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“Hello, Wrath.” Ashe cocked his head. His curved horns began above his ears and curled neatly to his neck.
“Ashe,” Wrath growled. “You end today.”
They all seemed to know the fucker with an obsidian blade at Dee’s neck. “He has an obsidian blade,” Eddie whispered to Wrath.
“I see that.” Wrath tensed. “What are you doing here, Ashe?”
“At this moment?” Ashe grinned. “I would say that is fairly obvious.”
Wrath’s snarl made the hairs on Eddie’s nape rise. “Does Lucifer know what you are doing?”
“What do you think?” Ashe raised a dark eyebrow. Other than his grayish skin and the horns, he looked exactly like a human male. The intense blue of his eyes flashed. “You cannot win, Wrath. Surrender.”
“Over my dead body,” Wrath growled.
“Or hers.” Ashe pressed the knife closer to Dee’s neck. Skin dented beneath its gleaming black blade.
One breath, and Dee would be over. Eddie couldn’t let that happen. “If I come with you, you’ll let Dee go?”
“Of course.” Ashe looked calm and reasonable. They could have been discussing the weather, other than the nasty knife at Dee’s throat. “And you have my assurance that I will recall my horde.”
A demon head thunked to the ground between them.
“Do it now,” Eddie whispered. “Recall your horde.”
“Now that would be stupid,” Ashe said. His blue eyes gleamed. “With two hell princes running wild.” He winked at her. “My position is somewhat precarious, Edme. And your grandmother is the only guarantee I have of leaving this place with my existence continuing.”
“Take me instead.” Wrath got his shoulder in front of Eddie. “Take me in Eddie’s place. If you and your horde leave here without harming my daughter, I vow I will come with you quietly.”
Ashe gave that some thought. “An interesting proposition,” he murmured. “Calix!”
A second demon, this one looking like a centaur, joined him. “Aye.”
“Give our lovely hell prince the amulet.”
Calix dug in a pouch around his belt and pulled out an amulet. He tossed it at Wrath, and it landed at his feet.
A large red gem glowed in the center. Eddie didn’t know what it was, but it made her stomach roil, and she knew Wrath shouldn’t go anywhere near the damn thing.
“I will take you instead,” Ashe said. “But only once you bind your powers.”
“Never.” Wrath’s wings flexed behind him. “We will fight you first.”
Ashe laughed. “Look around you, Wrath. Your horde is disappearing as we speak.”
Eddie never took her eyes off Dee.
Dee’s gaze met hers and fierce determination blazed across the distance at them. Dee looked like she was about to do something courageous and fucking stupid. “Don’t,” Eddie yelled at her. “Wrath, please. She’s everything to me.”
“Fine.” Wrath snatched up the amulet.
It flared to life in his hand.
With a roar, red light surrounded him and drove him to his knees. His face contorted in a rictus of agony.
Eddie felt her wrath pop like a soap bubble inside her.
“Don’t be fucking stupid, Ashe.” Shade spoke from behind Eddie. “You know you can’t win against me.”
