“Really?” Limos came forward. “You think you can do that?”
“I don’t know.” He looked at Reaver. His
Revenant answered before Reaver could. “Only Pestilence can do that. Either through his death or by consent.” He shot a toothy smile at Limos. “Looks like your human is out of luck. Sad.”
“You’re such an asshole,” Limos bit out.
Total understatement. Reseph really hated their new Watcher. “Okay then, there’s only one thing to do,” Reseph said to Reaver. “Do you still have Wormwood?”
Very slowly, Reaver nodded.
“You have to kill Pestilence.”
Silence fell in the room. A moment later, it erupted in
Reaver strode across the room and stopped a foot away from Reseph. “Do you know what you’re saying? Killing him will kill you. Your soul will spend hundreds, maybe thousands, of years in Sheoul-gra being tortured until the biblical Apocalypse. Even then, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be reincarnated. The Watcher Council has calculated that the chances of good beating evil in the Final Battle are dismal without you.”
“I have to make things better, Reaver. I have to repair some of the damage I’ve done.”
“Not like this,” he said. “Arik is immortal now. He doesn’t need his soul anytime soon. We have time to find another way.”
“You said there isn’t one.”
“Dammit, Reseph.” Ares approached, his expression grim. “There
“And what? You ask him nicely? He’s not exactly the kind to negotiate. And I won’t expose you to him again.”
“I’m happy to torture Arik’s soul out of him,” Than said, with a little too much relish. Not that Reseph could blame him. But God, letting Pestilence out could only lead to bad things.
“What if I can’t put him back?” Reseph rasped.
Revenant crossed his arms over his puffed-out, leather-clad chest. “Then Pestilence goes on a rampage and butchers everyone you love.”
“No, he wouldn’t.” Ares stared at Revenant with contempt, his hand hovering over the sword at his hip. “Because we’d have him pinned down with hellhound venom.” He glanced over at Reaver. “Since Pestilence no longer has the power of the broken Seal behind him, hellhound poison should work on him, right?”
Reaver didn’t answer, which meant it was one of those things he
“You’d better hope so,” Revenant said, sounding so damned slimy. “Because Reseph will never be able to put him back.”
The fallen angel’s words went right to Reseph’s gut, because that was exactly what Reseph was afraid of.
“I am so sick of your ugly ass,” Limos snapped.
Reseph strode to the center of the room, stopping the conversation. “All of this is pointless. It’s Arik’s decision. We ask him and go from there.”
Total silence, because everyone in the room knew exactly what Arik would say.
“Reseph…” Limos bit down on her lower lip, and Reseph’s heart bled for her. She had to support her husband, but at the same time, doing so might mean death for her brother. She was in the worst of all positions.
A phone beeped, and Limos grabbed her cell off the coffee table. “Shit.” She listened, her color fading until moments later, she wheeled around to Reseph. “It was Kynan. Jillian called him. She’s in trouble. The Aegis. Demons. Ky and Arik are on their way to her house.”
Reseph’s heart nearly burst out of his chest as he swiped his finger over his armor scar. “I don’t have any right to ask you this, but—”
“I’m with you,” Ares said.
“Yup.” Limos joined Reseph at his side.
Thanatos nodded. “Let’s go save your female.”
Thirty-eight
Jillian hung up the phone just as the door crashed in. A demon lunged through the doorway, its teeth snapping, its rotten stench making her gag. A startled yelp escaped her as she rolled out of the way of the creature’s claws. Suddenly the thing hissed, spitting frothy saliva as it flew backward through the doorway, its eyes wide with shock. The stranger who had arrived before she shut herself in the house stood where the demon had been.
“Stay inside,” the man growled at her. He spun around and tackled the demon he’d hauled out of the house, taking it to the deck.
Stay inside. Right. Good plan. Gripping her shovel handle, she started for the bedroom but skidded to a halt at the crash of broken glass and the nasty snarl that followed. A demon pulled itself through the window next to the bed.
Not good. Holy shit, so not good.
Praying Doodle was hiding somewhere safe, she swiped the snowmobile keys off the floor and bolted out the door. If she could get away from all of this, maybe she had a chance. She leaped off the porch, narrowly missing being grabbed by Lance. A grayish, eyeless demon lumbered in front of the snowmachine, cutting her off. Demons poured into the house, their screeches and clacking teeth joining the shouts and screams of the Guardians engaged in battle all around the farm. She darted toward the barn, but the battle closed in, and suddenly, she was in the thick of it with nothing but a piece of wood and keys for weapons.
Then came the most beautiful sound in the world.
Horse hooves pounded across the clearing from the forest. Four armored riders, Reseph in the lead, stormed toward her in a cloud of churned-up snow. For just a moment, the battle all around Jillian stopped. Reseph’s gaze caught hers, and she knew without a doubt that she was safe.
“Shit!” Lance’s curse broke the spell that had fallen over the battlefield. Humans and demons exploded into action. An SUV tore up the drive, sideswiping a Soulshredder before spinning out and crunching into one of the Aegis trucks. Arik and Kynan leaped out, weapons flashing and slashing.
Lance hurled a blade at Reseph, who whipped up a crossbow and shot the blade out of the air.
“He’s mine,” Thanatos roared, cutting between Reseph and Lance.
Jillian didn’t understand why, but clearly, the yellow-eyed Horseman harbored a murderous hatred for the Guardian.
“Wraith’s gonna be pissed!” Kynan shouted, even as he ducked a swipe from a Soulshredder’s claws. “He ordered Lance for dinner.”
Thanatos flashed a set of wicked fangs. Fangs? Did Reseph have them, too? “I’ll take him a doggie bag of leftovers.”
Jillian dove for the ground as Thanatos thundered past, a scythe in his hand. As she rolled in the snow, she caught a glimpse of Thanatos swinging that wicked blade and cleaving Lance’s head from his shoulders.
Another Soulshredder burst out of the forest and was on her before she could even scream. Heart pounding, she jerked the shovel handle upward, catching the creature in the ribs. The wood penetrated deep, driving so hard it erupted from the demon’s back. It howled, its massive jaws opening in front of her face. She could smell its foul breath and the rank feces-like odor that clung to its skin. A flashback to the night at the ATC parking lot tore through her brain.
She’d been helpless. Terrified.
Yeah, well, she was terrified now, too, but she was
She wrenched her makeshift stake upward, shoving it toward the thing’s heart. It howled again, spraying
