if I want to save them—and the whole fucking town—then I have to act fast.
Pandora and Freya rush forward, knocking both demons off their feet. Bael picks up the jar and unscrews the lid. He reaches inside and pulls out a knife. Thick blood runs down the blade, and his eyes fill with hunger. Two more demons take the place of those who fall, and Binx goes after them.
Bael continues forward, blood dripping from the knife down onto his hand. Lucas fights against the roots binding him to the tree. Kristy madly reaches for the roots around her ankles, and finger-like vines spread over her body, threatening to tighten around her throat and squeeze the life right out of her.
The jar of blood falls from Bael’s grasp, and for a second, I think Binx was able to attack him. But Bael keeps walking toward me, brown robe swishing around his feet. This whole time I was thinking it was a potion I was going to be forced to drink, but I was wrong. The dagger Julian took from Bael was poisoned, just like the knife he’s holding right now.
It’s then I realize he’s not just trying to bind my powers, but kill that side of me. My humanity is my weakness, the part of me that he can exploit and use to his advantage. I’m vulnerable as a human, able to be possessed and controlled.
And he couldn’t be more wrong.
I’m half human.
Half angel.
Able to walk in the light and heed the call of the night.
And the last thing Bael expects.
Chapter 40
I close my eyes, knowing I’m going to have to reach down deeper than I ever have before. I can fight back against everything Bael throws at me, and maybe I’ll win. But the cost is too high, and the hits will keep on coming.
Sirens echo in the distance, and I know sending demons into Thorne Hill was no threat. They’re here, in my town, hurting the people who I love. I will not allow it. They’ll destroy the town and everyone in it, and I have to act fast. There is no time to waste, and I don’t see any other way to stop Bael. He’s dangerous enough as he is right now…if he’s able to get possession of my body and sit on the throne, it won’t just be the end of Thorne Hill, but it will be the end of the world.
You’ve got hellfire in you, kid.
They say when you can’t beat them, join them. But I can do one better: I can rule. Hell has no leader, and every demon is clamoring to get their hands on the throne, yet only a few have found loopholes like Bael did.
But none of them will see this coming.
I ball my fingers into fists, feeling the ground vibrate beneath me.
Sky above me. Earth below me. Fire within me.
“Stop,” I demand, and my eyes flash blue. The demons walking toward me come to a sudden halt, and Bael’s arm falters, but only for a second. He tips his head in Lucas’s direction, and a pointed end of a root stabs him right in the center of the chest.
“No!” I scream, and anger rises inside me like a flash flood, sweeping everything away, leaving behind pure rage and desperation.
“You will submit to me.” Bael holds his head high as he draws near. Muted moonlight glints off his golden crown. He’s thought of himself as the king this whole time, and he has power because he willed it to himself.
And I can do the same.
I thrust my hands forward, hitting Bael with a strong wall of energy.
“My name is Callista King, daughter of Michael the archangel, and I stake my blood claim on the throne. Hell belongs to me,” I say, voice cutting the air like a knife. Power pulses through me, coming up from the ground at an almost dizzying rate. It fills my whole body, bringing every nerve alive. I inhale, breathing it all in, and zero my gaze on Bael. “I am your Queen and you must obey.”
A crown of hellfire erupts around my head, burning bright into the dark night. Bael’s eyes widen with fear, his face bathed in red flickering light from the hellfire. Several of the demons closest to me look at each other. Their human bodies collapse onto the ground, running away back to Hell before I get the chance to scorch their dark souls from existence.
“And my first decree,” I start, flames rising higher