Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 109033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
More people climbed out of the fracture in the ground, led by a bearded male with shoulder-length hair and a white aura that quickly winked out.
Kushiel, no doubt.
Then a figure surrounded by red-violet flames levitated out of the gap in the landscape, and the tightness in Luka’s chest left him. Naomi.
No, he realized, it wasn’t Naomi. It was her demon. And it was backlit by massive rays of red, black, and orange light that almost hurt to look at.
Tobe slowed his pace. “This is why I said we needed to hope that she’s somewhere isolated—her demon gives no fucks about being discreet.” He gripped Luka’s arm as he staggered to a stop. The other imps and the twins followed suit. “We should hang back.”
Luka pulled his arm free. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“I get that you want to help her, but look at her demon—it doesn’t need us right now.”
An oily black gust of power blasted out of the bearded male’s palm, heading right for the entity. Red-violet flames clashed with the gust, ate it whole, and then incinerated the bastard just like that.
Luka’s brows flew up.
A roar split the air as omnidirectional flames burst from the entity’s body, reaching out to the clerics like devilish fingers. Fingers that were tipped with snake-heads. They latched onto ankles and dragged their captives backwards, tossing them into the strange light behind the demon.
Tobe flicked up a brow. “See what I mean?”
Yes, Luka did. Because he saw now what he hadn’t sensed before. Saw the primeval dark divinity that his mate possessed. Her inborn connection to the sacred, defiled and twisted into something malevolent, was the source of her inner raw power. And her demon harnessed it like a master. Something his own entities found a complete turn-on.
“The demon is also clearly in a fury,” Tia chipped in, “so there’s a good chance it might accidentally kill us. The best thing for us to do is to keep a slight distance from it and deal with the stragglers.” Her gaze sharpened on the men rushing their way. “Here they come.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Deciding the imps were right, Luka focused on the clerics ahead of him. He threw a hellfire grenade right at the swarm. Sand flew upward, fire roared, voices cried out, bodies hit the ground.
While several clerics took cover—hiding behind trees, shrubs, or wind-worn rock formations—others launched attacks.
Chanting filled the air moments before glowing white vines of magick soared toward Luka. They barreled into him, zapping his every nerve ending with burning-hot jolts of electricity.
Gritting his teeth at the fast-blistering burns, he snapped a telekinetic hand around his attacker’s throat, cutting off his air supply until finally the cleric went limp.
More glowing white streams came his way as he dumped the body on the ground. He slammed up a telekinetic barrier, shielding himself from the blows, then shoved that barrier forward hard. It crashed into several clerics, knocking them clean off their feet.
His entities smirked—wanting their prey’s fear, craving their blood, relishing their pain. And very much wishing that they could be at Naomi’s side as her demon quite literally burned shit down.
Nikandr flinched with a hiss as a pure-white orb blindsided him. “Christ, they hurt like a bitch.”
He wasn’t wrong.
A bald head popped up from behind a boulder, and the cleric sent twirling ribbons of pure-white magick at Luka. They slammed into his leg so hard it almost gave out. Fuck.
Ignoring the cramping throb, he lashed out with a telekinetic blast that made the boulder explode and collapse on top of his attacker.
A large number of clerics bolted, heading left. A wall of red-violet fire shot up in front of them, blocking their path. Other Eliouds headed for the right, only to skid to a halt as they too found themselves facing a flaming wall.
Curses rang out from the Lemures. They were stuck, weren’t going anywhere, and they knew it.
It made Luka’s entities smirk.
Helpless rage clear in their expressions, the Eliouds attacked as a whole—some targeting Naomi’s entity, the rest aiming at Luka and the demons near him. Hellfire. Chaos. Destruction. Magick. It all reigned supreme over the landscape right then. Thanks to stray blows, trees were split in half, shrubs caught fire, and rocks imploded.
Both sides fought hard. Nikandr and Mikhail remained either side of Luka, launching bolts and beams of hellfire, watching his back as he watched theirs. Tobe alternated between releasing blasts of hellfire and psychic blows. Ciaran frequently teleported from spot to spot, dodging magick hits, snapping necks, and reaching clerics who’d taken cover.
Meanwhile, Jolene had thrown up a shield that protected herself, Beck, Tia, and Alfie from incoming magickal attacks as they aimed to take down as many clerics as possible with hellfire.
Having taken out yet another cleric, Luka spared a look at Naomi. Her demon was still firmly in charge, pursuing the Eliouds at a slow, purposeful, confident walk, still looking the pure embodiment of defiled divinity.