AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He rolled his eyes, but when he glanced up at the sky, the clouds parted, letting moonlight flood the area behind the storage units. Joriel might have had fewer physical advantages than Nathaniel and I did in a fight, but he had some pretty cool abilities when it came to the earth’s elements.
“Empty,” Thomas muttered. “It is empty, right?”
Joriel nodded. “No guards.”
“You want me inside?” Thomas asked.
I nodded. “If you see any high-ranking demons, signal and we’ll stay out here; otherwise we’ll be right behind you.”
Low-ranking demons couldn’t sense angelic power, but dukes, princes, and other higher-ups could.
We gave Thomas three minutes to get in and check for greater demons before following after him. The storage unit was filled with the red-skinned variety, the ones with pointy horns and pointy ears, but there wasn’t a demon royal in sight.
Thomas grinned at us and then took off, as silent as any warrior angel. He’d bug the place so we could listen in to conversations, at least until all the demon energy messed up the signals. At which point we’d know how much power was in this place.
Joriel slipped one of his axes from the straps at his rib cage. His eyes tracked over the room in a constant sweep.
I focused on Thomas even though there was little I could do from here if he got into trouble. Joriel was the one with a weapon that could be thrown across the room. He was also the one with healing powers. I was just the one calling the shots. And I was perfectly capable of killing every demon in here in under ten minutes, but that wouldn’t help us figure out who was actually behind this operation.
Fuck, I hated being useless. I’d spent years becoming as dangerous and indispensable as possible. I didn’t do helpless or losing.
Thomas finished bugging the unit, and we left without any drama.
“That felt too easy,” Joriel whispered once we were outside.
“And you had to jinx it,” I drawled, my gaze zeroing in on the two demons standing in the previously empty space behind the units.
Joriel reached for his axes, but I held out a hand. “Don’t. No heavenly fire.”
I reached over and snagged one of Thomas’s stakes from a sheath at his thigh.
Thomas grinned. “Which one do you want, Sam?”
I didn’t bother answering that. Just folded my arms and watched him. It was one thing to train in the gym with dummies or sparring each other. It was something else to face a real demon.
Thomas palmed two stakes and sprang forward.
“He’s good,” Joriel said almost grudgingly.
“He was a street kid. One of the most fearless people I’ve ever met.”
“He’s your second?”
“Right now you’re my second.”
“You don’t have to lie to me.”
“Not lying. Don’t worry, I’m not a trusting person. I won’t let you fuck me over.”
The second demon turned to smoke, and Thomas sheathed the iron stakes at his thighs. He turned back to us and grinned. “Did I pass the test?”
“Don’t get cocky,” I said.
His smile widened, and in that second I saw remnants of the seventeen-year-old he’d been when we met.
“Have you thought about what you’re going to do when they get too old to fight demons?” Joriel asked when we got back to Youngblood.
“Let them retire and get a new generation of demon hunters.” I shoved through the door to the security room. “I’m not getting any older, and the world doesn’t have any shortage of people looking for a second chance.”
