bathing the world in blood and despair.
When all virtue is lost,
a soul will be taken.
Ravens will circle the skies,
their master awaken.
A choice will be made,
One will be dead.
Time will sit still in the night
And the world of the living
will meld with the beyond.”
Images of the ground cracking wide open while bubbling lava rises to the surface and hellfire, scorching through flesh and bone, assault my brain as the chant continues like terrifying echo chamber. Thousands of demons flying freely, crawling on the streets, feasting on the innocent, leaving gory destruction in their wake, a thick river of blood overflowing, coursing through the mass of cadavers lined streets, people wailing in horror.
When I come back to reality, it’s to screams. At first, I think I’m still hearing the gory reverb, but then I realize it’s Yana. The planes of her face contort in abject terror as she shakes Thalia—who is still catatonic—her eyes encased in white. Dread sinks its icy hooks beneath every layer of skin.
Tears stream down Yana’s cheeks. “Thalia! They’re here! We need to run.”
The unmistakable clash of metal as two swords meet slices through the air. I don’t waste another second.
I jump up and barrel out the door.
37
Iris
Ialmost eat shit as I narrowly avoid the swinging blade coming straight for my throat. Dropping low, I swipe the blond fae’s legs from under him. A loudcrackresounds as the wooden stairs give out under his weight. That shiny armor he’s wearing must be heavy as fuck.
With a quick sweep of my eyes, I assess the situation: Kaiden and Malik are each sword fighting a golden-clad soldier while Rhett uses air against a fire-wielding one. Sam is nowhere in sight.
Fuck.
“Kaiden!” I shout when another fae sneaks up on him. He expertly parries the attack. However, Malik isn’t as nimble. The blade slashes through the skin on his shoulder, and blood gushesfrom the wound in streams.
I don’t have time to dwell on it. I snatch the sword the fae dropped when he fell. But I’m not prepared for him to be so inhumanely fast. When I straighten, I’m met with a stunning blow to my temple. White-hot pain erupts in every single nerve ending. Ears ringing, I fall back against the open door. I lose consciousness for a few seconds, only to be brought back when he stomps on the hand I have wrapped around the hilt of his blade.Snap. Snap. Snap. My bones crunch. I bite my tongue until I taste copper to stop from screaming.
He grabs me in a chokehold and lifts me. The sword clatters against the wood as my lungs scream for air. He keeps me just far enough that I can’t gouge his eyes out with my swinging hands. “You dirty rat,” he seethes, nostrils flaring as though he’s an angry bull. “You have no right to touch something so sacred.”
I hack a glob of spit and blood at his face before I put every ounce of energy I possess into sending my sole right at his crotch. He lets out a sharp curse, then drops me like a sack of potatoes. My teeth gnash as my knees meet the wooden planks. This time, when he charges, I’m prepared—my uninjured hand grabs the sword’s hilt before I spring upward. With an agile whirl, I’m behind him. However, I’m not used to the sword’s hefty weight, so my movement is jerky as I thrust it to slice through the tendons at the back of his knees. His howl is music to my ears when he crumbles behind me.
“How’s that for a dirty rat?” I say, turning. I whack him on the back of his head with my hilt. Hard. There’s a loudthudwhen he falls.
Sam screams. I forget all about my aching muscles as I sprint toward the sound with everything I’ve got. I skid to a halt when a behemoth of a fae comes out of the tree line, an elbow crooked around Sam’s throat while she struggles like a fish out of water, her feet in the air. Blood is trickling down her nose, and her lefteye is swollen shut.
The blazing heat of a thousand suns kindles a firestorm in my veins. “Let her go!”
He raises an unimpressed eyebrow, as if I’m nothing more than an annoying insect. “Drop your weapons now, or I will kill her,” he says in a bored tone.
“Don’t!” Sam wheezes out.
A slow, feline smile spreads across his face as he unsheathes his sword, pressing the tip of the blade at Sam’s carotid. Blood seeps out from the superficial cut. She freezes.
