The Lure of the Devil (The Demons' Muse #4) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,188

shelter. A forecast that had previously been for overnight rain had just become an emergency situation. And in the middle of it all, I just stood there. If Gabriel ran, I was going to get him. If he came at me, I was going to make him regret it. The next move was his, because I didn't dare make it on my own.

"What was that you were saying about striking you down?" I yelled over the sound of the wind coming in through the open doors.

His lips curled up in a snarl. "You're doing this."

I just shrugged without uncrossing my arms. "So now you're trying to say that I have the power of the divine? What happened to true faith, Gabriel? You want to make this a religious thing?" I asked. "I'm the one standing with the lamb."

The power’s ready, God said, her voice for only me. The storm is yours, Ayala.

Letting my eyes close in a slow blink, I reached for it, and the weather outside obeyed. For the last few hours, I'd done my best to memorize a map of this town, specifically the buildings that Michael's angels claimed as their own. Those were my only targets, and the fraternity house was first.

I could feel it as the air began to spiral. The vortex felt like it pulled part of my awareness upward even as the funnel descended down, and the power of all this destruction was completely in my control. Outside, the wind roared like a freight train. Inside, people screamed as they realized this wasn't a false alarm.

Two blocks away, my tornado touched down. The gigantic house with a pair of flashing Greek letters before it didn't stand a chance. Wood splintered, shingles scattered, and the walls fell. It didn't take long to destroy the whole thing, leaving only the inner rooms intact where humans had sought safety. Never again would that place work as a cover for my enemy. I held the storm right over it, making sure there would be absolutely nothing left, then jerked the funnel back up.

The debris from it reached even this far away. A large piece of wood slammed into the cinderblock walls outside. Smaller pieces made it through the open doors. But only a split second later, the storm got loud.

When the roof was ripped off, I didn't flinch. Everyone else did. Even Gabriel, who dropped to the ground in shock, rather than propelling himself at me. All around us, the winds howled, sending every loose item in this building into the air. Even the smallest thing became a deadly missile. Stuck in the center of an ever-growing tornado, the situation was only getting worse.

A common pen thunked into the back of the pew beside me, driven by the force of the storm. Rain was slung inside, splattering against the walls with more force than I'd ever seen before. Chunks of mortar and splinters of the two-by-fours that made up the roof clattered against everything. Anything that wasn't tied down became projectiles, hurled by the force of the tornado, and all of it was so loud I couldn't even hear the screams anymore. I also didn't care.

Because the moment Gabriel came at me, I was ready for him. That bastard was not going to throw me off this plane again. Rushing forward, he swept his arms before him, propelling all of that debris at me like a million tiny little missiles. A wave of my hand knocked them away, the debris scattering across an invisible bubble hovering over the people curled up on their knees, keeping them safe from my destruction.

And God bleated in amusement.

Gabriel completely ignored her, slinging a sprite at me instead. Still refusing to move, I caught the grotesque-looking monster like a poorly-thrown baseball and hurled it to the ground. Just for good measure, I shoved my foot on it and ground it out of existence. The best part was that the calmer I acted - which wasn't easy in the middle of a tornado - the more furious he became.

Attack after attack, he tried to use the power of the storm to hide what he was, yet I foiled them all. For the first time, I realized just how much stronger than these outworlders I really was. I was filled with not only the power of all the aether I’d sucked out of the void, but also what God was pushing into me.

And then he got just a little too close. With a roar, I