A look of concentration and malevolence etched his furrowed brow. He opened his mouth to reveal his large, blunt teeth and released a roar that, from thirty feet away, blew the hair back from my face. Completely nude, the enormous appendage between his legs slapped against his thighs as it swung back and forth. The fact his dick could take that kind of abuse made me question our chances of stopping him.
Something shrieked, and I looked up as Caim, in his raven form, descended from the sky with his wings behind him and his talons fully extended.
“Caim,no!” I screamed.
But it was already too late as his talons sank into Mytaz’s meaty arm. Blood oozed from the demon as gold seeped into Caim’s talons. His wings flapped as he tried to jerk free, but Mytaz seized one of his talons, locking him into place.
“No, no, no, no,” I pleaded as I ran toward Mytaz.
Mytaz released Caim’s talon and gripped a fluttering wing. Gold seeped faster through the fallen angel until it swirled up his neck and spilled into his face. Sorrow twisted my heart as the raven released a strangled caw before his beak turned to gold. His black eyes, full of terror and understanding that this was his end, met mine.
Then the black also became gold, and Caim was gone.
Chapter Thirty
Bale
“No!”I screamed.
Disbelief shot through me. I had no idea who this demon was that grieved for fallen angels and fucked a horseman, but she was so different from the woman I was a year ago, that I barely recognized myself.
Rage and grief propelled me faster across the ground. I was almost to Mytaz when he plucked the three-foot-tall raven from his arm and threw it at me. I ducked, but not in time to avoid one of the wings slamming into my back and knocking me forward.
Before I recovered, Wrath pulled me to the ground and rolled across the earth with me. When we came to a stop, I watched Caim’s frozen form clink and bounce across the ground before halting against a pair of feet…. Except these feet weren’t frozen.
I hadn’t realized Raphael was here until he knelt at Caim’s side and touched one of his extended wings. The relationship between the two angels was adversarial at best, but the sorrow on Raphael’s face was so raw and open that tears stung my eyes as I watched him.
“Brother,” Raphael breathed as he ran his hand over Caim’s wing.
Then he lifted his head to level Mytaz with a murderous look. A muscle twitched in his cheek as he braced his legs apart and raised his hands.
“We have to move,” Wrath said.
His breath tickled my ear before he lifted me off the ground. Keeping hold of my sword, I ran with him toward Raphael as the angel stepped away from Caim. Raphael’s ability to draw on life and unleash it on his enemies had always been a little unnerving, but now I looked forward to him unleashing the power of Heaven on Mytaz.
However, it didn’t come.
“Why are you waiting?” I demanded when I arrived at his side. “Kill that thing.”
“There’s no life for me to draw from here,” Raphael said. “Whatever he’s done to this place has destroyed it or buried it.”
My blood ran cold as Mytaz stalked toward us. With every step he took, Caim’s wings rattled against the ground. That clinking sound reminded me of everything Mytaz had stolen from us.
Mytaz’s large nose wrinkled as he released a roar that reverberated off the golden walls and statues. With his massive hands out at his sides, the monster charged at us.
When Raphael rested his hand on Wrath’s shoulder, the look on Wrath’s face would have been comical if it wasn’t for the impending death running at us. This time the ground didn’t vibrate beneath Mytaz’s steps; it heaved, lurched, and quaked so much I swayed to the side before bracing my legs apart to steady myself.
“You have a lot of life in you,” Raphael said to Wrath. “I need it to fuel me.”
Wrath’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t jerk away from the angel as a golden glow sprang to life at the tips of Raphael’s fingers. Unfortunately, it wasn’t happening fast enough. Mytaz would be on top of us before Raphael had enough power to destroy him.
With a savage cry, I raced toward Mytaz to slow him down. I didn’t care what it took to destroy him; I would make sure this bastard died today.
“Bale, no!” Wrath bellowed.
I was almost to the demon when I threw myself down and slid across the smooth floor on my back. As I slipped past him, I swung out my sword; it cleaved into his ankle and embedded in the bone before stopping there. I released the blade as soon as it hit him and slid past the demon.
The ground lurched when he fell to one knee. My slide across the floor came to an end against a couple of demons hugging each other. I rolled onto my knees as Mytaz spun to face me and plucked my blade from his ankle.
