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maya tackled Taige. Cartwheeling in the air, they grappled, each desperate to get the upper hand. With the vial in one palm and a blade in the other, she was at a disadvantage. At best, she kept him at bay. At worst, he toyed with her. He knocked her about, landed glancing blows, not doing real damage. What was he waiting for?

“Ah. Reinforcements.” His scowl, a menacing slash splitting his face nearly into two halves.

She risked a glance to see a Reaper. A real life Reaper with a scythe a mile long. Her blood ran cold. Damn it! When were they ever gonna get a break? She didn’t know much, other than they weren’t of this world or the next. There were a separate, unique breed and impossible to kill, because—technically—they weren’t alive. How the hell could she defeat it?

Taige swooped in and grabbed her shirt. She buried her blade in his chest and twisted. It broke off at the hilt. He grabbed her hand before she could palm another one. Then she realized she had no more.

“What? What is he doing!” He focused on the battlefield, not Amaya.

Now was the time to strike. She brought the vial up, planning to shove it in his mouth and crush it with an uppercut to his jaw. The holy water would pour down his throat. No demon could survive that. He would die and his army would fall apart. All would be over and—

We can go home.

His fist slammed into her wrist. Her entire hand went numb. The vial slipped from her fingers and into Taige’s palm. “I can smell holy water a mile away.”

He whipped her around, her back to his front. She got a thimble of air and then not another sip because he’d wrapped his arm around her neck.

“Taige! Take me in her place. I’m the one you really want,” Malphas shouted.

“Thank you for reminding me you’re still alive. Right now, I’m having some alone time with Amaya.” Taige planted a sloppy kiss on her temple. “I wasn’t thirsty. Maybe you are.” He shoved the vial between her teeth and slammed his fist into her jaw. The glass shattered, shredded her tongue, cheek, and the roof of her mouth. Blood, holy water, and glass mingled. He freed her neck to use both hands to cover her mouth and nose.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to end. She’d led the UnHallowed to their death. Scarla, Sophie, and Dina too.

Taige yanked her head back. The slurry mixture of blood, holy water, saliva, and glass slid to the back of her throat. She gagged, her throat automatically convulsing, and then, with no other choice, she swallowed.

Agony. The glass cut into her esophagus. Blood filled her mouth and throat, choking her. She swallowed again, all the while clawing at the hands covering her mouth. Her throat kept filling. She kept swallowing.

Tears blurred her vision. She wanted to see Bane. One last time, please.

Abruptly, she stopped fighting. All the energy drained out of her and pooled in the pit of her stomach. She felt it there, churning, drawing ever tighter to a finite point, along with something else. At first, she didn’t know what, then warmth spread to every cell in her body, on the heel of that warmth one overpowering scent gave her hope.

She looked up, expecting to see him there, wings outstretched, empyreal blade leading the way, coming for her. Coming to take her with him. But there was only the sky, dotted with stars and a thin strip of purple on the horizon.

A charge zapped her atoms and a violent shudder ran through her. Her limbs twitched, tingled, and went numb. She hung limp in Taige’s arms.

He eased his hand away from her mouth and caressed her throat in a most gentle fashion. “Is it the holy water or the glass you find hard to digest?” Taige murmured all seductive in her ear. The goal was to kill her not screw her.

Another shudder was her answer. Her insides burned, also her skin, as if nitroglycerin had been injected into her veins along with a blow torch. Pain laced up her spine and slammed into her brain, where it ripped through her conscious layer and hooked into her subconscious. The protective shield she had over the place where Braile dwelled, shattered, and all that glorious essence surged like lava freed from a pressurized cavern.

Amaya’s stomach heaved, everything was on the way back up. She opened her mouth and—

Light streamed out. Pure, bright, white light shot out of her mouth and scorched everything it touched; Darklings, Spaun, and demons—vaporized. Not even ash remained. The scent that filled her nostrils was Braile. The celestial essence she’d absorbed in his burial chamber, the same celestial essence that fueled her transformation into an angel, shot out of her like water out of a firehose.

Amaya tried to control it, direct it, but not only was it uncontrollable, light spilled from her nose, ears and eyes. She could still hear, see, and breathe, but nothing else. She couldn’t even control her body. Trapped inside, she was a passenger on a runaway train. A train piloted by Braile.

He didn’t have form, only light. Bright, pure, all-encompassing light. It healed her from the inside out, every ache, every cut, and bruise, even as it swept over the field, killing all. Not with rage, but with the cold, resolute determination he’d always shown.

Nothing withstood the onslaught. Not Darklings. Not Spaun. Not all the other multitude of demons gathered. Taige’s demon army climbed over each other trying to escape. A Spaun opened a dimensional pocket. It exploded when Amaya’s light passed over it. More formed. They were getting away, until the light rotated in their direction. She was a deadly demon killing beacon, burning as brightly as the sun.

She choked on a broken cry from the unbridled joy. Braile, he’d saved her. He’d saved them all.

Her arms flung wide. Now, she screamed because the light was an inferno. It punched through her bones, muscles, and skin, gathered in her pores to stream through every part of her in an all-encompassing wave. Her clothes melted so nothing would impede Braile’s celestial essence. Naked, she hovered in the sky, a star gone supernova.

Taige’s demon legion roasted under her brilliant onslaught. She rejoiced, uttered a silent thank you. Then she rotated one hundred and eighty degrees.

Amaya tried to stop, fought with all her might, even tried to latch on and draw it back into her, but nothing she did halted the light from landing on the UnHallowed.