The Demon of Angels (Bk. 2)

A GROWL REVERBERATED through my chest, swinging my fist back and colliding with my father’s jaw. A satisfying crack echoed through the starless night sky. It was as if they were scared to appear before two High Demons hell-bent on destroying one another until one submitted to the other.

My father flew until he crashed against the cement wall of the school building. His stunned expression quickly morphed to anger as he slid to the ground and landing on his feet.

“What have I told you about properly greeting your father?” He hissed, rolling his neck and clenching his fists down at his sides.

I charged forward, releasing my Hybrid from her chains and morphing our vocal cords into something in between. “Go to Hell.”

My spine stretched and cracked, and wings sprouted from either side, pulling me higher into the air as I leaped. With a cry, I pushed pure angel fire from the inside out, targeting my father’s chest. The High Demon rolled out of the line of fire, the beams turning a few bricks to ash.

Death Scythe huffed, a few shards of grass stuck to the usual attire of a suit and red tie. He brushed them off, and I didn’t hesitate. Dark storm clouds hovered above us, darkening the moonlight until only the dim lighting from the back parking lot was left. Thunder roared, lightning cracked, and the veins in my arms ignited gold, then churned dark as it mixed with black.

My father eyed me with a raised eyebrow. “That’s new.”

Snarling, I lunged as lightning bolts scurried up my arms. “So is this.” I reached my father before he could blink, wrapping my arms around his throat as bolts of electricity pulsed into his neck and body. His eyes bulged, and I smiled with satisfaction.

I’m going to end this.

Squeezing with all of my strength, my father wheezed, and his attention was pulled from somewhere behind me. I growled, pushing more lightning into his throat. Charred skin caked beneath my fingers, but I didn’t relent. He murdered my mother and planned to use me to destroy the planet and humanity that I loved.

Over my dead body.

Something snapped, and the expression on my father’s face morphed from fear to smugness. I told myself not to look, to kill the monster at the mercy of my hands and power, but something pulled my attention without my consent. Sparing a quick glance over my shoulder, Kayla’s body was suspended in thin air. I turned back to my father, rage pouring from my core to his body.

“I won’t hesi–hesitate to ki– kill her,” he wheezed. His eyes were cold and calculating, and I know he would hold true to his word just as he did with Noah. With another cry of rage, I threw my head and cracked my father in the nose. Bone and tendons crunched from the force of the blow, and I reluctantly let my father go.

I flew to Kayla’s side as her body dropped to the ground, checking for a pulse. At first, I felt nothing, and fear drained the color of my face as I’d never felt before. Then I felt a slow and steady rhythm of her heartbeat, relieving some of the tension in my shoulders.

Turning, I guarded Kayla’s body with my own as the Death Scythe stood to his feet, blood pouring from his broken nose. I watched as the black pits of my father’s eyes lock on Kayla’s limp body behind me with a sadistic grin. His pale skin reflected off the parking lot lights. Tight pale lips curved, and bushy black eyebrows framed his sharply angled face.

Swallowing, I knew it was time to call for backup. My hands were already behind me, so it was easy to slip my phone from my back pocket and fumble with it. Keeping my face masked, I eyed my father warily until I heard the satisfying soft ring of Zeke’s speed dial.

“Well, now that’s out of your system,” his deep voice grumbled, a little too happy for my liking. He took a step forward, creeping toward me with an amused expression. “Let’s discuss what I need from you.”

Thinking I needed as much space as possible between us, I backed up each step he took forward. My father cocked his head. “I will not harm the human,” he spat, rolling his eyes.

I let out a warning growl, unable to tear my eyes away from him. “I don’t believe you.” He met my gaze with his own intense stare, eyeing me with an interest that was not shared.

Zeke’s soft voice echoed behind me for a split second before the call was promptly ended. “We’re already here, coming from both sides now.” I didn’t let the relief show on my face.

My father feigned hurt. “I’ve proven nothing but at least that, daughter, have I not?”

I snorted, rising to my feet after gingerly placing my phone back in its pocket. “The only thing you’ve proven to me is that you’re a sadistic, blood-craving monster.” Rage bubbled to the surface, and then I ate up the ground between us until I was screaming in his face. “YOU KILLED YOUR OWN MATE.” The words were through my lips faster than I could blink. It was probably a mistake to scream it in his face, but that didn’t make it any less true. I suspected it once Michael originally told us of mates.

His black pits for eyes hardened, his jaw clenched, and he was suddenly in my face. I reeled back, unprepared as his thin pale fingers wrapped around my forearms and lifted me off my feet, leveling our gazes.

I narrowed my eyes, spitting in his face. “What are you going to do, Dad? Kill me?” I elevated my voice while locking our gazes with a hard glare, daring him to follow through with my threat.

Daddy Dearest sneered, pinching his grip on my forearms and digging his nails into my skin. I hissed, tearing my eyes away from his soulless stare.

“Celeste!” Zeke’s voice was muffled with the rage of his Hybrid. My eyes fluttered closed at the sound of his voice but popped open when Death chuckled.

He grinned and, in one swift movement, clutched my hovering body by the throat, keeping me from touching the ground. I gasped, clutching at his cold fingers around my neck.

Zeke and several others pounded toward us, their footsteps echoing through the night as they neared. “Let her go!” My mate growled, halting two feet behind us as the other circled around, boxing us in. I could sense Hannah lifting Kayla into her arms and taking her somewhere safe. It wasn’t until they disappeared that I smirked, meeting my father’s gaze. He was utterly alone, and I had backup.

Red, blue, and golden eyes all glowed in utter hatred and rage directed right at my father. Death Scythe snarled, eyeing the purebred Celestial behind him as if he could sense his power. He was outnumbered, outmatched, and he knew it. His eyes lifted to the Hellhound with a huff of annoyance, as if irritated Noah was still alive. Noah’s canines lifted into a toothy grin, venom dripping from their tips.

Finally, he dropped me, and I landed on my feet, keeping our bodies close to getting in his face with a smug look. “Well, now that’s out of your system,” I echoed his words from moments before back at him. My father snarled, inching closer until our noses nearly brushed.

I tended to think that most of the time, I thought about my actions before I executed them, but at other times I just said fuck it. It was definitely something I should work on because I’m pretty sure “fuck it” was my current motto at the moment.

Spitting in his face, Death hissed. Wasting no time, I dropped down and kicked out, leveling him on his back. He hit the hard cold ground with a thud, his skull cracking upon impact. Using all my strength, I slammed my foot into his side with a grunt. “You deserve to die for what you’ve done,” I growled, shoving my heel to his throat.

An evil cackle found its way through his lips, eyeing me with a sickening addiction. Death spat the blood pooling in his mouth at my face; I didn’t even so much as flinch. “You think you’ve bested me?” he snarled. “Darling, daughter, you have so much to learn.” His hand wrapped tightly around my ankle as the words left his lips. Before I could as so much as blink, we were gone and transported back to the living room of my house. My body wasn’t used to the power, wobbling as I tried to stay steady on my feet from the transport.

Death brushed at his sleeves. “Now, where were we?” He asked as if talking to himself. “Oh yes,” he snapped his pale thin fingers. “My proposition.”

I rolled my eyes, unwanting to entertain the monster, but knew I had no choice until the others returned to my side. Crossing my arms over my chest, I raised an unamused eyebrow. “And what is that?”

My father held up a finger. “One moment,” he told me. I huffed impatiently, but my body stilled as growls rang out in the distance, then appeared before my eyes. Four angry and blood-thirsty Hellhounds stood in a crescent shape before Death’s feet, snarling at me. “There we are,” he purred, patting one on the head like a good dog.

My body tensed, but the tension was eased a moment later as the door burst open and five bodies piled into the living room. My smug expression returned, eyebrow popping as the boys, Morgan and Hardin stood beside me on either side. “You were saying, father?” I spat the word.

Death’s broken nose flared, thoroughly pissed off. His black pits met mine. “I grow tired of your antics, daughter,” he sneered.

I lifted my shoulder in a small shrug, then stated the obvious with a high level of pettiness I felt was fitting. “You started it.”

In the next moment, I knew my father’s patience had worn thin, snapping like a worn-out cord. My eyes widened as his hands came together and clapped once, then the room exploded around us. Literally.

Shards of black demonic power flew in every direction, mirroring the wood and brick from the explosion. Sharp like razor blades sliced my skin, and I cried out, stumbling and falling to the remnants of the floor. Screams of pain echoed in my ears, a high-pitched ringing drowning out any further sounds. The shards felt as if they had paralyzing effects and churned my gut as terror cooled the blood in my veins.

Snapping his fingers, once again, my body was no longer my own. I flew right into my father’s grasp, hand clenched tightly around my throat.

“No!” Zeke roared, the sound of torment ripping through his voice.

I tried to yank my arms up, to push any power out and use it against my father, but I couldn’t move. All the energy left within me sputtered out, leaving what felt like a hollow hole in my chest. A void I couldn’t reach.

It shouldn’t have been possible.

“The Prophet will seal our fate, restoring or destroying the home of mortal life,” Death sneered. My stomach bottomed out as he echoed the words of the prophecy in my ear. “It seems their fate has been sealed, daughter,” he snarled, cackling sadistically.

“Celeste!” Zeke cried out, groaning as he stood to his feet. The others were scattered, shards of glass, wood, and brick sprinkled over their limp bodies.

Death spun toward my mate, holding me tightly against his body. Noah and Evan were slowly waking and rising to their feet, but agony etched into their features like each movement was anguish. Hardin was crawling toward the still unconscious Morgan.

Zeke rose to his feet, determination in his blinding golden eyes, then bolted forward at full speed. Death’s free hand shot out, an invisible force knocking Zeke back, taking Evan and Noah with him in the process. Zeke cried out as his body flung against the far wall. Evan and Noah took their pain in silence, bowing their heads.

Defeated.

They couldn’t risk charging for Death with their power without harming me in the process. I could feel it through our bonds; it wasn’t a risk they were willing to take.

Zeke landed on his knees, his right leg lying at an odd angle. Even though my body felt like cement, my heart sputtered and broke in two, but I wouldn’t give my father the satisfaction of seeing my tears. I would hold out, staying as strong as I could possibly will myself to.

But my vision still blurred upon hearing Zeke’s tortured voice as he murmured my name like a dream. “Celeste.”

Unsheathing a dagger, Death held the blade to my throat. “Say goodbye, daughter,” he taunted, walking us backward into the sudden abyss he had created behind us. I thrashed against him and tried to fight his invisible restraints on my body, but everything was useless. A strangled cry escaped my lips as I watched my boys climb to their feet, eyes watching the scene unfold in horror.

My father released the dagger from my throat, but any relief was short-lived before he shoved it into my chest until the hilt met skin. I gasped at the unimaginable pain, the tearing finally falling as thick hot liquid oozed down my stomach, staining my sweater in crimson. An agonized cry deafened the ears of everyone in the room, but it was too late.

Just like he’d done with Noah and again with Kayla, he had me at his utter beck and call, and I could do nothing but plead mercy. But I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction as the blood poured from the chest wound.

I met Zeke’s horror-stricken gaze across the room as he blinked back whatever haze had taken control of his body. His eyes widened in heartbreaking fear as they turned to rage for the High Demon that held me captive. Zeke burst from his knees with a roar, his arms rippling with fur as his Hybrid burst to the surface. My mate bolted for me, running at us full throttle with a murderous gleam in his eyes as he stared at my father.

“I don’t think so, lover boy,” my father spat. My eyes continued to blur with tears, but I blinked them back hard, attempting to keep my gaze on Zeke. My body was slowly shutting down from the blood loss, black spotting my vision in the corners. I was awake long enough to watch Zeke’s body get through back, skull cracking against the opposing wall, and I screamed.

Zeke groaned, head shooting up, and our eyes collided. I cried out for him, but knew our time was up, so I told him what I could before my father took me away from my mate forever.

“I love you,” I whispered, tears streaming down my cheeks at the same rate the blood pooled from the knife embedded in my chest. My heart rate slowed, consciousness fading from me as Zeke let out an agonized cry.

My mate attempted to stand but collapsed to his knees once more. It was too late, and in the next second, my father disappeared with my dying body clutched in his grasp.

Zeke’s grief-stricken face was the last thing I saw before everything went black.