Kobal

I knew Lucifer planned to take flight with the child. If he succeeded in doing so, he would flee as far from here as possible with the biggest piece of leverage he had over River. No matter what happened, I couldn’t allow that.

Turning, Raphael emitted a blast of white hot energy that formed a wall behind us and allowed everyone else to focus on the threat before us. River rested her hand on my arm. Golden-blue light crackled over her fingers and my skin before she moved her hand away and placed it on Raphael’s arm.

Her breath sucked in, and the hair around her face waved as light washed over her. The wall of energy behind us grew until it swept thirty feet across the hill in both directions. It would not stop our winged enemies from diving down on us, but any who touched it would be destroyed.

Humans, demons, and Hell creatures surged forward to battle with each other. I fought my way through a wave of barta demons, making sure to keep them away from River as I tossed them ruthlessly aside. River and Raphael edged forward with us as we gained ground toward Lucifer.

I seized one barta and smashed it into the ground before decapitating it. When I lifted my head to take on the next one, I discovered the rest of them had switched course. Instead of coming for me, they were barreling toward a group of humans led by Vargas, Erin, and Lix.

“River!” I shouted. “To the right!”

Spinning, she placed her other hand on Raphael’s arm before releasing a wave of energy on the creatures. Raphael’s power fanned hers, making it more white in color than gold. Some of the bartas fell to their knees immediately and started shredding their chests open. Others kept going for a few feet before they started screaming.

I grabbed the horn of a púca before it could stab me and snapped it off in one quick twist. I threw the horn aside as the creature reeled back, screaming as it spewed black blood everywhere. Lucifer rose to stand on the seat of my throne, spread his wings, and gave them a solid flap. The grass around the throne bowed down beneath the breeze he created as he rose gracefully into the air.

Shoving aside a lower-level demon, I broke free of the craetons and covered the ten feet separating me from Lucifer in two bounds. Leaping onto the seat of my throne, I launched myself into the air after him. My hand snagged his ankle. Bailey cried out as my weight jerked Lucifer down a foot.

Using Lucifer’s leg as leverage, I swung my other hand up and sank my claws into his stomach. I dug deeper into the soft flesh there to get a better grip on him. He grunted and beat his wings faster as his warm blood pooled in my palm. I formed a ball of fire in my hand and kept it trapped against his stomach to keep Bailey protected from the flames.

Lucifer yelped, and his feet kicked out. One of them caught me in the jaw and jarred my fangs together, but I didn’t release him. My fire licked straight into his stomach. The cooked meat aroma of his roasting flesh and sinew filled the air as his skin sizzled and popped.

Lucifer grunted, closing his wings protectively in, but the gesture did nothing to help him protect himself as he dropped five feet. Unfurling his wings again, he swung the sharp tips at me. I dodged the first one and released my hold on his calf to lunge for the second. My blood-soaked hand slid down the tip before I got a firm hold on it. I increased the fire against his stomach until its glow could be seen behind his ribcage.

“You want him, varcolac,” Lucifer hissed. “Then catch him.”

Before I could respond, Lucifer threw Bailey away from me.

“No!” I shouted and released my hold on his wing so I could swing out to catch the child, but Lucifer had thrown him out of my reach.

Bailey shrieked, his arms and legs flailed as he plunged toward the ground, almost thirty feet below. River released Raphael and raced toward Bailey, but she would never make it to him in time.

“No!” she screamed.

Then, a black blur swooped into view, catching Bailey seconds before he hit the ground. To my amazement, the child laughed as Caim landed with Bailey tucked against his chest. River skidded to a halt, her head turned back to Raphael and she glanced between him and Caim.

“Go!” Caim shouted to her. “I’ll protect the child.”

She hesitated for a second before running back to Raphael. Returning my attention to Lucifer, I grinned at him and released a ball of fire that tore all the way through his stomach. The tops of the trees could be seen through the cauterized bits of flesh flapping over the hole I’d created in him. My fingers dug into the bottom of that hole and the charred skin there.

His wings drooped enough that I once again grabbed the silver tip of one and yanked on it. I didn’t care what it took, I would not let him go again. He would pay for everything he’d done, for every hurt he’d inflicted on River. Killing had always been a necessity for my survival; killing him would be a pleasure.

A series of blows rained against my face as Lucifer unleashed his telekinesis on me. The impact of the blows caved my left cheekbone and knocked all my teeth on that side out. Blood filled my mouth, and I spit out my teeth, but I maintained my hold on him. Pulling on the wing, I attempted to drag him down while he continued to try to rise with his one free wing.

A fist of air assaulted my stomach, knocking the breath out of me. Tired of this game we’d played for too long, I lifted my hand from his stomach and aimed it at his face. He swung his wing protectively in front of him to shield himself from my fire.

Instead of trying to torch him again though, I set Phenex and Crux free.

Phenex burst out of me first. Her claws left bone-deep gashes across Lucifer’s chest and wing. He screamed as his wing dropped down. He tried to grab her, but her momentum had already carried her over the top of him and toward the ground. She landed on all fours and bounded into the battle below.

Crux followed behind her. Lucifer’s fingers tore at his belly, spilling blood as the hound soared past him. Leaping over Lucifer, Crux spun in the air and clamped his jaw down on his wing. Twisting to the side, Crux’s weight bent Lucifer backward as he pulled on the wing.

The hellhound weighing more than both of us, Lucifer couldn’t resist Crux’s pull on him with his one free wing. More telekinetic blows pummeled my body as Lucifer started to flip over, bringing me with him. The sky and trees filled my vision before gravity took over and my body slammed against Lucifer’s so that his feet were in my face.

He continued to beat at me with his telekinesis. My right eye swelled until it became only a slit, and my ribs broke with an audible crack. Sensing my pain, Crux gave a ferocious shake of his head. Half of Lucifer’s wing tore apart and blood spilled free. The jagged remnants of delicate wing bones protruded into the air.

Crux hit the ground seconds before Lucifer and I did. My numerous broken bones protested the impact of the unforgiving dirt, and pieces of my ribs dug into my lungs as I rolled off Lucifer and staggered to my feet.

***

River

My heart lodged in my throat as I watched the battle between Kobal and Lucifer unfold. When they hit the ground, Crux kept his hold on Lucifer’s wing as he dragged him back and shook it violently. An invisible burst of energy hit the hound, knocking his head to the side with enough force that he lost his hold on Lucifer.

Seconds later, Crux was thrown aside as if he weighed no more than I did. Energy rose from the dirt, into my feet, and pooled forth to join with the immense force that Raphael released. Some of the craetons were still stupid enough to batter themselves against the wall of energy, only to be thrown back with nothing but smoke curling from their remains. Most of them were going around it now, but our forces waited for them there. Some were struck down, while others broke through to attack.

When Kobal rose to his feet, my fingers curled with the need to murder as I took in his battered face and bloody body. His hand went to his ribs before falling away. A snarl curved his mouth as an angel dropped toward Lucifer. The angels would fly Lucifer out of here if they got to him.

No! This will end now! The white-hot rage filling me increased the sparks on my hands as fire rose to encircle my other hand. I’d never experienced wrath with this intensity before, but I welcomed it.

Lucifer had tormented my brothers, and he had killed people I cared about in brutal ways. I refused to live with the fear of him coming for me again, or plotting something more. I refused to allow him to exist anymore. That bastard would pay for everything he’d done, and I would make sure he didn’t escape here alive.

“Raphael,” I hissed.

He glanced over his shoulder at Lucifer as he stumbled toward the angels trying to slip in between the hounds and palitons waiting for them. Kobal released a blast of fire that torched across the ground toward Lucifer. Battering the air, Lucifer managed to get his good wing to work well enough to propel him away from the trail of fire.

“Go,” Raphael said.

I released his arm and raced through the battle still waging around me. Leaping back, I dodged the pointed tip of a horn aimed at my stomach. I drove my elbow into the back of the demon’s head, knocking him to the ground. I didn’t have time to kill him as I leapt onto his back and ran over the top of him.

When another demon tried to tackle me, I shot a ball of fire into his face. He howled as he beat at the flames. The angels were almost to Lucifer when Caim dove out of the air and slammed into the side of one. They tumbled through the air before hitting the ground in a tumult of black wings. I spotted Bailey on the ground by Bale before Caim sliced his wing across the other angel’s throat and took to the air again. He swooped down and reclaimed Bailey. The barta demon still had hold of Gage, but Onoskelis was now engaged in a fight with a few palitons.

One of the other angels grabbed Lucifer’s shoulder as Kobal released another wave of fire. This one smashed into the other angel’s face and spiraled him backward. Lucifer roared and released a telekinetic blast of energy so strong that it rippled over my skin as I closed in on his side. The blast knocked Kobal over and threw back the hounds that had been closing in on Lucifer. One of the hounds released a high-pitched yelp and the others all howled. I realized another hound had been lost as the howl became a mournful keening.

Despite their loss, the massive creatures were regaining their feet. Lucifer flapped at the air with his one good wing until he rose slowly into the air. My blood pounded through my veins, and power surged through me as I drew on the energy of the life teeming in the ground beneath my feet while I ran.

“No!” I screamed when Lucifer was seven feet off the ground. The hounds leapt at him, trying to catch him and draw him down again, but he curled his legs up to stay out of their reach.

Planting my feet, I threw my arms up as power and fury coalesced together. From my right hand a stream of golden-white light erupted, while from my left a wave of fire burst free. I buried my shock over being able to use both abilities at the same time again as I drew my hands closer together until they pressed against each other.

Fire and light came together in a powerful surge that snapped and crackled though the air before it slammed into Lucifer. It hit him in the chest, but instead of tearing through him, it enveloped him in the golden-white light at the same time the fire burst over his body. For a few heartbeats, he was trapped in the air, his back bowed and his head thrown back.

As the light cascaded around him, I got a brief glimpse of the golden angel he’d once been with his black hair, violet eyes, and feathered, white wings. I saw a smile that lit a room and felt the warmth he’d once radiated. I understood why he’d been favored, why he’d been the Morning Star.

There had never been an angel so bright and beautiful before, there never would be again, and I wanted him dead.

The fire and light burst off him, radiating outward like a bomb blast that threw those closest to him back. The force of it flung back the angel Kobal had burnt and knocked the hounds to the ground again. Like a burnt-out star, Lucifer crumpled to the ground. Smoke curled off his burnt flesh and wings as he lay unmoving with his broken wing poking into the air. Nothing remained of his clothes.

All around me silence descended. I could feel the gazes boring into my back and saw some of the craetons scrambling to flee, but most remained unmoving as they gazed between me and Lucifer.

And then, just when I was certain he was dead, Lucifer lifted his head to reveal the smoke curling out of the sockets where his eyes had been. My stomach lurched as those empty sockets gazed ahead. Clumps of grass and dirt broke away as his burnt fingers dug into the earth and he started clawing his way forward.

The clashing of swords and the retort of guns pierced the air again. The hounds all yowled, and screams of the injured and dying resonated across the field as Lucifer continued forward. Walking toward him, I watched his charred skin begin to pinken. The whites of his eyeballs slid into place and the black irises took form. His head tipped back, and hatred burned from his eyes when I planted myself in front of him.

“Hi, Dad,” I greeted, and Kobal pounced.