The bars of the cage pulse as if the metal itself is expanding.

Oh shit. “Look out!”

I throw myself toward Fee at the same time as Mal does. We shield her with our bodies as metal shards whizz and ping across the room. Pain lashes at my back where shards slice through my clothes.

Samael lets out a bellow and then the room goes deathly still as if all the sound and air are being sucked from it. Keon’s muffled curse reaches my ears as I turn to face the threat prickling my back, but the world is moving in slow motion, as if I’m stuck in molasses, and then the monster is revealed: ten-foot-tall, inky black, with twelve inch horns extending from the sides of his head. I’ve never seen anything like it. It lashes out at Samael with hands that are too large and fingers that have too many joints. Samael tries to evade, but his body is in the grip of the time warp and the entity is too fast.

The blow connects, and Samael is lifted off his feet, arms flailing in slow motion as he floats across the room.

“What is this?” Mal’s voice is distorted, every syllable elongated.

“Time warp,” Keon cries out. “Minor primordial daemon.”

The entity cackles and moves toward Samael with bloodlust and hunger in its eyes. My muscles strain as I try to get to him, scythe doing an achingly slow sweep through the air, and I know, with certainty, I won’t make it.

Samael brings his sword up, but he won’t be quick enough to defend.

Around me Mal and Keon are also headed toward Samael.

But there is no fighting this daemon. Not like this.

The air behind me crackles, and a figure rushes past me.

Fee slips through the molasses effortlessly, scythe swinging in regular time to intercept the creature.

How is she doing this? Then it hits me. Her blur-mode ability must be countering the molasses effect.

Her bellow of rage cuts through the thick air and the daemon swings its body toward her just in time for her to bury her blade in its flank.

There’s a sharp pop and then I’m in full on motion as the time warp effect shatters.

The daemon swipes at Fee but she ducks to evade and then spin-kicks it in the abdomen.

Pride swells my chest.

That’s my fucking girl.

Now to kick some daemon ass.

Fee

The daemon threw its shoulders back and pushed its head forward to scream at me, blasting me with its foul-ass breath.

I swallowed a gag and shoved my scythe in its face. It pulled back to avoid the slice before movement flickered in the periphery of my vision. I leapt in time to avoid the swipe of a thick leathery tail.

Where the hell had that come from?

“It’s morphing!” Keon shouted. “Watch out.”

The fucker was growing tentacles. “Cut them off.”

Azazel obliged, bringing his sword down on a thick appendage and eliciting a delicious bellow of pain from the daemon.

“Keep attacking!” Mal shouted.

I stabbed and swiped, cutting into the daemon at every turn. The thing wasn’t as powerful without the time warp ability. We could totally do this.

The time warp must have been a one-time deal, because otherwise why wasn’t it using it now? Wounding it seemed to have deactivated the ability somehow, but it still had the ability to morph, and it was doing it again, growing an extra head with serrated teeth and uber-wide jaws. The jaws lunged at me, pink slimy maw pulsing eagerly. Yuk. I stabbed upward burying my blade in the wet inside of the beast, and then my feet left the ground as its head whipped back, taking me with it, still attached by my scythe.

Fuck I was stuck, and in a minute, I’d be shaken into the things jaws.

Arms wrapped around me and Azazel’s scent filled my head. “I’ve got you.” He tugged, wings beating furiously, and I came free, bringing my scythe with me.

We landed neatly on the ground to find the daemon shifting yet again. The wounds we’d inflicted knitted as it transformed, and it hit me that this could go on forever. It would just shift every time we wounded it, and then it would be whole, and eventually…Eventually we’d tire. We’d slip up and then, bam, it would have us.

One by one, it would take us down.

“We can’t keep this up.” I backed up so I was abreast of Samael with Azazel on my other side. Keon and Mal were to my far right, all of us focused on the shifting hungry daemon. “It’ll keep healing.”

“You’re right,” Samael said. “We must do irreparable damage. Inflict it fast and mercilessly.”

“Great plan, but how in the hell do we do that?”

“Not you. Me. I just… I’m, not sure if I’m strong enough yet.” He took a deep breath then exhaled in a fuck-it way. “Stand back. It’s been a while.”

We backed up, and Samael’s inky black wings flared out. They shimmered and a sheen fell over them as an armored layer covered them. Like the dominions, his wings were now metallic, lethal and cutting.

As the daemon finished its transformation and lifted its now serpentine head, Samael attacked in a spinning top motion that propelled him toward the entity, wings open and slashing at the air as he spun, faster and faster until he made contact with the daemon. The next few moments were a blur of blood and screams and flashes of silver and black as Samael buried himself inside the daemon.

It flailed trying to knit itself, trying to morph so it could heal, but Samael was relentless, spinning so his wings acted like the lethal propellors on a boat, churning and masticating.

Keon leaped onto the daemons head and buried his daggers in its black eyes, and then we were all on it, stabbing and slicing, avoiding the bite of Samael’s wings until the primordial daemon’s screams were silent and there was nothing left of it but a pulpy mess.

We stood over the remains of flesh and gore, chests heaving from exertion.

Samael shook the gore from his wings with a grimace. “Where is Lilith? Where’s my wife?”

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Fee

Samael paused outside the red door with the silver writing and ran his fingers across the script.

Here lies the queen of the damned, forever gazing at salvation, but never to find freedom.

I swallowed the lump in my throat as he gently pushed open the door. Dazzling white light spilled into the stairwell, but this time my eyes were quick to adjust.

A blazing white portal, the source of the light, cut a rectangle in the wall to the left of the stone chamber, and on the opposite side, with a clear view of the gateway was a woman shackled to the wall. She was emaciated and limp, and her head lolled on her shoulder as if her neck was too weak to carry its weight. The figure was bedraggled and far from the regal queen I remembered, but there was no mistaking who she was.

Lilith raised her head slowly and blinked at us, gathered in the doorway.

Her mouth parted in shock and then worked to form a word that had no sound. She tried again. “Samael? Is that you?” Her voice was a reedy whisper. “Is that you or am I dreaming once more?”

Samael made a sound of distress and bridged the distance between them to gather her in his arms.

“My love. My one true love.” He cradled her to him gently, careful not to tug on her shackles. “Mammon will pay. He will pay with his life.”

“How is this possible?” She scanned his face as if searching for a crack or a fracture that would tell her this was an illusion. “You’re not well.”

“I will explain everything to you once we’re home,” Samael said. “The secrets that I have kept will be secrets no more.”

Samael drew his dagger and sliced at the runes on the cuffs that were keeping Lilith bound. They fell away with a chink and he swung her up into his arms.

Lilith’s gaze settled on me and her mouth hardened. “You… Why are you here?”

Samael frowned. “She came to help rescue you.”

“Rescue me?” Lilith snorted her gaze still fixed on me. “Don’t think that will stop me from following through on my promise to end your life as soon as I end Eve’s curse.”

“The curse is over,” Azazel said. “There was never any threat to you, Mother. That was a ploy.”

Lilith’s smile was cold, and even in her weakened state I sensed her power stirring against my skin. “In that case, the coast is clear. You will die.”

Samael crushed her to him, eyes blazing. “You will not harm her,” he snapped. “You will not harm my daughter.”

Lilith gazed up at him in shock. “What?”

Samael closed his eyes and exhaled through his nose. “I’ll explain it all later, but first, we must get back to Imperium.”

Shit. How much time did we have left on the tincture? What about Lilith? Wait. “How are you withstanding the toxins in the air?”

“Mammon was careful to dose me with tincture regularly. He gave me a final small dose before he left so I could say goodbye…” Her head snapped up. “Oh god. How could I forget?” She looked disgusted with herself. “The tincture is wearing off and the air is messing with my memory, but I remember now.”

“What is it, love?” Samael asked.

“Mammon left a couple of hours ago, I think. Time is fuzzy, but he said….” She pursed her lips as if struggling to recall and then she grabbed hold of Samael’s shirt. “Tell me you haven’t consolidated our forces around the Keep.”

“Our barracks were attacked.” Azazel replied for Samael. “We had no choice but to reinforce the capitol”

Lilith let out a moan. “No, no, no. This was his plan. He took me to distract you so he could attack and force you to reinforce. He wants all our men in one place, so he can attack the Keep and destroy our forces in one fell swoop.” Her eyes were dark with dread. “Mammon is headed to the Keep.”

Oh fuck. “Keon, the rest of the tincture. She needs it.”

Keon pulled the vial from his pocket as Samael moved toward the exit.

“No, my love,” Lilith said. “Not that way.” She pointed to the portal. “This way. Straight to Imperium.”