I am still a demon, Mia.
The Legion are my family.
But I had seen the good in him. He’d proven it ten times over. He could have been pretending, but what would have been the point of that? If he’d wanted to sacrifice my soul, he didn’t need all these games. He could have just done it.
But how could I trust him when I was literally lying bound in the middle of Lucifer’s demon seal?
Everyone else in my life had let me down. My parents had abandoned me. My friends. My neighbors. The whole damn world.
Fear thrummed through my veins.
Eisheth took a deep sniff of the air and smiled. “Do you smell that?”
“The delicious scent of fear,” Az murmured back.
“Good,” Eisheth said. “Very good. Now, do it, Az. Stab her right in her pretty fucking heart.”
“With pleasure.” Az reached behind him and pulled his long gleaming sword from thin air. The blade rippled with flames, splashing orange fragments across the blood-painted floor.
Terror screamed through me as I tried to scrabble back. He was really going to do this. There was no mistaking the viciousness on his face. How could I have been so wrong? A demon loomed before me with eyes the color of ice, and he was going to kill me. My entire body trembled. The fear left nothing behind but a numb heart and a bitter mind. If only I wasn’t human. If only I could fight back…
Wait a minute.
I still had his fucking signet ring.
Az strode toward me with his sword held high. Before I could talk myself out of it, I pulled a deep breath in through my flared nostrils and threw all of my emotions toward him. I still didn’t know how the hell to use this thing. I just went by instinct. All I thought waspush.
An invisible force slammed into Az and threw him out the window.
Not the window.
The blank wall that held no glass.
His eyes widened as he hurtled out into the darkness. My heart stopped beating, and my helpless cry was muffled against the rag. Even though he’d been two seconds away from sacrificing me to his demon overlord, the last thing I wanted was to kill him.
Just as he began to tumble toward the streets, he pushed his dark feathered wings from his back. In the darkness, I swore I saw the flicker of a smile.
My heart thundered back to life, galloping up into my throat. I’d managed to knock him back, but he’d return with a vengeance now. And I was pretty sure this ring had to recharge before I could use it again. All I’d done was make him angry. Whoops.
Az flapped his enormous wings, his gaze zeroing in on me. And then two massive figures thundered into the ball, appearing out of nowhere. Their golden wings gleamed against the candlelight, their shirtless bodies corded with power and rage. Suriel and Gabriel shot toward the cloaked figures with swords bigger than my body.
My mouth dropped open. Or, it would have, if it hadn’t been stuffed with a rag that tasted like socks. The angels swung their swords at the figures. Several of the supernaturals screamed and ran, charging toward the elevators. Only a few stuck around to fight.
Blood arced through the air as the swords made contact. Bodies tumbled to the ground. With tears in my eyes, I scrabbled away from the carnage and pressed my back against the nearest wall. The other human sacrifices joined me and tried to shield their eyes. I hated being helpless like this, unable to do anything other than watch the angels strike down their foes.
If I survive this, I swore to myself,I’ll learn how to fight.
The battle was over not long after it began. The two fallen angels stood heaving over the supernaturals. The whole thing had been a blur, and it had been next to impossible to follow the fight. All that mattered was that our captors were dead. The ones who had survived had fled. Glancing around, relief filled my heart.
Az wasn’t among the dead.
Ugh. Why should I even care? He’d tried to sacrifice me.
Suriel strode toward me, knelt, and unbound my wrists. Then, I yanked that stupid rag out of my mouth and spit. Not very ladylike, but whatever. That thing was gross.
“Good timing,” I told him. He offered a hand, which I reluctantly took. Out of all the supernaturals in the world, why did it have to be this guy?
A smile curled his lips. “You say that like we didn’t plan it this way.”
