‘We would definitely get into Heaven then. Probably be declared a saint by the Catholic church,’ Sera stated.

I suppressed a chuckle. ‘God, I missed you.’

Lucifer exploded with rage in that moment. He came at my shield with his black hand swords and hacked away at it like Edward-freaking-Scissorhands. Pain sliced across my abdomen as if he was cutting into me, but my shield held, and I forced myself not to lose my concentration. It was like the energy barrier was a small part of me, and I could feel a painful sensation through it when it was attacked, but I didn’t seem to be sustaining physical injury.

Lucifer tipped his head back and roared at the sky, causing all of his minions to step back a bit. They were armed, just waiting to carry out his plot, and I was the only thing standing in their way.

The sky behind Lucifer darkened as a storm began to roll in over him.

Oh God. A storm in Heaven? How was it possible he had that power?

‘You are at the in-between. It’s a space that is not Earth but not yet Heaven. Lucifer has more power there than he would inside these gates. Still, he could do untold damage if allowed to enter here,’ Bernie informed me.

Great, as if I needed the reminder.

“Fan out! Prepare to attack!” Lucifer screamed at his demons, never pulling his demonic gaze from mine.

They stumbled to do his bidding, and my eyes went to the one who had her head down in submission, silently waiting to be asked to do something.

Raksha.

‘I say you drop the shield, and let me give his scrotum a piece of my mind,’ Sera suggested.

Opening my mind to my soul weapon, I pushed all of my recent training and thoughts at her. She’d always been my number one battle strategist, and I wanted her to know all I had learned without having to explain it all, because there was no time.

‘Ohhh,’ she cooed. ‘You trained with Michael? How is he? I miss the way he smells.’

‘Can we focus on the Devil for now?’ I asked her, holding the shield as best I could as Lucifer rained down another series of blows, this time causing small cracks to form in the outer layer.

‘Right! Thin a small portion of the shield, like you’ve been practicing, and I’ll shoot a beam of light at his crotch,’ she directed.

Wow. Her grudge with Lucy seemed to be a bit more intense than mine, but I liked her plan. Taking a deep breath, I thinned a small six-inch circle of my shield, right around where his junk was. Did the Devil even have man bits? We were about to find out.

A blinding, concentrated beam of white light shot from the tip of Sera’s blade, slamming straight into the Devil’s junk.

A noise that sounded like a cat being run over by a car, ripped from the Devil’s throat as he stumbled forward and laid both hands on my shield. His furious face was a mere foot from mine, and the way his black eyes bulged was so terrifying it would haunt my dreams forever. Black inky magic poured from his palms, no longer as swords, but now as an oily fluid. It covered my shield slowly, causing all light to be sucked from the space.

My heart flitted wildly in my chest.

I was a grown-ass woman, but I’d be dammed if I wasn’t a little afraid of the pitch dark. Slowly the blackness crawled over my dome, so it became darker and darker inside.

Sera’s golden glow grew lighter to combat the shadows, and my panic eased a little.

‘Get ready, I think he’s going to take the shield down,’ she told me.

I nodded, standing with my feet firmly planted.

“Can’t you help her?” Bernie begged to someone I couldn’t see behind me.

“I’m not permitted to interfere in mortal affairs,” a strong voice answered.

Typical.

“I got this!” I shouted, mostly to myself, because I was now 100 percent certain that the Devil’s black magic was eating away at my shield. My skin was on fire, and I wasn’t going to be able to hold it much longer.

‘Be ready’ Sera repeated.

My wings snapped out, and I assumed a crouching position to jump up to the skies if my shield were to fall. If I could draw him away from the gate, take the fight to another part of the ‘in-between,’ then maybe I could stop this war.

A cracking sound reverberated throughout the space, and black chunks began to fall to the ground as my shield gave way. Light from the outside leaked in, and then Lucifer was standing there, terrifyingly close.

Without missing a beat, I shoved off the ground and aimed for the skies, but a strong hand wrapped around my ankle, and I was yanked to the ground hard. I landed awkwardly, on one knee and with one wing bent backward. Sharp hot pain sliced into my shoulder and kneecap simultaneously, but I kept my grip on Sera. Light flared from the tip of the blade as I went into prison shank mode, slicing out at Lucifer like a crazed lunatic. Sera cut into his wrist, that was still gripping my ankle, and then I managed to stab him in the shoulder as well before he stumbled backward.

“How dare you go against your promise to me!” he roared, and I felt that pressure press down on my body again.

The strongest urge to get up and walk back over to the gate, overcame me.

Lucifer hovered over me, shoulder and wrist bleeding, and black oily magic crawling all over his skin. “Get. Up,” he ordered.

I did, not because he’d forced me, but because it was a better position to be in to fight.

Without warning, he thrust his hands out and a gust of wind shoved into me, dragging me backward so hard that I didn’t stop until my back had slammed into the invisible gate. The wind knocked out of me, as my wings and back smashed against the glasslike surface that protected Heaven.

‘Hold me up!’ Sera commanded. I did as she asked, barely able to plan my next move. Lucifer was gliding on the tips of his toes like a total psycho, coming right for me.

Sera shot out a major burst of light, but when it hit Lucifer, it merely fell away as if he’d erected his own shield.

Shit.

Sera went rapid-fire then, blasting him with several beams of light, but none of it seemed to make a difference. Just as his hand came around my throat, I jerked my wrist forward to stab him in the eye. He wrapped his other hand over mine, grabbing Sera’s blade in the process. Blood poured over the blade as he gripped her and looked into my face like a lunatic.

“If I didn’t need you, I’d gut you like a fish with your own knife,” he whispered as I struggled to take in small gasps of air. He was going to choke me to death.

‘Oh no! He’s doing magic on me again!’ Sera screamed in panic.

I tried to yank her away from his hand, but the monster held on, even though it must have hurt. He covered her blade with a black blobby mass again, diminishing her light.

No.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. I was supposed to kick his ass. I was supposed to be capable of killing him.

I wasn’t ready after all, and the realization crushed me.

I failed Lincoln, myself, all of Heaven.

Spots danced at the edge of my vision, and I wondered if he even realized he was choking me to death. He looked so enraged, I didn’t think he was in his right mind.

“You can kill him. You are his only equal,” the strange male voice from before murmured from behind me.

Lucifer’s grasp on my neck lessened then, and I was able to suck in a precious amount of air.

“Shut up, Metatron!” Lucifer seethed. “She’s an untrained child who is too soft at heart to fully embrace her power. She’ll never be as powerful as me.”

Metatron. I’d heard that name before. In the Bible, maybe. I didn’t care right then who he was; I only cared that his words had given me a small amount of hope, and they’d distracted Lucy.

Gathering my courage, I reeled my head back and then slammed it forward, cracking Lucy right in the nose. Reddish black blood spurted over his mouth. Then I shoved my knee into his crotch and dropped Sera on the ground; she was covered in black magic and, unfortunately, was useless to me for now. Holding my hands out, I created a small black magic orb in one hand and a white one in the other.

Now I was the psycho. I was the one who’d lost my shit.

When Lucy lunged for me, I slammed my hands together on either side of his face, crashing the black and white magic into his head. A shrill scream ripped from his throat as thunder cracked overhead. His demons turned their focus away from the gate, and on to me in that moment.

I was trying to figure out how the hell I was going to survive this situation if they all jumped me, when I noticed Raksha, very quietly, crouched behind one of the giant trees. She’d created a portal to Fallen Academy, and Lincoln and Michael had just walked through it.

My backup had arrived.

Thank God.

And Raksha was still on my side. I never should have doubted her.

Fifteen

As soon as Raksha created the portal, she spun away from it, going to the far side of the meadow where the demons were stationing themselves. I hoped I was the only one who saw what she’d done. She’d saved my life.

Lincoln, Michael, Raphael, Uriel, Gabriel, and a sea of Fallen Army were flooding through the portal now. They all looked confused at first, but then they seemed to quickly recognize what was going on and started to fight Lucifer’s army.

My two magic balls to either side of Lucy’s head had done something to him. By the way he was shrieking, I hoped it had liquefied whatever brain he had, but it may have only caused temporary pain and disorientation, because he was looking more alert by the second.

‘Get me to Shea!’ Sera yelled from her place on the ground. She was still covered in that black magic, which seemed to have disabled her power, but at least she could still speak to me. Reaching down, I picked up my blade, and shouted my bestie’s name. She was right by Noah and Lincoln’s sides, scanning the crowd, looking for me.

When she heard my voice, she spun and I threw Sera into the air, hoping like hell she’d know what to do with her, or at least keep her safe while I could deal with Lucy. If Sera was the key to this gate, and only I could open it, then we shouldn’t be together anyway.

Lincoln’s head snapped in my direction when he heard my voice, and then his gaze fell onto Lucifer, who was now at my feet, clutching his head. I’d never seen so much rage in my husband. His entire face went red as he started running my way, his blue glowing sword outstretched.