My blood roared in my ears. I wasn’t getting to that damn knife this way.
Still, maybe there was another way out of this.
Angels could fall. All I needed was for him to give in completely to earthly desires, to lust and the thrill of power.
Lucky for me, this creep had telegraphed his weakness.
Chapter 19
“Please,” I whimpered. “I’ll do anything you want.”
If a horseman fell, it would summon all the archangels from heaven. I could only hope that the fall of a regular, mortal angel like this perv would go fairly unnoticed.
He snarled. “I want you to hurt yourself.”
Honestly. Couldn’t he have had a nicer desire? Maybe massages with oil, long walks on the beach? Of course it had to be something like forcing women to hurt themselves to exert complete sadistic domination.
Demons got a bad rap. I was increasingly certain angels were worse.
“Hurt myself how?” I asked.
“You can start by falling to your knees.”
Ugh. Males. Always the same.
I widened my eyes, trying to look shocked as I dropped to my knees. The cold stone bit into my skin.
A smile split his features, and something new appeared in his eyes—his golden irises darkened to black.
“Yes,” he growled. “Good. Now pull off your dress.”
Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me. Could I take out his knees and rush for the knife on the ground? Not likely. He looked incredibly powerful.
I pulled down just the top of my gown, giving him a view of my shoulders. Given that I’d still never gotten any underthings, that was as far as the dress was going. In any case, I didn’t think nudity was the important part. It was terror and humiliation that excited him.
“I’d never shown another man my shoulders until Adonis kidnapped me,” I pleaded.
A rumbling noise rose from his chest.
I let the fear shine in my eyes. “But I’ll do anything to save my life.”
His features were changing, teeth sharpening. Ash began to rain from the ceiling, coating our bodies, the floor.
The dragoniles circled above, their wings whipping at the air. Reptilian screeches echoed off the walls. They could sense a change falling over the room.
“Touch my sword,” he said, a quaver in his ragged voice. “Run your fingertips along the blade until they bleed. Hurt yourself, succubus.”
Bile rose in my throat, pure disgust. Ash began to coat me, falling on my dress, my bare shoulders. And the cold floor chilled my knees.
He was changing, though, horns growing from his forehead.
I reached up for the sword, running my fingertips over the blade. The steel sliced into my skin, drawing blood that ran down my palms, my wrists.
“Yes!” The angel roared, his wings spreading out behind him. His feathers were beginning to darken, the pale gold now tinged with the faintest charcoal gray. “How does it feel?”
“Painful,” I whimpered. Like your transformation is about to be.
Above, the dragoniles swarmed faster. The light created by my body began to dim, but the dragoniles punctuated the darkening air with hot blasts of fire from their jaws.
So this was what it was like to watch an angel fall.
The angel gazed down at me. “You’re mine,” he growled. His body had begun shaking, convulsing.
Slowly, I rose, and he lowered his sword, his expression completely rapt. I suppressed the bile rising in my throat, my complete and utter disgust, and stared in mock horror at the blood on my hands. It wasn’t a deep cut, but I played it up.
He moaned, and I fought down more nausea. I glanced at him, smiling darkly as I watched the transformation at work.
Now I had him exactly where I wanted him.
Blood-red streaks speared the black of his pupils, and claws sprouted from his hands. Two gleaming, ivory horns emerged from his head, and his wings began to shrink, the feathers shifting and smoothing into sleek leather.
As they did, pain began to contort his features. An agonized groan rose from his throat, and he fell to his knees. He clawed at his shoulders where his wings were changing shape, becoming more pointed and angular. His back arched, and his mouth opened. Golden light poured from his open jaw, racing for the ceiling, and his body twitched and jerked like a dying man on the gallows.
I couldn’t say I felt sorry for him.
I ran for the knife, snatching it off the stony ground. Overhead, the dragoniles flew more frantically, swooping lower over the transforming angel, over me. I crossed the floor, and brought the knife down hard into his back.
The demon’s body jerked one last time, then fell still, slumping on the ground. The bursting flames of the dragoniles cast blasts of warm light over the growing pool of blood. I pulled my knife from his back, catching my breath.
Too bad my victory was short-lived. A golden light brightened the air behind me, and I whipped around. There in the doorway to the dragoniles’ rookery stood four angels, their wrathful eyes locked on me.
At the front of the group stood an angel with silvery-white hair, his wings the color of pearls. “We felt your power, Bringer of Light. And here we find you. Covered in blood, gleaming like a beacon.” His deep voice echoed off the ceiling, and he pointed to the fallen angel on the stone floor. “You lured him to his doom.”
I gripped my knife. How could I take out four angels with one knife?
“Didn’t take much,” I said. “He was awfully eager to fall.”
Pearly Angel drew his sword. He stalked toward me, his footsteps echoing off the walls and ceiling through the cacophony of dragonile squawks.
My palms sweated over the knife’s hilt, and I clutched it tighter. If only I had control over this light, I’d be in a much safer position right now. To be honest, the Old Gods were screwing me over a bit by giving me uncontrollable powers. Right now, this magical light only served to paint a glowing target on me. A giant neon arrow to enemy number one of the angelic horde.
I summoned a glamour to cover myself, but this time a sharp sting pierced my skin. What the hell? Maybe fae magic and Old Gods’ magic didn’t mix so well.
“Light?” I asked, playing dumb. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Not a brilliant strategy. Just the best one I had right now.
Pearly shook his head, and firelight glinted over his sword as he prowled closer. “Little Light Bringer. You can’t hide it from us now. We feel it. We’ve seen it.”
Another angel, one with curly ginger hair, stalked closer, by Pearly’s side. “Imagine this, Afriel. We come here to check on Death, who hasn’t been slaughtering like he should. And instead we find something much more interesting.”
Afriel cocked his head, gripping his sword in both hands. “His seal should have broken once the terror began. Does this creature have anything to do with that?”
Ginger’s eyes blazed with cold light. “Don’t move too quickly, Afriel. She might have honed her powers.”
Fear shone in Afriel’s features. “We need to kill her now, before she brings us all down.” He stepped over the demon’s body. “Look what she did to Xapham, the filthy little minx.”