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"You look bored," Booke said, and the half demon spun I wouldn’t call them Nephilim anymore, now that I knew the truth
That was e of the stone table as cover With preternatural speed, the deed into the rock and ricocheted; I couldn’t watch the fight any longer I had to find soy coiled around his wrists and ankles, but I couldn’t find a genesis point on top of the table Froy required a source, or continuous concentration Since the half de to choke Booke at thenear the table was keeping Kel in check
Booke slay blosso hi aspect, as if he’d become death itself Even the half demon paused his assault Then he pressed, only to find that the black-violet tendrils lashed at him like snakes, and when they struck, they pulsed with a paler power, as if siphoning out his life force The torturer scra that he couldn’t complete a direct attack
"You cannot defeat me," he told Booke "I am Nephilim I am Ahadiel, enforcer of divine will"
By his tone, he actually believed that Poor bastard They’d told Kel that he was God’s Hand, and that all the bad shit they her power Now I knew that wasn’t true And when he realized that, I didn’t kno he could live with it He didn’t kill easily or lightly; each death weighed on hi it was for the greater good
"Your handlers had a sense of huentle
"You mock heaven itself"
"No, I don’t" He raised the Glock and fired, the dark energy still whirling about hi? The spell I used is a demon drain"
"That’s not true" Shock and horror colored the words "I am Nephilim"
"So they’ve told you" Booke sounded sy howpoore off Possibly et Kel off this table, and if the torturer noticed soht now, Booke had hiuard, and that was the best-case scenario The wizard was smart as hell; ht
Angling ems inset into the stone, reate between earth and Sheol Hoping they weren’t full of sorabbed the one closest to h me like a banshee’s wail, hot and cold at once, soand flash freezing My nerve endings couldn’t process the overwhelht hand--and the jewel didn’t budge I pulled with dead fingers, agony driving up ick tended to be that strong Please don’t let these be soulstones If the paralysis reached s, my heart, my brain, well, it was over But I’d already started, so there was no way out but through I wouldn’t let Kel down
Maybe there’s a trick to it I pushed and pulled, twisted, until I heard a click, and the crystal dropped into ers, I set it down Threea circle for protection would’ve helped, but I didn’t have witch ick, and the touch hadn’t responded; there was no e power It’s too late to draw a deick circle
I knee-walked to the second spot Booke was cursing, so I guessed the fight was back on; Ahadiel had chosen to disbelieve the truth, but the de it hard for hiy, not brute strength, would carry the day
This tiem, and my hand was already dead, so I didn’t feelmy biceps, up towardtheir way through tendon andlimp at my side, and I’d be unable to use it, except as a club
Two ht hand well enough to remove the jewel so I used my left, and the pain cah to stop the scream It bubbled up from my throat, pasthowl fro The sounds echoed in the cha off the walls No hope he didn’t hear
"Is someone else here?" Ahadiel demanded
"No," Booke said quickly "Let’s finish this"
"I heard a woman Where is she?" He didn’t wait for a reply
Instead I heard footsteps cracking closer and closer to where I fumbled with the third stone As Ahadiel peered under the table, it dropped intoout The half de his head on the rock The back of his head oozed blood, then Booke liht His cheekbone was bruised, his lip split and puffy, and I could see the marks from where he’d been throttled The de Ahadiel the opportunity to fight
"Are you all right?" I asked
"He very nearly stabbed me in the kidney Bloody fast, that one But I dropped a spell just in time Are you almost done?"
"Almost," I said
Only one left
Booke bent to investigate the body "He’s not dead, just incapacitated"
"I’ll hurry"