CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Protective fury whirling in his veins, Viper glared at the archangel who stood a few feet away. He wanted to rush to Ella, hold her, soothe her, check every inch of her. But he didn't dare turn his back on his foe—this celestial was an accomplished slayer.

Ophaniel cast him a faint smile. "Samael, good to see you again." He sounded so genuine that Viper could almost believe it.

His entity crept close to the surface, wanting to tear apart this male it had once called a friend. "Given the circumstances, I really can't say ‘likewise'."

"Perfectly understandable." Again, so genuine.

Viper touched his mind to Ella's and asked, You all right?

I'm fine , she assured him. So is Peanut. Ophaniel didn't harm us, he planned on feeding us to the strix.

Viper knew that. He'd heard much of what the archangel said as he fought to unravel the closest wards.

He wasn't sure who Ophaniel's demonic sidekick was, but he recognized the angel as being the same one Ophaniel had used as a puppet the last time he'd played messenger.

A snake-like hiss came from the crowd of strix. Viper saw her, then. A tall, pale-skinned brunette. The queen.

His entity's attention locked on her, hate roiling in its gut for this creature that intended to feed on its mate and child; who had come at his club again and again; who had killed many humans like they were nothing.

Viper let his lips curve into a taunting smile, wanting her attention on him, not Ella. "Finally crawled out of your hole to face me yourself?"

She flashed him her fangs, her expression feral. "You're not supposed to be here."

"None of us should be here." Viper darted his gaze from her to Ophaniel. "You both should have left well enough alone."

The archangel gave a slight shrug. "It's really nothing personal on my part."

Viper felt his jaw clench. "You took my woman and unborn child. You set them up to die. You would have watched them die. That makes it seriously fucking personal."

"Yes, I suppose it does. But even you have to have reservations about this child. Already it makes displays of power and conjures unholy fire. It should not be born. It will embody too much darkness."

"You don't care about that. You don't care about anything that's happening right here and now. You're as numb as I once was."

Ophaniel wouldn't even be fazed by the thought of dying. He might even look forward to it. Viper had been the same way once. It was Ella who'd saved him.

The archangel was quiet for a long moment. "I find I'm not so numb that I would wish to have a literal hand in killing you, so I will allow the strix to finish you off."

Vines shot out of the ground and nabbed Ophaniel's feet before he could teleport away. His body swayed slightly as his eyes widened and landed on Ella.

Viper looked to see that his mate had her palms planted firmly on the grass, chanting low, her gaze hard on the archangel.

She shot Ophaniel a little smirk. "You thought you were going somewhere?"

Viper's entity grinned, approving.

The angelic sidekick glanced around, as if seeking a savior. The she-demon went as if to run. Then both also found their ankles bound by vines.

Ella's smirk kicked up a notch. "You should have left when you had the chance. Not that it would have mattered. I'd have hunted you both down."

Maxine snarled. "You think you'll get out of this alive? Look around you. You're severely outnumbered."

"Yes, I've noticed."

More thick, prickly vines right then sprouted out of the ground, twig-like ropes coiled around them. They formed a circle between the strix and the Black Saints—twisting, linking, looping, growing higher and higher.

Then they fell outwards, landing hard on the strix, squashing many and trapping others. The demons struggled and hissed, attacking the vines.

Viper returned his attention to the slayer. "You might be reluctant to kill me, Ophaniel, but I'm not feeling the same reluctance toward you."

Ophaniel's face tightened. "Don't make me call out to them, Samael. They would not settle for merely relocating her soul this time, and we both know what they would do to that of your child. This way, your loved ones will at least be reborn elsewhere and live other lives. Be content with that."

"You know I won't." Viper frowned. "I could almost think you came here to die, because I don't see how you thought you'd live through this."

Ophaniel's eyes flickered. Yes, he hoped to die here. He could have taken his own life, but he'd prefer to suffer an ‘honorable' death by losing his life in battle.

Viper's entity snorted, now not particularly wanting to end the archangel—it wasn't feeling inclined to oblige him in anything .

"Release me," Ophaniel ordered.

"You don't truly want that," said Viper. "And even if you did, the answer would be no."

The slayer sighed. "You're right. It would bother me none to die here today. But you and your child must die also—neither of you can be allowed to exist."

Mere moments later, six figures appeared behind Ophaniel and his sidekicks. Viper gritted his teeth at the sight of those he'd once thought of as family. Ella must have recognized them from the replay he'd showed her of the death that her soul had once suffered at the archangels' hands, because she spat an ugly curse.

Ophaniel angled his face slightly toward the newcomers. "Just to bring you up to speed … the redhead in the blue sweater is the infamous Everleigh, and she is pregnant with his child."

Viper skimmed his gaze along Michael, Azrael, Raphael, Uriel, Raguel, and Gabriel. "Leave. You will die here if you don't."

Gabriel twisted his lips. "We were thinking more along the lines of doing this." He struck out with an archangelic blast that cleaved Ophaniel and his sidekicks in half.

Huh. His entity's brows hiked up in surprise.

The queen let out a battle cry, and the strix who'd managed to escape the tangle of vines then charged.

The six archangels swiftly fell into place among the Black Saints, braced to fight. Hooves thundered along the ground as seven hellhorses galloped out from between the trailers, their legs moving with such speed they were a blur. Among them were five black-furred, crimson-eyed bloodhounds and five oversized ravens.

Viper rushed to his mate and teleported her, Mia, and Joe out of the circle and to the clubhouse. Unsurprisingly, indignation flared in the sisters' gazes.

"No," objected Ella. "I wanted to fight with—"

"Think," he bid, cupping her neck. "You've got our baby in your belly, he or she needs protecting—including from themselves, and we can't trust they won't try to help us fight and then drain themselves psychically. Also, I won't be able to keep my thoughts straight if you're surrounded by danger, not to mention anywhere near the archangels who once took you from me."

"They seem to be on our side."

"Doesn't mean they're on your side. Doesn't mean they think our baby should live." He put his hand on her slightly swollen belly. "Keeping them safe is the biggest job, and I'm leaving that to you. The best way you can do it is by staying here." He looked up at Mia, who stood over her anchor. "I'm trusting you to watch over her."

The sisters exchanged a look, their shoulders slumping.

"Honestly, I don't want to leave her or Joe anyway," Mia admitted.

Ella sighed. "You'll have to come back for me once it's over. The enchanted vines won't disappear until I get rid of them."

He gave her a hard kiss. "I'll be back for you."

"Be careful."

"Always am, baby." Viper teleported back to the trailer park just in time to watch the hellhorses charge right into the gathering of strix, mowing them down and trampling on the bodies. Some roared out hellfire, others puffed out noxious smoke that misted the air.

Tossing around unholy orbs, Dice shot him a sideways glance. The girls safe?

Yes , Viper replied.

Though the colony's attention was now divided, two came right at Viper without delay. He flicked his hand, sending out an archangelic blast of unholy fire that chopped them in half.

A female strix sprung high, its eyes on Viper. And got plucked out of the sky by a vine that contracted around it like a boa constrictor.

He scanned the colony, searching for the queen. A tight cluster of strix caught his attention. They were surrounding her, he realized.

He wasn't fooled. The queen was a fighter. She wouldn't truly hide behind her brethren. She knew Viper wanted her dead, and she hoped to lure him away from those who had his back. His entity was insulted that she thought him so easily fooled.

He'd wait her out. She'd come at him sooner or later. She wouldn't be able to help herself.

Do you think we can trust the Six? Dice asked as Viper telekinetically tore a post sporting a flapping country flag from a mobile home.

Viper telekinetically swept the pole outwards, knocking down several strix in one swoop. I don't know. His entity didn't trust them for a second.

The archangels—currently alternating between volleying golden orbs of holy fire around and striking out with archangelic blasts—had joined their fight, yes. But just because they were slaughtering hell-born demons didn't mean they wouldn't later turn on the fallen angels around them.

Viper pitched an ultraviolet orb at an approaching strix, catching it full-on in the face. A pained cry crawled out of the demon as it staggered backwards, digging the heels of its palms into its eyes. A vine shot out and wacked it aside—sending it crashing into a hellhorse. The steed whirled on the strix and bit off its head.

Okay.

The smells of sulphur and brimstone proceeded the cracking of a whip. The black fire slapped his chest, searingly hot and corrosive. The pain was surreal.

Little black chips rained down on the offending strix, melting its flesh and killing it. Hell-ice .

Viper didn't need to look up to know that Teague's mate would be hovering in the air above. Larkin could shoot hell-ice, and she liked to attack while in flight.

More strix came at him, and Viper let his focus center on the battle. Fury, adrenaline, a thirst for vengeance, the addictive release from violence—it all coursed through him, drove him, fueled him. Power hummed in the air from a combination of hellfire, magick, unholy fire, and archangelic power.

Around him, his brothers fought like savages. The archangels battled just as mercilessly, as did Larkin. Hellhorses kept on galloping back and forth, ruthlessly knocking into strix like battering rams; stomping over the fallen bodies; exhaling streams of hellfire. The hounds barked and pounced and tore into flesh. Ravens flew down to attack faces, pecking and clawing.

The colony outnumbered them, but Viper didn't believe that would last long. Not with the assault that the strix faced. But they either didn't feel the same way or weren't letting it impact them, because they fought like trojans. There was relentless biting, clawing, pouncing, hellfire-throwing, and whip-lashing.

The more the battle raged, the more insane the noise level became. The snapping of whips, the spitting of flames, the barking of hounds, the stomping of hooves, the crackles of magick, the squawks of ravens, the whooshes of zooming orbs—the combination was near deafening.

Hearing a pained neigh, he looked to see a hellhorse sprawled on the ground on its side, three strix crawling all over it. Viper lobbed one with ultraviolet orbs while Larkin swooped down and snatched away another. The steed then surged up, the movement so abrupt it flicked the last strix off like a fly. Before the strix could rise, Viper telekinetically lifted a trailer and plonked it on top of the offending creature, squashing it.

On and on they all fought, both sides primal and determined. Ashes wafted on the breeze that whispered over his skin and tousled his hair.

At one point, Viper took a moment to quickly let his gaze zip around. The strix's numbers had dropped notably, to his entity's supreme satisfaction, but they were still fighting hard. They wouldn't retreat unless their queen ordered such a move.

His brothers were covered in burns and rake marks, but they were alive and on their feet—most were also smiling. The hellhorses were still hard at work, burning and biting and barreling into strix. The hounds and ravens attacked just as viciously.

The archangels had broken away from the Black Saints. They were now soaring around, having joined Larkin and the carrion birds in attacking from above.

Meanwhile, the enchanted vines continued to writhe along the ground, popping up to wrap around strix, flick them away, or drag them off.

An owl dived down toward his face, its talons extended. Viper reacted fast, telekinetically batting it aside. It screeched but managed to keep to the air. Then it was coming at him from another angle … and got snatched out of the air by a hellhorse's teeth … at which point another steed appeared, and they began playing tug of war with it.

We should invite the clan to our battles from now on , Ghost telepathed along their club's channel, a laugh lacing the words. They're seriously entertaining.

A loud familiar curse caught Viper's attention. He snapped his head to the side, noticing that Omen had been shoved onto the garbage pile and had two strix feeding from him while a third tried yanking off his head.

Viper teleported over there, grabbed one strix by the hair, and yanked it away from his brother. It whirled on him fast, dragging its nails down his face, slicing through skin. Viper retaliated with a telekinetic punch to the solar plexus that made it stagger backwards, trip over a vine, and tumble onto its back.

And then a passing hellhorse crushed its skull with one hoof, leaving it mere ashes.

By that point, Omen had managed to overpower the other two strix with the aid of a bloodhound and was now locked in battle with a different—

A body clamped around Viper from behind, nails digging into his chest. He sharply pitched his upper body forward, flipping the demon off. It landed hard on its back with an oof .

Viper fisted its hair, dragged its body upwards, and sank his teeth into the crook of its neck. Blood flowed into his mouth and, ignoring its charred taste, he drank it down in greedy gulps—deliberately making it painful, ensuring he had enough to heal his wounds.

Done, he snapped the demon's neck.

Ashes fluttered down.

A female roar of fury rang out.

And Viper smiled.