As we neared the front door, flashes of darkness and my own blood on the dirty basement floor hit my mind’s eye like distorted, grainy tintype photographs, but I stared hard at that door. No more would I walk in fear of what had happened to me. I wouldn’t let death haunt me any longer. I would hunt death. I would be the reaper.

I kicked down the door, full force, and the sheet of metal crashed into the opposite wall. Outside light drenched the shadowed lobby. They now knew I was here, but they wouldn’t know I’d brought an army.

Movement blazed to my left and a demonic vir tore from the darkness and into view, but Will was there in an instant and he slammed his fist into the reaper’s face. A hideous crack echoed through the lobby and the vir’s head twisted almost all the way around on his neck. His body was pale stone before it crashed to the tile floor.

Marcus stepped up to the vir’s remains and slapped Will’s shoulder. “You are one bad motherf—”

He was cut off by a cacophony of earth-shaking roars resounding from deep within the cavernous factory. The walls shook free of dust, and yellowed paper and debris blew toward us from a dark hallway. I called my swords and angelfire lit up the room. Eerie white light danced off the walls and ceiling, and we waited for the ursid reapers to descend.

I heard their hollow loping through the halls, claws clicking cement, large bodies panting, snarling, growling orders to each other. Black fur rustled in the darkness and gnashing teeth appeared. I bolted toward the reapers as they appeared. Claws and fangs slit through the air past my skin and my knees hit the floor. I slid across the cement and was lost to them in the tangle of legs and paws, too small for them to keep me in sight. Bodies jumbled above me, snouts crunching, and I cut flesh. My blades spilled blood and bowels, and reapers went up in flame and ash. When I was past them, I jumped to my feet and whirled to face the remaining enemies. Sabina was caught in the jaws of an ursid and was thrown against the wall with a thud. Before it could make a killing bite, Marcus shoved one of Sabina’s guns to the temple of the beast and fired until bullets pounded rock. Will split a reaper in two with his blade and spun around. Ava ducked and his blade swept over her head and buried itself into the rib cage of another ursid reaper. Cadan’s sword jammed through the chest of a rearing reaper and as it fell, I hacked its head off.

When the blinding flames and cloud of ash settled, no more ursid reapers remained and we headed for the stairwell. It was quiet except for the echoes of our footsteps. I counted five stories in total as I looked up. Dying fluorescent lights flickered at each level.

Ava stepped ahead of me. “See you at the top.” Her wings sprang free and she shot into the air. Marcus and Sabina followed.

Cadan exchanged looks with Will. “You got her?” he asked.

Will’s gaze narrowed and darkened. “Yeah. I do.”

Cadan’s mouth formed a tight line as he accepted this without another word and followed the others, his wings lifting him with ease. Will wrapped his free arm around my waist and pulled me close to his body. I hugged his body tight in anticipation of liftoff.

“None of that tonight, please?” I begged him.

His green eyes met mine for an instant before he lifted his chin to the dark shaft above us. “None of what?”

I pinched his skin through his shirt with my fingers. “You know what I mean.”

His wings spread wide; feathers brushed my skin and he looked back down at me. There was a whisper of a smile and then he kissed me hard. He pulled away only a few inches and said, “I’ve got you.”

Then we rocketed through the shaft, five stories up. We landed and he set me down delicately. The others had already breached a cavernous room, and the popping sounds of gunfire and the shing of silver against silver assaulted my hearing. I caught Xastur making a dash for the exit and I chucked my sword. The angelfire went out as it whipped through the air end over end and pounded into the reaper’s chest. He snapped back and shrieked as the blade buried in the wall, nailing Xastur with it. I stomped toward him with my remaining sword still lit.

“Going somewhere?” I asked him. “You’re developing quite the reputation of loyalty to your buddies—or lack of, more like it.”

Blood oozed down the reaper’s front and squeezed between his teeth before dribbling down his chin. “Get this thing out of my chest,” he sputtered.

“If I free you, then you’re likely to do what you do best—run,” I sneered. “We can’t have that.”

“Ellie!”

I spun at the sound of my name. Cadan jogged to a stop in front of me.

“Sabina,” he said, and I didn’t miss the desolation in his voice.

A shudder of fear went through me. “Watch this worm,” I instructed and left Cadan with the pinned Xastur.

I passed piles of rubble littering the floor of the room as I hurried toward the group of angelic reapers huddled over something rumpled in a heap at their feet. It was Sabina. Her blond hair was tangled and matted with blood as her head lay cradled in Will’s hands. Her clothes were drenched dark and a horrible wound gaped wide open in her chest. On the other side of her lay a large sword painted red. The stench of blood was nauseating and I covered my mouth with my hand. Will looked up at me from the ground and his head shook almost imperceptibly.

I knelt beside her and took her hand. Her skin was cold. Her black eyes were dulled to gray as she watched me, lips trembling, mangled chest rising and falling with struggling breath. “Gabriel,” she murmured.