Hunted

under control.”

My mouth opened and closed, but I didn’t ask the questions that burned the tip of my tongue. How had they found us? Was he angry we’d disobeyed them again? Too late—he was already gone.

I got to my feet. While Solange and I had been making up for missed years of sibling rivalry, I had forgotten about the other Cardinals. The battle had taken on a new intensity. Lord Gabreel and his followers had abandoned their home, leaving behind their mummified friends on the stairs. Solange’s demons had changed to their real forms—hairy or scaly faces, horns and tails, fangs and rows of shark-like teeth. Nephilim powers were enhanced when they took their real shapes.

Solange surprised me, landing a blow on my chest and slamming me against the rail. Grampa was right. This was no time for games. I got inside her head before she realized my intention.

Sit down. Her legs folded and she dropped on the floor.

“That’s cheating,” she screeched.

“So did you.” I removed the crystals from my pocket, then, with a flick of my fingers, placed them around her. Light shot out and curved above her head, creating a cage.

Solange sneered. “I’ll never tell you where our father and Kim are.”

“I already know. What is it with you demons and islands? Can’t stand living among humans?”

“Not when we can’t rule the…” Her voice trailed off and her eyes widened.

I turned to see what had her eyes wide with fear and my heart sank. “The archangels,” I whispered.

Lightning flashed around the court, the surge of power knocking me backward. I skidded on the floor until my back slammed against the wall. The floor shook and a continuously fizzing, brittle sound came from behind me.

I turned to see fissures race across the glass wall and teleported out of the way, but there was no place to hide. Shards of glass rained down on us. Lights went out, leaving the angelic lightning as our only source of light.

Panic and chaos followed as the archangels swooped down the tenstory foyer, their wings causing a gale, swords gleaming under the flashing lights and reflecting their emotionless, perfect faces. How could beings so beautiful be so vicious?

- 24 - THE TRIBUNAL

“Thanks for this,” Solange said. The windstorm created by the archangels’ wings had knocked away the crystals and released her from the trap. She shoved the Kris Dagger in a pouch with weird markings. I’d first seen that bag with Valafar the night I recovered the dagger. “It even allowed me to hold it. Should be easy to control.”

She teleported before I could lock on the dagger. I searched for her, but it was impossible to see in the jarring flashes of lightning. It was worse than being on a dance floor with strobe lights.

Above, the sizzling clouds covering the ceiling formed an impenetrable barrier. Demons stupid enough to brave it came back down charbroiled. Below, some covered their ears to block the sound, not understanding the archangels were already inside their heads and what they were hearing didn’t come from outside. Others screamed in terror, not realizing the scenes playing in front of them were false.

Solange wasn’t going anywhere. The trick was to find her before Raphael found me.

Remember, don’t let them inside your heads, Grampa’s voice rang in my head, but I knew he was reminding all Guardians to have reruns of their happiest moments. It also meant minimal telepathic communication. The archangels could use the link to get inside heads.

Heart pounding, I tried to find Grampa. The archangels had a glow around them, which helped pinpoint their locations. Bran and the other flyers were in the air, battling several of them. I counted at least a dozen more hacking down demons and Guardians like they were weeds, not caring who they killed.

Screams of death filled the air, the demons’ burning bodies mixing with flashes of light as Guardians died. How many would ascend? Or were they doomed to end up in Tartarus because they had gone against the archangels?

I spied Solange drifting toward the ballroom. I teleported after her, delaying my reappearance until I saw her aura. She wasn’t alone.

There’s a secret passage behind this wall, she telepathed her partner. We can use it to avoid the archangels’ shield.

Are sure you have the right dagger? someone asked.

I recognized the voice of the old man who’d begged me to help my father.

Yes. See? The pure energy of the Kris Dagger appeared as Solange pulled it out of the bag with demonic writings. I locked on it and willed it to fly to my hand as I rematerialized.

Solange and her friend whipped around, but the dagger was already bonding with me, the writings appearing like slithering snakes on the blade. In the darkness, my skin glowed, the writing coiling and gliding. I didn’t have to look in the mirror to know my eyes were glowing too.

“I told you, the dagger belongs to me,” I snarled in a voice I didn’t recognize.

“Lilith, your father—”

The old man didn’t finish his words. A thud came from behind me and I whipped around. Raphael. He couldn’t even give me a moment to savor outsmarting my evil sister. Big sparkly wings outstretched, cold eyes narrowed, he sauntered toward us like he knew he had already won.

Mewling sounds came from behind me. I turned to find Solange and the older demon on their knees, gripping their heads. Then they dropped like sacks of potatoes. Call for backup, the irrational part of my brain screamed, but telepathy wasn’t an option. Besides, I had trained to take this bastard down.

Instead of panic, an eerie calmness settled on me. I assumed a fighting stance and waved the dagger. Compared to his sword, which he hadn’t bothered to draw, my weapon was puny, but it glowed with the brilliance of stars.

“So, how do you want to play this?” I said, going for cocky and liking how calm and confident I sounded. “My head on the guillotine?”

Surprise flickered in his eyes. “That would be nice, but since we don’t have one, why not just come with me?”

I laughed. “Right. Like, I’m not going to make this easy for you.”

He scowled. “I’m trying to avoid fighting you, Lilith.”

“Why? Scared?”

“If you give up, my warriors will stop killing yours.”

I considered the offer for about a second. “Sorry, but if I die, and that is a big if, I want to go down like a Cardinal Guardian. Fighting.”

“Silly girl.” He pulled out his sword. It was huge, light bouncing off its blade like stars. He moved closer. I shuffled backward, searching for an opportunity.

“Do you think you stand a chance against me?”

“Hmm, let me think. Me and my dagger against your sword and those deadly wings, I think we are about even.”

He moved so fast, the sword arcing toward my neck before I raised my dagger. I barely managed to teleport out of the way.

“Do you know how many battles I’ve waged this millennium alone?” he asked.

“If you feel you have to brag…”

He rushed me again, moving so fast he was blurry, but I was ready. I pointed the dagger and blasted him. The force propelled him backwards, the look of utter disbelief on his face comical.

I grinned. “You thought you neutralized the only weapon that can send you back home.”

Lightning bolts shot from somewhere near him and singed the air as they raced toward me. I battled bolts