Chapter 24
“Lily!”
Kaito.
He was here.
A warm hand touched my cheek, then patted it.
“Don’t you dare die on us again,” the voice said, full of rage and pain. “Look at me.”
I blinked my eyes in an effort to obey him. “It’s easier this time,” I told Kaito. “Dying.”
The irony wasn’t lost on me. Cole had been responsible for my first death.
Now, he would join me in an effort to save me.
He rested out of reach, limp and wingless, the two massive appendages splayed out like a bloody tapestry on the stones.
Lucifer gripped his chest and bared his teeth, as if angry with his dying brother.
What did he feel, I wonder?
Remorse? Frustration?
I had the feeling that he could have killed us all a long time ago, but that wasn’t Lucifer’s goal.
If everyone died, who would there be to rule?
He backed away, his surviving humans crowding protectively around him.
“Take me home,” Lucifer said, leaning onto them.
“Yes, your majesty,” the human replied as they ventured away.
I was too weak to stop them. Too weak to rip his heart from his chest like he deserved.
Instead, my gaze fell on Cole, transfixed by his sacrifice.
Cole’s efforts had cost him. We had fought hard, determined to take his brother down with us.
Freya was dead.
The power generated by the suffering humans had been scattered along with Calamity throughout the realms.
Kaito grabbed my chin and bent closer. “You’re not dying.”
I didn’t believe him.
“Cole?” I turned my head, wanting to hear his voice before I died. He looked… wrong.
“Be quiet, little angel,” he said from his place on the ground, not even looking at me. His eyes were on Kaito. “You have to do it now, demon, or it’ll be too late.”
Cole spoke to Kaito as if they shared a kinship, an understanding that no one else could realize.
The hard look on Kaito’s face echoed the darkness I felt from my demon side, one where sacrifice wasn’t natural, one where demons weren’t supposed to love.
But what Cole had done had been completely selfless.
Then, before anybody said anything and before I could ask what they were talking about, Azra grabbed me by the shoulders and hauled me to him.
The movement sent rivers of agony pouring through me and I screamed.
Adrenaline poured through my veins and I scrambled against Azra’s brutal grip, struggling to break free.
Behind me, I felt Kaito working, the pain destroying my ability to think, robbing me of anything but the weak screams.
Something on my back twisted.
And then the pain was gone as if it had never existed in the first place.
Azra’s hands loosened and he nudged me onto my back, stroking his hands down my arms.
I went to push him away—
And he flew back several feet.
I was upright before I could process what I’d just done, hovering in the air ten feet off the ground in the next, the pain gone. “What did you…”
Slowly, I looked over my shoulder as I willed myself to drift back down to the ground.
Something about the wing felt different.
Very different.
I didn’t even have to focus to lighten my body for flight. Now, it felt as if the powers of Heaven and Hell bended to my will, merging within me in perfect harmony.
I brought the edges of my wings over my shoulders, my eyes going wide.
One had silky black feathers.
The other had familiar leather and deadly talons decorating the arch.
Taking in the bat-like appendage, I swallowed, then looked back at Cole. He was only now sitting up. A coughing fit seized him, black blood escaping before he was able to cover his mouth with a fist.
“Your wings,” I whispered to him. “Did Lucifer…”
“No.” Azra stood close to Cole, his eyes on the fallen rage demon. “I did. Cole told me to do it after Lucifer slammed the power of Calamity into him.”
“No,” I whispered. Dropping to the ground, I ran to my demon. On my knees, I touched his cheek. “Cole?”
“Don’t worry about me,” he said, sounding tired. “I’ll survive. Lucifer…” He paused, dragging in gulps of air. “He’s weak now. Where is he?”
“With his humans,” I growled, staggering forward. “I’m going to kill him.”
“No, Koneko-chan.” Kaito pushed in front of me, his hands gripping my upper arms.
“Let me go.” Glaring at him, I tried to tear away but his strength easily matched mine and the silver of his eyes flared brighter as his emotions spiked.
“No,” he said again, hands tightening. “He has too many people around him—they’re all just cannon fodder and he’ll throw them at us one after the other. They worship him now and they’ll just keep dying for him. This isn’t the time to face him. We need to regroup.”
“When is the time?” I demanded, fury making my voice strident. “When? After he finally kills my other mates? When he takes over another realm and enslaves more people like he has here? He won!”
“Not completely,” Kaito said, his tone gentle.
He reached up and stroked my cheek. “You were right about Cole. We did need him. Nobody else could have survived having that much of Calamity’s power slammed into them, but he did.
Then the twins… they cut off his wings with a blade only an angel can wield, which weakened Cole, yes, but it also dispersed Calamity’s effects. That weakened Lucifer.”
“Cole…” I blinked and pushed through the fog of anger. “His wings…”
Instinctively, I spread the wings at my back and looked over my shoulder at the donor wing—I wasn’t sure what else to call it. Urgency gripped me, penetrating the anger and I spun away, running toward Cole.
He sat upright, but it looked like that might change at any given moment. His eyes flicked toward me as I fell to my knees in front of him, my hands cupping his face. “Cole…”
Blood stained his lips, his lower face. I ripped at the hem of my shirt, tearing a strip off, then used the makeshift rag to wipe away the black ichor. His eyes flicked up to meet mine and he offered a tired smile. “You held on.”
“Your wings,” I murmured. He was in pain, horrible pain. I could feel it. “What did you do?”
“What was necessary.” He struggled to his feet as the wounds at his back closed, leaving nasty scars. “You were dying. We cannot defeat Calamity without our Champion. Now… I have bought us the time we need.”
“Time…? For what?” I demanded.
“We can plan. We can try to see if we can help your other mates.” The sardonic twist of his lips held little humor as he pushed to his feet. “Hopefully they won’t be as eager to spill my blood as your angel.”
“You gave me permission,” Azra said, an unrepentant smile on his face. “And I was happy to provide the needed service.”
In the distance, voices rose.
Kaito moved to stand closer to Cole, gripping his upper arm. Cole didn’t look impressed, but he didn’t pull away.
“We should go,” Kaito said as the angels moved in closer. “Most of the students are already retreating back to the Academy. We need to do the same.”
Regroup.
Heal.
Plan… Again.
Kaito’s gaze slid to mine and he arched a brow.
“Yeah.” I looked back at the retreating sea of bodies, Lucifer still hidden by the masses. “Lucifer didn’t win this round.” And he wasn’t going to win the war, if I had my way.
I turned, flaring my wings.
One with midnight feathers.
Another with leathery skin and deadly talons.
Evil and Light mixed inside my soul, an effect taking hold that would change me forever.
It wasn’t quite a victory, not when my mates were still lost.
I will find you, I vowed, walking as I ran my fingers over my mates who had fought Lucifer with me.
I would bring them all together, and when we faced Lucifer again, we would end this.
We would win the fight against Calamity.