Page 93 of Grave Revelations (Prophecies of Angels and Demons #3)

Chapter 92

Sophia

Sophia slid to a halt beside the other witches, and her gaze drifted across what remained of her bedraggled coven. They were tired, their energy drained. While she and the other night-beings had spent the day in Sheol, they’d fought. She looked past them to the ocean.

The world had been transformed in a matter of days. So much death and destruction littered the land that even the water was a swirling crimson tide. Filled with the dead—human and demonic—the Earth appeared to bleed.

In the sky, angelic beings still fought with dark, wispy creatures. Lucifer couldn’t have known that merging Earth and Hell would mean ending their immortality, but it had been the one thing that might give them any chance at victory.

Sophia dashed into the nearby convenience store, stepping over shattered glass along the sidewalk and grabbing jugs of water from the shelves, loading as many as she could carry into her arms before racing back to her coven, passing them out to each woman.

Dropping to her knees beside her mother, she lifted the plastic jug from Angeliki’s trembling hands and tore the lid off, handing it back. Angeliki sagged against her shoulder, raising the water to her lips. Some spilled over her face as a tremor racked her, and Sophia lifted it from her mother’s hands and held it to her mouth .

“Rest, Mama,” she said, passing the jug to Maria and pulling her mother against her side.

“There’s no time. The angels need our help.”

“Shhh. Mama, they are immortal, and your sisters are here. We’ll help them.”

Her mother gave her a grateful nod, letting her eyes fall closed. Sophia slid her sweater off her shoulders, balling it up and lifted Angeliki’s head, setting it gently on the fabric. It was telling that the witches were too exhausted to find a place indoors to rest. Still, with so many buildings reduced to rubble in the wake of all that firepower shooting from the sky, perhaps they thought they had better odds of survival out here along the coastline where there was less fighting.

Sophia stood, dusting mud from her knees, and glanced back one last time at her mother and the other sleeping witches before she whistled low, calling the other night-beings to join her.

Helena, Maria, and Vassi raced to meet her, leaving the still-living members of their coven to rest. Sophia eyed the group, a plan forming in her mind. Her gaze lingered on Vassi. She was the strongest of the other three, and her strength with water magic was nearly unmatched.

“Vassi, stay here to watch over everyone. Maria and Helena, come with me.”

Vassi nodded, a steely resolve in her gaze.

Sophia followed bursts of yellow and white in the cloud cover far overhead until she reached the largest concentration of angels and demons.

Her mouth fell slack as she took in the scene. Piled in great heaping mounds were dark, lifeless forms, and between them, bent at odd angles, a few snowy, gold-slicked wings protruded.

“There,” Sophia said, pointing to the closest massive angelic form. She and her sisters climbed over piles of dead creatures, hefting with all their might to roll him over. His eyes were closed, and he looked peaceful, even drenched in golden blood.

Sophia set to work, straightening his wings behind his back while her sisters stretched his limbs out, giving them a chance to heal more quickly.

The angel groaned—a good sign—and they moved on to the next creature, bending a wing nearly torn in two back into shape to set him right. They continued, climbing over piles in a seemingly endless sea of death as the night stretched into the early hours.

“It’s nearly morning, Pythia,” Helena said, leaning against Maria. She was drenched in gold, her dark hair twisted above her head in a bun, and her tired eyes looked almost hopeful at the prospect of leaving this plane.

Sophia ran a gold-slicked hand over her brow, scanning the horizon. Blazing pre-dawn rays lit their world on fire, and she nodded, motioning for her sisters to join her in search of a place to rest their bodies for the day.

She sighed as her gaze fell on several sparkling wings they hadn’t yet helped, hoping what they returned to the next night wouldn’t be something far worse.