“Stay here!” Caim shouted at Fiora before taking flight.
I ran for my sister as Wrath grabbed a handful of Zorn’s mane and pulled himself onto the large steed’s back. I skidded to a halt in the snow and spun toward him. “Wrath,no!”
But I was too late to stop him as he nudged Zorn in the side. The horse galloped across the earth with a speed none of the rest of us possessed in the snow. My heart lodged in my throat as Wrath swung his sword down to destroy the craetons in his way. He was going for the horsemen; I did not doubt it. But was he strong enough to survive them?
The grating, wrenching sound of rocks tearing apart pulled my attention away from Wrath as the ground heaved. From beneath Shax’s hands, a chasm split the earth open from him to the edge of the thicker copse of trees.
Craetons shouted and scrambled to get out of the way, but some weren’t fortunate enough to getaway. Their bodies bounced off the sides of the jagged rocks, and their cries dwindled as they plummeted further into the earth. I didn’t know how deep the chasm went, but we’d never see those demons again.
As I arrived at Fiora’s side, Caim grasped the tail of the griffith carrying Corson and yanked on it while Corson continued carving through its neck. Swinging its head to the side, the griffith shook Corson like a ragdoll as it turned its attention to Caim.
Its yellow eyes narrowed on its new target, and bone crunched when it compressed on Corson’s arm, severing it with one bite. Corson would have plunged to the earth if his talons weren’t still embedded in the griffith’s neck. The blood spilling from his amputated arm saturated the snow as the griffith lunged at Caim.
The angel barely managed to avoid becoming a treat for the beast by darting away from its snapping jaws. Another griffith circled overhead before releasing a screech and diving from the sky. Its wings were out behind it, and its talons were fully extended as it plunged toward Caim.
“Look out, brother!” Raphael shouted at the same time as Fiora screamed, “No!”
I grasped my sister’s arm and held my breath as I waited for the worst.I can’t lose her again.
Caim looked up at the beast hurtling toward him and folded his wings behind his back. Without them to keep him afloat, he started to fall to the earth as Raphael released another burst of life. It slammed into the monster and tore it apart.
Corson retracted his talons from the other griffith’s neck and plunged to the earth behind Caim. The beast cried out as the other griffith’s remains splattered it and fell to the ground.
Corson hit the ground and disappeared into a plume of snow as Wren rushed to his side. The griffith circled low and vanished behind the hotel, but it would be back. It had gotten a taste of us, and it would want more.
It vanished as Pride and Death emerged from the thickness of the larger trees.
* * *
Wrath
My eyes metthose of my fellow horsemen. Then Death’s gaze went past me, and a smile curved his mouth when he spotted Bale. A hollow feeling opened in the pit of my stomach. I’d been wrong; it wasn’t me they would come after; it washer.
Iwouldn’tallow that to happen.
Raphael released a bolt of life that shot across the clearing toward the horsemen, but their mounts shifted in time to avoid it. Nudging Zorn in the side, I leaned low over his neck as we galloped through the smaller trees toward the horsemen.
Out of everyone here, I was the best one to go against them, and the most likely to survive a battle. Their powers did not affect me. If Death got too close to Bale, he could kill her without touching her.
Every riotous beat of my heart only hammered home the fact I was close to losing her. They could take away every bit of happiness I’d found with her. They wouldn’t be satisfied until they made me watch her die.
I couldn’t lose her, and not only because I wouldn’t survive it. I couldn’t lose her because she’d finally brought happiness and excitement to a life devoid of those things for thousands of years.
I loved her too much to lose her.
The realization hit me as I swung my sword down to sever the head of a lower-level craeton running toward me. The realization that I loved her startled me so much I almost took off the demon’s arm instead of his head. It startled me so much I nearly fell off Zorn.
I’d never considered myself capable of love. I’d been certain years of feeling nothing but boredom and anger had left me incapable of experiencing anything different. Then Bale entered my life, and I experienced excitement and happiness again. And I felt love.
Blood sprayed my face as I severed the head of another craeton. I spotted Lix in the fray, joyfully taking out the knees of anyone charging toward him. Once they went down, he sliced off their heads and kicked them across the ground with a victorious cry. Only ten feet away from him, Magnus continued to create more illusions while he and Amalia battled more craetons.
A group of craetons surrounded Aisling and Hawk. When one of them charged at her, fire encircled Aisling’s hands and she torched the creature. The demon screamed as it stumbled away from her while fire consumed its flesh. Hawk hacked his way through some of the others while the hounds continued to destroy their victims.
When a small group of craetons surrounded me, I unleashed my ability on them. They screamed as fury engulfed them and turned on each other to ease their madness. I didn’t dare unleash much more of my wrath for fear of infecting the palitons too, but I smiled as the craetons tore each other apart.
One of them ripped the arm from another. He used it to bludgeon a third into submission. A fourth started tearing at his skin until he shredded chunks of it from his skeleton. When more craetons ran toward us, some of them turned and sprinted away when they saw what was happening, but the others weren’t quick enough to escape me.
Under the control of my ability, they murdered each other with savage glee while I basked in the destruction they created. It felt good to let myself go, if only for just a little bit.
