The small army of unknown reapers—three males and two females—held still and silent, as if waiting for orders to engage. The male standing out in front was shorter than the rest and was drooling revolting amounts of saliva that squeezed out from between his lips and sharp teeth and rolled down his chin. Instead of hair, this one had a dozen or so short spikes made of clean white bone sticking out of his skull in every direction.

A hand locked around my throat and threw me across the living room. My body smashed into the stone fireplace, collapsing the mantle, and rubble rained down on me as I hit the floor. Kelaeno was above me suddenly, grabbing a fistful of my hair and yanking me to my feet.

“Time to come with us,” she hissed.

My sword appeared in my hand and blazed with angelfire as I swung it up at Kelaeno’s face. She ducked, but my blade cut across her cheek, drawing blood and sparking. She shrieked and lashed out with her talons, slicing gashes across my chest. My angelfire seared into her face in a flash of light, and her skin scarred over. She shook her head violently, hissing and snarling and gnashing her teeth. Then she lunged for my throat, swiping, slashing, clawing. I kicked her chest and she hit the floor but bounced right back to her feet. Her hand clamped around my throat, and she threw me to the ground, grinding my back into the floor. Her boot stomped on my sword arm, keeping me from striking her as she crouched over me. I clawed at her hand as it tightened around my throat.

“Such a wild thing! You’re like an angry kitten.” Kelaeno laughed down at me, and her fingers brushed down my cheek. “And you’re so pretty. I want your entrails for ribbons in my hair.” She slashed her talon across my skin, and I flinched at the sting and the smell of the blood that followed it, despite the cut healing right away. She laughed again and shoved me harder into the floor.

Suddenly a fist collided with her head, and she was thrown off of me and sent tumbling. Will leaped over me and charged at the demonic reaper as she struggled to her feet. He hit her again and she fell. He swung his fist a third time, but her power lashed out and struck him in the chest, and he landed a few yards away on his back with a grunt.

She stood and cursed at the top of her lungs as she spun around to the waiting reapers. “Rikken!” she roared at the drooling reaper. “Disable the Guardian!”

Rikken gave an eager shake of his spiked head like a dog baring his teeth, and he stomped toward Will. Kelaeno stepped in front of me, blocking my view of Will just as I heard him growl in pain. Fear for his life stabbed at every inch of me. We weren’t going to make it out of here alive. There were just too many of them.

I screamed in a rage and called my second sword and slashed it across Kelaeno’s chest, ripping her wide open. She roared and reared back, spreading her arms wide with clenched fists, thrashing her head from side to side in fury. I shot forward and swept my sword at her gut, but her hand knocked my arm away and she swung her body into me. A claw swiped my face and I hit the ground, blood seeping over my cheek and lips. I spat and wiped my arm across my face, feeling the numbness of my skin healing.

As I climbed to my feet, I saw two reapers racing toward me—a female with glossy black feathers in her hair and another male—with their claws spread open and teeth bared. I collided with them, spinning, ducking, kicking. I brought down my blade in a sweeping arc, splitting the female reaper’s body in two through her shoulder and below her left breast. She burst into flames, gone before any of her even hit the ground.

I wheeled to meet the second reaper directly behind me, but something large and glinting burst through his rib cage, cracking bone and tearing flesh. Blood flecked off silver metal as it halted for a brief moment, only inches from my own chest, and then the reaper’s body lifted into the air so that I could see it had been Will who had shoved his sword through the reaper’s heart. He flipped the reaper high over his head as the body turned to stone midair and shattered into a thousand pieces when it hit the floor.

Across the hall, Rikken clutched his throat and chest, which had been sliced wide open by Will’s sword moments ago, spilling red. He coughed and sputtered, but even from this distance I saw that his wound wasn’t fatal and was already healing.

A shadow passed behind Will, and I cried out his name. He turned and met Merodach, who charged through the darkness, driving his sword at Will’s chest, but Will spun to the side at the last instant. The blade ripped through his shirt and missed his skin entirely. Merodach slashed his double sword left and right and left and right, meeting Will’s giant blade each time.

I didn’t see Kelaeno appear beside me until she struck me across the temple. I staggered one step before I found my balance, spun, and reeled my elbow into her jaw. Her Harpy-like face snapped to the side. She swiveled her head around to meet my gaze with her holly red eyes, and she called two short, slick swords into her hands. She moved like lightning, one of her swords raised level with her shoulder before she thrust it at my face. I bounced away, but she followed, slashing and striking. Silver clanged against flaming silver, and her gaze locked onto mine as if she had nothing else to see. She drove one sword at my heart and I twisted away, but her other blade was too fast. Metal plunged into my shoulder, and I screamed as it ripped through my body. I stumbled against the wall and collapsed to my knees in agony.

Then Kelaeno jerked her head to the side in a blur, and her shoulder exploded. I saw Nathaniel standing behind her, staring down the barrel of his gun. Kelaeno had moved too fast for Nathaniel to shoot her in the head. He fired again, but she ducked low until her face was frighteningly close to mine. As she turned her head to look, her cheek brushed my nose and I jerked away, horrified. She slid her sword out from my shoulder, lifting my body as she did so. I shrieked in pain before slumping back against the wall.