He smiled, and it amazed me how clear his features were now despite the lack of lighting and my eyes. Granted, someone with functional eyeballs could probably see him even better, but normally, his face would’ve just been an unfocused blur to me.
“We should get going,” he said. “We need—”
I knew he felt the presence of demons at the same moment I felt the pressure on the nape of my neck. I sat my drink on the ledge. “You see them?”
“Looking.” He took ahold of my hand, helping me stand as he turned to look over his shoulder. “Incoming.”
I pivoted on the ledge, squinting. Several man-shaped blurs passed under the moonlight, their skin a shiny onyx. There were four pairs of deep red eyes. That’s all I needed to see to know what I was dealing with.
“Hellions,” I groaned, hopping down on the thankfully flat roof. Forbidden topside, Hellions were created by pain and misery, and somehow, Gabriel had swayed way too many of them to his cause. “Let me guess, they’re naked.”
“Unfortunately.”
“Why are they always naked?” I asked, summoning my grace. With the lack of light, I wasn’t going to mess around with the daggers. The corners of my vision brightened as white light powered down my arm. My fingers curled around the handle as the sword flamed to life, cracking with fire and energy.
“Try to keep one alive,” Zayne reminded me.
I nodded as the faint glow of Zayne’s skin pulsed. Static charged the air. The back of his shirt ripped as his wings tore free.
“You should check out the shirt the Warden Jordan was wearing,” I told him. “He’d cut two slits in the back for his wings. You’d go through less shirts if you do that.”
He shrugged the ruined shirt aside. “But then you wouldn’t get to see me shirtless.”
I grinned. “Good point.”
“Just looking out for you,” he replied as golden fire spiraled down both his arms, forming those wicked sickle blades.
If any of the Hellions hesitated at the sight of Zayne going full Fallen, I couldn’t tell. They rushed us, and that was when I realized there were more than four.
I’d never seen so many in one place. Good God, there had to be a dozen.
Zayne shot forward, slicing one blade through the chest of a Hellion as his wings lifted him in the air. He landed behind it as it burst into flames, his blades sweeping in a wide arc around him.
The Hellion in front of me disappeared. Cursing, I spun around and jabbed the flaming sword through its belly as it appeared behind me. It roared as I danced back, spinning. “Do you guys really not have clothing in Hell?”
“Would you like to find out?” one of the Hellions snarled, darting to my left and shooting forward, trying to come into my field of restricted vision.
Someone had been talking.
Oh Hell to the no, we were not going to play that game.
Growling under my breath, I shot back into the moonlight, lowering the sword. I stilled, centering myself just as Zayne had taught me. The Hellion’s rasping chuckle came from my right. I heard his steps, and I turned sharply. The Sword of Michael caught the Hellion in the chest.
“Nice try,” I muttered as the Hellion burst into flames. The stench of sulfur filled the rooftop.
“The Harbinger will reward me well.” Hot, fetid breath touched my cheek.
My heart stuttered as I tensed to jump back. A flash of white filled my vision. Zayne came down in front of me, his fiery sickle blade cleaving through the neck of a Hellion.
“Why are you so fascinated by their lack of clothing?” Zayne asked.
Exhaling roughly, I turned. “I’m not fascinated per se.” I lurched forward, thrusting my sword into the midsection of another Hellion. “I’m just curious to why they are always freaking naked.”
“Just don’t think about it.” Zayne’s wings stirred the loose hairs by my face as he moved with dizzying speeds.
“Don’t think about it?” I dipped under the arm of a Hellion, mindful of its stupid mouth. Their bite was venomous, killing a human within seconds and paralyzing a Warden for days. I had no idea what their bite would do to anyone with angelic blood in them. I didn’t plan to find out. “That’s hard to do when they’re naked.”
“Can you see anything traumatizing, Trin?” Zayne asked.
Feinting to my right, I turned to my left. “No, but I know their junk is out.” I aimed for said junk. The howl of pain and then ripple of flames told me I’d hit my target. “That is all I need to know.”
A Hellion rushed out into the stream of moonlight, and I groaned. “Now I can see it—I can see all of it.”
“I really wish you would stop pointing it out.” Zayne landed a few feet from me, slicing through the air with both sickle blades. He took down two Hellions.