Page 35 of Till Death

“I want you to know I’m not going to enjoy this,” Amon warned.

“How stupid do I look?” I snapped. “You enjoy everysecondof torment.”

He held up a hand to stop me from going further. “I didn’t bring you here to be insulting. I’m glad this situation has allowed me to get a better handle on you, but I would really rather you not put words in my mouth.”

“Oh great, a demon with a conscience.”

Grumbling under my breath wouldn’t get me out of this but it sure made me feel better. Probably smarter to keep my mouth closed. Too bad. I was about to make another comment about his personality when Amon crooked a finger in a clear sign for me to be quiet.

This was it.

A tendril of his power flicked down my arms. My legs. Amon drew in a deep breath but he didn’t say anything more, a silent bid in the air between us and one I didn’t understand.

I swallowed my words right back down and squeezed my eyes shut.Reallynot wanting to see whatever he had planned for me. Panic turned every limb to stone and my blood to ice. If this was the end, then I should have been able to greet it head-on with eyes open, but apparently I could still surprise myself.

Yet, something else surprised me, too.

Such as the sound of something tearing directly in front of me.

I glanced up just in time to see reality split into two pieces and a familiar face stared at me from the rip.

“Surprise!”

Lisa stepped out with a gun raised and fired off a round of bullets at the frozen Halflings. With her hair knotted in a bun at the base of her neck and her trigger finger hot, she looked like a warrior. Especially with the angel at her back.

Eli tore into the room heading straight for Amon in a flurry of light and wings.

What the heck was going on and how had they gotten here? How did they know where to find me in the first place?

Lisa exchanged glances with me before striding forward to take out the rest of the Halflings. A gleeful smile splitting her face. I’d never been happier to see a bloodthirsty spirit in my life!

The surprise certainly worked to my advantage as the spell holding me captive loosened. It didn’tbreak, not entirely. But it gave me enough room to wiggle free of it. A slight push of my magic up against Amon’s and I dropped hard onto my knees with a gasp.

Pain radiated from my bones. I gasped at the sensation before hurrying to push to my feet.

“Hurry up, Jade. You’ve wasted enough time already,” a voice snapped.

Yup, as expected, there stood Tamara with her hands open in front of her covered in…wow, blood. It must have been Eli’s, because only someone with angel blood could open up the back door. Her expression grave, she shook her head as though I was slow on purpose.

“What?” I forced myself to say with a snarky grin. “You didn’t trust me to do this all on my own?”

“Of course not! Why do you think we had to come and find you?” Tamara replied.

Her determined tone seemed genuine but call me old fashioned, I still wasn’t sure I could believe her.

I hovered over Cole to make sure he didn’t become collateral damage during Lisa and Eli’s killing spree. He made no sounds of protest as I draped my body over his.

“No one hurt him,” I called out, eyeing them skeptically. “He’s under my protection. The rest you can slaughter.”

Tamara turned toward me with a shrug but she wasn’t the person I worried about. Lisa took my words absolutely literally and I winced, watching her cut down the unmoving Halflings. Goosebumps rose on my skin at the thought of her doing the same thing to Cole. If I wasn’t careful, she would, and then I’d be in trouble.

I tried not to spill my guts watching the display. Watching the black tar-like blood gushing out of the downed Halflings as Lisa went to work. Tamara did her part by standing and watching. Not much she could do, really, without access to her magic in Hell. She could join the club on that one. We were both helpless as Lisa fired off round after round.

And Eli…

I glanced up, not really trusting him. With my arms wrapped around Cole—who thankfully hadn’t decided to make a meal out of me yet—I watched the angel go after the devil.

“Amon!”

---