She glared at him. Pretty confident for a mutilated demon.
Fiore’s silhouette disappeared from the window. A moment later he reappeared by the entrance. Unlike the vampires they’d decapitated, he was a mass of pure muscle—only slightly smaller than Bael. A pair of katanas gleamed in his hands. A smaller vampire with cherubic blond curls stood by his side.
Bael squared his shoulders. “Do you accept my challenge?”
“It really is sad how far you’ve fallen,” said Fiore. “If you’d like me to put you out of your misery, I accept. Emerazel’s cur will be your second?”
Bael nodded. “To the death then.”
Bloody hell. Ursula’s palms sweated on Honjo’s hilt.
Bael backed into the clearing, raising his blade—nearly five feet of lethal steel.
Fiore circled, his katanas poised like the fangs of a serpent. There was a flash, followed by a great clash of metal, as they struck in unison.
Through a blur of shadow and steel, Bael spoke. “I will give you a clean death if you tell me where to find Abrax.”
“The only death you’ll be getting is your own.” Fiore’s voice gave no hint of exertion.
As their swords engaged, Ursula’s eyes began to adjust to the intense speed, tracking their strikes. Fiore slashed; Bael parried. Before Bael could recenter his blade, Fiore’s second sword drove at his chest. It was a brutal strike, but Bael managed to leap out of range, rolling across the snowy clearing to rest on his back.
While Bael lay on the snow, Fiore closed on him like a shark sensing blood. The Sword of Nyxobas didn’t move. Ursula reached for her sword, but then Bael lashed out with his foot, his toe connecting with the back of Fiore’s knee.
The vampire’s leg buckled, and he fell to his knees. In a whirl of shadow, Bael sprung up and kicked the katanas out of reach. He lowered his own sword to the vampire’s neck, just piercing the skin. “Tell me where to find Abrax.”
Fiore’s lips pressed together in a thin line. The two demons glared at one another.
“Any last words?” asked Bael.
Fiore’s eyes flicked to where the blond vampire stood. From under his coat, the blond vamp drew a small crossbow.
Ursula lifted her sword, but it was too late. The bolt flew through the air, piercing Bael’s mortal chest. Ursula’s entire body went cold as she watched Bael topple back into the snow.
Fiore scrambled to his feet, snatching up one of his swords to deliver the final death blow. Power flooded Ursula as the night wind rushed over her skin, and she charged across the snow, Honjo ready in her grasp. A bolt whistled by her head, just as she swung for Fiore’s blade. She knocked Fiore’s strike off course, his blade driving into the dirt only inches from Bael’s neck.
Fiore’s dark eyes widened as he pulled his sword from the frozen earth. “What are you?”
Before he could strike again, she kicked him hard in the groin. He grunted, hunching over, swords falling to the snow.
Ursula pressed Honjo against his throat. Just as she’d seen Bael do, she kicked Fiore’s swords out of reach. She scanned the building, looking for Fiore’s second, but the smaller vamp had disappeared. She called into the darkness, “If you shoot me, I swear my last act will be to slice Fiore’s head from his shoulders.”
No one responded, but neither did an arrow come winging at her heart.
She glanced at Fiore, whose face had gone white. “Help me move Bael.”
He grunted.
“Do it, or I will cut off your head.” Ursula pushed Honjo against his throat. A thin line of blood wetted the edge of the blade.
“Okay.” Fiore held up his hands, and she eased up on the blade, giving him room to bend over.
Fiore gripped Bael’s jacket, and she heard the high demon groan.
Thank God he’s not dead. “Drag him into the trees,” Ursula commanded, imbuing her voice with as much authority as possible.
Fiore dragged Bael by his shirt, pulling him into the trees, and Ursula followed, her blade never more than an inch from his neck. When he’d pulled Bael out of the clearing, he rose, and Ursula pushed her blade against his throat again. “Where is Abrax?”
Fiore’s eyes narrowed, his mouth pressing into a thin line again.
“No one is going to save you this time,” said Ursula. “Blondie ran away.”
Fiore closed his eyes. “I will die and deliver my soul to Nyxobas.”
“Who said your soul was going to Nyxobas?” Still holding Honjo to his throat, Ursula pulled the reaping pen from her pocket. It glinted in the moonlight. “I’m sure my goddess will happily provide you a warm place to live.”
His eyes snapped open. “No.”
“Then tell me where to find Abrax.”
“I don’t know where he is.” For the first time, his eyes betrayed real fear. “He didn’t tell me.”
“What do you know?”
“He spends all his time at Oberon’s. They’re working together on something. I don’t know what.”
“Good. Now you get what Bael promised you.”
“What?”
“Your clean death.” Ursula swung Honjo, severing his skull from his spine.