“Then remember everything I made you forget, and stop disappointing me,” she commands.
It all comes back to me in flashes. Her smacking my face, how she felt in my arms. Me spewing my feelings to her about how much I want her and need her. The clear fear in her eyes over being a siren and what that meant to me.
My mouth gapes open, and I stare down at her. An angel approaches, passing her shadows, and Elvor quickly stabs them in the back, their corporeal body falling into the grass.
“Why hide this from me?”
“I wanted you to have a choice. So choose. Fight with me,forme, or retreat. What is it going to be?” I remember how I felt when I finally let her in, how whole and seen I felt. I won’t let that feeling go, no matter what.
“I’ll always fight for you,” I tell her honestly. My allegiance to Hell, to Lucifer himself, shifting to the madwoman in front of me. I don’t care that we’re covered in gore or that this might be the stupidest fucking decision I’ve ever made in battle, including when I died. I fiercely grip the back of her head, noting that her hair is dampened with sweat and blood, but I quickly crash her lips to mine, showing her that I’m devout and that I’ll follow her into the fire. Her lips are pliant against mine, but the bellows of the incoming angels rip us apart. I gaze into her eyes, which are fluctuating between pink and red.
“Then kill them all,” she proclaims, our gazes breaking as I run into the throes of war. I swing, slashing my sword in every angel within reach. My demon stamina helps me continue killing endlessly, and I know I can’t stop; I can’t let her down.
It’s a slaughter at this point. None of the angels that are attacking have any weapons that could cause true death to us. Meanwhile, we are taking them out one by one. I chance a look up at Mark, but he doesn’t look perturbed. It’s almost as if he is studying what we’re doing.
I quickly realize they never meant to win this battle. They just wanted to see what we were fighting with.
Fuck.
My mind is whirling, the clashing of weapons rattling my mind as I continue to fight. The stench at this point is nearly forgotten, and all I can feel is concern for how this is going to end up. There are more angels this round, even if they still aren’t skilled warriors. Every moment I can, I check in with my army to see how they’re fairing, but the results are mixed. Mara is unstoppable. Between her shadows, strength, and compulsion, she is taking out more angels than anyone can even fathom. With a mere suggestion, she turns them against each other, giving us a fighting chance.
Elvor is just as violent on the battlefield as he is in the pit, taking out anyone in Mara’s path. She was right to send Judd away. He is more of a liability than an able body at this point. If you think the outcome is going to be bad, chances are they just fucking might be.
Mara, Elvor, and I end up in a triangular formation, watching each other’s backs, and are in different forms of combat; Elvor and myself focusing on hand-to-hand while Mara uses all the power she has. The female angel in front of me gets the upper hand, cutting my knuckles where I hold the hilt of my blade, and I growl in frustration. There’s laughter to my left, and I see Mark still flying in the air, amused by the absolute slaughter of his kind. I impale the angel in the stomach, and she crumples to the floor, but Mark’s smile doesn’t leave his face.
He needs to fucking die, and I know if I can get Mara close enough, she can kill him, there’s no doubt in my mind. The daughter of Hell, being strong enough to take out such an old angel, would be detrimental to their regime. It could give us the advantage we need to win.
I take note of our side’s strength waning around me, demons collapsing and struggling to keep fighting. While their immortal strength got them this far and has kept them alive, the continuing onslaught of angels has decimated their power. The only ones who don’t seem to be tiring are the three of us.
“Portal the rest home,” Mara tells me, and I do as she says, sending the remaining survivors back to Hell as the three of us stand against dozens of angels.
Mark holds his fist in the air, silently commanding the next round of angels to stand down. “Impressive, but as you can see, my army is larger than you assumed. Are you ready to surrender and summon Lucifer?” he asks.
Mara steps in front of me, and I want to fucking shake her. As much as I know she can handle herself, the thought of her being in harm’s way makes my soul sink. “I can speak for the realm,” she declares.
Mark smiles, his wings flapping as he lands on the ground. His bare feet dig in the dirt, and his smile is condescending as he looks down at Mara. She doesn’t seem threatened or blinded by his looks or authority.
“You had your chance, hellion.”
She portals right in front of him, her hand reaching inside of his chest, attempting to rip out his heart. The angel’s smile only grows wider as he grabs her wrist. “You might be powerful, but you are not as strong as an angel as old as I,” he responds smugly.
“You’re right, I’m not,” she agrees. Her other hand, which holds her magical blade, gets shoved into his side, and she uses all her strength to push it in deeper. His lips part as he gasps, and with his agonizing cry, he falls to the ground with a thud. I smile at the irony of his hubris being the thing to take him out. He doubted how cunning and brave Mara was, and it ended his life. The smile on my face is short-lived as the rest of the angels portal directly in front of us. Even without their supposed leader, they press on, and I wonder who is truly commanding this army.
We’re completely surrounded, Mara, Elvor, and I standing back to back to back. I want to portal us out of here, but one of these angels must be powerful enough to hold a ward to keep us here.
We stay in formation, taking out angels as we can, but we are clearly outnumbered.
At least I know Mara will survive. She can’t be killed, as far as we know. That doesn’t mean she can’t be taken hostage, tortured, or worse.
I try calling on my power to portal the three of us out of here again, but I can’t. The angel warding the battlefield is too strong; we’re going to have to fight our way out of this, there’s no other option. I’m focusing so much of my attention on getting us out of this crisis that I can’t stop Lennix, an angel I’m too familiar with, from stabbing my side.
It’s not a basic blade.
Its magic hits me full force. The last thing I see before I leave this plane is Mara’s black eyes as I crumple to the ground and fade to nothingness.
Chapter27
Rage.
