Page 208 of The Bonds of Indigo

He tried to take them both from me and now all I want to see is his fucking head on a spike!

Just as his back hits the ground, I’m over him, throwing a punch straight into his chest. I can hear bone crack. I’m not going to break through whatever the fuck his skin is made of, but at least it gets a grunt out of him.

His hand comes around my wrist before I can pull it away, but Lucifer’s shadows consume him. I’m not entirely sure what’s happening but Belial roars out in agony as they crawl up his forearm toward his shoulder.

I’m released seconds later, and I shove the heel of my foot right into his throat. It causes him to gag but not enough to have done any real damage, and next thing I know, I’m on the fucking ground.

Pain registers quickly in my leg but due in part to being full of both Amarah and Lucifer, my dislocated knee snaps back into place almost immediately. Just in time for me to roll away before a godsdamn sword is piercing the ground right where my head had just been.

As the piece of shit pulls the blade out of the soil, he tilts his head. “You’ll die, immortal.”

The moment he’s swinging the blade down, shadows wrap around his wrist, snapping it. It doesn’t break the skin but the grip on the blade wains and I launch up at him.

His fist comes for my face with a grunt, which I grab in my palm, and throw my forehead to his. The impact makes me dizzy, but he equally shakes out his head as I do mine.

Alright, note to self, I won’t be knocking him out that way.

I register the sound of the sword hitting the dirt but it doesn’t stop him from throwing his head right at mine. I barely manage to lean back, his horns slicing through my cheek, all the way to the bone. It has me cursing and attempting a quick follow up attack that misses as he throws himself backward.

I quickly look for Lucifer with this second of distance Belial has given us. He is now engaged with a dozen of Pyrehounds that are attacking Thornwyn.

“I should’ve just killed you that day.” I turn my focus back to the Demon I’m about to exorcise and reduce to a voodoo doll—one I’ll happily poke at for all eternity. “Up in the mountains.”

My nostrils flare. I knew his voice sounded familiar. While the man that stood before me at the place I first met Lucifer was an older man, I should’ve known something was off.

“Couldn’t have just been happy with the girl.” He tsks. “Now I’ll take you both from him, and let him suffer for his betrayal.”

Suddenly he’s gone, and cold metal bites against my throat. Lucifer screams my name just as I get my hand up—barely in time—to stop Belial from slicing straight across my neck. I drive my elbow back, catching him in the side of the face, but he only absorbs it like an annoyance.

I try to move my legs but they won’t budge. It feels like I’m sinking. Like quicksand is dragging me down. My gaze flicks downward, and I see hands. Dozens. Clawing out of the toxin-soaked soil, gripping my ankles, more reaching for my calves.

“Kayn!!”

Ignoring Lucifer’s horrified shout, I shove hard against the hand holding the blade. The weapon, red and deadly sharp, inching closer. One look at its edge tells me it won’t take much pressure to cut straight through my neck and into bone.

I jerk back again, but I nearly pitch forward due to being dragged down.

If I go down… I know won’t get back up.

“Enjoy the Void, Vampire,” Belial seethes.

“NO!”

The moment more pressure bites down, I empty my lungs in a scream, pushing back with everything I have left. It’s useless, and I know it. When I find Lucifer’s gaze, his shadows are already flying toward me, pulling away from Amarah.

Time slows. It feels like my body knows death is coming and wants me to absorb the final seconds of being alive.

“Protect her.” My lip twitches into the faintest smile. “I love you, Lucifer. Don’t watch.”

Then I release the strength I’d been using to keep Belial from taking my head. Luce needs to keep Amarah safe, and if he has to choose between saving me and maintaining the shield around her, I won’t let him make that choice.

I’ll choose for him.

I guess it won’t just be Kairhyse who lost his head for the woman he loved. Damn. Who would’ve thought?

Blood splatters across my face, but it isn’t me who screams in agony. Belial does.

Now that his weight is gone, only the arms clutching my ankles remain. I reach down and tear them apart, freeing myself. Staggering back several feet, I wipe my forearm across my eyes to clear the blood.