The October night air was lovely and cool, and I breathed in the darkness, my closest companion for centuries now. Though I’d once been a soldier of the light, I was truly the Lord of the Night now. I drank in the power of darkness, letting it fill me with strength.
With Gadreel on my left and Samael on my right, I stalked toward the run-down motel with fury burning inside my veins. One of my most loyal demons was being held there, along with Hannah’s best friend. They had better be fucking alive, or there would be hell to pay.
Oh, who was I kidding? There was already hell to pay, and the devil was here to collect his due.
Before I reached the door to the motel lobby, it flew open and two men ran out and began shooting at us. Guns, really? How pedestrian. I raised a hand and enveloped the bullets in darkness, fading them into the night before they could hit me or the fighters behind me.
The two men then let out a roar as their bodies grew and changed, growing fur and claws. Bear shifters. Demons of passion and wrath, who should be loyal to me.
They charged forward, and other demonic bears, wolves, and even hellhounds emerged from the motel’s various doors, crawling through windows, jumping through rotten walls, and leaping off the roof. My Fallen angels and Lilim immediately charged into the fray before any of the shifters could get near me, and I growled at the sight of demons fighting demons.
“Enough,” I bellowed, my voice bouncing off the surrounding mountains with a crack like thunder and echoing back to us. “Bow to me, your King.”
None of them backed down, and the fight continued all around me. I gestured for Samael to go inside and he charged forward with his sword raised, with a few angry, gorgeous Lilim at his heels. Gadreel fought a huge bear beside me, using his sword and shadow magic to subdue the beast. With a great slash, Gadreel rammed his sword through the bear’s chest, then wrapped darkness around his throat until the shifter slumped in defeat. Gadreel may have looked like a cheerful angel, but in battle he was truly ruthless, a rival for any bloodthirsty demon.
Other shifters foolishly tried to attack me. Their sharp claws and gnashing teeth glanced off my skin without leaving a mark. All of the anger I’d been trying to keep hidden, to protect Hannah from, spilled out of me at the complete disrespect for my power. Perhaps it was time for a reminder of who I was.
I gathered the night around me, spreading my wings wide, before I unleashed it. Like shadowy tentacles, my magic reached out and wrapped around each shifter outside the motel and carved jagged clefts right through them, ripping them apart limb from limb.
Did I need a small army at my back? No. I could destroy everyone here with the slightest thought. I’d simply hoped to avoid bloodshed, thinking that a show of force would cause the shifters to back down and hand over the captives. But that didn’t happen, and now I was really fucking pissed.
More shifters emerged from the motel, chased out by Samael and his Lilim warriors. A huge red fox decided to get brave, snapping at me. The same fucking fox shifter who’d been spying on me and Hannah while we’d been shopping.
As he leaped at me with sharp teeth, I clamped my fingers on the creature’s neck and used darkness to reach inside him and crush his heart and his lungs. Then I tossed his body to the ground as the remainder of his flesh shifted back to human form. He should have heeded my warning earlier.
I looked around at the continued fighting, my chest heaving as I battled the desire to burn each of the remaining shifters to ashes. Perhaps they’d surrender now.
None of them did.
I pushed my darkness outward. As soon as the remaining shifters saw more of the twisting shadows swirling from me they ran, but they were too late. They’d forced my hand.
My darkness snaked around the throats of each of the rebellious little traitors, yanking them back. I sucked all the life out of them, drawing it back inside myself, their resistance only making me stronger.
Their lifeless bodies hit the ground and the battle was officially over. I turned toward the motel in time to see Samael emerge from the front doors with Asmodeus and a pretty Black woman. Her dark skin was dust-covered and there was evidence of blood congealing around small tears in her clothes, but her brown eyes still held a gleam of determination. This must be Brandy.
She was faring better than Asmodeus, by all appearances, and she held onto his arm, like she refused to be parted from his side. The incubus’s olive skin was covered in more dried blood and dirt, as were his ripped and torn clothes. His normally vibrant green eyes were dull and exhausted, and he stumbled forward along the dirt, leaning against Brandy for support while Samael looked on with a frown.
I took a handkerchief from my suit pocket and slowly wiped off my hands. “Tell me what happened.”
“They kidnapped us,” Brandy said, and I was surprised she answered first. A brave one, for sure. “They tortured him, trying to get him to talk about you, but he wouldn’t break.”
“Did you feed on her?” I asked Asmodeus. It would be understandable given the circumstances, but humans could only handle so much of an incubus’s attentions. I needed to know if he’d done any damage to Brandy before I returned her to Hannah.
“No, I didn’t,” Asmodeus said between clenched teeth. He obviously needed to feed, and was doing everything in his power to hold himself back.
“You heroic fool,” Brandy muttered, her eyes softening as she looked at him. “I told
