I tried to ignore it, to fight the sensation of warmth flooding my veins, but my body refused to listen to reason.Mate. Mine. My Archangel.
A growl tickled my throat, my frustration mounting.
However, he released me as soon as we arrived, providing me with the space I required to regain control.
Cool air touched my face and hands, a stark contrast to the heat blaring inside me. I grabbed onto the chilly atmosphere, sucking in giant heaps of oxygen, and found my footing on the concrete below.
It only took a few seconds, but it was long enough for Ezra to notice. The glimmer of amusement in his pretty eyes made me want to stab him all over again, something I told him with my gaze.
Which only caused his lips to curl in response. “Save that fight, little heiress,” he murmured. “We’re going to need it.”
I ignored him, instead choosing to focus on our surroundings.
Trees. Snow. More trees.
Apparently, the locator spell sent us north of Vancouver. There weren’t any buildings or signs of civilization anywhere. Just a chilly, wintry mix of icy air and fluffy white landscaping. A very precise location, it seemed.
So that’s how Ezra navigated Hell when we first met, I thought, glancing at him. His gaze remained on the snowy evergreens, taking in the scenery and scanning the lands for trouble.
I followed suit, noting how beautiful everything appeared to be. However, the eerie sense of wrongness that lingered in the atmosphere put me on edge.
The winter wonderland reeked of demons. Not literally, just a dark presence in the wind that caused all the hair along my nape to stand on end.
I searched for a source, but my eyes were still acclimating to the dark. The moon peeked through some of the branches, illuminating strips of the ground. It wasn’t enough.
Something’s here.
I could feel it in the chill skating down my spine.
Ezra stiffened beside me, clearly sensing the same presence.
My cuff tingled with warning in the next instant—a subtle prick to tell me that I was about to need all my strength.
Swallowing, I caressed the rune on the center of my wrist in a star-shaped pattern followed by a slash. Magic hummed over my skin as the cuff granted my power complete freedom. I often used the magic of my bracelet to mask my energy signature and dampen my abilities to controllable levels, but the approaching presence told me I needed to be able to accesseverypower at my disposal.
Electricity fizzled across my being, sharpening my instincts and heightening every sense. Which was how I heard the subtle shift of snow to my left.
“There,” I said, already lifting my gun to take aim.
Boom.
An Orsini Devil appeared out of thin air with a bullet-shaped wound right between his eyes.
Two more popped into view before I could evaluate the scene, the little demons chittering in admonishment. As if that would make me listen.
I sent a round of bullets into their skulls, taking them down before falling into a crouch to prepare for the rest. Because where there was one Orsini Devil, there were several.
And their penchant for invisibility made them difficult to see.
But I couldhearthem.
There were at least two dozen coming at us from all angles. I started firing as each one stroked my senses, and Ezra began slicing with his sword.
“This is a diversion,” I told Ezra through my teeth, irritated by the ambush.
Orsini Devils were only good for two things—spying and dying. Their disappearing acts made them useful in some situations.
This was not one of those situations. At least not for us.
