Page 84 of The Angel's Kiss
He tilted his head. “So, they sent a Divine Weapon to challenge me?” Lucifer asked in a voice that was deep and full of seduction. It made me almost want to drop to my knees before him. I had to fight hard not to.
“Not to challenge, to kill,” I said.
His wicked smile widened as a sword materialized in his palm, a golden one that glowed red. “You’re different from the other Guardian I met thousands of years ago. Ade, was it? And his Archangel, Azrael.”
The wounds I’d sustained while fighting Lilith were all healed now and I felt like I was on top of the world with the amount of power flowing through me. But I didn’t let that go to my head. I couldn’t. One mistake and it would be the end of us. I had to give Lucifer the respect he deserved as both a fallen Archangel and a former demon king of Hell.
“You should repent now, Lucifer, for after I kill you, your soul can return to Heaven,” I said.
He scoffed. “Heaven... why would I ever want to drop to my knees and beg for forgiveness from a flawed father?”
“Hey, I don’t have anything to do with your daddy issues. If you go back to Hell, just know, you’ll be at the mercy of two Empresses of Hades,” I told him and shrugged. “I killed your girl, Lilith.”
He sneered. “You speak as if you’ve already won, mortal.”
“I’m a Guardian with one hell of a demon Champion.”
His eyes widened when I said that and he stared harder at me as if he could look inside of me to see who my Champion was. “Who is this demon you speak of?”
“Enough talking.”
His eyes glowed red. “Yes. Enough.”
***
He advanced on me faster than any demon I’d ever faced. My reflexes were damn good, but I still caught a cut from the tip of his blade on my arm.
“Turn around, block,” Azazel said and I followed his directions in time to block a blow from Lucifer’s downward slash. I shot and he dodged the bullet. I shot some more, my gun never needing to be reloaded. Lucifer spun and leaped between my bullets dodging each one. “Shoot ahead of him, then back.”
Again, I obeyed Azazel and when Lucifer dodged the bullet that I had shot before him by jumping back, the bullet I’d fired rapidly caught him in the arm.
“Arg!” he yelled as smoke floated from the gaping wound.
I shot again, and he moved out of the way toward me. I sucked my gun’s energy back into my body and combined it with my sword now. Making the ultimate weapon. The blade of my sword split to form the barrel of my gun as the hilt created the trigger. I charged at him, using both hands with my finger on the trigger of my gun sword.
My heart was racing so fast, I thought I’d have a heart attack before it was over with. My adrenaline rushed through me making me feel invincible. I trusted Azazel completely and let him guide me through this fight, using his powers to the fullest.
“Freeze him,” Azazel said.
I held my hand out toward Lucifer as he ran toward me, but that didn’t work.
“Go stealth,” Azazel instructed. “Then teleport.”
I did as he told me and I was so happy that because he was inside of me, the knowledge of the abilities he had was shared with me. I appeared behind Lucifer and slashed my sword, but he blocked it with his sword and then turned around.
“Nice try,” he taunted.
Sweat soaked my clothes at this point, and the first signs of exhaustion were starting to plague me. I knew I had to push that all away. I couldn’t slip up, not now. Again, we clashed, our swords moving so fast they were a blur. I caught Lucifer with a kick and he caught me with a jab, both of us falling back. I realized that we were nearly evenly matched as far as strength went, but I still had an advantage I thought. I was a celestial warrior after all. I spit blood on the floor, then attacked Lucifer again, this time using Hellfire balls as well as my weapon. He got blasted by one of the fireballs, the flames engulfing him. I knew they wouldn’t kill him, but it was enough to distract him with pain, and when I saw my chance, I teleported behind him. I rammed my sword through his chest and he screamed. I then shot my gun sword repeatedly, Lucifer’s body dancing with each powerful bullet.
“You bastard!” he yelled then pulled himself off my blade.
“It’s not over,” Azazel said.
“Fuck, it’s not?” I asked, because I couldn’t believe that Lucifer had more fight in him. I ran toward him, my sword poised to take his head when he yelled and a powerful blast threw me back into the air. My wings expanded and I caught myself and looked to see what the hell had happened.
Lucifer had transformed from his angelic countenance to his demonic one. He was ten feet tall, with glowing red veins that bulged beneath the leathery-looking black skin. His horns were black and protruded from both sides of his temples. He had large hands and feet with sharp, black claws.
“Stay calm,” Azazel said. “Speed and agility are on your side, Rai.”
