“You’ll be one of my first—and favorite—trophies.”
“Since when do demons take angels as trophies?” I ask with a raised brow.
“Never. We don’t allow them to live.”
I throw my head back and laugh, because in all the wars of history between Heaven and Hell, there have been far more casualties of Hell than Heaven.
“You’re the exception because you’rehisangel. I’ll take his love and then his throne.”
I stop laughing, because there is so much wrong with that declaration. Starting with the obvious—there’s no love between Lucifer and me. Hate? Yes. Love? Hell no.
Liar.
“Get her, boys. But remember, not a hair is to be taken from her head.”
With that, they all crowd in around me. I’m in my fighting stance with Solis at the ready. The first demon steps forward, and it’s clear he’s already injured, by the way he drags his leg behind his body. They’re throwing their weakest links at me first to try to wear me out. Not a bad plan.
With one solid swing, his head is detached from his shoulders, and his body disintegrates before it even hits the ground.
“Who’s next?” I say, lifting my fingers in acome get itgesture.
This time the entire line of demons in front of me moves forward. I haven’t so much as broken a sweat, but the task ahead has me wishing it were already over.
The line stops suddenly, eyes lifted to the sky. That’s when I hear them. Angel wings flapping in the air, feathers rustling. I didn’t realize how much I missed that sound until now.
“What do we have here?” Leeanna says from my side. “Finally, you showed yourself. Foolish demon,” she sneers.
I watch the thing closely. He doesn’t so much as flinch. No fear, which is something different. He really is arrogant.
In the blink of an eye, he disappears, and demons melt back into the shadows.
Coward after all. Or simply smarter than most, which doesn’t bode well. A stupid demon is much easier to send back to Hell.
“He’s got bigger plans. No way was he going to waste even a portion of his army on this fight,” Leeanna muses. “Glad to see they didn’t have time to tear you limb from limb.”
“I didn’t think you cared what happened to me.”
“We need you for the war. After? I couldn’t care less.” She says it, but the way her chin quivers gives away the lie. Despite my fall, Leeanna does care.
“What’s going to happen when I get back into Heaven? You’ll have to drop this better-than-thou act.”
Her eyes narrow. “You’ve got a long way to go before that’s even a blip of a possibility.”
I shrug. “We’ll see.”
“What was that thing around his neck?” Michael cuts in, drawing both Leeanna’s attention and mine.
“A witch’s medallion. He ate the heart of the witch who gifted it to him.”
Leeanna grimaces. “That only made him more powerful.”
“He’s able to create some type of barrier to shield himself and the surrounding area.”
I leave off the part where I called out to Lucifer and he never came.
“Most barrier spells with a medallion last only a short time.”
Would’ve been great to know that minutes ago. Then again, the angels hearing me call out for help from the devil wouldn’t bode well for me.
