Katila tossed the bible aside and stalked closer; slipping the cord from his neck. I grimaced at that; I'd missed my chance to disarm him. I shouldn't have waited. Perhaps I could still pull it from his grasp. I moved closer.
“I'm faster than you,” Katila taunted Lilith. “Go ahead and try it; I'll have you before you make it five inches.”
Katila dove for Lilith. Azrael swung; coming into view so the rest of us could see his scythe and avoid it. I reached for the cord as Samael reached for Katila's back; to make sure he didn't dodge the scythe. Re blasted Katila with blinding light. Odin and the Wolf dove for Katila's legs; the Wolf shifting into a werewolf as he went.
All of that happened in the blink of an eye, and another eye blink later, Katila was still alive.
Katila allowed himself to be pushed but went further with it; smashing into Lilith as he ducked beneath Azrael's scythe. We had all dropped our invisibility so we didn't get in each other's way, but this meant that Katila could avoid us too. When I pulled on the Pasha, he tightened his grip and allowed me to pull him with it; swinging out of the pile-up just as Azrael was lifting his scythe for another swipe. Odin punched out with his fists while Samael leapt forward, but Katila was already crashing back into me like a ball on an elastic string.
Katila pinned me face-down beneath him and deftly wrapped the Pasha around my neck. He rolled so that I was laid atop him, and everyone went still.
“As if I didn't expect this.” Katila laughed madly. “All you've done is deliver my queen to me.”
Katila pushed me up and got us on our feet.
“You hurt her, and your death will be agonizingly slow,” Azrael vowed.
Re caught my gaze and smiled. He could burn Katila to ashes and it wouldn't hurt me at all. I'm fire-proof just like him. But I subtly shook my head at him; I had other plans.
Katila tightened the cord around my neck as he laughed again; spittle hitting my cheek. I could feel a burning zip of magic within the rope; pressing at me as if it knew the largest soul meal it would ever encounter was laid right before it. It was salivating and sharpening its knives. But my star was finally responding, and its light radiated out to the cord; blocking its hungry intentions. Katila didn't notice, but then he wasn't intending on using the Pasha on me anyway. Not on his queen.
“I won't hurt her unless you force me to,” Katila said. “I'm saving her from all of you. Even now, she trembles to be so close to me.” He rubbed his face against mine as his free hand pulled me tightly against his erection. “Soon, my dearest. I will take you home, and we will consummate our love.”
Damn, this bastard was bonkers. But insanity had worked in my favor after all. A sane man wouldn't have grabbed the most vicious beast in the room and tried to mate with her. He wouldn't have tied a magic cord around her neck without intending to use it. And he wouldn't have taken his focus off her for one tiny second.
“You'll never take my soul, Death Angel.” Katila glanced at Samael. “Neither of you. I am the soul harvester now.” His grip slackened as he snarled at the men. “I am the soul-eater!”
“Keep your pathetic soul,” I growled as I shifted a hand into a claw. “I just want your heart.”
I swung around—the Pasha rubbing a raw line into my throat—and punched my talons into Katila's belly; straight up and behind his rib cage to his heart. The Wolf sensed my intentions as soon as I started to move, and he was there in a second. His claws wrapped around Katila's throat just as my fingers wrapped around that evil heart. I will never forget the look of horror and confusion on Katila's face as the Wolf and I tore him apart together.
“You may have become a soul-eater, but I'm a dragon,” I snarled at Katila as he died. “I'm a man-eater.”
I had planned on taking a bite of Katila's heart as he took his dying breaths and then begging him to stick around while I finished it, but without his heart and throat, Katila had died too quickly to taut. Also, I wasn't in dragon form or even half-dragon form, and the thought of eating a human heart was revolting. So, I opted for crushing it instead. The Wolf dropped Katila's body as if it were trash.
“Well, that was a bit anticlimactic,” I noted as I tossed the remnants of Katila's heart onto his corpse.
“I found it very satisfying,” the Wolf growled and grinned.
Everyone else just stared at us in shock. And then the house started to shake.
Chapter Forty-Four
A crack of thunder announced the arrival of another god, or a goddess, rather.
Just behind Katila's body, a woman traced in. She had her four arms splayed out aggressively upon arrival; each one holding a nasty looking-blade. Her dark hair was wild and tangled around her shoulders and her dark eyes were focused on me. She was dressed in barbarian-chic; pieces of leather held on by gold chains that glistened on her sandalwood skin. Her massive breasts were heaving and her thick thighs were set apart in a battle stance. She stuck her long, red tongue out at me like she thought she was Gene Simmons.
Her stare dropped to my bloody arm. “Godhunter, you will die today.”
“Get back into your body!” Samael shoved Lilith onto the bed, and the motion seemed to send her soul out of her host.
A shimmer rose from the human woman,
