Page 82 of Till Death

“We don’t have much time, either. What are we going to do? How are we going to kill him?” My heart beat wildly.

“No idea.” Cole grimaced, and I saw a glimpse of the man he used to be in his twisted face. “How do you kill the embodiment of darkness?”

“Beats me.”

I had no good answer to the question. Not like I’d have another flash of divine inspiration anytime soon, either. Those only happened on rare occasions, and I’d used mine up when I sacrificed my angel-ness. No more miracle saves at the last minute. Cole and I were going to have to fight together to—

“What?” Cole asked when I stiffened.

“We can’t kill him,” I whispered. “Not without skewing the balance further.” I’d just made the big sacrifice for good, and that evened the scales. If I got rid of Amon, then the scales would tip again, and there would be no good way to right that wrong.

Fuck.

What did we do now?

A muscle ticked in my face as I thought through the problem. I’d been so focused on destroying that bitch, and now to see we’d be right back at the start of the problem.

Cole’s face dropped with finality.

Without Amon dead, then Cole would never be free. If we killed Amon, then the rest of the world went unbalanced. So where did we draw the line? I refused to sacrifice Cole.

Amon was suddenly on his feet and in front of us with his hands wrapped around Cole’s throat. Power ripped out from him as he slammed his son down.

Shock sent me running forward and aiming my hands at Amon’s eyes ready to gouge them out. He twisted away but my interruption did the trick as he loosened his hold on Cole. I turned with a yell of frustration and cursed him with everything inside, landing a kick to the underside of his jaw.

His head snapped back, giving Cole the time to compose himself and attack his father.

If we couldn’t kill the big bad demon daddy…where did it leave us?

Where was there a prison strong enough to hold him? For eternity?

I racked my brain for an answer to this impossible situation and came up with one place in the entire universe. One crazy place. Except I didn’t have the key, and the only time I’d been able to go without being summoned was when the witches sent me there. Plus, you know, dying. Which was kinda off the table now.

Amon paused in slicing his teeth along his son’s forearm to send a wave of magic out at me and freeze me in place. I fought against his hold with everything I had. My hands felt like ice.

“Poor Jade,” Amon cooed.

My gaze slipped over to Cole and the blood dripping from his forearm. I could barely breathe for the sight.

Cole lowered his head and brought his face down on the top of Amon’s head. He leaped forward with a cry of fury and flung his fists, knocking against Amon’s chest.

The blast sent me to the ground again, but Cole didn’t even flinch. He glanced at me with his lips twitching like he knew he had this fight in the bag. Before I had a chance to say anything, Amon sent his claws out a final time and tore a hole in Cole’s chest. Flesh split and blood poured from the wound as my lungs tightened like I was being squeezed.

Adrenaline shot out of me and left me weak and trembling as Cole returned to human. A broken human with a gaping wound in his chest through which bones poked and torn tendons and muscles flapped.

I shrieked, clawing across the floor to get to him when Amon dropped his hold on me.

“Holy fuck, no!” I breathed the words, gazing at him in terror.

Amon took a huge step back and Cole sagged. He rolled over on his back with his eyes focused on the ceiling and way too much blood on the floor beneath him. I had no words. No words at all as I grabbed him, putting myself between the two of them. My hands shook.

Amon’s footsteps sounded behind me.

“Say goodbye to him,” he whispered. Lips brushed against the curve of my ear and down my neck as I shivered in repulsion.

“Get away from me,” I choked out, focusing entirely on Cole and the impossible scene in front of me.

The man I loved was a goner.

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