Her scream was reminiscent of a battle cry and she came at me with a vengeance. It was too quick to call a spell and my body went into action like it had been trained to do. With Vampyre speed and Demon aggression, I back flipped out of her line of fire. As she turned, I cartwheeled and caught her by the neck in a scissor hold and knocked her to the ground. Her shock at my skill was all the time I needed. Her body hit the floor with a sickening thud and I rolled away as she shot a blast of lava hot voodoo at me.
She was back up and she was pissed, but I was done. Totally done. No more roughhousing. I had a baby to think about. I chanted as her eyes grew wide again. I pointed at her and she roared before my power even touched her. As if in slow motion, I watched a shower of black and crystal white magic flow into her. She dropped the Sword and fell to the ground. Her body convulsed and fluid began to gush from her nose and mouth. She was dying and I watched her dispassionately. I was happy.
Glancing up, I locked eyes with a horrified Amanda and I was jerked back into me. The real me. What the hell was I doing? I pulled back on the magic and Wrath’s breathing resumed—erratically, but it resumed. The relief that I hadn’t killed her was staggering. Would I have done it if I hadn’t made contact with Amanda? Did it matter? I had made contact with Amanda and I stopped. Everything happens for a reason. Amanda was here to stop me and I was here to save her.
“Kill me,” Wrath choked out. “Finish it.”
“No,” I said as I picked up the Sword.
“I will have nothing—no respect. They will laugh at me. I will have nothing.” She sobbed at my feet and I gave her a smile that came nowhere near reaching my eyes.
“We can start a club. The Nothing Club. I’ll be the president and you can be the treasurer. It will be fun.” I raised my hands in the air and knocked down the wall dividing the room. Demons raced forward and threw what I assumed were magic blocking chains and ropes on Wrath. Satan went to Amanda and held her lovingly in his arms. I couldn’t make out what he whispered to her, but she gave him a weak smile.
“Cole, take Amanda to my suites and have the women attend to her,” he barked.
“Yes, my liege.” Cole picked up a damaged but alive Amanda and took her away.
“Wait,” she said as they passed me. “I don’t know what you are . . . but thank you.”
I nodded and felt strong arms embrace me from behind. “I could kill you,” he whispered.
“Yep,” I said as I leaned back into him. “I figured. Am I still all black and sparkly?”
“You are.”
“Does that bother you?” I asked. My stomach knotted as I waited for his response.
“I actually think it’s kind of hot,” he whispered in my ear. Little chills ran down my spine and tears of relief pooled in my eyes.
Satan paced the floor in front of the disgraced Wrath and the crowd held its breath. The other Sins stood off to the side and watched with morbid excitement. All of them had enjoyed the show except Dixie. She stood away from them and trembled with fury.
“Things like this make me wish I’d had a vasectomy,” Satan bellowed. “This is embarrassing and unacceptable.” He turned to me and his gaze narrowed. “Why did you stop? Why didn’t you kill her?” he demanded. An anguished cry ripped from Wrath’s throat, but I had no sympathy left for her. She already received my mercy and I wasn’t about to kowtow to the Devil. I was pissed at all of them.#p#分页标题#e#
“She didn’t deserve it. She didn’t kill anyone. And I’m not the judge of those who should die.” I picked up the Sword and handed it to him. “Here’s your damn Sword. I want to go home.”
He turned so quickly I wasn’t sure I was seeing things correctly. He touched blade to Wrath’s skin and slit a small wound. The gasps and cries from the Sins made my blood chill. Why would he do that?
“It’s a fake,” he said and dropped it to the ground.
It took a minute for me to find my voice. “Did you know that?” I yelled. “Or was that a test?”
He smiled his beautiful smile and shrugged. Was he for freakin’ real?
“We have a deal. That sword was a fake. You will leave when your job has been completed.”
Chapter 27
We were stuck. No one from the dinner party was leaving the Dark Palace until after God’s visit. Most of the Demons had no clue why we were quarantined, but I knew. The Sword—the stupid Sword of Death. Satan was sure it was in the palace and he was taking no chances. The majority of Demons still believed the Sword to be a myth. As they grumbled and made their way unwillingly to their guestrooms they made that fact abundantly clear.