Page 108 of Ruled By Fate

Well, hear this.

Their eyes locked.

I’m going to absolutely destroy you.

“Oooh. Kitty’s got claws.” Mammon grinned, showing all her teeth. “I’m trembling in my boots.” Her legs elongated, and her feet transformed into black, cloven hooves. She stomped the ground, preparing to charge. She threw back her head in laughter.

It was the moment Brie had been waiting for. The second Mammon’s throat was exposed, she grabbed the strange wooden sculpture from Matthews’ briefcase and launched it like a discus with all her newfound supernatural strength directly at the Fallen One.

It sliced messily through her neck, sizzling where it touched, and cut off her laugh with a horrible gurgling sound before burying itself in the wall behind her. No blood issued from the wound. It merely bubbled black, as though touched by acid. Mammon’s head swung back at an impossible angle before rolling off her shoulder and dropping on the floor with a clatter of horns on tile. The rest of her started to shrink back down to a human size, and her hooves became feet again. Her body instantly knelt to the ground and started feeling around for her head. It lay several feet away in a pool of ice-blonde hair, blinking in surprise.

Brie didn’t hesitate. She sprinted forward and pulled the file from Cameron’s chest. A second later, she grabbed her pendant and pressed it to the wound. It started to seal before her eyes, and his mouth reappeared.

He sucked in the air like a man half-drowned. “Brianna,” he gasped. “How did you—?”

“There’s no time. I need to warn Rashida.”

She helped him up, and the two staggered down the hall to the elevators, making a conscious decision not to glance back as the headless body dragged its way across the floor.

The doors slid shut behind them, and a cheerful male voice floated down from the speakers, crooning about raindrops falling on his head.

They shared a silent look as they both struggled to catch their breath.

“Are you alright?” she finally managed.

“I will be,” he panted, “thanks to you. I just need a minute.”

She stared straight ahead for a second before saying, “By the way, since I’m probably about to die and all… I’m halfway in love with you. I didn’t mean any of the things I said back at the bar. Not even a little bit.”

He looked at her, shocked.

“I was having a moment.” She raised her eyes to the ceiling, refusing to meet his gaze.

“Brianna, I—”

“It’s fine,” she interrupted. “You don’t. You can’t. I get it. I just thought you should know.”

They stared in silence a moment longer, then the elevator opened, and they sprinted down the hall to the morgue. Brie rattled the doors, but they were locked. They did not survive her attempts to open them. She and the angel peered curiously at her handprints indented in the steel.

“Well, that’s one way to keep her out of there, I guess,” he said.

“She’ll be getting here soon,” Brie answered, still breathless. “She’s probably in the parking lot. We have to get there first.”

A second later, they were running again, this time to the lower lot where Rashida always parked. They weren’t counting on what greeted them on the other side of the door.

Oh, no… Please, no…

Sherry slammed the door of Mike’s squad car so hard it was a miracle the window didn’t shatter apart. She caught a glimpse of them by the elevator a moment later. She froze in fury, then stormed towards them, waving a familiar letter in the air.

“What in the name of Hecate do you mean you’re moving to Croatia?”

Brie had never seen her so angry. Her eyes widened in horror. “What are you doing here?” she gasped. “You have to go back. Sherry, get back in the car.”

Sherry was enraged. “Don’t you dare push me away, Weldon!” she cried. “Is this him? Is this his doing?” She looked at Cameron like she was trying to light him on fire with her mind.

“No, you don’t understand.” Brie pleaded. “This isn’t—”

“You are damn right I don’t understand!” she raged. “I’ve tried to take this on good faith and just go with it, but enough is enough. You can’t throw away your whole life to run off to Europe with some guy you hardly know. I won’t allow it.”

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