Curse of the Fallen by Eve Archer

Chapter Thirty-Six

Dominick

“I will not perish at your hands, Mastema,” I told the prince of demons. “Not today.”

The battle raged on around us, fallen angels beating back demons. Wings beat wildly as the Fallen swooped and dove, demons dodging and snarling. Bodies littered the ground, and I was pleased to see that they were demon bodies, although the demonic creatures continued to appear, as if they were rising from the ground itself.

I locked eyes with Mastema, as I held out my arm and flicked up my fingers, beckoning him to come at me. “No one comes on my island and makes demands. Not even the prince of demons.”

Mastema’s eyes burned, heat simmering beneath the cold blue. As the angel of adversity—once called the accusing angel by God himself—Mastema was no stranger to conflict. In fact, he relished vengeance and feasted on the wrath of humans. Inciting a war did not bother him, despite his claims of wanting to avoid one.

But the dark demon had never dared do something so bold as to trespass on the Fallen before. He had ruled his demons, and we had kept him and his minions of evil in check. The succubi and incubi were allowed in our clubs to feed on forbidden carnal pleasures, while he kept his darker demons confined to the realms of true evil. We prevented demon hunters from stalking their prey in our properties, and in return, the prince of demons kept his shadowy beasts at bay.

Until now.

He raced toward me, teeth bared and arms pumping. The demon prince would not back down, and I had no intention of sacrificing Ella to the scourge of his infernal gaze.

Pulling my wings in quickly, I sheathed myself with them, creating a shield of iridescent black feathers. They trembled as the demon impacted them, but I spun as I unfurled my wings to their full span, knocking him down and sending him rolling across the courtyard’s patchy grass and occasional paving stone.

Without missing a beat, he leapt to his feet and snapped his arms down hard, black demon wings rising behind him. Although Mastema had been an angel, he’d been demonized before descending to Earth, and his wings were not covered with thick, glossy feathers. They were black and pointy, with red veins pulsing through the papery flesh. My lips curled at the sight of them.

“The fight should be fair, no?” he asked.

“Since when have demons ever fought fair?”

He twisted his neck until it cracked. “You wound me, Semyaza.”

“Stop calling me that,” I growled. “It is no longer my name.”

“I know you’ve wallowed around with the humans for thousands of years, but don’t tell me you’ve forgotten who you are.”

“I know exactly who I am—and who you are.” I slashed out with one sharp blade of my wings.

Mastema sidestepped the attack and swiped a hand across his sweaty brow. “I thought your human would make you more of your old self, considering her own angelic link.”

“She is none of your concern.”

He twitched one shoulder up. “Maybe not directly, but she concerns many.”

This made my step falter. He’d seemed unaware of Ella’s existence until Lilith had mentioned it. Then, again, demons were known for their deception and subterfuge. “What do you know of her?”

“Your half-breed has attracted more attention than you know.”

“Half-breed?” I recoiled at the slur. It had been used to refer to the offspring the Fallen had fathered with our human brides before our fall. The half-breed Nephilim had been one of the reasons for our fall. “Ella is no half-breed.”

“Ella.” Mastema smiled as he repeated the name, rolling the two syllables around on his tongue as if he was savoring well-aged whiskey.

I cursed myself for saying her name, although I suspected the demon prince had known it already. I was getting the feeling that he’d known much more than Lilith’s secret when he’d arrived at my island.

“Tell me what you know of her,” I demanded as I advanced on the demon, my wings outstretched to their full length.

Mastema did not back away from me even though his own wings were paltry in comparison. “Don’t ask a question you don’t truly wish to know the answer to, angel.”

I scowled at him. “I tire of your deception and your riddles. You came for Lilith. I assure you that she’s the only thing you’re taking with you off this island.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” He took a step toward me, his shiny wings fanned out behind his back. “I was not tasked to procure her, although I was given leave to take the she-demon if I found her. A consolation prize, if you will. It was the only reason I agreed to the deal at all.”

“Deal?” Did this have to do with the Solano family again. Surely not? Lilith might have amused herself with them in an attempt to seek her revenge on me, but Mastema would never stoop so low. He was the ruler of demons on Earth. He punished humans. He didn’t work with them. “You don’t expect me to believe you’re in league with humans, as well.”

He barked out a laugh. “Lilith was a fool to sully herself with humans so often. Then again, she is a succubus. Sullying herself with humans is what fuels her.”

I started to circle him, my patience wearing thin and my desire to wring his neck building. “If the Solanos didn’t send you here, then who?”

He stretched his arms out, his fingertips brushing the pointy tips of his wings. He tipped his head to the sky. “After being the lord’s angel for so long, it’s hard to deny a divine request.”

I followed his gaze up to the sky, brilliant blue and dotted with clouds as sun shone down. Now I laughed. “You want me to believe that you were sent to the fortress of the Fallen under celestial order? After thousands of years without contact, the divine sends you. Why?”

“Isn’t is obvious?”

Ella. I shook my head. “She is hardly the first human to carry an angel’s mark. This is about the prophecy, isn’t it? This is about our being together and what it could mean for the divine balance.”

My stomach hardened into a knot. If the divine was worried enough to send the prince of demons, that meant there was truth in the prophecy. The union of me and Ella could change the fate of the Fallen and upset the angelic order, something the archangels would do almost anything to prevent.

“Who was it?” I growled, stomping toward him. “Who sent you?”

“They won’t give up.” He lifted off the ground, hovering as he flapped his black wings. “Not if she can end your torment, and they are tasked to enforce it.”

The knot in my stomach became ice. If it was the archangels, Mastema was right. They would turn Earth into a raging inferno before they would allow the Fallen to be redeemed—prophecy or not.

“But I do have to dwell in this realm with you and your fallen angels,” Mastema said. “I will leave the others to do their own dirty work for a change.”

With that, he emitted a demonic screech before flying from the fortress toward the beach.

I let him go, watching the remaining demons run off in retreat, limping and nursing bloody gashes. My Fallen warriors were battered but standing tall, and I thumped their shoulders as I ran off to join Rami.

I’d tasked him to make sure Ella and Sara were safe, although how safe could Ella ever be, if she had a divine target on her back? When I reached the corridor housing their rooms, I paused at the open door to Sara’s bedroom, my gaze falling on the dead demon sprawled on the floor. The air smelled of scorched flesh, and the creature’s clothes were burned.

I backed away, running without a clear destination. What had happened and where had they gone?