Page 141 of A Deal in Darkness
I’ll desecrate and defile whatever the fuck I must violate to get to her, and I promise to commit any sacrilege necessary tosave her. Even praying to the almighty asshole who sits on that glistening throne in Heaven.
My wings slash and tear through flesh, mutilating and annihilating demons that pile towards me. I’m fast and ruthless, and I tear apart any who somehow stagger close enough for my claws to reach. I’m a force to be reckoned with, and my thirst for violence knows no limit.
I pulse magic forward and demons shriek as an explosion of power rips them to shreds. More spring up and I send another burst of destruction toward them, destroying the new and resurrected demons rising from the arid desert.
There are too many of the fuckers to cut them down quickly, and they just keep coming. They’re rising as fast as I’m killing them and I’m being forced to slow down, forced to wade through the demons standing between me and Adriana, buffering Eva from my ire.
Elgios fights ruthlessly, matching my kill count and possibly surpassing it. He’s on a fucking mission and his magic flows as potently as mine, devastating those around us.
The battle’s fierce, and it’s fucking glorious. Blood pours and the earth drinks it, thirsty for more, as demons on all sides fall. Explosions and magic ricochet around us, shattering any delusion of calm. This is carnage. This is chaos. This is a fucking war and it’s one I’ve got to win.
My limbs move lightning fast and my magic works harder.
It’s not making enough of a difference.
The fuckers just keep coming. Shrieks and screams cry out around us and as magic flows and fights against other spells, Eva’s strategy is painfully clear. This is a war of attrition. A short one, if she has her way. She’s throwing more and moredemons at us and she’s replenishing the ones she loses. We’re not matching her and our losses count, while hers don’t.
“We’ve got to move faster,” I roar.
“Don’t you think I fucking know that?” Elgios yells back, decapitating an ice demon with brutal efficiency. “We’ll die if we get bogged down.”
We’re already bogged down.
I’m making the smallest inroads forward and the army behind me is thinning.
Morgana senses it too and she’s fucking pissed, pulsing more and more magic that she’s drawing from fuck knows where. The battlefield glows in greens and blues that ignite as rage and anger take hold, burning across the plane of Hell with a fury worthy of this battle.
“This isn’t working,” she yells.
“It’s got to fucking work,” I yell back, cutting down another two demons before pivoting and decapitating two more. My magic surges and the ground beneath us shudders, temporarily stalling the next attack. Eva’s demons will rise soon, but the breather might give us time to regroup.
We fucking need it.
Demons limp and bleed, oozing thick black blood that drips onto the ground. We need a second to catch our breaths and we’ve got little time to heal. Demon flesh knits together, but it won’t be fast enough, and although I’m loathe to admit it, both Elgios and Morgana are right.
This isn’t fucking working and we’re going to die here.
“We need a fucking plan,” Elgios roars. “A different fucking one.”
“Then think of one,” I roar, lazily culling a few more demons and readying myself for the onslaught that will inevitably come next.
“He won’t like it,” Morgana says, sending a devastating pulse of magic toward a compact unit of badly wounded demons. “Neither of you will, but it’s the only fucking chance we’ve got.”
We turn to face the enraged High Priestess who stares at us in all her livid glory. Her body screams pain and terror, while the darkness flowing from her is as despicable as mine. Her fingernails are curled and sharp, her hair like the lashes of a whip, and Morgana’s eyes burn with the anger of a woman scorned.
“It’s got to be him,” she sighs, rolling her eyes at Elgios and me. “We can’t all make it through, but we can push him through. We can get him into the temple and then we can hold back the army at its gates.” Her eyes brim with fire and fury as they meet mine. “You’ll have to take her out, Amaymon. Quickly. An army falls when you’ve cut the head off the snake.”
Mixed metaphors aside, she’s got a point.
“No fucking way,” Elgios snarls. “He’s not stealing my fucking glory!”
Morgana tilts her head and stares him down, looking at the Duke of Hell like he’s being a child. She’s patronizing the shit out of Elgios and the demon doesn’t like it, railing against her logic. It’s indisputable and he fucking knows it. He just doesn’t like it and unless he accepts it, we’re going to end up fighting each other instead of the motherfucking demons that are beginning to rise from the ground.
“We don’t have a choice,” I add.
“This is my battle, my victory,” he snarls. “My seat at the fucking high court.”
I nod. “Then take it. Lucifer won’t be able to deny you if you’ve held back an undefeatable army in his name. This is your chance, Elgios. Don’t waste it on a girl Lucifer doesn’t care about.”
