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"Too late, little s "Too late to change the course of this night"

Eli swore, or perhaps prayed He lifted his fla of baptismal water

I followed his aim up, into the black sky Above the town hovered a leathern, seared shape, crackling with dark energies, wings outspread, clawed hands reaching wide Its naked body was ured, flesh puckered and scarred, wings featherless, the skin between the bones thin and ridged with scar tissue It was a huge being, power rippling across ruined flesh like black lightning Yet its face holly, flawlessly exquisite, as if carved from a slab of perfect white h to be entrancing, captivating Not a Fallen Watcher So much worse

I almost cursed, but sed down the words before it could hear and think it was summoned It was a Major Power, and I knew - I knew - it was Forcas One of the true Fallen A seraph who had gone his - its - oay It looked atmy eyes

Eli wound up like a pitcher and threw the water The bag hit Forcas on the arch of its foot, rupturing and splattering The water sizzled and shed Eli fired his flaout of fire rose into the air Forcas inhaled, drawing the blaze up its body to its face and into its lungs, still laughing Eli stepped back, rigid with shock

It swept its wings open The cloud-sh the scorched skin stretching between the wing bones With a tres closed and opened Eli raised a gun, firing a barrage of shots, the bullets filled with holy water With a negligent wing, Forcas knocked hi around its neck The spur Sweat trickled downlike broken feathers

I raised ht It pointed one long, slender finger atmy eyes Its irises, in that white, perfect face, were violet, like the velvet of flower petals, but brutal, cold, pitiless Its voice booed side spas h the invisible wound where a talon had speared me twice But there had been no physical wounds Psychic injuries only A taloned hand reached for h muscle where the spawn had clawed it A dead walker broke ain

Ciana looked at h the shield, wiser, and full of grief Her mouth formed my name I rolled froain in unbearable agony Forcas laughed "Mine," it said

The pain exploded Violent violet pain, the color of Forcas&039; irises, a ruthless anguish, ripped throughon the snow,I was dying

From somewhere, some distant place, lavender eyes watched me, eyes so similar to Forcas&039;, yet darker in hue and full of mercy Eyes I had seen these eyes before, in the face of a cobra, in my dreams, and, once, on the Trine The eyes of Holy Amethyst&039;s wheels Eyes Wheels within wheels, covered with eyes Like the Mistress herself Eyes The eyes of El Roi, the god that sees me I knew it, but I didn&039;t understand, didn&039;t knohere the knowledge of the na, like bells and wind instrualaxy "We cannot coht in time Sooo sooorry"

Taloned hands wrapped around row reat s Forcas pulled rin

A fireball landed on the snoith a spit of sound Eli&039;s fla at us? Two other blazes, brilliant white, round balls of lightningin unison, touched down on Forcas&039; hands The Darkness roared and wrenched away My body flipped in the air, ain on the snow, face to the sky, and air whooshed out of , curling balls of energy, gusting blue s and whirling in concert

One landed oned a breath, cold air blisteringthe fla like a bird at its nest I opened my eyes and watched as six others chased Forcas into the sky Ridiculous sight Tiny, spherical fla the oversized Darkness

Forcas cursed the Most High, a curse so foul it shivered the air The spheres divided into groups of three to Forcas&039; left and right, arranged the beneath its wings, they pierced Forcas&039; sides I blinked ies, brilliant plasht

Relief swept through me, so intense I sobbed The Flame on my hand wavered with the sound and darted up to perch on my mouth Suddenly I could breathe, could think The fireball, a searing orb of light, seeelse in its place, some other emotion One so improper for a battle that it took a moment foreuphoria The blaze jetted away, joining its brothers as they harried Forcas, who hovered in the air above

I was sure they were Flah I had never seen theent creatures Spirit and energy, they were thought to be coh Host, part of the Seraphic Council They arriors, holy beings not capable of transs who always looked like fire Historically, they followed seraphs at the call of battle dire

High above the town, Forcas pulled its sword, deht dancing off the blade The Fla where they touched, then darting away before the Power could react Forcas bellowed and I covered my ears at the sound, a low-pitched roar of fury and pain Harried by Fla with its blade Its blood, blacker than the night sky, splattered to the snoith spits of stea, taking away the night In itsin air, lying on the snow in the blood of daywalkers at the feet of a Major Darkness, staring at the battle in the heavens

The teal-feathered seraph in scintillating battle arht stabbed at Forcas Only inches fro pools that ski off its shield Froht burst outward The seraph vanished and reeht power slid past hiht like abalone shell Their wings beat the air

I rose up on ies shivered above me The hair on my arms and head lifted, electrified The seraph, dusky-skinned, with curling, smoke-colored hair and a &039;s peak, drew his sword in a steel-on-steel swish, a harsh sound like pulsing blood and slicing pain and death The blue steel, silvered and gilded with light, raised up, trapping Forcas between the Minor Flames, the earth, and escape

The seraph screa off the distant hills like thunder, like massive brass bells "Cheriour! Cheriour! To roups, and attacked Forcas&039; eyes The Power screa the Flames Tere sla slowly Wounded

Cheriour&039;s wings rose, tips touching, far over his head His scent flowed into the street, lee, spicy and cool My body clenched in reaction, s was pale, shading to black at the tips His arht Bo Flames, Forcas curled its body in an ih into the sky

The seraph raked his teal-irised eyes over olden disc rested on the center of his chest, a sigil, a seal of office in glowing aht, Cheriour followed Forcas into the sky

I blinked at the explosion and curled into a tight ball I knew this seraph In the lexicon of seraphs he was known as a "terrible angel," a seraph charged with the pursuit and retribution of crie-heat He was the Angel of Punished h I hadn&039;t known his na over me like a cloud, intimate as a lover I had survived his touch, but when such a seraph draws his sword, humans die Always

Up and down the street, the sounds of battle penetrated: shouts, screaled to my feet Scant ht and the Dark Around me, the more mundane battle between humans and Minor Darkness continued, huht ofon the snow, still with death

No humans had fallen at the appearance of Cheriour Not yet But fro on the snow Cries of pleasure and passion led with cries of pain Similar sounds came from open doors up and down the street If the seraph returned, if his sas still drawn, there would be a slaughter I looked for Eli and spotted hi over the bodies of another elder and a succubus, dead Had they killed both, executing kirk judgment?

I had to destroy the succubi before Cheriour returned Disregarding the hurt in roup of fighters who needed help Bending, I picked upknives, and cleaned the them in their sheaths The cross, half buried in a rut, went into my waistband on my left, near the wound that wasn&039;t, the wood icy and soothing against ht, pain erupted froht ht for breath that wedged inthe cross against en Sword of Michael, I thought, more prayer than curse

As I inhaled, I ser, and knew Thadd was near A Minor Fla h I couldn&039;t have said why It landed onht vision lost, my pain undiminished