Chapter 38 Samkiel
SAMKIEL
I was bloody, torn, and beaten. Groaning, I popped my shoulder back in place, my ego as bruised as my body.
The building he’d tossed me through crumbled, and dust filled my lungs.
This wasn’t the first time I’d pulled myself out of rubble, but it was only arousing when Dianna was the cause.
Him? I wanted to slaughter him. I took a small breath and counted the heartbeats pounding steadily a few feet from me, hoping to calm my raging one.
Claw marks raked across my armor. He was powerful enough that he hadn’t just marked it, but torn into it. I was fucked and not because he could best me, but because as long as he had Dianna’s body, I could not hurt him.
“It’s been eons since I’ve had a foe as durable as you.” Gathrriel laughed. “I enjoy you, Samkiel.”
“Yeah,” I said, “I get that a lot.”
I watched him, standing still to give my body time to heal as he paced before me. My mind worked feverishly, trying to figure out what else I could do to help Dianna break through his control. Gathrriel lunged, and I barely had time to block his punch, my forearm radiating with pain.
“You insult me. All you are doing is defending.” He sneered. “Why is that? Why won’t you attack? Fight me, challenge me.”
I ignored his taunts. “You are a few centuries too late if you hope to punish those responsible for your loss, Gathrriel. The gods are long dead. I am the last.”
“So you say, Samkiel. But you are a hardened warrior, well-versed in battle skills, yet you did not attack when I left my flank exposed.” His face grew angry. “Why? Why do you not fight back? Have you grown so weary of life, so-called god king, that you wish for me to end it?”
“To be quite frank, I may have taken you up on the offer before her,” I said, wiping the dirt from the side of my face. “But I have someone to live for now, someone I love very dearly and whom I wish to protect.”
“I did too.” He sneered in agitation and tried to step forward, but he almost fell when his right back leg refused to move.
He looked back, but there was no obvious obstacle, no piece of broken building to trip over or crack to trap his foot.
But regardless of how he tried, he could not get that leg to move.
I chuckled, so damn proud of her. “I think she wants her body back.”
Gathrriel growled at his stuck foot, both hands reaching as if to pull it back to himself. “How are you able to fight?” He all but bellowed. “I have sealed you.”
The corner of my lip rose as I took a step toward him. “You, like so many others before, underestimate just how strong my Dianna is. It will be your undoing.”
Eyes of molten lava leveled me as his wing shot out and sliced across my abdomen.
I grunted at the impact, but it was the heated liquid that gushed from the wound that had me stumbling back.
Fuck, too cocky. I went to one knee and glared back at Gathrriel.
That shot had cost us both. He stood with the use of both legs, Dianna no longer having a hold over him.
My wound had distracted her so much that she’d lost the hold she had on him. Double fuck.
Gathrriel walked toward me, stopping in front of me.
His eyes dilated as he lifted his head and drew in a deep lungful of air, taking a deep whiff of my blood.
“It’s been so long since I fed on a god.
” His hand snapped out, grabbing my throat and forcing me to my feet, my face inches from his.
“Know that your blood will fuel me to end the rest of your line. Your life has a purpose, warrior king. Die nobly.”
His hands ripped the pauldron from my armor with ease, exposing my throat.
His head reared back, and he opened his mouth wide.
He struck, his long, thick, sharp fangs ripping into me.
I screamed, pain ricocheting through my body as he fed.
Pushing against him, I fought to free myself from his hold, but failed.
I knew I was going to die here, but what choice did I have?
If I hurt her, it would kill me, too. My arms went weak, and my legs followed as he took and took.
I blinked, struggling to remain conscious.
A raven’s caw came from my right, and I looked over at a black bird sitting atop a broken chimney.
Opaque, dead eyes stared at me accusingly, calling me a fool.
Perhaps I was. With my demise once again so close, my only thought was and would be her.
I wished we had a different life together, a less brutal and violent one.
Where our days weren’t filled with nothing but battle and thoughts of survival.
Instead, I wanted peace, family, adventures, and thoughts of us.
I’d wanted so badly to win this war so that I could give that life to her.
I would have sweated, bled, and fought for it.
Perhaps if we could not have it here, we would have it in another life.
I had no doubt that I would find her again.
I pushed against our bond, hoping to reach the parts of her mind that were still hers, my wife, my akrai. “Dianna, I’m sorry, but I cannot fight him. I cannot hurt you, but I swear to find you in another life. If it takes another thousand years or more, I’ll wait. I swear it.”
Gathrriel yanked his head back, my blood coating his chin.
His hands were still wrapped around my collar, and he heaved me up.
My vision was blurry, but I could still see the look of pure astonishment and wonder on his face.
It was almost glee. “Your blood, your power …” he said in a near whisper.
“Are you aware of the darkness beyond your flesh? It’s a pity I have to snuff it out.
I fear you’d have no rival if you had an inkling. ”
“Go … fuck yourself.”
“I don’t know what that means, but I’ll take it as an insult.
” His smile faded, and he dropped me to the floor in an act of pure disgust. My vision blurred, and I didn’t have the strength even to attempt to stand.
All I could do was lie there and watch him as he wiped a hand across the back of his mouth and licked his sharp gauntlet clean.
I could feel the heat of the blood leaking from my neck, darkness edging out my sight.
I blinked and groaned, struggling back to consciousness.
“When you visit your Valley of Kings, warn them to make room at their golden table for the others I shall send soon.” Gathrriel smiled and raised his hand, the talons bloodied and sharp.
The spikes along his wrist were strong enough to rip my heart to shreds, and I know that’s what he intended to do.
He was too fast, too big, and too strong.
I closed my eyes, whispering to Dianna through our bond.
I knew she couldn’t hear me, but my last words were hers.
“I love you, akrai.”
One second, then another passed. With massive effort, I lifted my eyelids to see his claws hovering just above my chest plate. His eyes were wide, and his arm, while trembling, seemed frozen in midair. His other hand was clamped around his wrist, trying to force it down.
“What is this? What have you done?”
I knew he wasn’t talking to me. He was talking to Dianna.
I blinked as his eyes looked at me, and for the first time since this battle started, they widened in fear.
A torrent of flames erupted from Gathrriel, and all I could see of him was his screaming silhouette.
His yell was one of rage and pain as that fire ate and ate.
I covered my eyes, the light bright and intense as he burned.
As quickly as it started, it was over. The flames receded, and as the smoke cleared, Dianna fell forward.
I sat up, the pain in my body non-existent as I caught her limp, sleeping form in my arms. Soot covered her face and hair, but none touched my goddess, my queen of flame.
Reggie had been right.
She hadn’t just gotten rid of Gathrriel. She’d burned him out.