This trip was highlighting how different I was to the other Dominus. That no matter how much I’d trained and grown, I’d never be as fast or strong as them.
No, do not think like that. This shit can be compensated for. It can be learned.
My Loup stretched and filled me, and my vision sharpened, drawing on light I hadn’t even known was there. The world took shape, slowly and distinctly, and the reason for Samael’s instruction for no sudden movements made sense.
We were on a fucking ledge
And beyond the ledge was inky blackness.
Up head, a stone archway, hopefully lead to solid ground.
Fuck.
My heart pounded harder.
“You’re safe, blossom,” Samael whispered softly. “Just hold on and stay still.”
I wanted to nod, to say okay, but my body was locked, and my voice was stuck in my throat because there was something moving in the darkness. I was fucking sure of it.
No. Not something.
Somethings…
“Fuck.” The word was a soft exhalation behind us, and I wasn’t sure if it was Mal or Az who’d said it.
Blood rushed in my ears and my eyes strained, focused on the arch, which was suddenly salvation, because my gut was screaming at me to run, to get away from whatever was in that abyss.
We were almost there, only a few meters away, when there was a scuffle and then a chink.
Someone cursed and Samael froze, holding his breath. “Don’t. Move,” he whispered.
The world was silent and still, and then a soft clicking sound drifted up from the abyss. It was joined by another and then another, and then a whooshing sound, like an oncoming wave spiraled out of the abyss.
“Run!” Samael ordered.
The arch loomed, closer and closer. The clicking was now a multitude of clicks, and even though every instinct in me said not to look back, I couldn’t help but turn my head to take a peek and—
A silver wave surged out of the abyss, creatures unlike anything I’d ever seen. Bat-winged with feral faces and huge inky eyes. Each was the size of an infant. The clicking penetrated my brain, rattling it and drawing a scream up my throat, and then we were through the arch. Azazel and Mal followed.
Keon? Where was Keon.
Samael made to dive deeper into the caverns, but I dug my heels in. “Where’s Keon?”
A bellow drifted through the arch.
Keon!
I leapt off Samael’s back and attempted to push past Azazel, but he grabbed me to him.
I fought him. “No! Let go.”
“You can’t Fee,” Mal said.
Keon’s scream echoed through the arch and my heart twisted. I wouldn’t be able to break free of Azazel. That was a given. But there was a fire inside me that wouldn’t allow me to abandon Keon.
I relaxed against my soulmate and his grip loosened, as he seemed to think he’d gotten through to me.
I chose that moment to break free. Mal made a swipe for me, but I ducked and barreled through the arch in time to see Keon being dragged over the edge of the ledge.
Our gazes locked, and I saw the sorrow in his eyes.
And then he was gone.
No. Not today.
I ran along the edge and leapt in after him as my name echoed behind me like a bloody battle cry.
Silver beasts with batwings surged toward me, clawing at me as I reached out to Keon.
Pain lanced across my cheek, my neck, my back, and rage was a whiplash, bringing my scythe to life in my hand. I swung it, slicing the creatures in two as we fell.
How far could we fall?
The beat of wings above me alerted me to the fact I wasn’t alone. The guys were coming for me.
“Fee, pull up!” Azazel shouted.
“Stop, child.” Samael ordered.
They’d come for me, but they’d let Keon die. My eyes were hot with the injustice of it. I pushed forward, adding speed to my descent, using my power to spur myself on.
“No,” Keon cried out, batting at the creatures clawing at his flesh. “Go back.”
“Not without you.”
The monsters tugged him to the right, and then he was slammed into a ledge. Blood sprayed as they descended on their prey, eager to feast.
“No!” My body shuddered and the rage burning in my blood exploded outward in a burst of light that blinded me. Every synapse, every nerve ending, lit up in pain and my scream was a raw primal thing, clawing its way out of my throat to hit the air.
The light subsided but my vision remained bright, as if someone had turned on the lamp
Keon was free, no longer covered in silver beasts that wanted to get to his insides, because the creatures were nothing but piles of ash. In fact, the abyss was empty and silent of any clicking.
Had I done this? I waited for the tremor in my stomach, but it didn’t come. Instead, there was a sense of peace and purpose. A new strength.
I felt Azazel, Mal, and Samael at my back as I drifted toward Keon’s bloody, dazed form and held my hand out to him, but his gaze was on my scythe.
I held it aloft, staring at the silver glowing blade, no longer a scythe but a sword of light.
Samael drifted down to hover before me, his attention on the sword.
His face broke into a beaming smile. “Well, there you are, old friend.”
Chapter Thirty-One
We flew back to the ledge where Keon promptly passed out. His body was a mess of wounds that would take time to heal. The furs we wore were wet and matted with his blood but mostly intact.
“What just happened?” Mal asked me.
I could make out his face clearly with my super night vision—stunned, concerned, kind of wary.
“You were on…fire.”
“I don’t know.” I flexed my hand. The scythe-turned-sword was gone. “I’ve never felt anything like it before.”
“They call it the righteous blaze,” Samael said with a wry smile. “And it used to be mine. But when I fell, I lost touch with that part of me. It seems that when Eve and I created you, the ability passed to you.”
“But why now? I mean I’ve been in pretty dicey situations before where this power could have come in useful.”
“The power of the Lightbringer can burn a celestial to ash. Maybe you weren’t strong enough then.” His expression was concerned. “You must be careful. The power is celestial, and although you’re my daughter, you were born of a mortal womb and this power… It could burn you up.”
“Don’t use it,” Mal said. “If it can hurt you, please.”
“I don’t even know how I accessed it this time.”
“Your righteous rage,” Samael said. “At an injustice.”
I’d been pissed at them for leaving Keon to die but coming after me. I’d been angry at the double standard and the fact they thought of him as lesser.
“You were angry at us.” Azazel looked devastated.
I shook my head and dropped my gaze. “You would have let him die.”
“We came here for Lilith,” Azazel said. “Going after him could have cost us all our lives.”
“And yet you came after me.” I met his gaze now, defiant and challenging. “You would have lost your life for me and doomed Lilith in the process.”
His jaw worked as if he was looking for words, an explanation, an excuse, and then his shoulders drooped. “I’d walk through fire for you, Fee.”