Page 68 of Till Death

If this was the end, then I should pull out the big guns and go for a sappy monologue about how much they all meant to me. They did, too. No joke there. Except I stopped dead center of the room with a boulder blocking my throat and making speech impossible.

Eli understood. He stepped forward and caught my arm before I could unsheathe the sword from my side.

“Look. I know how you feel about certain parties here.” His voice held a world of meaning. He wasn’t just talking about the humans. “You might come up against a problem where you have to think with your head and not your heart. Do you understand?” His eyes lit in warning before he finished with, “If it comes down to a single soul versus the greater good, then you know what you need to do.”

“I understand.” My heart lurched regardless and I pulled out of his grip. “You don’t have to tell me.”

“I think I do. It wouldn’t be the first time you chose love over duty,” he replied.

I shook off the rest of my exhaustion, although the anxiety skittering along my veins lingered. I had half a second to focus on grounding myself before the doors burst open and demons poured into the room.

“We fight!” Sean screamed out before he lifted a club above his head and brought it down over the neck of a winged beast.

King of understatement, although I gave him credit. He dove into the fray, and the sight of him lit a fire inside of me. I hurried to his side to beat away several other demons with their fanged grimaces and burning red eyes.

I caught sight of the hoard ready to blow us to smithereens. My legs locked and I grabbed Bertha a split-second before a row of claws sliced out toward my chest. Clamping down on every stray thought, I slammed her down on the top of its head. Andre was at my side in a second, his movements a blur, and he cut through the demon effortlessly.

We were all tired. All at the end of our ropes and what our bodies and souls were able to tolerate. Yet we had so much more to go before we reached the end of this fight. The demons were coming whether we were ready or not.

I had to keep them from getting to Cole. No matter what warnings I received, he and Kay were my priority. The others I knew would be better able—if not equipped—to handle themselves.

A desire to save him set my blood alight and all I could do was slice and dice. One right after another. My eyes flitted back and forth and one demon fell, then the next.

Sean was braced back-to-back with Wyatt, the two of them working in tandem. Kay stood in front of Lawrence with the witches ringing them. Tamara and Marla would do whatever it took to protect Arianna. Hopefully they considered Kay equally worth protecting.

Lisa was a hardened and seasoned warrior. While her husband kept a close watch on their son, she spun in circles around them like this was a personal war.

I raised my sword overhead and sent her slicing down through the leg of yet another demon, accompanying the hit with a blast of light that swirled above my palm.

The demon screeched as smoke rose from the wound.

Charging into the demon fray was not in the cards for me. Not when Cole was contained in the demon trap and basically a sitting duck.

A fissure tore through me for a split second; protect him, or blaze a trail through the hoard toward the others?

I left the trailblazing to Eli as blood curdling screams echoed from outside. Each one of them sent a dagger straight to my heart.

Amon had a terrible and painful end coming. I was going to make him fucking suffer for everything he’d done. His sacred mission.

Bullshit.

I adjusted my stance and shifted slightly so that I blocked the door to the demon trap. The others were fighting, falling, but nothing we did slowed the progression of the demons.

Cole needed me.

One of the beasts tried to slip behind me, digging its claws in the hinges of the door, and I swung in a circle, slitting its throat. The body dropped. Dead in a second.

These were the grunts built to be disposed. Amon had hundreds of thousands of them at his disposal just ready to be used.

Another demon took its place and a roar erupted from my lips as I swung at him. Its blood coated my skin. Someone was yelling at me, but I couldn’t hear their voice. I threw my weight into the sword, alternating slicing with stabbing with my light. None of them were going to get past me.

“Keep your head!” Eli warned, his voice rising above the din.

When I spared a look at him, his lips were drawn back in a savage grimace as he fought against three demons at once. Nothing matched the rage inside of me when I heard Cole roaring from the room behind me.

He was barely hanging on and Amon sent his minions to attack us. Good battle strategy. Pretty shit in every other aspect.

A growl sounded directly next to my head a split-second before the demon knocked me to the ground beneath it and left me little room to maneuver. Someone was calling my name, their voice rough from screaming, but I tuned them out and slammed my fist into the demon’s side. Hellfire burned the flesh above my knuckles.

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