Page 19 of Wicked Angel
Jasmin fell back, practically drunk on the power she had taken in. Rage was at her side in an instant, supporting her as she swayed. “I’ll take care of her.”
Max knelt beside the remains, sprinkling a silvery powder over them. The demon’s body dissolved into smoke, disappearing into the air, leaving behind nothing but silence.
It took a moment for the realization to sink in. Thrallgon was dead. The threat was gone.
And I hadonlymy magic!
A laugh bubbled up in my chest, wild and giddy. I looked around at the others—our unlikely, exhausted group of warriors—and felt a surge of gratitude and relief. “We did it.”
“We sure did,” Abbie said with a smile.
“If we’re done here, we should go,” Max said, his voice tight, as if something was bothering him.
Even though we had defeated Thrallgon and the barrier was gone, Max said the chamber was still full of magic and it would be easier to portal outside the cave. So for the next thirty minutes, we made our way through the tunnels.
When finally out, Aspen stepped forward and opened a portal to the warehouse, and everyone began to filter through.
Levi wrapped an arm around my shoulders, his warmth seeping into me. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get home.”
10
We stumbledback through the portal into the warehouse, the air inside feeling cooler, cleaner, a stark contrast to the stifling darkness of the demon’s cave.
My breath came in shaky bursts, but it was from relief, not fear. For the first time in what felt like forever, my magic thrummed beneath my skin, stable, no longer threatening to tear me apart from the inside.
The others followed, filtering through the portal one by one. I turned to face them, letting the gratitude that had been building inside me spill over. “Thank you. All of you. I don’t think I’d be here without your help.”
Lacey, Abbey, and Aspen circled around me, as if performing an x-ray of my insides with their eyes. I held still, and everyone around us seemed to be just as tense.
Aspen nodded first. “I say it worked.”
“Me too,” Abbie agreed.
Instead of words, Lacey let out a sigh and pulled me into a tight hug, and Abbie patted my back before pulling away with a small smile.
“We’re just glad you’re all right, Ariella,” Lacey said softly. “And that this whole ordeal didn’t end in a disaster.”
Max nodded, his expression serious as ever, though I caught the hint of a smile at the corner of his lips. “Glad it all worked out.”
Everyone looked as relieved and elated as I did. Everyone except Jasmin, who leaned heavily on Rage’s arm.
“Are you okay?” I asked, suddenly worried.
She waved me off. “Just tired. That freak had one strong soul.”
“She needs to rest,” Rage said, sounding protective. “If I can get a portal, I would like to take her back to the underworld.”
“Of course,” Aspen said, opening a new portal for them.
Jasmin gave me a wink, her usual smirk softened by exhaustion. “Try not to get into too much trouble without me, Ariella.”
I laughed, the sound lighter than it had been in weeks. “No promises.”
She and Rage disappeared through the portal, and soon everyone else left too, until it was just Levi and me standing in the middle of the empty space.
The quiet settled over us, broken only by the distant hum of the city outside. Levi turned to me, his eyes gleaming in the dim light.
“Looks like you don’t need to be locked up in here anymore,” he said, his tone teasing but his expression soft. “How does it feel to be free again?”
