Chapter 10 #2
I whimpered as my whole body trembled head to toe.
Help, I need help. Someone HELP. Without moving my head, I glanced around this little forest only to find my entire team heavily outmatched against demons.
Astaroth was throwing snakes that hit faces and wrapped around throats.
Asmodeus flicked his fatal green magic like he was conducting an orchestra while Reuelle clapped along.
Soneillon shifted into a black bird with three red eyes like we’d seen at SOMA.
We were outnumbered before the fallen angels arrived.
No one was coming to rescue me from Azazel, whose hands were already exploring.
Auryn stepped out in front of me with a long sword in hand pointed right over my shoulder. Those blue and white eyes were eerie and fierce. “Over my dead body, Azazel. Back away from her. Now.”
To my surprise, he dropped his hands from my body and sidestepped me with his attention solely on Auryn.
He shoved his hands into his pockets and licked his lips while looking Auryn up and down.
“My, my, Saber, look at you. A carbon copy of your father. Makes me want to ensure he survives Lilith’s trap long enough to make him watch—”
“Savannah, turn and run to your right! Now!” Tegan shouted in my mind.
I didn’t hesitate. I knew better. I just spun on my toes and sprinted as hard as I could in that direction. The demons were making it impossible to get through. They needed to die. We needed help. We needed more hands—hands! Spirits! Dammit, ma’am, pay attention!
I held my palms out to my sides and searched for the flicker of a lingering soul.
When I felt a group of about five huddled close together, I called on them to come forward—I gasped.
All five spirits were holding on to each other and shaking.
Their souls were terrified. They’d died terrified.
My heart sank. I flicked my wrist and sent their souls to the afterlife, to peace, then summoned another handful that were spread out.
Their glistening, translucent blue forms stood out among the sea of black demons, but each spirit kept ducking and covering their heads.
I summoned three more on my left. Two to my right.
One huge guy straight ahead of me. Yet each and every one of them were terrified.
What the fuck happened here? I felt sick to my stomach.
All these poor souls. Who did this to you? Rage rushed through my veins.
And then I felt her eyes on my back, burning my skin like lasers.
I squeezed my eyes shut and wiggled my fingers to get my ghosty friends’ attention. With my mind, I said to them, “Fallen angel with black hair, red eyes, and a gnarly wound across her face . . . Take her down. She cannot hurt you in this form.”
The spirits all turned in perfect unison to look over my shoulder at Soneillon.
Their faces were timid and scared. I knew the exact moment they’d made eye contact because wild, hot fury radiated out of them.
As if it was rehearsed, they charged for her.
Without turning, I listened to her screams with a smile on my face.
I glanced around the fight, except I could hardly see everyone.
They were overpowered. Each of them were fighting dozens of demons at once.
Tenn and Tegan stood back-to-back firing magic into the fleet of demons.
Think, Savannah, THINK. We have to get outta here.
Tegan needs a minute to open and close a portal without anything else hitchhiking back to Eden with us.
But it was impossible. There was no way Tegan could open a portal without taking the whole fight with us.
Think, Savannah, think!
The telltale sound of a rattle echoed against the trees. I sucked in a breath and stopped short. Rattlesnake. Where? Without moving my feet, I began scanning the ground, careful to look between the fallen leaves and dirt in case they were hiding.
The rattling grew louder and louder.
Astaroth emerged from between trees and leaned against the trunk of the nearest one. “How many rattler bites would it take, Darkling?”
I froze.
He wagged his pale brown eyebrows like this was a playful question, yet it was the wicked sparkle in those soulless black eyes that made my blood turn cold. “Shall we find out?” He flicked his wrist and a massive rattlesnake launched into the air headed straight for me.
Bright neon-blue mist coiled around the snake’s head. Frankie stepped out from between the trees with her sais gripped in each hand, pink magic coiling around their blades. She twirled her sais in her hands. “Shall we, indeed.”
“FRANKIE?!”
“FRANKIE!”
The Coven was shouting for her, but I didn’t dare look for them. The relief in their souls was palpable. Mei-Ling and Tai were both openly crying and holding their heads. Behind me, Auryn let out a broken sob which I did not understand at all. I hadn’t realized she and Frankie had gotten so close.
Asmodeus sighed with boredom, hooked his arm around Reuelle’s waist, and shot straight into the sky. They were out of sight in a split-second. I glanced behind me just as Azazel yanked Soneillon out from under the spirits attacking her and they flew off.
“You!” Astaroth growled, his beady black eyes seething. “Mammon was supposed to finish you.”
“Poor planning on his part,” she said with a cocky smirk. Her magic coiled around the rattlesnake’s head and crushed it into dust like candy in a pinata.
Without missing a beat, she thrust her sais forward and an ocean of neon-blue waves rolled through the forest. It was like watching a mudslide devastate a town in seconds.
The demons vanished the moment the blue tide hit them.
She twirled her sais around like she was drawing runes in the air.
Pink waves rolled over the blue ones, finishing off the straggling demons but also all of my spirits vanished.
I hadn’t released them, yet they’d gone to the other side.
“Is that all you’ve got, little witchling?” He threw his head back and laughed, clapping his hands.
Frankie arched one eyebrow and wiggled her thin fingers, sending a soft golden light across her body.
Her bright-pink hair turned a soft strawberry-blonde that fell in waves to her elbows.
Her skin tanned. Faint brown freckles speckled her cheekbones.
Massive white angel wings stretched from her back and flapped in the breeze.
Glowing, golden swirling lines covered every inch of her bare skin, even on her face.
Astaroth gasped and jerked back. His eyes widened. “No, you died—”
“Again, poor planning on her part.” Frankie grinned and flicked her wrist.
One of her pink waves coiled around Astaroth’s body. She gripped her magic like it was a rope and yanked it back toward her. Astaroth soared right at her. She took a single step, then caught him by the throat—her fingers slicing through his neck.
He reached up for her arm just as she pulled it back .
. . with her fingers wrapped around his spine, golden blood running like rivers down her arm to the dirt.
His eyes flashed for a moment, then his jaw dropped and a strangled gasp left his lips.
His fingers twitched, then his legs buckled beneath him and he collapsed face-down in the dirt.
Frankie used her bare foot to flip him onto his back and his limbs flopped around.
She leaned over and looked him directly in the eyes, then spoke in the angelic language before dropping his spine onto his chest. Golden blood splashed onto the white skirt of her dress.
Frankie’s pink flames covered every inch of his body until he was nothing but a pile of ash mixed into the leaves and dirt.
“What did she say?” Thiago whispered into the thick silence.
Tegan let out a soft, evil little chuckle. “Heaven sends her regards.”