by Jenny McKane
Sunny launched herself onto the large branch and changed her course, turning left and heading straight for the trunk. The attacks stopped as the tree struggled to attack itself with its branches as Sunny sprinted over the open air, refusing to look down to the floor below that was littered with dead demons.
As if it finally registered where she was, the branch she was using as a balance beam began to shift to shake her off. With a four- to five-foot space between herself and the tree’s vulnerable trunk, she pushed off and jumped as hard as she could with the blade overhead in both of her hands.
The jump worked and she hit the trunk with her feet first just as the blade above her head sunk into the tree’s flesh and momentarily held Sunny’s weight midair.
Flesh.
She’d hit flesh and not rough, woody bark, Sunny realized with a sickening drop in her stomach. This demon tree grew more atrocious with every fact she learned about it.
The thing was reacting to having an obsidian blade stuck in its core and she felt the shimmying and quivering begin deep within it. The flesh around the knife began to decay and that started Sunny’s descent down as the blade ripped the trunk open as the knife traveled down the tree under Sunny’s weight.
She went slowly as the tree unraveled around the obsidian, and Sunny began to yank, trying to hurry the process and reach the ground floor in one piece.
The thing’s shrieking reached ear-piercing levels as it died around the obsidian and its branches began to blacken and turn to dust, starting at the very top of the tree where it brushed up against the domed glass above the third floor. It was dying from the top down and ash snowflakes began to rain down in the foyer like some macabre holiday miracle.
Still, Sunny yanked and moved lower down its trunk.
When she was close enough that she could safely jump, she did her best to avoid a puddle of black demon blood and hit the floor. Glancing up she watched as the tree began to shudder and the death process sped up. The entire section of branches on the second floor where she’d just been was dead now, turning to dust rapidly. She’d made a ten-foot cut in the trunk and the inky black sickness radiated from the wound as the branches above it died off.
Soon, the tree was a stone stump, only ten feet high, immortalized in the center of Azrael’s crumbling keep. She’d done it.
Ding dong, the tree was dead.
She was too busy celebrating to realize she had company and it was only when she turned and felt the fingers wrap around her throat did she realize a crazed and manic Azrael had witnessed the whole thing.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Despite knowing just how angry Azrael was, Sunny couldn't help but notice how calm and creepy he kept his voice. She knew that his angel and demon aspects were likely at war over how to proceed with the dispatch of the human who had not only killed his first-born son and heir but had destroyed the power-gathering mechanism he had built for himself in his keep.
She even noticed how the power that had normally radiated from him seemed less intense and more sporadic. It was clear that Azrael was having a difficult time adjusting to the shift in the power that was happening all around him. The demons that had unwittingly fed him and his surroundings had all fled. He was alone, from what Sunny could gather. Not even his other son Victor could be seen anywhere. And Camael? She hadn't seen him since the day before. Had he already left and returned to the human realm?
Azrael was shaking with anger as his grip on Sunny’s throat closed and she could no longer draw breath.
“One pesky little human,” he ground between clenched teeth. His nostrils flared and his skin was bright with anger. His claws dug into her skin and she felt blood trickling down as he held her a foot off the ground. “You are one tiny human girl, and look at what you have done.”
With nothing else to do, Sunny did just that. She glanced around and took in the destruction that she had single-handedly caused. Wouldn't Gabriel be proud of her now? At the thought of his name, she couldn't help but hope that he was somewhere hanging onto life and fighting back. Hell, she was proof herself that even when everything was down and the chips were counted against somebody, they could always fight back. Even if they had nothing more than a tiny little dagger and a whole lot of desperation.
But Sunny's fight wasn't over yet. In fact, it looked like she was out of miracles. She was in the foyer with only a pissed-off demon, hell bent on revenge. Yeah, Sunny was likely out of options after this one.
Except, she still had the obsidian blade. Without much thought, she swung her left hand up and shoved it into Azrael's armpit. Because it was the arm that was holding her, he dropped her to the floor and she sucked in a large gasp of air.
She didn't wait to admire her handiwork, scooting away from him as fast as she could and regaining her feet. When she had put a good ten feet between them, she watched. And waited.
Azrael moved slowly as he gripped the handle and yanked the black blade from his flesh, his eyes looking up at hers.
But unlike the moment that Vitaly had realized the blade was obsidian and that his end was near, when Azrael looked up at her she didn't see an ounce of fear in his eyes. In fact, he looked amused.
Shit.
Clicking his tongue in a chiding manner, Azrael shook his head at her as he proceeded towards Sunny.
“Stupid girl,” he said. “I’m an archangel by design and a demon by choice. Obsidian can't kill me. It only pisses me off.”
Well, hell. Sunny hadn’t counted on that. And she knew better than to let her guard down and assume things. That was one of the most important lessons that Gabriel had instilled in her during their training. When it came to demons, just assume that you knew nothing. Keep all your bases covered and wait for a major plot twist where they were concerned.
Well, here was Sunny's major plot twist. And obsidian blade did nothing to the Archduke of Hell.
“Interesting,” Sunny said taking an involuntary step backwards. “Seems I learn something new every day, don't I?”
Azrael was rolling his neck out, and slowly circling the arm that Sunny had attacked in circles over his head.
“Just because it doesn't kill me, doesn't mean it doesn't smart a little bit,” he said.
He was watching her as he moved. It was like a little dance they were doing, cat-and-mouse, hide and seek. He was advancing and Sunny was retreating.
She knew she had no other choice but to attempt to flee, but she also knew that she was up against an archangel/demon who, despite having suffered a recent loss in power, was still probably faster and stronger than she could ever dream to be. There was simply no way to outrun him, but Sunny had no other weapons up her sleeves. And now, Azrael had her obsidian blade.
It wasn't the most dignified action Sunny had ever decided upon, but she turned on her heel and she ran. The sound of Azrael's laughter bubbling from somewhere behind her made her second-guess herself, but she had already chosen the course of action and she stuck to it.
Legs moving as quickly as they would carry her, she darted around the stony corpse of the demon tree just as she heard Azrael beginning his pursuit. He was still laughing at her, as if this was some big game for him. It probably was, come to think of it. Sunny was never expected to survive the first tonight of her incarceration, and here she was practically bringing the house down upon his head.
There was enough demon within Azrael to enjoy a good twist of fate and a healthy dash of chaos. It was what demons were made of, and the demon within Azrael was enjoying this little game.
She ran for a hallway, the closest one she could find. Looking ahead of her, the entire first floor was empty. Both the servants and the guests were all gone. So, when she landed at the staircase that would lead up to the second floor, she met no resistance. Azrael was still behind her, but it seemed as though he wasn't giving chase as hard as he possibly could. Was he toying with her? She wouldn't doubt it. But she also wondered if everything that just happened to him was taking a toll. The magic an
d the power that had been buzzing around the keep the past three weeks had dissipated completely now that it was dead.
“You're only delaying the inevitable,” Azrael called to her once he reached the bottom of the stairs. “I'm going to kill you, and then I'm going to stuff your body deep into the center of the tree you just destroyed. Hopefully, it will be enough of a sacrifice to bring it back to life again.”
Sunny would set herself on fire before she allowed that to happen. If she died, she'd make sure there was nothing left of her for Azrael to use in some sick, twisted way to revive his stupid tree. But she didn't say anything, preserving her breath for the run up to the second floor. She looked both ways down the hallway, considering her options. It was empty, as the rest of them more, but something told Sunny to keep running.
So, she did. She dashed up the next flight of stairs, straight on to the third floor. She had a sick little sense of excitement out of finally making it on to the forbidden floor. She didn't have much time to gloat, or to even take the sights in as she heard Azrael closer behind her than he had been before.
“Care for a private tour of my chambers?” Azrael called from behind her.
Talk about the apple not falling far from the tree, Sunny said to herself, before remembering she should begin running again. Lucky for her, the layout was essentially the same as the bottom floors. There was a giant circular breezeway where the tree had been, and hallways and rooms off of everything else. She knew better than to take her chances by going into any of the rooms, so she ran for the breezeway.
“Stop running,” Azrael called from behind her, clearly bored. “It's getting you nowhere and it's only delaying what happens next.”
“I'm actually fine with that,” Sunny called back.
Azrael chuckled. There was no humor in his laugh, though.
“Do you wonder how Michael died?” Azrael called to her.
Here came the mental torture that demons were renowned for.
It was what Alder had tried to do to her when he brought up Plaxo. Sunny knew better than to take the bait, but the words landed nonetheless. Even despite Sunny not replying, Azrael continued.
“Camael told me the story himself,” Azrael said.
He was walking now. There was enough space between the two of them that Sunny didn't need to run either, as she glanced around trying to pick her way out of this predicament. She would likely have to run across the breezeway, find a hallway on the opposite side, and look for the staircase that she knew would lead down to the kitchens. Maybe once she reached the kitchens, she could find a doorway that would lead outside. Not that Azrael would stop pursuing her, but she felt like she was going around in a giant circle in his keep. She needed to even the playing field just a little bit if she hoped to get out alive.
That, and he had her blade.
“He wandered right into a trap Camael had set for him,” Azrael continued telling his story.
Sunny felt her breath catch as he spoke. Poor Michael. Despite being a bit of a dick, he had followed orders and had tried to do his job the best he could. She knew that much about him, and Gabriel had confirmed it over their conversations.
“It was brilliant really,” Azrael said. “Camael had got word out that a group of hunters had been trapped in a building, and Michael, feeling the need to redeem himself after failing you so miserably, marched in there with his stupid little troop of cherubs and was slaughtered. Camael told me he didn't even put up a fight when his associates were murdered in front of him. Cherubs make the most horrendous scream when they die. Did you know that?”
Sunny was trying to tune him out now, not interested in the gory details of how Michael and Rub had died.
“I wish I had been there to see it,” Azrael said. He sounded closer than he had before so Sunny picked up her pace. “He was my least favorite brother, after all. Always a suck-up, never thinking for himself. It's why he was such an easy kill, him and Jeremiel. They never thought for themselves. The perfect sheep for their side. So, they died like sheep, slaughtered and helpless.”
Enough. Sunny shook her head. She didn't need to listen anymore. Most likely, Azrael was talking out of his ass just to get an emotional rise out of Sunny. Truth be told, Azrael was nowhere near Michael when he died. He had only reaped the benefits when Camael dropped the body on the floor of his ballroom. That's the thing with demons, Sunny was learning. All talk.
“If you’re so keen on stories, maybe you want to hear about how easily your son died earlier,” she said, finding a bit of courage to try to rile him up into over-emotional action. “The idiot practically stabbed himself in his over eagerness. Seems you didn’t train him very well, did you?”
“Enough with the running already,” Azrael screamed out, Sunny’s words having their intended effect. He was pissed. “It’s time to die!”
Sunny snorted at that one. Die with dignity really just meant make it easier for Azrael to end her. No thanks.
She started running again, knowing that Azrael was running out of patience. More of his obvious demon nature shining through. Archangels would stalk prey down as long as it took, moving and thinking without emotion. Demons were more likely to get frustrated at the delayed gratification.
She made it around the breezeway and into the hallway that she knew would lead to down to the kitchens. She scrambled down the first flight of stairs, but when she heard Azrael close behind her, she panicked. He had moved incredibly fast.
“Enough!” he yelled from the top of the stairs and a moment later, Sunny felt the sharp, agonizing stab of her own blade as it embedded in the back of her thigh.
He had thrown the obsidian dagger at her.
“Now it's time for you to die like my son, and like my guardian tree.”
The pain was instant and soul deep. It spread in a flash from the point of impact and Sunny dropped to her knees, crawling forward using her hands to pull her along. She knew she couldn't stop, knew that Azrael was still moving towards her, so she crawled out to the middle of the hallway on the second floor.
She yanked the blade from her leg, nearly passing out from the pain. She hadn't been stabbed much before, but she had been nicked herself now and then training with knives over the past two years, and she had never felt anything quite like a true stab from the obsidian blade. Training to build up her immunity to the obsidian felt nothing like an actual wound. It was hellacious. No wonder the demons held such a deep-rooted fear of obsidian daggers. They were pure torture.
In the back of Sunny's mind she worried that all of her immunity training hadn't been enough, and that she would soon disappear into a cloud of ash just like the six demons she had killed so far with it had. She felt the tell-tale nausea rising up in her stomach quickly. Lucky for her, she hadn't eaten in three days now so there was nothing for her to vomit up.
And by the time she had finished with the immunity training, she had gotten to the point where she no longer blacked out. So, she was able to regain unsteady footing and clutch the wall to support herself. She moved again, this time much slower than before. But she never stopped.
“This can't be,” she heard Azrael say as he landed on the second floor and saw for himself that she wasn't a pile of nothingness. “Why are you not dead? I stabbed you with your own obsidian blade. Hunters died by their own blades.
“Surprise,” she called over her shoulder weakly as she hobbled down the hallway. It made her smile.
“What have we here, brother?”
From somewhere behind her, she heard Camael’s deep voice. She glanced over her shoulder, and saw that he had appeared right behind Azrael, likely coming up from the staircase from the first floor. Azrael looked over at his brother, acknowledging him.
“What I have here,” Azrael said, meeting Sunny's eyes, “is a human who refuses to die.”
“Is that so?” Camael replied with a chuckle. “Well, perhaps you should show her how it's done.”
The words made Sunny turn just in time to see Camael hol
ding a sword alight in flames in his right hand, and she watched him push it through the center of Azrael's back to the point where the tip of it flowed through the center of his chest. Azrael’s eyes met her a final time, the confusion obvious.
He just been betrayed by his brother. With a groan, Azrael sank to his knees and fell face forward on the carpet. Camael stepped up and retrieved his blade from his brother's back. He looked up at Sunny for the first time.
“Let's just get this over with, shall we?” he said as he advanced towards Sunny, the blade on fire again.
Chapter Thirty-Five
If she had a chance to stop and really think about it, Sunny hadn’t planned on spending what was left her life running like a bunny through the woods with the hounds of hell on her heels.
First it was Vitaly. Then it was Azrael. And now she had the recently fallen Camael stalking her down like she was a rodent to be disposed of.
“Have you seen my son Gideon?” he asked, the question oddly random and amusing at the same time with the way he spoke it. “I came here to collect him and give him a chance to make up for being such a failure and he just disappeared before we could even reunite.”
Camael was off his damn rocker, Sunny decided as she struggled to keep going. The stupid wound in her leg wasn’t going to kill her, but damn, was it putting up a fight and making the act of putting any pressure on it nearly impossible.
“Gideon.” Camael repeated the name.
Why was he talking to her about him? What did he know about their relationship?
“I never expected to father a child when I took that half-demon whore to my bed. Never thought she could get pregnant, but she was just human enough for that abomination to happen.”
Sunny was mostly appreciative that he was stuck mid-monologue, but the story was a bad one and she hated hearing about Gideon’s unfortunate beginning and his mother’s unfortunate end.