Edge of the Darkness (Hell on Earth Book 4)

by Brenda K. Davies

  The angel barely managed to avoid becoming a treat for the beast by darting away from its snapping jaws. Another griffith circled overhead before releasing a screech and diving from the sky. Its wings were out behind it, and its talons were fully extended as it plunged toward Caim.

  “Look out, brother!” Raphael shouted at the same time as Fiora screamed, “No!”

  I grasped my sister’s arm and held my breath as I waited for the worst. I can’t lose her again.

  Caim looked up at the beast hurtling toward him and folded his wings behind his back. Without them to keep him afloat, he started to fall to the earth as Raphael released another burst of life. It slammed into the monster and tore it apart.

  Corson retracted his talons from the other griffith’s neck and plunged to the earth behind Caim. The beast cried out as the other griffith’s remains splattered it and fell to the ground.

  Corson hit the ground and disappeared into a plume of snow as Wren rushed to his side. The griffith circled low and vanished behind the hotel, but it would be back. It had gotten a taste of us, and it would want more.

  It vanished as Pride and Death emerged from the thickness of the larger trees.

  Wrath

  My eyes met those of my fellow horsemen. Then Death’s gaze went past me, and a smile curved his mouth when he spotted Bale. A hollow feeling opened in the pit of my stomach. I’d been wrong; it wasn’t me they would come after; it was her.

  I wouldn’t allow that to happen.

  Raphael released a bolt of life that shot across the clearing toward the horsemen, but their mounts shifted in time to avoid it. Nudging Zorn in the side, I leaned low over his neck as we galloped through the smaller trees toward the horsemen.

  Out of everyone here, I was the best one to go against them, and the most likely to survive a battle. Their powers did not affect me. If Death got too close to Bale, he could kill her without touching her.

  Every riotous beat of my heart only hammered home the fact I was close to losing her. They could take away every bit of happiness I’d found with her. They wouldn’t be satisfied until they made me watch her die.

  I couldn’t lose her, and not only because I wouldn’t survive it. I couldn’t lose her because she’d finally brought happiness and excitement to a life devoid of those things for thousands of years.

  I loved her too much to lose her.

  The realization hit me as I swung my sword down to sever the head of a lower-level craeton running toward me. The realization that I loved her startled me so much I almost took off the demon’s arm instead of his head. It startled me so much I nearly fell off Zorn.

  I’d never considered myself capable of love. I’d been certain years of feeling nothing but boredom and anger had left me incapable of experiencing anything different. Then Bale entered my life, and I experienced excitement and happiness again. And I felt love.

  Blood sprayed my face as I severed the head of another craeton. I spotted Lix in the fray, joyfully taking out the knees of anyone charging toward him. Once they went down, he sliced off their heads and kicked them across the ground with a victorious cry. Only ten feet away from him, Magnus continued to create more illusions while he and Amalia battled more craetons.

  A group of craetons surrounded Aisling and Hawk. When one of them charged at her, fire encircled Aisling’s hands and she torched the creature. The demon screamed as it stumbled away from her while fire consumed its flesh. Hawk hacked his way through some of the others while the hounds continued to destroy their victims.

  When a small group of craetons surrounded me, I unleashed my ability on them. They screamed as fury engulfed them and turned on each other to ease their madness. I didn’t dare unleash much more of my wrath for fear of infecting the palitons too, but I smiled as the craetons tore each other apart.

  One of them ripped the arm from another. He used it to bludgeon a third into submission. A fourth started tearing at his skin until he shredded chunks of it from his skeleton. When more craetons ran toward us, some of them turned and sprinted away when they saw what was happening, but the others weren’t quick enough to escape me.

  Under the control of my ability, they murdered each other with savage glee while I basked in the destruction they created. It felt good to let myself go, if only for just a little bit.

  When they finished and their blood seeped out to stain the snow around their bodies, none of the other craetons would come near me. I didn’t dare send my ability out to them for fear of ensnaring even one of the remaining palitons in its vicious web.

  From behind me, a griffith screeched. Its shadow fell across the earth as it swept over me and toward the larger pines. A few of the other demons with us were overwhelmed by the sheer number of craetons and taken down. Our numbers were dwindling, and it was only a matter of time before we were all taken over.

  As long as Death and Pride lived, these assholes would have someone to follow. I couldn’t let that happen.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Bale

  My heart lodged in my throat as I watched Wrath charge across the earth toward his fellow horsemen. No, no, no, no!

  I followed him the best I could through the snow, but on Zorn, he had a massive advantage over the rest of us. Fiora ran at my side. I almost screamed when Zorn took to the air to leap the chasm Shax created.

  I couldn’t breathe until the horse’s legs touched the earth again. Then I inhaled a ragged breath as I plunged my sword into the belly of a lower-level demon. I shoved him back, ripped my sword free, and severed his goat-like head with one swing of my blade.

  Raphael released another blast of life at the griffith, but the beast angled to the side to avoid the energy directed at it. However, when he threw his other hand forward, a bolt of golden white light shot across the field and into a group of craetons about to pounce on Caim.

  The dark angel met the eyes of his golden brother and gave a brisk nod. Kneeling in front of Corson, Wren succeeded in wrapping her shirt around what remained of his arm. It would grow back, but it would take time, and though the bleeding would stop, it was better if he wasn’t gushing blood all over the snow.

  We were all that remained of our numbers. Well, us and the human Jolie, who we’d told to stay inside the hotel. Bodies and blood littered the snow; the hounds stopped eating some of their prey as they tore into one demon after another. However, no matter the damage we caused, more craetons kept coming while Wrath continued to race toward Death and Pride.

  The horsemen barely acknowledging his presence bothered me more than the realization Death had yet to take his eyes from me. I didn’t know how strong his power had become since escaping the seal. I didn’t think he could affect me from this far away, or else I’d be dead. I did not doubt that if he got close to me, he would kill me without touching me.

  Still, I couldn’t let Wrath face them alone. I ran toward them as Lix dove forward and rolled across the snow; he rose behind Pride’s horse. He swung his sword to sever the horse’s hind leg, but the beast kicked out as Lix’s sword buried in its hock.

  When the hoof connected with him, the bones in Lix’s chest shattered as they caved in. Pieces of bone shot outward as the skellein flew through the air before hitting the ground and bouncing across the earth. He didn’t move again.

  Wrath was almost on top of the horsemen when he kicked free of Zorn and hit the ground. It was the first time Pride and Death seemed a little uneasy, but then their smug arrogance returned.

  The griffith turned with a screech and dove from the sky with its talons fully extended toward Wrath. No!

  The scream echoed in my head until it reverberated through my mind. The monstrous creature was almost on top of him when Wrath threw himself into the snow and vanished beneath the white powder.

  Raphael released another wave of life that hit the griffith and sent it tumbling through the air. It careened into the side of Pride and his mount at the same time Wrath emerged from the snow. Thrown off balance, Pride fell from
his mount. The griffith tried to get up, but its wings flapped uselessly before falling into the snow, and then it erupted into tiny pieces.

  Pride hit the snow and vanished beneath it as his horse struck at Wrath. Its hoof caught the side of Wrath’s head, and blood spilled free a second before Zorn crashed into the other side of the mount, and Wrath fell into the snow.

  I swung my sword at the next craeton who lunged at me, but it ducked the blade and wrapped its arms around my waist. When it tackled me into the snow, I lost sight of everyone else as a cloud of white billowed up around us.

  Its hands tore into my shirt as its claws sliced my skin. I suppressed a cry and hammered my fist into its face. It was an upper-level demon with three eyes, and I knocked his head back. When he twisted toward me, I buried my thumb in its center eye and turned my thumb into it.

  The demon howled as its hands enclosed on my throat.

  Wrath

  My hand clamped on Pride’s ankle, and I dragged him across the ground toward me. His fingers clawed at the snow as he tried to break free of my grasp, but I refused to release him. Pride believed himself above the rest of us, but he was a coward; he always had been.

  The grunts he issued were animalistic as he struggled to getaway. He twisted in my grasp and kicked at me, but I caught his foot and twisted it to the side. His bone snapped, and he grunted. His purple eyes burned with malice when they met mine.

  “You fucking traitor,” he hissed.

  I didn’t deny it; I had betrayed them, but I was not ashamed of it. My actions had given me Bale, and I would do whatever it took to keep her.

  I dragged Pride closer as Zorn and Pride’s mount stumbled into view. From the corner of my eye, I spotted Death, but he wasn’t coming to save Pride. Instead, he was riding closer to where I last saw Bale.

  My head jerked in that direction, but I didn’t see her anymore, and the distraction was all Pride needed to lunge at me. He punched me so hard in the cheek that the bone gave way. The unexpected burst of pain caused fury to burn hotly inside me.

  Fire erupted from my hands and seared into the leg I held. Pride screeched as he pummeled my face and shoulders while the fire spread up his leg toward his torso. It was nearly to his chest when he pulled the knife at his side free.

  Panic made him stronger, and jerking his leg free, he kicked me under my chin; my head shot back. I started to roll to the side as, still on fire, Pride lunged at me. His blade pierced through skin and bone before embedding in my heart.

  The organ gave a stuttering beat as it tried to pump around the metal embedded within it while blood gushed free. Each beat caused blood to pour through my body like water springing free of a hole. It spread throughout me as the knife kept the hole in me plugged.

  I didn’t require my heart to survive, but weakness seeped into my body. It wasn’t lethal, but the injury would slow me. My flames sputtered and then surged back to life as Pride twisted the knife deeper.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Bale

  I clawed at the demon’s face before battering its stomach; it was like hitting solid rock. My lungs burned from lack of air, but I refused to wheeze or make a sound. I was sure my face was turning red, and there was nothing I could do about that, but I wouldn’t give this thing the satisfaction of making a sound.

  The demon grinned at me as he pushed his thumb up and under my chin. Flesh and muscles stretched more than I ever believed they could, and I realized he intended to tear off my head.

  I lost my sword when this asshole tackled me; my hand fumbled through the snow as I searched for it. My numb fingers brushed against something metal, and I closed my hand around it. Lifting my sword, I twisted it in my grasp and drove it through the demon’s ribs until it burst out the other side.

  The demon howled, its body bowed, and its hands eased their grip on my throat. I knocked its hands aside as talons broke through its neck. Its head lifted back, and Corson sliced to the side, severing the craeton’s head from its shoulders.

  Its heavy body collapsed on me as its powerful hands released my throat. Shoving against its body, I pushed it away from me and tossed it into the snow. I wheezed air into my lungs as my hand flew to my brutalized throat.

  “Are you okay?” Corson demanded as Wren arrived at his side.

  “Yes,” I choked out. “Thank you.”

  His talons retracted as he held his remaining hand out to me. I clasped it, and he pulled me from the snow. I yanked my sword free of the craeton and rested the bloody tip in the snow while I searched for Wrath.

  My heart plummeted when I saw him and Pride fighting in the snow. Flames engulfed Pride as he twisted his knife further into Wrath’s chest.

  “No!” I gasped and lunged forward.

  Before I could get too far, Corson grabbed my arm and pulled me back as he pointed to the right. It was then I saw Death coming toward us. His skull remained on top of his head, but I recalled what it was like to see it tucked under his elbow as he carried it.

  The putrid thing, with eyes the blue-green color of rotting flesh and bones sticking out from beneath his clothes, was focused entirely on me. When the wind kicked up a wave of snow, the red orbs of his horse’s eyes burned like hot coals through the white swirling around them. For a moment, the only thing visible were those two red eyes, and then Death reappeared.

  The ground rumbled again, and a fissure raced across the earth toward Death. Snow fell into the gaping hole Shax created in front of the horseman, but his horse’s hooves continued to move as if it were walking on the earth while it floated over the chasm. When they hit solid ground again, they continued relentlessly forward.

  Without knowing how powerful he was, none of us dared to get too close to him. Across the way, Raphael changed his stance to focus on Death. Corson, Wren, and I backed steadily away from the approaching figure as a golden-white glow came to life at the ends of Raphael’s hands. Just as he unleashed the bolt of life, Death kicked free of his mount and landed in the snow.

  The lifeforce Raphael created slammed into the side of the horse. It exploded into ashes that billowed through the air as the wind whipped up snow again. Unrelenting, Death continued toward us.

  Raphael was getting another ball of energy ready to release when Death’s horse suddenly materialized at his side again. It looked identical to the mount Raphael destroyed, and it kept itself firmly planted between Death and Raphael.

  “Shit,” Corson muttered.

  We retreated as we attempted to leave at least fifty feet between Death and us, but the craetons were closing in, and they still greatly outnumbered us. Hawk and Aisling, along with Magnus and Amalia, fell back to join us. Caim, Fiora, and Shax were cut off from us by the hole in the earth, the hounds were still destroying craetons, but a couple of their bodies littered the ground, and I still hadn’t seen Lix reappear.

  “The rest of you should get away from me,” I said. “It’s me he wants.”

  “It’s all of us he wants,” Corson said.

  Raphael took to the air to get a better angle at Death, but the horseman was undeterred by the golden angel’s flight.

  Because he’s almost close enough to kill us, I realized as more craetons ringed us.

  Wrath

  Fire flashed out of Pride’s eyeballs as my flames consumed him. His grip on the knife was weakening, and I clasped his hand as my flames destroyed his body. We were both weakening, but he was doing it faster.

  I pulled on Pride’s hand. The blade shifted and scraped against bone as I finally succeeded in tearing his knife from my heart. Now that the hole wasn’t plugged, blood spurted free of the organ and poured down my shirt.

  Yanking the knife free of his hand, I spun it and plunged it into the black sinew of his throat. His mouth dropped as black blood spilled over us. His fingers, burnt down to the bone, clawed at my face and tore away my flesh, but I hacked at his muscle until half his throat was torn open.

  Hanging on only by a few cords of muscle, I rested my hand on
the other side of his head and pushed it down. I lifted the knife and slashed downward like it was a sword until the rest of his muscle gave way and his head toppled into the snow.

  I didn’t realize his horse was so close to us until its ashes billowed over me, and Zorn skidded to a halt inches away from my feet. Zorn’s sides heaved from the exertion of his battle.

  I knew how he felt, but this fight was far from over. Pushing myself up, I staggered to my feet and nearly fell, but a hand grasping my forearm steadied me. I looked at the bones encasing my arm before lifting my gaze to Lix’s face.

  “Thank you,” I muttered, and more blood gushed from the hole in my chest.

  “You’re welcome.”

  Lix shifted his gaze toward where I last saw Bale. A chill ran down my back as I spun toward her. Death was close enough to unleash his power on them.

  In the sky, golden-white light encompassed Raphael’s wrists, but the remaining griffith screeched as it soared toward him. Raphael darted back in time to avoid being taken out by the monstrous beast, but the delay would cost the others their lives.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Wrath

  I staggered to Zorn and grasped his mane to pull myself onto his back. I bit back a groan as fresh blood spurted from my chest. Movement made it feel as if thousands of shards of glass were floating through my body, tearing apart my veins, and shredding my muscles.

  My fingers twisted in Zorn’s mane as I nudged him in the side. Zorn bounded forward with the grace only a beast who was sure of foot could achieve. Bale and her friends were fighting their way through more craetons, but they weren’t cutting through them fast enough to avoid Death closing in on them.