Page 55 of Wings of Darkness (Daughter of the Seven Circles #2)

Chapter

Thirty-Six

LUCILLE

H is voice vibrated through the darkness, and the tension in my shoulders melted.

He was here.

The vines holding my ankles were ripped from the ground, releasing me. I reached out to feel for Ronen, but he wasn’t there. It was his shadows, then. The grunts and hisses to my left more than confirmed that.

Safe within his wispy power, I sank to my knees and felt for my father’s neck. It only took me a couple of tries before I found the cool, unprotected skin. I bowed my head when I felt his pulse—faint, but there.

Fire flashed at the edge of my vision, and I whipped my head up.

A mangled face with curling horns appeared.

He smiled at me, tilting his head while he held an orange fireball.

The toothless, black grin made my skin crawl—evil, lifeless, stretching across his glistening, grotesque scars.

My Glory moved beneath the surface of my arms, and my Infernus whispered in my ear.

The male stepped toward me and began humming “London Bridge.” The nursery rhyme crawled down my ears and over-pumped my lungs.

Keeping my eyes on the demonic male, I formed two foot-long icicles in my palms and planted myself in front of my father’s body.

“Get back,” I warned.

He tilted his head the other way and took another step. A low growl rumbled behind him. He raised his ball of flame higher, illuminating the scene, and his humming grew louder.

Then the tune sprang up on either side of me, growing closer with each passing second. He was calling his group—to me.

One of his followers appeared on my right. But she wasn’t humming, nor did she wear that creepy smile. Instead, skin molted off her face in a gory mess of red and black. The horns on her head were crumbling, and I swore I saw pain in her eyes.

She snapped her arm out, trying to wrap it around my throat. I easily sidestepped.

“Don’t kill!” the eerie male rasped.

His follower didn’t listen. She unsheathed a dagger and sliced it toward my chest. I dodged, swept her legs, and followed her to the ground, shoving one icicle into her neck and the other into her chest. They were quick, efficient strikes. My mother would be proud.

Mixed blood spurted out, splattering my gloves. Her skin slid away from the puncture at her neck and plopped to the snow, completely detached from the muscles beneath, just like the skin on her face .

“Burn me,” she gurgled, a haunting clarity in her eyes.

I frowned.

“Burn—” She choked on her blood, and her body relaxed.

A sharp squelch, like a sword piercing flesh, cut off one of the hummers. Then another. And another. Their tune quieted with each of Ronen’s kills.

I stood as the demonic male crept closer, ignoring the predator at his back like he was mindless. The infection veining his neck had stripped him of clarity, unlike the dead female at my feet.

With effort, I wreathed my hands in Glory just as Rune materialized from Ronen’s shadows, her teeth dripping with drool. Still, the robotic male ignored her, focusing only on me.

“Goodbye,” I said sweetly.

Rune’s jaw unhinged, opening wider than I’d ever seen. She snapped her mouth around the male’s torso, crushing bone and severing his spine. His chilling tune ended as, in his dimming flame, half his body folded backward, tearing away from his pelvis.

I would never unsee that. Nor unhear the sound of Rune munching on his leftover remains.

More sickening slaps of a blade slicing through flesh echoed through the clearing, until there was nothing left but blissful silence.

I sidestepped the female and sank next to my father. Ronen’s shadows brushed along my face and tickled up my nose—probably checking if I was physically okay—then cleared.

I blinked against the sudden light and found Ronen lowering his blades.

I expected to see bodies at his feet, but there was only snow.

Even the male I impaled with an icicle was gone.

A blot of black substance dotted the ground where he’d been, the same black ooze dripping from Rune’s maw and saturating the snow beneath the female. Except hers was more red than black.

Ronen resheathed one of his swords, then strode toward me. His posture was rigid, his gaze fixed on the dead female. He lifted his blade.

“Wait. I was going to burn her.”

I wasn’t sure why. I shouldn’t care about the female who tried to kill me. But the clarity in her gaze made her seem less demonic, and I couldn’t help myself.

He narrowed his eyes. “We can’t take that risk. We don’t know enough about the disease. The blood-banded could cycle with a demonic soul.” Then he cleaved her head from her body. A second later, she dissolved into ash, and his sword absorbed her. “This way she’ll never cycle.”

I sat straighter. No wonder Theon peed himself.

Ronen sheathed his blade and sank in front of me, grabbing my chin. He twisted my face back and forth, his nostrils flaring.

“Are you okay?”

“Don’t you already know the answer?” I gestured toward my nose, where his shadows had just been.

His golden irises flashed black.

“I’m fine.”

“Are you lying to me, Hellion?”

“No.” At least not in any way that mattered to him.

On the outside, I had a few insignificant slices on my face. But inside, everything was pain—like someone had reached into my body and squeezed all my organs to the brink of rupturing .

I just hoped I could hold back the scream clawing my throat for the rest of the day. If I allowed my thoughts to take form for even one second, I wouldn’t be able to hold it together. And I still had to train with the Tormentors.

I ripped my chin from Ronen’s grip. “Something’s wrong with Lucifer, and I’m not sure if it’s my fault or something else.”

“Why would you think it’s your fault?” he asked, gently rolling Lucifer onto his back. He checked his pulse, nodding when he felt it.

“Because I have more energy than I used to, and he seems to have less.”

Ronen unbuckled the armor on Lucifer’s arms.

“What are you doing?”

He ignored my question, yanking off Lucifer’s arm braces. “Has he runed you?”

“No. Why?”

Ronen pushed up Lucifer’s sleeves, revealing five active runes carved into his arms. One I recognized: the Ligamen Rune between him and Oliver—his end of the deal not yet complete. The other four were the same symbol, just in various shades of gray, their power fading.

“What are they?”

“Transference Runes,” Ronen said grimly. “They work like a Wrath Rune, transferring energy to another person. They’re used in battle. When some of our warriors are weak, the stronger and re-freshed ones give them a portion of their energy.”

I didn’t have any new runes. So he wasn’t giving energy to me. But who?—

“My mom,” I answered aloud. “He’s giving his energy to my mom.”

“Which means she’s taking less from you.”

And every time Lucifer used his powers, he drained himself.

I almost sighed with relief. For a moment, I thought I’d caused his sickness. But in a way, I did every time we trained. Which meant we’d have to stop. At least until we killed Michael.

Ronen grabbed Lucifer’s arm, twisting it before taking off his glove and grazing a finger over the raised marks.

“What?”

“I need to get him to Sam.”

There was more he wasn’t telling me. I could tell by his furrowed brows and calculating expression.

“What aren’t you saying?”

He shook his head. “Nothing I’m sure of yet. Do you have another of Sam’s crystals?”

I pulled out the little yellow energy boost I took everywhere and handed it to him.

He placed the crystal in the center of Lucifer’s hand, cupped his palm, and helped him squeeze. A burst of light flared between their knuckles, and color rushed back into Lucifer’s face. The bags under his eyes lightened, and he already looked healthier. But he didn’t wake.

“You better get going.”

But Ronen didn’t move from his crouch beside me.

“What are you waiting for? His death?” I joked, though it lacked any humor. Beneath my chaotic emotions, a sliver of worry crept in.

Ronen gave me a long, irritated look. “I can only carry one person while flying. ”

“So?”

He had to leave. I needed a moment to gather the pieces slipping through my fingers, to build up a more substantial wall for the rest of the day. I couldn’t do that while he was still here.

His expression darkened.

“I’ll be fine. We killed them all.”

He didn’t look convinced. I saw the indecision warring in his face, pulsing in his jaw.

“He’s the King of Hell. His life is more important than mine. Plus, I have Miss Soul-Consumer over here.” I hooked a thumb at Rune.

Her shadow tail curled with speed, knowing I was talking about her. She stared into the foggy forest ahead, watching for threats and refusing to acknowledge us any more than that.

“If I were anyone else, you’d already be gone.”

“But you’re not anyone else,” he growled.

I blinked, too emotionally spent to interpret it.

“He tasked me to keep you safe.”

“Exactly. You answer to him. So you need to save him.”

What was he waiting for? Sam’s crystal only lasted so long.

Ronen stood, rolling his tongue across his teeth as he glared down at us.

“I answer to no one, Hellion.”

“Last I checked, there was only one King of Hell—one ruler. Unless I missed something, you’re a general. A large step below a king.”

Maybe his big ego was talking. But I didn’t care. I just wanted him gone .

He refrained from commenting, breathing deeply like he was gathering patience.

“What if there are more infected souls?” he asked.

“Then Rune will eat them, and I’ll sit back and plug my ears while she does,” I replied. “You should already be in the air. Leave .”

His shadows tore out of him, sliding chaotically around his body and infusing his irises. He unstrapped one of his swords from his back and threw it at me. I caught it before it could smack my nose and held it like it might unsheathe itself and slice my head off.

“Stay on Rune,” he said, his voice sharp. “And only use my sword if you absolutely need to.”