Kobal had once told me the wood nymphs most likely spawned the vampire legend. Watching the unicorn drain something’s blood, I knew why some humans believed vampires could shape-shift into animals.
More creatures came into view, followed by others who looked more human. I remained incapable of moving, my body too drained to do much more than breathe and blink, as the creatures swarmed over the floor of the freshly broken seal.
A seal thatIhad been the one to break. A lump formed in my throat, but I had no energy for tears. My body and my abilities had been used to bring about the seal’s destruction. This had happened because of me, but I was not the cause.
Kobal.Where was he? I recalled his face in front of me before everything exploded. Had he really been there or had I imagined him? Then I recalled the influx of power bursting through me and I knew he’d been there. He was the only one who could have created such an intense deluge of life within me. He must have tried to pull me from the seal.
Had I killed him? Before I would have felt certain I wouldknowif he were dead or alive. Now, all I knew was that I’d plunged us deeper into the despairing pits of Hell by unleashing more of its worst occupants.
***
Kobal
Lifting my head, I scanned the numerous bodies scattered across the floor. River hadn’t sent just me flying, but everyone else too. I’d always known she was one of the most powerful beings in existence, but the level of power she’d unleashed stunned even me.
Blood poured from the fist-sized hole River had torn straight through my chest. The blood loss from this wound and the ones I’d sustained earlier left my muscles weak, but they were already repairing themselves, as was the bone beneath.
The click of something had me turning my head toward the newly collapsed seal as the first of the púca emerged from their former prison. One of them paused to feed from a lower-level demon while another hopped over to sink its fangs into an upper-level who groaned but was too weak to fight off the creature feasting on it.
I placed my hands under me and pushed myself up as more angels, demons, and hounds stirred around me. My gaze latched onto River lying on her side near the edge of the seal. I couldn’t see her face, as her back was to me, but I saw the subtle rise and fall of her shoulders.
Still alive.I had to get to her before the púca did.
More púca emerged around her, and one stopped to sniff her. The creature had taken on the form of a white unicorn. The color bled from its silver horn in preparation of feeding as it nudged her.
It pawed the ground before nudging her again. I opened my mouth to yell at it to get away when her hand fluttered up and she rubbed the púca’s nose. I’d never had any experience with the púcas. They were locked away before I rose from the Fires, but I knew they’d been imprisoned because of their ability to completely desiccate their victims. Their original shape was unknown, and though they could adopt many forms, including demon, they couldn’t speak.
The púca hadn’t been imprisoned for being gentle, but this one appeared to be trying to take care of River as it nudged her again.
Because she is the one who set them free.
Lucifer had believed they would follow him, but the púca knew River was the one who had brought down the seal. The púcas may follow him once they realized she wasn’t on his side but on mine and that he had orchestrated their freedom. It wouldn’t take them long to realize she was my Chosen either. However, for now they sought to protect her.
A cracking sound drew my gaze beyond River and the still emerging púcas to the fissure racing up the center of the seal behind the one that had just fallen. I leapt to my feet as the next seal toppled and the rokhs were revealed. Many of the large birds had been perched on the ground, but they took flight when the seal fell.
The rokhs’ wings, with their eight-foot span, created a breeze in the air that blew back some of the púcas closest to them. Their red, yellow, and orange feathers reflected the fires of Hell outside of the viewing panes where demons had once looked upon those locked within the seals.
Behind the rising rokhs, the fissure raced across the ground toward the next seal, and I knew nothing would stop the remaining seals from falling.
I raced toward River as a rokh swept overhead. Resembling a ten-foot eagle, the rokhs were beautiful, but lethal. Their talons often eviscerated their prey, and the rokhs feasted on their victims while they were still alive. If food was in short supply, the rokhs had been known to let a demon regenerate before picking away its intestines again.
I ran over the bodies surrounding me, my heart hammering as the púca beside River lifted its head and snorted at me before pawing the ground. None of them would have any problem with tearing me apart.
I was still fifty feet away from her when a breeze stirred the air behind me. Turning, the black eyes of the rokh filled my vision. It extended its talons, and I launched a punch at its golden beak. My knuckles cracked as they broke, but the rokh was knocked aside before regaining its balance.
When it came at me again, Phenex and Crux bounded out of the sprawled bodies to leap onto the massive creature. The rokh reeled back as it attempted to shake the hounds off. There would be no escape as Crux clamped onto a wing and Phenex closed her jaws around its throat.
I spun back toward River as the next seal fell with a loud crash. The floor lurched before settling into place. Across the wave of newly freed creatures and, from the bodies littering the floor, Lucifer rose to his feet. Bloodied and battered, his gaze met mine from where he’d been thrown twenty feet away from River.
A smile curved his lips when he realized he was closer. Ignoring the weakness in my limbs, I ran for River again.
A flapping of wings filled the air, and from the corner of my eye, I saw Lucifer lift off the ground. A blur caught my attention before it plummeted from above to land beside River. Caim kept his wings unfurled protectively over her as he gazed from Lucifer, to me, and back again. Crouching lower, he said something to her before embracing her against his chest and flapping his wings until he hovered in the air.
“Take her to Earth, Caim!” Lucifer shouted and flew toward the ceiling as Caim swept overhead.
“No!” my roar reverberated through the seals. I changed direction and sprinted back toward my followers. If Caim left Hell with her, I may never see her again.
CHAPTER 26
