The Lure of the Devil (The Demons' Muse #4) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,189

threw both hands down and used the force of the wind above to hold him in place. Then I began to work seriously. I didn't need his permission to do this, and I would most definitely make a point. Angels were beautiful, so I was going to use that against him. His flawless skin began to turn to marble. His brassy hair faded to white. And from his back, I allowed his wings to unfurl, but these feathers would never hold him in flight.

As fast as I could, I ripped his human skin apart and rebuilt it as something even more fitting. They had made religion to worship angels, so let him be the idol. He didn't deserve to have a living body. While, yes, he could undo this, it would take him more than a decade. That meant Earth had at least ten years before he could terrorize it again, and I hoped to have this place locked down by then.

Instead, he could be a statue. And while I started on the outside, I didn't stop there. All of his organs became rock and his blood turned solid, but I did leave him one thing. His tear ducts worked just fine. That way, if he ever decided to come back to Earth, he would be nothing more than a miraculous crying angel statue.

The moment I knew the re-skinning had worked, I pushed the storm on to the final location. Only then did I allow myself to take a breath. Just one, but it was deep enough to push off the adrenaline rush that had carried me through this. Unfortunately, I wasn't done.

"How's your faith now?" I asked Gabriel, not even sure if he could hear me. "And you can tell the rest that you found God." I gestured to the little lamb. "We’re not going to let you ruin the world anymore. You had your chance to make things better. It's my turn now."

Then I pushed. His statue winked out of existence, but I wasn't done. I still had the storm heading across town, aiming for a warehouse next to a lumberyard. For all we knew, at least a dozen, and maybe as many as two hundred people were there. They could be on this plane, or maybe in the corridor. We had no way of knowing if they were in cages, chained up, or if they were even conscious. In other words, sending a tornado right at them could possibly be the worst idea I'd ever had.

But once it was on its course, the rest was up to the guys. Right now, I had to deal with everything that was happening here. Glancing back at the little lamb who'd stood loyally beside me, I nodded, giving God the signal that it was time for her to go.

"I got this," I assured her.

She bleated at me again, then turned, flicking her little tail, and trotted right out the same way she'd walked in. As if that was some kind of sign, people began to raise their heads and look around. The rain was still coming down, but now it was a soft patter instead of the gusting sheets it had been before. All around us, the entire building had been destroyed, leaving only the cinderblock walls still standing.

"Is anybody hurt?" I asked, wiping my damp hair away from my face.

That was when the murmuring began as people checked on those around them. Thankfully, no one was calling out for assistance. There were a few large pieces of debris that had crashed down, forcing some to crawl to get out, but no one seemed to be hurt. Not at all. There were no bumps, bruises, or even scrapes that hadn't existed before they came into the building this afternoon.

"Who are you?" a guy asked, his phone still pointed at me.

A little smile curled one side of my lips, and I couldn't seem to stop it. "Didn’t you hear him? I'm supposed to be the pissed-off ex-girlfriend."

"What was the deal with the goat?"

I felt my brow crease as I tried to figure out what he was talking about. Then it dawned on me. "The lamb?" Giggling at the absurdity of the question, I just turned and walked away.

Because there was nothing else I could do here. Everyone was safe. The seed had been planted. In a world where people were often more willing to believe a conspiracy than well-proven facts, that little show had just hit them as hard as a