I blinked, stunned.
Everything was dark.
Black.
Starklywrong.
What the hell is happening?I felt as though I were swimming in a dark sea of dense and murky water, searching for the surface and finding nothing but more inky liquid.
It suffocated me entirely.
Until the burning on my wrist yanked me back.
I wrapped my hand around my cuff, drew my requisite star and slash, and inhaled as all my power hit me full force in the chest.
Fire whispered across my skin as Ezra’s blade slashed through the air, sending another of those fiery waves back at the Dargarian assholes outside. Anguish distorted his features, drawing my focus to the molten ash at his back.
His wings…I swallowed. They were gone.
But they would grow back.
They had to.
And I needed to stand up and fucking fight.
This all resembled a bad dream, a nightmare I’d never known I feared. Time seemed to spin off its axis, the world around us crumbling into an unrealistic painting. But I could feel it in my spirit that this was real.
Ezra’s sanctuary had been severely breached.
We were under attack.
Only a powerful being could create a portal here that allowed demons into the atmosphere.
Which suggested that whoever had absorbed Kristina’s powers had brought the battle to us.
Bring it, I thought, embracing every ounce of my power.
My hands burned with energy, the pale skin shifting to dark embers as my fire took over. I used the force of it to push me to my feet, creating an inferno of my own to send into the Dargarians outside. They shrieked, their assault on Ezra momentarily ending.
There wasn’t time to search for another weapon; all I could rely on was my own strength.
My head ached as horns pierced my scalp, my demonic form coming out in full force as I embraced my Archdemon side.
The abilities I’d demonstrated in the forest near Vancouver had only been a small dose of what I could do. The Orsini Devils hadn’t been worthy of my full power. But whoever had opened that portal to this sacred place had absolutely earned my wrath.
I growled, furious heat pouring over my skin as tendrils of fire sprouted from my fingertips like whips.
That portal needed to be shut down. I just had to find it.
I almost voiced that plan out loud to Ezra, but another arc of fire came from behind us, silencing my ability to speak. My power intercepted the flames, sending them back to the originator.
My entire life had been molded in preparation for this moment, as I’d been fighting demons since I was a child.
Maybe Ezra was right—I’d needed time in Bael’s realm to perfect my abilities—because my reactions came naturally now. I dodged and swerved, sending fireballs at the demons and grinning when they screamed.
Yeah, you like that?I taunted, creating another zigzag of energy to take out several more Dargarians. Then a horde of Ghouls.Odd. They didn’t usually fight for their Archdemons.
Actually, they didn’t typically fight at all.
