for her…Satan was just dangling them like carrots.  Luc knew Katia loved him, and she was the kind of woman who would sacrifice everything to save those she loved.  She had already proven that by coming here for her brother.  All Luc could do now was pray that Uriel got her and her brother out of here before she realized that he was being tortured.  It would be easier if she found out after the fact that he had been killed, that way it wouldn’t rest on her conscience.  Satan’s laugh rang out, malevolence leaking out with each note that cut through the air.  “You’re hoping that she’s already gotten out.  No such luck, my totally fucked friend.  You see, once I realized the angels had gotten in, I set up some wards around the castle that will stop Uriel from poofing out of here from anywhere but the courtyard.  You’ll be front and center when the little bitch makes her appearance, and we’re going to put on one Sheolfuck of a show.”

Luc's heart  shredded in his chest.  Katia would have to make a choice between saving someone she loved and the fate of the universe.  The cost of that choice could break her.  The chair he was in suddenly tilted back and was dragged roughly across the flagstone floor toward the glass doors.  Every bump jolted Luc’s body painfully, the wire digging more deeply into his skin, his broken bones and open wounds grinding and pulling.  He clenched his teeth to avoid crying out, no way was he giving Satan that satisfaction.  As they approached the sliding doors, Satan muttered under his breath and suddenly the glass shattered outward into the courtyard.  Luc heard shrieks and cries as projectiles of glass embedded in skin.

“Time to join the party,” Satan said with a joyous lilt to his voice as he dragged Luc out into the burnt-orange light of the Halja sky.  The gargoyles let out an unholy screech as Satan emerged, welcoming their master.  Feeding off Satan's power, the demons pushed their angelic quarry out of the way, parting like the sea.  Luc could see the angels struggling, desperate to save him, but they were unable to break past the demons.  They were losing this fight.  This was Satan’s home turf.

One angel suddenly burst forward, nearly punching through the wall of demons.  It was Michael; to his right was Leila.  They struggled against the hold of the demons in a vain attempt to reach him.  An arrow whizzed through the air embedding in Michael’s throat and he was thrown backwards. Leila reached for him and they both went down, falling out of Luc’s view.

Tears burned his eyes as he realized the risk they were all taking for him and Katia.  No worse fate existed for an angel than to die in Halja.  To be trapped in the abyss of souls for eternity was unimaginable.  The sea of demons closed in behind Luc as he was tossed, chair and all, up onto a dais.  The battle re-commenced as though it had never stopped.  He watched in pain as his brothers moved in and out of view, their swords glinting.  Luc turned his head and caught sight of what was sitting next to him on the dais.  His blood froze in his veins.  An enormous inverted wooden cross, etched in demonic languages, ensuring that the souls who perished upon it would be reincarnated intact, and would burn eternally in the pits of the abyss as they were tortured by the spirits trapped within.  Luc closed his eyes and took in a rattling breath.  He was totally fucked.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Katia pounded through the hallways of Halja, hot on her father's heels, her brother at her side.    Their exit strategy had fallen apart faster than the speed of light.  Uriel had tried to spirit them out of the castle repeatedly...no dice.  Satan must have put up magical wards to keep the angels inside.  The only place they hadn’t tried to escape from was the courtyard.  Keir and Uriel slowed their pace as they neared the hallway that would take them outside.  Katia stopped beside them, marvelling at how fast and far she could run now without being out of breath.  She seemed to have absorbed her father’s endless stamina.

“Something’s happening in the courtyard,” Uriel said with a worried look.  “I can feel angels in distress.”

Katia and Keir turned to look at each other.  “What does that mean for us?” Keir asked as they returned their mirror gazes to their father.

Uriel closed his eyes briefly as though in pain.  “Satan may attempt to coerce you into a binding.”

Katia shook her head forcefully.  “Not gonna happen.  There's too high a cost.  You said it had to be of our own free will, right?”

Uriel took a deep breath.  “There is something you don’t know.  Yes, he does need both of you to complete the binding, but it is not two of you that would be bound, it is only one.”

Keir frowned.  “But how would that work?  You said we each have half a soul...he would need both of us to be complete, right?”

“There have never been twins before – never a shared soul.  One of you would have to give up your half to the other for a binding to take place.”  Uriel replied quietly.

Katia shook her head.  “That can’t be right.  How could one of us live without a soul?”

Despair radiated from Uriel as he spoke the bleak truth.  “You can’t.  In order to complete a binding, one of you must die.”

Katia gave a strangled cry as her father’s words sank in.  She spun to face her brother whose face was a mask of shock.  On impulse, she reached out and threw her arms around her brother’s neck.  This couldn’t be happening.  She’d only just found Keir, and she wasn't about to lose him.  “I won’t let anyone hurt Keir.  He hasn’t had a chance to live yet, I don't care if

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