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A nail scraped down a boulder, echoing in the quiet. I peered up, desperately wishing I had heard wrong. Nope. Not wrong. Countless demons in their true form hung like bats on the jagged surface.
Yellow light from the torches reflected on their leathery skin. They were all bald and with lumps and ridges covering their dark gray bodies, so they blended in with the rocky ceiling. Until a sea of glowing marble eyes blinked open.
A demon twice my size dropped in a crouch about fifty feet from me, dislodging a shower of pebbles. I pulled back my shoulders. He must be the leader. Then with a growl, as if that was a cue, the rest of the demons thumped to the ground in various places around the cavern.
“Run.” Zander gave me a light shove, but I didn’t move.
I would never leave him to save myself and I don’t run away. That would make me a coward.
You’re the Order of Angels. Show them who you are. I was not afraid of demons. But having the divine sword would help.
I sprinted toward our chamber with the power of a thousand wings. A cacophonous roar bounced off the cave walls as angry demons chased after me. I reached between two baskets and snatched up the divine sword. The moment my hand grabbed the handle, the weight lightened, and the blade blazed with such intensity it was like staring into the sun.
My arms moved with frenetic energy. Five demon heads fell with one powerful swipe—a gruesome image as the black as midnight demon blood spattered across the ground.
They halted as if on signal, and a thin shard of metal flew in my peripheral. I caught it between my fingers. A small needle blown through a pipe. Poison or dipped in sleeping potion no doubt.
I snarled. “Trying to put me to sleep, are you? Never again.”
Shrieks and growls filled the chamber as I whittled away the remaining demons, an arm or a leg at a time. Another sweeping blow finished off the last two and I ran out of my chamber. Close to the water, I halted and kept my distance.
Zander was spinning in circles, feathers darting from his wings like arrows. Most penetrated through demons’ necks. But fifty demons surrounded him and he couldn’t release enough feathers to hit all the targets. Zander continued the fight with his sword but with less strength.
Zander straightened when I drew close. His eyes found the divine sword and relief filled them. He nodded—he knew what I would do next. When I raised the weapon to the ceiling, Zander leaped into the air.
“Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. Return back to the veil!” I shouted.
White fire bolted from the divine sword and zapped like lightning toward every single demon. The impact of the explosion rippled through the air, tossing my hair around my face.
Powerful, holy energy tore through the demon bodies, cracking their bones and boiling their blood. Amid agonized screams, their bodies were ripped apart with a blinding flare of light that shimmered and shone like diamonds across the night sky.
Zander appeared in front of me, wrapping me up in his embrace before the ashes even had a chance to settle on the ground.
“Little Dove, are you all right?”
“Yes,” I said out of breath, resting a palm on his face. “We should find the others. And we’re going to have to find a new home.”
Holding the sword in front of me, I poised to take flight but my feathers ruffled. I stopped short and Zander went still. He peered at the ceiling and all around the cavern. I sensed demons but there were none. They must be climbing up.
Zander pushed me back closer to the water, toward the one thing demons were afraid of, and he blew one mighty breath at the clouds covering the entrance. A line of demons materialized in their true form, too many to count.
The one in the middle—Asmodeus as human. His eyes were deep set and piercing, and his jaw clenched tight. Yet beneath the perfect features lay something sinister, a monster hidden from view.
Asmodeus took a step forward with a spear taller than himself. Rings of hematite cuffs jangled, clipped to his belt loop. And beside him, Levia, dressed in tight fabric that showed her curves, daggers sheathed on her hips and boots, and a sword sticking out from the back of her cloak.
I hate her. My blood boiled and it took every ounce of my will to keep from attacking her at full force.
The demons we had terminated were meant to be a distraction so Asmodeus and his soldiers could arrive undetected. By the stars in Heaven, I should have known.
Fear had me immobile. Never in all my angel life had I been afraid. I recalled the shackles, the feeling of helplessness, the pain that dug deep and lingered, and the wounds that never healed. I never wanted to experience it again.
“How are you here?” Zander gritted the words through his teeth.
Asmodeus pounded the spear once. “Is that how you speak to your king?”
Zander let out a boisterous chuckle. “King? You are nothing but ashes. Your kingdom is beyond the veil where you belong.”
The king growled, his mortal eyes turned onyx, and his minions stomped ready to charge.
