I half-run, half-waddle for the apartment door and the stairs. My breath comes in short, panicked bursts, the baby pressing onmy lungs. Behind me, Nick's battle rages, crashes, screams, the sharp crackle of magic.
I make it down three steps before something lands in front of me.
An angel. Its face is beautiful and empty, its eyes like chips of ice.
"The child will serve a greater purpose," it says, reaching for me.
I stumble back, nearly losing my balance. My hand shoots out, grabbing the railing like a lifeline.
The angel explodes backward, slamming into the wall so hard the plaster cracks. Nick's there, his hand outstretched, magic crackling between his fingers.
"Touch her again," he says, his voice dropping into something that barely sounds human, "and I'll erase you from existence."
The angel struggles to its feet, but Nick's already moving. He grabs it by the throat, lifts it like it weighs nothing, and throws it down the stairs. It crashes through the bottom door, tumbling into the bakery.
"Go," Nick tells me. "Stay close to me."
We go down together, Nick in front, me clutching the railing for dear life. Every step is a struggle. The baby's still thrashing, stealing what little breath I have left.
The bakery is chaos.
Demons and angels both, filling my space, destroying the place I've built with my own hands. Tables are overturned. Glass cases shattered.
Fury cuts through the fear. This is my home. My safe place. Or it was.
They don't get to do this.
Nick steps into the middle of it all, and the temperature drops so fast I can see my breath.
"Enough."
His voice isn't loud, but it carries. Every entity in the room freezes, their attention snapping to him.
For the first time, I see what they see when they look at him.
Not Nick, my devoted partner, my baby's father.
But something else. Something that judges. Something that can see into the darkest corners of your soul and tally up every sin, every secret.
He who knows exactly who's been naughty.
The demons shrink back. Even the angels look uncertain.
"You were warned," Nick says, and snow begins to fall inside the bakery. Impossible snow that doesn't melt, that shimmers with magic. "You were told to stay away. But you came anyway."
A demon lunges.
Nick doesn't flinch.
The creature freezes mid-leap, suspended in the air. Then it begins to crack, fissures of light spreading through its body.
"Every year," Nick continues, his voice soft and terrible, "I see everything. Every act of kindness. Every cruelty. Every choice made in light or darkness. Do you think I don't know what you are? What you've done?"
The demon shatters.
Another tries to run. Nick gestures, and chains of ice wrap around it, dragging it back.
"You wanted the child? You wanted to corrupt her? Turn her into a weapon?" His eyes blaze. "She is mine. Her mother is mine. And you will never touch them."
