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A shadow separated from the tree line and stepped into the meadow. Nothing more than a wisp of smoke, it snaked closer.
Fear corrodes. Terror debilitates. Both emotions flowed through her bloodstream, telling her to run or drop to her knees and plead for her brief mortal life. She did neither.
Eden brought her hands up, settled onto her haunches, and prepared for the first one to strike. The last thing she expected was the eyes to merge with the smoke. And, with each merging, the entity grew in size and shape.
A blink and it closed the distance in seconds to slam into her. Eden went flying three feet in the air. No chance to brace, she landed hard, wheezing, certain she’d broken every bone in her body.
ROLL!
Without a thought, she rolled to her left. Somethinglanded like a comet next to her. But she couldn’t see it. She felt it in the mini earthquake shaking the ground and the goose bumps flashing around her skin. Evil reached out, pinned her to the ground, wrapped its tendrils around her throat, and squeezed. She expected pain, expected her lungs to fight for air. None of that happened. The pain came from her gut. Sudden and sharp. It had to be from a stab wound. She gasped and evil slipped down her throat. In the distance, far, far away, a wild animal growled, and light flared. Wings, she heard wings flapping, yet she didn’t feel wet from the stab wound or wetness from her blood leaving her body.
Yet, something was leaving her. Something important. She opened her mouth to scream and got nothing. Her vocal cords still worked. But no air. No sound. More evil slid down her throat and landed, not in her stomach, but in her chest, and seemed to split her open.
A roar echoed through the trees. More were coming. Why, when this one didn’t need help killing her? Where were Agone and Seren? They said they’d protect her. Dead. They had to be dead. It was the only way they wouldn’t be here saving her ass.
This thing on top of her killed them. Its friends were out there killing them. That was Agone screaming, or Seren. Maybe both. They needed her. While she lay doing nothing, they were fighting for their lives. Fighting to get to her.
Her hands sunk into nothing. You can’t hold on to smoke. That didn’t stop her from driving her fingers into the center of the mass. She hadn’t lied when she told them she didn’t know how she killed the other demon. Rage had blinded her. It had killed Harry, and that was all the motivation she needed.
Her life was on the line now, and no one was coming to save her. She didn’t want to die. Not like this. Not like a lamb. She wasn’t a fucking lamb. She would not lay down and let some asshole, lower-class, bottom of the barrel demon hump her to death.
No. She was a fucking badass. A vessel for the divine and demonic. This piece of shit on top of her had nothing on her. Not a damn thing.
Fuck you,she silently screamed, and didn’t stop screaming as heat stormed up her spine. The last time, blue streaks had shot out of her fingers. This time, she opened her mouth and power shot out of her and clung to the smoke. It outlined the demon, gave it form. Somehow, she made it solid as her power gave it an acid bath.
It burned, writhing, howling as it fell to the side, and tried to crawl away. Panting, Eden rolled to her hands and knees, crawled after it, and pounced. This time, she didn’t vomit. She sank her fingers into its now solid body and fed her power into its shapeless form until all that was left melted and seeped into the ground.
Exhausted, she fell back on her ass, gasping in amazement she wasn’t dead. Once again, she’d survived. But now, she had a clue.
Flapping wings jerked her head up to see Seren in all his celestial glory hovering above her. A flash of red and black slammed into him.
“Stop!” she screamed into the sky as Agone and Seren tore into each other under the moonlight. Wings beating against each other. Twisting and turning, Agone with his claws, Seren with his fists. Maybe she should be grateful they hadn’t drawn weapons. Did Agone have a weapon? The way his claws sliced into Seren, he didn’t need one.
But Seren didn’t need his sword either. A lesser demon would’ve fallen beneath Seren’s devastating blows. Agone took the beating and delivered his own.
“Stop it!” She wasn’t surprised they ignored her. Fine. She picked up a rock and slung it. And hit not a damn thing. A major league pitcher she wasn’t. The fourth try was the charm. It plunked Agone on the forehead. The barely there tap shouldn’t have registered, but his red gaze dropped to her, along with Seren’s.
She picked up another rock. It bounced off Seren’s shoulder. “Enough, you assholes! E-nough.”
At her three and nine o’clock, they landed in front of her, both so different, so beautiful, it hurt to look at them. “What the hell? You two were too busy killing each other to realize a demon had broken through the protective barrier and was trying to kill me?”
“We knew, and it didn’t want you dead. It wanted you immobile, enabling it to carry you away without a fight,” Seren said.
Agone stuck out his arm and pointed at Seren. “He let it in! A darkling that could’ve sucked your soul out and left a husk behind. He convinced me it would be a better test than me attacking you.”
“She killed a siv-e, a sub-guardian of Hell. A lowly darkling is nothing compared to that demon.” Seren stated matter-of-factly.
“That was rage. The darkling was a calculated killing. An act of survival. She could’ve failed. Died,” Agone snarled.
Seren’s brow furrowed, and his piercing eyes nailed her as he stroked a thumb along his jawline. “When you put it that way, I will bring more. She must perfect killing demons until it’s second nature.”
“Unbelievable.” She glared at Seren, her trust in him on thin ice. That’s all she could do when she was tempted to close the distance. And what? The gouges Agone inflicted on the angel healed while he stood there with his wings tucked, and not an ounce of guilt. She couldn’t hurt him if she tried.
But he hurt her, intentionally.
Eden turned away. She couldn’t look at him. At either of them. “Which way is the cottage?”
“I’ll fly you there.” Agone offered and stepped forward.
