Chapter 26

Brother. Gardreel was Bazixal's brother?

It didn't matter, not now. Gardreel's voice came through, loud and clear as he began to speak his spell. The one that Emerald had given Eligor.

"How much time before it cleanses everything?" I turned to Emerald. "How long?"

Her eyes were wide and full of liquid. "As soon as he finishes it."

There was no time. I felt Carlos and Pete enter the house. "We have to slow him down!"

I pulled on my fire, knowing that it would hurt him. If I could get back into the circle. My own flames were brighter, closer to white than the deep red and orange of Bazixal's. I put my hands against the wall of flame, hissed as the heat slammed into me, tearing at me.

But I could push through. The pain was temporary.

"No!" Killian yelled as I leapt through the flames and into the circle once more, the fire streaking across my body. Bazixal was on his knees in front of Gardreel. I ran at the fallen, his mouth moving with the spell, and tackled him to the ground, taking us both outside of the circle. He grunted as he hit, the flow of words cut off in mid-sentence.

I could slow him down. But we still didn't have a demon to go into the gun.

"Killian, is Ipos willing?"

"Ipos?" Bazixal screamed. "What the fuck is he doing here?"

Gardreel rolled over with me, and even as I let my flames crawl all over us, I could see it wasn't doing the damage I'd hoped.

He began to chant the spell again. I slammed my elbow into his face, stopping him. He drove a knee into my gut. Back and forth we went, exchanging blows. Neither able to get the upper hand.

I needed to rip his fucking voice box out.

He flipped us over, pinned me to the ground. "I thought I could use you. I thought you would be the perfect sacrifice. Bazixal begged me to bring you. Now look at the mess!"

His throat was almost healed from the gun shots. I couldn't get to Dinah. "Ruby!"

She came running, full tilt, and slammed into Gardreel, her teeth sinking into his throat as they went down together. "Kill him." I gave the simple command. Knowing it could mean her death. Knowing it would buy us time.

Her snarls were wet, he couldn't scream, and I stood back up, wobbled only a little.

Bazixal was still on his knees, and I could see bindings, like blackened chains tying him to the floor. The start of the spell. I hadn't stopped it completely.

Fuck.

I turned to see that Killian was shaking his head. "He won't. He won't help."

Double fuck.

Demons are just angels who have fallen. They are one and the same.

Words spoken by my grandmother. I pulled the second gun free. "Dinah, you might get your wish." It was a risk, but we had no other choice.

I ran around the circle to where Easter, Cowboy and Emerald stood as far back as they could. Pete and Carlos were not behind them as I'd thought. The sounds of fighting erupted from outside the house.

"The monstrous fallen are here," Easter said. "Pete and Carlos . . . they have the kids fighting them. We have to hurry!"

I closed my eyes. "I'm going to get help."

The only way I could reach my grandmother was through the place of limbo. I sunk down through the raging waters and then stood on the shoreline on the other side.

I reached for her connection to me, and she came, popping into existence.

"You cannot get the demon to help?" she asked. Her wings stretched out around her. "I am not surprised."

"You knew all along. Why didn't you just offer?" I shook my head. "Never mind, I'll ask that later. Will you put your soul in this gun? To stop them? The ones you've been fighting for your entire existence?"

She tipped her head to the side. "I would only be useful for killing fallen—nothing else. That would be my entire purpose. And it would be up to you to continue that tradition. Will you do that?"

She was asking me to be the hunter, to be what I'd always been, to put my life and possibly the lives of those I loved in danger. There was no choice. I bowed my head. "Yes. Fuck. Yes."

I was thrown out of limbo, and she was there, with us in the flesh. Easter held her wand at the ready. "Who the hell is this?"

"No time." I turned to my grandmother and raised Dinah. She bowed her head, I handed her the empty gun. Then I pressed Dinah to her chest and squeezed the trigger.

Her body jumped and she went to her knees. Easter drew a quick circle around her and let my blood drip on the floor. "Now, Easter!"

She flicked the wand into the air. "The soul of one, freely given, cast in steel, from body riven, given power, given life, to cause the world a world of strife. No more grave, no more answers, let this spell be necromancers, way to beat the call of death, and into weapons give steel breath."

The spell whipped up and around the dying fallen, even as Gardreel began to chant once more—gargled with his own blood. Killian's lightning crackled through the room as he slammed it into the circle, doing all he could to break the circle and stop the spell. His eyes flicked to blue, and his lightning turned a deeper shade, to blue-black.

"Help the kids!" I screamed. He didn't question me, just turned and ran for the doors.

It was going to be a race to the end.

Easter's spell was fast, it spooled around my grandmother and slammed into her as her eyes rolled back in her head.

I had my back to the first circle.

Hands reached through and dragged me into the space where Bazixal and Gardreel stood.

Only Bazixal was fading. "This was not the deal!"

"Take her body," Gardreel snapped. "Eligor has prepared her mind for you. It is through her that the ascension will complete."

Oh, fuck no.

I arched my back, slamming my head into Gardreel's chin. The spell here was thick and cloying, driving into me, up my nose. I twisted around, tried to free myself, but my energy was sliding away, like the pool of Eligor's blood.

"Dinah," I whispered her name as I managed to get her free. There was no other option. I got her situated. They weren't worried about me shooting them. They should have been worried about me taking me out of the equation.

"No, no!" Dinah screamed. "No, don't ask me to do it!"

"Must," I whispered. "Must."

She screamed as I put my finger on the trigger, closed my eyes, and blew out my last breath.