17

The Dark Force of Hell, the demons’ army, preferred more armor than the Legion. The leather of their uniforms was thicker, heavier than ours. Some of them wore scale armor that shimmered with dark magic. The heavier materials didn’t slow them down a bit. They charged at us, two dozen soldiers against our party of three, moving like lightning. Flames erupted on their blades. That same silver and gold glow I’d seen in so many Legion soldiers’ eyes lit up their eyes too. Heaven and hell, light and dark, Nectar and Venom—our magic wasn’t as different as most people thought.

I raised my sword to meet the Dark Force’s advance. There were just so many of them, and my sword bounced uselessly off their hard armor. Nero and Harker darted between the soldiers, striking with brutal efficiency. They seemed to know just where to hit the armor to do the most damage. They’d clearly done this many times before.

Through the clashing steel and magic, I saw an angel shackled to the wall at the back of the cavern. Chains were locked around her ankles and wrists. Massive icicles punctured her wings—white and gold accented with orange that rivaled the most beautiful sunset I’d ever seen. It made my heart hurt to see the beautiful angel in such pain. The ceiling wept wet snowflakes, as though it couldn’t bear to see her suffer like that either.

“Run to Colonel Starborn,” Nero told me. “We’ll hold off the Dark Force.”

I nodded, then circled around the soldier he’d just engaged. I ran as fast as I could, dodging between enemy combatants hellbent on killing me. Nero and Harker covered my mad dash to Colonel Starborn. Spells streaked across the battlefield like berserk comets. My body shook every time one hit me, but I just kept pushing forward. Thanks to this last week of torturous training, my magic resistance was higher than ever before.

But would it be enough? The spells kept piling on, one after the other after the other. The magic was dragging me under. It was like moving through a pool of burning quicksand in the middle of a hurricane. Ignoring my frostbit fingers and fire-kissed toes, I kept running toward the shackled angel.

“Colonel Starborn,” I said, stopping in front of her.

Like all angels, she was stunning. In fact, she was even more beautiful in person than she’d appeared in my visions. Her hair wasn’t just orange like I’d thought before. It was the color of a sunset—mixed golden hues of orange, red, and pink. It fell like silk curtains to her shoulders, its glossy sheen penetrating the layers of sweat, dirt, and torture. Her eyes were closed, her long, thick eyelashes kissing her high cheekbones. Her feet were naked. She wore only a ripped, dirty tank top and shorts. Her body convulsed with ragged, persistent shivers, like the metal chains had carried the cold deep into her bones.

“Colonel Starborn,” I repeated.

When she didn’t respond, I grabbed hold of her shoulders and shook her. Jostled out of her nightmare, her eyelashes lifted. She looked at me with turquoise eyes that shone like a tropical ocean. I couldn’t help but stare. No, make that gawk. She was stunning, almost as gorgeous as Nero. The dirty snow and deep tears that marred her clothing only made her more beautiful.

“I’m here from the Legion,” I told her. “We’ve come to get you out of here.”

Hope shone in her eyes. Such beautiful hope. I saw then that she’d all but given up on making it out of here. I reached for her chains.

Telekinetic magic slammed into me, throwing me to the ground. I jumped to my feet and met the icy blue stare of a dark angel. He stood between me and Colonel Starborn, his blood-red armor shimmering like satin in the firelight, his long black hair swirling in the magic breeze surrounding him.

“Get out of my way,” I growled at him.

The dark angel laughed, such a beautiful, terrifying sound full of power and cruel intentions. He moved in a flash, his hard armor stretching impossibly with him. His fist slammed against my head. I stumbled back, barely evading his next punch. I drew my gun and fired, but the bullets bounced off his armor. It was magically protected. It would take magic to get through it, and I didn’t have the power to make the bullets anything more than mundane. I aimed for his head. He knocked the gun out of my hand before I could shoot him. He swung another punch at me. I jumped back.

“Stop running, little girl,” he taunted me. “Or are the Legion’s soldiers too cowardly to stay and fight?”

Fight a dark angel? Yeah, I really didn’t want to do that. He was faster, stronger, and had more magic than I did. It might be cowardly to flee, but it was stupid to fight. Not that I had much of a choice. It was either fight or die.

A flash of fire danced across my peripheral vision. I turned to see Nero toss me a flaming sword. I caught it and swung it around. The dark angel’s sword met mine. And his was on fire too. Dark elemental magic raged like a firestorm across his blade.

“Windstriker,” the dark angel growled, pushing his sword hard against mine to throw me off balance.

He drew a figure-eight pattern in the air with his sword. The flaming symbol pulsed once, then the gate to the cavern opened. Dozens more of the Dark Force’s soldiers poured inside, rushing at Nero and Harker. The dark angel didn’t give me a chance to contemplate their fate. He struck at me. Our blades clashed with a blinding bang. Holding onto my sword, choking on the stench of sulfur, I watched in horror as the flames jumped from his sword to mine. The fire slid down my blade with liquid ease. I bit back the pain as the fiery spell bit into my hand.

Surprise flashed across his face when I didn’t drop my weapon. I took advantage of that brief moment of confusion and swung my sword. Powered by the elemental spell Nero had cast on the blade, it chipped a piece off the dark angel’s armor. His beautiful face twisted into a vicious scowl. A telekinetic burst pulsed out of him, hitting me against the wall with the force of a high-speed train. Pain exploded from my ribcage, trickling down my left side.

“This is impossible,” the dark angel said as I rose to my feet and moved toward him.

I stuck a big smirk over the throbbing beat of agony inside of me. “I have a lot of practice wrestling angels.”

“I am a dark angel.”

My eyes darted to my flaming sword. The telekinetic blast had knocked it right out of my hands. It was now on the other side of the dark angel, too far out of my reach.

“Angel, dark angel.” I shrugged. “Same game, different toys.”

“You are a Legion soldier,” he said with a hard face. Clearly, my attempts at humor didn’t tickle his funny bone. “That blast should have knocked you out.”

“And miss this party? No way.” I wiped the blood from my nose. The impact had hurt like hell.

The dark angel moved like liquid steel. I avoided the brunt of his blow, but the tail end of the punch tore across my battered ribcage. I fell to my knees, coughing up blood.

“Impossible,” he said again as I stood, his eyes wide. “You’re weak against dark magic.”

I grabbed my whip and attacked. The lightning-charged tail cut through the air and coiled around his leg. I gave it a solid tug, pulling him off balance. He hit the ground with a satisfying thump.

“And you are a dark angel,” I told him. “Weak against light magic.”

He was already on his feet. “You’re resistant to dark magic.” Gold flashed across his pale eyes. “There’s darkness in you, not just light magic.”

I swung the whip again. Fire followed on the tail of lightning, eating into his armor. Another crimson chunk of metal hit the ground with a resounding clunk. I tried to followup with another attack, but the electric whip was out of juice. It had taken too much magic out of it to zap a dark angel. What just moments ago had been a roaring thunder, was now hardly more than a weak sizzle. I tossed the weapon aside. He struck at me with his sword, but his misshapen armor slowed him down—and lately I’d been practicing how to steal my opponents’ weapons. I swung my pilfered sword at him, sprinkling him with tiny flames. A few of them landed on the exposed pieces of his undershirt, visible through the damaged armor.

“And you can wield dark magic,” he said, calmly patting out the tiny flames on his shirt.

He was right. Only someone with dark magic could swing that sword without the flames going out. A slow, calculated grin spread across his lips. His hand flashed out, knocking my sword to the ground. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward him. My chest slammed into the wall of his armor, dealing a fresh dose of pain to my battered ribs. His arms locked around me like a cage, pinning my arms to my sides. He lowered his head to mine and drew in a deep breath.

“What the hell are you doing?” I demanded, kicking at him.

His feet moved quickly, deflecting my kicks. His hard heels came down on my boots. Now I couldn’t move my feet either.

“Shh,” he said, his voice a harsh whisper against my ear. “This will hurt less if you don’t struggle.”

Panic surged inside of me, panic born from the uncertainty of not knowing what he was going to do—and from the certainty of knowing that whatever it was, I wouldn’t like it. Twin peaks of pain pierced my throat. The bastard had bitten me! I pushed against his hold, trying to shake him off, but I might as well have tried to move a mountain. Hot, volcanic agony shot through my veins like a river of acid. My blood boiled, my skin broke out in a sweat. I’d never experienced a torment like this. It felt like I was being burned alive from the inside.

And then it was over. The dark angel pulled back. “Incredible,” he said, licking a drop of my blood from his lips. “Was it good for you too?” His icy eyes shone with unapologetic cruelty—and with something else. Victory. They shone with victory.

“Stay back, you psychopath,” I snapped, snatching up his sword from the ground. The flames surged with a fury that matched my mood perfectly. I swung the blade at him, and the fire streaked through the air, screeching like a bird of prey.

“Incredible,” he repeated, jumping back. His eyes darted to my throat. Silver slid over his icy irises. His tongue flicked out to slowly trace his lips.

“I will kill you with your own sword,” I warned him.

I held onto that sword and resisted the urge to cover the two puncture marks on my neck. When Nero bit me, it felt good. No, better than good. It felt…right. I could sense my blood inside of him, merging with his own. Like our souls were blending together. When the dark angel bit me, it didn’t feel good or right. It felt like an invasion, a violation, an unwelcome torture. It felt like he was ripping me open and tearing off a part of me. He wasn’t becoming one with my blood. He was stealing it.

“There’s no need for that,” the dark angel said. “This fight is over.”

Magic boomed like a cannon, and then he was gone. I looked up and found him flying above the battle, his dark silhouette growing smaller and smaller as he rose higher. An opening swirled at the top of the mountain. He flew through it, and it closed behind him.

I looked around. Dead soldiers were scattered across the icy floor. Harker was fighting what remained of the Dark Force. Up above, Nero wrestled with a second dark angel. I swung the dark angel’s sword at Colonel Starborn’s restraints, shattering the magic that bound her. The chains crumbled from her body, sprinkling to the ground like silver dust. I caught her as she fell. Holding to the angel with one hand, and a sword in the other, I slowly made my way across the battlefield. The second dark angel swooped in, raining down magic upon us. I pulled us to the side, narrowly escaping a lightning bolt.

The dark angel came around for a second pass. Colonel Starborn was in bad shape. She couldn’t even walk without assistance, let alone fight. I looked around for Nero. He’d been fighting the dark angel just a few moments ago. I found him blasting through a rocky cage on the other side of the cavern. The dark angel must have trapped him in there. Nero was too far away, and the dark angel was coming in fast. His comrade might have decided the battle was over, but he sure hadn’t gotten the message. A firestorm raged over his head, building up to a devastating release.

A spark ignited, signaling the opening of the floodgates—or, in this case, the fire gates. A fiery waterfall poured down on us. We might make it—if we ran at full speed. But Colonel Starborn couldn’t run, and I couldn’t carry her out of here fast enough.

Silver flashed past me. Harker stood beside us, holding up an enormous shield. He must have taken it from one of the fallen Dark Force soldiers. Its dark magic consumed the dark angel’s fire stream, but not without a price to pay. The shield had been made from dark magic, and Harker was a soldier of light magic. Blisters popped up across his hands, spreading down his arms every moment he held the shield. Pain cut across his face, but he gripped onto it with unyielding determination. He cared for Colonel Starborn, his former mentor. The look in his eyes told me he’d die for her too.

As upset as I was with him for betraying me, I wasn’t going to let that happen. He was a good person. He was just horribly misguided. I grabbed the shield from his hands, holding it against the fire falls. Above, Nero tackled the dark angel, shutting off the fire stream. Harker collapsed to his knees beside Colonel Starborn.

“Your arms look awful,” I told him.

“I’ll live.”

I sighed, tossing aside the shield. “How heroic, but now I have to carry both your asses across this cave.”

“I like her,” Colonel Starborn told Harker with a dry chuckle.

Harker glanced at me. “Yeah, so do I.”

I looked up. Nero and the dark angel tumbled through the air, magic and feathers flying in every direction. I grabbed the other dark angel’s flaming sword and drew a fiery figure-eight in front of me. The gate lifted, opening up the way out of this cursed mountain.

“How did you do that?” Harker asked in surprise.

“I just copied what the other dark angel did with this sword,” I said. “We have to hurry. The gate won’t stay open for long.”

Harker continued to stare at me, even as I threw down the sword and lifted him over my shoulder. I balanced Colonel Starborn over the other shoulder. My ribs screamed in protest, but I ignored the pain and kept moving toward the exit, one heavy step at a time. Before I’d joined the Legion and gained magic, carrying two soldiers would have been impossible. Half a year later, it was just painfully slow.

As we reached the gate, I glanced over my shoulder to check on Nero. He was running toward us, the unconscious dark angel swung over his shoulder. I didn’t want to imagine what he’d had to do to knock out a dark angel. While I helped Harker and Colonel Starborn into our truck, Nero chained his prisoner up in the trunk. The gate had closed behind us, but it was opening again. Dark Force soldiers sped out in slender trucks of their own, chasing us as we drove away.

“Shoot to kill,” Nero instructed Harker.

Harker aimed his gun out of the window. Twin shots of fire exploded out of the barrel. The magic bullets tore through the front wheels of the Dark Force truck behind us. The vehicle flipped over. Harker might not have been able to walk, but that hadn’t affected his aim. He shot down the enemy vehicles with flaming bullets—and cold efficiency.

“Nero, that was Seth Battlestorm back there,” Harker commented as our truck swerved around a hole the Dark Force had blown in the ice.

Nero’s eyes briefly darted back to the unconscious dark angel in our trunk. “And Razeel Silverwing.”

The way they spoke the dark angels’ names was foreboding.

“Seth Battlestorm and Razeel Silverwing are hell’s best reprogramming experts.” Harker waved his hand, and a frozen wall shot out of the ground. It crashed down, slamming against the Dark Force’s trucks, pushing them back across the ice.

“Reprogramming?” I asked. “Like brainwashing?”

Harker nodded. “The Dark Force uses them to capture and corrupt supernaturals and Legion soldiers. And, when they’re feeling ambitious, an angel. Battlestorm and Silverwing are the strongest telepaths of all the dark angels. And they use that magic to warp their prisoners’ minds.”

“If they’re powerful telepaths, that explains how they captured Colonel Starborn’s mind in her dreams.”

“Yes,” Colonel Starborn said, stirring beside me.

I helped her sit up.

“I was overworked, up too late every night, digging too deep in magic that drained me,” she said. “I thought I could handle it, but I couldn’t. I should have realized what was going on, what these images of the Fire Mountains meant, why I felt compelled to go there. They controlled my dreams and planted that idea in my subconscious.” Anger burned inside her eyes. “I left the castle. I put everyone in danger.”

“It wasn’t you,” Harker told her as we drove under the wall. We were now safely on the right side of the world. “You thought you were dreaming when you left the castle.”

She shook her head. “That’s no excuse. I messed up, and I have to fix it. You need to bring me back to Storm Castle. Now. The other Dragons need me. Without me, the castle is not safe. The defenses are not secure. The magic is not balanced. I have to get back!”

I held her back before she tried to fly to the castle herself. She’d never make it there in this state.

“It’s all right,” I told her. “Captain Somerset is filling in as the Fire Dragon. She’s keeping your element in sync—and the castle safe.”

Colonel Starborn sighed. She looked relieved—and sad.

“What happened back there?” Harker asked her. “What did the Dark Force want with you? The usual, to turn you?”

“No, not the usual.” She shook her head. “Not the usual at all. They didn’t want to make me a dark angel. When angels go dark, they gain dark magic but lose their light magic. The Dark Forces wanted to turn me into an angel who could wield both light and dark magic.”

“Such an angel, one with complete power over both light and dark, would be doubly powerful,” Nero realized.

“Doubly powerful, and doubly resistant to light and dark magic,” Colonel Starborn said.

Nero frowned. “They would be powerful soldiers and perfect spies.”

“If you were in the Fire Mountains, you must have encountered the monsters there,” she said.

“Encountered and killed,” I told her.

“All of them?”

“Yes.” I hadn’t felt a single monster since we’d fried the horde against the base’s barrier. “Were those the Dark Force’s monsters?”

“The magic at the heart of the Fire Mountains is very potent. Powerful enough to turn regular monsters into perfectly balanced light-dark specimens,” Colonel Starborn said. “The Dark Force was trying to do the same thing to me. It didn’t go as they’d hoped.”

“The dark magic didn’t take because your light magic is too strong,” Harker said.

“It didn’t work because it’s not possible,” she retorted. “Monsters are one thing, but people are another. Our magic is considerably more complex, especially the magic of a Legion soldier. We possess both light and darkness inside of us in varying degrees, but no one can wield both light and dark magic. It’s simply not possible. Nectar and Venom are jealous, volatile poisons. Only one can exist in a body at once.”

“That’s not entirely true,” Harker said, glancing at me.

Colonel Starborn looked from him to me. “What do you mean?”

Harker shook his head. “Never mind. Just rest. You’ll need your strength when you return to Storm Castle.”

“I’m afraid to fall asleep…after what happened the last time I closed my eyes,” she admitted, trembling.

Harker set his hand on her shoulder. “I will watch over you. No one will hurt you,” he promised.

He spoke with such devotion, such loyalty. It reminded me of why I’d liked him. He loved her like a sister, and I had no doubt in my mind that he would do anything to save her, even if it meant challenging the gods themselves. I couldn’t blame him for not extending that same loyalty to me. He’d only known me for a month when a god told him to give me a vial of Nectar that would kill me. No, I didn’t blame him, but I didn’t forgive him either.