Page 2 of Till Death

Head whirling, I threw out my hand and unleashed my light in an arch, blasting the closest ones into oblivion.

I didn’t have time to celebrate though because brutally rough hands seized me from behind and yanked me backward. I slid against the nothingness only to be swallowed up by more darkness. It was impossible to see a damn thing past a few feet in front beyond Bertha.

Frantic, I whipped Bertha over my head and managed to spear the creature. Must’ve been somewhere good because its screeches echoed in my ears and its tar-like blood ran over my head and shoulders. The moment it let go, I leaped back to my feet to face more of the enclosing Halflings.

Without much work from me, Bertha sliced through one right after another. I spun, blasting my light outward to fry as many as I could. Blood and God-knows-what-else splattered across my face and chest, smelling like rotting eggs, sewage, and curdled milk.

Like when I had been fighting in Fairport, no matter how many I was able to evaporate, they somehow kept on coming. They wererelentless.

How much sex did the demons have during the solstice? Shit, they fucked like rabbits.

Another screech hit my ears to the right, and I whipped Bertha around in a circle. Her magical blade slashed through more rotting flesh and the Archangel light did the rest by swallowing them whole.

A creature dove out of the shadows right for my legs, and I twisted at the last minute to punch the thing in the back of the head as it came down. On contact, more brilliant light exploded, and the squeals of Halflings in pain ricocheted all around the vast emptiness. It was quickly replaced by the snarls and cries of more incoming Halflings.

The air around me seemed to thicken under the press of bodies. There were just too many of them.

Growing more desperate, I screamed into the abyss as I fought. “Cole! Cole! Where are you?”

Only the Halflings’ battle cries replied. How was I going to get past all of them to find him?

“Cole!”

I rolled out of the way just in time to avoid the closest creature’s claws. Another one seized me by the hair and pulled hard, making tears well in my eyes. Chest heaving, I sliced Bertha through the beast.

“Amon, you prideful bastard! That’s my half-demon!” I continued to shout between dodges and jabs. “Give him back or I’m going to light this place up like the Fourth of July.”

As expected, Amon didn’t reply, but throwing threats at the original sin demon did make me feel better. As lame as that sounded.

Cole and I had just restarted our relationship. We had finally realized that we were the best choice for each other in the worst possible way. If that made any sense at all.

And I…

I loved him.

I fuckinglovedhim.

It only took the apocalypse for me to admit it to myself. And then I had lost him.

My chest clenched as the pain of that sad truth resurfaced. That’s why I had flung myself into a Hell pit in the first place—to save him from becoming one of these Halfling monsters and serving as a mindless minion to his demon father.

All because I loved him.

Of course, there was a level of stupidity to it on my part, too, but I’d stick with the sappy part of it. Sounded better.

As I continued to battle my way through the hoard, Cole’s face kept flashing in my mind. And his words… The ones that had cut me in two.

“Jade, you have to—you have to do it.”

He had meant kill him.

He had made me promise to take him out with my sword if the demon half of him ever took over fully. It was a promise I never wanted to make, one I hoped I’d never actually have to fulfill. And when the change took hold, he begged me to do it. But I couldn’t.

I couldn’t lose him. I’d just gotten him back.

That’s when the Halflings dragged him away and pulled him into this hole.

All that, and I’d lost him anyway.

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