“Like I said, he likes to rip people’s heads off. And then he likes to eat them.” She lifted her hand to her amulet and squeezed tight. “It’s probably been awhile since anyone has ventured into any of his villages. So, he’s likely to be hungry.”
“He eats people, but he’s not a blood demon, right?”
Lilith sniffed. “I don’t appreciate the comparison. I drink blood as sustenance. He eats to cause violent chaos.”
“What is he then?” Rourke asked.
“A death demon,” Lilith said. “He craves it. He seeks it out. It’s the only thing that can keep him alive, just as blood keeps me alive, just as water keeps water demons alive.”
And just like fire kept fire demons alive…and yet, I rarely needed the flames, if ever.
“He’s getting close,” Ramiel said, voice firm and hard, our love life arguments now seemingly forgotten. But I knew he was still stewing, even if he put on a brave face. “Anything else we need to know, Lilith?”
“He’s one of the only demons in the realm that has wings. So, he’s kind of hard to beat.”
Chapter Twenty
Erela
“Wings?” I pushed back from the window and stared at Lilith, my heart pounding hard in my chest. The water demon’s words rang in my ears. Everyone else had dismissed what she had told me. They didn’t believe that something might be amiss with my wings. The thing was, demons didn’t have wings. Fallen angels did have wings, but they were trapped inside their backs. Only angels had command of the skies. If demons wanted to fly, they had to use creatures of night. To hear that there was a demon who had wings? Well…I couldn’t help but wonder what that meant.
Lilith gave a nod, oblivious to my reaction. She hadn’t been on the boat when the water demons had attacked, and I hadn’t yet told her what the female had said. Partly because everyone else had dismissed her words. It hadn’t felt important. Until now.
“I didn’t think demons could have wings,” I said, my voice hitching up on the last word.
Lilith lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “They don’t. Most of the time. What’s the big deal? I know it will make this fight a little bit more difficult than it normally would be, but there’s no need to freak out over it. I’m much more concerned about the fact that he likes to rip people’s heads off.”
Uriel sidled up to us. “Erela has the idea in her head that there’s something different about her wings.”
“Something different?”
“Yeah, the fact that I might be able to use them,” I said.
Lilith blinked at me. “That’s impossible. Fallen angels cannot use their wings.”
“Yeah, but demons aren’t supposed to have wings, and yet that one out there apparently has a pair. Who’s to say I can’t use mine too?”
“Who’s to say you can?”
“A little water demon told her on the boat ride over,” Uriel said. “We keep trying to tell her that the demon was just messing with her, but, well, you know Erela.”
I shot him a glare.
“You guys,” Isaac said from where he still stood with his nose pressed up against the window. “I’m just as interested in this wing situation as you are, but the head-eating horse dude is about five seconds away from breaking down the door.”
Ramiel rushed into the center of the room, sliding his sword out of its sheath. “Everyone, get out your weapons. He cannot use his wings inside this house. As terrifying as he might be, we far outnumber him. Get ready.”
But the head-eating horse dude did not enter the building when he reached its front steps. Instead, he merely took post just outside, the horse pacing back and forth in front of the door, the sound of its hooves casting an ominous tap, tap, tap into the sudden quietness of the room. I raised my eyebrows and glanced at Lilith. This was unexpected. And I wasn’t entirely sure that I liked it. Why was he just pacing outside? If he wanted to kill us, why wouldn’t he come inside?
“He’s not an idiot,” Lilith said dryly. “He knows he cannot beat us inside, and he also knows that we cannot stay in here forever. While most of us can survive without sustenance for quite a long time, we have a human with us. He needs water and food.”
Shit. I certainly hadn’t thought about that. Lilith was right. Angels partook of food and water for strength. We could survive without it, but we were much more powerful when we fuelled our bodies. Demons were much like us. They didn’t need food either, even though they enjoyed it. Depending on the type of demon, they did need certain things to survive, like blood or water or fire. Humans, on the other hand, couldn’t go very long without a drink of water, and we hadn’t exactly brought any with us. There was some in the truck back on earth, but it wasn’t like we’d expected to get shoved through a portal to hell with no way back.
Slowly, in unison, we all swivelled toward Rourke. His face had gone a brutal shade of white. “So, we either have to go out there and face the flying head guy or I’m going to die of dehydration and starvation?”
“I’m not going to let you die of starvation, sweetheart.” Lilith placed both of her palms on Rourke’s meaty chest and gazed up at him with a mixture of fear and adoration pasted across her face.
“Now, wait a minute,” Isaac said, stumbling forward as if he’d been drinking some of those beers he liked so much from the Halfway Zone pub. He’d only just joined us, and he was still suffering the effects of falling from the celestial skies. “You’re going to have to fill me in here. Somehow, Erela and Lizzie, you’ve ended up joining the Order of the Fallen, right? Then, somewhere along the way, you became friends with the demon and a human. Can you explain to me exactly what is going on?”
“It’s a long story,” Lizzie and I said in unison.
“And you’re definitely sure it’s a good idea to go out there and face that thing just because we want a human to get some water?” He asked, lifting an eyebrow. “I mean, wouldn’t it be better to just wait out the demon? He’ll get bored soon enough. And he needs death, doesn’t he? When he realizes we aren’t going to come out, he’ll go in search of more victims.”
Lilith flared her nostrils, and she sucked a deep breath into her lungs, making her appear twice as tall and commanding as she had before. Her body practically buzzed with darkness and electricity, her skin shimmering from the force of the demon inside of her pushing and pushing to get out. This was the side of Lilith that she never showed. It was the side of her that she always pushed down. Just not now. Not when Rourke’s life was at stake.
“Listen to me, little angel. I know you’re a friend of Erela, and that is the only thing keeping me from wrapping my hand around your throat right now. We will not sacrifice Rourke, an innocent human who has done nothing but help us every step of the way. You want to know why your friends got anywhere near the portal? Because Rourke volunteered to sail them here. He risked his life to try and help close this portal. So, you damn well better show him some respect. And you should think twice about suggesting we sacrifice his life to save our own skin. Do it again, and you’ll see why I’m a demon, not an angel.”
“Damn,” Uriel said with a chuckle just as Az let out a low whistle.
Red filled Isaac’s cheeks, and he glanced to me. “Erela? You’re seriously friends with this demon?”
I merely gave him a shrug. “I know it’s hard to believe, but she’s right, Isaac. Rourke risked his life to get us here, and he sacrificed his blood to Lilith to make her strong enough to help us close the portal. But…even if he hadn’t done all that, you have to know that sacrificing a human to save our own skin is never the right choice.”
He winced and cast a glance at the ground. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t really looking at it like that, but you’re right. It’s hard to remember exactly how important humans are when we’re told day in and day out that they don’t really matter. That the Lower Realm doesn’t matter.” He shot Lilith—and Rourke—an apologetic look. “The Academy. They kind of see things one way and one way only.”
“Apology
accepted,” Lilith said with a sniff before turning to Ramiel. “Now, what are we going to do to defeat this thing?”
Ramiel gave a nod, the relief on his face plain to see. He’d looked pained during the entire confrontation. Now that we were back to the business of fighting, we were back in his comfortable wheelhouse. As we all gathered in close, he dropped his voice to a low whisper. “First, we’re going to need some kind of distraction. Erela, I’d like you to launch a fireball. I realize it could go anywhere, but that’s the point. Distract him while we all get a chance to rush outside.”
I frowned, but I couldn’t fault his reasoning. “You know I don’t like using my fire powers.”
“And I normally wouldn’t ask you,” he said, pressing his lips into a thin line. “Your powers are far too volatile. This situation, however, seems to warrant their use.”
I loosed a breath. “Fine. I’ll see what I can do.”
“That’s all fine and dandy,” Uriel said, raising an eyebrow. “But what do we do once we’re outside, and he keeps picking us off one by one with his flight skills?”
“Arrows,” Ramiel said. “And swords when he’s on the ground. Listen, I know the legend of him makes him seem terrifying, but we are the Order of the Fallen.”
“And a demon,” Lilith interjected.
Rourke grunted. “Don’t forget me.”
We all turned toward him and shouted, “You’re staying inside!”
* * *
I opened a window and lobbed a fireball at the house on the other side of the street. Instead of hitting my mark, it careened down the abandoned street like a tumbleweed. Fine. Whatever. I didn’t need it to hit the house anyway. And it did the trick. The fireball caught the demon’s attention, and he turned toward the mess while we all piled outside.
Of course, he heard us. He twisted his horse back around, and I couldn’t help but stumble back a step at the pure, unbridled power that shimmered off his body in waves. I swallowed hard, my hands trembling while they held tight to their twin daggers. Uriel stood just behind me, his bow nocked with an arrow that would pierce through any skin, demon or not.
The horse sniffed at the air, and the demon smiled. “I thought it would take far longer to break you down.”
His voice was like ice and death all mixed into one, a scratching, deep sound that slithered down my spine. It was all I could do not to scream, turn around, and run. But I knew that if I so moved an inch, he would take that as a sign to charge. He revelled in the chase, the game of it all. He wanted to terrify us. He wanted us scared. He wanted to chase us down.
I wet my lips and held my ground. Head fetish or not, I wasn’t going to let this demon get under my skin. All of our lives depended on how well we could keep our shit together, and I wasn’t going to be the one to screw up, not this time.
The demon’s eyes scanned our group, the strange ensemble that it was. His gaze paused on Lilith, then me, then…Rourke. Dammit. He hadn’t stayed inside.
The demon cocked his head, curiosity lighting up in his eyes. From what I could see, at least. Most of his face was hidden behind his steel helmet. “Interesting group we have here. Certainly different than most of the trespassers I come across. Fallen angels. A demon. A human. And a Nephilim.”
Damn it all to hell. How could he tell what I was? This was the second time this had happened.
I tightened my grip on my blades as I shifted on my feet. “How do you know what I am?”
He let out a deep chuckle that sounded more like daggers down a chalkboard than laughter. “Because I am Nephilim, too.”
What?!
There were a million questions I wanted to ask. So many questions that I no longer cared what this demon liked to do with heads. How could this demon be the same as me? He was nothing like Sam. Nothing like me. Right? I mean, all I had to do was look at him to know that he was drenched in terrible demonic power. How could this creature be part angel?
It was like all my fears were becoming fully realized. If he was Nephilim, if he was this dark and this evil, then what did that make me? Was this what I would become if I embraced the demon side of me?
But I didn’t get to ask those questions.
He charged.
Chapter Twenty-One
Erela
I don’t know why I wasn’t expecting the demon to launch an attack, but he totally caught me off guard. Maybe that was his plan the whole time. Drop the bomb about being Nephilim, distract me with that information, and then take us all out before we even knew what hit us. Of course, the others were prepared. Uriel got off a shot of his arrow before the horse could slam right into my body. It stopped short, neighing in pain. Wings ripped out of the back of the demon. A pair of pitch black wings that spanned out behind him. He rose off his horse as his wings beat heavily against the air, lifting high into the sky, pulling his sword from his sheath. It glinted against the light of the moon, and the demon’s smile stretched into a wide, evil grin.
“Nice try,” he called down to us. “But you’ll have to do a lot better than that to keep your heads on your bodies.”
Okay, time to get myself together. I needed to focus on the fight at hand, not on the fact that this demon, the one with wings, was just like me. The one who killed. The one who ate bodies. The one who rode around with severed heads hanging from his waist.
I wasn’t like him. Just because he was evil, didn’t mean I was, too. Right?
“Get it together, Erela,” Uriel said with a hiss from behind me. He inched closer, his eyes focused on the demon soaring around in circles above us. In the background, I heard the unmistakable whoosh of arrows as Ramiel and Sam lobbed their own attacks at the demon. Attacks that missed, the arrows falling back to the ground and sinking deep into the earth. “I know you’re caught off guard by what he said. Just ignore it for now, okay? You know he did this on purpose. You know he understood the reaction he would get. You cannot let him get to you. You’re stronger than that.”
But was I? I turned to glance over my shoulder and met Uriel’s eyes. There was so much conviction in them, so much faith, so much trust. If he could believe in me, maybe I could, too.
With a shuddering breath, I turned my attention back toward the demon soaring above us. He started to descend again, so quickly that it was impossible to follow his movements. He raised his sword high, hurtling straight toward Rourke. The human. Of course he would take the weakest of us out first, picking us off until there was nothing left but the strongest. The strongest, who he could fight one on one.
I glanced at Ramiel, and we exchanged a look, understanding passing between us as he dropped his bow to the ground, pulling the sword out of his sheath. Together, we both charged in Rourke’s direction, our weapons raised high before us. Lilith spotted our charge, and she grabbed Rourke shoulders, pulling him back just as the demon slammed into the ground. Black dust rose up in a thick cloud all around us. Ramiel and I reached the demon together, but it was impossible to see each other through the dust. Not only that, but it was impossible to see the demon, too.
I swung my blade blindly, wishing and hoping that it would find its mark. There was nothing there other than air.
“Erela,” Lizzie screamed from somewhere in the distance. I stumbled out of the fog, blinking in the direction of Lizzie’s shouts. Somehow, the demon had gone from here to there, and he had one arm twisted around Lizzie’s neck. His sword was only inches away from slicing her in half. Isaac was standing just off to the side, his entire body trembling as he tried and failed to keep a heavy sword raised up before him. He had not been out of Celestia long enough to be able to fight against this demon. My heart hammered hard. If I didn’t do something, and fast, both of them would die.
“None of you come any closer,” the demon said. All of us slowed our steps, our bodies going still as we stared at where the demon had Lizzie trapped.
“Let her go,” I said, my voice trembling. “Killing her like this is a mistake. The second you do it, all our arrows wil
l pierce right into you.” I waved behind me, hoping that I hadn’t made a mistake in suggesting that my fellow Fallen were equipped with arrows, ones they’d aimed right at the demon. “We’re at close range, and you aren’t flying around. They won’t miss the mark. Not with all of their training.”
The demon sneered. “You are trespassers on my land, and I demand payment. Payment in the form of death. I will not let you go until I get it.”
“Then, kill me instead.” My voice trembled, but I didn’t hesitate to speak the sacrifice aloud. The words of the prophecy rang in my ear. Maybe it had been half-right and half-wrong. Maybe the words had been translated incorrectly. Maybe I would die saving someone I loved, after all. Maybe someone I loved as a friend, as a sister.
The demon’s grin widened, and his grip on Lizzie loosened. “I have never tasted Nephilim blood. I accept that trade.”
“Erela, no,” Az, Ramiel, and Sam all said as one. But there was no stopping me. I was already by the demon’s side before any of them could grab my arms to pull me back. With a light cackle, the demon let go of Lizzie and pushed her forward. For a moment, she faltered, her eyes wide, her head shaking slowly back and forth.
“Erela. Please don’t do this,” she whispered.
But I had already made up my mind. Because I had an idea.
When the demon greedily grabbed my arms, I closed my eyes and called to the fire inside of me. My anger, pain, and rage boiled through me, heating up my body from the inside out. I calmed my heart, slowed my breathing, let the full intensity of my power wash over me. My insides burned.
And then so did my outsides. I didn’t have to open my eyes to know that flames had now consumed every inch of my skin, burning my clothes to a crisp. Burning the hands that held tight to my arms. The demon let out a shriek, and his grip on me fell away. Without another word, I ducked low to the ground.
Nebulous: Order of the Fallen - Book Two Page 11
