What kind of demon or fallen angel power was this? How long had they been like this? And would the length of time they were unconscious matter on how easy it would be to wake them again?
I didn’t know the answers to any of those questions, but whatever this was, it was unlike anything I’d ever seen before.
I inspected the woman more closely for any sign of an answer, but it was impossible to tell if she’d been unconscious for hours or minutes. This could have occurred shortly after we left camp at daybreak, or it could have happened minutes before our return when the sun started sinking toward the horizon. I saw no marks on the woman, but I didn’t remove her clothes.
I turned the woman onto her side and then carefully onto her front before rolling her over again. She never so much as twitched while I examined her. I was born in Hell, fought beside Kobal and against Lucifer, but her utter stillness was one of the creepiest things I’d ever encountered.
What the fuck is going on here? And what if it’s impossible to wake them again?
Nothing scared me, but the idea of losing most of our camp in this one, strange, fell swoop made my skin crawl. Not only would we lose them, but also Corson as he’d never survive the loss of Wren if she were involved in this too.
A rustle of wings alerted me to Raphael’s descent before the angel landed noiselessly beside me. His white wings rippled outward, and he shook the golden angel dust from them. The movement revealed the sun symbol pattern of gold feathers on his inner right wing.
Curiosity once compelled me to ask him about those feathers and if they were on all the angels. He’d simply replied, “I am unique among my kind,” in his flat, emotionless tone before walking away.
His response only piqued my curiosity and annoyance, but I hadn’t bothered to ask him again. I didn’t want to end up fighting with a celestial being who could draw on life and fire it into my ass. My ass was far too nice to be blown off.
Raphael’s violet eyes surveyed the bodies with an air of detachment. When he rested his hand on the handle of the broadsword at his side, he covered the blue jewel set into it. His white-blond hair hung to the shoulders of the brown shirt he’d modified to fit his wings. Over top of the shirt, he wore a silver plate of chest armor.
“Did you see anything nearby?” I asked him.
“There are more bodies in the woods.”
“Bodies like these?”
“Yes. They are all sleeping, and they are all our followers.”
They’re all Kobal’s followers, but I decided now was not the time to argue semantics with him. We had far more important things to handle.
“Did you see anyone or anything else nearby?” I asked.
“If I had, I would have stopped them or brought them back,” he replied.
“Can you heal those who are affected?” I inquired.
“I shouldn’t.”
My temper started fraying, but fighting with this golden prick would only waste valuable time. That didn’t mean I didn’t want to choke him like a goddamn chicken.
“I understand that.” I smiled at him, refusing to let him know he’d annoyed me. “But is it even possible for you to heal them?”
If it were, one way or another, I’d make him work his ability to heal them.
“I do not know,” he replied.
I’d assumed I would have to prod him further, but Raphael crossed over to kneel at Bale’s side. He brushed aside the fire red hair covering her face before placing his hand on her forehead and closing his eyes. Bale’s chest continued to rise and fall, but she showed no other signs of life.
After a minute, Raphael released her and turned to the human closest to him. He touched the man’s forehead and closed his eyes again. He stayed beside the human for a few minutes before removing his hand and rising.
“I cannot,” he answered. “Whatever happened to them is beyond my abilities. This isn’t physical; it’s something else entirely.”
But what?
Striding forward, I knelt at Shax’s side, and resting my hand on his shoulder, I turned him over to see his face. Dirt caked his golden blond hair, crusted blood had dried under his nose and upper lip, but the injuries that caused the bleeding were already healed. Shax was a fast healer, but I suspected at least an hour had passed since they were all struck down.
I squeezed Shax’s shoulder before rising to walk over and kneel at Hawk’s side. The former human turned canagh demon had fallen on his back. He had one arm draped across his chest, and oddly enough, a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. That smile was almost as confusing as the numerous sleeping beauties.
“What the…?”
My voice trailed off as I lifted my head to gaze at the rest of the bodies. We were missing something here, but what?
“Where’s Caim?” I asked Raphael as I rose from Hawk’s side.
He waved at one of the trees and the massive three-foot-tall, one-hundred-pound raven perched on a branch there. The raven’s claws almost encircled the entire limb as it twisted its head to survey the scene below. Rainbow colors danced across the raven’s black feathers, and the same colors danced within its onyx eyes.
“Wren!” Corson shouted.
My attention returned to Corson as he leapt over the fallen bodies and ran fifteen feet into the woods. Wren’s pale blonde hair shone in the sun when Corson rolled her over. My throat went dry as his hands skimmed her face to brush away the debris clinging to her.
“He’s going to lose his mind,” I muttered.
“He must maintain control now more than ever,” Raphael stated. “So far, we are the only four unaffected.”
“Aren’t you observant?” I drawled.
Raphael frowned at me before nodding. “I am.”
Apparently, sarcasm was lost on angels. Unwilling to hear anything more from Raphael, I made my way across the clearing toward Corson. Placing my feet carefully between the bodies, I managed to avoid stepping on any of them. I was fifteen feet away from Corson when he lifted his head and his blazing orange eyes locked on mine.
He would murder everything he got his hands on if we didn’t figure out what was going on and fix it soon… if it could be fixed.
“What did this?” Corson snarled.
When I looked at the bodies again, I realized some more of them were smiling while others grimaced. In Corson’s arms, Wren’s mouth pursed and her brow furrowed. Whatever held her within its grasp troubled her.
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
“What could have the power, the strength, the need to do this?” Corson demanded.
Before I could reply, Caim launched himself out of the tree and, with a loud caw, dove into the woods. Branches snapped as he plummeted with the speed of a meteor toward the ground and out of view.
A startled, female cry followed his disappearance.
CHAPTER 2
Magnus
I only beat Corson to where Caim vanished because he paused to lift Wren into his arms and carry her through the woods. Raphael soared overhead before arcing toward the ground.
When I saw Caim again, he wasn’t in raven shape but had resumed the form of a man. He darted back and forth in front of a woman as he used his open wings to block her from running past him.
The silver spikes protruding from the upper and bottom tips of his wings flashed as he moved. Like in his raven form, his ebony hair and coal black eyes shimmered with hints of rainbow color. Unlike the other fallen angels, who regrew more bat-like, veined wings after shearing them off when they first fell to Earth, Caim’s wings had regrown feathers, but those feathers grew back black instead of white like the non-fallen angels.
The woman ducked to the side before spinning and dashing past the edge of one of Caim’s wings. She plummeted into the woods with her hands out to stop any branches from slapping her face. I didn’t think she had any idea where she was going or what lay ahead of her as she charged forward with the recklessness of an immortal.
Speeding after the woman, I
kept my gaze locked on her so I wouldn’t lose her in the forest. As she ran, her ginger hair trailed like a banner behind her and revealed its numerous colors. It appeared redder one moment, blonder the next, and the color of a pumpkin in the following instant. I realized her hair was like the sky at sunset, ever-changing and multi-hued. The sides of it were pulled back into two braids that became one as they ran down the center of the thick mass.
I couldn’t see her face, but if it was anything like her hair, then this woman was magnificent.
I wasn’t overly thrilled with having to run, it wasn’t an exercise I partook in often, but I had to catch her because I had to see her. I poured on the speed as curiosity about this creature propelled me onward.
Slender, the woman moved with the grace of a demon, but I didn’t know which kind. The bottom of her short-sleeved, yellow dress beat against her ankles when she leapt over a fallen log and around the body of a woman. The past week had been unseasonably warm for February, and her clothes, as well as my own short-sleeved shirt, reflected this.
“Corson, I’ll get her. Check the woman!” I shouted over my shoulder.
The shadow of an angel swept over us again. I didn’t know it belonged to Raphael until he plummeted out of the trees. A cloud of dirt and leaves billowed up around his feet when he landed before the fleeing woman. She made such an abrupt right that I nearly collided with Raphael when she changed course.
If the woman wasn’t at least five-foot-five-inches tall, I would have assumed she was a tree nymph, given the grace and speed with which she moved. However, I’d never seen a tree nymph who stood over five feet.
Watching her, I had the sinking suspicion I knew what she was and what happened to the others at the camp. This woman might be the only chance we had to save some of the others, and she could not be allowed to escape.
Tired of running, I planted my feet and bowed my head. In my mind’s eye, I conjured the image of a wall before the woman. Lifting my head, I watched as the mirage formed ten feet in front of her, but it developed too late, and she ran straight through it.
“Shit,” I snarled before sprinting after her again.
In raven shape, Caim dove at her and cut off her forward path. Staggering back, she spun away, but he turned to the side. One of his wings skimmed the ground, clearing the forest floor of debris as he flew around her in a circle.
She was turning to head back toward the camp when I dove at her. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I tackled her. Without thinking, I turned to shelter her and took most of the impact with the ground as we bounced across the dirt.
When we finally came to a stop, I wanted to lay for a minute, catch my breath, and try to get this situation under control. The squirming Hell monster in my arms had other plans as she kicked my shins, clawed at my hands, and fought like a cornered hellhound to get away from me.
Rolling, I pinned her stomach to the ground. Her fingers tore chunks of soil away as she tried to pull herself free of me. Her tiny feet continued to batter my shins as she wiggled beneath me.
“Enough!” I yelled at her.
Caim landed beside us and transformed into a man. “Fiery little thing,” Caim murmured with his head canted admiringly to the side.
“Hmm.” I grunted when she almost succeeded in driving my nuts into my body with her heel. “I could use some help!” I snapped at Caim.
“She’s a tiny thing; you can handle this,” Caim replied with a smirk.
If I’d been able to wield fire, I would have torched the fallen angel’s ass all the way back to the pits of Hell. I could only settle for a brief scowl at him before the witch almost launched me off her back with a vicious buck of her hips.
Finally succeeding in pinning her down, I sat on her back as she squirmed like a worm beneath me. I caught my breath while I kept her hands clasped against the small of her back. After a few minutes, her struggles ceased, and she lay panting beneath me.
A twinge of regret filled me as her forehead lowered to the ground and her glorious hair fell forward to shield her features. Seized by the urge to know what she looked like, I carefully adjusted my hold on her, rose slightly, and rolled her over.
My breath caught when I found myself staring into almond-shaped eyes the same color as her hair. I’d never seen eyes like hers before, but then I’d never seen anyone like her before. From her slender, pert nose to her rose-red lips and round cheeks, she was exquisite. Yet the dusting of freckles across her nose and cheeks gave her an innocent air that contradicted her inherent nature, as the jinn were anything but innocent.
And I did not doubt that for the first time in my life, I found myself face-to-face with a jinni, a member of the jinn race. The involvement of the jinn in whatever happened to the others was the only thing that made some sense.
None of us knew much about the jinn. Their powers were mysterious and frightening, which was part of the reason one of Kobal’s ancestors locked them behind the ninetieth seal in Hell. The jinn were set free when all the seals collapsed.
The woman stared at me with a mixture of annoyance and fear, but if she could do something to me like what she’d done to those at the camp, I’d already be sleeping somewhere.
How does the jinn power work?
I didn’t think we’d get any answers from her, but I didn’t plan to release her anytime soon. All jinn would happily torment and kill any who fell under their spell, but something about this small, deadly woman intrigued me.
“Well, hello,” I greeted; her glower deepened. “And where were you running off to?”
When Corson skidded to a halt beside me, the bird earring dangling from the tip of his pointed ear swayed back and forth. Corson’s foot-long talons protruded from the backs of his hands as he leveled the jinni with a stare promising death.
Cradled against his chest, Wren’s pale hair fell over his arm. Her matching earring to Corson’s twirled around before coming to a halt. The anguished look on Corson’s face was one I’d never seen before. As an adhene demon, Corson lived for laughs and to fight, but once he claimed Wren as his Chosen, he also started living for her. Her death, if it happened, would devastate him.
I would not allow that to happen. Love wasn’t something I ever planned to experience in my life, but I wouldn’t lose one of the few friends I had, or his Chosen.
“What did you do to those in our camp?” Corson demanded.
Beneath me, the woman sagged, and most of the fight went out of her as she gazed from Corson to Wren and back again. Sadness crept over her features, but I knew better than to think a jinni would ever regret their actions. I may not have dealt with them before, but their ruthlessness and trickery were legendary.
“I didn’t do anything to them,” the woman murmured.
“Liar!” Corson accused. “Whatever you did, fix it!”
The woman glanced at me and nervously licked her lips. My gaze fastened on the glistening wetness she left on her full bottom lip. Despite this horrible situation, I found myself growing aroused as I inhaled her scent. She held the fiery aroma of Hell, but also something else…
Then, it hit me. She smelled of the promise of spring, a warm, cloudless day on Earth, and better things to come, and I wanted more of her.
CHAPTER 3
Amalia
I refused to let them see my apprehension as I glanced from the striking demon perched on my chest to the grief-stricken one holding the woman in his arms. Though the woman looked entirely human, I sensed something more powerful beneath her surface.
I was tempted to fight against the demon on my chest again but exhausting myself further wasn’t going to help me in this situation. If the fallen angel hadn’t gotten in the way, I could have outrun him, but now that he had me, there would be no escape. He was stronger than I was.
Besides, I wasn’t much of a fighter. It went against who I was, but if I got the chance, I would fight for my life.
To get out of this, I had to keep my wits about me, and I didn’t think they’d
let me go anytime soon, not while their brethren remained trapped in the Abyss.
I’d finally experienced freedom from the seal, and already it was being yanked away from me. I should never have gone near the encampment, but though they didn’t tell me what they planned, I’d known the jinn were up to something there today. I had to see what they’d done, even if I hated their actions.
And seen I had, but then I’d also been seen. I hadn’t expected to discover anyone here free of the Abyss, but I still would have gone to see what the jinn had done; I just would have been more careful about my approach.
Grinding my teeth, I steadied myself as, behind the man sitting on me, one of the angels moved. He was as golden as the sun, and the one who landed beside him was as black as the raven he assumed the form of when he attacked me. I’d heard stories of the golden angel, Raphael, who descended from Heaven recently. Raphael left Heaven, but he wasn’t considered one of the fallen angels, unlike his brother, Caim, who’d been evicted from Heaven six thousand years ago with the rest of the fallen.
I’d believed the stories of the angels to be nothing more than rumors. How could a fallen angel and a golden one work together without trying to kill each other? And how could they be working with the palitons?
A golden angel and a fallen one following the king of Hell sounded ludicrous, but there they stood as opposite as they could get from each other, but both magnificent, powerful, and terrifying in their own way.
Until the seal fell, I’d never dealt with any demons outside of the jinn, and I most certainly hadn’t encountered any humans, horsemen, or angels. Since being freed, I still hadn’t met any of the fallen angels or horsemen. I’d met only a few humans, and the demons I encountered, I got away from as quickly as I could.
But at least those I’d met wouldn’t consider me their enemy; I couldn’t say the same about those gathered around me. I’d fallen into the hands of the palitons, and I didn’t see it going well for me.
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