“The angels can reach here easily enough,” he grated from between his teeth.
“I’ll be able to see them coming if they do come this way.”
“Promise me you’ll protect yourself first, that you won’t stay for me if things go bad.”
“Kobal—”
“Promise me you will not hesitate for me. Youwillleave.”
I winced before taking a deep breath. “I’ll leave.”
He glanced over my shoulder at Corson. “Make sure she does.”
“I will,” Corson promised.
“We all will,” Lopan said.
Kobal held my gaze before releasing my hand and cupping my cheek. “It is time to work your magic.”
Glancing at the cavern, I watched as the patrolling bartas reemerged. “It is.”
Stepping back, I became hidden from below again. I braced my feet further apart as I closed my eyes to concentrate on the pulse of life flowing through the rocks beneath my boots. It was still more difficult for me to draw on life in Hell than it was on Earth, but I’d gotten better at doing it.
Drawing on the energy in the ground, I pulled on it until it slid through my toes before seeping into my ankles and spreading further up my legs. When I had a solid grip on the life force beneath me, I focused on the far bigger resource standing at my side, Kobal. He’d always been the strongest catalyst for bringing out my ability to wield life. My fingers caressed his as I fed on the flow of seemingly endless power swelling through him.
The hair on my nape rose and my breath came faster as power raced through my veins. Turning my hand over, I opened my eyes as midnight blue sparks lanced across my fingers like mini-lightning bolts. Harnessing those bolts, I focused them into a ball of energy that swelled within my palm until it rose to hover above it.
Moving forward to stand at the edge of the tunnel again, my eyes landed on the bartas as they patrolled across the stepping stones. They stepped onto the main cavern floor before turning to head back toward the waterfall. Flipping my hand over, I aimed the ball at the two of them and released it in a rush of power.
One of them must have sensed something as it looked up at the last second, but the other never saw the ball until it struck its chest. The energy passed straight through the one who had looked up before hitting the other barta. They both stared at where the ball had entered their chests before they lifted their heads and bared their lethal fangs at us.
The first one took a step forward before freezing and glancing at its chest again. It released a low keening sound before its claws grasped its flesh. Behind it, the other did the same thing until they were both tearing at their chests. They succeeded in rending their flesh and ribcages open to expose their still beating hearts.
The second barta roared as the heart of the first one exploded and it collapsed into the flames. Its body was absorbed by the stream seconds before its friend fell into the fire.
The seconds ticked endlessly onward as everyone held their breaths.
Then, all Hell broke loose.
CHAPTER 16
Kobal
Echoing shouts reverberated through the cavern as a group of craetons, Lucifer’s followers, poured out from beneath the waterfall. Behind the demons, some of the angels swooped in low before rising to soar higher into the cavern. Around forty of the fallen angels who had entered Hell still lived, and over half of them emerged now. One rushed up before us, its body cutting through the air and blowing River’s hair back.
I drew her back as more angels flew into the cavern, followed by a horde of manticores. I snarled when I spotted those winged monsters rising higher. I knew the manticores had escaped from the forty-sixth seal, but I hadn’t stopped to think about them with everything else that had been set free.
“What are those?” River breathed from beside me as the first wave of manticores winged up the walls.
“Manticores,” I replied, pulling her back a step and maneuvering her behind me when the first one passed by where we stood.
The manticore stopped and lowered itself back down. Its translucent green wings beat against the air as it kept its lion body hovering before us. The red of its fur matched the color of the scorpion tail curving beneath its powerful body. Blue eyes gazed at us from a head that was human in form. This manticore was of the horned variety and had three white horns sprouting from the top of its head. It smiled to reveal its three rows of pointed teeth before releasing a trumpet-like call.
“The poison in the tail is paralyzing,” I told River as it swung its tail into the entrance, striking at Lopan. “They devour their victims whole after paralyzing them.”
“It’s hideous,” she whispered.
When it struck out again, I seized its tail, careful not to touch the bead of poison at the end. With a yank to the right, I broke the tail in half. The manticore screeched and flapped its wings to escape me. I kept a firm hold on it as fire burst from my palm and spread forward to consume the tail. The manticore jerked in my hold as I dragged it toward me.
