Another assault force, the slim angel said, green eyes dark with pain, for while angels could heal many wounds, those wounds did not hurt any less. On the horizon, perhaps five minutes behind me. I left as soon as I spotted them, but they are so fast—a dangerous assessment from a scout known for his extraordinary speed—they gained on me with every wingbeat.
Raphael looked at the devastated city around them, the Tower’s smashed walls and splintered windows, considered the number of fighters injured or dead, and knew his people simply could not survive against another fresh force, no matter how huge their hearts. Estimated numbers?
Hundreds, Sire. They flew in the most perfect fighting formation I’ve ever seen.
44
Handing Azar over to the healers, Raphael shared the information the scout had flown through enemy fire to deliver. “We go now and we do as much damage as possible to give our people a chance,” he said, as realization formed a layer of grim ice in Dmitri’s expression, his second having stepped out onto the balcony.
Illium, back with them, swore under his breath, next to a quietly stoic Jason.
Elena’s expression was a study in fury, and it made him want to smile even in this moment, for she was a woman any man would be proud to have by his side on the eve of the greatest battle of his life. “Warn our people,” he said to Dmitri, “and tell them that if there comes a time when there is no hope of victory, they do not dishonor me by choosing to retreat or surrender. With Lijuan gone from the world, they will not have to serve under evil.”
Dmitri’s eyes held his. I’ll make it known, but I’ll never serve anyone except you.
I know, old friend. Were it my choice, I would leave my city and my territory to no other angel, but to my second.
Fly strong, Raphael.
Fight well, Dmitri.
Wings snapping out, he swept off the Tower with Elena, Illium, and Jason, the four of them winging their way directly to the heart of Lijuan’s operation, hoping to take her unawares. Crossbow bolts filled the air as soon as they came within range. Jason and Illium were fast enough to avoid them; Elena wasn’t, but she was very good at shooting her own bolts in flight, slamming two home between the eyes. The shooters quickly grew wary of giving her a target.
They’d just crossed the border that divided their perimeter line from the enemy’s attacking front, the mark pulsing hot and urgent under his skin, when Raphael saw the wave of dark gray on the lightening horizon, the line shifting to encircle the entire stage of battle.
Watch out!
Twisting sideways at Illium’s warning, he barely avoided the hail of blades that was Lijuan’s power, as Elena, Illium, and Jason engaged the enemy fighters that sought to disable Raphael’s wings. Having materialized above him, the Archangel of China was attempting to shred him with her poisonous fire.
Coaxing the last of the wildfire inside him to the surface and drawing on the fire that lived in Elena, too, he blocked Lijuan’s next barrage with ordinary angelfire and, ignoring the crossbow bolt that thudded into his shoulder, flew up, his aim to make physical contact.
Except she dematerialized without warning, her strength renewed. And when she rematerialized to the left, she managed to score him with a whip of black poison. Vicious pain stabbed through his flesh as the wildfire inside him sought to cauterize the wound and he blocked the healing—he couldn’t afford to lose the last of it, of the only thing that could hurt Lijuan.
Dropping down beside him with a gloating smile, eyes virulent red, Lijuan said, “I give you one final chance to surrender, Raphael,” her face a skeletal mask. “I do not intend to kill you, not any longer.” She made certain not to come within touching distance. “You will be much, much more useful to me in other ways.”
Raphael thought of the desiccated corpses found in her territory, of the fighter Naasir had seen go to his death, and knew Lijuan sought to feed on an archangel. “A very generous offer,” he said aloud, while his mind reached for Dmitri’s. You must make sure the remainder of the Cadre knows Lijuan seeks to feed off not only angels, but archangels.
I’ll ensure the message gets through, came the immediate reply. Sire, the new assault force has arrived and will swarm the Tower in minutes if we don’t do something to stop them. I’ve authorized the use of any and all weapons at our disposal.
Raphael heard gunfire and rocket booms on the heels of that statement and knew his exhausted and wounded vampires, and the hunters, were shooting at the enemy, while his angels, some with broken limbs, all with injuries, filled the sky. But there were too few of them, and too many of the strange gray-winged angels who powered Lijuan’s new assault. “What have you become?” he said to her, unable to imagine how she could’ve created this new army, silent and lethal, without anyone in the Cadre knowing the truth.