take care of them.”
Dalton nodded and backed away. The hunters rushed forward and formed a line in front of him, but as he turned, Michael and Lou were there.
“You might have temporarily halted what she was about to do, but she’s lost,” Michael said.
Dalton knew better, but said nothing.
“I’m afraid I have to agree with Michael,” Lou said. “Darkness has overtaken her.”
“You know what you have to do,” Michael continued, searching for Angelique. She had lifted a weapon and stood in line next to Ryder.
“Don’t let her sister see it,” Michael said. “Take her away and deal with it. We’ll keep the demons occupied.”
Dalton nodded and turned, running with Isabelle in his arms, his feet pounding the dirt, his clothes tearing as he zoomed by bushes and tree limbs. He held Isabelle close, not wanting her to suffer any harm from his careless run through the thick vegetation.
When he reached the church parking lot, he grabbed the keys to the SUV. He unlocked the vehicle and slid a still unconscious Isabelle inside, buckled her up. He skirted the front end of the vehicle and turned around to take a look back at where he’d come from.
He was too far away now. They couldn’t even see him, though it was possible Lou or Michael could feel. .
No, they were too occupied with the battle. It would be a while before they knew. They’d just assume he really was taking her far enough away to. . get the job done, so that Angelique wouldn’t bear witness to it.
He slid into the driver’s seat and glanced over at Isabelle. Asleep, she had the face of an angel. So innocent in all this.
For a moment back there, he’d seen the light in her eyes, the pleading for help.
She’d wanted out, an escape from the darkness.
A chance for redemption. And he was going to give her every chance to crawl out of the hell the Sons of Darkness had put her in. Even at the cost of his own future, possibly his own life.
Because he knew what it was like to walk in darkness, to be one of the damned.
He refused to allow Isabelle to suffer the same fate.
Angelique couldn’t let her concern about her sister blind her to the task at hand. There were still Sons of Darkness to battle, demons to take down, and the black diamond, which continued to pulse and hum at Tase’s feet.
She blamed the black diamond for transforming her sister into a monster. It had to be destroyed. Which meant the hunters had to wrest it away from the Sons of Darkness.
From her position on the ground, she was only a few feet away from it. The hunters were engaged in battling the demons. No one paid attention to her.
She stayed crouched, inching her way closer. Smoke and bodies danced around her, giving her the diversion she needed.
Chancing a glance upward, she could see the demons doing all the work, maintaining a front line of defense to protect the demon Lords. But that line was dropping, dropping. .
She covered her head just as a barrage of electricity and laser fire slammed into the Sons of Darkness. They raised their hands to ward off the assault, and Angelique took the opportunity. She pushed off and ran like hell to the black diamond, snatched it up and, without pausing to see if anyone noticed, turned and dashed in the opposite direction.
The diamond’s power pulsed against her as she held it cradled tight to her chest. The rock was definitely alive.
Angelique skirted the battle and made it to the back of the group of hunters. Lou waited there for her with his hands held out.
“Give it to me.”
She was more than happy to hand it over, since she’d needed all her power and strength to fight the lure of the diamond for the short period of time she’d held it. It was like a sickening sweet temptation. Did it have some kind of hypnotic power? Was that what had happened to Izzy?
She hated that thing. “What’s in there?”
Lou held the black diamond up, palming it, his eyes narrowed. “A demon.”
“Are you serious?”
“I’ll explain later. Right now you need to back away, Angelique. We’re about to do battle.”
Battle? What kind of battle?
She stepped away, pulled her laser in case she needed to shoot it, and watched as Lou grasped the diamond between his palms.
Did the diamond actually growl, or was that her imagination?
“What the fuck is going on?” Derek asked, moving up to stand beside Angelique. So did the rest of them, Ryder on her other side.
“There’s a demon inside the black diamond,” she said, turning around. “Where are the Sons of Darkness?”
