I winced at the volume and my gaze dropped to the ground, returning to the woman struggling in Lucifer’s grasp.
Lucifer’s hand ripped the shirt open, revealing a modest sports bra and he tilted his head, smiling as his fingernails dimpled the skin over her heart. “Last chance,” he said.
“I’m sorry, Sarah,” Steve said, his eyes filled with tears and his lips pressed together.
Sarah’s scream shattered the night, followed by the report of a gun. Smoke drifted from the end of Steve’s revolver and I stared at it before turning toward the deafening silence.
Lucifer’s fingers were buried knuckle deep in Sarah’s chest, but that’s not what silenced her scream. The neat bullet hole between her eyes had sent her to heaven before Lucifer could rip her heart out.
I turned back toward Steve and his arms lowered. His chin dropped to his chest, and his breath hitched once. With a violent shake of his head, his tear-stained glare landed on Lucifer and the gun rose back in place.
“Get the fuck off my property,” he said with a growl.
“As soon as I have my whore,” he said.
Steve pulled the trigger again, but this time nothing happened until he moved the aim to the demon closest to Lucifer and then the gun jumped to life, expelling another round. The shot as true as the one that took Sarah’s life and the first demon fell.
Lucifer yanked his hand from Sarah’s flesh and tossed her next to the dead demon. He licked his fingers and scowled, glaring at Steve. The minute he stepped forward, Ty interceded, blocking the devil’s path.
That hateful glare reappeared and Lucifer snapped his fingers, Christopher Ryan appeared in the center of the clearing, bleeding and on his knees, his screams filling the silent woods, echoing on the dark lake and the hellhounds tasked with ripping him to shreds continued their attack.
This time, Ty moved; his face filled with a wrath I had only seen once before and my gaze drifted to Michal. CJ took a step toward his father, pulling my attention back to the spectacle before us. Both Steve and I grabbed an arm, keeping him from entering the violent scene in front of us. This was the primer to the war and I knew it was just an appetizer meant to drive the hounds in line into a frenzy, preparing them for attack.
“You can’t stop it,” I said when CJ tried to rip out of my grasp.
He turned a pleading gaze in my direction when the first hellhound turned on Ty.
I knew the pain in his gaze. I knew the need to stop the inevitable, and I also knew the futility of any action against what had already been set into motion.
What I didn’t expect was for Ty to rip a hellhound in two with his bare hands and from the expression on Lucifer’s face, neither did he.
Ty grabbed Chris around the waist and launched toward the heavens, pulling his brother out of range of the hellhounds, into the single beacon of light, disappearing from view before Lucifer could yank him back to the earth.
Lucifer’s furious gaze dropped from the sky to me, then moved to CJ. His face crinkled and he roared his aggravation, squeezing a fist in front of him, sending out the command to burst the boy’s heart. I stepped into the flow of power aimed at Ty’s son, deflecting it with a mental wall. Three of the demons next to Lucifer burst, exploding in balls of flame.
The surprise of the back-to-back events stunned everyone, and nothing moved until a streak of lightning flared and Ty landed on one knee in the center of the clearing like Thor arriving for battle. His wings smoldered, sending tendrils of smoke into the air, but when he lifted his head, his fury filled the space and he stood, shifting into battle stance.
“You’ve cheated me for the last time,” Lucifer growled and pointed at Ty.
“Game on, you bastard,” Ty said and leveled the glare I had seen in Steve’s mind. The one that was responsible for dubbing the man as the Angel of Death while he was alive, and it evoked a tremor, a chill that bit at my heels and spread like a four-alarm fire.
Naomi hissed behind me and the spell that held me in place broke. I remembered the gun in my hand and raised it, aiming at the closest hellhound. I squeezed the trigger and the report of gunfire shattered the stillness, breaking the stalemate between good and evil.
Chapter 23 – Damian
Thirty demons went down in the span of the ten seconds it took the four of us to empty our guns and the only one that took the time to re-load was Tom. The angels charged forward meeting the advancing demons in the center but Steve, CJ and I stayed put, protecting our families behind us.
When Tom stepped between CJ and me, leveling the gun at the melee, I pushed his hand down and shook my head.
“Hold onto those, we might need them,” I said, meeting his gaze and pushing him back into the safety of the cocoon we created.
A hellhound launched at us, and I let a targeted power bolt loose. The beast exploded, like the one at the house and CJ and I traded a glance. I wasn’t sure I could target only demons in the battle, but both Steve and CJ nodded.