Page 36 of Rage of the Fallen

Not yet.

Lisa came up beside me, her voice firm and practical. “Zara and I can create a protection shield around all of us. If we combine our magic with the hourglass, we might be able to transport the whole team to Rosslyn Chapel before they can stop us.”

Damon strode over, tension radiating off him as he glanced out the window. “Yeah, because a demon block party is exactly what we needed right now. How long’s this spell going to take? Because, in case you haven’t noticed, Hell’s finest are having a reunion out there, and something tells me they’re not waiting for an invitation to crash this party.”

My heart sank, the harp growing heavy in my hands. The courtyard was filled with demons. To humans, they looked like men in suits, but I saw past their disguises now, the writhingdarkness beneath their pristine facades. Dozens of pride demons stood tall and imperious, while the greed demons’ fingers twitched with constant want.

Lust demons wore smiles that promised pleasure and pain, Gluttony’s followers gaped with endless hunger. The sloth demons moved with deceptive slowness, and the eyes of Envy’s servants burned green with hatred.

There, closest to Justice, stood Rage, alone but more terrifying than all the others combined. He didn’t need a legion. His power rolled off him in waves of crimson fury, and through his connection to Justice, I felt the sheer force of his strength. One demon of Rage was worth an army of the others.

And now all seven were here, waiting for us like wolves circling their prey.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Brody, Damon, and I stood at the long castle window, the first rays of dawn creeping over the Scottish hills. The morning should have been beautiful, with golden light touching the ancient stones, making the dew sparkle on the manicured lawns. Instead, it was a nightmare painted in sun-drenched colors.

Behind us, Lisa and Zara’s voices wove together in an ancient language, the protection spell building with agonizing slowness. Each second felt like an eternity. I felt Damon’s growing tension, his fingers drumming restlessly against his thigh - a nervous habit from childhood.

The minute we stepped out onto that terrace, they would swarm us. Maci’s human form rippled at the edges, her shadow dragon nature bleeding through. Justice’s eyes burned with Rage’s fire, and the demon armies waited with inhuman patience.

It was a suicide mission. Five of us against what looked like hundreds. The odds made my chest tight, my hands clutching the harp like a lifeline.

Then, the light hit them fully, and my blood turned to ice. Whether it was Maci’s magic or some strange quality of the Scottish sun, their true forms emerged like a nightmare madereal. Horns curved from distorted heads, wings of rotted leather, teeth too sharp and numerous to be natural. The pristine suits melted away, revealing grotesque bodies twisted by centuries of evil.

“Well,” Damon muttered roughly. “Guess we don’t have to worry about telling the demons apart from the tourists anymore.”

Brody shifted closer to the window, his shoulders rigid. Even our unshakeable soldier looked disturbed. “This has to be Maci’s doing. She’s trying to break our resolve before we even step outside.”

“It’s working,” I whispered, unable to tear my gaze from the horror show. One of the Pride demons turned its head toward our window, multiple eyes blinking in sequence along its elongated face. The sight made my stomach lurch.

The harp thrummed against my chest, where I’d tied it with a makeshift strap. Its warmth felt like the only real thing in this twisted morning. Outside, Justice paced closer to the castle, his movements jerky and predatory. The demon army parted for him like a dark sea. Even they feared Rage’s vessel.

“Any time now with that spell,” Damon called over his shoulder. “Because I’m pretty sure Ugly out there is about to get a whole lot uglier.” He was trying for humor, but I heard the edge of fear. Not for himself, never for himself, but for me. For all of us.

The air crackled with Lisa and Zara’s magic, the temperature in the room dropping as their power built. Would it be enough? Could any spell protect us from what waited outside?

A sudden movement caught my eye as the phoenix, who’d perched silently on Brody’s shoulder, spread its magnificent wings. They stretched wider than seemed possible, shimmering with colors I had no names for, like fire made liquid. Then, to my amazement, it began to sing.

The sound was unlike anything I’d ever heard. Not quite music, not quite birdsong, but something ancient and pure. It rang through the castle’s stone walls, cutting through the cold dread in my chest. Each note felt like a sunrise after the longest night, like hope refusing to die. The room filled with radiant light that pulsed in time with the phoenix’s song, making the demons’ twisted forms outside seem less substantial, less terrifying.

I hadn’t even known a phoenix could sing. The creature’s eyes met mine, filled with an intelligence that seemed to say, “There is still light in the darkest places.” The harp hummed against my chest, resonating with the phoenix’s song as if they were speaking to each other in a language older than words.

For the first time since seeing the demon army, I felt something other than despair. Maybe we weren’t as outnumbered as I’d thought. We had things they could never understand. Hope, love, and now, the song of a phoenix.

The demons recoiled from the window, their grotesque forms shrinking back as if the phoenix’s song physically hurt them. Even Justice faltered in his pacing as something flickered across his face, a glimpse of the man he used to be breaking through Rage’s control. The shadow around Maci writhed, her dragon nature fighting her human form as the pure notes pierced the air.

Lisa and Zara’s spellcasting grew stronger, their voices harmonizing with the phoenix’s song. The protection spell’s blue light twined with the phoenix’s radiance, creating patterns of gold and azure that danced across the castle walls.

“Well, would you look at that?” A hint of Damon’s bravado returned. “Guess we’ve got our own supernatural light show.”

Brody stood straighter, the phoenix’s song reinforcing his natural authority. “The demons aren’t the only ones with power on their side.”

The harp’s warmth spread through my chest. Seven magical artifacts. The harp, the hourglass, the mirror, the balance, the crown, phoenix grass, phoenix feather, and now this magnificent creature. Maybe Queen Charlotte had known all along what we would face. Maybe this was why each piece had found its way to us.

Lisa and Zara approached us, their faces gleaming with sweat. In their upturned palms, they held what looked like captured starlight, burning white orbs that pulsed with raw power. The air around them crackled, making the hair on my arms stand up. Even Damon, usually skeptical of witch magic, took a step back.

“This is the protection spell.” Lisa’s voice strained with the effort of containing such power. The orb in her palm cast strange shadows across her face, making her look otherworldly. “When the door is opened, we will throw them out there. An invisible force field will form.”

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