Wings of the Wicked - By Courtney Allison Moulton Page 0,109

shirt and missed his skin entirely. Merodach slashed his double sword left and right and left and right, meeting Will’s giant blade each time.

I didn’t see Kelaeno appear beside me until she struck me across the temple. I staggered one step before I found my balance, spun, and reeled my elbow into her jaw. Her Harpy-like face snapped to the side. She swiveled her head around to meet my gaze with her holly red eyes, and she called two short, slick swords into her hands. She moved like lightning, one of her swords raised level with her shoulder before she thrust it at my face. I bounced away, but she followed, slashing and striking. Silver clanged against flaming silver, and her gaze locked onto mine as if she had nothing else to see. She drove one sword at my heart and I twisted away, but her other blade was too fast. Metal plunged into my shoulder, and I screamed as it ripped through my body. I stumbled against the wall and collapsed to my knees in agony.

Then Kelaeno jerked her head to the side in a blur, and her shoulder exploded. I saw Nathaniel standing behind her, staring down the barrel of his gun. Kelaeno had moved too fast for Nathaniel to shoot her in the head. He fired again, but she ducked low until her face was frighteningly close to mine. As she turned her head to look, her cheek brushed my nose and I jerked away, horrified. She slid her sword out from my shoulder, lifting my body as she did so. I shrieked in pain before slumping back against the wall.

Then she vanished.

Nathaniel’s eyes grew wide and he waited for her to reappear. When her form blurred into view, she was too fast for him to react. Her swords gone, she grabbed the gun from his hands and snapped it in half like a Popsicle stick before she chucked the pieces at the ground.

Will came out of nowhere and wrapped his arm around Kelaeno’s throat, digging up against her windpipe and yanking her back. He held on until she shoved her elbow into his gut and managed to wrench herself free. Nathaniel threw out a fist, but she caught it and struck him in the jaw. Will grabbed his sword off the ground and swiped it at the demonic reaper’s back.

Kelaeno’s ears pricked as she heard Will coming, and she spun around to defend herself, leaping back as his blade slashed across her chest, leaving a deep, bleeding gash and very nearly slicing off her head. She hissed and swung around in pain, clutching her open wound. The flesh wrapped over itself and wove back together, healing perfectly. Kelaeno’s red eyes burned like flames with her rage at receiving another wound of that severity in practically the same spot.

I rushed forward to help Will, but two other vir intercepted—the remaining female and the last male besides the wounded Rikken. They slashed and hissed, throwing punches and kicks that I dodged. I buried one blade in the male reaper’s heart on my left side, whirled at the female on my right, and cut off her head with my remaining blade. The male was in flames when I spun back to him, and I caught my falling sword as his body turned to ash.

Kelaeno grasped her clawed hand around my arm, and as I swung the blade in my free hand, she grabbed that wrist and squeezed, nails digging into my skin. I screamed and cried out. Blood seeped, and I was forced to drop my sword.

“Time to go,” she said sharply, and began dragging me toward the nearest escape route.

Then Will struck her brutally in the side of her head, so hard that she released me and her knees buckled. Will clamped his hand around the back of her neck, wrenched her off me, and threw her through the kitchen wall with all his strength. Wood shattered around her body as wet, icy-cold air rushed inside through the hole. Kelaeno crashed into the deck, destroying the railing, and she disappeared as she hurtled toward the ground with a scream of fury.

Will turned to me, and I exhaled a sigh of relief.

The breath caught in my throat as Kelaeno burst through the air over the deck, her wings spread and beating violently. Time seemed to slow. I stared deep into Will’s eyes, my expression widening in horror, as Kelaeno’s outstretched claws grappled at his body, snatching him and yanking