Fractured Souls by Ava Marie Salinger

38

“Don’t do this,”Cassius said grimly.

“I have to,” Morgan retorted stubbornly. “It’s the only way we’ll get some answers and prevent another sacrifice.”

The clamor of the crowd echoed around the auditorium, the concrete walls amplifying the savage sounds. The excited buzz in the air was unlike the one Cassius had witnessed when they’d first walked into the fight club.

Having Bostrof personally enter the ring was evidently an unprecedented event.

Everyone seemed keen to see the mettle of the demon who ruled the biggest crime syndicate in this part of the world, just as they appeared eager to watch him fight an Argonaut agent.

Morgan handed Cassius his gun and dagger before stripping out of his jacket and T-shirt. Cassius’s pulse quickened as he watched the Aerial step inside the ring, his heart full of misgivings. Adrianne, Julia, and the others had fanned out behind him on Morgan’s instructions, guarded stares carefully scanning their surroundings for imminent threats.

The noise rose to fever pitch when Bostrof emerged from a corridor across the way. The Lucifugous had stripped out of his suit jacket and shirt. Cassius’s eyes widened as he observed the patchwork of scars crisscrossing the demon’s body.

Bostrof was no stranger to fights.

The words the Lucifugous had spoken earlier danced through Cassius’s mind once more, doubling his unease. How is it he seems to know more about me than I know myself?

“What are the rules?” Morgan asked Bostrof when the Lucifugous entered the ring.

Bostrof shrugged. “There are no rules, bar no weapons. The first one who surrenders, or falls and stays down for ten seconds, loses.”

“Fine by me,” Morgan said nonchalantly. “By the way, we never did agree the full terms of this arrangement. Not that I think I’ll lose, but what do you want in exchange if I do?”

“Your lover.”

Cassius stiffened. Morgan froze.

A deathly hush descended on the auditorium in the wake of those two simple words.

“I am sure I will find ways for him to entertain me,” Bostrof drawled, his dark gaze skimming Cassius from his head to his toes. “He is quite…appealing.”

Morgan moved. Bostrof blocked his fist an inch from his head.

“You said no rules, right?” Morgan snarled, his gray wings snapping open.

Bostrof smiled. “Correct.”

Morgan grunted as the demon’s fist slammed into his gut.

Cassius cursed and took a step toward the cage.

Bostrof was shockingly nimble for a demon his size. He could tell Morgan hadn’t seen his hand move. Morgan brought his right fist up in a swift uppercut. The demon barely shifted when it struck his chin.

“Is that all you have, Aerial?” Bostrof muttered.

His next strike smashed into Morgan’s solar plexus and sent him flying across the ring and into the cage wall.

“Morgan!” Cassius shouted.

Morgan dropped down from the wired fencing and rubbed his left pec, a scowl darkening his face. Fear surged through Cassius at the sight of the red mark on the Aerial’s skin.

Shit! Not even a bullet would have caused that!

“Stop holding back, damnit!” Julia barked. “He said there are no rules, so use your goddamn powers!”

Morgan nodded, his eyes full of determination. Wind swept across the fighting cage as he unleashed his Aerial ability.

Bostrof grinned. “That’s more like it. Come at me, angel!”

The next few minutes were a blur of motion as Morgan and the demon engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat. Only those with preternatural sight could keep up with their movements, while those who couldn’t had the sound of fists striking flesh and the grunts of the combatants to track what was going on.

Disquiet gnawed at Cassius’s insides as he stared unblinkingly at the unfolding brawl. Bostrof was holding his own against Morgan.

“That bastard is strong,” Zach said grimly.

The cage trembled, Morgan and Bostrof striking the fencing hard, fists locked as they fought to push each other back. A crimson light lit the demon’s eyes, his expression that of one reveling in his sheer animal side. He slipped past Morgan’s defenses and landed a blow on his right flank.

Cassius gasped at the sound of bone snapping, his knuckles blanching where he clung to the fence. Morgan paled before gritting his teeth. A growl left him as he unleashed a tempest. Wind wrapped around the Lucifugous in ever-tightening bands.

Bostrof frowned, his feet lifting off the ground.

Sweat beaded Morgan’s face as he carried the demon to the roof of the cage before driving him into the floor of the ring with a violent blast of his Aerial powers. Blood burst from Bostrof’s mouth when he crashed into the concrete. The demon stayed still for a moment before climbing to his feet, stone and cement crumbling beneath him. He wiped away the crimson trail dripping from his lips, narrowed his eyes at Morgan, and moved.

Cassius’s breath stuttered as the demon jumped onto the wired fence and ascended the cage in a flash. He leapt at the peak of his climb, his enormous body soaring toward the shocked Aerial watching him.

Morgan grunted as Bostrof smashed into him. They crashed into the cage and landed hard on the ground. Bostrof rolled, straddled the Aerial, and started pummeling him with his fists.

“Morgan!” Cassius yelled, alarmed.

Julia yanked her dagger from her back. “Shit!”

“No!” Zach grabbed her hand, staying her motion. “We need to see this through if we want the information Bostrof promised us.”

A muscle danced in Julia’s jawline.

“Zach is right, Julia,” Adrianne ordered stiffly. “Stand down.”

Cassius’s heart clenched as he watched blood bloom from the cuts on Morgan’s flesh, the angel’s strong skin splitting under the demon’s powerful strikes. Morgan was doing his best to block Bostrof’s ferocious attacks, his teeth exposed in a snarl as he attempted to shove the demon off him.

How the hell is Bostrof so strong?! He’s just a Lucifugous!

Darkness throbbed across the cage as Bostrof unleashed his demonic powers.

“No!” Cassius shouted, gripping the fence hard.

He was about to draw on his Empyreal powers and smash his way inside the ring when the air trembled violently.

Cassius gasped, heat flaring through his soul core.

The darkness was fading, the shadows shrinking rapidly to wrap around the angel on the floor. Morgan’s eyes flared as he finally appeared amidst the inky clouds sinking into his flesh, his body absorbing Bostrof’s powers while his irises darkened to a deep cobalt. Black wind exploded around him.

Faint cracks appeared in the walls of the auditorium as the Aerial climbed to his feet and rose amidst a swirling storm, carrying the surprised Lucifugous he’d effortlessly gripped around the throat into the air.

The ground shook under Cassius’s feet, the power pulsing from Morgan so strong it caused him to gasp. Alarmed cries rose from the crowd, scores of figures falling semi-conscious to the ground, unable to withstand the sheer energy of Morgan’s midnight-black, wind-wreathed presence.

Darkness exploded around Morgan’s left hand. It shimmered and throbbed before lengthening to form a sword of pure black wind. Cassius’s eyes widened, stunned by what he could feel echoing through his soul core from Morgan.

Bostrof said something, his face distorted in a grimace of pain. His hands locked around Morgan’s wrist where the angel grasped his neck.

“No,” Cassius mumbled, Morgan’s intent suddenly clear. “Don’t!”

Morgan scowled and drew his arm back.

“STOP!” Cassius shouted, a pulse of sheer seraphic power bursting from him and lighting up the air.

Morgan froze, the blade of shadows an inch from the Lucifugous’s heart. His head moved mechanically as he turned and locked eyes with Cassius, his cobalt gaze reflecting the blazing bond connecting their soul cores in the dark depths of his pupils even as he frowned thunderously.

“Stop,” Cassius whispered.

He stared past Morgan, fear twisting his heart. Morgan looked over his shoulder. He froze, shock flaring across his face.

His wings had turned midnight black, the same wind wrapping around his hand and making up the dark sword he held trembling around the inky feathers.

The gale subsided as he retracted his powers. So did the blade of shadows. The black wind finally died down and vanished with a whisper.

Relief swamped Cassius as Morgan’s wings slowly brightened to gray once more.

“I surrender,” Bostrof wheezed, repeating the words he’d said to Morgan.

Morgan shuddered and closed his eyes, as if struggling to control his bloodlust. When he opened them again, his irises had brightened to their usual, dazzling aquamarine.

Cassius watched breathlessly as the Aerial drifted to the ground amidst the stunned silence. He rushed inside the cage, heedless of the attempts by Bostrof’s men to stop him.

Bostrof coughed and wheezed when Morgan let him go. He waved his demons away from Cassius before grimacing and rubbing his throat, Morgan’s fingerprints livid, red lines on his dark skin.

“I’m sorry,” he said apologetically. “I wanted to see it for myself.”

“See what?” Morgan said numbly, his face still reflecting his utter bewilderment as to what had happened.

Trepidation filled Cassius all over again. He couldn’t help but share the confusion and dismay he could feel resonating from Morgan’s soul core. He bit his lip.

Morgan’s wings turning black could very well condemn him to the same cursed life Cassius had lived these past five hundred years, shunned and ostracized by the very society and agencies that once embraced him.

He couldn’t bear it if that were to happen to the Aerial.

Bostrof straightened, regret darkening his eyes.

“I wished to see for myself if your powers had indeed returned,” the demon said quietly. “I did not think you would manifest them so…spectacularly.”

Cassius startled. Wait.He knows about Morgan’s newly awakened abilities?!

“Do not look so surprised,” Bostrof grunted.

Feverish murmurs rose around them as the crowd began to recover from all they had just witnessed. Cassius knew news of the fight would spread through the city before morning came. He clenched his jaw, angry at the Lucifugous demon for having provoked Morgan into displaying his hidden powers.

Bostrof sighed at Cassius’s expression. “Come. There is much we need to talk about.”

The Lucifugous turned and exited the ring.