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As I neared the familiar stream and trees, smoke and flames licked the sky, casting an orange glow. Then finally to a small town called Colten. Please don’t let it be my home. My heart pounded with every passing moment as if it was trying to escape the terror that awaited me.
I descended with wings tucked and alighted in a crouch outside the burning house, its roof ablaze. Peter and I had spent countless hours hauling lumber, sawing wood, and hammering in nails to build this home. My parents. My sister.
Anger seared through my bones as I adjusted the daggers behind my waistband and kicked open the front door. Nothing was out of place in our humble home. The wooden dining tables and chairs Peter had taught me to craft still stood at their usual spots in the back, unbroken and undisturbed. And I sensed no demons inside.
The smell of chicken soup permeated the kitchen, wafting from the large pot Mother left to simmer over a low flame all night. Nothing felt out of sorts, apart from the fact the roof was on fire.
They must still be asleep.
“Mother!” I rushed to my parents’ room. The blanket was off the bed but no sight of them.
I dashed to Abagail’s room and no sight of her either. Where were they? I sprinted out the front door and went around the back of the house, my heart and stomach collided. Ten demons in their hideous form flanked along the stream about a hundred steps from where I stood between the blazing house and them.
Peter’s eyes grew wider when they met mine. His tall frame seemed so small compared to the massive demon behind him with a blade pressed against his throat. My mother and Abagail were equally terrified, their dark locks billowing over their faces, both peering helplessly at me. They stood stiffly with swords pointed at their backs.
As I kept my distance and searched for their leader, a voluptuous woman came out of the burning back door. She stepped toward me as long, flaming-crimson hair spilled out of her hood. Fiery orange-red light from the burning walls illuminated her bronze skin.
She was no ordinary being. She was one of Asmodeus’s captains, clad in a form-fitting leather uniform.
“Hello, Michael,” Levia purred. She stopped twelve feet from me, her fingers tapping on the dagger sheathed at her waist. “Your king sent me. He warned you there would be consequences if you didn’t join his army, did he not?”
He’s not my king and never will he be. I didn’t have to think twice about my next decision. I raised my hands to submission. “Fine. Release my family first, then I’ll come with you.”
“No, Michael!” Mother took a step forward.
The demon with blond hair holding Mother hostage poked her back with the tip of the sword, then kicked behind her knee, sending her flying to the dirt, stomach down.
I growled, anger rushing through my veins. “Don’t touch her!”
The blond demon planted a foot on her shoulder and shoved her back down when she tried to get up. I shuddered, rage boiling hotter than the fire that had engulfed my home. A demon with an ear missing yanked Abagail’s hair.
“Leave the women alone.” Peter swallowed hard, sweat dripping down from his neck. No not sweat, but blood.
His captor had nicked him. Bastard!
“Are you trying to stir me up, Levia?” I snarled. “Because it looks like you don’t want me to surrender. It looks like you want to pick a fight with me.”
“What makes you think that, Michael?” She sauntered toward the stream snickering, her gait too light as if she already claimed victory. She stopped in front of Peter.
I took a few measured steps but halted when Levia furrowed her brow and shook a finger.
“Tell your soldiers to release my family. I told you I would come with you.”
“No, Michael.” Abagail craned her neck and spat at the demon with an ear missing. “I’d rather die than see you fight for these monsters.”
“You bitch.” Her captor shoved her, and she toppled to lie stomach down next to Mother.
I shook my head at Abagail. I didn’t need her to rile them up. My sister always had plenty to say, but I wished today wasn’t one of those days.
“Levia.” I took slow steps toward her. “Let my family go. If I have to tell you again, the death of your soldiers will be on your hands. Understood?”
I hoped she would take my threat seriously, but I should have known better than to try to negotiate with someone like her. Hotheaded with a bad temper. I would have to use physical force.
The quickest method to eliminate my targets was to unleash my feathers as I had done at No Man’s Pub. However, the blond demon and the one with the missing ear grabbed my mother and sister and used them as shields by positioning them in front of themselves.
They were aware of my special weapon then.
“And I told you the first time there would be consequences.” She smirked as she pulled out a dagger from her boot and sliced it across Peter’s jugular, then moved aside for me to have a clear view.
