Page 36 of Till Death

Eli’s voice shook me down to my core.

His wings flared out to either side of him and with his golden spear held high, I might have thought, even for a brief second, that Amon didn’t stand a chance. Until I heard the laughter.

That fucking laughter got under my skin until I felt strangely lightheaded, my limbs heavy and the rest of me floating up to the ceiling. Not really.

“Oh,Guardian,” Amon retorted. “You’ve overstepped your boundaries again. This is shocking even for you, although I didn’t realize you were so thick-skilled to think there wouldn’t be repercussions for your actions.”

“I’m no longer just a Guardian. I’ve been promoted. Or haven’t you heard the news?” Eli swung his spear in a wide circle before stabbing it toward the demon.

“Aw, what news?”

Amon simply smiled and stepped out of the way a split-second before the point of the spear stabbed his heart. Another second had him disappearing entirely before manifesting on the opposite side of the room.

“Your creatures killed Michael.”

“The first angel? My, my.”

Yeah, he didn’t sound surprised. He hadn’t been lying when he said he wasn’t good at the faux emotions. Him being expressive was like a kid splashing around in a shallow pool. No depth.

“And no remorse from you,” Eli growled.

“Remorse? No. It seems to me he must not have been much of a warrior to be taken down so easily into the apocalypse. My goodness. I thought the firsts were made of sterner stuff.” Amon clucked his tongue. Shook his head. Looked utterly unremorseful for what had happened.

I might have been ticked off under different circumstances.

“You mock him!”

Eli jabbed forward with his spear before pivoting to the right when Amon least expected it. The spear tip struck against the shapeshifter’s arm.

A hiss escaped and I watched in horror as his skin knitted itself back together.

“Come now, Guardian. You are going to have to do better than that,” he taunted.

Eli tried again, swinging the spear in a wide circle over his head while feinting a jab to the opposite side. There really wasn’t much you could do with a spear, I decided, without your movements being highly anticipated.

Amon seemed to be a step ahead of all of us. With me crouching over Cole as a human shield and Tamara pretty much out of magical tricks, it left the bulk of the killing to Lisa and Eli. And Eli had a singular target in mind.

A moving target. No matter where Eli tried to go, Amon remained out of reach. Not a single scratch on him.

Lisa soon ran out of bullets and clicked the empty magazines onto the floor, reloading in a second with the next rounds clipped to her belt. “Sneaky thing thinks he’s going to get away with all this devastation without a scratch on him,” she grumbled, training her aim. “Too bad for him. Karma catches up to everyone in the end.”

Amon’s laughter deepened.

“And there’s a little ghost who thinks she is invincible,” he retorted. “Just because you’re dead, honey, doesn’t mean you can’t die again.”

“She already knows.”

Eli shot his spear toward Amon and once again it passed through the space where the demon had been standing. This time when he re-materialized a few feet away, his form shimmered until he stood staring down Eli from Michael’s eyes.

The shock of seeing the downed angel again shook me to my core. Not that it was Michael. On some level, I understood that the face I stared into was nothing but an illusion. A facade stretched over a shapeshifter’s ever-changing shape. Yet it looked real.

Michael looked real, and when he smiled at me, everything trembled.

“What do you plan to do, Guardian?” Michael/Amon asked. He had the voice right. I expected it but hearing those familiar syllables still jolted.”Do you plan to kill me? Throw the entire balance into chaos until there’s no hope of mending the veil? For light to shine, there must be darkness.” His voice took on a purposely mocking tone.

No, not Amon’s voice. Michael’s voice. Down to the sightless gray-blue eyes.

Rage shot through me faster than a wildfire with dry tinder.

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