I don’t know why I wasn’t expecting the demon to launch an attack, but he totally caught me off guard. Maybe that was his plan the whole time. Drop the bomb about being Nephilim, distract me with that information, and then take us all out before we even knew what hit us. Of course, the others were prepared. Uriel got off a shot of his arrow before the horse could slam right into my body. It stopped short, neighing in pain. Wings ripped out of the back of the demon. A pair of pitch black wings that spanned out behind him. He rose off his horse as his wings beat heavily against the air, lifting high into the sky, pulling his sword from his sheath. It glinted against the light of the moon, and the demon’s smile stretched into a wide, evil grin.

“Nice try,” he called down to us. “But you’ll have to do a lot better than that to keep your heads on your bodies.”

Okay, time to get myself together. I needed to focus on the fight at hand, not on the fact that this demon, the one with wings, was just like me. The one who killed. The one who ate bodies. The one who rode around with severed heads hanging from his waist.

I wasn’t like him. Just because he was evil, didn’t mean I was, too. Right?

“Get it together, Erela,” Uriel said with a hiss from behind me. He inched closer, his eyes focused on the demon soaring around in circles above us. In the background, I heard the unmistakable whoosh of arrows as Ramiel and Sam lobbed their own attacks at the demon. Attacks that missed, the arrows falling back to the ground and sinking deep into the earth. “I know you’re caught off guard by what he said. Just ignore it for now, okay? You know he did this on purpose. You know he understood the reaction he would get. You cannot let him get to you. You’re stronger than that.”

But was I? I turned to glance over my shoulder and met Uriel’s eyes. There was so much conviction in them, so much faith, so much trust. If he could believe in me, maybe I could, too.

With a shuddering breath, I turned my attention back toward the demon soaring above us. He started to descend again, so quickly that it was impossible to follow his movements. He raised his sword high, hurtling straight toward Rourke. The human. Of course he would take the weakest of us out first, picking us off until there was nothing left but the strongest. The strongest, who he could fight one on one.

I glanced at Ramiel, and we exchanged a look, understanding passing between us as he dropped his bow to the ground, pulling the sword out of his sheath. Together, we both charged in Rourke’s direction, our weapons raised high before us. Lilith spotted our charge, and she grabbed Rourke shoulders, pulling him back just as the demon slammed into the ground. Black dust rose up in a thick cloud all around us. Ramiel and I reached the demon together, but it was impossible to see each other through the dust. Not only that, but it was impossible to see the demon, too.

I swung my blade blindly, wishing and hoping that it would find its mark. There was nothing there other than air.

“Erela,” Lizzie screamed from somewhere in the distance. I stumbled out of the fog, blinking in the direction of Lizzie’s shouts. Somehow, the demon had gone from here to there, and he had one arm twisted around Lizzie’s neck. His sword was only inches away from slicing her in half. Isaac was standing just off to the side, his entire body trembling as he tried and failed to keep a heavy sword raised up before him. He had not been out of Celestia long enough to be able to fight against this demon. My heart hammered hard. If I didn’t do something, and fast, both of them would die.

“None of you come any closer,” the demon said. All of us slowed our steps, our bodies going still as we stared at where the demon had Lizzie trapped.

“Let her go,” I said, my voice trembling. “Killing her like this is a mistake. The second you do it, all our arrows will pierce right into you.” I waved behind me, hoping that I hadn’t made a mistake in suggesting that my fellow Fallen were equipped with arrows, ones they’d aimed right at the demon. “We’re at close range, and you aren’t flying around. They won’t miss the mark. Not with all of their training.”

The demon sneered. “You are trespassers on my land, and I demand payment. Payment in the form of death. I will not let you go until I get it.”

“Then, kill me instead.” My voice trembled, but I didn’t hesitate to speak the sacrifice aloud. The words of the prophecy rang in my ear. Maybe it had been half-right and half-wrong. Maybe the words had been translated incorrectly. Maybe I would die saving someone I loved, after all. Maybe someone I loved as a friend, as a sister.

The demon’s grin widened, and his grip on Lizzie loosened. “I have never tasted Nephilim blood. I accept that trade.”

“Erela, no,” Az, Ramiel, and Sam all said as one. But there was no stopping me. I was already by the demon’s side before any of them could grab my arms to pull me back. With a light cackle, the demon let go of Lizzie and pushed her forward. For a moment, she faltered, her eyes wide, her head shaking slowly back and forth.

“Erela. Please don’t do this,” she whispered.

But I had already made up my mind. Because I had an idea.

When the demon greedily grabbed my arms, I closed my eyes and called to the fire inside of me. My anger, pain, and rage boiled through me, heating up my body from the inside out. I calmed my heart, slowed my breathing, let the full intensity of my power wash over me. My insides burned.

And then so did my outsides. I didn’t have to open my eyes to know that flames had now consumed every inch of my skin, burning my clothes to a crisp. Burning the hands that held tight to my arms. The demon let out a shriek, and his grip on me fell away. Without another word, I ducked low to the ground.

Arrows whooshed through the air and punched right into the demon’s body.