Still all I could think of were the demons trying to find their way back to me. Why had they suddenly grown powerful enough to break their bonds?
A shriek had my attention snapping in the direction of the Nephilim woman. She had been trying to stop the new female patient from breaking her neck as she used her frail body to smash against the forcefield. The moment the patient’s body made contact with the barrier, the Nephilim had sliced into it with her angel blade. A decision had been made. Putting the humans down was the best way out of this.
Something inside me rejected the notion. No matter what happened, I would always be human. I despised the thought of seeking hope in the wrong place only to be betrayed. That was the frightening thing about the way the patients looked at me. The demons inside them saw me as a proxy for their Prince. But the humans, what little was left of them, looked at me with longing. They had made a mistake. Now they wanted out.
I knew the moment the word popped into my thoughts that the consequences might be dire. It was nothing compared to watching the patient sagging as the Nephilim’s blade sank into her throat. The moment the patient died, a black mass of swirling demonic energy released from her body. It formed the outline of a demon with horns protruding from his head and hooves for feet.
“Mistress,” it cooed.
I raised my left hand. I knew the word of light for this situation. The guards had been speaking them to no avail. There was no more light left in these patients. So I would give them some.
“Kavhalah,” I shouted. Hope. My mind would explode. The Angelical word hung in the cooling air. For a split second, everything became preternaturally still. And then reality turned upside down. The Ley dimension seeped into this reality. The world became a hodgepodge of light and colour. It clashed in a fireball of light so vast, I couldn’t see anything else.
There came an agonising chorus of screams as the demons were rent asunder. Not just to be returned to the Hell dimension but to be unmade. Everything in the room crumbled. And then so did I.
26
The soothing touch of angelfire would have comforted me if not for the terse conversation happening around me.
“...as a weapon,” I heard Michael say.
“There is too much about her we don’t understand,” Raphael responded.
“How much longer do we allow her to walk amongst this world unchecked?” Michael responded. “The Angelical word should have destroyed her.”
“What would you have us do, brother?” Azrael said. Though the quality of his tone didn’t change, I sensed the bone-deep fury in it. “Are you suggesting we murder her?”
“You should have allowed me to do it when we had the chance,” was Gaia’s cutting reply. Silence followed in its wake. I felt their scrutiny even though I couldn’t for the life of me open my eyes.
“I am suggesting that you should not have made a pact with a treacherous witch without discussing the ramifications,” Michael said.
I felt Azrael’s reassuring grip on my shoulder. Somebody sighed. “You still believe she will be able to resist him?” Raphael asked.
“You tell me, brother,” Azrael said. “When you look inside her, do you see evil?”
Another weighted silence. “I see death,” Raphael said. “But I do not know where. It is impossible to parse anything about her with Luc’s stranglehold.”
“Then what do you suggest we do about it?” Azrael said. There was a fair amount of snark in it. I could see where I got some of mine from.
Michael sighed. “Her will is free. We have no choice in the matter.”
“You’ll eat your words if you don’t do something about it,” Gaia said. But I already felt myself slipping back to the mortal dimension.
A bright white light flared in the corner of my eye. The hand that touched me this time was clammy and very much human. I scented brimstone and coughed.
“Lex?” I heard Fred say. My eyes peeled open to reveal a padded celled room. Oh hell no! Fred had his hand on my forearm. It glowed the iridescent white of his light magic.
“What did you do to get all these easy gigs?” I asked him.
He gave me a weak smile. “I’m learning to be what I was meant to be,” he said. His magic flared again. It lifted some of the oppressiveness in my chest. Well, I’ll be damned.
“Get me out of here,” I croaked. My whole body ached when I tried to move. The door burst open and Kai strode in. He scooped me up in his arms.
“She’s not demonic,” Kai said. “Happy now?”
He faced off against both arms of the Councils. “Happy is not exactly the word I would use,” Victoria said.
Kai teleported us out of there. We landed back inside one of the private rooms in the Bloodline infirmary. Kai put me down on the bed. He reached out and placed his palms on both side of my face. Green light seeped into my skin. I gasped. The flood of healing shattered the last of the dark power lingering inside of me.
My eyelids fluttered. I gripped Kai’s wrist. “I’m okay,” I told him. “I’m not injured.”
“Well, that’s something at least,” Jacqueline said from the doorway. Sophie popped her head out from behind Jacqueline. Kai threw them both a menacing glare.
“Maybe we’ll come back,” Sophie said. The door closed behind them.
Kai kicked off his boots and scrambled onto the bed. “You sure you’re not hurt?” he asked as he curled himself around me. I could feel the frantic thud of his heart against my back. I closed my eyes and breathed in his scent.
“I’m sure.” He wrapped his arms around me. While I had always been a bit hesitant
