We landed and she slid off the dragon’s back. I looked to Ophelia. She was to my left and I could tell she didn’t trust this anymore than I did. But it looked like Death truly was one of those demons Moloch had spoken about. A demon who wasn’t all bad.

Death went to her knees and bowed her head. “Do it now, Slayer. Save this world and ours. I will not die like the others, but be reborn on the other side of the Veil.”

I raised my sword, the blade lighting up the sky like a beacon of hope as my emotions raged through me. I whispered a single word. “Peace.” The blade cut through the air in a flash of light like a falling star, and the back of her neck held no resistance to the edge. A blinding flash of light rippled out from the contact between blade and bone. Death was swallowed in a tiny super nova, her dragon dissolving the same time she did.

I put a hand to my eyes. “Fuck, that was bright.”

Ophelia scooped me up and put me on her back. Hurry, the night is fading. The time of the ceremony is now. We must get you back.

Already?

I gripped the harness for all I was worth, my heart beating harder than it had probably in my entire life. This was it, the moment was now, whether I was ready or not.

I took a deep breath, held it for a moment and slowly let it out. “Then let’s end this shit.”

CHAPTER 44

LARK

BESIDE ME, PAMELA healed Liam, though I could see the toll it took on her. Her lips were pressed tightly together in a thin line as she closed the wound. He sat up, reaching for his cutlass before Pamela’s hands had even fallen from his chest.

Around us, the demons began to die as they fought our allies. Not dissolve, not go down in a massive twitching of limbs that could re-spawn. No, they were dying, and the elementals roared with a fierce and wild glee.

Fiametta met my eye and nodded, pride filling her face; her fire elementals were a wicked force to be reckoned with, and were showing how very dangerous they were. From the weakest of them to the strongest, they’d blasted a line through the demons in order to get me to Rylee in time, to get the sword into her hands.

Somewhere behind me, Finley worked with her Undines, and they in turn were assisting the queen of the Sylphs. I was still surprised she’d come. Mind you, she’d stayed as far away from me as possible, but that was fine.

A swirl of a black cloak ten feet from me drew my eye. Blackbird had come as he’d sworn, and as I stared, he killed the demons around him. I hesitated, my spear in my hands as I considered running him through.

The time is not now, child. For this moment he stands with you, and has earned his life. The mother goddess spoke firmly to me, as if perhaps I wouldn’t listen. It would not be the first time I’d ignored her.

“Until tomorrow then,” I breathed the words out, spun, and took a demon’s oversized rat head from his shoulders.

Rylee and Ophelia winged above us, heading for the ceremonial slab. Orion was hot on her heels, ripping through his own people to get to the slab before her. I gathered the power of Spirit, but held back at the last second. I could not use it, the fear of what it would do to me stopping me.

A demon that looked like he’d possessed an ogre’s hulking mass roared at me. I screamed back at him, driving the shaft of my spear into his groin and dropping him to his knees. On his back was a black and gnarled bow that I ripped off. Kicking him in the neck, I pushed him the rest of the way over and took his arrows as well.

Orion mounted the steps of the burnt farmhouse.

Rylee dropped from Ophelia’s back, not seeing him or his raised sword.

I lifted the bow, sighted the arrow staring at the back of his neck where it joined the base of his skull. I released the bowstring and the arrow flew straight and true, slamming through him.

My vision blurred as I was tackled by two demons at once. “We’ve got her. Master will like us for this. Blackbirdy, we’s got her!”

Hell no, this was not happening.

I called the earth up under us, pulling all three of us down deep. With very little effort, I pushed myself back out and shook the loose dirt off. The two demons were buried; the tips of their fingers the only thing visible.

“Blackbird, you bastard.” I snarled. The time was soon coming that I would have to deal with him.

Not yet.

No, I was rather busy making sure the world didn’t get overrun by demons. But as soon as that was done with . . . Blackbird would get his comeuppance.

One way or another.

CHAPTER 45

RYLEE

I SPUN AS ORION came at me, his sword over his head, already in a downswing toward me. There was no way I’d get my weapon up in time. The moment slowed, and I stared up at him.

But at the last second of his swing, his whole body jerked as though he’d touched an open electric line.

“No, I won’t let you win,” he spit out, blood flecking his lips. He twitched and turned sideways, the arrow protruding from the back of his spine dancing like it was a fishing line with a large catch. Lark saw me, gave me a nod, and then was tackled to the ground by a couple of hulking demons.

I raised the katana. Orion was dying, and I needed a wound from a demon to kick start the ceremony; but I finally realized it couldn’t be just any demon. It had to be Orion, or this wasn’t going to work. That was what Deanna hadn’t understood either. As much as she’d tried to help me, she’d only ended up killing herself by letting the demon in.

“If you don’t want me to win, then you’d better take a swing at me, you fucking idiot,” I snapped, bringing his attention back to me. His red eyes were clouded with a gray fog as death crawled up and over him. Fuck. I was running out of time. The night was beginning to fade, the distant light of the dawn coming faster than I could believe.