What sounded like a stampede headed this way. Our plan depended on Paul’s quick demise. Could I take him out before those animals swarmed the study? Before Gabriel returned? I’d been stunned by his menacing new size.
Gritting my teeth, I tightened Paul’s noose. His eyes bulged and his glowing light flickered, but he still fought me.
Jack raised one of Aric’s borrowed swords, positioning himself between me and the door. “They’re coming, Evie!” Wolf claws clattered in the hallway.
Tighter, tighter. But Paul remained on his feet, grappling against my hold. His face was purple. Veins jutted in his neck and forehead.
He made unintelligible sounds, his eyes pleading. Vessels burst across the white. Why wouldn’t he die? With each moment, I was weakening.
What if the noose didn’t work? As I kept up the pressure, I tried to muster spores . . . .
Nothing. I’d only weakened myself.
Growls sounded from the hall just before the door bowed. Surely they couldn’t break through—
In a rush of splinters, the wolves tore at the wood, ripping out chunks with their fangs.
Jack jabbed the sword through a hole in the door.
Yelp.
The blade came back bloody, but the wolves kept attacking.
I tightened the rope even more, cutting short Paul’s gurgling. “Die already!”
A giant frizzy head breached the door, jaws snapping the air. Cyclops. He snatched his head back just as Jack swung.
“Evie, whatever you’re goan to do, do it fast!”
Lark had reached the hall. “Empress, release Paul, and I’ll spare you and Deveaux. Otherwise, my wolves will clean your bones—like you did to my lion.”
“You think I killed Finn. You’d never spare me.”
She screamed, “You don’t get to say his name! Gabriel, kick down the door.” The Archangel was here as well!
The battered door rocked off its hinges, crashing to the floor. I gaped at Gabriel and Lark in the hall.
His wings flexed ominously, his eyes crazed. She was just as wild-eyed, with her mane tangled, looking more like an animal than ever before. Her wolves crouched beside her, saliva dripping from their bared fangs.
Jack readied his sword, gliding it back and forth.
I scrambled behind Paul, raising my claws to his face, all the while keeping the pressure on the noose. “No closer!”
Lark laughed. “Your glyphs are dark, which means you’re out of juice. Besides, he can’t be killed, dumbass. You can strangle or poison him all you want, but he won’t die.” She said to Gabriel, “The Empress is my kill.”
His eerie green gaze landed on Jack, and his wings flexed again, those talons so sharp.
Realization: We’re done for.
Gabriel struck, one wing zooming out from the hallway. Before Jack could swing his sword, his body had been launched across the room.
“Ah, God, Jack!”
He unsteadily rose, had somehow managed to keep hold of his weapon.
“Don’t touch him again, Gabriel!” Or what?
“ARCHANGEL,” Aric yelled from a distance. He must be at the edge of the sphere. “Face me! I have no armor. No swords. Come seize my icon.”
Would Gabriel take the bait? “Death has no protection,” he told Lark. “We will not get another opportunity like this. My wing’s reach is long. I can kill him without crossing the boundary.”
Then Aric was more vulnerable than he’d ever been. Need Paul to die before Gabriel reaches the edge!
Lark nodded. “Go. I can handle one mortal playing dress-up and a powerless Empress.” Cyclops slinked inside, Scarface and Maneater behind him. They circled me and Jack.
Gabriel charged away, and Lark focused her chilling red gaze on me. “I’m going to make this hurt.” The wolves pounced.
I tossed vines their way, muzzling their snouts. Each ounce of power I used for defense weakened my attack on Paul.
Jack swung at Scarface, landing a sword blow against his flank. The muzzled wolf leapt for him, knocking him onto his back.
“Putain!”
“Jack!”
Scarface broke free of his vines and snapped at Jack’s raised arm, fangs on metal. Clang clang. The sword flashed out again, striking the wolf’s other side. Blood poured, but its eyes were demented.
When I threw another vine to protect Jack, Paul stole a few wheezing breaths. His struggles grew stronger.
Maneater pawed her green muzzle off, then charged me. I scrambled back, blocking her way with more vines. All the while, I could feel Paul inching his way out of the noose.
We were losing ground, about to lose our lives! Anytime, red witch. Here’s another monster for you.
Jack had the same thought. Between breaths, he grated, “Let her loose, Evie!”
Out of the corner of my eye, I spied Paul fumbling with something in the desk drawer. What was he—
A pistol.
He used my moment of shock to yank back from me. I tightened the noose, but he still managed to raise the weapon, aiming it right at my stomach.
The gun fired.
Blinding pain made me scream. Aric’s anguished roar carried from the distance.
I gaped down at my body. The bullet had gone in and out of my arm. Paul attempted to steady his shaking hand. Too late; a vine leapt from my skin, knocking the weapon to the floor.
Paul had only given me a flesh wound, but he could have shot my vulnerable belly. The red witch shrieked for vengeance, rising up inside me, a terrible fever. Drawing on my wrath felt good. Surrendering to rage was like living in Paul’s sphere: simpler.
Power surged. With every one of his exhalations, I tightened the noose’s grip. The scent of roses steeped the air. The heat of battle was an inferno.
The light behind his head dimmed as he fell to his knees. He clawed at his throat, his eyes pleading.
Ah, heavenly. “Come, Paul. Touch.” When one eyeball popped out, I laughed with delight. Just like old times. “But you’ll pay a price.” I flicked my wrist.
The noose contracted. SNAP.
Paul’s limp body collapsed to the floor, and his tongue lolled from his slack mouth. At last!
I laughed again as a shivery feeling tingled on my hand. Then another. Icons.
Yanking off my glove, I stared down at the new marks: a noose for the Hanged Man and Finn’s ouroboros. Want more.
I slowly turned to Lark. I could take her down, just as my grandmother had wanted. Then Gabriel. Four icons in one day!
Why stop there? Death had no armor . . . .
Expression baffled, Lark clambered back against a wall, her wolves staggering toward her. “What the hell?” Her red eyes sparked with realization. Her lips curled back, revealing her fangs. “Paul did it? He killed Finn! He made me burn . . . ah, God, I burned Finn.”
The wolves leapt upon the Hanged Man’s corpse, snatching at flesh, tearing him apart.
Crunch, crunch. Blood painted the walls, crimson spatter arcing over antiques and book spines. It pooled on the floor around Paul’s remains as the beasts fought over pieces.
The violence excited the red witch. As I sized up Lark, her eyes were laser-focused on the gore.
Jack lumbered toward me. “Hey, hey. Come back to me.” He pinched my chin and turned my face. “Lark’s been through enough. Come on, you can do this.”