I held her stare as her body caved in on itself. Piece by piece, Ishtar flaked away, sent off by the cries of every other demon in the room as they followed their queen into eternal darkness.
CHAPTERFORTY-SEVEN
The throne room of Hell was quiet.
Everyone stood still, staring at where the demon queen had disintegrated before their eyes.
I gulped, unable to believe it was over. That my greatest adversary had been defeated.
And then the room began to shake.
My heart launched into my throat as rocks fell from the ceiling. “Quick! Grab the injured! Get everyone out of here!”
I soared down to where Ishtar and Simone’s ashes mixed on the black floor. It was easy enough to tell the vampire's ashes from the Queen of Hell’s; there were less of them and they were a lighter gray.
I scooped a little into my pocket, placing a barrier of aether around it so it would still be there when I wanted to transfer it to a better container. As I did so, a hint of metal glinted through the black ash on the ground.
The Realm Slicer.It hadn’t dissolved with Ishtar.
I snapped it up. Who knew if we’d need it again, but I sure didn’t want any other demons getting their hands on it.Whether they were in Hell or my realm I wanted them trapped. That way, they’d be easier to hunt.
I levitated again to get a better view and scanned the room. Thankfully, many of the fae soldiers that Queen Aquatia had sent us had wings. All the flying fae had already grabbed an injured person and taken off down the hall, to the hole leading to the surface. But then I spotted the two wolves on the ground, and the other two hovering around their bodies. The prone shifters were so large that no fae could move them alone.
I pressed my hand out in front of me and bid the aether to take them to the surface. The living wolves growled as the lifeless bodies swooped out of the room, but when they saw it was me controlling the movement, they stopped, understanding.
It was always difficult for me to tell the guys apart in wolf form, but without a doubt, one of the living shifters was Dasha.
The alpha loosed a mournful howl, and my heart cried in response as she ran from the room. I hoped that the other two were only injured, not gone forever.
A chorus of familiar voices called my name, and I looked down to see Eva, Alex, and Hunter waiting for me. Alex extended his hand, and as I lowered to the ground, I gripped it tight.
“That’s everyone,” I said.
“Good,” Alex said, “because we need to leave before this room caves in.”
As if to make a point, a massive boulder fell right on top of the throne that used to be Ishtar’s.
We dashed from the room, the last ones to leave. As we ran down the dark hallway, I noticed the bodies of the snakes that Ishtar had attacked me with stuck to the wall.
“How—?”
“They were coming down the hall when we arrived,” Hunter said, his eyes darting to the snakes. “The Tornas and Grahn zapped them with aether. Another fae used earth magic to create nails from their armor ornamentation to nail them down.”
“Good,” I said.
A part of the hallway wall collapsed inward, and we put on a burst of speed. We sprinted into the room that served as a conduit between realms, and skidded to a stop to stare up at the gaping crevice into our world.
“How are we going to—oh my god, Odie!” Eva yelped as I used the aether to lift her into the air.
Hunter and Alex were next, and only when I knew I had them under control did I follow, soaring upward.
When we emerged from the portal Ishtar had made, cheering met my ears. For the first time in what felt like hours, my lips lifted into a smile as I set us down on the ground. The moment my feet touched the grass, my knees buckled. Alex caught me, steadying me like he so often did.
I waved my hands, trying to get others’ attention. Quickly, the cheering died down, leaving behind a telling silence.
I strained to hear fighting in the distance, but my ears picked up nothing. No screams, roars, or crashes. Was the fighting over?
At that very moment, Alice descended out of the sky to land right in front of me. Her long white-blonde hair was tangled and matted with ash and blood. Cuts marred her slender arms, the blood a stark red against her skin. “Fae flew overhead to check out the academy grounds. No one is fighting. It seems like the remaining demons have retreated.”
