Page 82 of When Monsters Fight
Jilyana.
Her eyes were no longer white.
She was awake, trapped but conscious, the relic glowing inside her chest like a beacon.
“Please…” she begged. “Save her. Save my daughter.”
Daughter? She had a child? That’s how the Dominion had controlled her? It made sense. My will faltered, and her expression hardened.
“Do it, Rue. You have to do it. It’s the only way to stop them and save us all. I know that now. I’m sorry, so sorry for not having faith before. For believing their lies.”
“Rue, hurry up,”Shem cried in my mind.
Fuck. “I’ll find her. I’ll find your child. I swear it.”
I struck hard and fast, piercing her body and shattering the relic.
She exploded into embers, and the final stream of light went out.
“No!” Michael cried.
I spun in time to see Shem palm-punch him in the chest to send him flying across the chamber.
Gabriel, Sarq, and Zaq hit the ground as an echoing voice filled the chamber—not one voice but many speaking together.
“You will not fall Michael. You are one with us. You are the Dominion.”
Michael rose to his feet, his body glowing with inner light that lit up his golden hair so it looked like embers of the sun had been woven into each strand. His sapphire eyes blazed like blue fire as they raked over us.
“You will all fall!” His voice reverberated around us, pure power. Lethal and irrevocable.
We were screwed.
To my left, Lucifer’s voice filled the chamber. “My sword!”
Soul Reaper yanked itself free from my grip and shot across the room to land in Lucifer’s hand.
She stood tall and commanding, hair flying about her face in a phantom breeze, eyes like twin stars blazing with wrath.
Michael’s gaze whipped toward her, and the fire in his eyes dimmed. “No…”
“Yes.” Lucifer advanced.
“No.” This time Michael’s voice was not his own. “You will not win. We will not allow it.”
Michael’s arm came up, sword arching toward Lucifer and stopped, midair. “No…” Michael whispered. He dropped to his knees and tipped his head up to look at her in a dawning comprehension that I didn’t understand. Tears streamed down his cheeks.
I wasn’t sure what was happening here, and I didn’t care. I had Shem back, and that was all that mattered.
I rushed toward him, and he gathered me to him, crushing his lips to mine in a kiss that was filled with the aching throb of no more tomorrows.
No, this was wrong. He was back. He was mine. I clutched him to me, fingers digging into his biceps, his shoulders, because I knew…somehow, I knew that once this kiss ended, he would be taken from me. I channeled every unsaid emotion into that kiss, every ounce of love and longing as my heart slowly shattered.
“Shemyaza, we must hurry,” Lucifer said. “Morecelestials are coming. I must ascend now. I cannot save this world otherwise.”
Shem broke our kiss and briefly pressed his forehead to mine. “I love you, Rue, with every fiber of my being. Nothing and no one can take that from you.”
Michael’s mouth parted and his irises went white. “No. You must not. You cannot,” the Dominion cried.
