I stabbed upward, and the sword pierced his heart.
His eyes widened in shock, and when he opened his mouth to speak blood poured from his lips.
The sword pulled free as he fell to the ground.
“Impossible,” I heard him say.
He turned over, tried to crawl away from me, a pathetic and broken thing. Crimson liquid spread in a widening pool beneath his body. The charcarion demons that surrounded us had fallen silent in shock even as their brothers fought for their lives against Nathaniel, Samiel and Jude.
There was no mercy in my heart for Antares. He was my half brother, and he had tried to kill me countless times since I had first met him. I knew with a certainty that if I did not finish this now, he would rise up again like the cockroach that he was, always hunting me.
My blade flashed once more, and a moment later Antares’ head rolled away from his body.
“Who’s laughing now?” I said.
Then the charcarion demons descended upon me.
I didn’t have to worry about shields on demons, so I started blasting away with every spell that I had. If a demon came close enough, I hacked at it with the sword.
“Maddy!” Beezle cried, flying over the heads of the demons. “The others are coming!”
I nodded so that he would know that I heard and kept throwing every last bit of magic I had in me. But I was still bleeding, still weakened from my battle with Antares.
Lucifer’s tattoo still lay silent on my palm, and I knew that I would not be able to draw upon the power of the Morningstar to help me.
The cavern filled with the cry of a terrible voice, a voice filled with anguish. Everyone stopped, and the charcarion demons looked around, fear in their eyes, but I knew who it was.
“Missing something, Daddy?” I said.
I curse you, Madeline Black, least beloved of my line. You shall never know peace, for you have taken that which is most precious to me.
“Do you know how many times in the last couple of days someone has sworn that they will hound me until I’m dead? Get in line.”
You shall know pain like no other.
“How about you say that to my face?” I said. “Where are you hiding, coward?”
Silence. Wherever Azazel was, he wasn’t here. I suspected that he was watching from afar somewhere. Wherever he held the Agents, and his pet vampires.
There was the sound of rock shifting, and then a loud crack. Huge boulders tumbled down the sides of the cavern. The charcarion demons desperately tried to escape the crush of falling rock, knocking one another over and trampling other demons in their haste. I fought to stay on my feet, saw Nathaniel and Samiel flying toward me over the heads of the demons.
One demon, either smarter or more dedicated to the cause than the others, took advantage of my momentary distraction. It closed its claws around my neck, shutting off the passage of air.
I barely had any energy left to fight. I reached up with my hands, tried to pry the demon away, but it held on with fierce glee. Black spots danced in front of my eyes.
“Madeline!” Nathaniel cried, and for a moment he sounded like Gabriel. His voice was full of anguish.
Why so sad? I thought as my vision narrowed to just the demon’s vicious, triumphant smile. It’s not as if you really care…
I gasped as the demon’s grip was abruptly loosened. Nathaniel stood before me, panting, holding the demon’s head in his hands. He tossed the demon’s remains away like garbage and scooped me up, flying to the narrow exit that every demon was fleeing toward. The exit was barely as tall as a man and narrow enough that only one person could pass through it. Hundreds of demons were bottlenecked in the door. We wouldn’t be able to get out that way.
I looked over Nathaniel’s shoulder and saw Samiel carrying Jude in his wolf form. Beezle clung to Samiel’s shoulder. There was a sound like thunder, and a lot of screaming as the nephilim’s cave collapsed. We wouldn’t be getting out the way we came in, either. The cavern around us rumbled ominously.
Nathaniel sped toward the exit.
He calmly blasted the demons out of the way and swooped through the tiny exit, the others on our heels.
The exit was only a few feet from a high precipice that stood above a valley. The demons that did manage to escape the cavern were pushed by the crowd over the edge, falling to their deaths far below.
Nathaniel flew straight across the valley to an outcropping that jutted from the mountain on the other side. There was just enough room for all of us to huddle there as we listened to the sounds of the cavern folding in on itself. The stream of charcarion demons pouring from the exit trickled to a halt.
Nathaniel put me on the ground. I am embarrassed to say that I fainted. In my defense, I was pregnant and heavily injured.
I woke to a feeling of warmth spreading throughout my body, and Nathaniel’s lips pressed against mine. For a moment I forgot who he was, and what he was doing, and I kissed him back with a passion.
Then I remembered, and opened my eyes, and pulled away. His eyes were steady on mine. I didn’t know what to say. My feelings for Nathaniel got more confused every day.
“Thank you,” I finally said, just to break the silence.
He nodded. “You’re welcome.”
As he stood I saw that he held the broken shaft of the arrow that had pierced me in his hand, but instead of throwing it away, he tucked it in his pocket.
I started to ask him why, but Beezle landed on my chest. He scowled at me.
“I thought you were just going to do some surveillance?” he asked. “What was up with the gladiator routine?”
“Antares saw through my veil,” I said. “It wasn’t my fault.”
“Now, how did he do that?” Jude asked, giving Nathaniel a suspicious look. “I thought you veiled her because your spell was more powerful than hers.”
“It was,” Nathaniel said, looking surprised. “I do not know how Antares was able to penetrate it.”
“Maybe,” Jude growled, “you didn’t do such a great job. Maybe you wanted Maddy to get hurt so you could swoop in and save her, present yourself in a better light to Lucifer.”
A second before, I’d been thinking that maybe Nathaniel wasn’t so bad after all. Now Jude’s words forced me to consider him in a different light.
Nathaniel shot an angry look at Jude. “I assure you, I would not risk Madeline’s life in such a manner. You saw the veil’s effectiveness for yourself.”
“How do we know that you didn’t set that spell to fade after a few minutes?” Jude asked.
“How was I to know that Antares would be there just in time to see Madeline? Think about what you are saying, wolf,” Nathaniel replied.
“All I know is that it’s mighty convenient that your spell failed just as Maddy needed it most.”
“Enough,” I said, covering my eyes for a moment. “Just enough.”
I looked between Nathaniel and Jude. Jude made a good point, but he was inclined to mistrust Nathaniel. I wasn’t completely certain of Nathaniel’s agenda, but I had to believe that he didn’t intend me any harm. If he did, he could have easily left me in the cavern, or dropped me as we passed over the valley.
I had plenty of troubles without suspecting Nathaniel, too. I was going to have to trust him, at least for now.
“So,” I said, trying to cover up the tension. “Antares and his army of demons are gone, but Azazel is still out there somewhere.”
“And if Antares is dead, then our best chance of finding Azazel is gone,” Beezle said.
Samiel shook his head. He reached in his pocket for something and held it out to the rest of us.
It was Antares’ spell bag.
Look inside, Samiel said.
I opened the bag. Inside was a collection of charms and spells hidden inside small stones. Each stone had a rune on it.
