Page 73 of Fallen Demon

“Go,” he mouthed at me before engaging Sariel and keeping her occupied.

I ran to Rhodes as he reached for the barrier around the circle containing Ylena.

“Stop!” I shouted without really thinking.

The archangel glanced at me. “Or what?”

I halted and swallowed hard. “Whatever it is you want to do.” My shoulders sag. “Just stop, Rhodes. All of it.”

He let out a hollow laugh. “Dear Ariella, always so sweet and innocent. You have no idea how this world works, and never will.”

He turned back to the circle and I reached for him, intent on stopping him.

But two sets of arms wrapped around mine from behind and kept me in place.

“No!” I jerked against the hold of two angels.

A bolt of red magic hit Rhodes in the shoulder. With a snarl, he spun around and faced Topaz. “Oh, the witch who cast this circle. Exactly who I need.” His Celestial sword appeared in his hand, almost twice the size of mine. “This should be fun.”

He came at her with his sword, but Topaz wasn’t fooled. She raised a barrier with her magic and cast bolts from that barrier to Rhodes.

Fast like lightning, he cut through those bolts with his sword as if they were slow and made of paper. With each swing of his sword, he advanced, until he struck his sword on the barrier, breaking it.

The force of the impact rattled Topaz’s powers and she stumbled back while casting another bolt. But Rhodes grabbed her wrist before she could throw it at him and pushed her hand into her chest.

Topaz’s magic hit herself and she fell back with a heavy thud.

I cried.

Rhodes tsked. “I thought it would be more of a challenge.”

With Topaz out, the barrier around the smaller witch’s circle broke.

Ylena appeared.

Rhodes smiled at her. “Ylena, it’s so good to see you.”

Ylena, still in her crazed angel mode, stared at him with suspicion.

In in the span of seconds, a series of things happened: someone reached into my back, grabbed the dagger, ran it up my back, drawing blood, and threw it over my head.

I let out a cry as the dagger landed right in Rhodes’s hand.

He closed his fist around the hilt and plunged it into Ylena’s chest.

“No!” I shouted again, jerking against the angels holding me. I tried summoning my sword, my magic, but nothing would obey me. And the cut on my back began throbbing, which made it harder for me to focus.

Ylena gasped as Rhodes tested the dagger. He turned her back to normal, but he didn’t stop there. He consumed her power, making her weak and frail. And all she could do was gasp.

He kept taking until she looked like a thousand-year-old mummy … and died.

With a deep inhale, Rhodes pulled the dagger out of her body, let it fall to the ground like crumpled paper, and glanced at me. “Your turn.”

A groan echoed from behind me as Levi soared in an arc and flew toward Rhodes—his shoulder bleeding. The two grappled for a moment, and Levi’s fingers closed around the dagger, but Sariel came from behind and sent a jolt of light magic directly into Levi’s back.

He let out a roar and fell to his knees.

I called my magic. It fought and trembled against me, but I was able to hold on to it to send it toward the two angels holding me. It shocked them, making them release me.

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