“Why does that thing recognize me?” Nikolaos asked, prowling forward.
“Because your soul is as black as a demon’s,” Jonathan answered, claiming his attention.
“You lie,” Niko spat, lowering into a crouch. His gaze shifted to his opponent’s injuries—and I knew what would happen, but the words stuck in my throat.
Jonathan rushed him, moving with such speed that the fallen immortal barely had time to react. Nikolaos blocked a stab. The blade slid down his arm, cutting through his black uniform. He shifted, responding with a hook to Jonathan’s already injured side. Then again, and again.
Jonathan cried out. The sound split my soul in half.
Niko knocked him to the ground with a hit so powerful that the earth shook.
I reeled forward, but Nikolaos deflected my attack and spun. He pressed my back against his chest and pinned me in a choke hold. I tried to jerk away, but his other hand cupped my chin, forcing me to turn to where the Annihilator fought my Guardian and Violet.
His breath was hot against my cheeks. Saliva flew from his mouth as he spoke. “Look at them. They’re as pathetic as you are.” He shook me, his fingers digging into the flesh of my jaw. “She’ll kill them both, you know.”
Just as he said it, Annie slashed through the side of Violet’s face. Blood poured in a line that traveled from her forehead down her eye to her cheekbone. Nikolaos laughed. The sound traveled along every nerve in my spine. “Watch your mother’s precious Violet die.”
I tried to scream but couldn’t breathe against the pressure of his hand upon my neck.
Release us, the Demon’s Eye said, but even if I wanted to, there was nothing I could do against the strength of the immortal.
But was he immortal?
The fallen Guardian’s touch burned like fire—like a demon. A thought ticked inside my brain: I remembered the first time Jonathan had touched me. Our contact had hurt him as much as it hurt me.
On impulse, I reached back, grabbing Nikolaos by the face. My thumbs dug into his eyes. Directing my energy, I made him burn.
His shriek bowled through the air. He threw me to the ground. I rotated hard, spinning away from him. When I got to my feet, my heart dumped into my stomach. Jonathan had risen, foolishly reinserting himself into the battle.
“Jon!”
I ran so hard I felt my legs would give way. Niko knocked Jonathan away. He still managed to rise, but Niko whirled, slicing across his neck with his blade.
Jonathan’s mouth opened, shocked as his life’s blood ran from him like water. I choked on a cry when my demon fell to his knees.
And all I could see was rage.
I screamed, leaping forward against the immortal bastard. He whipped around, parrying my attack. He lunged, his blade aiming for my heart, but I twisted and cut him at his ribs. He grimaced, holding his side.
“That’s for Jonathan,” I said through clenched teeth.
Again, the Demon’s Eye sensed his blood. Nikolaos inhaled a violent breath.
“I’m not—I’m not one of you!” He rose, his knife high, but the damage had already been done. He was shaken. His attacks grew sloppy.
I knocked away his advance. I opened my arms and unleashed my energy upon him. He stumbled back but didn’t fall.
All I could feel was overwhelming agony as I attacked again and again. Power fueled my every movement.
He slashed his serrated blade across my stomach, but I felt no pain when the material gave way and it cut through flesh. I answered with an upward strike that broke the skin at his chin. Spiraling through the air, I disarmed him with a wheel kick.
He stumbled backward, pressing his fingers to his wound. His crystal blue eyes registered shock.
Running at him, I threw both knives. One flew wide, spearing an oncoming lesser. The other impaled him in the chest, but not low enough.
He grunted. Eyes wide, he lunged, weakly thrusting with his weapon. I parried, using his momentum against him. He stumbled, just managing to stay upright even when I hit him again and again and again. I hit him until I could no longer feel my knuckles cracking against his face.
I grabbed the handle of my knife, ripping it from his shoulder with a twist. I smiled when he howled in pain, but before I could take the final blow that would end his life, Violet appeared out of nowhere and slammed her dagger into the heart of the immortal.
Nikolaos sputtered, looking down to the blood that pooled across his chest. He reached out, stumbling.
Eerily, Violet gathered him into her arms. She hushed his garbled words and pressed her lips to his ear. “You shouldn’t have touched my girls, little Nikki. Either of them.” She glared into his shocked eyes as his limbs convulsed and his soul strained from his body. Then she shoved him to the ground. “I’ll see you in Hell.”
Air heaved from Violet in shuddering breaths. Her hair slicked to her bloody face. She pinned me with a steady gaze. “The Eye doesn’t need to deal with that.”
“Ava!” Fiona’s voice ripped me from my stupor.
Violet’s eyes grew wide. “Go,” she said.
Amid the never-ending battle, Fiona held my demon in her arms. She pressed fabric torn from her own shirt against his slit neck as tears leaked down her face. I fell to my knees and she carefully slid him to me. “I’m sorry,” was all she could say, but the blame was not hers.
Jonathan watched me, his breath labored and weak. Blood was everywhere. He would never call to the Destroyer to be healed. Fiona and Cedric couldn’t rejuvenate in time to save him.
I shook my head, swallowing against a swollen throat. I kissed his pallid cheek. “Jon—”
From my periphery, the Destroyer prowled, his palms facing forward, eager to retrieve his wayward soldier when he took his final breath. And I knew Jonathan would face his wrath for eternity in the depths of hell.
Jonathan knew it too.
I kissed his cheek again. When our eyes locked, our consciousness met. He nodded. It was the tiniest of movements, but I saw his desire.
I pulled his knife—his gift—from my boot and lightning-quick, plunged it into his heart. I cringed when my blade broke past bone. Jonathans features contorted in pain and then his black eyes found mine. In them I saw relief. Love.
His body went limp in my arms. I pulled him into my chest. A silent cry racked me; my hand still clenched the knife that ended his life.
A terrifying roar filled the air. I looked up to the Destroyer’s black, hate-filled eyes; then pain exploded. I flew back at a mind-altering pace. My world turned upside down and inside out a million times over before my body finally connected to the earth once more.
Agony. Excruciating agony racked my body, and I knew I was dying.
I had failed. I would be the reason for everyone’s death, just as I was the reason Ian and Benjamin died. I was the reason my parents were killed.
Now I had killed Jonathan.
This truth was all I could think about as I recoiled into the darkness and cold that was claiming me. It was my turn to die.
But from out of the darkness, warmth blossomed at my chest.
A jolt woke me from my macabre thoughts. My eyes flashed open. A blurred face watched me, yelled at me, and I recognized him immediately. He was beautiful. Breathtaking, even.
The roar of Darius’s voice muted in my ears. I coughed. Liquid rattled in my lungs. I lifted a heavy hand to touch my swelling face. When I pulled it away, red coated the tips of my fingers.
Darius still yelled over me, his face strained and white.
Was this real?
Real or not, every fiber warned I was still going to die.
I grasped his fingers, needing his strength. I rolled my head to the side.
A dark image menaced toward me, the oily aura of his soul radiating from him. The Destroyer’s black eyes transfixed me. All warnings were dead to my ears. There was nowhere else to look. The demonic shell he had stolen shed like a snake’s skin from his true form. As the shadowed ruler advanced,
an army of Fallen appeared at his side. They flanked their lord, stretching out to his left and his right, hundreds of them—an army of demonic warriors to destroy us all.
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Ava.
Heat pulsed at my chest. The Demon’s Eye called to me, warm and alive.
Ava, release us, Hepzibah said.
I swallowed back the metal taste in my mouth. My breath wheezed. “I can’t.”
Ava. But it was a different voice that called to me now, clear and beautiful. I sobbed out a breath. He was there. He was with me. A tear escaped from my eye, slipping down my cheek.
Trust me, Jonathan said. Release us.
And I did trust him.
My arm felt like lead, but I managed to pick up my mother’s pendant. It was hot, near scalding to the touch. I welcomed the sensation. It made me feel alive. I lifted it to my lips, touching it to the blood that fell from my mouth.
A flash of light nearly blinded me. The Demon’s Eye burst into a thousand broken pieces, crumbling in my hands. Relief swept over me, and I closed my eyes, letting my head fall back against my Guardian’s chest.
“Ava,” Darius’s voice was solid in my ear. He gently patted my cheek.
When I opened my eyes again, I still lay cradled in his embrace. Next to him, a face I had never seen stared back at me. Freckles dotted his nose and cheeks. A lazy smile lit his youthful features, but even though it wasn’t the same, eyes I had grown to recognize and love watched me.
“Jonathan.”
“You trusted me.” His smile stretched into a grin. His hand was solid in mine, his skin tanned and smooth. His dark hair was longer and curled at the nape. “Now get up.”
He clapped my hand in his, lifting me with ease. Darius steadied me, and with his support I scanned the new scene, vastly different from before.
Hepzibah, Selina, and Silicas, with their thousands of hosts swept over the land in a wild rush. Demons screamed, disappearing into the night. Some battled but lost against a number too great to contain. The Destroyer had taken on another Fallen host, but he was backing away, his face contorting in rage. My demons gave him a wide berth, ignoring his glares. His palms jutted out over and over again as he tried to snatch back their souls. It was no use. They were not his.
The Annihilator still battled, her face pale, her movements weak. Blood seeped from her stomach as she fought Violet, Elisa, and Laith.
When the Destroyer saw her decline, he stretched forth his hand again. She screamed, her eyes wide. Her opponents stepped back, sensing his involvement. Annie turned and ran, putting as much space between her and her eternal mate as possible. It was no use. Her soul strained from her mortal carcass like sand, into his waiting palm.
And with that—she was gone.
Despite not killing her myself, satisfaction swelled within me. She would not like where she was going.
My warriors ripped through the Destroyer’s remaining ranks. His forces fell, but before they could all be wiped out, his enraged voice rang out over the din. “Enough!”
With a wave of his hand, his remaining army flew back to him in a tornado of writhing, blackened souls.
Silence blanketed the air. Hepzibah’s army turned from their stampede, circling us as our enemy once had. The mortal survivors clung to each other, their faces a range of emotions. Violet and the Heralds raced to return.
Aaron still held the baby and Yvette close, his dagger raised in defense. A haggard Madelyn hovered near, not yet willing to take her baby from the angel’s protection.
The Destroyer eyeballed our new line of defense, his anger tangible. His finger trailed the line of warriors. “These souls are not yours. They belong to me.”
I stumbled forward with my Guardian at my side to stand in front of Jonathan and Violet, which only made him angrier.
My body throbbed. Every muscled screamed in protest, but I lifted my head higher when I spoke. “They are mine to protect.”
His face reddened as he lowered into a crouch. “You need to die.”
Suddenly, Elisa stepped in front of me, arms raised. “No.” But it wasn’t her voice that spoke, neither was it her blue eyes that stared out. It was Him—my immortal employer. My God.
The warriors from the Demon’s Eye fell to the ground upon their faces. Jonathan and Violet did the same behind me. The Destroyer jerked back, watching as my demons prostrated upon the earth, but not to him. Laith held two knives at the ready, glaring at anyone that would dare to attack. I wondered if I should do as my demons did, but The Three didn’t bow or cower. They stood out in a line, to the left and right of the new presence.
The Destroyer hissed, pointing an accusing finger. “Stand down. I am in my right to kill her. Your Defender continues to engage—”
“She did not engage you, nor can you kill her. You are not meant to meddle in the lives of my immortals.”
My breath hitched in my lungs. “Your—your immortals?”
Beside me, Darius reached for my hand, gently squeezing my fingers.
Heavenly blue eyes considered me, and even though He was within Elisa, I couldn’t think of it being Elisa. She was a perfect reflection of that being—His image temporarily set with her countenance.
The Destroyer continued. “She stole my children. My warriors.”
He turned away, addressing him. “She saved them.”
The devil shook with rage. “That’s not possible.”
The heavenly being smiled, sadly. “Isn’t it? You were their deceiver, their weakness, the dark mark upon their brow. You became their captor, but they never were your children. They are mine, and they have made their choice. Depart.”
The Destroyer’s mouth opened and closed as his eyes flashed about the remaining survivors of his campaign.
Elisa’s gaze—no, God’s gaze fell to me. “The Three’s balance has been reset. Mortals shall have their demons to tempt them, but their warriors to aid them. Go,” He said. His hand lashed out, His voice sharp and strong. “Continue your pestilence somewhere else.”
The Destroyer cringed against a violent spasm. His gaze went blank. The whites of his eyes appeared, then rolled back into his skull. His body seized once again, then repeated a final time, his soul pooling from its host. It disappeared against a black horizon. When the last remaining bits of his energy were gone, the empty carcass tumbled to the ground in a heap.
I stared at the body, waiting for it to move, to attack, for something else to happen. When nothing did, I turned to Darius.
My Guardian watched the heavenly being that now held out a hand to my angel—His angel.
Aaron carefully handed over a sleeping Adeline to her mother. Yvette ran to the protection of Cheryl’s arms. God smiled, watching them. Aaron’s gaze connected with mine. He warily came to me, taking my hands in his.
“I must go.”
I nodded solemnly. “Thank you. For always being there for me.”
He smiled brightly, but that smile slipped from his face a second later. “I will not be able to come again, Ava.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, concern on my voice.
Aaron shrugged. “I have my next assignment.”
“Oh.” But I could only mouth the word. My heart shrank at the thought of never seeing him again.
“This was my last great battle.”
“As an angel,” God said, His expression soft. He turned a slow circle to look at those that surrounded me. When His gaze crossed mine, my heart thudded in my chest. He closed His eyes, and I knew He was about to leave.
“Wait.” I looked about me at my demons prostrating themselves on the cold, wet ground. “What about my demons?’
His eyes rose, regarding me. “Your demons?”
“Your children. The ones that, despite their previous choices, chose to fight."
His gaze fell to my warriors, then to the ground where Jonathan and Violet lay. A smile lifted the corner His mouth. “Bring me that rock.”
I did
as He asked, dropping a golf-ball sized stone into His palm, making sure to avoid contact.
His hand slowly wrapped around the stone, squeezing until light grew between the cracks in His fingers. When He opened His hand, the rock had transformed into a smooth, white, oval.
I gasped when it lifted from His hand on its own, glowing like the morning sun. Two silver chains grew from the topmost part of the stone. It floated in the air until dropping down into my waiting hand.
My voice was barely more than a whisper. “Why?”
He tipped His head to the side as if to study me. I ducked my head to the intensity of those eyes. “Why do you create this home for them? It seems like—”
“A sanctuary?” He smiled, looking out over the warriors on the ground. “I know every single child in this field: their strengths, their weaknesses. I love and miss them. Can you forgive a sentimental old man for wanting to give his children peace when he can?”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came.
He continued. “Speaking of which…”
He turned His hands over. A shimmering light grew from the space between His palms. He cast it away from Him.
Fiona gasped. Tears streamed down her face as she watched the spectral mass move, creating what looked like a doorway into another realm. Cedric smiled and wrapped her in his arms.
I swallowed against a swelling throat.
Aaron stepped forward. “By the way, you don’t have to sacrifice your blood to the demons in the Eye. You never did. Just your love.”
“Master!” Hepzibah raised to her knees, her head bowed low.
God stopped. He slowly peered down on her penitent form. “I see you, Hepzibah.”
A sob cut through the air. Tears poured from her eyes. She curled inward, wrapping her arms around her middle.
He smiled as He took in the line of Fallen. His gaze again fell to Jonathan and Violet, then He stepped away. His eyes closed. A flash of energy greater than I had ever felt before rocketed through the air when His presence departed. Warmth swelled, pushing away the bitter cold and the bitter pain of injury.
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