Chapter 16
Hunter
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The edge of the platformgives way, sending us falling thirty feet below and pain exploding in my left shoulder as I crash to the ground. My other half wrenches control away from me, forcing us to scramble back just as another fissure splits across the earth. It leaves Ash isolated on the makeshift island above us, and at the sound of Adrian’s pained curse, I yank the reins back, turning to him with a snarl. The gun he aims at my face doesn’t make me so much as pause as I stalk towards him.
Death isn’t a threat when you’ve lost your only reason for living.
“She’s not dead,” he groans, pushing himself to his feet.
Thatmakes me hesitate, even if it’s only a lie to buy himself time to escape with his throat intact. But I need it to be true, need to hear the words with a desperation like nothing I’ve ever felt before.
“I was with him today when we were grabbing Annika. Ash had resigned himself to the fact that nothing he did was going to win her over, so the second he saw that she'd freed them, he was going to kill her so she wouldn't be a threat. With the demons free, he was going to find another Elemental to replicate the stone."
I can only manage a low growl, but he has no trouble deciphering the intrinsic demand for answers. Taking a step back, he explains, "People are looking in the darkest pits for the demons crawling out of that abyss, Hunter, not towards what casts the shadows. Our kind are naturally drawn to her, so it was a better chance for her to walk away from this than she would have gotten from that monster."
As Ash's enraged scream cuts off, it snags my attention, and Adrian bolts. Taking a running leap, I clear the small rift at the base of the cliff, shifting at the last second and gripping the stone. Making swift work of it, I haul myself up onto the platform, in time to see Ash crouched down on the far side of the platform. When Sabrina’s face comes into view as he hauls her up, my foot slips, and its only sheer fucking determination that has me hauling myself up.
Getting to my feet, I freeze when she grips the front of Ash’s shirt, silent tears streaming down her face, and slams her lips against his. A wave of shock ripples across the battlefield beneath us, the fighting grinding to a halt as everyone attempts to make sense of what they’re seeing, stunned speechless.
But then I see the obsidian dagger Cinjin gave her plunged into his chest, and a moment later,anotherSabrina pulls herself over the ledge. While Ash is busy shoving her doppelganger away, stumbling forward with a gasp, she uses the distraction to sneak up behind him and slit his throat damn near to the bone.
“This is for Noah. For Kaige and Hunter’s parents, formyparents, and for every single person you’ve tormented,” she decrees. “But between you and me?”
Unhurriedly, she follows as he stumbles his way in a pitiful escape attempt, finally falling to his knees not far from me. As he gasps and clutches at his throat, she strides up behind him, putting her foot in the middle of his back.
“The Hell you’re going to is a far cry from the one I created, Acheron. I sparked legends, while you hid in the shadows, deluding yourself into thinking that you controlled them.” With a harsh kick, she sends him sailing over the ledge.
Throwing him to the wolves waiting below.
Kaige is the first to tear into him, Damian closing in to take his pound of flesh next. Soon, it’s a free for all of hellhounds caught in a frenzy of bloodlust and vengeance. Turning my back on them, I leave the others to it. Even though that’s all I wanted once, now that the moment’s actually here, it doesn’t hold the appeal it once did. The only thing in this world that could bring me any peace, I already have.
The demon sheds Sabrina’s image, back into what must be her natural skin, only for it to shift a moment later, taking on the hue of the earth at our feet. Eyeing her warily, I keep her in my peripherals as I sidestep her, everything in my head screaming that this woman is a threat. But seeing as we have her to thank for helping Sabrina kill Ash, and most likely for saving my mate from plummeting straight to Hell? I’m not about to be so stupid as to say a single word.
“I know that probably looked awful, but I swear-” Sabrina’s words taper off into a startle yelp as I palm both sides of her face, crushing my lips against hers.
Chest heaving, I force myself to pull back, slowly running my gaze over her scraped and bruised form. Brushing my thumb over her bleeding lip, I choke on my tirade about how godsdamned reckless she was for going along with Adrian’s plan, how fucking scared I was. Instead, I bite it all back in favor of what’s actually important for her to hear right now.
“I’m so fucking proud of you.” Kissing her again, I rest my forehead against hers, heart still thundering away.
An amused hum of contentment forces us to break apart, facing the demon staring at us with a predatory tilt to her head, her eyes locked on us, yet I can’t read them to save my soul. “The deal’s been fulfilled then, yes?”
Sabrina nods with a broad smile. “One assassination in exchange for the best place to live in the city, and it’ll go down in history that you were the one to finally end the war so you could all come home.”
Beaming with victory, her skin ripples again before a massive set of feathered wings appear behind her like a demonic Valkyrie. “Then I shall report to the others that I have ensured their safe arrival.” Walking right over the edge, she glides down into the dark void and out of sight.
