Chapter 23
Dazed, I looked at Sam. “What happened?”
Something warm and soft covered me. A hand touched my cheek.
“Azra?”
He helped me look at him and the stark terror in his gaze tore bloody holes into my heart. “What happened?” I asked again.
“Lucifer ripped your wing off. You…” He swallowed and looked past me, eyes closing. Finally, he met my gaze again. “You’re bleeding out. It’s not just blood, but your power.”
That sounded… bad. Like really bad.
Lucifer was going to win.
I’d failed.
A hand stroked my hair. It was such a tender touch, considering who it was that stood behind me. Closing my eyes, I whispered his name. “Cole.”
“Hold on, Lilith.” His voice was rough. If it had been any one of my other mates, I would have thought perhaps that it was emotion making it sound that way. But would a demon of rage feel… upset over something like this?
Almost as if in answer, I heard Lucifer’s voice. “How touching, my dear, sweet little brother.”
Cole stroked my hair once more and I forced my lids to open so I could see him. But he wasn’t looking at me. He stared at Sam. “Stay with her.”
Sam replied, but I didn’t hear him. The blood roaring in my ears was too loud. Or maybe it was the bloody, red haze of fury pulsing in the back of my head. It felt of Cole. It tasted of him.
“Cole?” The whisper came out weak. I hated the sound of it.
“He’s…” Sam hesitated.
“He’s what?” I demanded.
“He’s gone to face Lucifer,” Sam said, the words coming slowly.
I struggled in his arms, the pain almost making me black out.
“Be still,” Sam demanded. “You’re…”
The hot, incessant flow at my back continued and I laughed brokenly. “I’m…what, bleeding?”
The tight expression on Sam’s face told me that he hadn’t been about to say anything about the blood—no, he’d bitten back a comment about something much, much worse. “This won’t be the first time I’ve died, Sam. Turn around and let me see what’s going on. If Cole is brave enough…”
The rest of the words caught in my throat and I couldn’t say them.
But he understood.
As we turned, I caught sight of Azra lunging into the air, his wings pumping in powerful strokes as he intercepted a Demonspawn racing for us. He moved so fast, it was like trying to track lightning with my eyes. It wasn’t possible.
The sound of humans and recently transformed dying screams was the soundtrack as Cole walked toward his brother.
The air all sang with tension and power and Lucifer called on the power he’d gained from the chaos and battle.
I didn’t have to ask to know what he was doing with that extra power. I knew.
My ears popped as shadows gathered around Lucifer. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end and I felt a chill that wasn’t simply from the blood and power still oozing from my injured back.
“Calamity,” I whispered.
Sam went to his knees, cradling me against his chest with one arm. A moment later, he pressed something soft to my back and murmured soothingly as I cried out. The pain was obscene and tears burned my eyes.
“I’m trying to stop the bleeding, Lily.” Sam’s voice was ragged with regret and misery.
I didn’t answer and instead focused on staying conscious as Cole came to a stop less than ten feet from Lucifer.
If the vortex of power circling around Lucifer concerned him, he didn’t show it.
He looked proud and arrogant and dangerous, wings spread wide and arms crossed over his chest as he looked his brother up and down.
He was going to sacrifice himself for me. I could feel it in my bones.
“Join me,” Lucifer said in a silken, seductive voice. “Your pet won’t live through the night. But if you join me, perhaps I’ll save her. You can keep her as a toy.”
“I’m not as fond of toys as you are, Luc.” Cole sounded bored. “And I prefer my women willing, not controlled by magic or otherwise chained.”
“All the witches you’ve killed in your life and now you’re going to start splitting hairs?” Lucifer laughed mockingly. “You’re letting that female weaken you. Join me, Cole. This isn’t who you’re meant to be.”
If Cole responded, I didn’t hear it. My vision was getting fuzzy. I was cold. Too cold.
“Hang on, Lily,” Sam demanded, shaking my arm. “Did you hear me?”
“I’m trying.” My tongue felt thick. It was getting harder to speak.
“Hang on, Lily.”
Why did they keep saying that? It was over. I’d failed.
I just wanted to close my eyes and sleep and forget my failures.
The earth shook and the tainted power of Calamity exploded out of Lucifer in a shockwave, full of power.
“Turn to me, brother!” Lucifer shouted, unleashing all of Calamity in his arrogance that no one could stand in his way.
By the look on Cole’s face, that had been his plan, the only one he saw working.
“Now, angel,” Cole demanded, his words harsh and raw. “Take my demonic power!”
That was it. Lucifer had infected Cole with a large portion of Calamity and the power he’d accrued today, arrogantly thinking he would win.
But if Cole wasn’t a demon anymore, he wouldn’t be able to contain it and Calamity would scatter throughout the realms.
Cole suspended in the air, his face a rictus of pain as he took the brunt of the powerful force, spine bowed. A bellow tore free from his throat. My ears were still ringing from the magical shockwave and I couldn’t hear him screaming, but I felt it, just as I felt Lucifer’s cold amusement.
Azra touched my brow and then turned, to his brother. “Sorry, Sam. I’ll be borrowing this.” He grabbed his blade, then lunged into the air toward Cole.
In a blur of movement, he struck, slicing through one wing, then the other.
The only way to remove a demon’s or angel’s powers.
Take their wings.
Cole collapsed just as Lucifer went to his knees, a berserker’s war cry tearing out of him.