Mulciber’s pale face broke into a triumphant grin. “Oh, I have what I want.”
She reached into the pocket of her black Armani pants suit and withdrew a tinted glass vial. Through the light from an overhead lamp, I could see a tiny piece of wood no bigger than a needle inside it.
“Tonight is the fall of man and angel. Tonight, we will conquer life and death in one fell swoop. Tonight, we wage war against the Heavens and spit in the face of God. Tonight is all about revenge—sweet, glorious revenge. Starting with you, Seer.”
She grabbed my chin, making me look at her face, nearly inhuman with rage. “You took my favorite body from me. By your hand, your arm, you took away my victory. And so I will take away yours.”
Before anyone could move, she grabbed my left arm and shoved her palm against my elbow, shattering it. I screamed, convulsing in Belial’s arms. He held me upright as my body lurched forward, weakened by the pain that shot through my upper torso. Bile rose in the back of my throat. Too much. I would pass out from shock soon.
With a wordless roar, Michael lunged at Mulciber, his fist cocked to pummel the daylights out of her. She tossed the vial to Belial, who let go of me enough to catch it.
“Do it!”
Michael tackled her off her feet, grabbing her by the throat and slamming her to the ground. Gabriel leapt for me, but Belial raised the blade to my neck, stopping him.
“Move another inch and I’ll flay her jugular,” Belial sneered, popping the vial open with his thumb. Gabriel met my eyes and a look passed through them that I somehow understood. He was going to try something. I needed to be ready. I pushed past the aching feeling of loss in my chest and blocked out the pain of my ruined arm, waiting for him to make a move.
Belial used the tip of the knife to slice a neat line across his cheekbone. He held the vial up to it so the blood would run inside. The sliver burned a bright white color, nearly blinding both me and Gabriel. Belial used the distraction to slash one side of my neck. Blood poured forth and he held it to the vial as well to let it flood over the sliver. He lowered the knife a fraction from below my throat, giving us an opening.
I elbowed Belial as hard as I could in the sternum and dropped to the ground, giving Gabriel the chance to kick him in the chest. Belial flew backwards, head over feet, and landed near the shoreline of the lake. The vial went flying into the midst of the ghosts behind us, spewing light as if it were a supernatural sparkler. As Gabriel helped me stand, I felt some horrible power building only feet away where the vial landed. What had they done?
The ghosts turned to face the vial and a huge pillar of light exploded upward, creating a maelstrom in their midst. Wind tore around them into a funnel and sucked their bodies into it one by one until they all disappeared. Then it expanded. The people who had been in the park scattered at the sight of the twister. Gabriel wrapped his arms around me, protecting me from the debris that slapped against us. It surrounded the area in a huge tornado as if acting as a barrier to the outside. I had seen tornadoes before but this was nothing like them. It didn’t move on towards another side of the park. It stayed where it was, trapping us inside the dangerous torrent.
I peeked through a gap in Gabriel’s arms to see a man standing where the spirits had once been. He was naked and easily over eight feet tall. His skin was deathly pale and his hair was black and slicked back from his face, the cheekbones sharp, nose narrow, brows thick. I couldn’t see his eyes because they were closed, but I knew he wasn’t human. Gabriel unwrapped his arms from around me, his face slack with shock.
“What…what is that thing?” I whispered.
Its eyes opened and they were opaque with no irises, no sclera, nothing but twin orbs of black. Seconds later, wings stretched from its back but something was horribly wrong. The archangels’ wings were white with sheens of gold, or silver, or bronze over them, but this creature’s were blood red and singed at the ends.
“It can’t be. This shouldn’t be possible,” Gabriel murmured, the blood draining from his face, leaving him damn near as pale as the thing in front of us.
Behind me, Belial chuckled. I whirled around, drawing my energy around me in case he decided to attack, but he wore a joyous expression, his hands spread wide.
“Thank you, Jordan. You have handed us the victory once again.”
“What are you talking about, demon?” I snarled.
“We have tried for centuries to beat the angels at your own game and every time, we have been unsuccessful. Arrogant though we demons are, we have come to one final conclusion. There is no equal for God’s angels. And so, we decided to create one.”