“There was some doubt,” Bale replied, drawing my attention away from the infuriating angel. “After all, you’re not as skilled at hunting and killing as me.”
“Everyone else would disagree with you,” I assured her, “especially the ouro.”
Bale studied her nails as if she were bored. “I will give you that it was probably a difficult kill.”
“I have to add that I was unable to see when I sliced its head off.”
Bale dropped her hand, but amusement shone in her lime-colored eyes when they met mine. “Bragging is unattractive.”
“Then you must be the ugliest woman alive!” I retorted, and she laughed.
In truth, Bale rarely bragged about her kills and was one of the most stunning women I’d ever seen. Her smile revealed her teeth, but unlike when she was pissed, her razor-sharp fangs weren’t visible. At nine hundred and eighty-six, she was younger than me, but almost every bit as lethal.
Her eyes flicked toward Wren before returning to me. Then, her gaze shot back to Wren and settled on my bite marks. Wren’s hand went to the handle of her knife again, but Bale’s attention had already returned to me.
Questions swam within Bale’s eyes, but I gave a subtle shake of my head. I wouldn’t discuss Wren with anyone else. Wren continued to grip her weapon as she focused on the woods. Caim made some strange laughing cough into his hand, before clasping his hands behind his back and assuming an innocent demeanor.
“Where are the others?” Wren asked, unable to keep the concern from her voice as she searched the forest.
“They’re coming,” Bale answered.
“What did Raphael discover?” I asked Bale.
“He tells me it’s nothing good, but he won’t reveal anything until we’re all together. He’s on his way here now.”
As soon as she said it, Raphael swooped out of the trees to land five feet away from Caim. Whereas Caim was all that was dark, Raphael was all that was light. His white-blond hair fell to his broad shoulders, and like the rest of the golden angels, his eyes were a violet color. After they were thrown from Heaven, all of the fallen angels’ eyes had turned black.
When he’d first come to Earth, Raphael had worn a white robe, but he’d discarded it after a month. Since then, he’d taken to wearing the same clothes as the rest of us. His plate of silver armor still adorned his chest over top of his brown shirt. A broadsword hung at his side; the azure jewel in its hilt reflected the sun across the forest floor and caused a blue light to flash over the rotting leaves. Taller than me, Raphael stood around six-seven.
No emotion showed in Raphael’s eyes as he surveyed Wren and then me. “It is good to see you are both well,” he said in his clipped way.
When he stretched out his wings to knock the gold dust from them, he revealed the circle of golden feathers inside his right wing. The golden feathers created a pattern that resembled a sun symbol. I had no idea why he had that pattern; perhaps all the Heavenly angels were marked in such a way, but I’d never asked. I didn’t care to know any more about the angels than I already did.
Raphael shook off the rest of the dust and closed his wings against his back. No spikes adorned his wings, which were rounded instead of pointed like those of the fallen angels.
“I hear you discovered something while searching for us,” I said to him.
“I did,” Raphael replied. “Perhaps we should discuss this alone.”
Wren glared daggers at him when he looked pointedly to her. Like the rest of the golden angels, Raphael had a connection to life that allowed him to harvest energy from all living things and use it as a weapon. He could kill Wren as easily as she could step on an ant, but that didn’t faze her as she held his stare.
“I brought the Wilders to you. I will hear what you have to say,” Wren stated.
“It may be best for you and all the humans to return to the wall,” Raphael replied.
“I don’t run from things.”
“She’ll hear what you have to say,” I interjected.
Raphael’s eyes slid to me. He was stronger than I was, but he wasn’t more powerful than Kobal, and Kobal had put Bale and me in charge. Because of that, he would do as I commanded. Raphael may not like it, but on this plane, Kobal was his leader.
Raphael nodded briskly, and Wren shot me an irritated look for interfering. I smiled sweetly at her in return. I knew the smile would drive her nuts, but she’d been doing that to me for a couple of months. As I’d suspected it would, her scowl turned into a full-on glare.
“Now that’s love,” Bale murmured from beside me.
“It’s something,” I replied. “How long before Magnus, Hawk, and the others arrive?”
“They should be here any minute now,” Bale said. “They only know as much about this as I do. Now that Raphael has a tidbit of information, he’s enjoying withholding it from us.”
“I bet he is.” I looked toward where Raphael stood with his hand on his sword. There were only a few times I’d seen the angel look at all unsettled by something; this was one of them. His eyes traveled continuously over the woods before rising to the sky, where they remained longer than I liked.
“Chatting with your brothers and sisters above?” I asked Raphael. Unlike Caim and the rest of the fallen angels, whose bond to life and the angels in Heaven severed after their fall, Raphael could still communicate with his fellow non-fallen angels.
“No,” Raphael replied.
“Good.” I wasn’t fond of Caim or Raphael, but I despised those cowardly pricks above.
Magnus and Hawk slipped from the forest with Erin, Vargas, Shax, and Lix following behind. “Where are the rest of the humans?” Raphael inquired.
“You said you wanted to speak with us privately, so we told them to make camp about a hundred yards that way.” Hawk jerked his thumb over his shoulder to point behind him. “You’re alive,” he greeted as he slapped me on my shoulder.
“It will take far more than an ouroboros to kill me,” I assured him. Or perhaps it will only take one woman, I thought as my attention returned to where Wren was edging away from the others. She was even trying to avoid Erin and Vargas, who were both as human as her.
Hawk followed the direction of my gaze and his mouth parted in realization when he spotted my mark on Wren’s neck. Newly turned from human to demon; Hawk was still learning all he could do, and as a canagh demon, he required nourishment from sexual energy as well as wraiths to survive. He didn’t have a problem feeding on the wraiths, but before learning he was a canagh demon and that his kiss could enslave another, he’d accidentally ensnared a human woman when he’d had sex with her.
He held onto enough of his human tendencies that he hadn’t forgiven himself for it yet. As punishment, he went far too long without sex. So long that I feared one day the honorable soldier might snap and do something he would regret.
Tall and broad, Hawk was thickly muscled and only a couple inches shorter than me. He ran a hand through his short, dark brown hair as his blue eyes studied Wren. He wasn’t looking at her sexually, but I still stepped in front of him to block his view of her.
His eyes flew up to mine, and he stepped back. “I wasn’t looking at her like that,” he said.
“I know,” I replied.
Hawk had spent enough time around Chosen pairs to know not to get between them. However, when she edged further away, I realized the attention Wren was receiving from the demons and angels bothered her, even if she pretended not to notice everyone staring at the marks on her neck.
“Glad you’re safe,” Vargas said to Wren and squeezed her arm as he walked by her toward me. “You also.”
I grasped Vargas’s extended hand and squeezed it. There weren’t many humans I was fond of; Sergeant Anselmo Vargas was one of them. His eyes, so deep a brown they were nearly black, twinkled with amusement when they held mine. Within those eyes were lighter flecks of golden brown color. His close-cropped black hair emphasized the broad cheekbones and olive complexion of his P
eruvian heritage. At five-ten, he was far faster than his stocky build suggested he would be.
“What is it you saw, Raphael?” Caim inquired, drawing my attention back to the angels.
Chapter Thirty
Wren
I hated that my eyes went to where Corson stood ten feet away from me in the small, open section of woods. I tried to get as much distance from him as I could, but I couldn’t stop looking at him and Bale at his side.
Had there ever been anything between them? I’d wondered it more than a few times since meeting them. They were deadly when they killed together; I’d never seen anything escape them. Often, they didn’t speak to each other as they stalked their prey and they seemed to sense what the other would do before they did it. They read each other better than any couple I’d ever known.
Oh, for fuck’s sake, you’re starting to annoy me more than Corson! I snapped at myself. Get it together. Corson said I was his Chosen, but I had no claim on him, and I didn’t want one. He could do whatever or whoever he wanted from here on out.
There were ten thousand more important things to worry about right now. Like why Raphael, one of the most powerful beings on this planet, looked like someone had walked over his grave.
Beside me, Erin shifted, drawing my attention to her. She didn’t look away fast enough to hide the fact she’d been staring at the bite on my neck. I resisted tugging at the collar of my shirt; it was already up as high as it would go. I never should have put my hair in a braid, but it was my habit to wear it that way, and I hadn’t been thinking about the marks when I’d braided it.
It was too late now, and to unbraid it would make it appear like I cared about those marks more than I did. Because I did not care about them at all.
Yeah, and the sky is full of yellow unicorn farts. I glanced at the sky to confirm it was still blue. For all I knew, with everything that had happened, the sky really could be full of some yellow, stinky Hell creature gas. The púca could shapeshift into unicorn-looking beasts after all.
Erin smiled shyly at me, and red color crept into her cheeks. Her almond-shaped, dark ocean-blue eyes radiated warmth. Small and slender, she was as nimble as she was intelligent, and during my time with her, I’d learned Erin Choi was of South Korean and Irish descent.
“What is it you saw, Raphael?”
Caim’s question drew my attention back to the two angels as they stared at each other with open animosity. However, no matter how much they acted as if they despised each other, I’d seen Caim and Raphael both protect each other from an attack. They were like the siblings who pummeled each other into the dirt, but if anyone else dared to do the same, the angels turned on them like rabid dogs. I didn’t know if they realized their protectiveness toward each other or not, but they didn’t hide their bitterness.
Not only were their looks and coloring stark opposites, but so were their personalities. They were both gorgeous though. I assumed that was a given considering God had forged them. The demons and angels may refer to it as the Being, but I’d dutifully donned my little bonnet and dress to attend church every Sunday as a child. The Being would always be God to me.
Raphael focused his attention on the rest of us as he spoke. “The fallen are gathered about three miles from here. They are at the gateway.”
A shiver ran down my spine at the mention of the fallen angels. We were here to kill them, but the idea of them so close was more than a little unnerving.
Caim was the only fallen I’d ever had any interaction with, and he wasn’t so bad. However, I knew his siblings were a lot different than him. They’d all been thrown from Heaven, terrorized Hell for six thousand years, and helped Lucifer unleash Hell on Earth. They were powerful, cruel, and looking to either destroy or enslave humanity. They’d have to kill me before I allowed myself to be caged by one of them.
“The gateway did draw them back,” Corson murmured. “We knew it was a possibility.”
“We did. I don’t like the idea of so many of them so close to us right now, but we expected them to regroup after Lucifer’s death. You are all siblings and such, and you tend to stick together,” Magnus replied with a dismissive wave of his hand.
I didn’t know if Magnus was as bored by this conversation as he acted or if he was trying to irritate Raphael. Lifting a hand, Magnus yawned into the back of it while his silver eyes held Raphael’s gaze.
The chiseled planes of Magnus’s sculpted face and his ice-blond hair made him appear more angelic than demonic. However, the two six-inch black horns curving back against the sides of his head were entirely demonic. His hair mostly covered those polished horns, but the tips of them were visible. I’d learned from Erin and Vargas that Magnimus, or Magnus as he preferred to be called, was the last demon of illusions and could weave things out of thin air.
“Yes, the fallen all consider themselves siblings,” Raphael replied, making it clear he didn’t consider them such.
Caim rolled his eyes. “Our bond to you and the other angels may have severed when we fell, but we are siblings still. We were all created by the same power and from the same Heavenly waters.”
Raphael’s eyes narrowed on him. “Yes, we were, but those siblings would happily have my head and yours. They hate you for turning on Lucifer as much as they hate me now. Consider them your brothers and sisters if you will; I consider them my enemies as it will help me to kill them when the time comes.”
For the first time since I’d met him, Caim didn’t seem to know what to say, and it took him a bit to respond. “True,” he grudgingly acknowledged.
“We did expect them to regroup, and we were hoping the gateway would draw them in so we would have a better idea of where they are and what they’re up to,” Raphael continued with a pointed look at Magnus. “We did not expect what I saw.”
“And what is that?” Corson inquired.
“There are twenty-eight of the fallen at the gateway. I assume that is all that remains of them,” Raphael said.
“I didn’t tally up their body count after we battled them the last time, but that sounds about right,” Bale said.
“Those twenty-eight are gathering a following,” Raphael continued.
“Fucking delightful,” Lix said.
Lix pulled the flask hanging from his side free, uncapped it, and took a swig of the beer inside. Though I knew it wouldn’t happen, I held my breath as I waited for the liquid to pour out of Lix’s skeletal frame. Like always, the liquid remained inside him—somewhere.
Most of the skelleins like Lix stood at about four and a half feet tall, but Lix was a little taller than the rest, and from what I’d gathered, he was their leader. All the skelleins loved games, riddles, drinking, and fighting. One of their favorite things to do was attempt to stump Erin with one of their numerous riddles. I hadn’t seen them succeed yet, but they were determined they would.
The skelleins all looked alike with their skull faces and empty eye sockets. I didn’t know the names of most of the other skelleins, as they rarely shared them, but they could be told apart by their distinctive accessories or clothing. They all wore swords and flasks, but they often pilfered clothes wherever they could find them. Right now, Lix sported a black bow tie with yellow ducks on it, along with a green belt looped around his hip bones. The skelleins often donned ridiculous apparel, but I liked their jovial, blood-thirsty personalities.
“We expected them to gather as many of Lucifer’s followers and seal creatures as they could,” Corson said. “Many of those imprisoned behind the seals will resent their time there. They’ll be looking for vengeance, and the angels will offer the possibility of that to them.”
“Yes,” Raphael replied, “there are many craetons there.”
“And we will kill them all,” Shax said.
Aside from Corson, Shax was the demon I’d spent the most time with. I’d first encountered Shax with Kobal and Bale when I’d tried to kill them before following them to the gateway. Kobal and Bale had been in Hell with Corson, River, a
nd Hawk when I’d arrived at the gateway. Shax had remained on Earth with some of the others. Shax hadn’t been thrilled to see me again, but Erin and Vargas convinced him not to kill me outright. He’d continued to distrust me, but I’d gotten to know him better while we were there.
Out of all the demons, Shax was the most human looking. He was six inches taller than me and at least two hundred pounds of solid muscle. His golden blond hair waved around his handsome face. The only thing marking him as something other than human were his sunflower colored eyes.
“There are not enough of us to take on what I saw at the gateway,” Raphael replied. “At least not right now.”
“How many are there?” Shax asked.
“A few hundred.”
Corson’s nostrils flared as he looked at me. “There are that many near us now?” he demanded.
“Yes,” Raphael replied.
“We have to move out of here,” Bale said. “We can’t face that many and survive with our numbers, and we can’t get in contact with any of the other groups to bring them here now that Malorick is dead.”
“That is not the worst of it,” Raphael said.
“There’s something worse than that?” Magnus asked, no longer looking so bored with the conversation.
“Yes.” Raphael’s eyes went to the sky again. I followed his gaze to search for black wings overhead.
“What is it?” Caim inquired.
“Astaroth appears to be leading the craetons now,” Raphael said.
Caim grimaced before speaking. “Yes, I can see that. Not a wise choice on the part of the fallen, but few could attempt to fill Lucifer’s place, and Astaroth is one of the few.”
“Who is Astaroth?” Erin asked.
“He is one of the fallen,” Caim replied. “He is not as powerful as Lucifer, but he can read minds.”
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