Corin & Angelique (After the Fall of Night) (41 page)

“Wait
! Don’t—” Tomes called out.

“Stay out of this,” Corin cut him off, Angelique’s sobs
ripping him apart.

“Now take your swing!” He fixed his attention on Boldor. “Take it before
I change my mind!”

Making his move, Boldor shoved Angelique away from him, raised the sword
high, and came down with a powerful strike, but the blade, intended to sever Corin’s head, missing him by millimeters, striking nothing but stone.

“Run, Angel!” Tomes
saw she was dazed from striking her head against a statue and rushed toward her.

“I’m okay,” she met him halfway. “We need to help Corin.”

Corin motioned to Tomes to get her to the sideline.

“This is his fight, Angel. I think he can handle it.”

“Your swing wasn’t quick enough, Boldor. Unfortunate…for you.” Corin turned the tables on the nightwalker. “And now, as you said, we end this tonight.”

Boldor allowed his inner monster to emerge as he advanced on Corin,
swinging again, striking another headstone with such force that it snapped the blade in half. Enraged, he threw the weapon to the ground and zeroed in on Angelique’s position.

Corin
, knowing Boldor planned to go after her, flew at him with superhuman speed. With fangs and talons lengthening, he aimed for the charm hanging around the fiend’s neck, managing to grab the chain and snatch it free with a powerful yank, sending the piece hurling away from them.

“Oh, I sense you now,” Corin told him, the sensation strong. “Without that
charm, you have nothing to hide behind.”

Boldor let out a thundering roar and retaliated, ramming
Corin with all the force he could muster, his fangs tearing into Corin’s right shoulder.

The battle was on! Till death.

* * * *

Tomes
tried to stop Angelique, who rushed to claim the Heart. But she was determined to beat the female immortal to the mark, and being closer, succeeded.

“Hand it over, sweetness,” Lehndra demanded
, eyes locked on the charm.

“Careful, Angel,” Tomes warned, taking aim with the staker, ready to fire.

“I’m only asking once more, girl. It means nothing to you,” she growled.

“I don’t think so. If this is the charm you told me about, it should be returned
to the guardians you stole it from.”

Lehndra’s demon emerg
ed. “Then you leave me no choice.”

She a
ssailed, fast and furious, thrusting her talons deep into Angelique’s chest, the charge happening so fast no one had time to react.

“No! God, no—” Tomes cried out
.

“
Sorry, my sweetness, but you did force my hand.” Lehndra pulled her talons free, allowing Angelique to collapse like a puppet whose strings had just been cut.

Sheriff Pierson fired several shots into the immortal, but the bullets only had
a momentary effect on her. Unhappy with his attack, she tossed him a warning hiss before bending and claiming the charm from Angelique’s clasped hand. And now in possession of her long-awaited prize, she retreated, but was forced to stop a short distance away to tend her wounds.

“What on
earth?” Pierson watched in disbelief as she repaired the damage with healing hands.

Tomes rushed to his sister
’s aid, sharing her pain, fearing the severity of her injury. Lifting her into his arms, she gasped, struggling to breathe.

“Angel
. No, this can’t be happening.” He could feel her slipping away, her life force fading.

“I c-can’t b-breathe.” Her body tremble
d as shock overtook her.

Angry and blaming himself for not taking a shot at Lehndra when he had the
chance, Tomes went for the immortal who remained in sight, distracted by the charm. Slipping up behind her with the staker raised, he now stood close enough to see that she was in possession of not one, but two charms, and was attempting to connect the pieces. Whatever she was planning, he knew it wasn’t good.

For Angel.

He held a steady aim and fired off his three remaining blackthorn nails into the immortal’s back. Expelling a horrific screech, she buckled over in agony, unable to pursue him.

“I hope they’re killing you,” Tomes took his revenge and rushed back to Angelique.

Even though he knew blackthorn was a terrible agony to nightwalkers—a fiery torment burning them from within—it didn’t seem enough.

The charms.

Tomes caught sight of both pieces hurling from her hold as she flung about in a violent fit, trying to rid herself of the searing nails. Crying out, she used an index talon in an effort to extrude a nail by pushing it on through her body, but before she could finish the job, a great, black wolf lunged in attack.

Tomes clutched Angelique close, not knowing whether the canine was friend or foe, relieved when it went for the female immortal
. It took her to the ground and pinned her down with a ruthless growl before shape-shifting into Jordon.

“
Thank God. Jordon, I need you here!” Tomes called for the daywalker’s help. “It’s Angel. She’s been stabbed. It’s bad!”

Jordon left Lehndra huffing and squirming and rushed over to examine
Angelique’s injury.

“Can you heal her?”

Jordon ran his hands over Angelique’s chest, but the small amount of healing he was able to offer made only a minor difference. “The wound is too severe.”

“Why won’t it work?”

“We can only do so much with mortal’s injuries. I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do for her now.”

“I can’t accept that
,” Tomes fought back tears. “I won’t.”

“Corin should know,” Jordon observ
ed the two nightwalkers engaged in a fierce battle.

“
Yes…Corin,” Tomes looked at Jordon, realizing their only hope. “There is a way to save her.” He knew what had to be done, and lowering Angelique, he stood and sought Corin’s position. “Corin, It’s Angel. She’s dying!”

* * * *

Corin whirled, the words striking him like a bolt of lightning. Releasing a hellish wail, the evil entity dwelling within him crawled forth from the depths of his being and overtook him. Transmuted beyond nightwalker to that of a full-fledged demon, he was more monster than man.

“W-what power is this?” Boldor stammered and backed away. “I’ve never seen
this kind of change before.”

“I’m going to send you to hell,” Corin’s voice
deepened. “We end this now!” He charged with a deafening roar, taking Boldor down with demonic force.

Boldor’s bones cracked beneath
his weight as they hit the ground, rendering him immobile long enough for Corin to flip him face up and straddle him.

“You are no ordinary nightwalker,” Boldor uttered.

Corin’s mind burned as he glared into his opponents eyes, not able to control what he was becoming. He felt himself turning savage, thirsting for blood…for the kill. All humanity was fading, leaving nothing but the demon. Until this moment, he had never allowed his monster full release, only now discovering the full magnitude of the hellish entity he harbored.

“You.” He clutched Boldor’s head in his hands,
still retaining enough of himself to know he wanted the nightwalker dead. “To hell!” His voice was unrecognizable…fearsome.

Boldor struggled, but he was no match for Corin’s demon
. “You win, von Vadim. Don’t kill me. I’ll walk away and you’ll never see me again.”

“Too late,” Corin slowly rotated Boldor’s head, and in one barbarous movement,
decapitated him with a strength he never knew he had.

Boldor’s remains instantly disintegrated
. Their fight was ended, once and for all, the morbid game finally over.

During the final moments of the battle, the Order of the Clythguard
had moved in—a pack of wolves—their howls echoing as they encircled the cemetery. Shape-shifting into their human forms, they were an impressive-looking group of immortals.

“You’ve been fully consumed. You must bring yourself back.” Galvar rushed
toward Corin. “Regain yourself, before it’s too late.”

“Angel needs you, Corin,” Tomes called out to him.
“We’re losing her.”

Even though his human part had plummeted to the darkest depths of his
being, he heard his friend’s words, and comprehending what it meant, fought to take back control. Collapsing forward, he thrashed about, engulfed in an internal battle to climb to the surface.

“Fight harder,” Galvar
yelled. “Take back control.”

Finally, overpowering the demon, he bridled the evil and confined it deep
inside.

“You play a dangerous game,” Galvar
leaned over him. “Your physical changes were frightful. The demon you harbor is one to be feared. The strength it took to sever that head with nothing but your bare hands…a powerful monster to behold.”

Corin breathed hard, lying motionless, exhausted from the fight.

“We each carry our own monsters within us that arise from time to time, but yours is of a different rank—a match for the devil himself.” Galvar pulled him up to a sitting position. “Take my advice and keep it caged. You may not be able to bring yourself back next time.”

“I’m all right now,” Corin
pushed himself up. “Angelique.” He rushed toward Tomes who called out once again. Right now, she was all that mattered.

* * * *

With the immortals focused on Corin’s possession, Lehndra managed to slip into the woods, valuing her existence over her aspirations. However, with her body still searing with the embedded blackthorn nails, she found it difficult to concentrate, and therefore couldn’t shape-shift.

Needing to do something, and fast, she grabbed a sturdy stick, and with
one strong thrust, rammed it through one of the wounds, pushing the nail out through her back. It was pure agony, but she withheld her cry by sinking her teeth into her arm, muffling any sound that might escape. Then doing the same with the two remaining nails, she finally freed herself from the tormenting fire, and regained the ability to shape-shift. Without hesitation, she quickly turned to vapor and fled before anyone became aware of her escape. She was once again on the run.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Changed

Corin
fell to his knees alongside Tomes and took Angelique from his hold. He pulled her close and looked into her ever-dimming eyes.

“Do you s-see him?” she said through gasps.

“See who, my love?” Corin brushed away a tear trailing her right cheek.

“The a
-angel.” She struggled to talk, her body trembling. “He’s h-here.”

“What is she talking about?” Tomes
looked at Corin.

“It’s the Angel of Death
.” Corin couldn’t bear her suffering. “She’s teetering on the brink and Death is here to collect her soul.”

“I’m so sorry.” Jordon knelt next to Corin, placing a consoling hand on his
shoulder.

“You all act like there’s no hope, but she can be saved,” Tomes said. “Corin,
you can save her.”

“The only way would be to change her—make her immortal,” Corin told him.
“And I won’t damn her to that fate.”

“We can’t just stand by and watch her die. God forgive me for this, but I’d
rather have her changed than snatched through death’s door.”

Tomes’s words surprised Corin, knowing how he despised the undead. He’d
fought so hard to save his sister from the very thing he was now asking for.

“You saw what I was just now, Tomes, how can you ask me to condemn her
with such a curse?”

“With you, I know she’ll be fine. You haven’t lost your humanity, and she
won’t either. I know what she means to you, Corin. What you mean to her.”

“Yes.”
Corin caressed Angelique’s face with the back of his fingers. “I don’t want to let her go.”

“We don’t have to
lose her,” Tomes pleaded.

Corin
couldn’t deny wanting to keep her with him. But the Angel of Death stood among them, lingering, ready to collect her soul and guide her to her afterlife. Heaven awaited. A beautiful heaven. And if he changed her, she’d never see that paradise.

“I would be robbing you of the light…of
heaven,” he whispered to her. “Of your soul.”

“Ch-change me, m-my love,” Angelique made her own request in a faint voice.
It’s w-what I want.”