Page 94 of Alastair

The hold on me lifted, and everything came back into focus. I blinked, processing what I was seeing through my eyes instead of Pride’s.

Seven blades jutted from Lucifer’s body—mine rested in my hand. We had him pinned in place from all sides. Our combined powers had managed to weaken his skin, allowing our weapons to penetrate. Something within our cursed blood offset the magic in his that made him invincible. We had done it!

“We won,”Pride said.

“No!” Belphegor roared, knocking Galen aside with his wings before grabbing Lucifer.

The rest of us stepped backward—all in various stages of disbelief. Gray sagged to the ground as a sleepy spell hit him. Mason knelt beside him, keeping his eyes on Lucifer. We all did.

The male I had once looked up to, one I’d once loved, seemed so much smaller now than before, no longer an unreachable godlike being of cosmic power. He could bleed like any other. Blood streamed down his body, turning the snow beneath his feet crimson. His blue eyes fluttered closed before opening again.

He was so weak. Each breath brought him closer to death’s embrace.

A hand settled on my lower back, the touch warm. The smell of crisp apples mingled with the winter air, soothing me. Why did I need to be soothed? Wetness trickled down my cheeks, turning cold in the frigid air.

“It’s over now,” Lazarus murmured in my ear. He smoothed his thumb along my cheek, wiping away a tear, replacing the chill with the warmth of his touch. “You did so good.”

I whimpered and turned my face into his neck. The plan had worked. With Lucifer’s defeat, his forces would withdraw. Once the leader fell, a majority of the soldiers would lay down their swords in surrender.

The war was over.

Only… it wasn’t.

A croaky laugh reached my ears. “That hurt worse than I expected.”

Shivers shot down my spine, and I drew back from Lazarus. He had gone still against me. His breaths had all but stopped. Much like mine as I looked at Lucifer.

“There’s a first time for everything,” Lucifer rasped, slumped against Belphegor. One by one, the swords shot from his body, landing in the snow around him. More blood poured from the gaping wounds. “Never had I felt the cold sting of a blade until tonight. The experience is very enlightening.”

Michael landed beside me, visibly shaken as he looked at Lucifer. Cuts and shallow stab wounds covered his torso, but they faded as he healed. “You should be dead.”

“Ah, Michael.” Lucifer slowly exhaled, and as he did, the eight puncture wounds stopped bleeding. Although slowly, he was healing. “You’re going to hurt my feelings.”

My knees nearly gave out. “But we weakened you! We broke through your skin and stabbed you with celestial steel. You shouldn’t be able to survive that.”

“It will take more than celestial steel and the eight of you bouncing around me like pests to kill me, Alastair. Perhaps now you’ll rethink which side you wish to fight on. Something for you to mull over until we meet again.” Lucifer straightened to his full height and fanned out his wings, the sight remarkable and terrifying all at once. “Let us consider tonight a draw. I’m much too tired to continue.”

He then wrapped his wings around Belphegor and teleported from the snowy field.

At first, there was only silence, save for the fighting still echoing from the woods. But soon, that stopped, too, as the corpses returned to their graves and the enemy Nephilim withdrew. I was sure Purah and Vepar left—if they were still alive.

“What the hell just happened?” Castor squatted down and locked his fingers behind his neck, chin dropping to his chest. He took deep breaths but still couldn’t fill his lungs with enough air. I sensed his growing panic.

I felt the same panic rising inside me too.

“We failed.” Galen clenched his fist. “That’s what happened.”

“I don’t understand,” Bellamy said, staring at the blood-stained snow. “The synchronization worked. We broke the shield that made him impenetrable and stabbed him like a goddamn pincushion. How the fuck did he survive that?”

No one had an answer.

The eight of us had joined together. We had been successful. A brief taste of victory before the rug had been pulled out from beneath us. From beneathme. I had been so confident it would work. Now? I felt lost. Devastated.

How would we win the war? How would we stop Lucifer?

How would I stop him from killing everyone I held dear?

The world tilted. Lazarus caught me against his chest as a horrible, strangled noise clawed up my throat. My brothers had relied on me, and I’d failed them. I’d failed everyone. The weight of that failure crashed down on me, suffocating me. More rough sounds left my throat. It was all too much. Too overwhelming.