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My heart is racing,but my head is clear and my body feels strong. I don’t know what’s going on, but they aren’t going to give me a chance to figure it out. Uriel snaps out of his shock with a roar and flies at me, pure murder on wings of fury. Without even thinking, I swing the sword in a wide arc. The sword bites into his shoulder and bats him out of the air. Before he’s even hit the ground I’m moving, dancing out of reach, forcing him to move toward me.
I’ve never fought with a sword in my life, but it feels natural. I’ve never gone one-on-one with a demon, but my body knows what to do.It almost feels like the armor is guiding me somehow. The armor is the warrior, and I’m the vessel.
Uriel is hurtling at me through the air, the same move he used to knock Lucifer out of the vestibule and me into the armor. He favors it, and I understand why—it’s worked every time. I swing my sword, but he’s just a little faster and catches me in my side. My feet don’t even leave the ground. The armor isn’t just strong, it’s making me stronger. Strong enough to hold my own with a demon prince.
“Angel!” The hysterical cry sounds again and again, echoing through the crowd. Some of the other demons, the same ones who were helping Abaddon moments ago, take it personally and rush to attack me. I’m dancing, blocking, striking, fighting like a professional and holding my own, but there are so many of them, and more are joining the fray every second. I hear Abaddon cry out as I whip my sword through the neck of a low-level demon. Uriel is right there, ready to pick up where the other demon left off, and all I can do is drive him back a few steps and make a break for it.
I don’t think I can beat him on my own, not even with the armor, and especially not with every other bloodthirsty beast in the palace trying to get their piece of me. For the moment, they’re at least getting in his way.
A roar, more powerful than any Uriel has uttered, shakes the hall.Lucifer.He’s free and flying, on a trajectory to intercept Uriel, who has banked around to dive at me from above. Lucifer connects and the two of them crash down, smashing into the angry mob. The rest are still coming, there are so many of them piling into the corridor.
“Okay,” I murmur and tighten my grip on the sword. My next words are both to myself, and the mystical armor that seems to be giving me a fighting chance. “Let’s do this.”
My adrenaline spikes and I’m moving, cutting through hordes of small, teeth bared demons. The floor shakes and a mournful bellow fills the hall. A minotaur has his eye on me—he lets out another battle cry before he charges carelessly, punting, and squishing his fellow demons in his blind rage. At the last possible second I side-step his line of attack, dart between his legs, and slice across his Achilles tendon. He doesn’t notice right away, but when he turns to chase me, his leg gives out beneath him. He crashes to the ground, still groping at me with his massive, filthy hands.
I don’t have time to put him down for good. A millipede with a humanoid face skitters around me, venom dripping from its mandibles. It’s quick, flashing back and forth like a snake, trying to tease me into dodging directly into its attack. I bide my time, take a breath, then lift my sword at just the right moment. It splits its own segmented throat across my blade.
The minotaur roars, then gurgles. I turn in time to see Lucifer vaulting over it, his talons coated in a bloody sheen.Uriel is right behind him.The back of my neck prickles and I spin, taking the head off a boar an instant before its tusk reached me. Lucifer is by my side now, attacking Uriel with everything he has.
The smaller demons keep coming, and I keep cutting them down. The image of the palace from above, its massive expanse full of demons, pops into my head. An image of the courtyard, packed to the brim with elite demonic soldiers. We can’t fight them all, not even with Lucifer going all out the way he is. He’s fighting like he has everything to lose—fighting the way I once saw him fight back on Earth. My life was on the line then too.
“Be ready,” Lucifer growls in my ear before he intentionally glances at the front door.There are a hundred demons or more between here and there. Uriel wouldn’t let us get half that far. Lucifer has a plan and I trust him—I just don’t see how this is going to work.
There’s a blur of movement around Lucifer and in the next moment, Uriel cries out in agony. Lucifer has crippled him at the knee, and with his next strike he bisects Uriel’s wing. Then, with a roar like thunder, Lucifer swings Uriel around by his ankles and throws him, shot put style, across the hall. Uriel’s path clears half the demons out of our way, crushing some and knocking others back, and doesn’t seem to slow. Crashing headlong into a pillar, which cracks and splits, it tumbles to pieces all over him.
Lucifer and I are already running. Dodging demons and debris, cutting down the stubborn and stupid, we race out of the palace together. A pair of guards stand at the bottom of the steps, alert and prepared to fight. Lucifer rushes ahead of me, cutting one down before he can do more than gawk. The other is racing up the steps toward me.
“Filthy angel,” he snarls, and hauls his massive sword overhead. It never finds its mark—Lucifer tears it, and the guard’s arms, away from him. A shriek, more fury than pain, assaults my ears. Lucifer ends that too, ripping the guard’s head from his body. He grabs my hand and half-drags me down the stairs. As soon as our feet touch the ground, he wraps his arms around me.
Vertigo clutches at my feet and spins my head. The palace disappears in a swirling cloud of smoke.
Chapter27
Lucifer
Earth.I can feel it, smell it, even hear it. And it’s fucking loud.
Damn it all. We’ve arrived in Los Angeles, which is ideal, but we’ve also arrived out in public, on the sidewalk, in the middle of the day, which is very muchnotideal. A crowd of people are staring, slack-jawed. Both pedestrians and drivers, who have all failed to notice that their light has turned green.I’m still in my natural form.
“Well, I’d call that test a success!” I say loudly, clapping Sophia on the shoulders. I look around with a friendly smile. The excuse that comes to mind is foolish, but considering it’s L.A., it can work. “Forgive the makeup,” I tell the crowd. “We’re working on some special effects. Needed a road test. If it looks real in person, it’ll damn sure look real in front of the camera!”
A woman squints at me suspiciously. “Is this for the gremlin movie?”
“I’m not at liberty to say,” I tell her. Horns start blaring from down the block as impatient drivers, who have not witnessed our sudden arrival, realize they’ve missed their light. “Hey, Paul!” I shout down a random alley. “Tell Harry it’s good, but we better put out a press release next time!”
Exasperated sighs and disgruntled murmurs are music to my ears. I keep talking random nonsense in movie terms as I guide Sophia into the alley and out of sight. Once there, I ripple back into my human form, complete with slacks and shirtsleeves, and pull my cellphone from my pocket. Sophia gives me a surprised look.
“Pocket dimension magic,” I tell her offhandedly. “I always keep a go bag around for emergencies.” I put the phone to my ear. “Moloch, I need a car with clean plates. Alley off Western between 5th and 6th. I also need a safehouse, off-grid, out of the way.”
Moloch grunts an affirmative and I hang up, then shoot off a text before slipping the phone into my pocket. Within minutes, he’s pulling into the alley in a gray sedan, understated to the point of being practically invisible.Perfect.He parks and nearly flies out of the car, his eyes wide and staring at Sophia.
“Boss—she’s—she’s a—”
I’m in Moloch’s face in a flash. “Shut your mouth!” I snarl. “I’ve just fought off half of Hell for her. You think I won’t rip you in two?” Possessive fury lashes through me and I want to rip his head off.
Angel or not, she’s mine.
Moloch’s mouth presses into a thin, grim line. “Keys are in the ignition,” he says. “Address is in the GPS. Safe travels.” He gives Sophia a tight, nervous smile, then disappears in a puff of smoke. He shouldn’t be doing that in public, but I won’t hold it against him this time.
