Page 40 of Till Death

Eli’s fingers twitched again like he wanted to call his spear and strike it through her. “I don’t pick my words to make you feel good.”

I crowded closer to Cole, ready to shield him with my body if necessary to keep Eli from doing anything stupid. He still had that look about him. The one that said he’d do what he had to do for the great good rather than sparing my feelings.

“Okay, let’s all take a deep breath because I’m about to choke on the animosity,” I said. Holding up my hands.

Lisa let out an annoyed grunt but didn’t respond. Tamara turned her nose up in the air, done with all of us

It was a start. And a niceinfor my next question. “How do you suppose we kill these suckers in bulk, then? Please tell me you have a plan, because as you can see, I’m coming up short.”

“Having tea with the enemy is what you were doing. Good thing we came when we did,” Lisa added.

“If only it were tea.” Did I sound as pissed off as I felt? Hopefully. Probably. “He’d been doing some kind of Jedi mind trick on me. Two things you forget. One, Amon isn’t just a regular original sin demon. He’s the first one. Pride. That means he’s powerful.”

Worst of all, they looked like they didn’t care.

Eli’s fists clenched at his sides.

“Secondly, I’m out of magic. I can’t call my light and I can’t change into my pure state.”

“What!” Eli stalked forward, calling forth a low growl from Cole. The scent of smoke rose around us. “You sent her down here without her powers? Are you kidding?”

Tamara’s lips flapped open. “Like I have any control over what Jade does. You know better than anyone else she doesn’t listen to anyone.”

“Yes, but you didn’t have to send her here. You might have told someone. I would have gladly come down with her.”

I laughed. The sound burst from me and got louder at the outrage on my Guardian’s face. “You would not! You’d have done anything to stop me.”

Eli let out a huff of air. “You know it is my job to protect you.”

Men.

“Right now, your job is to replace Michael and rally the Archangels,” I said with forced sweetness. “Or have you forgotten?” I shifted to face Tamara. “It’s good you did come, though. Unexpected but good.”

Tamara rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right.”

“You shouldn’t have come down here to face Amon on your own,” Eli fumed.

“I can take care of myself. I think, if anything, I’ve proved it time and again.”

“Original demons are not the same as the others. They have more power. They have more tricks. You coming here to face Amon alone was not only dangerous and reckless, but…” Eli gave me the cold shoulder like he couldn’t bear to face me anymore.

“What? Say it?”

“You put everything in jeopardy for thatthing.” He spit out the last word. “You could have died. You should have died. It was only through sheer luck you’ve gotten yourself this far. I know I told you to go after him, Jade, but be serious now. Think about what you’re doing. You’re so desperate to find a way to do the impossible, you haven’t once stopped to consider what you’re doing to yourself. Amon might have trapped you. Might have killed you, or worse.”

I didn’t want to tell him about the plan to use me for breeding stock. I was sure Eli had already figured it out.

He pointed down to Cole. “Going blindly into a terrible situation to save him is getting us nowhere. Kill him, put him out of his misery, and be done. Focus on what needs to happen in order for us to win. I think I’ve put up with enough of your lovers to last me a lifetime. This is nothing but torture on his part and insult on mine.”

“Like you have anything to do with this,” I seethed.

A glance over at Lisa and Tamara assured me they felt the same way. I bit the inside of my lip before I said anything I’d regret. Love was a powerful motivator. Everyone should understand. If Wyatt had known Lisa was trapped in Hell, he would have done whatever was in his power to help rescue her. Instead, I had. I’d gone down into the pit myself to rescue her and reunite her with her husband.

Did it count for nothing these days?

And Tamara had sent me back down here to find a way to help her daughter.

Where was their loyalty now?

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