Page 15

Chapter Fifteen

The vampires didn’t waste any time. They lunged at us in unison, their fangs gleaming and their claws flashing under the faint streetlight. I barely had a second to react before the first one was on me, his claws aiming for my throat. I ducked and spun, instinct taking over as I let years of hand-to-hand training guide me. I might not have my blades, but Rathiel had taught me how to turn anything into a weapon—including my own body.

I grabbed the vampire’s outstretched arm and twisted, using his momentum against him to throw him off balance. A quick elbow to the jaw sent him stumbling back, but he didn’t go down. Expected, considering their infernal heritage. Guess I’d simply have to hit a bit harder. I landed another strike, this one packed with far more punch, and the vamp dropped hard.

Rathiel was a force of nature beside me, moving with a lethal grace that belied his size. He caught one vampire by the throat, his fingers digging in with inhuman strength, and lifted the bastard clean off his feet. The vampire thrashed in Rathiel’s grip, but it was no use. Rathiel’s hold was like iron, unyielding, and with a single, swift motion, he slammed the vampire into the alley wall with enough force to crack open his skull.

The vampire let out a strangled gasp, his eyes wide with terror as blood trickled from his mouth. Rathiel wasn’t done. He tightened his grip, his own claws digging deeper into the vampire’s throat, cutting off any chance of escape. With a swift, brutal twist, Rathiel snapped the vampire’s neck. The vampire’s body went limp. Rathiel wrenched his enemy’s head to the side, and with a sharp jerk, ripped it clean off. Blood sprayed across the alley walls, and the body crumpled to the ground in a heap. Decapitation was the surest way to kill a hellspawn, after all.

It’d been a long time since I’d witnessed that level of brutality, and I thought I might toss my cookies. Thankfully, I barely had time to register what Rathiel had done because another vampire was coming at me, claws extended, and fangs bared. I ducked under his swipe, spinning around to deliver a kick to his gut that sent him staggering back. He recovered quickly, but I was ready. I charged forward and grabbed him by the arm, flipping him over my shoulder. He hit the ground hard, but I didn’t give him a chance to recover. I dropped to one knee, grabbing his head with both hands, and twisted with all the strength I could muster.

The vampire’s neck snapped with a sickening crack, but I knew that wasn’t enough. I had to finish him, Mortal Kombat style. I tightened my grip on his head, gritting my teeth against the strain, and with a cry, I wrenched it free from his body.

Warm blood splashed my arms, and I squeezed my eyes shut while silently willing my gag reflex to settle down. I definitely preferred using blades to my bare hands. This was brutal—and disgusting.

I tossed the head aside and turned to find Rathiel locked in combat with two vampires at once. They circled him like wolves, trying to find an opening, but Rathiel was too quick, too powerful. He ducked and dodged their attacks with ease, his movements fluid and precise.

One of the vampires lunged at Rathiel, but he sidestepped at the last second, grabbing the vampire by the hair and slamming him into the alley wall. The force of the impact stunned the vampire, and Rathiel didn’t hesitate. He reached for the vamp’s head, and I looked away a second before the sound of ripping flesh and sinew rose to my ears. I turned back in time to watch the body hit the ground and Rathiel turn to face the other vampire, while I faced the remaining three.

Their eyes gleamed with a mix of fury and bloodlust. But they weren’t stupid. Clearly, they could see Rathiel and I weren’t easy prey. But while we had the skill, they had the numbers. The odds certainly weren’t in our favour, and they seemed unwilling to back down.

Two of the vampires rushed at me simultaneously, their fangs bared and claws ready to tear me apart. I had no time to think, only to react. I spun to the side, dodging the first set of claws, and delivered a hard kick to the second vampire’s knee, sending him crashing to the ground. The first vampire recovered quickly and lunged at me again, but I met him head-on, my fist connecting with his jaw in a satisfying crunch. The impact didn’t slow him down as much as I’d hoped, so I followed up with a swift uppercut that snapped his head back.

I couldn’t afford to waste any time. While the vampire staggered, I grabbed his head, my fingers digging into his greasy hair, and with a surge of strength, I yanked it to the side and pulled with all my might. The vampire’s head came free with a nauseating rip, and his body collapsed at my feet.

The vampire I’d kicked down was already back on his feet, a snarl twisting his face as he launched himself at me. I braced for the impact, but before he could reach me, Rathiel appeared beside me, moving like a blur. His fist collided with the vampire’s chest with a force that sent the hellspawn flying back, crashing into a stack of garbage bins.

Rathiel’s gaze met mine for a brief second, then he lunged for the vampire, dragging him up by the collar and twisting his head clean off before tossing the body aside like it was nothing.

That left two.

The final pair of vampires exchanged a quick glance, doubt creeping into their expressions. Suddenly, they didn’t have the numbers anymore. But they were too deep into this to back out now. Lucifer wouldn’t accept failure, and they knew that. Their resolve hardened as they prepared for one last desperate attack.

“You take the one on the right,” I called to Rathiel, my voice steady despite the adrenaline still coursing through me. “I’ve got the other.”

We moved in unison, closing the distance between us and the remaining vampires. My opponent hissed, baring his fangs in a last act of defiance before lunging at me. I ducked low, feeling his claws swipe just above my head, and sprang up with a fierce punch to his ribs. Bones cracked from the impact, but he didn’t slow down.

Before I could react, he latched onto my arm with a vice-like grip and yanked me toward him. He spun me around, my back against his chest, then wrapped his other arm around me, pinning both of my arms to my sides. He was stronger than the others, his grip almost crushing as he lifted me off the ground. I struggled against him, trying to free myself, but his hold was relentless and unbreakable.

My muscles screamed in protest as I squirmed and twisted, but nothing seemed to break his hold on me. Dark laughter echoed in my ears just as hot, rank breath fanned my neck. Panic flared in my chest, my breath coming in short, sharp bursts as I realized I wouldn’t break free in time.

“Never had an angel before,” the vamp rasped before scraping his fangs against my throat. “Bet you taste good.”

Oh, gross.

I was about to throw my head back in a final, desperate attempt to break free, when suddenly the vampire behind me vanished. I staggered forward just as a sharp wail echoed through the alleyway. Spinning around, I saw Rathiel standing over the vampire, who now lay slumped against the wall, the impact having fractured the bricks. Rathiel had him pinned with one hand, his eyes blazing with fury. The vampire thrashed and tried to struggle, but Rathiel’s grip was unyielding, his strength fueled by pure, unbridled rage.

Rathiel pulled the vamp off the wall and slammed him to the ground with enough force to rattle the pavement. The vampire let out a strangled cry, but Rathiel didn’t relent. He was on him in an instant, his hand a blur as he grabbed the vamp by the throat, fingers digging in deep.

“You dare lay a hand on her?” Rathiel’s voice was a low, menacing growl, dripping with barely restrained fury.

The vampire gasped, his eyes wide with terror as he thrashed beneath Rathiel’s hold, but it was no use. Rathiel was beyond reason, his focus solely on destroying the creature who’d tried to bite me. Blood dripped from the vampire’s temple and pooled on the ground, dark and glistening under the faint light of the alley.

The other vampire hesitated a few yards away, his gaze darting between me and Rathiel. Without thinking, I surged forward, grabbing him by the neck and held him tight, knowing we needed one to question. His hands clawed at my grip, but I tightened my grip. I had questions, he had answers. He wasn’t going anywhere.

Rathiel lifted one hand, a ripple of crimson magic illuminating his fingers as he called on his ability to manipulate blood. I’d only seen him do this once before with a misbehaving hellspawn, and I knew it wouldn’t be pleasant to watch.

The blood on the pavement quivered, responding to Rathiel’s powers, then began to rise in a thick, sinuous stream. It gathered midair, in front of Rathiel, and coalesced into a dark, glistening mass under his control. I watched, breathless and horrified, as the crimson liquid hardened into dozens of needle-sharp spikes that shimmered under the dim alley light, poised for Rathiel’s command.

At his silent command, the spikes shot forward, piercing the vampire with brutal accuracy. The hellspawn thrashed violently, his screams tearing through the alley as his own blood betrayed him, stabbing into his flesh with relentless precision. His cries turned guttural and inhuman.

Rathiel clenched his fist, and drove the spikes deeper, punching through the vampire’s body with a sickening crunch of breaking bone and tearing flesh. The air reeked of blood and agony as the hellspawn’s thrashing slowed, his body twitching violently as the last of his strength gave way. Finally, his head slumped back, his lifeless eyes staring blankly into the night as his shredded body collapsed to the ground in a gory heap.

The remaining vampire, still locked in my grip, bucked violently, his elbow slamming into my side. Pain shot through my ribs, but I held firm. He snarled and twisted, his claws raking at my arm, leaving shallow scratches that stung like hell. I gritted my teeth, tightening my hold and slamming him against the alley wall.

I pressed my forearm against his throat to pin him. He writhed like a trapped animal, thrashing and clawing at me, his strength fueled by desperation. His knee shot up, catching me hard in the thigh, and I stumbled just enough for him to twist free.

He bolted, his boots pounding against the pavement, but he didn’t get far.

“Rathiel!” I called out.

Without even glancing up, Rathiel waved his hand, and the blood instantly ripped free of the dead vampire on the ground and condensed into a single massive spike. An instant later, it shot across the alley like a missile and impaled the last vampire in the back. The force of the blow sent the vampire staggering forward, his arms flailing as the spear punched right through him.

The hellspawn fell to his knees, clawing desperately at the weapon protruding from his chest. His lips moved, gasping for words that wouldn’t come. He crumpled sideways, his body twitching in the snow before falling still. The light in his eyes dimmed and died, leaving him lifeless in the alley.

Huh. Guess I should have told Rathiel to keep him alive.

The alley fell quiet, save for the faint sound of blood dripping onto the pavement. I scanned our surroundings, a grim smile tugging at my lips. We still needed to remove their heads, just to be thorough, but we’d killed them all. Guess we made a good team after all.

Rathiel whirled on his heel and crossed the distance to me in an instant. He cupped my face and tilted my head back and forth as he inspected my throat. His thumbs brushed lightly over my jaw, his touch surprisingly gentle for someone who’d just dismantled two vampires with the brutal efficiency of a war god.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, his voice low but urgent.

“I’m fine,” I murmured, reaching up to cup his hands. “He didn’t bite me.”

Rathiel’s gaze held mine for a beat longer than necessary. I swallowed hard, pushing aside the strange, unsettled feeling his concern stirred in me. I drew his hands away from my face and was about to suggest we clean up the mess, when movement in the shadows behind Rathiel caught my eye. The first vampire, the one I’d knocked unconscious—I hadn’t killed him. And now he was barreling right toward us.

“Watch out!” I shouted, my voice sharp as I tried to shove Rathiel aside.

I was too late. The vampire’s claws tore through Rathiel’s back with a sickening rip, shredding through fabric and flesh. Rathiel staggered, dropping to one knee and almost dragging me down with him. He let go of me and bowed over, blood blooming across his shirt in a dark stain, soaking the fabric. It would take more than that to kill him—I knew that without a doubt—but that knowledge didn’t stop the surge of fear and fury that erupted within me.

The vampire turned toward me, baring his bloodstained claws, but I didn’t give him a chance to strike again. Something primal ignited within me, and I reached deep inside myself, to the part I’d kept buried for so long, one that pulsed with the heat of Hell itself. I hadn’t summoned my powers in a decade for fear of exposing myself, but seeing Rathiel injured awakened that part of me. I wanted our enemy to burn .

My desire to cause chaos and destruction and death sparked the fires within me, and my hands ignited with blazing crimson flames. The power surged through me with a fierce, undeniable intensity, and for the first time in ten years, I felt like myself. Like I’d just woken up from a long nap.

With a sharp cry, I flung my arms out, and hellfire erupted from my hands, roaring through the alleyway like a living entity. The blaze scoured across the ground, casting a blood-red glow over the scene as it whipped toward the remaining vampire.

The hellspawn barely had time to curse out loud before the flames engulfed him, his screams echoing off the alley’s brick walls. I directed the fire with everything I had, keeping it controlled, guiding it around Rathiel as the fire devoured everything in sight, including the corpses, reducing their bodies to nothing but ash in a matter of seconds.

But as powerful as the hellfire was, I could feel it draining me, pulling on my strength as I struggled to keep it from touching Rathiel. He was right there, just inches from the most intense flames. I gritted my teeth, focusing every ounce of willpower on controlling the blaze, forcing it to curve away from him, to protect him at all costs.

Finally, when all evidence of our presence here tonight was nothing more than a pile of smouldering ash, I let the flames flicker out, leaving the alleyway in silence, save for the crackle of dying embers.

Panting for breath, I hurried to Rathiel’s side and dropped next to him, my hands still tingling from the aftershocks of the hellfire. He was bleeding heavily, his face pale, but his eyes were still alert, still full of that fierce determination. I glanced at his back, where the vampire’s claws had torn through his shirt, revealing deep, jagged gashes that cut through muscle and exposed torn flesh. I was pretty sure I could see some bone peeking out at me.

“Hey…you okay?” I whispered, while fully knowing he wasn’t.

He nodded weakly, but the pain in his eyes was evident. I could see that the wound had taken more out of him than he wanted to admit. Of course, he’d never let it show, not fully. That was just who Rathiel was—stoic to the point of stubbornness. He could be bleeding out, and he’d still fight. Hell didn’t breed weak soldiers. It was infuriating, really, but I knew better than to push him on it. This was how he coped, how he kept control, and I had to respect that.

“Let’s get out of here. I’m sure someone’s called the cops by now,” I told him. “Can you move?”

“Yes,” he stated gruffly, before pushing to his feet.

He stumbled and I immediately darted forward to catch his weight.

Fear twisted in my gut, sharp and unforgiving. Why did it bother me so much to see him hurt? I’d faced dangerous situations before, seen others injured, but this…this felt different. Rathiel was different. It wasn’t just that he was stronger, faster, more capable than anyone I’d ever known. There was something more—an ache in my chest at the sight of him bleeding, at the thought of him in pain.

I shook my head, trying to clear the confusion. Now wasn’t the time to get lost in thoughts and feelings I couldn’t make sense of. But the unease wouldn’t leave me, a nagging sensation that I was missing something important, something unattainable that lay just out of reach.

With one last look at the smouldering alleyway, I extinguished the remaining flames and slipped an arm around Rathiel to steady him. His weight was heavy against my side, but he kept his footing, his pride clearly refusing to let him lean on me too much.

“I need to get you back to my apartment so I can look at those wounds,” I said, glancing at the blood still seeping through the shredded fabric of his shirt.

He grunted, giving a terse nod.

We’d barely taken a step when I paused and cursed. With a wince, I turned and glanced back at the alleyway, where Rathiel’s and my winter jackets lay in a pile of ash and soot. I wasn’t one to carry a purse, I usually just stuffed everything in my pockets—wallet, keys, phone. Which meant, I had no money, no bus pass, and no way into the apartment. All of it, gone.

“Shit,” I muttered.

“Shit is right,” a sharp voice replied.

Adrenaline surged, and instinct kicked in. I let go of Rathiel seconds before hellfire blazed to life in my palms. My heart pounded as I readied to launch a fireball at the intruders, my instincts screaming that it had to be more vamps. But then, through the haze of panic and flames, I recognized their faces.

I shook out my hands and snuffed the fire. “What the hell are you two doing here?”

Eliza’s wide-eyed gaze swept over the scene—the vampires’ charred remains, the blood splattered across the alley, and Rathiel leaning heavily on me for support. Her expression was equal parts horrified and awestruck. “You did this?” she whispered, disbelief clear in her eyes. “I mean, I saw it, but…wow.”

“You saw ?” I repeated. “Were you following us?”

“Yeah,” Mason answered bluntly, without the slightest hint of guilt. “Caught the tail end of your light show. Pretty impressive, by the way.” His sharp gaze settled on Rathiel, his tone turning gruff. “Those weren’t just any attackers, were they? Hellspawn, I’d wager?”

Eliza faltered, then whipped around to stare at him. “Hellspawn?” Her voice was barely a whisper, her face a mask of shock. “Like…from Hell? Are you serious?”

Mason’s slow nod confirmed it.

Her jaw dropped. “The eyes,” she murmured, almost to herself. “Blood-red. Just like the vamp we killed earlier this week. She was a hellspawn too?” Her voice wavered, confusion and hurt mingling in her words. “Then you…”

I opened my mouth to respond, but no words came. I wasn’t ready for this conversation—not here, not now. My grip on Rathiel tightened, and I started steering him toward the street. “We took care of it,” I said curtly. “Now, if you don’t mind, we’re leaving.”

“Oh, hell no,” Eliza said, before bursting out into manic laughter. “You don’t get to walk away this time. There are hellspawn here? On Earth?”

“Say it a little louder, why don’t you,” I sniped.

Eliza had the grace to appear chagrined, but she didn’t back down. Instead, she stepped in front of us and blocked our path. “Not so fast. He’s hurt,” she said, gesturing to Rathiel. “You won’t get very far in his state. Let me give you a ride home and you can pay me back by giving us some answers.”

I gritted my teeth, glancing at Rathiel, who remained silent, his face a mask of stony endurance. Guess he had no opinion on this. And from the looks of it, Eliza and Mason weren’t about to let us off so easily. The secrets I’d held close, the ones I’d fought so hard to protect, were slipping through my fingers.

Eliza raised an eyebrow. “Enough hiding things, Lily. I think we’re way past that point. We deserve to know what’s going on.”

A dozen excuses sprang to my lips, but they all felt hollow. Eliza and Mason already knew more than I’d ever intended to share—too much, in fact. Thanks to Mason, Eliza now knew Deidre was a hellspawn, and someone I had once considered a friend. Paired with Mason’s knowledge of the portal, it wouldn’t be long before they put two and two together. They weren’t innocent bystanders anymore.

I could keep running, keep trying to dodge their questions and brush them off, but the walls I’d built around my life were cracking, no matter how tightly I clung to them. And the more I pushed them away, the more they would pry—until one wrong step ended their lives.

With a deep breath, I met Eliza’s gaze, my voice low and weary. “Fine. But you’re right—this isn’t something you can just walk away from. If you want answers, you’ll have to accept all the consequences that comes with them.”

Her expression softened, just slightly, as she caught the gravity of my words. Mason gave a curt nod, and together, they waited, the weight of the unspoken hanging between us. This was about more than revealing secrets. I was inviting them into a world from which there was no turning back.

I only hoped I was making the right choice.