My heart began to slow at the feel of soothing, myrrh-scented magic.
In the silvered light glowing from my body, I looked up into a pair of stunning, gray eyes that faded to a midnight blue around the edges. I couldn’t remember who he was, just that he was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen.
He squeezed my wrist harder, until I dropped the sword.
“Well, well, well,” the angel purred. “This is interesting.”
Feral Ruby still didn’t quite have the power of speech, and another snarl escaped my throat, my lip curling.
He searched my face, like he was trying to interpret primitive scratches clawed into a tree. “Ruby.” His voice wrapped around me like silk, and his grip softened on my wrist until it almost felt good. “Not your enemy.”
Some of the battle fury raging through my nerves began to go quiet. The battle drum pounding in my ears began to still.
“Not an enemy,” I repeated.
Footsteps echoed off the walls and ceiling, and I turned to see the two demons—the male and the female. Couldn’t remember their names.
The male’s mouth dropped open, and leathery wings spread out behind him. “This is the Bringer of Light?”
The female folded her arms, and her eyes blazed. “Is it just me, or is she covered in blood and ash, and surrounded by dead bodies?”
The large male nodded. “I’d honestly expected something a little more...civilized.”
The demoness’s hair writhed around her head, and she pointed at the fallen one. “Is that a dead demon?”
The beautiful angel searched my eyes, his expression probing. Gently, he ran a thumb over my wrist, and his soothing magic wrapped around me, pulling the fear, the violence from me.
Adonis. I breathed in his smell, and my gaze roamed over his broken wing, the place where I’d healed him.
“Are you in there, Ruby?” he asked softly. “Are you hurt?”
I nodded, finally remembering how to speak. “Yeah. It’s me.” My voice sounded too quiet, too tame for what had just happened. “I’m not hurt.”
Slowly, the bloodlust drained from me completely, and Adonis released his grip on my wrist.
I looked down at my body, at the glowing silver light. It illuminated the stark spatters of blood all over my dress, although it was starting to dim.
Vaguely, I was aware of how I looked to Adonis, of the horror he must have felt at my appearance. Feral, bestial, covered in the blood of angels.
Why did I care what he thought, anyway?
I took a step away from him, surveying the damage, and swallowed hard. “So, you probably want me to explain this.”
Tanit licked her fangs. “We slaughtered the angels outside. Or rather, Adonis did most of the work, while we watched on—”
“I killed plenty,” Kur interjected.
“And then we heard the dragoniles calling us,” added Adonis.
“How many angels were there?” I asked.
“Twenty,” said Adonis. “It may take a while for the Heavenly Host to even notice that they’ve failed to return.”
“The angels weren’t coming here for me,” I began. “They were here to check on you, Adonis. They want to know why your curse hasn’t taken hold, even after the apocalypse has started.”
Adonis stroked his fingertips across his chest. “Little messenger angels. Well, they’re all dead now, so I don’t imagine the message will get through.”
Tanit nudged the dead demon with her foot. “Can we get back to what the fuck happened in here?”
I surveyed the carnage around me. “Oh. The bodies. Well, the fallen one over there was the first to arrive, and he said he could smell the magic of the light bringing.” I looked down at the incandescent light that radiated from my body. “It just sort of came out when I panicked. And I used his demonic transformation process to kill him.”
Adonis’s eyes flashed with a cold light. “How exactly did he come to fall?”
I curled my lip. “Weird torture fetish. I indulged it a bit until he lost control.”
Adonis’s eyes flashed with anger, and the air seemed to thin around us.
“Four other angels followed,” I continued. “They could all smell my light magic. And then I went a bit feral, and slaughtered them in a brutal bloodbath. So that about sums it up.”
Kur smiled at me, his dark eyes glinting. “Oh, I like her.”
“You killed all of them?” asked Adonis.
I shook my head. “One of them got away, but I’m not sure he’ll live. His arms and one of his wings were in tatters.”
Dark magic whirled around Adonis. “Seems the magic of the Old Gods still fills your body. That’s the good news. The bad news is that we now have another problem on our hands. We’re racing against Johnny’s recovery, and against discovery by the Heavenly Host.”
I looked down at my body, at the silver light pooling from my skin.
Adonis nodded at the demon’s body. “You’ve glossed over a thing or two. What do you mean, a torture fetish?”
Somehow, it felt undignified to go into it, but I supposed it was stupid to cling on to dignity when coated with a sticky mixture of blood and ash. “He wanted me to kneel on the ground, pull off the top of my dress, and cut myself on his sword. He really wasn’t a very nice angel.”
Adonis’s gray eyes darkened, and his wings spread out behind him.
Kur scrubbed his hand over his mouth. “Oh, this will be interesting.”
Violence glinted in Adonis’s eyes. “He will suffer a painful death.”
I blinked. “Pretty sure he’s dead already.”
“He isn’t.” Adonis’s voice was pure ice. “I’d know.”
Dark tendrils of his magic spread out around the room, and a claw-sharp filament of magic caressed my cheek.
As his power roiled around us, the demon on the floor began to twitch and moan. Slowly, he pushed himself up to his knees, his black eyes landing on me. He roared, the sound echoing off the hall. Just as he began to run for me, Adonis cut his wrist through the air. With that one sudden motion, he severed the demon’s body in half at the waist.
The creature unleashed a half-strangled scream, refusing to die.
I closed my eyes, trying to block out the last of his shrieks as he bled out on the floor.
Glad I wasn’t the only ruthless killer in here.
“Now he’s dead,” Adonis said quietly.
The stench of blood curled into my nose, sickly sweet. Dark, unwelcome memories prodded at the depths of my mind. An old memory—brutal, monstrous teeth sinking into a pale arm, blood staining the pavement— My eyes snapped open again, and I took a deep, shaky breath. “Well. This night turned out well, didn’t it?” I smeared some of the blood off my arms, watching as it dripped onto the floor.
The sound of the dragoniles screeching still echoed wildly around us.
“You may want to wash the blood off.” Among the chaos of reptilian screams, Adonis’s voice sounded oddly soothing.
“Brilliant idea.” I was already heading for the door. “I need to get away from that horrific screaming.”
Tanit’s lips curled. “What’s the matter, little flower? Can’t handle a little blood?”