Page 10 of Redeeming the Angel

Quickly, I took Artavian’s hand and sought out the healer station.The healers already there thanked us for their help, but informed us that there weren’t many patients yet and said we’d be of more assistance on the front lines.

King Zareth had already taken position, blasting lightning at the evil mages and demons.Xochitl stood beside him and shot fireballs at the corpse-walkers.

Lucian’s eyes widened and he looked at my daughter with admiration.Then he looked at me with excitement I hadn’t seen in years.“That is genius.We can kill those things because they’re already dead, and if we burn them, those damned necromancers can’t bring them back.”

I couldn’t help teasing him.“Are you sure your fire magic is up to it?You Jagwolfes are generally better with air and water.”

Lucian grinned at me and shrugged.“I suppose we’re about to find out.”

Time vanished for a little while as we focused on burning the corpse-walkers and only the corpse-walkers.Luminites were unable to kill, something that hadn’t bothered me until the Evil One destroyed my kingdom.Xochitl was able to kill, a fact that should have filled me with revulsion, but instead made me fiercely proud.Unfortunately, the one time she’d killed something bigger and worse than a deer had put her in a coma.So she had to be nearly as cautious as Lucian and me with our targets.

However, my daughter wasn’t being as careful.Some of her fireballs made it to the demons and mages.Though her mistaken hits were able to extinguish the flames for now, it was only a matter of time before one turned into a living torch.

I opened my mouth to warn her, but was pulled back by the mage in charge of the healer’s tent.We had enough injured on our side that Artavian and I both were needed.

The reprieve was both a blessing and a curse.It was fulfilling to be able to nurture and heal people, but hearing the screams and clashes of steel outside without being able to see unnerved me almost as much as when someone would carry a person to the tent, then have to carry them elsewhere because they were already dead.I wondered if humans ascended anywhere when they died.Maybe they too had a home realm like luminites.

I tried my best to focus on my patients with the same professional serenity as Artavian, but I couldn’t.Not with my daughter, her friends, and…Lucian out there in harm’s way.And Nik!Where had she gone?I hadn’t seen her since the beginning of the battle.

After what felt like hours, Beau called me out to help him with an air spell.Night had fallen, and I hoped the vampires on our side had made it here.

I froze at the tent opening for two reasons.

First, my daughter was recklessly riding Isis into a horde of corpse-walkers.At first, I’d been amused at Xochitl’s ability to make her cat bigger, and the Siamese’s obvious pleasure in being larger than a horse, but now I worried about both being hurt.When I saw the shimmering edges of a shield around cat and rider, some of my tension eased.

Until I sawhim.

Mephistopheles stood on a floating platform above water that Sylvis had called and Zareth had electrocuted.The Evil One stared at Delgarias, his creation who’d rebelled against him.Then, his red eyes shifted to meet mine.His fiery, filthy gaze raked over my body and he smiled as if he owned me.My stomach churned and my lungs tightened as memories of the agony he inflicted washed over me.The smell of death, the feel of the still warm blood of my kin dripping off his body onto mine.

Anger flared through me, filling my being with fire and darkness until I couldn’t take it anymore.Instead of looking away like I had twenty-five years ago, I met his eyes directly and let out my rage in a scream of defiance.

My daughter, still astride her giant cat, rode towards me.Her amber eyes turned as red as her father’s as she too stared him in the face and joined her scream to mine.

The Evil One flinched, then his platform lowered into his mass of guards.

I met my daughter’s eyes and let all my pride and love for her show in my smile.That flinch gave me a fresh dose of hope that not only would we win this battle, but that we’d also destroy the Evil One and make him pay for his countless crimes.

Something metallic glinted up in the sky.I had a moment to beg the fates to not let that be a new addition to the enemy’s arsenal before my wish was granted.

A dragon flew over the battlefield.And Nikkita was his rider.

“Holy shit,” Xochitl exclaimed beside me.She’d jumped off her cat’s back, as Isis was too nervous around this new, much larger creature.“I didn’t know Aunt Nik could ride dragons!”

“That’s her bond.”A light chuckle escaped me.“But she didn’t find out until she was over two hundred years old because all of them were in hibernation for most of her early life.She thought she was broken and didn’t have a bond.”

Xochitl stroked Isis’s flank soothingly.“I can’t imagine having to wait that long.I’m glad cats knew me right away.”

“Ever since you were a week old,” I murmured, still watching my sister and her dragon cover the enemy with swathes of fire.My nose wrinkled at the smell as mages and vampires on our side pushed the enemy back into the flames.The dragon dove and swallowed a necromancer whole, making the other two flee before blasting out another deadly gout of fire.When he landed, he crushed two corpse-walkers and an enemy vampire under his massive clawed feet and devoured a few running, burning vampires before taking to the air again.

Mephistopheles’s red eyes glared at my sister with absolute hatred.He shot a bolt of power at the dragon.I tensed, but the flying beast darted away easily, bobbing and swerving around every blast the Evil One threw his way.

The enemy fled in terror of the dragon, who blew a white-hot blast of fire at Mephistopheles.Alas, the Evil One blocked it before opening a swirling vortex.He disappeared inside it and the enemy soldiers fled into the portal, but only half made it in.The others were quickly dispatched by our side.

After the last enemy was killed, I helped a group find and count the dead.Nikkita joined me for a moment.

Tears filled my eyes as I placed the body of a young male human mage who couldn’t have been more than twenty beside that of an old woman.“This is so awful.All these people’s lives snuffed away, and possibly worse fates for those who were captured.I hate Mephistopheles, Ihatehim!”

“We will defeat him.I know it.I trust the Prophecy and Del’s visions.”

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