Chapter Seven
LILY
I shot awake at the sound of a piercing scream.
I instantly bolted to my feet, my breath caught in my throat.
Rathiel already stood next to me, just as alert, his eyes wide as he scanned our surroundings.
For a moment, it was so quiet that I wondered if I’d imagined the scream.
Maybe I’d dreamed it? But then why was Rathiel on guard as well? Or had he simply responded to me?
A second scream rent the air, confirming I hadn’t imagined anything.
Cursing under his breath, Rathiel instinctively reached for me. He snatched my waist, forced out his wings, then shot us up into the air. I barely had time to wrap my arms around his neck before we were airborne and racing toward the screams.
And right toward our camp.
We tore through the hot air, the smoky wind cutting past us in searing bursts. When a third scream reached us, my gut tightened and my heart pounded in my chest. I knew who was screaming, and every worst-case scenario ripped through my head.
Had Lucifer sent his forces? Had they found our camp?
It wouldn’t take a genius to find us—we were staying at our former rebellion base, for crying out loud.
Likely the stupidest thing we could have done.
Rathiel, Eliza, and I had been so careful to always keep on the move.
But once we’d joined with Calyx, Levi, Gorr, Mephisar, and Sable, we’d grown overconfident.
Were we paying for that cockiness now?
Another scream. Undeniably from Eliza.
I’d never heard her make such a sound before, but I knew it came from her. Dread slammed into me, and I gripped Rathiel harder, silently begging him to fly faster. We had to get there. I couldn’t lose her.
A deeper shout came next, immediately followed by a thunderous crack I couldn’t place. It almost sounded like a tree falling in the woods. Except, Hell didn’t have trees.
“Shit, shit, shit,” I whispered.
And why did this trip feel so much longer than when we’d left last night? Because that was just the way our brains worked. They loved to torture us.
Another flap of Rath’s wings, and the camp finally came into view.
Rathiel didn’t hesitate. He simply adjusted his position and angled downward. Fast. But before we could touch down, a shape came hurtling past us, sailing through the air like a broken ragdoll. Blond hair, silver sword in hand, and streaked in blood—Levi.
He struck a massive boulder just as our feet hit the ground. We landed hard, our boots sliding through soot and ash.
“Rath,” I whispered. “That was Levi…”
But before either of us could move, a piercing roar ripped my gaze from my friend and pulled it toward the center of camp—and the thing that stood in the middle of all the chaos.
Flames burned the ground, the bedrolls, our packs, our supplies. But I couldn’t focus on any of that, because standing there, amongst the ruins of the place we’d been trying to make our home, was a freaking dragon.
“Holy shit…” Rathiel breathed.
The beast was massive—at least two or maybe three times larger than Mephisar and Sable—and downright nightmarish.
It looked like a creature torn right out of the pages of a fantasy novel.
Its hide shimmered with blackened scales that reflected the blazing firelight.
Long, serrated horns curved back from its skull and met the armoured plates that ran down its spine and turned into spikes at its tail. And its eyes…
God, its eyes.
They burned. And not only with intelligence, but hunger and rage.
Of all the scenarios that had raced through my head, this…hadn’t even registered.
Another shout shattered the moment, and I finally moved. As awestruck as I was, I couldn’t stand around gawking. Not when my people needed me.
I slapped my hands against my hips, then cursed. Loudly.
Because my hips were devoid of any weapons.
Of course they were. Rathiel and I had left all our swords here at camp last night, mistakenly too caught up in each other to realize we’d left unarmed.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. This was Hell. There was no such thing as safe here.
We’d abandoned our friends to have sex, and now… .
Okay, wallowing would not solve anything. Now was not the time to speculate about our mistakes. Now was the time to kill this creature before it killed us.
“I’ll distract it!” I shouted to Rathiel above the sound of the dragon’s deafening roars. “You gather the others. If they can fight, great. If they’re injured, get them somewhere safe.”
“Lily—”
“Just go, Rath!” I yelled. Now wasn’t the time to stand around arguing.
I didn’t wait for his response. Instead, I raced toward the ginormous, winged lizard and pooled my hellfire in my hands. The dragon’s back was to me, and its head was down, giving me the perfect opportunity to attract the big bastard’s attention.
With a war cry worthy of a warrior, I unleashed my magic in a wave of blazing flames that raced through the air and blasted the dragon’s rear haunch. The blast connected with a fiery explosion, but the dragon barely reacted.
Right.
Because in the fantasy novels, dragons were always fireproof. I should have known better.
Alright—I needed to get its attention somehow. Keep it focused on me so Rathiel could find and gather the others. And fire clearly wasn’t the way to do it. Unless I planned my attack a little better.
Another massive fireball formed in my palm, but this time I changed my trajectory and aimed for the beast’s head. Specifically, its eyes. When the fire connected, the colossal lizard screamed, then whipped its head around and stared at me. It curled a lip, exposing fangs the size of me.
Yup, I nearly shat myself.
Weak bowels aside, I needed to suck it up and focus on that—
Wait. Was that blood on the dragon’s fangs?
I froze, my feet staggering to a stop.
Then I snapped a glance to the spot right in front of the dragon’s feet where a body lay crumpled in a heap. At the sight of the familiar figure, I stumbled a step closer. Then another. My heart pounded so loud, I couldn’t hear anything else.
Oh god, no.
No, no, no.
“Sable?” Her name fell from my lips in a guttural whisper.
The world narrowed down to her. My breath quickened, and my chest heaved.
Sable lay in front of the dragon, her belly split from tail to throat.
For a single moment, I just stared at her.
And then…anger surged, and I erupted.
Fire exploded out of me, flames coalescing my entire body.
I broke into a dead sprint, my power tearing through me like an inferno, fed by rage and grief.
With a furious scream, I raised one hand and unleashed every ounce of magic I possessed at the fucking dragon.
The flames burned so hot, the air shimmered, and the world turned white.
The second they hit the dragon, it unleashed a roar and this time whirled its whole body toward me.
“Come and get me, you bastard!” I screamed, tears streaking my cheeks.
Sable.
She was dead—I knew it. Blood soaked the ground surrounding her, and her unseeing eyes were fixed on the hellish sky above.
Her massive maw was slack, her tail and chest far too still.
No one survived evisceration. Not even down here.
And since she wasn’t a hellspawn, I couldn’t resurrect her.
But I would make the dragon suffer for what it’d done.
I would rip the scales from its fucking back.
Cleave its skull from its shoulders. Anything to cause it pain.
A shadow whisked overhead, and with a pained scream, Mephisar unleashed a jet of fire into the air. He snapped his jaws shut, changed his angle to aim himself at the dragon, then unleashed another stream of pure heat.
I gave myself a moment to revel in the relief of seeing him alive and well, then turned my rage and sadness back to the dragon. I unleashed myself on it. Flames poured out of me in a sizzling wall that struck the beast with enough force to send it stumbling backward, its wings flaring in surprise.
But I’d barely hurt it.
Fine. Time to recalibrate. If fire didn’t hurt its armoured exterior, then maybe I could find somewhere more vulnerable.
My eyes raked the creature, studying every inch of it, until I caught sight of its belly—sans plated armour.
Perfect.
This thing had killed Sable. My Sable. It seemed only fair I returned the favour.
I launched myself forward again, targeting the dragon.
I didn’t care that the creature was at the very least ten times my size.
Nor did I care that I didn’t have my swords, or that Rathiel and the others weren’t fighting at my side yet.
None of that mattered right now. I would become the weapon if that was what it took to bring this monster down.
I would make it regret ever drawing breath.
The dragon stood tall on all fours and flared its wings. It lashed its spiked tail toward me, the barbs slicing through the air. I dove low, dodging them, then ducked under the dragon’s limbs and flung a spear-shaped flame right at its belly.
This time, it screamed in pain, and the sound was like music to my ears. I rolled to my feet with a murderous, albeit triumphant, grin. Soft underbelly it was then.
Teeth snapped at the air next to my head.
I barely dodged in time. When I came up, power stirred within me.
It felt different than normal. Stronger.
More concentrated. I let the magic rush through me, expecting the usual flames to ignite in my palms. Instead, shadows gathered.
But this time, they poured out of my palms in two long, slick, barbed tendrils.
I stared at my hands, awestruck. Usually when I summoned my shadows, they came as a fog. This was new. But now wasn’t the time to question this new ability of mine—not when I still had a dragon to kill.