AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Cain’s yell was terrifying and utterly inhuman. He raised his hands and wrenched them in opposite directions, and the air between us lit up in blue as the wards tore in half, then rained down like shards of glass before disappearing.
The moment the barrier broke, the vampires descended on us. I threw one aside with a wave of my arm, then held out my hands and conjured an energy shield to try to deflect anything the brothers threw at us.
Griffin rushed forward, thrust his hands out, and threw two vampires a hundred feet back with a burst of energy. At the same time, Elias grabbed a thick fallen branch and snapped it in two, then stood at my side with his makeshift stakes, brave and determined. When a vampire rushed at us, my mate spun around and struck him in the chest. The creature was reduced to dust as his clothes drifted to the ground.
Meanwhile, August and Tinder fought in perfect unison. Tinder staked one of the vampires, then rolled out of the way as another lunged at him. August finished that one off by driving his stake through him, and then he pulled his husband to his feet. The two men stood back-to-back, powerful and united, then took out two more vampires with the grace of a choreographed dance.
While the brothers were distracted by the mayhem they’d unleashed, Griffin gathered all the energy he could muster and fired it at Cain. For just a moment, the demon was knocked on his ass. But then he rose up, looking fierce and otherworldly, and flicked his wrist. The force obliterated my shield and sent Griffin slamming into the front of the house, hard enough to crack the wall.
Ari was by his side in an instant. Griffin had been knocked unconscious, and I shouted to his husband, “Get him out of here!”
Tiny, delicate Ari scooped his husband into his arms, and then he stood up, bold and fearless. White light shot from him as a pair of pristine, white wings unfurled behind him. The brothers hesitated, startled to suddenly discover an angel in their midst. If only Ari still had his powers.
Since he didn’t, he did the only thing he could—he saved his husband. Ari raised his wings, then brought them down so forcefully that Elias and I had to brace ourselves against the sudden gust of wind. He shot straight up into the air, then darted away so quickly that he and Griffin disappeared from sight in an instant.
Carter used that temporary distraction to attack Cain. Black lightning shot from his hands, crackling and humming with power. His eyes went black and looked like they were lit from within as he gritted his teeth. Cain staggered back. But then he straightened up again and turned an equally powerful force on Carter, sparks flying twenty feet into the air when the second stream of black lightning collided with the first.
Abel turned his attention to Elias and me, and I quickly pulled up the shield again. I felt him gathering his power before I saw it. He formed a glowing ball of dark energy between his hands, turning it over and over as it grew in strength.
My heart was pounding in my ears. I put everything I had into that shield and just prayed it would hold. Abel drew his arm back, and I held my breath.
Then he threw it, and the ball of energy tore through my shield like it was made of wet paper. I braced for the impact, sure I wouldn’t survive it.
But then, in the split second before it reached us, Elias threw himself in front of me and took the full force of the attack. His face contorted with pain. It seemed as if time slowed down, and I watched in horror as his body bent and twisted from the impact. I grabbed him as he fell to the ground and was pulled down with him.
I felt our mate bond snap, then vanish as Elias died in my arms.
I stared at my mate’s lifeless body for a long, terrible moment. Then I screamed and thrust a hand at Abel. As tears poured down my cheeks, I pushed into the demon’s mind, using the gateway he’d established to track me. I made him feel everything—my pain, my horror, the overwhelming sense of loss, and exactly what Elias meant to me.
There was nothing left to fight for, but before I died I wanted him to understand exactly what he’d destroyed.
Abel took a step back, and his arms fell to his sides. I kept pushing my emotions into his mind, because I wanted him to hurt like I was hurting. I sobbed uncontrollably, clutching Elias’s lifeless body.
The demon took another step back and looked around. He seemed disoriented. Tinder and August were battling the remaining vampires, and Carter and Cain were still locked in their showdown with the streams of energy sparking and crackling between them, but Carter was starting to weaken. When he dropped to one knee, I knew he wouldn’t last much longer.
