I prayed for the Maker to watch over my mentor as I stumbled through the mud, turning away from Obie’s corpse. Yet another life sacrificed for mine. My debt would never be repaid.
At the top of the hill, I looked down over the battlefield, and dread cinched my lungs and squeezed. It was pandemonium down there as war waged. It was impossible to tell who was who. Metal clanged. The air filled with smoke and blood. The sky roiled, the sun blacked out by the angry clouds.
“Riley.” Jai coughed as he limped toward me. Blood streaked his cheek, but the wound on his side had closed.
Noel followed, face smeared with soot and sweat. Their chests heaved as they joined me on the precipice, staring out over the fighting masses.
“Communication was cut off,” Jai said. “Everything’s going to shit.”
“What do we do?” Noel asked.
I breathed in the burning smoke and copper tang of blood. In shades of red, I studied my Committeds. Our bonds thrummed. Gideon’s thread was strong. He was alive. For now.
I said, “Are you with me?”
“Always,” Noel said.
“To my last breath,” Jai said.
I faced the battlefield. “Then let’s go to war.”
Chapter Twenty-One
The day of reckoning was never-ending. Black clouds blotted out the sun. The sky opened, and rain fell in a deluge. Sharp weapons whistled through the air, meeting metal with shrill clangs. Claws sliced through flesh. Fangs glistened. Red eyes glowed, and angel wings rustled. The world was painted red with blood.
Still, we fought.
Mud deepened, thick and clawing, sucking at my feet as I struggled through the bodies of the dead and dying. Sometimes, fingers would circle my ankles, and voices would beg for help.
Please, help me.
Don’t leave me here.
I don’t want to die alone.
I had no choice but to push on, leaving the voices of the dead behind me. The battle wouldn’t end until Lucifer fell. It was the driving force behind every step I took.
It was chaotic. The rain made it near impossible to distinguish friend from foe. I had to ward off attacks from angels as well as demons. I didn’t have wings to prove my allegiance, but there were enough people to hide behind. It was easy to disappear, and the angels would find new targets.
Jai and Noel stayed at my side. Every time we were separated, stuck in battle, they fought their way back to me. We hacked through the bodies, severing limb from torso, head from neck. It was like I was trapped in a nightmare. I was disconnected from reality, killing indiscriminately.
This was war, and one false step would end in death. We didn’t have a choice. At least, that was what I told myself. There was no place for mercy. Only vengeance.
Every injury we sustained healed, but exhaustion was the true enemy. My swords were heavy, the handles adhered to my palms with tacky blood and muck. It grew harder and harder to lift them, both in defense and attack. But I raised them every time because I was not going to die here.
After everything we’d been through, after everything we’d sacrificed, I refused to fall now. I would not drown in the mud like a dog. I would not drop until I was face to face with Lucifer.
Jai and Noel crowded me as Angel and Fallen fought viciously around us. We were covered head to toe in grime and gore. It was impossible to tell how much blood was actually theirs. Pale and weary, they looked to me for direction.
“I need to find Lucifer,” I shouted above the rain and clang of metal.
“He was fighting Michael and Raphael over there the last I saw.” Jai pointed to the west, his iridescent ebony wings fluttering behind him. “I’ll clear a path.”
Noel wiped at the loose hair sticking to his wet cheeks. “I’ve got your back.”
With a nod, I followed Jai as he leapt into the fray. I tried to remain between my angels, blasting the enemy back when I wasn’t close enough to use my weapons. I didn’t want to exhaust my energy supply too soon.
It seemed to take hours, fighting for a few feet only to lose yards when we were pushed back. But we pressed onward. Gideon’s fiery thread was strong, pulsing in my chest. But, there was an ache there. He was injured. It wasn’t life-threatening, but it still pissed me off.
With vengeance burning in my chest, I bared my teeth and roared as my blades cut down every demon in my path. The rain beat against my face as I beheaded a red-eyed demon, walking through the wall of dust as the body poofed away.
A great battle cry rose from the forest, and people flooded from the trees, swords raised. For a moment, horror drowned me. We were already outnumbered. We couldn’t survive a second wave.
But it wasn’t a second wave of Lucifer’s army. The soldiers were led by a female with platinum hair and red eyes. And a man with golden wings. Tabitha. Gideon. The Fallen had kept their end of the bargain, it would seem.
Angel wings fluttered amongst the glowing red-eyes, the crowd of Fallen and Angel running behind Gideon and Tabitha, fighting together instead of against each other. Only Gideon could have pulled that off. I laughed, the sound lost to the wind and rain and the drums of war.
Gideon led the charge, the legion plowing into the rear of Lucifer’s army. Fallen and demons scattered, breaking rank, and the tides began to turn.
The angels around me took up the battle roar, and the ground shook with the might of it. Trapped between our side of the angel army and Gideon’s battalion, Lucifer’s soldiers began to panic. But we didn’t give them the chance to run.
Surging forward, the fight began anew. Rain beat down. Mud sucked at our feet. Blood spilled over metal and claw. But still, we fought.
What felt like hours later but could have been minutes, the masses parted, and ahead stood Lucifer. His golden hair had been cut short—for the battle perhaps?—and his face was a mask of rage and purpose. Glowing red, he swung his swords, chopping through anyone—ally or enemy—who stood too close.
Every being that attacked was either killed or thrown back by red energy bursts. Until one angel broke through, landing a blow to Lucifer’s back with a golden blade. His dark blonde hair was matted by rain and blood. His golden wings folded close to his back as he crouched in preparation for Lucifer’s counterattack.
Terror gripped me, and I screamed Gideon’s name. But it was lost to the storm as my path to Lucifer and Gideon was blocked by a wraith, an emaciated figure with haunted eyes and sunken cheeks. Bony spines protruded from his back where his wings used to be. Noel shrieked in horror as Malachi—the remnants of Malachi—lurched toward us.
“Noni,” he moaned, sounding more ghost than man. “Help me.”
“Mal?” Noel pressed to my back, body trembling as Jai stepped forward.
Slipping in the mud, Malachi collapsed to his knees and reached out with a skeletal hand, breath wheezing. “Kill me.”
“You don’t deserve mercy,” Jai seethed. “But I’ll grant it to you because I’m not like you. I hope you burn for eternity, you sick fuck.”
It was over quickly. With a swing of Jai’s sword, Malachi’s head bounced wetly in the muck, stopping face down. His headless body, which was already dead in a way, flopped over with an anticlimactic splat.
Jai turned, rain pelting his face and hair. He grimaced, but the relief burning through our bond was overwhelming. He opened his mouth. He said, “Come on, Ri—” but the words ended in a gurgle as a dagger embedded itself in his chest, right at his heart.