“How dare you go against your promise to me!” he roared, and I felt that pressure press down on my body again.

The strongest urge to get up and walk back over to the gate, overcame me.

Lucifer hovered over me, shoulder and wrist bleeding, and black oily magic crawling all over his skin. “Get. Up,” he ordered.

I did, not because he’d forced me, but because it was a better position to be in to fight.

Without warning, he thrust his hands out and a gust of wind shoved into me, dragging me backward so hard that I didn’t stop until my back had slammed into the invisible gate. The wind knocked out of me, as my wings and back smashed against the glasslike surface that protected Heaven.

‘Hold me up!’ Sera commanded. I did as she asked, barely able to plan my next move. Lucifer was gliding on the tips of his toes like a total psycho, coming right for me.

Sera shot out a major burst of light, but when it hit Lucifer, it merely fell away as if he’d erected his own shield.

Shit.

Sera went rapid-fire then, blasting him with several beams of light, but none of it seemed to make a difference. Just as his hand came around my throat, I jerked my wrist forward to stab him in the eye. He wrapped his other hand over mine, grabbing Sera’s blade in the process. Blood poured over the blade as he gripped her and looked into my face like a lunatic.

“If I didn’t need you, I’d gut you like a fish with your own knife,” he whispered as I struggled to take in small gasps of air. He was going to choke me to death.

‘Oh no! He’s doing magic on me again!’ Sera screamed in panic.

I tried to yank her away from his hand, but the monster held on, even though it must have hurt. He covered her blade with a black blobby mass again, diminishing her light.

No.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. I was supposed to kick his ass. I was supposed to be capable of killing him.

I wasn’t ready after all, and the realization crushed me.

I failed Lincoln, myself, all of Heaven.

Spots danced at the edge of my vision, and I wondered if he even realized he was choking me to death. He looked so enraged, I didn’t think he was in his right mind.

“You can kill him. You are his only equal,” the strange male voice from before murmured from behind me.

Lucifer’s grasp on my neck lessened then, and I was able to suck in a precious amount of air.

“Shut up, Metatron!” Lucifer seethed. “She’s an untrained child who is too soft at heart to fully embrace her power. She’ll never be as powerful as me.”

Metatron. I’d heard that name before. In the Bible, maybe. I didn’t care right then who he was; I only cared that his words had given me a small amount of hope, and they’d distracted Lucy.

Gathering my courage, I reeled my head back and then slammed it forward, cracking Lucy right in the nose. Reddish black blood spurted over his mouth. Then I shoved my knee into his crotch and dropped Sera on the ground; she was covered in black magic and, unfortunately, was useless to me for now. Holding my hands out, I created a small black magic orb in one hand and a white one in the other.

Now I was the psycho. I was the one who’d lost my shit.

When Lucy lunged for me, I slammed my hands together on either side of his face, crashing the black and white magic into his head. A shrill scream ripped from his throat as thunder cracked overhead. His demons turned their focus away from the gate, and on to me in that moment.

I was trying to figure out how the hell I was going to survive this situation if they all jumped me, when I noticed Raksha, very quietly, crouched behind one of the giant trees. She’d created a portal to Fallen Academy, and Lincoln and Michael had just walked through it.

My backup had arrived.

Thank God.

And Raksha was still on my side. I never should have doubted her.

Fifteen

As soon as Raksha created the portal, she spun away from it, going to the far side of the meadow where the demons were stationing themselves. I hoped I was the only one who saw what she’d done. She’d saved my life.

Lincoln, Michael, Raphael, Uriel, Gabriel, and a sea of Fallen Army were flooding through the portal now. They all looked confused at first, but then they seemed to quickly recognize what was going on and started to fight Lucifer’s army.

My two magic balls to either side of Lucy’s head had done something to him. By the way he was shrieking, I hoped it had liquefied whatever brain he had, but it may have only caused temporary pain and disorientation, because he was looking more alert by the second.

‘Get me to Shea!’ Sera yelled from her place on the ground. She was still covered in that black magic, which seemed to have disabled her power, but at least she could still speak to me. Reaching down, I picked up my blade, and shouted my bestie’s name. She was right by Noah and Lincoln’s sides, scanning the crowd, looking for me.

When she heard my voice, she spun and I threw Sera into the air, hoping like hell she’d know what to do with her, or at least keep her safe while I could deal with Lucy. If Sera was the key to this gate, and only I could open it, then we shouldn’t be together anyway.

Lincoln’s head snapped in my direction when he heard my voice, and then his gaze fell onto Lucifer, who was now at my feet, clutching his head. I’d never seen so much rage in my husband. His entire face went red as he started running my way, his blue glowing sword outstretched.

Whatever my attack had done to Lucifer wore off at that moment. The Devil popped up onto his feet, wings outstretched, and grabbed me by the upper arms. My attention had been on Lincoln, to make sure he didn’t get killed, and now I was being pulled upward into the air. My wings flapped like crazy to pull against Lucy, but he was too strong, his wings pumped as we went higher and higher.

I built up that mixed silvery gray magic between my palms, as he kept my arms in a viselike grip, face bearing down on me.

“I hate you!” I screamed over the wind, directly into his face. “I’ve always hated you. You’re a foul monster, and I can’t wait until you’re dead.”

The magic burst from my hands with a sharp snapping noise, and wrapped it around his lower legs, binding them together. He growled in frustration, releasing one of my arms, and grabbing my wing in a grip so tight, I yelped in surprise.

“And I’ve seen nothing but wasted potential in you, Brielle.”

A tightening pinch wrapped around the wing he held. Then he let go of me, and I dropped like a stone in water.

What the hell? Looking back over my shoulder, I saw a black inky band on the wing he’d touched. I couldn’t fly, and I was plummeting to the ground.

Shit!

I flapped my one good wing like crazy, to try and slow my fall, but I was going to hit the ground any moment and break a shit ton of bones no doubt. All my one-wing flapping was doing was throwing off my balance, making my descent more wobbly.

“Brielle!” Lincoln boomed, and then he zoomed into the air before me. I barely had time to register his blur of motion before he reached out, grabbing my arm. The force of my weight falling, and Lincoln’s sudden grip on my arm sent a flare of pain slicing through my shoulder blade, making me certain that it had just popped out of its socket.

A wail of agony ripped from my throat as the stinging sensation crawled up my entire arm. Lincoln’s face contorted in misery as he quickly flew me down to the ground and let me go, so I could cradle my arm to my chest. My entire right arm was on fire, but I was alive with no broken back, so that was a plus.