Page 55 of An Unexpected Ascension (A War Between Worlds #1)

The Angel

For a worrisome second, I almost think we’ve crashed back down to Hell. The amount of red that paints the grounds, the walls, the marble stone of the palace – it’s as if the blood sun is still swallowing a world whole.

Except, it’s not the sun’s reflection that has stain these pristine lands, it’s blood.

I find a few familiar faces as we sneak into the castle, wishing we could help them, heal them. Only, doing so would drain the Devil who’s facing monsters just as terrible as the one we brought.

Those poor souls will have to wait.

Groans of agony echo down the corridor masking our quickening footsteps. I can feel the heat from Lynx’s body bleeding into my back. He’s not entirely used to letting someone else lead, but he does so reluctantly.

The further we journey into the castle, the further the screams of torment sound. At the foot of the stairs, Lynx grabs my hand.

“Where are you going? I can’t imagine they’ll be in the tower.”

A small grin graces my face as I take in the look of confusion on his face.

“I know.”

I squeeze his hand in mine.

“I’ve seen this moment just like I saw Heaven erased. And if that came true, then this will too.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You will. Come on.”

I tug him up the steps with me and we ascend floor after floor until we reach a level with a certain warmth. A warmth like synthetic heat. It nearly resembles life, but we all know that’s not possible.

Yet, it gives them away.

“What about Lucifer?”

“He has Greygore, he can wait another minute or so.”

Lynx growls quietly.

“I don’t like this.”

I can feel the tension in his body as we stall outside a certain door. I can only imagine how he’s feeling right now, standing mere feet away from the Gods who’ve tortured him for months.

“I need you to trust me, okay?”

He only nods in return.

“Stay here. I’ll call you if I need you.”

“No way.”

He snatches my arm and yanks me to him.

“You’re not going in there alone. I can hear more than one voice and even one God is too many.”

I place my palm against his chest. “Trust.”

He’s not happy about it, but he lets me continue to lead. Opening the door, I find the two Gods I was looking for Aurelius and Silas. They stand on opposite sides of the long oak table in the center of the room, basked in sunlight.

They look so similar, almost clones of their father.

Aurelius’ dark eyes fixate on me, his lips curling into a snarl. “You.”

I flash a teasing smile.

“Ah, now you remember me.”

With a glow like smoldering embers, he storms for me, his feet hardly touching the ground. His fist wraps around my neck in a bruising grip.

“How dare you come into my home and?—”

“Castrate—”

I suck in a shallow breath, “—you?”

My smirk sends him into a frenzy and like the feral animal he is, he lifts me off my feet and slams my back onto the table. The impact stuns me, paralyzes my lungs and suffocates my breath. It takes me a moment to realize his hand is still around my throat.

“Ah, so this is what’s got you in a tizzy, brother!”

Silas chuckles.

“Fuck you,” he quips.

“Oh, come on, it’s not like you didn’t just snap your fingers and fix it the moment it happened. You’re not entirely dickless.”

Though my vision is starting to cloud with darkness, I still gift him a taunting grin.

“You fucking whore!”

He squeezes even harder as he slams my head into the table.

“You’re going to pay for what you’ve done. I hope you like this cock because it’s going to be the only thing you know for the rest of your eternity.”

With a free hand he yanks the waistband of my jeans, popping the button and ripping the zipper.

In the corner of my eye, I can see the patience in Lynx’s stare snap just outside the door, but I have Aurelius right where I want him. Shutting my eyes, I conjure the Mortifier with the last bit of consciousness I have and hope to the Devil that he’s not at the mercy of Achaz himself.

With Aurelius’ focus on wrangling my pants down, I shove the alabaster blade straight through his stomach.

For a moment, nothing happens as if the world stills, suspended in time.

His grasp is still wrapped tightly around my throat, his fingers dipping into the hem of my panties, Silas sitting back and watching the show.

And then everything kickstarts into motion once again.

Aurelius stumbles back, falling against the wall behind him allowing air to finally floods my lungs. My head spins with the rush, but I push myself up and off the table.

Too stunned to move, both Silas and I watch as the hole in his brother’s stomach begins to grow. The skin around the wound festers and peels away as if he was melting from the inside out. Organs start to protrude until they drop to the floor, followed by his intestines.

“What the fuck did you just do?”

Silas gasps in disbelief.

His eyes snap to mine – confusion, devastation, and rage all war there. It’s the best thing I’ve seen yet.

At his ear-bleeding wail, Lynx lunges in front of me. Without missing a beat, he steals the unholy weapon without even so much as a single passing touch and plunges it into the last remaining brother.

Together, we stand there absorbing the sight before us. Bones disintegrating, crumbling, then falling to the floor in a heap of ashes.

“You castrated him?”

Lynx finally asks after some time.

I nod.

“He deserved it.”

The demon chuckles and shakes his head.

“Remind me never to piss you off.”

“I’ll tell you what—”

I say, momentarily distracted by the Mortifier disappearing from Lynx’s grasp.

“You make it home after all this and you get an everlasting guarantee that your cock remains attached to your body regardless of how much you piss me off.”

He quirks a brow, one side of his mouth tugging up in a half smile. “Deal.”