“Bow before me,” Azerius demanded, the ringing of his voice like the end of the world. “Weep for the fallen, for I am the King of Blood and Ravens, He Who Slaughters the Blood of his Blood, He for Whom the Dark Flame Rises, and all who gaze upon my true form shall tremble before it and beg for death.”
“Jacinda,” Gabriel whispered, brushing the hair from her face. “Get up, love. You must get up. We have to go. Now.”
She turned toward him and nodded, her eyes red with blood. He scented it, smoky and full adrenaline.
Gabriel swallowed his fear. Helped her to her feet.
No, he thought once more.I will not let her die…
“I’m Gabriel Redthorne,” he said to the demon. “This is Jacinda Colburn. And I’m certain I speak for both of us when I say… You can fuckrightoff.”
He grabbed Jacinda and blurred her down the corridor, past the black mirrors, past the souls who clung to them, oblivious to the terror in their midst.
Azerius followed in their wake, the tips of his massive wings knocking the mirrors from the walls. They hit the ground and shattered, sending the souls to their knees as they scrambled to pick up the broken shards.
Gabriel blurred them further down the corridor, but again, the demon followed.
“You cannotwin this battle, vampire prince,” Azerius said. “You and the witch belong to me now. And as the dawn rises in your world once more, all those whom you have loved and despised alike will belong to me. The realm of mortals shall be no more.”
Every word sliced through Gabriel’s mind, the pain blinding him. Jacinda could hardly stand.
It was no use. They couldn’t outrun him.
They had to fight.
Gabriel shoved Jacinda behind him and pulled the blade from its sheath. Before the monster could unleash another poisonous word, Gabriel attacked, slamming into his skeletal body with the strength and fury of a tempest.
He broke upon the demon like a wave against the shore, retreating just as quickly. He’d scored a glancing blow off his thigh—barely a scratch.
Azerius laughed. “You think to harm me with my own blade? Your blood is tainted, vampire. Cursed. You have neither the strength nor the courage—”
Gabriel blurred back in the other direction, leading the demon away from Jacinda.
He felt the rush of air against his back as Azerius took the bait, racing toward him once more.
Gabriel spun on his heel, blurred in for another attack. He slammed a fist through Azerius’s lower abdomen, but when he pulled back, there was only bone and ash. No blood. No guts. Nothing to rip out.
“Fool.” Azerius laughed again and flapped his great wings. Batted Gabriel’s body like a cat toying with a mouse, slamming him to the ground.
Gabriel scrambled to his feet, gripped the bone-handled blade, and tried again. Again. Again. His best attacks were no more than an annoyance to the ancient demon, and he was quickly losing steam, his wounds slow to heal, heart pounding so hard he feared it might burst.
Another blow. Another miss. Another skull-splitting speech from the fearsome demon determined to live up to every last one of his names, Gabriel fell to his knees.
Hope evaporated from his heart. Dorian had bested Azerius on that rooftop in New York, but here, there was no vessel to fight—no weak human, no equally matched vampire, no shifter Gabriel might overcome with speed and strength.
This was Azerius in his true form. Unbeatable. Unbreakable.
The child flickered to life once more.
“Your death,” she whispered through a menacing smile, “will be her undoing.”
The words ignited his rage once more, and Gabriel shot to his feet, blurring into Azerius with a roar that rattled the few mirrors still hanging on the walls.
“You willburn!” he shouted, sinking the blade deep in the demon’s side.
But Azerius would not go down.
“This is where we part ways, vampire. I shall give your brother your regards.”
