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“CLOSE YOUR EYES, Raven. You don’t want to see this.” Dante envelops me in his arms from behind me. “I wish I could take you away, but we can’t leave. So please, just close your eyes.”
“You have to stop them!” I scream, shoving my palms into Kase’s back. “Don’t just stand here.”
“It is up to him to fight.” Kase rubs his hands together, sending sparks of red glowing light smoldering through the air.
“We can’t fight for him. He must earn his place.” Dante attempts to cover my eyes with his hand, and I jerk my elbow back, hitting him in his hard abs.
Pain swells through my arm, but I do it again and again, panic stealing away all my sense of reason. I don’t know how I can face three avenging angels to save Micah. I’ve given up on miracles. On hope and faith. The only thing I can do now is test my Hell-bound soul to see if I can somehow summon demonic intervention. I refuse to stand by and watch this monstrous act. Micah is here because of me. I have to try, even if I fail.
“No! Cassius, don’t do this! Micah, fight! Fight for me! You must fight!” I scream the words, thrashing and fighting until Dante’s grip around me loosens. Dodging past Kase, I bolt forward toward the angels.
Cassius whips his head up and scowls. “This is your fault, you dirty, dark, abomination. I will ensure you go to Hell.” Chucking a lightning bolt of energy at me, Cassius tries to strike me with his vengeance.
Kase roars and deflects the power with his own. I use the chance to keep running, knowing that Kase and Dante might not fight for Micah, but they will fight for me. Blasting Hell power at Cassius again, Kase manages to get him to send Zade into battle to stop Kase. Micah remains on his knees, his face bowed. He doesn’t fight. He doesn’t respond to my screaming his name. It’s like with his fall from grace, he’s lost his hope for an eternity at all.
Cassius locks his fingers onto one of Micah’s now black-feathered wings and forces him to expand it out. My heart crashes around my ribcage, threatening to beat me to Micah. Kase and Zade fight, sending heavenly light and Hell power through the air. Kase snarls and gnashes his fangs, blocking the angel from trying to stop me.
“Micah, fight!” I scream again. “If you don’t, you will have failed me. I know you don’t want that. I need you.”
Micah scratches his fingers into the ground. “But I can’t save you.”
“You can! You can save me from breaking my contract with Lucian. You can save me from demonic enslavement. It was never a choice between Heaven and Hell for me. It’s a choice of where I’ll land when I fall into the fiery abyss.” I push as hard as I can on my feet, feeling the gust of Dante’s flapping wings behind me.
Andre twists on his feet, letting go of Micah’s arm. Cassius yells for him to finish what Micah couldn’t, and I tense and smash into Andre, praying that his touching my soul is enough to stop him from murdering me.
Flipping me over, Andre slams me onto my back, and I cough and heave as he forces the air from my lungs. Sparkling tears sheen his eyes and trickle down his face, the grief of this moment hurting him like it hurts me.
Dante’s looming shadow casts over me as he rises above Andre and stabs him in the back with his long sword. Fire sears the front of Andre’s shirt and he hollers and throws himself forward, kicking me in the process, trying to escape the power of Dante’s blade.
I land on my stomach feet away from Micah, and he lifts his head and opens his eyes. His irises glow orange in color, the golden hue they were before more beautiful than ever. I stretch out my arm to him, begging with my entire soul that he can siphon my strength and determination into him.
Cassius slams his boot between Micah’s shoulder blades, ignoring me completely. He doesn’t see me as a threat, but he’s wrong. His underestimating me will be his downfall.
If only I could get up fast enough.
If only Cassius’s flaming sword didn’t blind me.
“Micah, fight!” I shout, shaking with anger and fear. “Micah!”
Cassius swipes his flaming sword through the base of Micah’s wings, severing them from his back. He hollers in pain, his body crumpling on the ground. His black feathers explode in flames, his wings turning to ash around him, creating a silhouette to remind the universe of the angel he once was before Hell claimed him as one of its devils.
Silence falls over the world as if time stops. Kase and Dante stop fighting Zade and Andre, and Cassius lowers his sword. Micah remains on the ground, burning and bloody and broken, the light from Heaven vanishing from his skin completely.
“Say your goodbyes,” Cassius says to Zade and Andre. “Let this be a lesson. None of us are immune to the darkness of Hell.”
Tears glitter on the angels’ cheeks as they stand around Micah, crying for their fallen brethren. I grind my teeth and push through the exhaustion and pain to get to my feet. How dare they cry for Micah. They did this to him. Cassius pushed him into choosing a side when all Micah wanted was change. He wanted a chance to see if beyond his world of good and evil if there was something in between, hiding in the shadows. He wanted more than to discover the shades of gray in a world so black and white. He wanted to find all the colors of the rainbow. But most of all? He wanted to help me. How can the saviors and Higher Power fault him for that?
“Raven, its over,” Kase whispers, sliding his fingers through mine.
Dante comes up on my other side. “We should go. We still have time to figure out Lucian’s contract.”
I yank my hand from Kase and snatch a dagger from a sheath on Dante’s back. This is far from over. This shit has just begun, and these saviors will learn that I’m not a soul to be messed with. Hell might not intervene to help secure Micah’s place, but I can.
Cassius aims his sword at Micah. “I’m sorry, Micah. You’ve turned your back on Heaven, but I cannot let Hell have you. It has taken enough from me.”
My stomach twists at the realization. Cassius would rather destroy Micah’s very essence rather than see him go to Hell.
“No!” I scream, throwing Dante’s dagger at Cassius.
