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He brings his forehead to mine. “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.” He shoves his helmet back on and teleports us out, but we’re not near the mouth of the cave. We’re deep in the foothills. Angels are scattered in the wheatgrass and much easier to pick off than in the cluster near the mouth of the cave. They were right about that.
Mumbling a spell, I withdraw my sword from the scabbard. This puppy won’t miss its mark. Not now. Not ever. The runes engraved along the blade flash bright as I twist it in my hand. Angels rush us, sensing our presence in the field like a feline house pet seeking out catnip. Kai welds a sword in each hand, his back meeting mine.
The first man steps in sword swinging distance, slicing his dagger with precision. Only my blade is faster and with the help of magic, it removes his head before his body hits the ground. More attack, one after the other, until a wall of death forms around us and we’re forced to move for visibility’s sake.
Something sickeningly sweet rushes over me, a power I know intimately. The dead woggle and piece themselves back together, held into their forms by magic. They lift to their feet and gather their swords, rushing like rabid dogs toward the surrounding angels.
Asmo’s magic. His ability to animate the dead will keep our numbers. He’s pulling out his wild cards and flaunting them, which means we’ve lost half our masses already. The undead join the living, shredding through winged fuckers until feathers coat their skin, sticking to the blood spilt from mortal wounds.
I turn, finding Kai no longer at my back. A few yards away from me, he stares at the top of the hill to our right. Trying to see what he does, I find a small dark blip perched on top of it, surrounded by Finn with a sword and Eva in her beast form. They’re protecting Asmo while he focuses. Looking back to Kai, an angel man sleuths through the wheat, quiet as a mouse.
My body goes into autopilot as I lift my sword with both hands and throw it across the distance as hard as I can, using magic and power to guide it toward its mark. Kai must catch the glimmer of silver out of the corner of his eye. Through the slits of his helmet, I glimpse the uncertainty in his amber eyes as my sword sails past him and spears into the man who could’ve killed him within seconds.
Kai spins, peering down to where my sword juts from the man’s eye socket before nodding his approval, bringing a smirk to my lips. I single-handedly saved the king.
My hackles rise as I siphon the power from the blood painting the ground, letting it tingle across my fingertips and power explodes through the hills, sending the wind into a frenzy. It swarms around me, as blood whips from the ground in cords, dragging angels under the earth and sealing them beneath it. I walk forward, taking my chaos with me as screams fill the air, only to be smothered out. Something slams into my hip, not hard enough to hurt me, but enough to break my concentration. I look down to find the sword I threw at Kai’s assailant.
He sent it back.
In the distance, I can see Lucifer in a battle of wills, fighting an angel. It’s not Michael, but he’s certainly skilled. Maybe the infamous Gabriel they spoke of. His hands are red and his horns are free as he slashes, keeping his soul focused on the man advancing while his shadow puppets level anyone who gets close. He moves with lethal grace and perfect precision.
I shuffle through the dead, building my red tide and heading toward Lucifer. My magic splits the hills open and swallows enemies whole, and by the time I reach him, most of the hills I’ve passed have been leveled to a prairie. Pushing my power forward, the blood swims up the hill, wrapping around Lucifer’s assailant’s feet and swallowing him up. By the time it sinks back to the ground, all that’s left is clean bones.
The Devil turns his head toward me and I send him a wave, before moving on, my red tide in tow. Something slams into my back, hitting the metal of my armor and sending me tumbling forward. Rolling over onto my back, I cringe, pushing myself up to a sitting position, just in time to be hit with power again. It pulses over me, trapping my lungs in stasis and denying me air.
When it stops, I choke, gasping for air. I roll to my side, pushing out my magic to create a bubble around me, allowing me time to catch my breath. Within seconds, Michael beats the hilt of his dagger against it, and a crack forms, splintering out as the magic threads snap.
“You can’t hide forever, little girl.” His sinister voice sends a shiver through me. Pain throbs through my chest as I wheeze, pushing to my feet.
“I don’t plan… on hiding,” I breathe, drawing my red tide. It roars down the hill at my back, and Michael’s eyes grow before he disappears, deciding to pick on someone else.Fucking pussy.
I catch my breath and drop the shield, continuing to level the playing field. It’s not until Lucifer pops into existence next to me and I nearly slit his throat that I stop.
“We need to talk.”
“I’m a little busy. If you can’t tell.” I let the tide disband, only to set it aflame with hellfire and listen to the angels scream like it’s my favorite song.
“I’m aware, but there are more coming.”
My head turns as my eyes meet his. “More? How many fucking more?”
“Too many. Promise me, when the time is right, you’ll let me do what I need to.”
I stare at him for a long moment, not sure what that means. “Okay. I’ll do my best.”
Lucifer disappears, and once more I’m left alone to pick off lesser angels one by one. I lift my hands to summon the red tide, but Kai pulls hard on my power. My magic flees faster than I can siphon it and it takes everything I have to pull it from the ground, and from the blood tide, to keep him from draining me dry. The power line cuts off, and I heave air in my lungs, yanking magic to me from anywhere I can draw it in case he calls on it again.
There’s a silence that falls over the hills and the dead roaming and fighting what’s left of the angels fall. I watch as bodies hit the ground and pain rips through my middle. Searing, white hot heat scorches through me and I scream, doubling over until the pain ebbs away. Pulling at my armor chest plate, I yank it free, lifting my shirt to find nothing.
The heart caged within my chest stills as my head lifts, looking over the hills I’ve leveled. There’s no sign of Kai. There’s no sign of Asmo, Lucifer, Finn, or Eva. It’s just me and the wheat grass that’s been stained with blood.
The echo of my pulse pounds against my eardrums as I stalk back toward where I left Kai, numb to everything and hoping not to jump to conclusions until I can say without a shadow of a doubt that my fears are true. When I reach the top of the last rolling hill, I don’t see Kai or anyone on my side. There’s only Michael, who’s staring at his dagger, the glistening silver tip dripping fresh blood. The ground is painted with it, as if someone had been flayed open seconds ago.
Air rages through my lungs as the world fades away. I drop to my knees, my sword clanging against the grass-covered ground. Suddenly nothing else exists. I’m locked in this moment without an ounce of strength, emotion, or pain… Like one of the ghosts in the Forest of Lost Souls, I’m just here.
For a moment, I hold my breath, hoping my lungs will stop working and save me from what comes next, from the gut wrenching loss I’ve witnessed so many struggle to recover from. Maybe my crimson tide can swallow me whole… Instead of pain and suffering, what surges to the surface first is nothing but pure rage. My eyes go dark as the veins around my cheeks spring forward, slipping beneath the surface of my flesh like Medusa’s snakes.
