Page 24 of Wings of Valor
A gasp escapes him. It’s almost like he can’t believe someone as weak and untrained as me would dare touch him. “You’ll pay for that, foolish child.” Then, he throws everything he has against me.
He uses his wings to make his blows more powerful, and although I do my best to block them, the force behind it is toomuch. On his next attack, I teleport barely out of reach—thank fuck for Mira’s training—but it’s not enough. His blade nicks my arm, and blood flows from the wound.
Fuck!
Every moment that passes gives Uriel a chance to study me. To learn my moves. And as much as I hate him, I can’t deny that I’m impressed with how easily he can switch styles of attack. I just wish he’d stop fucking slicing me open.
“You worthless little bitch,” he snarls as I evade him once more with teleportation.
I have no idea if he knows that’s what I’m doing, but I hope he doesn’t catch on.
“With you out of the way, your parents and the rest of the Fallen scum won’t stand a fucking chance against us. And to think others thought you were so tough. Look how your blood coats my blade. Isn’t it glorious?”
At this point, he isn’t even trying to incapacitate me with the needle. The bastard is having too much fun with the blade. He manages another slice, this time to my leg, but I don’t care. I can’t. Not when he’s threatening the ones I love.
Anger boils inside me with the heat of an erupting volcano. It builds and builds and builds until I can’t focus on anything but Uriel. I move like a missile that’s locked onto its target, dodging his blade and landing a solid kick to his gut that has him flying across the sand. He smacks into the nearby dune, and it’s only the sound of his body thwacking against it that has me breaking free of whatever fucking trance just had me in its grasp.
What the fucking hell was that?
I don’t get the chance to consider my own strength, because the three demons at Auriel’s side snarl and approach.
As if by some instinct I shouldn’t have, I reach for the twin daggers sheathed at my side and prepare for the fight of my life.I smirk when the asshole beasts look surprised to see my little blades glowing, but it’s not enough to halt their advance.
To my surprise, though, they don’t all rush me at once. They send in the thin one first, which almost seems like a gift. Damn. I don’t know what this fucker did to piss them off, but the other two must hate him if they’re sending him to fight me first.
We stalk each other in a slow circle, each of us waiting for the other to make the first move. They watched me fight with Uriel, and if they’re half as smart as they think they are, they’d have paid enough attention to learnsomethingabout my fighting style while I know jack shit about theirs. All I know is that demons are vicious, brutal creatures who savor inflicting pain.
Up close like this, I can’t help but study the way the creature looks. His leathery wings are tucked in at his back, and his horns are misshapen little stumps on the top of his head. I want to check out the other demons to see if their horns look the same or if this guy had someone hack them off, but I don’t get the chance.
As if hearing my thoughts, the demon lunges for me with a wicked snarl. I move out of his way easily, but he spreads his wings open, and I have to duck before the curved spikes at the end cut into my face.
Holy shit, that was close.
He manages to dig his claws into my shoulder. A scream of pain threatens to tear from my throat, but the rage inside of me takes over. I use his glee to my advantage, letting him haul me forward so his own force helps plunge my dagger directly into his heart.
Andpoof. Just like that, the creature is nothing but a pile of dust in the wind.
In a move that surprises even me, I grab the blade before it hits the ground. Mira would be proud as fuck.
Before the others can attack me, there’s a shift inside my body as three tethers pull taut.
What the fuck are they doing here?
Without needing to look around, I know Raphael, Theo, and Zeke are close.
The brutish demon, and the scarred one, look pissed that I killed their friend—but they don’t move to attack. They’re waiting for something.
But what?
Fuck. Can they sense my backup?
A few heartbeats later, Raphael and Theo are standing on either side of me, but Zeke doesn’t join them. Instead, I catch the slightest movement up ahead.
What the hell is he thinking?
My grumpy fucking boyfriend is trying to sneak up on an Archangel.
I don’t know if the look on my face gives him away, or if they knew what he was doing all along, but suddenly, the demons move to attack.
