The demon plummeted, hoarse screams fading as it fell, torn wings flapping futilely. At the last second, Sunshine closed her eyes to avoid watching it splatter as it hit the ground, cries silencing abruptly.
Raum swooped again, and a moment later, he landed neatly beside the shattered remains. He set Sunshine down, who stumbled slightly from her shock.
“By the Spheres!” she shouted before she could stop herself. “Why did you do that?”
“We need to kill a demon,” Raum said, shifting back to human form. He stalked toward the bloodied remains that Sunshine was still trying not to look at.
“He was just sitting there, cooking his dinner. He didn’t do anything. We can’t just murder him in cold blood!”
Raum pinned her with a piercing look. “He’s a demon. They’re evil, remember?”
She sputtered. “But—”
“That’s why you made that bargain with me, isn’t it? Because you wouldn’t hesitate to kill a demon in cold blood. That’s why your threat worked, right?”
She swallowed her protest. If she denied it, he would know how she’d manipulated him. “You’re right,” she said stiffly, forcing her voice to be level. “I don’t care if you kill him.”
“Pass me one of your knives.” His stare never wavered. His voice was level.
With a hand that shook slightly, she unsheathed her blade and passed it to him. On Earth, he wouldn’t be able to touch it without it burning through his flesh. In Hell, however, the weapon had no extra power.
She watched with quiet horror as Raum swung the knife and decapitated the splattered demon with a single strike, the blade hitting the soil with a heavy thud.
He passed it back without wiping it, staring at her as if daring her to react to the violence.
She did not. She would not. Instead, she pulled a rag from the pouch on her belt, carefully wiped the blade, and resheathed the weapon at her thigh.
If there was one thing an angel was practiced at, it was maintaining an even temperament through any trial. Hours of meditation and strict discipline ensured they could remain level-headed at all times. No matter what turmoil raged within, she knew how to project a calm facade.
The next several minutes were equally gruesome as Raum proceeded to use the decapitated demon’s blood to draw a sigil on the ground. When he finished the last line, the entire circle burst into flames, and she realized he had just summoned hellfire.
Without hesitation, Raum dragged the pieces of the demon’s carcass into the flames and then stood back and watched them burn.
Demons could regenerate even from decapitation, but incineration with hellfire would permanently destroy it. It was a grave transgression of the rules to kill a demon without sanction. Yet here Sunshine stood, watching it happen.
Was there no line she wouldn’t cross to regain her rank? Would she even be worthy of it at the end, after all she’d done to get there?
She was discovering a side of herself she hadn’t known existed. There was a part of her that was calculating and cold and would do anything to achieve her aims. It scared her a little, but not enough for her to stop.
She and Raum stood side by side while the demon was cremated, her eyes stinging from the stench. He was right; the smell was awful.
“I can’t believe I’m complicit in murder,” she murmured, shaking her head.
“If it makes you feel any better, he was in the middle of roasting another demon.” Raum pointed to their victim’s campfire, and she saw the meat on a stick he’d been cooking over the flames before he’d been captured.
Upon closer inspection, she distinguished the shape of another creature impaled on the stick. Bones, skin, teeth, and all. Its charred face was still open in a silent scream, eyes burnt out of their sockets.
She grimaced. “How awful.” But she had to admit it brought a measure of relief. “Won’t a demon survive being eaten like that?”
“Yep. They’ll regenerate right in the pile of shit. And you know we don’t need to eat to survive. This guy was cannibalized just for kicks.”
“That’s horrific.” Her guilt had all but vanished at this point.
Raum had the audacity to laugh.
Finally, their victim finished incinerating, and the hellfire was extinguished. What remained at the center of the circle was a pile of gray ash.
“Now what?” she asked hesitatingly, staring at the pile.
