“Wait!” he barked in my ear, jerking me backwhen I would have raced forward again. “You are weakened! If you gorushing in there right now, you’ll be playing into Lucifer’s hands,and though I’m willing to go with you, I’d prefer not to becaptured because of rash stupidity.”
I shot him a ferocious look, but even as Iwas contemplating clawing his eyes out, my knees knocked together,and I almost sank into the pile of remains around my feet. Hepulled me upright again. I opened my mouth to shout at him that Ihad to do something as Kobal reached Lucifer.
Satisfaction gleamed in Lucifer’s eyes whenhe braced his legs in preparation for Kobal leaping at him.
“No,” I moaned when Lucifer’s black batwingsspread out to nearly touch the sides of the tunnel he stood in.
One of those foot-long silver spikes lashedout at Kobal, slicing across his shoulder. I cried out when hisblood spilled over his bronzed skin. Instead of going straight atLucifer, Kobal darted to the side at the last second. Fire burstover his back to engulf his whole body. My breath caught in mythroat, and I lurched forward when Kobal seized Lucifer’s shouldersand swung him toward the center of the cavern with so much forcethat Lucifer became a blur as he spun through the air.
Lucifer’s wings flapped, but it wasn’tenough to keep him from bouncing across the body parts litteringthe floor when he landed. At the entrance to the tunnel, Koballeapt into the air and swung his arm up. His claws embedded in thethick, black rock twenty feet above where the angels and demonsstood.
He swung his legs up so he gripped the rockof the entranceway with his knees and feet too. Using his free arm,he lifted it up and swung it at the rock at the same time a burstof fire erupted from his palm. The surface indented, and fissuresburst over the rock face when his fist pummeled into it. He liftedhis hand and drove it into the rock again. More fissures spreadthroughout as pebbles and dust rained down on the demons beneathhim.
I couldn’t breathe as his powerful musclesbunched and flexed with his movements. I’d never been more in aweof someone before as I watched him move. One of the angels swung awing up, slicing across Kobal’s back and spilling his blood.
I screamed in fury and threw my free handup. Drained more than I’d ever been before, only a small burst offire erupted from me, but it shot across the room and hit theoffending angel with enough force to knock his next swing offbalance.
The silver point of his wing drove into theroof of the tunnel instead of Kobal’s back. The rest of the demonsturned toward me; smiles stretched across their faces as they allrealized Magnus and I stood within the center of the cavern.Another angel unfolded her wings in preparation of taking flight,either at us or at Kobal.
A few of the demons stepped forward as therock Kobal had latched onto gave way with a thunderous crash.Magnus jerked me back when I screamed again and lurched forward. Myheart lodged in my throat as Kobal’s body was driven down by theforce of the collapsing entranceway.
Dust and rocks rushed outward from thetunnel, pushing some of the hounds, a couple of skelleins, and Baleback into the cavern as debris spilled into the room. Lucifer hadregained his feet. Corson and Hawk circled him with the rest of thehounds and a few of the skelleins, but they froze to watch thecontinuing avalanche.
Rock piled over rock in a clattering wave Ididn’t think would ever stop. The black dust rising to fill the airbecame so thick I couldn’t see through it to where Kobal had fallenbeneaththe rocks.
“Magnus,” I breathed when the last of therocks clattered into place. The silence following the deafeningroar of the collapse was broken by that one word.
Anguish twisted in my heart. Not dead. Iwouldknowif he was, but if Kobal was at the bottom ofthatpile…
Oh God.My hand flew to my mouth; Ichoked on the dust-filled air. I didn’t care what it would take,what I would have to do, I would get him out of there.
The thick dust settled on the remains aroundus and plumed into the opening above us before slowly receding toreveal more of the avalanche and rocks now spreading almost to thecenter of the cavern. Those who had been closest to the collapsehad a layer of black coating them.
Magnus’s hand tightened on my elbow as moreof the cavern became visible through the receding dust. There wasstill no sign of Kobal beneath the twenty-foot pile in front of us,but I didn’t see how there could be with all of that rubble piledonto him.
Magnus yanked me back as three lower-leveldemons and four upper-levels who had been trapped in the cavernwith us turned in our direction. None of the angels, aside fromLucifer, had made it to this side of the collapse. In fact, most ofLucifer’s followers had been effectively cut off from us.
CHAPTER 44
River
Magnus turned me toward him; his eyesscanned over me. More blue lines formed around his eyes, thecircles shading his eyes darkened, and his skin took on an ashenhue as lips paled. I realized this was what I looked like nowbefore he turned away from me. All around us, dozens more images ofme shimmered into view.
“Whatever happens, whatever Lucifer tries todo, you take care ofyoufirst,” he said in my ear. “You arewhat is most important right now. Unless it becomes absolutelynecessary, donotuse your powers. I cannot mimic those andright now you are not strong enough to inflict any seriousdamage.”
“Kobal—” I started.
“Is alive. You know that.”
Before I could respond, he lifted me up andran with me toward the entrance of the broken seals. Near the firstone, he dove down, rolling over and over until the world blurredaround me, and I wasn’t sure if it was my black hair or hisbattering my face. Somewhere along the way, the strap of my katanacaught on something and was torn free. Above me, the weaponvanished from Magnus’s mirage of me.
My head spun when we finally came to a stopwith my back flat against the wall of the first broken seal.Gunshots burst through the room seconds before the whistling of thewind reached my ears. Magnus leapt away from me and ran deeper intothe seals. Black hair whipped like a banner behind him as did theends of his dress.
Lucifer flew overhead, his gaze went betweenme and the receding Magnus before he flapped his wings once moreand honed in on Magnus as he disappeared around a corner.
“River?” My attention was torn away from thedisconcerting scene of Lucifer chasing clone me when Corson fell tohis knees before me. His talons clashed against the floor of theseal, sending sparks flying up around us.
“Yes…” I swallowed in an attempt to getwords out of my choked throat. “Yes, it’s me.”
