look as if he too wasn’t sure what just happened.
“Lela? Look at me, damn it.”
Her eyes fluttered, but they didn’t open again. Blood poured from the wound, covering her chest, her back, and me. Her pulse was weak, and her breathing irregular. I wrapped her in my arms and sank to the ground, holding her to me. A tiny content smile curved her lips as she lifted a hand to my cheek.
Then her hand fell, and she grimaced, curling in on herself as if to ward off the pain.
She took the blow that was meant for me. What had she been thinking?
White hot rage coursed through every vein in my body then rushed back to my heart. It pounded against my ribs, each beat increasing a rage unlike any I experienced in my life. When I learned what Hadariel did to Lela, it only scratched the surface of how pissed off I could become. A growl started, like a low rumble of thunder that grew louder and harsher as I snarled at the monster who hurt Lela.
He smirked, not scared, and prepared his wing for another strike that would most likely end me.
Only it didn’t connect. Never had a chance to. I raised my hand, and a wall of bright orange and red flames sent him backward. He bared his rows of teeth and charged a second time. And a third. Each time, the fire held him back. My hellfire.
Whatever powerful bars he’d placed around my hellfire shattered in the reality of Lela lying in my arms dying. The wall of flames stayed intact, forcing Junior away. I placed my palm against Lela’s wound and begged her to forgive me if we both made it out of Dakota.
Fire came to my hand. I cauterized her wound. The burning stench of skin jarred her awake long enough to release a piercing scream. She flailed in my arms but went still. When the bleeding stopped, I kissed her forehead.
“I’ll be back for you,” I promised. “You better not die on me. Not yet.”
I propped her up against the metal wall then rose to my full height.
With each step, the wall of fire moved ahead of me, driving Junior down the road. Flames dripped from my hands, forming two whips. With a thought, I let the wall fall and then he came at me. I spun away from his slashing claws and brought the whips down on his back. He arched and shrieked, black blood gushing from the deep wounds. The attack hardly slowed him. He used his wings to maneuver, except Lela had done a number on them when she dragged her daggers through the leathery skin.
Junior’s attacks became increasingly wild as I continued to hit him again and again with whips of pure hellfire. The flames intensified with my rage, thinking Lela’s face as he had driven that damned spike through her body. I flicked a whip toward the offending weapon and sliced it from Junior’s wing. He roared and threw himself at me. The whips wrapped around his body, and I swung him around into a brick wall. He burst through it and landed somewhere inside.
The rest of the battle no longer mattered. If I could kill this bastard, then the evil would flee. That was my thinking. The fire shifted in my hands until it created a long sword that lit up the dimness of night. I knocked bricks out of my way as I followed Junior’s path of destruction into a building. The place had once been some sort of diner. Tables and chairs were broken and scattered around. Junior fell backward, against what had once been a jukebox. He scrambled to get up.
I raised the sword. He shrieked like a damned banshee. I brought it down, removing his horned head from his abominable body. If only it had been the real Hadariel’s head rolling around the tile floor, then
this whole war might be over.
The sword vanished with a quiet pop. The use of that much hellfire had left me weak, and every ache rushed back to say hello. I held my side as my knees threatened to buckle. Outside, gunshots continued to ring out. They were still fighting, even though their leader was dead. I had to get out there and help.
As I neared the hole in the wall I’d come in through, plaster and wood shifted behind me.
I swallowed hard, telling myself I was hearing things.
When I heard the sound again this time with a grunt attached to it, I hung my head.
“Too easy,” I mumbled. “Too damned easy.”
Junior’s body twitched violently. His arms and legs jerked and jumped like his corpse was trying to dance. A fist burst through his neck stump, followed by a second. The rest of the body contorted then expanded until it finally exploded, covering me in fleshy bits and black, foul-smelling blood.
I gagged on the stench and watched in disbelief at the creature unfolding where Junior’s body had been.
“You’ve got to be shitting me. Seriously?” I ranted. “What the Hell are you?”
The creature had wings twice the width as Junior’s. He chuckled darkly. He was too damned tall to even stand up fully. Had to be approaching ten foot, if not more. The horns on his head were more jagged and curled backward. Foot-long claws extended from hands that were larger than my head. He stomped forward on cloven feet as I took a step back toward the hole in the wall.
“Your end,” he remarked in a voice so deep and loud it rattled the building.
“Guess I’ll just have to kill you again and make sure it sticks.”
His jaw dropped open wide, and a snake-like tongue flicked in and out of his mouth. Fangs protruded from the top and bottom jaws, dripping with saliva or poison, I wasn’t sure which. “You first, demon.”
As the last word left his mouth, I bolted for the street. I made it outside when the entire wall blew out as he charged through it. He bashed into my back. I soared through the air like a projectile from a cannon. I never had a chance to hit the ground. He snatched me in one large hand and threw me into the street.
In some dark part of my mind, I was amused at how I must’ve looked as I bounced off the concrete.
Then the new version of Junior was there towering over me.
I attempted to summon my hellfire, but all it did was flicker and go out. I was beyond a mess and was going to lose consciousness any second. Lela. She was nearby, still dying. I wasn’t going to save her.
The beast raised his clawed hand high over his head. As he brought it down, I yelled, enraged, unsure what else to do. A burst of fire struck his claws, and they broke and shattered. He yelped, reeling back. Had I done that?
He snarled as he twisted around. A second fireball hit him, then another and another, until it was a constant barrage of fiery death coming to claim him. He bellowed, enraged, and spread his wings. As he took to the sky, the fire followed him, but he shot straight up and disappeared into the night sky.
I lifted my head enough to see a line of demons clad in black armor charging toward me. Koreth was among them, Kexan right on his heels.
“Tonamech,” Koreth yelled as he rushed to me. “Stay with me, son. Secure the compound,” he ordered over his shoulder. “I want them all vanquished. You hear me? Kill them all.”
Kexan nodded, then disappeared. The world was going blurry, and my body was limp.
“Lela,” I whispered. “Hurt. She’s hurt.”
“We’ll find her.”
“Over… over there.” I inclined my head the best I could. “Saved my life. Stubborn pain in the ass angel,” I mumbled then everything went dark.
“Get those bodies moved. I want the injured inside. Let’s move it.”
I was on the ground still, but there was some sort of fabric beneath me. It was rough, sort of like a cot. Rain pattered my face gently. I stirred as I was lifted off the ground.
“Kexan?” My eyes opened wide enough to spot him to my right, walking alongside me as I was carried away from the street and down another.
“Lie back, Mech. Almost there.”
“Almost where?”
I sat up or tried to, but Kexan shoved me right back down. I was too weak to fight against him.
We were in Dakota. Night hadn’t given way to morning yet. I must not have been out for that long. More shouts joined Koreth’s as they directed the wounded inside and off the streets. Fire rose from the perimeter, creating a dome of protection around Dakota. How many demon lords were here?
“The army,” I muttered, grabbing for Kexan’s hand. “That winged bastard, what happened?”
“Whatever that thing is, he escaped.” Kexan’s eyes darkened. “Some of the army did too, but we slaughtered those inside the compound’s walls. We lost a good number of fighters—human and demon.”
Human. Bryan. I had to know if he was alive. Fog filled my mind, and then I bolted upright. The demons carrying me faltered and nearly dropped the litter.
“Lela. Where is she?” I shouted, shoving at Kexan to let me off so I could go to her. “Move! I have to go back for her.”
Was she dead? She couldn’t be. I refused to believe she was dead.
“Mech, calm down,” Kexan muttered as he grappled with my hands. “She’s alive, alright? Koreth had her taken to the clinic already. Bailey’s tending to her now.”
“She’s alive?”
“Yeah, she is. We’re taking you to the clinic. One of the only buildings left standing. All the wounded are being taken there. The dead,” he sighed, shaking his head, “the dead are being taken to the compound square. The enemy bodies are being tossed over the walls. Your father is taking care of everything. You need to lie back, shut up, and let us get you to a healer.”
Reluctantly, I settled down and let them carry me to the clinic. People on litters and cots were lined up outside. I told Kexan I could stay outside with them, but he shook his head.
“Have you seen yourself? You’re hurt worse. Light injuries wait out here. You’re going inside, Koreth’s orders.”
“Just because I’m his son doesn’t mean I should get special treatment.”
“It’s on my orders actually,” Bailey snapped once we were inside and the demons helped me hobble to a bed. “You’re lucky you’re standing with the damage you took. It’s going to take days for you to heal properly. I should have you sent to Hell, but I doubted you’ll stay there.”
She was right about that. I was not leaving Dakota if Lela was here.
“I want to see her.” I scanned the clinic, but there were too many beds, and none of them held her. “Bailey, I have to see her now. Where is she?”
“You let me take care of you first, or I’ll knock you out.”
I growled.
She crossed her arms, staring me down.
“I just need to know she’s alive.”
She clenched her jaw but gave in. “This way.”
Kexan helped me limp through the maze of beds that had been crammed inside. Each step took more out of me. The agony in my limbs and side became excruciating. How bad was I hurt? We came to a bed that was partitioned off from the rest. Bailey hesitated, but when I growled again, she drew it back. Two demons stood on either side of the bed. One had bloodied bandages in his hands, and the other held a bowl with a dark bluish-green salve in it.
“She’s lucky you were able to cauterize the wound,” Bailey said as I pulled away from Kexan and limped to the foot of the bed. “She would’ve bled out otherwise.”
Lela’s hands were at her sides, and her shirt had been cut to reveal the wound at her collar bone. The skin around it was a gnarled mess and burned in a perfect handprint. My handprint. Her chest rose and fell steadily.
“We sedated her,” Bailey told me quietly. “She wasn’t coherent when we found her.”
“She saved me,” I whispered, and Bailey’s eyes went wide. “She jumped in front of that winged devil and took the blow me
ant for me.” I shifted around the bed until I could reach her hand. Her skin was cold and clammy. There was nothing I could say to her right now that would do any good.
“We got to her in time, Mech,” Bailey assured me. “She’ll make it.”
Though I appreciated her words, there was a worry in her tone that Lela might not survive such a serious wound. The spike missed her heart and the rest of her major organs, but she lost a lot of blood. There were cuts up and down her arms and three large ones on her side I hadn’t noticed before. They would need to be patched up, too.
“I want to sit with her.”
“You can once we take care of you.”
I shook my head.
Bailey placed a heavy hand on my shoulder. “You won’t be good to her if you’re not even strong enough to sit up or stand on your own. Kexan, get him back to his bed.”
I was going to keep arguing, but someone else moved into my view. Koreth. He gave Lela a sad look then held out his hand. He didn’t say a word, but the intense look in his eyes told me he would drag my ass across the clinic if he had to. I let Koreth grab hold of my arm. He supported me back to my bed and helped me get situated.
As Bailey prepared what I assumed was a sedative in a glass, Koreth paced slowly around my bed. His twitching eye was the only giveaway that he was anything but alright. I nearly died tonight. If he hadn’t gotten there when he did and if Lela hadn’t taken that hit for me, my father be without his son.
“What are we going to do about the compound?”
He stopped at the foot of my bed. “You let me worry about that. The demon lords are here to ensure it remains safe.” He nodded to Bailey, and she handed me a glass with a blue liquid. “I’ll talk to you when you wake up, son.”
I drained the glass and handed it back to Bailey. My eyelids grew heavy, and as Koreth and Bailey spoke quietly, I drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 10
Mech