“So you didn’t come for me, then?” I asked.
This was the first good news I’d had this evening. If by some miracle I made it out of here, none of the other celestial angels knew about me.
It was just the whole “getting out of here” part that I couldn’t quite work out yet. I could throw my knife and take out one of the angels immediately. But then I’d be all out of knives.
I’d have to lure them closer until they were in range. It was my only hope.
The dragoniles swooped over my head, squawking wildly. Their fiery breath singed the air, burning strands of my hair. The situation seemed increasingly disastrous, like I might not have a way out of it alive…
As the specter of death crept over me, a cold, primal rage began to roil within me. My hunter’s instincts took over.
I can hear your mortal hearts beating, angels. I want to pierce them.
Oh shit oh shit oh shit. Feral Ruby was about to come out, and if she did, I’d lose control completely. Feral Ruby didn’t necessarily make the best decisions.
Afriel raised his sword. “You are quite the serendipitous discovery.”
My glamour began to fade.
Then, as fury erupted in my blood, I began to shift, my ears changing shape, canines lengthening. Ancient power burned through my body, ready to explode.
“Come on, then,” I snarled. A wild energy ripped through me. My pale hair whipped around my face as my body glowed brighter.
Afriel rushed for me, probably expecting me to run from him. But the hunter’s instinct raged strong in me, and I surprised him by rushing for him, too, until I was pressed up close to his body. The sound of his heart seemed to echo in my own blood.
This close, he couldn’t strike me with his sword.
Go in for the kill. Instinct propelled my knife into his chest, finding its mark between two of his ribs. I thrust the blade up higher—right into his heart. He dropped his sword, and with a lightning-fast reflex, I snatched it from the stony ground.
Pure, primal instinct overtook my body until I felt at one with the stones beneath me. I am blood, moss, bones, and earth, a creature of the damp caves. I am the feet pounding the leaves as you run from me. I am the rhythmic terror of your blood roaring in your ears.
My heartbeat slammed against my ribs like a war drum as I gripped the sword in my hands. From the corner of my eye, I glimpsed movement, another sword, metal. A threat.
Thrust. Kill. Draw blood.
Move away from the threat. I dodged back, eyes landing on the ginger one—the pulsing vein in his neck. Life—so much life pulsing in that body. I licked my canines.
Time to end it.
I needed to sink my teeth into those hot veins. To hear him scream.
I snarled, no longer able to remember how to speak. I’d make my message clear enough.
I rushed at the speed of storm wind toward my prey. Primal fear glinted in his eyes, and my sword found its mark in his chest. My lips curled with a dark smile at the feel of shattering bone, the tearing of veins.
Blood soaked my sword, spraying over my body. Glorious. I am home.
Chapter 20
Above me, the dragoniles pierced the air with their strange, primordial song, and it called to me, stirring my blood. Why had I hated the dragoniles so much? We were alike, these creatures and me. The beating hearts of beasts, driven to break, to kill—to drink the blood of our enemies.
With the angel’s sword in my hand, I moved across the blood on the floor like a dancer, whirling and ducking, fighting the next threat. When I pivoted again, I found the next angel coming for me, black hair streaming behind him. Kill.
My sword clashed with the angel’s, sparks lighting up the dark air. Another angel pressed in on me—and my twisted, bestial heart started to panic, a rabbit cornered by wolves.
From above, a black dragonile scorched the air with his fiery breath, singeing the angels.
Just enough to give me an advantage.
Smiling, I whirled my sword through the air, cutting into the angel’s sword arm, thrilling at the destruction. How would he like the feel of mortality?
Blood-soaked soil, thunder rumbling over the horizon, lightning searing my blood.
I swung my sword again, hacking into his other arm, sword through bone, through flesh— Fear flashed in his eyes, and he screamed, “Get away from me!” His terror sang through my blood like an aria.
Dimly, I wondered where the beautiful one was—the man with the blue-gray eyes and the broken wing. But he wasn’t here.
I was here, and I wanted blood. I hacked through one of the angel’s wings, creating a masterpiece of blood-stained feathers.
“Evil flee from me!” he shrieked.
At his words, an image—a distant memory seared in my mind like a brand: sharp, monstrous teeth, sinking into pale flesh, blood streaming onto the pavement.
I stumbled away from him as if I’d been burned. As I did, a blur of white moved for me—another threat. I gritted my teeth, swinging for him in a haze of steel and red. Our swords clashed, and his eyes blazed with silver light. He pressed in on me, his golden hair streaming behind him.
Kill. Prey.
He was the strongest among them, and my muscles burned, my sword faltering. My legs began to shake, blood pumping hard as his steel clashed against mine.
Kill.
A single thrust, and my stolen sword plunged into his heart. His pale eyes widened, a stream of blood dripping from his lips.
I pulled my sword from his body, and he slumped to the floor.
Light blazed from my chest, and the disturbing memory faded from my mind. Even with the din of the dragoniles howling around me, a sort of peace had overcome me.
Blood and gore glistened in the dim light of my body. The screams of the dragoniles hummed deliciously over my skin—wild beasts, the lot of us.
I’d left one alive, hadn’t I? He’d escaped while I’d been fighting the last angel. An injured one had run from the rookery, his arms and shattered wing hanging off him. The hunter in me wanted to chase him down, to finish him off, but I’d probably lost my chance.
I glanced at the doorway—waiting for more angels to come through—hoping for more angels to arrive. I needed more to kill.
For just a moment I faltered, horrified at my own thoughts. Free from the risk of death, some of the feral rage began to slowly seep out of my body. It cast a silver glow around the dragoniles, one of them circling the air protectively above me. Drakon.
Footsteps pounded in the hallway outside the rookery, and I readied my sword, my eyes on the hallway.
Before anyone had a chance to arrive, a figure rushed into the room in a blaze of silver light. A silhouette of dark wings spread over the hall, and my feral bloodlust exploded once again.
Kill. Dominate. Devour. A bestial growl rose from my throat, mingling with the wild symphony of dragonile shrieks. My canines lengthened, and I rushed for the angel, sword ready to slash through flesh— His hand shot out, grabbing my wrist.