Page 50 of Till Death

Purposely keeping my knees loose, I swiveled around to the sin demon standing at the edge of the cliff and called Bertha with a thought.

The wave of Halflings crashed down all around us amidst a flurry of gunshots from Lisa. The monsters in the first row went down fairly quickly. Between Lisa and Eli, I had no doubt they’d handle business.

It left me with the big meaty one.

“Which one are you?” I called out with false bravado. “Because I’ve already met Greed. He wasn’t really the best kisser in the world. Oh, and I kicked the shit out of Wrath.” Better to get this over with than sitting around idly waiting for him to make the first move. “No, wait, don’t tell me. Just let me get a good look at you and I’ll figure it out myself.”

Lisa and the others held the stampede of beasts at bay while I focused entirely on the six-foot-six hottie in front of me. Dark skin, dark eyes, a closely shaved head, and tattoos. I wondered whose body he wore, because unlike Amon, this guy wasn’t a shapeshifter. What poor sucker had this one stolen?

The man arched a brow as he stared at me, his tongue darting out to lick his lips. He must have thought it was a sexy gesture, but it looked strange when one took into account the evil look in his eyes.

Something strange began to curl in my gut no matter what kind of face I saw in glimpses beneath this one.

Ah, got it.

“Aw, come on. You can do it, little girl,” he purred. “But you only get one guess.”

The curling in my gut turned into a flash of heat in my nether regions. Gross.

“Lust,” I said with equal heat. Hiking Bertha higher and ready to swing, I watched him approach. “I think I’ve had enough of you to last me.”

“Oh no, love, we’re just getting started.” He grinned, gesturing toward the bridge. “This was my way of saying hello. Getting you ready for the party.”

“I didn’t RSVP.”

Lust shook his head and shot me some serious side eye. “No need. You and your buddies have a standing invitation.” He looked me up and down in the lecherous way I expected from someone like him. “Everyone heard what you did to Monnie.”

“Oh yeah? What do you think about that?” I asked. “Did you happen to hear the story of when I tossed Azrael out of a window? It’s a pretty good one.”

“I think it’s time for a little payback. Without the veil, our powers have grown.” Lust’s grin widened to the point where he looked like a jack-o-lantern, complete with inner flame. He cracked his knuckles. “It’s time for me to take a turn and show you who you’re working with,” he finished. “Or maybe I should go straight for your little boy over there. Push him straight into the bloodlust and see what he does to your friends. It might make me feel better.”

Wow, the fear must have made me brave. Or maybe I’d simply dealt with more important things than this one sin demon standing all alone. Either way, I took a step toward him, then another.

“Too bad for you, you’re standing in my way, and I have way more going on than you realize. I’m afraid I can’t expend the proper time to kill you like I normally would.”

I swung Bertha around toward his neck, hoping I had the angle right. I didn’t expect a clawed hand to materialize out of the darkness and knock both me and the sword straight toward the left. Skidding across the ground, gravel biting into all the soft bits, I came to a halt several feet away and groaned.

“Now, Pride. Is that any way to greet Jade?” Lust cooed out. “She’s a local celebrity.”

Blinking against the pain, the world slowly swam into focus until I saw the second sin demon. Looked like my time had finally run out.

CHAPTERFIFTEEN

My head spun as I struggled to right myself. This time I didn’t do so with much success and ended up dropping back down on my ass. I must have hit my head harder than I thought because the world shifted sideways, my teeth ached, and I smelled cinnamon.

Crazy, right?

Not the craziest thing of the day though.

“Aw, look. She’s having a hard time,” Pride said. His voice came from a great distance but I clearly made it out above the roars of the Halflings. “I don’t understand what’s so special about her, honestly. Amon is so taken with her. I wonder why. She’s not the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Because she has the ability to bring people together,” Eli answered for me.

Good to know at least someone had my back.

Another round of gunfire clattered around me, but soon things fell silent outside of my own ragged inhalations. When I finally managed to get on all fours, I saw the bodies of the downed Halflings and Lisa looking pleased with herself.

The others had taken action way before me. If I were in my right mind, I might have had an issue with standing around and watching them do the heavy lifting. As it was, I fell into step behind them a second later.

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