I watch, horror-stricken, as Azrael slots the fragment into place with the others. The pieces click together like magnets, and the stone sits complete and ominous in his ring. The air around him seems to hum with newfound power.
Shadows engulf him as he seems to absorb the stone entirely. Dark eyes meet mine, a sinister smirk on his face.
My blood runs ice-cold as I absorb the full weight of his words. Just what depths of depravity is this monster capable of reaching?
Will that stone alone be enough to unleash Moretemis into our realm?
Before I can voice the question, Azrael turns his attention back to me, his smile all teeth and no warmth. "A deal's a deal, I suppose," he muses as if speaking more to himself than me. "Your brother, in exchange for the stone."
He snaps his fingers, and the black smoke binding Damon falls away like mist in the breeze. My brother crumples to the ground, unmoving, and panic claws at my throat.
"Damon!" I lunge forward, only to be brought up short by an invisible force slamming into my chest. I stagger back, gasping for air as Azrael regards me with cold amusement.
"Did I say he could leave?" He tsks softly, shaking his head in mock disappointment. "Now, Dani. You should know better than to think I'd make this easy for you."
The weight of his betrayal hits me like a physical blow, stealing my breath and my strength. Of course, he would never keep his word—this was all a ruse, a ploy to get what he wanted.
And like a fool, I played right into his hands—blinded by trying to save my brother.
"You son of a bitch," I snarl, fury burning away any lingering fear until all that remains is an inferno of rage. "I'll kill you for this, Azrael. I swear on everything holy, I will end you."
Azrael's cruel and mocking laughter rings out, smiling at the Soul Stone like a hard-won trophy. "Sure you will,little angel," he purrs, the twisted endearment falling from his lips like poisoned honey. "I've always admired your spirit. It'll make breaking you all the more satisfying."
The words "little angel" make bile rise in my throat—that's Rhyland's cherished pet name for me, now tainted by Azrael's foul tongue—the audacity of this asshole to defile something so sacred with his venom.
Time seems to slow as Azrael stalks toward me, each measured step calculated for maximum impact. I brace myself, coiled tight as a serpent poised to strike.
I can't fire on him yet. Damon is too close.
My angelic fire simmers beneath the surface, my body a livewire thrumming with barely contained power. I clench my fists, fighting to keep the flames at bay—fear and rage are always their conduits.
"Ah, I see I've sparked something," Azrael taunts, his voice a dark caress that makes my skin crawl. "Can't have that now, can we?"
He lashes out with tendrils of shadow, whip-like coils that snake around my limbs and bind me against the rough bark of a towering oak. I grit my teeth, straining against the inky restraints as Azrael circles me.
Enough of this bullshit. I let the fire within me flare to life, a blinding corona of celestial flames that incinerates the shadows in a heartbeat. Azrael recoils with a hiss of displeasure as I crash to the ground, free once more.
Game on, you twisted son of a bitch.
I lash out with a barrage of fiery blasts, hurling searing spheres of holy fire at the demon's smug form. But Azrael is infuriatingly quick, dancing through the onslaught with unnatural grace, his laughter mocking me at every turn.
Switching tactics, I unleash a blinding torrent of light, casting shimmering tendrils of pure radiance that crackle through the air like a kaleidoscope of fireworks.
"Damon, move!" I shout, my voice strained with the effort of maintaining the onslaught.
My priority is getting him to safety, away from this monster's clutches. I glance at my brother, watching as he crawls inch by agonizing inch, his battered body fighting for survival with every ragged breath.
"Does it piss you off, Dani?" Azrael sneers, his voice seeming to come from everywhere at once as he slithers through the shadows. "That I've taken everything from you? Your mother..." He chuckles, low and cruel. "She was such a fiery thing, like you. She fought so hard to save herself...and the parasite growing in her womb."
White-hot rage surges through me at his taunts. My mother's life snuffed out before it could truly begin. Tears prick at the corners of my eyes, but I blink them back furiously, refusing to let him see me break.
"Does it piss you off that I survived?" I fire back. "Thought you could take an innocent baby—"
"Your pathetic adoptive parents," Azrael ignores me and continues, reveling in my anguish like a sadist savoring an exquisite vintage."They were just sad, and they died so easily, didn't they?"
Flashes of that night assault me—Dad's twisted form, Mom's sightless eyes. I want to unleash the full force of my fury upon this fucker, to make him pay for every second of torment he's inflicted.
"You're a poor, sad, pathetic being, Dani," Azrael hisses, his shadowy form flickering in and out of existence all around me. "Always letting your feelings interfere with what dear olddaddytasked you with."
