Though her verbal slap smarted, he ignored her. If Byzamoth knew how much Serena meant to Wraith, he’d have a damned effective weapon to use against him. “So, angel, what gave me away? Someone leak it to you? Or is the post-coital glow?”
Byzamoth hissed. “Something like that, you fuck. You aren’t cloaked.” He shoved Serena onto the bed. She bounced awkwardly and rolled into the headboard. Byzamoth drew a sword from his robes, a dull silver blade that glowed azure in a thin line down the length of the metal and at the hilt, where symbols pulsed. He pointed the sharp tip at Serena but never took his eyes off Wraith.
“No sudden moves, or I run her through. My specialty is destruction, Sem, so I know how to use this.”
Man, he was going to rip this guy’s heart out and feed it to him.
“You’ve really fucked things up.” Byzamoth gestured to Serena with a flick of the blade. “Fucked her all up, too. Pun intended.” He bared his teeth. “No matter. I’ll still get what I want. Destruction. Yours. Hers. The world as you know it. I think I’ll start small and work my way up to mass chaos.”
Serena’s glare promised pain if she ever got her hands on the fallen angel. “You aren’t going to get away with whatever it is you have planned, you know.”
Byzamoth laughed, carelessly lowering his blade. “This is like a bad movie. The good guys all tied up with no hope of survival, but darn it, they’re still plucky. ‘You’ll never get away with this,’ ” he mocked.
Wraith charged Byzamoth. The angel spun and tipped up the sword. Serena cried out, and Wraith froze. A four-inch gash streaked her shoulder, its edges as smooth and clean as a scalpel’s slash. The sword hadn’t touched her, but it had somehow sliced her flesh open and was now aimed at her throat.
“Serena!”
“It’s okay,” she said, slapping her hand over the bleeding wound. “I’m okay.”
“Such bravery.” Byzamoth rolled his eyes. “Does it really matter, Serena? Given your condition?”
Wraith’s gaze cut sharply to the fallen angel. “Go to hell, you sonofabitch.” He flexed his hands, dying to get them around Byzamoth’s throat.
“Been there, done that. But then, so have you.” He made another tiny cut in Serena’s arm to get her attention, and she didn’t even flinch. “You’re going to pay for choosing him over me.”
“There was no choice.” She bared her teeth so viciously Wraith almost expected to see fangs. Under any other circumstances, that might have been hot. “Josh might be a lying scumbag, but at least he’s human.”
Realization dawned, and Byzamoth turned to Wraith. Serena chose that moment to lunge at the fallen angel. Wraith leaped to catch her, but lightning fast, Byzamoth seized her, held her with an arm looped around her neck, her feet dangling off the ground.
“Idiot,” Byzamoth said into her ear. “He’s a demon. An incubus, a master of seduction. You gave it up for a demon as evil as I am, you stupid human slut.”
“Liar!” she spat, but when she looked to Wraith for support, her expression fell. “Josh? Tell him.”
Wraith said nothing. What was there to say? She stopped struggling. Just stared at Wraith like she’d never seen him before.
“Was it worth it, Serena? Was having a demon between your legs worth your life, you foul whore?”
Wraith’s body jerked with fury. Serena was good and pure and everything Wraith wasn’t. “Take your filthy hands off her!”
“Yes,” she snapped. “Do. I’m going to kill him.”
Byzamoth laughed and released her. The moment her feet hit the ground, she launched herself at Wraith. She slapped him so hard his head snapped around. Her fists pounded against his chest. He did nothing. Closing his eyes, he took the strikes, wishing she’d hit harder, draw blood.
“You sonofabitch!” she screamed. “You goddamned sonofabitch! I hate you.”
Her tears flowed in rivulets down her face. He could smell her fury, her fear, and it sliced at him like no physical weapon ever had.
She struck him over and over, each blow growing weaker. As her strength faded away, so did the color in her face. She swayed, blinking unfocused eyes, and then collapsed. He caught her before she hit the floor and swept her into his arms, feeling the fragility in her body, the delicate set of her bones that hadn’t been there before. Or maybe he’d chosen not to notice.
The chickenshit bastard attacked while Wraith’s arms were full. Byzamoth hauled the sword around, catching Wraith in the shins. The snap of bone rent the air, and a firestorm of misery swept his entire body.