Page 188 of As Above, So Below

My innate screams, and Cyran is launched across the room. His back slams into the wall, and he falls to the floor and remains still.

Well, perhaps it’s a good thing I’m returning to the hells. I won’t have to concern myself with the repercussions ofthat.

“Go!” Eve shouts. “I’ll take care of him.”

Racing onto the balcony, I peer up at the moon.

Ripping off my cowl and hood, I throw them aside, the cool night air greeting me instantly.

“Ves!” Fenryn shouts and I glance down.

The lawn is littered with hundreds of demon corpses, his soldiers warily stabbing and decapitating them to ensure they remain dead.

Leaping over the banister, my wings stretch to their fullest, and my shadows snatch me out of the air, ferrying me to the ground three stories below.

I land with a gentle drop, tucking my wings tight, and approach Fenryn.

The soldiers begin to back away, fear on their faces.

“Ves, your wings,” Fenryn says, gesturing with a hand to stop.

“The glamour shattered.” I say, brows furrowing as I glance over my shoulder.

Extending my left wing, several nearby soldiers scramble away, avoiding being struck. And my eyes widen upon seeing the part of myself I love most. My midnight feathered wings drip with billowing darkness that rains to the ground, killing the grass it touches—it withers, shrivels, and dies.

I snap my wing tightly against me.

“You’re living death,” Fenryn says, his voice trembling with fear.

The words pierce my heart, searing themselves onto my soul.

Shoving all the messy emotions aside, I meet his stare. “Help Eve and Cyran. I have to get to Celesta.”

Leaving him no time to argue, my shadows swirl tightly around me and he vanishes from my sight. Before my shadows can dissipate, I’m sprinting through the center courtyard toward the temple stairs.

Erus soldiers are strewn throughout clusters of demons, mortals fighting for their lives against the horrors Netharis has sent. Hellishcreatures with too many legs, too many eyes.

Creatures summoned from the bowels of the hells.

Demons that appear human or fae upon first glance laugh as they sling blood magic without abandon.

I can’t let these people die.

Not for this.

My innate lashes out of its own accord, shadows racing underfoot in every direction. They flood the courtyard, wrapping themselves around the feet and ankles of demons, leaving the soldiers untouched—small patches of ground underfoot left clear.

As my innate tears through my body, beyond my control, again, screams rise—hundreds of voices at once as darkness wraps around them, forcing itself down their throats, in their eyes, and ears. Gorging itself on demonic flesh.

They’re being smothered, suffocated—

Bodies begin to fall and soldiers watch in horror, not daring to move. Faces swing in my direction, and I can feel my innate wanting tofeedon mortal flesh.

Death is insatiable.

Iam insatiable.

Channeling all my hurt, all my rage into my innate, intocontrol, I command it to listen. It recoils violently and I gasp, clutching at my chest. But my will is stronger—barely—it retracts, leaving an ocean of corpses in its wake.