Page 38 of Fated Angel
“Together?” Gabby asks him, her irises blue again but the darkness clouding the whites of her eyes.
“Together, now and forever!” Colt roars.
As one, they fly forward, and for the first time since meeting Vladimir, the man has pure unadulterated fear in his eyes. He tries to fight them off, tries to defend himself.
Colt strikes first, both scimitars slicing in an X pattern down on the cult leader’s head.
Vladimir ducks, catching the blades in his unharmed hands and pushing Colt back. A hiss of pain darkens his features and Colt sees that his hands, if not cut, have been burned.
“He’s susceptible to fire!” Cole tells Gabby.
She nods, sneaking up behind Vladimir as Colt slashes again and again, driving the man back. The tip of Gabby's Spear bursts into flames so hot that Colt can feel the flare of energy before the Spear pushes through Vladimir’s back and out through his chest, burning him through.
The snap of the connection reverberates through the building, making the ruined structure tremble. In the distance, a blood curdling keening can be heard, as if somewhere far away someone else suffered this same wound. Did the witch bind her vitality with Vlad’s? Did she feel that death blow as clearly as he did?
Vlad’s eyes roll back in his head, his jaw falling slack as his body begins to tremble and shake. A light appears in his mouth, white, celestial, and to their surprise, an angelic soul explodes from Vladimir’s body. He drops, the corpse vacant of all life.
Gabby reacts quickly, flinging her Spear out and forming a celestial chain with her dark, stained magic. The chain whips out, lashing the angelic spirit, and when Gabby flicks her wrist, the glow of white flies back to the ground at her feet. Anger burns in Gabby’s eyes as she stalks a few feet forward, glowering down at the glowing eminence she’s leashed at her feet.
Colt steps forward, a wary hand reaching towards Gabby to slow her retribution. But she doesn’t kill the angel. Instead, she flips the Spear in her hand and hovers the malignant tip over the glowing creature and snarls.
“Reveal yourself, traitor!”
A bubbling laughter emanates from the light, and slowly the glow fades and personifies. Colt shakes his head, denial ripping through him. There’s no way, no possible way, but as the light solidifies into a creature he can see, there's no doubt about it.
“Moroni!” Cult snarls.
Gabby bares her teeth, raising her arms and threatening to slam them down, but Colt stops her.
He reaches across Moroni and places his hands over hers on the Spear.
Gabby shudders, eyes fluttering closed, and when they open again, Colt’s angel is in complete control. “How can this be?” Gabby breathes, lost in the impossibility of seeing Moroni on the mortal plane once more.
“Anything is possible with the Grigori, dark angel,” Moroni cackles, his laughter echoing off what’s left of the cathedral around them and rattling in Colt’s brain. “Far you have fallen from your grace, and what a perfect time it is! My masters will defeat you easily. They will take what you have so kindly repaired for them, and all will be set right with the world!”
“Over my dead body!” Gabby roars.
A pulse of power explodes from her, shoving Colt back to a safe distance, and she raises the Spear to finish Moroni.
“Gabby, no!” Colt roars, but she can’t hear him. The obsidian has her.
Moroni freezes, a soundless scream on his face as he turns to look at Colt and realizes his mistake. Gabby isn’t in control, the obsidian’s taken over.
She’s going to kill Moroni, and the sheer terror in his eyes seems to beg for Colt, of all people, to rescue him.
15
Gabby
He will pay the price of betrayal!
Kill him!
Power surges through Gabby, endless as night and just as dark. It fills her with strength. It infuses her with the knowledge she’s unstoppable.
It has her surging forward, the Spear held high, its obsidian tip pointed at Moroni’s chest.
He was supposed to be her father’s trusted general.