He shook gold angel dust and snow from his wings as he stopped before us with his legs spread and a thunderous expression on his face. “They’re coming.”
“Pride and Death?” I inquired, though I already knew the answer.
“Yes, and an army of craetons.”
My blood ran cold as I recalled Wrath’s words about them coming for him specifically. “How many?”
“At least a hundred, but the trees obscured my view; there could be more.”
“They’ve gathered an army from Eldorata,” I said.
“An army of the dead and freshly risen,” Fiora murmured.
Her words sent a shiver down my spine, but they described this approaching army perfectly.
Chapter Forty-One
Bale
From the fourth floor of the hotel, the highest level in the building, I caught glimpses of the army coming toward us. The only problem was, I couldn’t see many of them as the snow and trees obstructed my view. I caught a glimpse of Death before he vanished. Not knowing where that monstrosity was bothered me more than the hundred or so craetons marching toward us.
I didn’t see Pride, but he was out there, somewhere. Beside me, Wrath had his hand resting over the top of the windowpane as he leaned forward to peer down the mountain. The tension thrumming through him belied his casual posture.
I feared for him more than I did myself. He was right; the horsemen wouldn’t stop until they killed him.
My hand tightened on my sword as I held it by my side. I would slaughter every last one of these bastards before I let Pride and Death get their hands on Wrath. They would punish him for his betrayal and make him suffer. I refused to let that happen; he’d suffered enough behind the seal.
“It’s time to go fight,” Wrath said and started to turn away from the window.
Before he could step away from me, I seized his thickly muscled wrist. Beneath my hand, his muscles bunched, and his eyes were black shards of ice when they met mine. I didn’t know what to say; I wasn’t sure there was anything I could say as emotions clogged my throat.
“Don’t worry, I’m tough to kill,” he said with a smile that showed the hint of his dimple.
Before I could respond, he broke my hold on him, clasped my cheeks in his palms, and kissed me. The short, fierce kiss left me breathless when he pulled back. His gaze searched mine before he released me and turned away, but not before I saw the flash of fire in his eyes.
The emotion swelling inside me twisted and shifted until it became something I couldn’t quite identify. I hadn’t known him for long, a part of me still believed we might have to destroy him one day, but I couldn’t imagine my life without him.
I’d never considered myself alone in this world, not even after I lost my parents and Fiora. I still had my king, Corson, and my friends. I still had my cause and battles to fight.
I never realized, until he walked into my life, that I was lonely. Before him, I’d never woken in the arms of another, but I found myself cherishing every morning I woke in his arms. And after today, that might not happen again.
But then, after today, the worst of this war could be over. Hope surged through me, but I stifled it. There was still a battle to fight before that possibility might become a reality. I glanced at the windows and straightened my shoulders. They were coming to destroy us all, but I wouldn’t let them win.
“They have an army, and so do we,” Magnus said.
As I stared out the window, demons started to materialize in the snow. Replicas of us, the hounds, Wrath, Zorn, and demons who weren’t with us, emerged amid the evergreens in front of the hotel. I saw some of River and Kobal; the ones of Kobal would provide a good distraction as I was sure many of the craetons would go for the king first.
I studied the battlefield the front of the hotel was soon to become. The trees closest to the building were far smaller than the mass of trees fifty feet away. The land in front of the building must have been clear before and probably made up of grass. When the gateway opened and the humans fled the Wilds, the trees crept in to take it over again.
More demons materialized amid the smaller trees until Magnus’s illusions numbered close to two hundred. The illusions wouldn’t deter the craetons for long, but it would keep some of them distracted long enough for the real versions of us to move against them.
“We should get down there,” Corson said. “We have to be standing with the illusions when they arrive.”
“We have a problem,” I said.
“And what’s that?” Magnus asked.
“The illusions don’t make marks in the snow, we do.”
They all turned to look at the figments standing in the snow.
“Shit,” Shax said.
“Send the hounds out,” Wrath said from where he stood by the door. “Have them bound through the snow and tear it up. They won’t be able to tell who’s leaving marks and who isn’t after that.”
“Good idea,” Amalia said.
“Let’s go,” Corson said. Clasping Wren’s hand, he brought it to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. They embraced before Corson led the way out of the room.
Wrath
Standing near the front of the building, I waited with Bale for Pride and Death to arrive. They wouldn’t come with the first wave of fighters; that wasn’t the way they worked. The way I had worked with them. No, they would send in those they believed far more disposable first, which was most of their army.
If those demons were slaughtered, they might retreat, which was something I couldn’t allow to happen. This had to end today. I would not spend the next day, week, month, or year not knowing where they were or when they would next appear.
I’d never expected to find myself standing on this side of things, and I’d still very much like to kill the varcolac, but I wouldn’t walk away from Bale, and my decision to kill War had placed a bull’s-eye on my back. I couldn’t allow my fellow horsemen to live, because they would not let Bale or me live. And I would do anything to keep her safe.
I flexed my hands as my gaze traveled over the demons gathered around us. The illusions made it look as if our numbers were in the hundreds, but not including the hounds, there were only two dozen of us.
We’d all separated to stand in the middle of the illusions. We were small traps scattered throughout to ensnare our enemies. The hounds had done a good job of tearing up the snow, so it was impossible to tell the fresh prints from the old ones.
They outnumbered us, but we had the golden angel. Pride and Death knew this, so they were either hoping their numbers could overtake ours before Raphael could do much damage, or they had a plan for him. I couldn’t fathom what that plan might be, but my fellow horsemen weren’t stupid.
Caim soared back into view and dove from the sky in his raven form. When he landed in front of Fiora, he transformed back into a man and shook the snow from his wings.
The wind howled through the trees, but most of the ones around us were only fifteen or twenty feet tall, with much smaller trunks. Some were only a couple of feet tall, and a few were tiny ones fighting to survive. Once the enemy made it to this patch of smaller trees, we would be able to see them better, and they wouldn’t be able to hide from us.
I lifted my sword from where I’d planted it in the snow. The weapon had come from Lix; the skellein hadn’t looked thrilled about handing it over to me, but he eventually released the blade, took a sip from his flask, and turned away from me.
I figured his release of the blade was a small concession to him liking me, so I grinned and promised not to kill him with it. This promise amused him a lot less than it did me.
“They're only fifty yards away,” Caim said. “They have some interesting demons with them.”
“Then those are the ones I’ll take out first,” Raphael said.
The golden angel planted his feet in the snow that nearly reached his knees. When sparks of life emerged at the tips of his fingers, an uneasy feeling churned in my gut. I was standing beh
ind him now, but I knew what he could unleash with his power, and I didn’t want it “accidentally” directed at me.
However, though he had less loyalty to all those around me than the other demons gathered here, he wouldn’t purposely hurt Bale either. Still, I didn’t like being so close to this heavenly power.
Death and Pride knew what he could do with it, yet they were still coming. It made no sense to me. We were sneakier than this. We manipulated others into doing our bidding, but we weren’t at full power yet, and they wouldn’t be strong enough to affect everyone here. And I suspected none of us were strong enough to have any kind of effect on Raphael.
An uneasy feeling crept down my spine. “Caim, what’s behind the hotel?”
Caim looked to me and frowned. “Nothing but more trees.”
“Are you sure there’s not more craetons coming at us from behind?”
“I surveyed the land a few minutes ago; there’s no one there.”
“Survey it again.”
Caim stared at the brick building separating us from the trees behind us. His gaze flicked to me before going to Fiora.
“I know them,” I said. “They wouldn’t come at us like this unless they had something else planned. We haven’t lived this long because we’re reckless.”
Without a word, Caim rose into the air and transformed into a raven before flying out of view.
“What do you think is going on?” Hawk demanded from where he stood fifty feet away with Aisling.
“I don’t know.” But I didn’t tear my attention away from where Caim vanished. “But they know Raphael is here. After what we witnessed at the wall, there is no way Death and Pride would march straight at him. We don’t have any drakón, and your queen isn’t here, but Raphael is still enough of a deterrent for them to come up with another plan.”
“They can’t hide an army,” Magnus said. “I am the last and most powerful illusion demon alive, and it would drain me to attempt it.”
“I didn’t say they hid an army. They could have something else.”
“But what?” Bale asked.
“We don’t know what was at the other end of that tunnel in Eldorata. We don’t know everything frozen in the world Mytaz created.”
Lifting her chin, she set her jaw. “I don’t care what they throw at us; we’re going to destroy them all.”
“We will.” Though I wondered how many would die before that happened.
Then the dark angel flew around the side of the hotel with so much speed he blurred as he moved. Snow flew out in front of him as he skidded to the earth; he transformed into a man as he slid to a stop near Fiora.
“Raphael!” he shouted. “Incoming!”
The golden angel turned toward him as two creatures flew around the side of the building with the furry body of a beast, thick hind paws, massive claws, and the head of a bird, its lethal talons rivaled Caim’s when he was in raven form. Their red wings had a ten-foot wingspan that kicked up snow and blasted it across the land as they hurtled toward us.
It had been thousands of years since I last saw one, so it took me a couple of seconds to recognize the griffith. During the time they lived there, the ferocious beasts were feared by almost everyone residing in Hell. Like me, they relished unleashing terror on the unsuspecting.
They were known to perch high in the cliffs of Hell before descending on their unsuspecting prey. They would then use their beaks and talons to shred the flesh from their victim before devouring them whole. They savored the flesh and screams of their victims.
“What are those things?” Bale breathed.
“Griffiths,” I said as three more emerged from around the other side of the hotel.
“They’re all supposed to be dead,” Magnus said.
“We have no idea what was down the other end of the tunnel,” Bale said.
“Apparently, it was a bunch of monsters,” Shax said.
Just as the first griffith reached us, a horde of craetons poured out of the woods.
Chapter Forty-Two
Bale
My attention was torn between the enormous beasts soaring toward us and the horde of lower-level and upper-levels demons spilling out of the forest. Magnus’s illusions faded when they were touched, but they provided a distraction to the craetons who tried to slaughter them as they rushed forward.
Some of the hounds pounced and took down craetons while the others remained unmoving and watching amongst the illusions. Their eagerness to destroy emanated from them, but they would bide their time and wait until they could cause the most destruction.
Lix let out a battle cry and, raising his sword, charged across the earth. Unfortunately, the thick snow and his short legs hindered his charge. However, he managed to cover the distance far faster than I would have believed possible and lopped the head from an upper-level demon who was distracted with trying to kill a fake Shax.
Thrown up by the massive beast’s flight, snow peppered my face as one of them hurtled toward me. I lifted my sword as the griffith opened its maw. A yellow tongue flickered within and clicked against its beak as it released a roar that blew the hair back from my face.
Its talons curled as it looked to sink them into my flesh before shoving me down its throat. I’d never seen a griffith before, but I’d heard about them in whispered tales meant to frighten bad demon children into behaving. Those tales rarely worked, but these things were truly terrifying.
I ducked its grasping claws as it dropped lower. When I threw myself to the ground, snow slid into my sleeves, down my shirt, and into my pants. I burrowed into the white fluff before rolling over and thrusting my sword up. The blade plunged into the chest of the beast and nearly ripped the sword from my hands.
I clung to the hilt as it sliced through flesh and bone and tore the creature open from chest to belly. A wave of innards spilled out of it. I yanked my sword free and rolled in time to avoid taking the hot wash of its intestines to the face.
The griffith’s scream echoed over the land and was picked up by its friends until their cries reverberated off the mountains. I pushed myself up from the snow in time to see Wrath severing the creature’s wing. The injured animal hit the ground and plowed up the land as it skidded across the earth before coming to a stop near Aisling, who chopped off its head.
That head was still rolling when Hawk tackled her into the snow as another griffith dove at them. Its talons caught in Hawk’s shirt, and it started to lift him off the ground. Before it could rise more than a few feet, Raphael released a bolt of life that hit the creature in the chest.
The griffith’s scream echoed over the land and thundered in my head until I was sure it would forever haunt my nightmares. Just when I thought my eardrums were going to rupture, it burst into thousands of bloody pieces that rained over the earth. The closest to it, Hawk and Aisling were coated with the remains while bits and pieces pelted my face and stuck to my hair and clothes.
Magnus and Amalia had joined Lix in the battle against the craetons. New images, created by Magnus, continued to shimmer to life, but they weren’t as distracting anymore, and the craetons were fighting their way through them.
Scrambling to my feet, I jumped up as the remaining griffiths hooked a right and swooped over the smaller trees before swinging back toward us. I braced myself for another attack from them as more craetons spilled from the woods and a battle cry echoed over the land. The screams of the dying and the coppery stench of blood permeated the area as craetons and some of the palitons fell beneath the arcs of swords.
Shax ran to join Lix, Magnus, and Amalia as a horde of craetons rushed toward them. Kneeling in front of them, Shax rested his hands on the earth and bent his head. A rumbling started beneath my feet as the ground lurched.
Magnus and Amalia backed away as the rumbling increased. One of the griffiths swooped toward Raphael, but when he started to unleash his lifeforce, it twisted to the side and homed in on Corson and Wren.
Corson’s talons extended from the backs
of his hands, and he braced his legs apart as the thing dove straight at him. He held his ground as the beast opened its mouth wide, and its yellow tongue clicked excitedly. When Corson started to duck, the griffith adjusted its flight and sank its beak into Corson’s arm.
His shout abruptly cut off as his mouth clamped shut. His feet dangled over the earth, and he swung up with his other hand as the griffith lifted him. Corson buried his talons into the underneath of the beast’s throat. Wren shouted and leapt for Corson’s legs, but the griffith was beyond her reach.
“Stay here!” Caim shouted at Fiora before taking flight.
I ran for my sister as Wrath grabbed a handful of Zorn’s mane and pulled himself onto the large steed’s back. I skidded to a halt in the snow and spun toward him. “Wrath, no!”
But I was too late to stop him as he nudged Zorn in the side. The horse galloped across the earth with a speed none of the rest of us possessed in the snow. My heart lodged in my throat as Wrath swung his sword down to destroy the craetons in his way. He was going for the horsemen; I did not doubt it. But was he strong enough to survive them?
The grating, wrenching sound of rocks tearing apart pulled my attention away from Wrath as the ground heaved. From beneath Shax’s hands, a chasm split the earth open from him to the edge of the thicker copse of trees.
Craetons shouted and scrambled to get out of the way, but some weren’t fortunate enough to getaway. Their bodies bounced off the sides of the jagged rocks, and their cries dwindled as they plummeted further into the earth. I didn’t know how deep the chasm went, but we’d never see those demons again.
As I arrived at Fiora’s side, Caim grasped the tail of the griffith carrying Corson and yanked on it while Corson continued carving through its neck. Swinging its head to the side, the griffith shook Corson like a ragdoll as it turned its attention to Caim.
Its yellow eyes narrowed on its new target, and bone crunched when it compressed on Corson’s arm, severing it with one bite. Corson would have plunged to the earth if his talons weren’t still embedded in the griffith’s neck. The blood spilling from his amputated arm saturated the snow as the griffith lunged at Caim.
Edge of the Darkness (Hell on Earth Book 4) Page 23
