He was holding a freaking baby, for crying out loud!
Lucifer looked surprised for a moment, but that expression was quickly wiped off his face and replaced with malice. With no plan, and no desire to hurt that damn adorable baby, I just let my momentum slam into him. I turned to the side and lined up my shoulder with his chest, at the same time reaching out to cup the baby in my arms as I did a full football tackle. The force of my hit knocked him backward, and he loosened his hold on the baby, allowing me to snatch her from his grip.
I had seconds here, mere seconds, to decide of the fate of Raksha, this baby and myself. I could take flight and bring the baby to safety, but he would surely finish off my hurt friend. It would be the smart thing to do, but I couldn’t bear to lose her. Could I carry them both? I had to try.
Spinning, I deposited the baby into Raksha’s outstretched hands where she lay on the ground, pivoting just as a giant blob of black inky energy crashed into my chest. A burning fire settled into my lungs, and I stumbled backward in pain.
The second the fire sensation tore through my chest, I called up my healing magic. The buttery warm light flowed from my palms and right into my lungs, soothing the sharp, scorching pain that had rested there. I wasn’t interested in talking anymore; I just wanted Lucy dead. The second I killed him, I’d heal Raksha and everything would be okay.
Without a word, I flung my left hand out and sent an arc of healing magic into the Devil’s face, relishing in the sound of his painful hiss as it made contact.
Raksha began to crawl backward with the baby on her chest, leaving a trail of blood in her wake. I needed to get her to safety. I needed to heal her. I needed—
“Kill him,” she rasped and locked eyes with me.
I needed to kill him. Even Raksha knew and wanted that.
“Yes, Brielle. Kill me,” the Devil mocked. “Though I should warn you, if this starts going south, I’ve instructed my men to take you out.” He nodded to the couple hundred demons who stood like sentinels in front of his courtyard.
Calling up my shield to protect me, I grinned at him. “What’s wrong, Lucy? Scared?”
Thrusting my arms out, I sent a coil of silver magic to wind around his throat. It shot from my palm like a snake, wrapping around his neck with lightning speed. I didn’t let up as I moved closer to him, and blasted his chest with balls of golden healing light. When they hit him, they singed as if burning him, leaving red marks in their wake.
The fury on his face was palpable as he raised his arms above his head. I felt a giant gust of wind stir around me, and when he lowered his hands, the wind slammed into my back, hitting me with the force of a truck.
I stumbled forward, trying to keep my balance and my wits, when Lucy surged at me with a sword in his hands that wasn’t there before. Using a move Lincoln taught me, I leapt into the air, letting my wings pick me up a little, and kicked out in front of me. My foot connected with his face, and then the entire ground started to shake, the brittle castle walls lining the courtyard crumbling before my widened eyes.
I’d just kicked the Devil in the face, and he was pissed.
Launching into the air to come face-to-face with me, he thrust his hands out, and sent over a dozen black shards toward my energetic shield. I held my breath as they stuck into my protection wall like toothpicks, hoping to connect with my body.
“You really think you can defeat me!” he roared, his voice no longer holding any trace of humanity. Black inky veins crawled up his neck, and I tried to rein in my fear, knowing that was how he controlled me. I let my shield drop for a split second, allowing the black shards to drop with it, then flooded him with golden healing light before bringing my protection up again.
Hissing, he shrank away from it, but it stuck to him like glue.
“I think you know I can.” I smirked. “That’s why you told your minions to interfere if it looks like I’m winning.”
He screamed in rage, and a bolt of lightning shot across the sky, the wind picking up all around me.
“There are consequences to my death, silly girl. Are you sure you want to deal with them?” he growled over the wind.
Yes. Maybe. No. Shit. What kind of consequences?
Before I could even think what to do next, he flung his hand out, and threw a black shard right into my abdomen beneath my chest plate, cutting through my shield and chain mail like butter. The shock of him being able to penetrate my shield had me losing concentration on it, as it fell around me leaving me vulnerable. I stumbled backward, hitting the ground hard and disoriented. It all happened so fast; one second I was in the air, and now I was lying in the dirt with a searing pain in my stomach. He’d gotten me good.
Lucifer grinned, stalking toward me like he was an animal watching his prey. Reaching down, I grabbed hold of the black shard sticking out of me and ripped it out.
“This is the end for you,” he sneered.
A shadow passed over us then, and two things happened at once. Sera was literally dropped into my lap, and Lincoln dive-bombed from the sky and laid Lucy out on his ass.
I shot a burst of healing light into my abdomen, hoping it would stop the bleeding, and then popped to my feet with Sera in my hand. There was no time to think, no time to fully heal, no time for anything but killing the Prince of Darkness, before he pulled on more of his power.
‘Sorry I’m late,’ she apologized.
‘No problem. Let’s end this scumbag.’
‘With pleasure.’
Lincoln had gone into rage-kill mode, landing blow after blow into Lucifer’s face. The Dark Prince’s demons turned their attention from the outer crumbled gates of the courtyard, to the fight before me and started to advance, forming a circle around Lincoln, Lucifer and me, and shutting out Raksha and the baby so I couldn’t see them anymore.
This is going to be a lot harder if they’re about to jump us…
The sound of flapping wings drew my attention upward, and I grinned. The four archangels descended into the yard and each took a corner, fighting the demons backward and out of the circle, giving us a level playing field.
My gaze flicked back just in time to see Lincoln sail up into the air and land hard on the ground.
‘Vaporize this asshole!’ I screamed at Sera.
Her blinding white light shot from the tip of her blade, in a concentrated beam, and cut right into the Devil’s left thigh.
A loud screech ripped from him and he kicked off the ground, but I used my free hand to lash out with a whip of golden energy, and coiled it around his arm, yanking him down again. Pulling up my shield, I made it stronger than ever before. Tugging on energy from places I didn’t know existed within me, I thickened the walls, to make sure it could stop whatever he threw at me. I kept Sera’s beam of light directly over his leg, hoping to saw the limb right off. Lucifer would be a pile of body parts if I had it my way.
Lightning started to snap at the outer edges of our circle, directly in the path of the four archangels, and the ground shook again.
“How dare you!” the Prince of Darkness screamed just as black oil-like droplets began to fall from the sky. Hissing and screaming sounded all around me, and it took me a moment to realize the black rain was acidic. My shield was covering me from it, but Lincoln and the others were getting drenched. I had to end this now, or everyone I cared about would be gone.
Anger flared up within me, and I yanked with everything I had, pulling him closer to me.