First, I had to stop the angel from taking her from me.
The symbols on my arms, chest, and back vibrated as they flowed toward the wall of fire. Never had my power felt this intense, but this was River, and there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her.
The angel’s power gave way a little more, allowing me to gain a few feet.
“Varcolac, I mean no harm,” the angel grunted, and I felt a further weakening in the energy holding me back.
Almost there.
I was only three feet away from him when something bashed into my side and staggered me sideways. Arms wrapped around my waist, and I was torn off the ground. Startled cries rang out through the clearing. As I bounced across the dirt, I saw the hounds and demons who had emerged from the gateway with me scrambling to get out of the way as the angel’s ability shot across the clearing.
The sound I emitted would have made the hounds tuck tail and run, but arms remained locked securely around me. A black wing flattened against my back, and I realized it wasCaimwho had intervened as he used his wing to protect him from my fires. The stench of the skin burning on his hands and arms filled my nose as his unprotected flesh blistered before blackening.
“Let my brother heal her,” Caim grunted in my ear. “What you will do to her will destroy her.”
Flipping over, I snatched Caim by the throat and lifted him off the ground when I rose. His hands clawed at mine as he tried to break free. His feet kicked in the air when I spun to face the other angel. That angel had River bent over his arm and leg as he knelt on the ground.
A golden-white glow radiated from his hand to the bloody hole in her chest. My eyes latched onto the wound she’d inflicted on herself. My hand involuntarily compressed on Caim’s throat; he gagged and his eyes bulged, but I didn’t ease my grip as I stalked toward the other angel.
River remained unmoving, her skin the color of the snow I’d seen a few times on Earth. Against the pallor of her skin, the blood from her wound was a vivid slash of death.
I understood what had driven Verin to her knees when Morax perished as a vast emptiness opened within me to replace the rage clawing at my insides. That emptiness had caused Verin to sob with abandon. It took all I had to draw my next breath as the loss of River spread within me. It was only a matter of time before the emptiness tore me open.
I released Caim, unable to be bothered with him anymore. He fell to the ground, his hand on his throat as he crawled backward away from me. I stalked across the clearing to the angel and River as Caim’s words echoed in my mind.
Let my brother heal her.
I knew some angels had the ability to heal, but I saw no shallow inhalations and didn’t hear the thump of her heart. The angel’s purple eyes slid to me. Their color was so similar to River’s that the sight of them hit me like a punch in the gut. I bared my fangs at him in a promise of death if he didn’t do exactly what Caim said he could.
The angel revealed no emotion before he focused on River again. I stopped beside them, my gaze on River’s face as I searched for any hint that the angel was affecting her. The hounds crept closer to me, their prowling movements making it clear they would latch onto the angel before he took flight.
Everyone else remained where they were, hesitant to come any closer. The seconds stretching into minutes felt more like the passing of an eternity with every breath River didn’t take. I would rain death on all of those who had caused this. Starting with this angel, and ending with the unrelenting torture of Lucifer for the rest of my existence.
Stepping closer to the angel, my hands flexed as I prepared to snatch his wing and tear it from his body. What seethed inside me now made Lucifer look sane, reasonable, and fun-loving. Madness slithered through my mind, beckoning me toward it as a haze of red blurred my vision and I craved having this angel’s blood sliding down my throat.
I would protect the humans. I would honor River’s sacrifice, but all those who stood against me, or had aided in her demise, would know my fury as I hunted them from one corner of the Earth to the other.
I was about to start raining down my vengeance on this angel when River gasped and her whole body jerked in his arms. I found myself unable to breathe as she went still again.
Had I wanted her to live so badly that I only imagined she’d breathed? My eyes remained riveted on her chest as I searched for any hint of a rise and fall there, but it remained still. The angel’s light continued to pour into her as more seconds stretched by.
Then, the flow of the angel’s energy abruptly cut off. River’s chest rose and fell, her eyes fluttered open, and a small smile curved her lips when she saw the angel leaning over her.
“Raphael,” she murmured before closing her eyes and slumping against his chest.
In the following silence, the steady beat of her heart sounded like a drumbeat in my ears until my heart fell into rhythm with it. Raphael lifted his head to look at me again. I stared back at him, the emptiness within me filling, but something new clawed at my insides. I wouldn’t relax until I held her.
“Give her to me,” I commanded gruffly.
I was certain he would try to claim her and take her to Heaven, or anywhere away fromme. He may have saved her, but the angels had never been anything other than my enemy, and I didn’t trust him.
Raphael kept River clasped against his chest as he rose with fluid grace to stand before me. His blond hair was only slightly darker than his white robe. Over the robe, he wore a chest plate of silver armor. A broadsword hung from his waist; the blue jewel in the silver hilt caught and reflected the sun as he gazed at me.
Only a couple inches shorter than me, he was nearly as broad through the shoulders, but he would be no competition against me, not when it came to River. Those purple eyes ran over me. I didn’t sense the same condescension in his gaze that Lucifer exhibited; his perusal was a simple assessment as he held River out to me.
Afraid he might try something, I kept watch of him as I eased River from his arms. My hands clenched on her when her head lolled against my chest and her breath heated my flesh. That breath, and the warmth of her skin against mine, nearly caused me to groan out loud. All I wanted was to look at her, to touch her and assure myself she really was alive, but I didn’t take my eyes off Raphael as I backed away from him.
When the hounds moved forward to stand between us, I dared a glance at her.
