Page 20 of Camael
Camael and Amelia moved as one. They raced for the main floor. The scene that greeted them would've given horror directors nightmares. Demons were pouring through gaps in their defenses like water through a sieve. They looked like someone had grabbed monsters from humanity's darkest nightmares and cranked the horror up to eleven.
We're talking bodies that rippled with muscle beneath skin that looked like burned leather. They sported enough teeth to make a great white shark file a copyright claim. Their eyes glowed with the kind of ancient evil that made even Lucifer check under his bed at night. To Amelia these sumbitches seemed like the apex predators of Hell. She bet they made lesser demons curl up in the fetal position and cry for their demon mommies.
Amelia burst into the foyer with Camael on her six. They arrived just in time to see Jo take a demon's head clean off. The female angel moved like she was starring in her own action movie. Her blade carved through a creature that had about six too many arms. Az was at her back. His wings spread wide as he drove his sword through what might have been a face. The thing had sharp teeth and piercing eyes.
Up on the grand staircase, Mal was putting on a clinic increative dismemberment. His blade took one demon apart while Zach's follow-through turned another into one of hell's favorite jigsaw puzzles. The marble steps were already slick with black ichor that smoked where it hit the floor.
Amelia’s arm flew up when a flash of crimson lit up the space like someone had thrown blood on the walls. She had magic crackling on her palms and was about to toss it when she saw it was the triplets that had joined them in the French Quarter earlier. They materialized in formation. Holy mother of magic, they know how to make an entrance. Amelia threw the magic at a demon to her right and watched the three warrior angels for a second.
Araton shot straight up. His red wings carried him to the chandelier, where he engaged something that looked like a pterodactyl had gotten busy with a sloth. His blade struck faster than her eyes could track. Chunks of demon rained down like the world's worst confetti.
Ten feet to her left, Ayil spun through three demons like a divine Cuisinart. His sword left trails of fire that turned infernal flesh to ash. The male moved like violence given form. Each strike was as precise and lethal as hellfire.
She caught glimpses of Abraxos between exchanging blows with her own dance partner. She faced a demon whose spine kept relocating at the worst possible moments. She dispatched that one in a flash as she tried to mix the two powers. There was another right behind it, taking its place. This one had mandibles where its chest should be. And it had decided she looked like lunch. Game on, asshole. Light and shadow gathered in her palms as she prepared to show it what his friend had learned. She ducked and rolled out of the hot zone.
"Really?" Rami shouted as he decapitated something with too many eyes. "In our house?"
"Guess they didn't get the invitation to use the doorbell,"Amelia fired back. She let her newfound powers flow free and turned three demons to ash.
Camael's curse could've stripped paint as he manifested his wings. "They're after the artifacts," he growled as his Sword of Light blazed to life. "This is a targeted strike."
No shit. The demons were pressing toward the library where they'd stored the other relics she’d brought from her house. Rami and Remi took up position in front of the double doors. They created a living, breathing barrier.
Amelia threw herself into the battle. The massive house seemed smaller as they fought the demons. The mansion's elegant interior was a war zone. Demons crawled across walls and ceilings with impossible grace. The marble floors were slick with ichor as divine steel met corrupted flesh. Amelia did her best to cast cleansing spells so she didn’t slip on the shit and break her neck.
"Behind you!" Ayil's warning came just as a particularly nasty piece of work tried to flank Amelia. The thing looked like someone had tried to mate a praying mantis with a Bearded Dragon.
She spun, channeling power through the Key. Light and shadow combined into a blade of pure twilight energy that cut through the demon like it was made of smoke. "Thanks for the heads up!"
"Anytime, witch." The angel's grin was fierce as he bisected another demon.
The fight carried them through the mansion's halls. Every room became a battlefield as they pushed the demons back. Expensive furniture became improvised weapons. Beautiful works of art suffered collateral damage. It was all worth it as they slowly began to turn the tide.
"The library's secure!" Az called out from somewhere ahead. "But we've got problems on the perimeter!"
"Define problems," Camael demanded as he separated a demon's head from its shoulders.
A crash from outside answered that question. Something massive was moving through the grounds. Each step it took made the windows rattle and the marble floors vibrate beneath their feet. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Rami muttered as he looked out a window. "Boss, remember that thing from Detroit?"
"Yeah."
"Its big brother just showed up. And it brought friends."
The fight spilled onto the grounds of their rented Marigny mansion like Hell's version of a block party. Amelia's hands moved through the air as she continued weaving light and shadow. This time she directed it into a massive dome that covered their designer landscaping faster than a gossip could spread news in church. No need to give their wealthy neighbors Instagram material or reasons to call their therapists.
Behind her, the mansion's historic doors hung off their hinges. The imported marble steps were decorated in demon parts that were already dissolving into black goo. But that shit was nothing compared to what came crashing through their perimeter wards. "Sweet mother of fuck." The curse slipped out before she could catch it.
The thing that emerged from the darkness looked like someone had grabbed parts from every apex predator in existence and thrown them in a blender. They were now facing thirty feet of muscle wrapped in armor plating that would make a tank jealous. Its head was a nightmare of horns and teeth, with eyes that glowed like pools of lava.
"Now that's just excessive," Rami called out as he dodged a swipe from one of its six arms. Each limb ended in claws that could've gutted a whale. "And our lease definitely doesn't cover this kind of damage."
The beast's roar shook the ground hard enough to make her teeth rattle. It was the kind of sound that made French Quarter tour guides wake up screaming. The thing brought one massive foot down. When it lifted it again, Amelia swallowed in awe of the crater left in the hundred-thousand-dollar landscaping. It would've made the property manager go into cardiac arrest.
She sucked in a breath when she saw Camael launch into the air. His Sword of Light carved a path across the creature’s armored hide. He managed to leave trails of divine fire. The creature's response? It tried to eat him. It opened a mouth full of enough teeth to make a shredder jealous. It attempted to turn Heaven's most badass archangel into a snack.
"Not happening," Amelia muttered as she gathered twilight energy into her hands. She let it build for a second before releasing it in a wave that made the air ripple. The blast caught the thing in the chest and forced it back three steps. Unfortunately, that put it in the fancy fountain. With her luck, it was imported from Italy and that was thousand-year-old stone that crumbled like it was made of sugar.
She was busy trying to think of a spell to fix the damage when the triplets moved in like they shared a single mind. Araton and Abraxos went for its legs, while Ayil targeted the joints where its arms met its body. Their red wings left trails in the air as they struck with coordinated precision.
