Page 32

Chapter

Thirty-Two

A ngelo

I shoved Serenity behind me, my sword raised with lethal intent. Every muscle in my body coiled tight, ready to spring. There was no way I was going to lose her again. The sword might not kill Balthazar, but I’d make damn sure he’d feel every strike.

Vlad materialized alongside me with Julienne and Poison. Like Serenity, Poison’s wings were unleashed, their holy light flooding the living room and revealing the true extent of our carnage.

Death and mayhem had transformed Balthazar’s living room into a scene from the darkest nightmare. Black blood soaked into the leather couches, dripping onto the floor like tar. The broken bodies of hellhounds and demons lay scattered like macabre decorations. Keir circled the perimeter, his vigilant eyes scanning for new threats while Dimitri knelt to examine one of the fallen creatures. Nearby, Enzo wiped his blade clean, the black blood smearing across his already stained sleeve.

The harpies crouched by the front door, their massive wings spread wide, talons gleaming with fresh kills. Nothing would get through them.

But Balthazar was right. Nothing was getting in, but we weren’t getting out.

He headed over toward Vlad, stepping over a dead hellhound with a predatory grace. “Vlad, it’s so good to see you again.” His voice dripped with false warmth. “I propose we make another deal, a deal you can’t refuse.”

I crowded Serenity away as Balthazar approached Julienne and Vlad. Enzo caught my eyes and moved smoothly toward us, positioning himself so Serenity was sheltered between our bodies. A silent understanding passed between us—to get Serenity, they’d have to go through both of us first. If I could get her to one of the harpies, they could spirit her away to where Trystan and his wolves waited.

“Don’t do it.” Julienne’s voice shook as she clasped Vlad’s arm, her other hand pressed against her head as if fighting old memories. “Please, not again.”

Balthazar’s smile spread like oil across water, but his eyes blazed with hatred. “I wouldn’t interfere if I were you, Julienne. You interfered last time, something I haven’t forgotten.”

“Stay away from her.” Vlad stepped in front of her, his power erupting around him like a storm of ravens, dark and deadly and hungry.

“Make the deal, and I’ll allow you and Julienne to leave here. The terms would be the same as last time—kill indiscriminately and I will reap the souls.”

“Raphael won’t allow that,” Poison blurted, her wings flaring with righteous anger.

Balthazar tilted his head like a wolf sizing up wounded prey, a lazy smile playing on his lips as he tapped his chin. “He’s not here to stop me, is he angel?”

A boom like heaven’s wrath shook Balthazar’s mansion to its foundations, making black blood rain from the ceiling. Screams of pure terror echoed outside, not the usual wails of the damned, but something deeper—the sound of demons facing their worst nightmare. For the first time, Balthazar’s smirk crumbled, revealing something close to fear.

Poison threw back her head and laughed, the sound ringing with dark triumph. “Demon, did you think Dracula could open the gates of hell without the archangels knowing? You designed all this to have Raphael come here...” Her wings flared wider, casting holy light across her fierce expression. “But did you think he would come alone?”

“Well, isn’t this just perfect.” Dimitri twirled his sword with exaggerated casualness, though his eyes never left the door. “An archangel crashing our little hell party. Should I break out the holy water cocktails?”

Poison’s smile turned razor-sharp, her eyes blazing with unholy delight. “The Archangel Michael.” The name itself seemed to make the air vibrate. “He’s coming. How do you think Lucifer will feel with his fiercest enemy entering his domain?”

Balthazar scrubbed his face and turned around, his arrogance finally shattering under the thunder of Michael’s approach. It was the moment I’d been waiting for—his guard down, his attention elsewhere. I launched forward with vampire speed, my sword raised high, centuries of rage behind the blade.

“Angelo, no! He’ll kill you!” Serenity’s scream tore through the air, raw with terror.

Balthazar whirled around, his eyes widening with shock, but for once, the demon lord wasn’t fast enough. My blade struck true, slicing deep across his throat. Black blood erupted between his fingers as he clawed at his neck, the prince of hell dropping to his knees. His mouth worked, trying to form words, but he only managed a wet gurgle.

“This is our chance. He’s immobilized for the moment, but not dead.” Vlad snatched Julienne’s hand. “We need to get back to the doorway.”

Poison flew out of the living room, her wings creating a cyclone of plaster and dust, the air thick with sulfur and ash. The heat of hell pressed against us like a physical wall, making even vampire flesh feel like it might melt.

Poison could fly, but I wasn’t sure how well Serenity could do it, and I wasn’t going to wait to find out. Panic surged through me as I pictured her falling into whatever hellscape was opening beneath us. I tossed her over my shoulder, her wings condensing into her back with a sound like thunder that reverberated through my bones. Enzo and Dimitri ran alongside me, faces twisted with the same desperate fear that clawed at my insides, our feet burning against the hellish ground. Each step was agony, but the thought of losing Serenity to this inferno hurt far worse than any physical pain.

We burst out of the mansion into an inferno. A white light blazed above us like a thousand suns, so pure it hurt to look at, so powerful it made the very air crackle with divine energy. I didn’t want to run into the Archangel Michael any more than Balthazar did. I wasn’t on his favorite people list—centuries of blood and darkness had made sure of that.

Vlad had opened the door. Through it, I could see decrepit St. Christopher’s Church, a beacon of salvation in this nightmare realm. Trystan’s massive white wolf form commanded the entrance, his pack fanning out behind him like living shadows. Their hackles rose in perfect unison, fangs gleaming in the candlelight. A wall of snarling fury stood between us and freedom.

The alpha’s golden eyes blazed with primal warning as he lowered his head, muscles bunching beneath his snow-white fur. His pack responded instantly, dropping into attack positions, their growls vibrating through the broken church foundations. Whatever was coming behind us had the wolves ready for war.

Keir and his harpies tore through the opening first, followed by Enzo and Dimitri, leaving trails of demon blood in their wake.

Enzo’s face drained of all color as he lifted his sword. “Behind you!”

Serenity squirmed over my shoulder. “Angelo, he’s coming!”

White-hot agony shot through me like liquid fire. I arched my back as blood erupted into the sulfurous air. My legs betrayed me, knees crashing into the scorched ground. A spear had torn straight through me, the holy weapon burning worse than hellfire. Anguish ripped through every nerve. Serenity slipped through my fingers like water.

“No,” I gritted through teeth clenched against the pain. “Enzo... get her.”

But then strong hands grabbed me under my arms, lifting me as if I weighed nothing. I looked up, expecting to see another angel or Enzo, but instead saw Serenity, her wings beating against the infernal air, casting a warm white glow that pushed back hell’s darkness.

“Hurry!” Vlad’s voice cut through my haze of pain. “They’re coming!”

Serenity held me tight as we passed through Vlad’s doorway. The portal slammed shut behind us with a sound like the world ending.

She lowered me onto the floor with trembling hands, the spear still embedded deep in my flesh. My body turned ice cold, frost crystallizing across my skin like a deadly lattice. The shadowweavers’ poison was spreading—I’d felt this before, this creeping death.

Beads of sweat broke out on my forehead as my body fought against the supernatural cold. “Get it out,” I gritted through chattering teeth, each word a battle.

Enzo examined the weapon, his face grim. “It’s got small spikes,” he said, jaw clenched. “It will rip your flesh.”

“Just do it,” I gasped as another wave of agony gripped me, the shadowweavers’ poison burning like ice in my veins.

“Brace him,” Enzo commanded.

Dimitri clasped one arm, his usual cocky expression replaced with raw concern. Keir took my other arm, his Unseelie strength steady and sure.

Serenity knelt before me, her eyes bright with tears as she placed her palms against my cheeks. Her touch felt like sunlight breaking through eternal night. “Focus on me and only me.”

Her healing power flooded through me, melting the deadly chill, pushing back the creeping darkness. For a moment, there was only her—her warmth, her light, her love.

“Make it quick, Enzo,” I gasped, bracing for what was coming.

Enzo ripped out the spear in one brutal motion. Pain exploded through me like a supernova, my roar of agony echoing through the church.

My head snapped back with brutal force, my body convulsing as if possessed. Every muscle seized, every nerve screaming. It felt like my spine was being ripped out vertebra by vertebra, my flesh turning to liquid fire.

“Angelo, Angelo, focus on me.” Serenity’s voice cracked with desperation as she pressed her hand against my chest, right over my heart.

But as much as I wanted to anchor myself to her touch, the pain was consuming me alive. Something writhed inside me, a darkness with teeth and claws, gnawing through muscle and bone, shredding me from the inside out.

“Angelo, stay with me.” Serenity’s gentle hands cupped my face, her touch a beacon of warmth against the spreading cold. Tears sparkled in her eyes like fallen stars.

I fought to focus, to say something—anything—but darkness crept in from the edges of my vision like spilled ink. Not even centuries of vampire strength could fight whatever poison the shadowweavers had laced that spear with. Darkness encroached, but not before I witnessed her beautiful face, haloed in divine light, reaching for me as I fell into the void.