“I can’t control them.” Haziel slipped into her robe. Fighting hell princes were way out of her weight class. She considered sending for Ramiel.
A thud reverberated through the floor, and then two more. It sounded like they were about to bring the walls down around everyone’s ears.
Covet held her slippers out to her. “You must. You must use your angelic power to make them stop, or they will end us all.”
Surely, they wouldn’t…well, Wrath might. Who knew what that hell prince could do in the grips of his temper. But Ava—
“Wrath!” Ava roared, her voice barely recognizable through the battle lust pulsing through it.
Perhaps, Ava might. “I’m not an archangel.” Stomach in knots, Haziel followed the demon to her door. Ramiel should be here, and from the sounds of it, Michael was needed to take charge of Ava. “I can’t stop them.”
“They will end us all.” Covet tugged at her hand. “You have Ramiel’s power, right?”
“Well.” She followed him down the hall, the sounds of the battle growing louder as they went. “Sort of, but it’s watered down.”
Covet nodded. “I understand. We are the same with Mammon’s power. But we are of her and not her counterbalance.”
“We need Michael and Ramiel.” Haziel didn’t know how to get them to respond from here. Since she’d been in hell, she’d been unable to contact Ramiel at all.
Covet shook his head and tugged harder on her hand. “No time.”
An enormous crash punctuated his statement and Haziel quickened her pace until she was running.
Demons stood in clusters along the hallways as they passed, whispering and flinching as each new sound reached them.
The doors to the throne room had collapsed into the grandiose foyer. As Haziel ran down the stairs, dust and fine particles of marble clogged the air and limited her visibility.
Wrath roared and another massive smash followed.
Then Ava made a sound so feral Haziel’s skin prickled.
Glass smashed, and a marble pillar crashed to the ground. The roof creaked ominously.
Her slippers crunched over broken glass, marble, stone, and crystal as she reached the throne room doors.
Ava and Wrath were locked hand to hand as they hovered in the air, both of them easily ten feet tall. Wing feathers floated in the air like confetti at a parade. Both hell princes’ eyes glowed red, and they bore bloody marks from their conflict.
They would crush her like a bug.
“Here goes nothing.” Haziel sent a fervent wish to the part of her brain connected to Ramiel and released her wings. Maybe he would miss her when she was gone and regret the times he’d left her love unrequited. She hovered close to the pair. “Stop it. You need to stop.”
The fighting hell princes pivoted in the air. Some grappling part hit Haziel and sent her careening through the air and into the wall. Her back hit the wall. The breath was knocked out of her, and pain seared through her wings.
Covet was there, helping her to stand. “Are you all right?”
“No.” Haziel staggered to her feet.
A block of masonry crashed into the floor not three inches from her, and she leapt out of the way.
Putting every ounce of her Ramiel power into her voice, she reached deep within for her power well and bellowed, “STOP!”
Miraculously, they did both glance at her.
“Cease.” Her voice caused plaster dust to rain from the ceiling.
“Angel,” Ava snarled. “You are in the wrong place.”
That stung, even though Haziel knew Ava was lost to battle lust. “Ava?” She softened her tone. “It’s me. Haziel. You invited me to stay.”
Ava blinked at her. Some of the red draining from her eyes.
“Wrath.” Haziel fluttered closer to him. Massive and pulsing with power as he was now, he could rip her wings from her and dismember her in seconds. “Please, Wrath. You need to stop fighting.”
“Haziel,” he growled and launched himself at her.
Huge hands fastened around her shoulders, bruising her arms, and Haziel whimpered, “Please.”
She’d never been frightened of Wrath before, but as he was now, he was terrifying.
“Wrath,” Ava said, her voice no longer sounding like it came from the depth of depravity. “Wrath. Don’t hurt her.”
Wrath flinched and glanced down at his hands. With a yell, he released her and shot away across the room.
Haziel tapped into Ramiel’s calm tranquility and tried to send it through the throne room. It hit the raging emotions of Ava and Wrath and dissipated.
The hell princes circled each other again, teeth bared and eyes gleaming.
“No.” Haziel wouldn’t consider herself a brave angel, which is why she didn’t think about it as she launched herself between them. Holding out her hands, she tried again. “You need to stop. You’re not yourselves. It’s the seals. They’re making you do things you wouldn’t normally do.”
