Page 146 of Lourdes & the Mafia
Ramiel.
Ramiel in his full form. Wings with shining black-blue feathers spanning out from across his back, each feathery strand lit through with shadows and flames. It looks like he’s ignited.
An angel of death coming to save my life.
My heart screams with joy at the sight of him in all his glory. But it’s short-lived as Thuriel pushes himself to a stand. He looks enraged and bored. How he can manage both within the same expression, I can’t be sure.
But he does it, and still manages to incite fear within my heart.
“Ramiel,” he sneers. “So this is what you choose?”
Ramiel doesn’t reply.
“Love has made a fool of you, brother.”
How he manages to look threatening while speaking like some dickwad out of a cheesy villain film, I’ll never know.
There are a lot of things surprising me today.
I almost cackle to myself, swallowing the sound of hysteria and replacing it with a surprised yelp when Lorenzo appears at my side.
“Amore,” he coons, pulling me into the protective circle of his arms. He looks me over, assessing me for any injuries. “We were on our way when we heard your call.” His fingers trail lightly over the glowing dress. “Beautiful, and powerful, as I figured it would be.”
I blink, trying to keep up with his train of voice. “We? I ask. What do you mean we?”
“We called in every single favor we were owed. And yet you somehow managed to go beyond that and bring forth every single demon from the Underworld to help.”
I gape as the chaos ensues around us. Demons, some I recognize, others I don’t, crawl across the landscape in a bloody battle of carnage. They tear through the enemy, through an angel’s minions of terror, ripping through them without mercy.
The three gargoyle generals unleash their cruelty, flying through the sky, diving down and ripping creatures to shreds with their bare hands, laughing while they do it.
And the motorcycle club gangs fight alongside demons and shifters, vampires and witches.
All coming together.
“Can you stand?” Lorenzo asks me.
I do so almost numbly, following him to my feet.
“I will have the seer,” Thuriel calls out. “I will have the future that was promised to me.”
“You mean a future of your own making?” I call back to him. “I don’t know how you did it, probably with your skewed fucked up powers, but that vision you planted in my mind and tried to make happen? It doesn’t. There is no future where you’re restored, Thuriel.”
He snarls, finally ripping away his mask of whatever civility he had left and showing the monster beneath. “Angelic magic surpasses anything you might think to possess, little bitch. And yet you have the one thing none of us do, and you don’t even know it.”
“Whatever that fucking means, asshole!”
He growls. “You cannot only just see the past, present, and future. You can manipulate it in its entirety. You are a force of change and manipulation. Not only a seer, butTheseer. You can insert yourself into any time frame and alter it.” He points a finger in my direction. “And you will do that for me here and now. Regardless of your pathetic little army.”
“Yeah, I think the fuck not, spicy chicken wings. I’m not your lapdog.”
Next to me, Lorenzo cackles. “Chicken wings. Good one, Amore.”
“Enough of this foolery!” Thuriel screeches. “You will do what I ask, because I am a—” His rant is cut off immediately as a thick shadowy rope coils around his throat, squeezing.
He jerks back, his eyes bugging out as the whip encircles and tightens around his neck. A slashing crack of it impacts across his face, slicing up his skin. Blood sprays.
And Kane appears in a fit of rage. The King of The Pit lashes with his magic, screaming his anger, his fury, with little remorse.
