Corson

Swinging upward, grim satisfaction filled me as I sliced the angel from groin to ribs. His entrails and blood splashed over the ground as I effectively ensured he wouldn’t be fucking anyone for a long time to come. The angel’s startled eyes met mine; I grinned at him as I lifted my talons into the air and casually flicked his blood at him.

The black blood sprayed across the angel’s face as he staggered back. His heel slipped over the edge, his momentum carrying him out of the tunnel before he could get his wings out.

Lopan and Magnus danced around the remaining angel as he swung his wings back and forth while stalking toward them. The two of them would have to hold him off as only River mattered right now.

My gaze went to her as Lucifer struck her. Her head lolled to the side, and blood streaked down from the broken skin at her temple. She tried to lift her head, but he hit her again and she went limp behind his wing. Rage filled me as I bounded toward them. Not only had he dared to hit my queen, but he’d also hurt my friend. I’d make him pay for that.

Hawk clawed at the floor as he tried to drag himself toward Lucifer. Blood coated his fingers and the floor. His head fell to the side to reveal part of his spine. Onoskelis lifted her sword to deliver the killing blow to Hawk at the same time that I launched onto Lucifer’s back, knocking him into Onoskelis.

The tip of her sword hit the rock with a clatter, but I also heard the thick, bloody sound of more flesh rending. I didn’t know if I’d thrown her off enough to prevent Hawk’s demise, and I didn’t have time to check.

I swiped my talons across the wing sticking awkwardly up from Lucifer’s back, shredding it. He yelled as the blood spouting from his wing coated my face and the ceiling. Onoskelis spun toward me, her sword whistling as it sliced through the air.

I threw my other hand up to stop her from decapitating me. Sparks flew as my talons, made of a substance harder and thicker than bone, clashed against the blade of her weapon. A screech filled the air as she slid her sword over my talons before lifting it away.

She screamed and gripped the sword with both hands. When she lifted it over her head to slice me straight down the middle, I swung my hand forward. My talons pierced through the flesh and bone of her chest as she swung her sword down. The blade cut into my wrist, nearly slicing my hand off.

Lucifer reeled backward and flung me off him. I had to use my good hand to grip my nearly severed one as my talons were torn free of Onoskelis. Landing on my ass, I bounced across the rock before leaping to my feet. Onoskelis stalked toward me.

“Enough, Onoskelis, forget the pitiful demon. We have to get out of here,” Lucifer spat. “We have her, and so we have him.”

I knew the him Lucifer referred to was not me, but Kobal. As long as Lucifer possessed River, there wasn’t anything Kobal wouldn’t do to get her back. I lunged at him again, but he spun toward me and thrust River’s limp form in front of him. My heart lurched when I nearly sank my talons into her chest before stopping myself in time. The ends of them cut into her shirt and scratched her skin as Lucifer edged her closer to me.

“Tsk, tsk, demon.” The hideous remains of Lucifer’s face twisted into what I assumed was a smirk. “You nearly killed your queen.”

Lucifer had killed my father and, in a way, taken the life of my mother. After my father’s death, she had been unable to face living without her Chosen. My entire life, I’d fought relentlessly by Kobal’s side, willing to do whatever it took to see Lucifer die, and he now held the one weapon that could turn Kobal against the quest for his throne.

Not only that, but whatever Lucifer planned for River couldn’t be good. Over my many years, there were few I’d truly considered a friend; River was one of them. Lucifer would abuse her, he would break her, and in breaking her, he would destroy Kobal. It would almost be best if I killed her now, but I couldn’t do that to Kobal, or her.

“Let her go,” I grated through my teeth as Lucifer continued to use River’s body to push me backward.

Behind me, Magnus released a shout that fell further away as it went on, and I realized he’d been knocked over the edge. Lopan would be little use against the remaining angel, and Hawk had collapsed onto the floor in a growing pool of his blood. I had no idea if he was demon enough yet to survive that amount of damage, or if his head was still attached at all.

“I think I’m going to keep her,” Lucifer replied and smirked at me. “She is my child after all.”

River’s head drooped forward. I lowered my hand, afraid something would happen that would cause me to run her through. Glancing behind me, I saw the other angel waiting at the end of the tunnel, grinning at me. Lopan was nowhere to be seen.

I calculated every move the angels made as I tried to plot a way out of this, with River. When Kobal sent me after her during the gargoyle attack, he made it my duty to protect her, and I would not fail in that duty now. Planting my feet, I leapt forward and grabbed for her arms at the same time as her head lifted.

Her eyes had become the pale violet color they turned when a vision took her over, and I realized she didn’t see me. Then, color flooded back into her eyes.

“Run!” she breathed when she focused on me. “Corson, run!”

Onoskelis hammered the butt of her sword into River’s temple, causing her to go limp again. The shadows behind Lucifer shifted and three more angels emerged. Running from danger was not something I did. I attacked it head-on, but I also didn’t have a death wish. Six to one odds didn’t work in my favor. I couldn’t get her away from Lucifer while he continued to use her as a shield, and I couldn’t free her from him if I was dead.

I still might have a shot of getting her back, if I could stop myself from plummeting out of here as the others had.

Mind made up, I turned and raced toward the angel blocking the end of the tunnel. Lowering my shoulder, I slammed into him, propelling us both toward the edge. I buried the talons on my good hand into the vulnerable flesh of his stomach. Lifting him, I carried him back three feet as his hands pounded against my bare shoulders. Arriving at the end of the tunnel, I flung him away from me and into the open.

Leaping out behind him, my feet kicked through the air as I spun to the side and threw myself toward the wall. The talons on my good hand sought to get some purchase as I slid down the wall. Stones tore away as the rough surface abraded my chest and my feet scrambled to dig in somewhere on the wall.

Finally, my talons found purchase on a shelf. I dangled over open air for a moment before I lifted my feet and set them on a rocky outcropping. I took a breath and glanced at the tunnel ten feet above my head before focusing on my wounded hand. The bleeding had stopped, muscle was repairing itself, but it remained almost useless. It didn’t matter, I could do this without it.

Bracing my feet against the wall, I started climbing by using my legs and one hand. I heard Lucifer and the others approaching the tunnel entrance as I became even with it. Moving faster, I scurried past the opening and rose above it. Settling myself on a ledge, I perched over the opening in preparation of leaping onto Lucifer’s back when he exited.

If I could tear River away from him, I could keep her sheltered from most of the impact when we hit the ground. It wasn’t the most solid of plans, but it was better than nothing.

A disturbance in the air snapped my head up seconds before a manticore descended on me. I’d been so focused on getting River that I hadn’t heard its approach. I leaned to the side, but it was too late. Its stinger pierced through my back and dug in until I felt the tip of it scraping against my spine.

The second I felt the burn of its paralyzing juice enter my body, my limbs went rigid and my heart stuttered a beat. The manticore’s tail remained buried in my back as it lifted me off the wall.