I stood at the edge of the arena and couldn’t help but think back to that first time I’d walked into this place. It hadn’t been so long ago and yet it felt like ages. I was older, some might say wiser, but I felt a bit like the girl who’d stood at the edge of the sandy arena floor wondering if she would live to see the next day.

Of course, I found it interesting that this time the aisles weren’t filled with wolves and deer. This time I was being watched by Heaven and Hell.

It was easy to pick them out. The angels were the ones who sat in perfect silence, their odd silvery eyes shining in the low light. They each wore white, and I wondered if this wasn’t a part of the ritual for them. I picked out Felicity from the silent crowd. She sat next to Oliver, her hand in his. He looked paler than before and I wondered what being parted from his sword was doing to him.

The demons, on the other hand, weren’t silent at all. And they wore no uniform. They were here in their natural forms. For some that meant almost human looking. I picked out Gray’s father in a tailored business suit. He was with a group of men who looked an awful lot like him. Power suits and serious expressions. I assume they were some of Hell’s heavy hitters because they could hold their human forms naturally, a rule Donovan had put in place for any demon attending this ritual battle. So we had a nicely dressed portion of the contingent. For others, well, I was glad I didn’t have to be the one to clean up because some of them oozed slime.

I caught sight of Nemcox. I knew it was him because he was staring directly at me, his black eyes watching. When he wasn’t possessing a human body, he was a medium-sized, red-skinned devil, as I liked to call them. Demons come in many shapes and forms, but Nemcox was mostly human, if one forgave the cloven hooves, red demon skin, and flowing horns. He was the classic demon and I couldn’t help but wonder how many like him I would be surrounded by if I was forced to descend.

“Don’t pay attention to him,” Donovan said, coming to stand beside me. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t interfere. None of them will, demon or angel. Focus on killing the betrayer and I’ll take care of everything else.”

I wasn’t sure what else he intended to take care of. As far as I knew if I killed Jude, everything would be all right, but it didn’t matter because the clock chimed midnight and it was time.

Liv stood in the center of the arena, a book in her hand. She wore a white gown that made her look somewhat like our angelic audience. Her auburn hair was piled high in an elegant bun as she said a bunch of stuff in Latin. Naturally I understood none of it, so I gazed up into the crowd again. I was looking for their faces because I so needed to see them again, to know that they were here with me.

Trent and Gray sat in the royal section below the angels. The royal trio had a box with the best view, and they kept their Council friends close around them. Trent and Gray were seated next to the queen and Devinshea, with Jamie on Gray’s other side. My uncle was there with his wife. The academics were all together in a row, but I saw the moment Marcus realized I had stepped out into the arena.

He nodded my way, his smile genuinely warm, and though I couldn’t hear him I saw him mouth the word. Bella.

And I said good-bye silently, understanding that our connection was gone forever but our friendship might remain. I’d needed the sexual connection with Marcus in the beginning, but now I had another bond, a tighter one that I would need for the rest of my perhaps short life.

There was a crack and a wave of energy went through the arena, and I felt the ground tremble beneath me. Liv took a step back as the world seemed filled with light.

Donovan cursed as a blinding white light flashed through the arena. I glanced up and saw the king’s skin smoke and char.

It dimmed almost immediately and two winged angels stood in front of Liv. They were both male, their wings gloriously white and spread in a show of power and grace and beauty. All around me the crowd was whispering.

I watched as Donovan’s skin began to heal.

“Fucking angels.” He started toward the center of the arena.

I followed, Gladys humming in my hand. She hadn’t done anything special and I was sincerely hoping she was waiting for the main event to start to unveil her secret abilities. Whatever they were.

The whole place had gone quiet, even the demons seeming to realize this was serious shit. I stuck close to the king, watching the two angels ahead of me.

Jude the Betrayer looked perfectly pouty. I have to admit in some ways he reminded me of a teen pop star with his floppy hair and dreamy, youthful face, and now he looked even more teen-idol like because he had that air of complete ennui, the-world-is-so-boring look on his face.

The second angel didn’t look bored at all. He was taller than Jude, his broad body masculine and strong. His hair was dark, his eyes finding mine, and I swear I saw a flare of recognition there. I didn’t know the man, had definitely not met this angel before, but I would have sworn he knew me.

Jude looked around the arena. “Who thinks to call me to this lesser plane?”

Liv stood there, looking at the two heavenly beings she’d summoned. She’d gone a nice shade of white. I had to poke her to get her to talk. “Me. I mean, it was I.”

I frowned her way because there was a whole lot of ritual that was supposed to happen here.

Liv nodded and stood up straighter. “I, Olivia Carey, a witch of the Earth plane, have called this trial by combat in the name of the king of the Earth plane and all its creatures. Our plane has been defiled. I demand that Jude the Faithful meet our champion and that justice be served. May I know the archangel’s name?”

By calling Jude to a trial by combat, we got an archangel, too. One of the seven archangels would come and serve as witness, ensuring no funny business went on. I was sure he would have some long-winded description of his job, but I rather thought he was there to make sure no one cheated.

The gorgeous, shining man bowed, a courtly gesture. “I am Raphael and I am at your service.” He reached out and his fingers brushed over the burnished gold medallion that marked Liv as working for the angels and imbued her with the magic to power her spell. “And I see Felicity has invested you with this power.”

He turned toward the crowd as though he could feel her presence.

Felicity stood.

“You have heard the evidence, Felicity Delictio? This is your will?” Raphael asked, his voice low, and yet somehow I was certain everyone in the arena could hear it.

“It is our will, Raphael.” She reached down and clutched her brother’s hand. “I accuse Jude the Faithful of seeking to disrupt the balance on the Earth plane. He stole our brother’s sword and caused him imbalance as well.”

Angels are serious about balance.

Raphael turned to Jude. “And do you wish to answer this accusation?”

Jude bent his head slightly. “I seek purpose for our plane. The king of the Earth plane has pushed them almost to the brink of war. Soon there will be no way to keep our father’s favored humans from knowing the truth of our worlds. It is our appointed time, Raphael, and I am not the only one who believes this. Yes, I used the demons and the earth creatures to further my own agenda, which is to bring our kind into our proper place—dominion over the lesser planes. They are corrupt and require correction.”

“Oh, my brother, they are not the only ones who are corrupt.” Raphael reached out and touched Jude’s chin, bringing it up so their eyes met. “You seek to bring about something that only our father can. Armageddon is his, and he will choose the day and the hour of his dominion. His. Not yours. Not ours. I am going to allow this trial and his will shall be done.”

A savage smile lit Jude’s face. “It shall, brother.”

I’m going to be honest here. That smile freaked me out. Like nearly wet my pants freak me out. It was all there in his face. He was going to rip me apart and he would enjoy it. My death would be his righteous triumph. My blood would prove him right.

Raphael turned to Liv. “I assume our Felicity has apprised you of the rules. Who possesses a sword forged on the Heaven plane? Who will be your champion?”

Liv stepped back, giving up her place to Donovan.

“I am the King of all Vampire and this is my Nex Apparatus. Kelsey Owens possesses a proper sword. The Sword of Light.” Donovan put a hand on my shoulder. “She is the champion of the Earth plane and we invest our future in her.”

No pressure or anything.

Raphael turned those endless eyes on me. He looked down at the sword and held out a hand.

I frowned and tightened my grip.

“Kelsey.” Donovan managed to make my name sound like an admonition.

But luckily the archangel chuckled, a smile creasing his face. “I’m not offended, King Daniel. She is descended from a long line of warriors and they would not be parted with their weapons either. Come, child, and allow me to inspect the sword. I promise not to disappear with her. It has been many years since I was in her presence.”

It was the way he called Gladys her that made me hand her over. “You can look at her, but she’s mine.”

“Yes, your kind can be possessive, too.” He held the sword in his hand and sighed as though the contact was something pleasant to him. “Yes, I haven’t seen her since my brother gifted it to the tribe on the banks of the Thermodon. Such a beauty of a weapon, and she holds so much power for one who can wield her.” He glanced back at Jude. “You can call this trial off. You can apologize and attempt to make reparations. I will grant you mercy if you admit to your mistakes.”

Jude’s shoulders were straight, his wings relaxed as he spoke. “Apologize to these creatures? Never. They are beneath us, brother. I was not created before Jacob, the prophet who handed the sword over to the warrior women, but I know this one cannot wield it properly. She might have come from that line, but they’re all mongrels now. There is no purity on this plane. They fight and war with each other over scraps. They don’t even remember who they were. The queen sits in the audience, submitting to her king and never understanding who she is. This one…oh, I can’t tell you how pathetic this one is. You think you’re being kind by allowing their existence, but I feel them. I feel their hopelessness and their pain. I feel hers. Putting her down will be a mercy as our father once showed this plane mercy by flooding it and allowing them all to begin again.”

Raphael sighed and passed Gladys back to me. “Brother, you know nothing. Their impurities, as you call them, are exactly why our father adores them. They’re nothing without their struggles. Their pain builds them into something new and different, something that pleases our father and inspires the best of us. You were made to bring them hope, to give them strength when they have none.”

“They never have strength,” Jude insisted.

“You’re about to see mine.” I gripped Gladys, ready to get on with it.

Jude turned to me, his eyes silvery and shining. So alien to me. “You think I haven’t seen you, child? You think I haven’t watched you every day of your life? I’ve seen you at your best and it wasn’t impressive. Every bit of strength you have has come from someone else.”

From Marcus. From Gray and Trent. I glanced up and saw Felicity still standing there. She’d told me some truths and they’d sunken deep inside me. “Yes, I’ve used the tools I was given and I made something of them.”

“You’ve made nothing but a whore of yourself,” Jude said, and oddly, the words didn’t seem unkind. It was as though he was simply pointing out some inescapable truth. “You kill and fornicate and eat and drink. You have no thoughts to higher purposes.”

Raphael held up a hand. “You’ve made your feelings about the Earth plane and its inhabitants clear. I have one question. Why attempt to frame your brother?”

Jude’s face went cold, jaw setting in an arrogant mask. “Oliver the Just is much like those he serves. He should be fallen. He curses and gambles and watches these beings with amusement. He is the one who is unworthy.”

I bit back a chuckle because Oliver was sitting in the audience, his middle finger shoved up Jude’s way. Felicity shook her head, trying to cover her brother’s action, but I kind of thought he was awesome.

Raphael sighed. “Then we should begin. Our laws require that whoever the sword belongs to come forth and state your purpose.”

Donovan stepped up. “The Sword of Light now belongs to Vampire and the Council. I give you my Nex Apparatus as champion. She will fight for this plane and when Jude the Faithful is defeated, we will have no more trouble with Heaven.”

Raphael looked at me. “Is this true, child? Is the king your master?”

Well, he did have the power to put me in jail. Something made me look back at the queen. Some odd impulse, but I forced my gaze back to Raphael. “Sure.”

“All right, then. The trial may begin and when it is over, the Sword of Justice will be returned to its rightful owner.” It wasn’t a question from Raphael.

Donovan inclined his head slightly. “It will.”

Raphael stared at him for a moment as though he was trying to see into Donovan’s head. A long moment passed and I couldn’t help but think some unnamed conversation was happening between the two men. Well, the archangel and vampire, who both happened to be male.

Finally Raphael stepped back. “Of course, no matter what happens you will need a few moments to process the trial. You will have half an hour to return the sword.”

I watched Donovan’s eyes flare as though he was surprised, but his face quickly went blank again. “I thank you.”

Raphael waved him off. “There is no need, King Daniel. When one seeks justice, one will find help from the Heaven plane. We are not at cross-purposes in this, but my brother is correct in one thing. You must bring peace between the lesser planes.”

“My Nex Apparatus has already convinced me of this truth,” Donovan admitted. “I have a plan in place that will bring justice and maintain our ability to deal with the lower plane.”

“Then she is much more than a mere death machine, and the vampires have chosen wisely,” Raphael said.

It was one of those moments where I was pretty sure there was some serious subtext going on that I didn’t understand. I certainly wasn’t going to analyze the convo now. I was too busy looking at Jude, the Dude Most Likely to Murder Me, and counting the claws on his wings. Yeah, he had those. They were almost impossible to see because they were pearly white like the feathers that covered the wings, but I caught sight of them. There seemed to be four of them, two on the bottoms and two at the highest part of the wings.

They gleamed in the low light and I knew they wouldn’t be shiny white for long. They would seek blood. Mine.

Raphael turned to the demons, his head tilting slightly. “And welcome to you, beings of the lower plane. I bid hello to my brothers and sisters.”

They sneered and laughed his way, and if it bothered him, he didn’t show it.

He bowed his head. “Let the battle for justice begin.”

And then he disappeared. He and Donovan and Liv were there one moment and gone the next. When I looked up, Donovan was seated next to the queen, Liv beside Casey, and Raphael was with Felicity and the angelic crowd.

That was when I heard the horn that signaled the beginning.

Jude stretched those mighty wings of his, the span seeming endless for a moment. He stretched them out, hovering over the sand of the arena and blotting out the light for a moment so I was in shadows. “Walk away, child. Bend your knee and beg my mercy and you shall find it.”

Yeah, I wasn’t good at begging. Well, not in a non-sexual fashion. “I was told you’ve watched me since I was born. What do you think I’m going to do?”

Adrenaline flooded my veins, a welcome drug. I started to seek to open the connection between my human self and my wolf, but it was already there. She was me and I was her. I might still call her my wolf, but after this day it was habit only and not any kind of truth. My strength was right there, tapped in a way I’d never been able to use it before.

I chose not to change my dominant arm. Before that moment, I didn’t have a choice. That demon-skinned arm showed up when I was in danger. But this time I knew it wouldn’t unless I called on it.

Which was a good thing because I wasn’t sure how Gladys would handle demon skin.

But despite the fact that my arm remained perfectly human, the sword was silent.

Jude rose a bit more, his sandaled feet hovering above the sand. He practically had a halo of light around his head and I wondered if he practiced that shit in a mirror or if it was all part of the angel mystique. “I know what your instinct is, child, and it will be my greatest mercy to put you down. Isn’t that what you’ve wanted all your life, Hunter? Do you think I don’t remember that moment when you realized no one would ever love you? If your own father saw the abomination that you are, how would anyone else find a place for you?”

I’d thought those exact things. Even the word. I’d thought the word that day so long ago. Abomination. I’d thought the word before I’d picked up the knife when I was sixteen and couldn’t understand what I was. Abomination. I’d felt that word in my soul as I’d tried to take away my pain.

Betrayal didn’t begin to cover what this being had done to me.

“You were supposed to be my guardian angel.” He was supposed to be the one who whispered to me, sweet words that gave me faith. He’d done the opposite and it had only been my own God-given nature that had saved me. I’d been built to survive. I’d healed, my body working so much faster than my mind.

I realized something else. Felicity had been right. Every single time I was in trouble, I’d been sent the tools to survive. That terrible day when even my angel had betrayed me, my “abomination” of a body had saved me, and Liv had come and my brother, Nate. They’d held me and whispered words that drove out Jude’s.

At night, some force in the universe had sent me dreams of my real father.

I’d fought so hard against becoming the Nex Apparatus, but it gave me purpose. Jude was wrong. I did have a higher purpose.

To protect my world and my people from assholes who thought they were better than us.

“I realized what you were,” Jude replied, wings stretching. “I knew you deserved no faith. You are the product of illicit fornication between your mother and a dog. You are the daughter of a long forgotten warrior tribe. Now all whores. It’s time to end this. End this plane. End this experiment. End you.”

This was the moment when I would usually charge in, but he was a fucking asshole coward who was floating way above my ability to jump. “Why don’t you come down here and fight me, then.”

He shook his head sadly. “No, as I said, there will only be mercy from my touch.”

I heard a great whooshing sound, the wind from his mighty wings whipping my hair back, and then he was flying so fast I almost couldn’t track him. He was a white bullet headed my way and I barely managed to duck.

And not all the way. I bit back a scream as one of those razor-sharp claws scraped against my shoulder. The cotton of my T-shirt gave way and he managed to slice into my left shoulder.

First blood went to the angel.

I held my left arm in close. I needed a bit of time to heal. It had been weeks since I had taken any vamp blood so I had to rely on my own abilities to fix the damage. They would work quickly but not as fast as vamp blood, and the more damage I took, the longer the healing would take.

 I moved back, trying to put some distance between us. I’d fought a couple of things that could fly, but Jude was large when his wings were spread. So fast.

He floated above me, still in a way only pure predators can be. He stared at me and I at him, though my brain was working about a million miles an hour.

Gladys hummed insistently in my hand, but she wasn’t doing anything spectacular. There was no grand rush of energy coming from her. There was no spark coming off her. In fact, if I had to describe what I was feeling from that damn sword, I would say she was anxious. Antsy.

We’d missed something. We’d done something wrong. There was power inside her, but we hadn’t properly brought it out. We’d skipped some step or messed up on how we’d offered her blood.

I couldn’t beat Jude if I didn’t have the Sword of Light on my side. She couldn’t be on my side when we hadn’t primed her properly. She wanted. I felt that. She longed to be unleashed the way she was meant to be, but there were rules and rituals to be followed and we had not.

Those mighty wings flapped and I knew I was in trouble.

I hit the ground as he dove low, trying to get out of the way of his sword. He held the Sword of Faith in his left hand, his right reaching out and down. I tasted sand as I tried to evade him, but he caught me by the ankle and I was being lifted into the air.

“I would like to know how my powers are not affecting you,” he said calmly, as though we were having a mere conversation about the weather.

He held me upside down and it took everything I had not to lose my sword. Almost immediately I was nauseous. I could see the floor of the arena and wished Donovan hadn’t had it built with such high vaulted ceilings. I had to be fifty feet off the damn floor. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Keep him talking. That was always a good play in battle, especially when one was getting one’s ass kicked.

I glanced down below, trying to see Gray and Trent, but I couldn’t twist and orient myself so I could see them.

Jude’s hand tightened around my ankle and I wondered if he was going to break the bone. “I mean I’ve been using my angelic influence on you and I’ve gotten nothing back. It makes me wonder if you’ve done something you shouldn’t. Where is the ward?”

Fuck. If he clawed that ward off, I would be in a world of hurt and I would be the one hurting myself. If he truly turned the influence on, he could make me do his work for him. It was precisely why I hadn’t trusted a ward that wasn’t tattooed onto my body. It would be far too easy for my angelic opponent to pull an amulet from around my neck. I hadn’t even thought about the fact that those talons could literally rip the flesh that held my ward against him. The angelic ward was on my right shoulder blade. I wasn’t sure how close he’d come to scratching the demonic ward, but I knew I had to protect the angelic one.

He shook me, my whole body jarring and my stomach turning again. I clutched the sword and knew he could start clawing at any minute. When he realized the ward wasn’t coming off easily, he would start in on my clothes, and then he would find what I’d done.

I had to get out of that hold. He shook me again and when he pulled me up, I swung my body up, forcing the sword into the nearest part of his body I could get to. Gladys sliced into the angel’s torso, cutting up and through his side. I pulled to the left and drew her out, leaving him with a gaping hole in his side.

And then I was falling. I tried shifting and moving my body because that sand was coming fast and I was going to crash right on my damn head. Gladys slipped from my hand and I barely managed to avoid breaking my neck.

Not that it didn’t hurt like hell. I slammed into the sand and couldn’t breathe for a moment. If I’d hit concrete I would have broken every bone in my body, so as much as I’d cursed the sand before, I was grateful for it.

Someone screamed out my name, but I was a little on the disoriented side. My vision had gone fuzzy and trying to move made me want to get sick. Still, I had to find my sword. I had to get her back in my hands.

I started to twist to my side, but a strong hand went around my throat. So strong. Jude lifted me off the ground and back into the air. My feet dangled and I felt him squeeze. He didn’t need two hands to strangle me. One worked just fine.

Silver eyes stared into mine, so cold. “Did you brand yourself against me? I shouldn’t be shocked that you would defile your body. You so often defile your soul. Like all your kind. There will be a reckoning for them. Doubt it not. For you, the time is now.”

That was the moment he shoved a sword through my gut.

I fell back to the sand, blood gushing from my abdomen. I put my hand over the wound. Getting gutted really fucking hurts. Warm liquid coated my hand. My own blood. How long would it take for my body to start healing? Would it heal from a heavenly sword?

I wanted to see them. I wanted to see Trent and Gray. I wanted their arms around me so badly in that moment.

What would happen to my dad? Tears blurred my eyesight. I couldn’t give up. If I did, he died and everything he’d gone through would have been for nothing. If I failed, they might all die. Raphael might view my death as his father’s will and the angels could take Jude’s side. I didn’t want to be the chick who caused Armageddon. That was supposed to be the queen’s job.

It’s funny the things that go through your head when you’re dying. Regret. I really regretted that we didn’t do that spell right. We’d given Gladys blood and Donovan had introduced her to Raphael.

Donovan had. Because Gladys belonged to Vampire.

What if Gladys didn’t want to belong to Vampire? What if she resented the fact that she had been stolen and forced into service? What if she wanted her true mistress to claim her? To give her to the warrior?

What if she was a badass bitch of a sword and we had disrespected her by allowing a male to own her?

What had he meant? Raphael had said I came from a long line of warrior women. Felicity said we had once had another name.

I hadn’t fed Gladys properly. Not at all. I hadn’t respected her or myself. I might be the king’s Nex Apparatus but that wasn’t what made me protect this plane. It wasn’t what made me stand in this arena the first time and risk my life for a bunch of people who turned into deer on full moon nights. Being forced into this role hadn’t made me take on a duke of Hell, and it hadn’t truly caused me to pit myself against an angel.

I did that. I did that because something deep inside me couldn’t abide injustice. I did it because I couldn’t do anything else. Because I am Kelsey Owens and I will never back down when I’m needed.

Who was my leader? I didn’t like authority figures, but once my father had followed one. Once my father had thrown aside all ritual and tradition and he’d sworn a blood oath to a companion with no power.

With a groan I rolled to my side, trying to find my sword. I would do better. I would do it right this time. The battle should never have begun because it hadn’t been started properly.

She was there. I reached out and almost had her in my hand when I felt wind rushing over my body.

Jude stood over me, sword in hand. “I’ll send you home, child.”

He raised the sword again and I knew I had one play left in my book.

“Raphael!”

I screamed his name as the sword began to descend.