She’d deciphered it from the torn page she’d found. Nadia wracked her brain, striving to recall what she’d read. A hybrid of the species: archangel, daemon, and human. Able to enter all the realms with ease, stronger, in theory, than each of the creatures whose blood it contained.
Yet she wasn’t one. She’d know if she were, right? From what little she could figure, a creature like that held the ultimate power. She had none. No wings, no spark of magic, no ability to manipulate the world around her.
“I believe this is a case of mistaken identity,” she blurted. “I’m?—”
“Will you shut up, woman!” Michael roared. “How do you all stand the inane babble?”
* * *
Cold fury nearly made Lucifer forget all his training and charge. The driving desire to cut out Michael’s tongue for daring to address Nadia in so rude a manner almost overrode his training.
“I find her twice as intelligent as you and Raphael combined,” Luc replied with a blasé shrug. “Can I help it if the only women who give you the time of day are blow-up dolls with ball gags?”
Behind him, Nadia choked. He didn’t miss Gabriel’s bark of laughter either. But the time for talking was done. They could only hold off the humans so long, and his army at Michael’s back was getting antsy.
“But speak to her in that manner again, and your tongue will be the first thing I lop off,” he assured Michael.
“You hardly know her, and yet you would fight the rest of us on her behalf?” Raphael asked, almost curiously.
Ignoring him, Lucifer taunted Michael. “Strike first, brother. It will be the only chance you have this time.”
“Intending to set your minions on me again, Lucifer? Is it the only way you can win in a fight?”
“If I recall, you were the underhanded one, attacking without warning. Hiding under cloud cover is beneath our kind,” Luc retorted smoothly.
He had the satisfaction of hitting a nerve.
Michael’s lip curled in distaste. “You have always believed yourself better than us.”
Luc’s brows rose, and he flashed a humorless smile. “Perhaps because I am.”
He felt the wisp of agreement from Nadia’s mind before she cut the thought off and began her inner dialogue filled with questions. The utmost in her mind: Was she crazy?
Michael charged, and there wasn’t time to assure Nadia she was indeed sane.
Parrying the first thrust, Luc ducked, narrowly missing being cleaved in two by the second sword. His daemons rushed in, forming a semi-circle around Nadia as Gabriel joined the battle.
Movement caught his eye, and Lucifer clocked Raphael unsheathing his blade. In a blink, teal flame ran the length. Although he had no hope of defeating the masses, he began to fight, first one, then the other, after the previous opponent fell. Raphael impressively plowed through three before Michael once again demanded Luc’s concentration.
His brother, the fiercest of all warriors, came in hard, both blades angled for a scissoring strike meant to disable. Luc danced left, steel singing, then screeching, as their weapons connected, the impact vibrating through his arms. Sparks burst between them before he twisted his wrist and shoved, breaking contact. The forced space gave him a second to pivot as Michael advanced in a relentless barrage, twin swords swinging high, then low, then reversing mid-arc in a maneuver designed to catch Luc off guard. It might have worked on someone less skilled, but before his fall, Lucifer had been Michael’s sparring partner.
He continually parried, deflected, and redirected with each assault. Where his brother relied on brute force, Luc used precision, turning each blow aside with minimal effort, conserving energy while Michael burned through his.
Gabriel came in from the side, allowing Luc to check Raphael’s progress.
Across the distance, his gaze locked on Nadia’s horrified expression. She raised devastated eyes to his. Betrayal was reflected back at him, and his chest tightened. He’d have spared her finding out this way if he could.
Her attention was caught by the fight between Gabriel and Michael, and her fearful gaze widened.
“Behind you!” she shouted.
Luc moved without a second to spare, blocking an overhead strike and driving a kick into Michael’s midsection. He stumbled, but quickly rallied to meet Gabriel’s secondary attack. The sword’s hilt clipped Michael’s jaw, causing him to stagger back. But he surged forward again. Faster. Stronger. A man possessed. Both blades came down in a crossing arc meant to break through Gabriel’s guard.
This time, Luc intervened and met Michael head-on.
Steel collided and locked as their eyes met.
“Give it up, brother,” Lucifer urged. “You cannot win.”
