Her blood went cold as she glanced down at the cuff on her wrist and saw the Sheolic sigils carved into it.
The Hunter bared sharp teeth in her face and said, “Tell him yourself.”
22
Angel’s Advocate
Without her ability to flash, Sunshine was unable to overpower the towering demon. To his credit, Mist didn’t try to injure her, but he wasn’t gentle as he forced her to follow him.
He obviously knew the layout of the building well because he dragged her across the roof to a particular corner and simply dropped off the edge. His wings flared to break their fall as they landed on the balcony of their apartment.
Mist opened the patio door, keeping a firm grip on her arm. At this point, she was going along willingly, even if it was stupid. She wanted to make sure Raum was okay.
Her concern morphed rapidly into alarm as they stepped inside and were met with chaos. Raum’s enormous four-winged demon form was locked in a furious tussle with a massiveflamingBelial.
Around them, the ceiling and walls were blackened with scorch marks. The dining table was on its side, and dishes and decorative items had been shattered. It seemed that anything breakable had been destroyed.
Mist and Sunshine had both frozen in shock, which told her that this had not been part of the plan. That small second of reflection was all she allowed herself before she sprang into action.
She reflexively tried to flash out of Mist’s grip, failed again, and then simply swung a hand around to strike him in the throat. Distracted by the mayhem, the Hunter didn’t see the hit coming, and his recoil gave her the opportunity to tug her arm from his grip.
“Raum!” she shouted, running into the fray. She had no idea what she intended to do against Belial, especially with her abilities bound, but she knew she had to do something. She didn’t want Raum to be hurt.
The giant demon bird swung his head around, noticing her. The hesitation cost him, and Belial struck him with a punch that would surely flatten a human’s skull. Raum retaliated viciously, flaring his wings and launching into Belial, shredding him with his talons and tearing at his skin with his beak. But Belial didn’t go down and continued striking with powerful blows, and of course, he wason firethe whole time.
“Stop!” Sunshine shouted, forgetting all sense of self-preservation and running straight toward the furiously battling demons. “That’s enough!”
Miracle of miracles…they actually listened to her.
They came apart, and Sunshine immediately put herself between them. Turning her back on Belial—possibly unwise since he surely wanted her dead—Sunshine faced Raum. She reached up to stroke his sharp beak. “Are you okay?”
Before her eyes, he shifted to his scaly half demon form, quickly tugging his hoodie off so his wings could appear. They were covered in glossy black feathers and looked silky to touch—just like in her dream.
She hadn’t seen them until this moment, but somehow she’d dreamed them perfectly.
Meanwhile, the flames surrounding Belial extinguished, and he regained his ‘normal’ towering height. He’d managed to retain his clothing despite the hellfire, which evidently didn’t burn him. His pale blond hair now hung past his broad shoulders—having grown when he succumbed to the rage during the fight—and his fists were clenched so hard she could count half a dozen veins on each forearm.
The two brothers pinned each other with furious glares. Hellfire blazed in Belial’s eyes, obscuring the blue iris and black pupil.
“Repair the ward, Mishetsu,” he growled.
Sunshine glanced back at the Hunter and found him already over by the patio door, using his own blood to complete the interrupted sigil on the wall, which had allowed Sunshine to enter. He must have interrupted it before coming to grab her with the cuff.
It seemed they’d had time to prepare. She wasn’t sure what to make of that.
“What the fuck, Bel?” Raum was vibrating with tension, and the hand Sunshine placed on his arm seemed to be the only thing holding him back. She’d never seen him so angry. She’d barely seen him angry at all, in fact.
“It’s for your own protection,” Belial said. “You’ve been compromised—”
“What the fuck does that mean!”
“I don’t know what kind of contract this angel forced you into, but I can’t risk letting you go until you get your free will back.”
“She’s not forcing me to do anything.”
“I can’t know that. You know how it is when a demon is bound.”
As much as she hated to admit it, Sunshine knew he was right. Shehadforced Raum into a contract. Shehadbound his free will. And he couldn’t tell his brothers about it because he was incapable of speaking about it.
