Mora said we didn’t know how to kill these demons, but this was the answer.
Me.
The power of a purely woken seraph, the scorching effervescence that only my myth-born magic could conjure. And the counter to the demonic being before me. I twisted the blade, relishing every small give between bone and muscle.
Too late, the red-headed gorgon released another two arrows. They whizzed toward me, but my attention was so intensely focused, I dodged without even a glance up. Instead, Iwatched the poisoned blood of the gorgon seep across my hand. The light fade from her red-rimmed eyes.
Wrath poured through my body, every drop of Angelblood and Godsblood burning with it. Seraph power fanning those hungry flames.
My frustration and confusion from not finding Aimee collided with the fear for Tolek and betrayal of the Angels—with my hatred for Echnid for what he’d done to Malakai and the torrent of guilt at releasing the god upon the realms. The emotions strung together, becoming the ballad my blood beat to as I reveled in the power of the last seraph.
And I twisted the blade of light deeper in the gorgon’s chest before shoving her to the ground.
Without a glance, I sent another whip at the gorgons circling me, forcing them back. My magic acted as a sixth sense, feeling where I couldn’t reach and defending where I couldn’t see.
The red-headed woman in front of me was unfazed by the death of her comrade, the brutal, heartless demon snapping out a pair of fangs with a gleaming smile. She dug them into her wrist, two perfect circles of blood forming along her pale skin.
And she flashed that crimson-pointed grin at me. “Care to try?”
Mist gathered around the edges of our circle, my nerves spiking.
“No, thank you,” I said sweetly, despite the seraph turning feral within me. “I prefer living. And though I’m certain my magic could overpower yours, it would be such a tragic waste of a day.”
Challenge flared in her stare, the red hue deepening. “I promise it will be rich,” she said with a saccharine smile, extending her arm. “The sweetest thing you’ve ever tasted, and with your beauty, it will only make you more…desirable.”
The others released low laughs at her attempt to prey on the mortal need to feel alluring as lore claimed the gorgons often did.
Around us, white mist pressed closer. It chilled me to my bones, biting at my resolve. Coaxing it to bend and wither.He is trying to protect us.
I shook my head.
No, no, no.
Echnid was getting closer. He was stretching out that influence, seeking what might still linger in my veins, what torment I hadn’t yet overcome.
I’d hoped he sent the gorgons and Thorn on this attack, but it was a fool’s wish. The god was desperate to accomplish his revenge, and for whatever reason, that included me.
With an anguished lash of power, I burst out five beams of razor-sharp Angellight, striking each of the women surrounding me. They hissed and cried, stumbling back, scorch marks marring their flawless skin.
“It’s your future,” the red-headed gorgon tutted.
Then, before my eyes, her hair shifted. The long, fiery strands became whipping heads of snakes.Hissespoured across the sand, slithering and writhing until it felt like the ghostly tails of their masters were twisting up my legs.
I couldn’t lift a foot—bend a knee. I was summoned by their blood-red eyes.
Don’t look at them, I reminded myself as I fought to flex my fingers. Death laid in those eyes when she shifted to her non-human form, and her skin was paling by the second, leathery wings extending behind her.
Digging within myself, I blasted as much Angellight as I could muster at the gorgon, wrapped her in a typhoon of my own making. The woman screeched, snake hair hissing violently. Her skin sizzled and blistered beneath my light.
Seraph magic heals, I repeated Damien’s words as I gritted my teeth and dug my boots into the sand. It seeks to restore and balance under the hands of the gods?—
And it was boiling her gorgon blood.
Her poisoned blood.
Attempting to purge the taint from the inside out. Another weakness for our artillery.
I wrapped the entire pocket of mist with light, targeting each of the gorgons. As my power mounted, their shrieks ripped through the air. They clawed at my magic.
