“If it becomes necessary,” Magnus replied as he lifted his head.
Realizing that we weren’t going to come willingly, the fallen angels and demons released a battle cry and charged across the open land between this house and the next. Some had weapons at the ready, others attacked with brutal swings of their hands or lethal tails. Gunshots erupted through the clearing as the humans opened fire on those trying to carve them down.
The hounds leapt forward, their jaws crunching on bones. Their prey screamed when they shook them, before ripping them apart. The hounds spit out the heads they tore free to take down more of their enemies. Within me, Phenex and Crux shifted, begging to be set free, but I kept them caged until the perfect time came for them to leap into the battle.
An angel landed with a thud on the sagging roof overhead. Wood creaked ominously as it bowed further beneath the weight of the angel walking across it. Hawk, Erin, and Vargas leapt over the banister seconds before the section of roof over their heads gave way with a thunderous crash. Corson, Bale, and Verin dove down the stairs when the rest of the roof creaked and started to crack.
Lifting River, I pinned her against my chest and leapt over the other banister as the rest of the roof gave way. Raphael’s wings created a breeze against my face when he soared out behind us. Hitting the ground, I kept myself protectively around River as we rolled across the grass.
My claws extended as I leapt to my feet. I released River to slice my nails across the throat of the lower-level demon running at me. His head flopped back and blood spurted out to spray my face. Grabbing his head, I tore it the rest of the way off and threw it at an upper-level demon charging toward me.
The wave of fire I unleashed on the demon sent him spiraling back, screaming as the flames melted his flesh and consumed his hair. River rested her fingers on my back. Her ability crackled against my flesh before she unleashed a ball of energy that took out the barta stalking her.
From the other side, a wave of white light erupted. Raphael stood with his legs apart and both hands raised as he aimed the wave at the fallen angels creeping closer to him. Most dashed to the side to avoid it, but one of them ran into it. Screeching, the angel was flung backward and hit the ground with a thump. The angel lay unmoving, his chest torn open and the top of his head a bloody, gaping hole from where the energy had coursed through his chest and exploded out his head. His wings flopped to the sides of his dead form.
Raphael released another pure white ball of energy, but the next angel managed to catch it. The glow of the energy filled the angel’s palm as awe radiated over her face. Violet color shimmered to life in her eyes. Then, the violet faded and the black returned. Loathing filled her eyes when she lifted her head to glare at Raphael.
With a flick of her wrist, she flung the ball back at him. Raphael flew to the side to avoid it. I yanked River out of its way and folded myself protectively over her. The ball of energy hit a human. The man’s scream ended as soon as it started, cut off by the foot-wide hole torn through the center of his chest.
On the other side of the hole in the man, I saw Hawk’s stunned face before he ducked to avoid the ball that hit the tree behind him. The man crumpled to the ground. From behind Hawk, an ominous creaking sound filled the air. Hawk’s hands clawed at the ground as he scrambled to get out of the way of the large tree tipping toward him. Wood cracked and splintered; Hawk dove and rolled to the side as the tree swung down. The ground shook when the tree bounced off it before settling into the dent it had created.
The flap of wings sounded over me. I released River seconds before the angel crashed onto my back. The weight of its body staggered me forward. Hands smashed into my skull and clawed at my hair. Reaching over my shoulder, I discharged a wall of fire that caused the angel to scream. Its wings flapped as it tried to rise away from me, but I grabbed its hand and pulled it over the top of my back.
I drove my hand through the angel’s chest and wrapped it around his heart. The organ pulsed in my hand when I tore it out and tossed it aside. The angel clawed and beat at me as I seized his head next. Twisting it to the side, I wrenched it from his shoulders. Like demons, the angels could regenerate everything except for their heads.
Lifting my head, I watched as River pushed back the lower-level demons stalking her with bursts of fire. The skin on the face of one melted off. She flung a ball of energy at two others, taking them both out. Magnus, Bale, Corson, and Verin fell into a V formation ten feet in front of her. They worked to beat back the encroaching threat as she continued to take out some of the others. I stayed in front of her, my back facing hers, as we were pushed into the forest by the numerous craetons.
At some point in the battle, Caim had taken flight. Flattening his wings against his back, he plunged out of the sky to slam into the side of a manticore swooping in from the trees. The manticore trumpeted a roar as it went spiraling into a tree. The snap of its back could be heard over the continued gunfire.
“Is everything that escaped the seals going to come for us?” Hawk panted from beside me.
“No,” I replied. “The jinn, erinyes, wood nymphs, and other more sophisticated demons will most likely stay out of this. They’ll prefer to stake out their own place on Earth, secure it, and use it to unleash their particular form of brutality on anyone unfortunate enough to stumble across them.”
“Like the canagh demons did.” Hawk swung out with a knife to slice the throat of a demon. Leaping on the demon, he sawed its head the rest of the way off in two quick slashes before jumping back to his feet.
“Yes,” I replied when he fell in beside me again. “Earth is a new playground for them, and they’re going to enjoy it. Most of them won’t be following anyone other than whoevertheydeem to be their leader. Some of them may be here with Lucifer, but I doubt it. The hundredth seal demons are a different story. They’re seeking vengeance.”
I released another wall of fire that torched a handful of lower-level demons. Beyond the smoke of their bodies, I spotted Lix and the skelleins trying to angle Erin and Vargas toward us. Lopan rode Calah’s shoulders as he lobbed gold balls from his caultin. The balls exploded when they hit the ground, pushing back the demons stalking them and leaving small indents in the earth.
When the balls hit the demons, they blew off body parts or broke apart to become a liquid that poured up to their face and into their eyes. Once it was inside them, the demons hit their knees and started shredding their faces in an attempt to tear it free of them.
Whenever one was taken out, more emerged from the shadows to take their place. Three manticores swooped down to snatch humans from the ground and lift them into the air. The humans screamed as they were carried away, but those screams were abruptly silenced by the manticore’s stingers.
Driven deeper through the trees, it became tougher to fight against those pushing against us. Too much fire would set the entire forest ablaze and possibly trap most of our allies within it. Magnus’s figures were rapidly fading away, and we didn’t have the time it would take for him to cloak us.
Sweat beaded River’s brow as she drew more life from the ground to use against the demons trying to get at her. As I watched, she lifted both her palms out at her sides. A golden-white ball formed in her right hand while a burst of fire flamed out of her left. She gawked at them for a minute before grinning and flipping her hands over and pushing them away from her. She hurled the energy into a barta demon while the fire set a lower-level demon ablaze.
“New talent?” I inquired as I brought a demon down beneath me. Using my claws, I sliced his head off. I threw fire at more demons trying to close in on us, pushing some back and setting others on fire.
“Apparently,” she replied. She lifted her hands, but this time only fire emerged from both her palms. “And sporadic.”
Raphael’s life force toppled trees left and right, scattering some of the demons and angels, but more fell in to fill the holes. Another ball of Raphael’s energy was caught by an angel who heaved it at Corson. Corson threw himself to the ground and rolled before rising to his feet as a manticore turned sideways to dive through the trees at Erin.
Planting her feet, Erin fired her handgun at the creature. Blood burst from the holes in its chest and beaded in the center of its forehead, but it kept going with its stinger raised in preparation to strike. River cried out and shot a ball of energy at it. The manticore spun to avoid taking the hit.
Corson leapt forward. His hand landed on Erin’s shoulder, and he used it to propel him higher into the air. With a single swipe of his talons, he sliced the manticore’s head from its body. The head rolled to the side, but its momentum caused its body to crash into Corson and Erin. They flew five feet through the air before hitting the ground and bouncing across it. The skelleins ignored Corson as they rushed to help Erin to her feet. They clucked worriedly over her while Corson scowled at them.
Beside me, River released a stream of energy into the bartas encroaching on us. They stood for a second before tearing into their chests to reveal their exploding hearts. My fire took down more of the lower-level demons and three of the trees behind them. The hounds circled us, growing closer and closer as more of my followers fell to the craetons.
