Page 115 of Angel Betrayed

Two men ran away. Seline guessed they weren’t in the fucking mood. Four more guards opened fire. Bullets slammed into Sam’s chest. Seline screamed.

“Warned you,” Sam said, and more fire burst free from his hands, flaring higher and greedily chasing Rogziel’s team.

Tomas swore. “You’re killing her!” He ran away from them and hurried down the snaking hallway. “Sierra!”

Seline jumped forward and delivered a hard right hook to the nearest guard. She snatched away his weapon and swiveled in time to slam it against the head of the idiot who’d been lunging for her.

But then Sam laughed. His laughter was rather eerie. Too cold and dark. The hairs on her arms stood up. She risked a glance at him. His gaze was pitch-black. “Playtime’s over,” Sam declared. He waved his hand. All the guards lifted into the air. The guards rose higher, higher. They were screaming. Begging.

Sam dropped them.

They stopped screaming.

Seline’s breath heaved in her chest. Her fingers touched the throat of the man closest to her. Even as she stared at Sam with wide eyes, her trembling fingers searched for a pulse. Searched…

“He’s still alive, sweetheart.” Sam seemed to mock her. “For now.”

A light pulse beat beneath her fingertips.

Screams came from deep within the house. Sam took her hand and pulled her to his side. “Stay with me.”

His eyes were still black. The air crackled with his power. The dark edge she’d always sensed in him had never been closer to the surface. Dangerous. Evil?

Not Sam. She believed in him. “Try to keep me away,” she muttered. “Try.”

His lips crushed down on hers. Wild. Hungry.

Then the rooms swept by in a blur as he took her deeper into the maze of corridors. They followed the screams. Found the bodies. More guards. Some bleeding. Some limp.

There was Tomas just up ahead. He was driving his fist through a metal door and?—

And Seline smelled brimstone.

“No, dammit!” Sam’s roar. She knew he’d caught the acidic scent, too. “Tomas, stop!”

Too late.

The door caved in, and the growls spilled into the hallway. Growls that were immediately followed by the hulking body of the hellhound as the beast leapt onto Tomas.

Azrael heard the screams from inside the old house. He saw the bodies of the guards outside as they littered the ground. Smoke drifted into the air. A lazy beacon that had drawn him in.

The smoke…and the blood. Lately, blood always seemed to draw him.

He’d known Rogziel for many centuries. Known him, watched him, and wondered when the bastard would fall.

So Azrael had already known all about this little hideaway.

His brother was inside. Already battling Rogziel? Why? To save the succubus?

His head throbbed as he stared at the flames. He didn’t understand what was happening anymore. Sammael had never cared about saving anyone. Had he?

I ask for nothing. From now on, I take. Sam’s words, when Azrael had asked him to seek forgiveness. But Sam had refused. He’d fallen instead of repenting.

“An angel dies today.”

Azrael didn’t turn at Mateo’s words. Yes, he knew Mateo. He’d lived for too long and seen too much not to know about the crossroad spirit.

When anyone wants to cheat Death, they go to the crossroads.

---