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I began backing up, all my instincts telling me to flee. You couldn’t fight something like this.

Asher, meanwhile, hadn’t moved, and he stared fearlessly at what was certain death.

Savage man.

Grimly, he rotated away from the storm, his jaw hard, his eyes harder. He strode toward his car, jerking his head for me to follow.

That was all the cue I needed. I ran to the metal beast I so detested a day ago.

I slid inside, slamming the door behind me.

I swiveled to Asher just as he cranked on the engine. “Drive as fast as you can.”

The vehicle’s wheelsshrieked as we skidded out of the parking lot.

I was beginning to panic. Another Infernarus was coming for Asher, this one just as lethal as Azazel.

Asher, meanwhile, was as calm as the Mead Sea.

I glanced at the side mirror. Behind us, the horizon was darkening, and the buzzing was getting louder.

One of my legs began to jiggle. “You need to go faster,” I said.

“I’m flooring it, Lana. The truck’s geared for off-roading. It’s not a freaking racecar.”

I took my eyes off the mirror to look at him. “Then we’re doomed.”

Asher shook his head grimly. “Looks like your king really wants you back.”

Through the side mirror, the sky was nearly black, and the swarm now stretched across the landscape, higher than any human building I’d seen. “The primus dominus really wantsyoudead,” I corrected, then added, quietly, “I’m no longer important.”

Asher’s eyes flicked to me. “I thought you Infernari were loyal.” His tone was insulting.

“Weareloyal.” I didn’t bother mentioning that that loyalty was partially responsible for the countless deaths that had cut down our numbers. Infernari liked to avenge violence with more violence.

“You destroyed one of our portals,” I continued. “You’re a risk to our people.”

“So your father would sacrifice you just to kill me? That doesn’t sound very fatherly.”

“I didn’t say that he was willing to kill me.” But gods help me, it appeared he was.

The hum of the horde flooded my ears.

I closed my eyes, inhaling deeply. “Back in Abyssos, I’ve seen swarms strip Infernari’s flesh from the bone. It is not a good way to die.” The images from the war were replaying over and over behind my closed eyelids. “All that’s left afterward are their mangled bodies, nothing more than grizzled cartilage and bone.”

“Lana, this might come as a shock to you, but I don’t want to know.” Asher had to raise his voice to be heard clearly.

The first creature thunked into the car.

I flinched, my eyes snapping open. “It’s happening,” I said, my voice ominous.

Anotherthingpinged against the car. Again I jumped.

I made the mistake of checking the mirror again.

A wall of black rose up behind us, the sound of so many creatures thundering in my ears.

“How did your ‘bringer of death’ know where to find us?”