Gabriel jerked the knife free and readied himself for another go, but before he could make a move, Azerius wrapped a bony hand around his throat, lifting him off the ground and bringing him level with that eyeless, hideous face.
With a cruel, mocking laugh, Azerius said, “Oh, how I look forward to the pleasure of recalling this moment for King Dorian. Right before I snap him in half, just as I’m going to do to you.”
“Oh, I think the fucknot, He Who Haveth Dick for Brains.”
Jacinda.
She stood behind Azerius with her hands raised, hellfire surging in one, a half-dozen glass vials clutched in the other.
Gabriel met her gaze. The fire. The determination. The badassery he’d fallen in love with from the very start.
He nodded once.
And Jacinda pitched the vials to the ground at the demons feet, blasting him with a ball of silver-blue hellfire that surged across his wings.
He dropped Gabriel and spun around to face his new attacker, and Gabriel blurred to her side, blade raised once more.
But the attack never came.
Azerius was immobilized, his wings smoking and singed, his black heart glowing with dark fire behind his thin skin, limbs twitching as Isabelle’s devil’s traps slowly took hold.
Jacinda hit him with another blast of hellfire, dropping him to his knees with a force that shook the floor.
Still, Azerius laughed. “You think yourself clever, witch-demon, but your time with the humans has made you soft and weak. This pathetic magic won’t bind me for long.”
“Ehh, you’re probably right.” Jacinda glanced at Gabriel, then down at the blade still clutched in his hand. Then, with a grin that sent all that lost hope surging back into Gabriel’s heart with a vengeance, she turned to Azerius and said, “Butthiswill, you eyeless, dickless cunt.”
She raised her hands once more. The hellfire surged in her palms, surged from Azerius’s wings, magic gathering around her like the fiercest storm.
Then, she called out her spell.
King of Blood and Ravens, demon of the deep
No longer shall we tremble, no longer shall we weep
By the power of the Knives, to this blade I bind you
Back to darkness you return, where none shall ever find you
The last line echoed down the corridor, and Azerius roared in pain.
“What have you done?” he shouted. “What is this madness? I am the Demon For Whom the World Shall Burn! The King of—”
“Now, Gabriel!” Jacinda shouted. “Do it!”
At his witch’s command, Gabriel blurred into Azerius one more time, shoving the blade deep into his heart.
The dark flame inside flickered, then sputtered out.
The hellfire receded from his wings.
The tattered remains of his skin smoked and curled away from the bone, blowing away like ashes from burning wood.
The black skeleton splintered and cracked, bones falling to the ground like broken glass.
Gabriel blinked away the shock. Turned to his woman. Saw the tears in her eyes, the smile on her face, and he reached for her.
But then, just as his fingers brushed her moonlight hair, a deep rumble shook the ground, and the Hall of Broken Mirrors exploded.
