Ethereal - Part Two

Chapter 44 - Blood-Stained Promises

Hearing the scream had frozen my body in place. I somehow gathered the courage to turn and look in the direction of where Azriel was and my mouth fell agar in utter and complete shock. My breath hitched in my throat while my eyes pricked with fresh tears.

Azriel’s head was bowed down as he gazed at the large black bloody wings that were lying at his knees. His tears fell down his cheeks and onto the feathers that he reached out to cradle in his hands.

Sathanas was at his side, smiling triumphantly at his actions, the blood dripping off of the weapon his hands still held. “What have you done, Az?” Kazier whispered, his eyes on the bloody wings of his fallen brother.

“That belongs to me now, Wrath” I heard Lucifer say and watched as Azriel handed his wings to him after abruptly wiping the gathered moisture away from underneath his eyes.

“And you belong to me” Sathanas growled and circled around Azriel. Azriel then nodded his head and stood up. “Yes, I do”. Sathanas’ smiled broadened and he looked at the rest of the fallen who had stopped fighting the demons the minute they heard Azriel’s anguish. 

“Wrath is no longer a fallen brother to any one of you. He will join my side and fight only for me and become one of my own demons”. “But first, he needs to make a promise of blood” Lucifer said as he watched Sathanas and Azriel.

I turned to Zeir who was near to me and begged him to do something. “I will, but I need to get you out of here first”. “No Zeir. I’m not going anywhere”. “Mira, you are at risk at every second. Clarren has already ventured off to the portal.  She will make sure that the coast is clear and then she will come for you”.

“Zeir, I said I am not fucking going anywhere. Not while Azriel is about to make the biggest mistake of his life!” I whisper – shouted into his ear. “I am stronger than before Zeir, I can take care of myself”.

“You are still weak from losing blood, Mira. Just listen to me…”. “No, you listen to me. I refuse to give up without a fight. I will not save my life and leave the rest of you in danger, especially when you all have done so much for me. Especially when I can fight”.

Zeir glanced to where Azriel was with Lucifer and Sathanas before looking back at me. “Azriel would have my head, but…fine. Remember that you need to be careful, the demons can still get a hold of you and your blood”.

I nodded my head eagerly and then moved out into the clearing. I noticed that a few demons had already noticed that I was no longer chained up to bleed dry and I rolled my eyes.

There was no time to plan anything. I reached for a weapon that Zeir had thrown me and flew towards Azriel. “What the fuck are you doing?” I yelled at him while I fought off the creatures that had seen me coming.

“I could ask you the same question!” He yelled back and came my way to help rid me of the demons that were trying to injure me. Azriel fished out a dagger from his boot and sliced at one demon, then at the next.

“You should not have interfered Mira, I had things under control!” Azriel had the audacity to scold me while we fought, our backs facing each other. I used the strength of my wing to knock off three demons who had surrounded me and then used Zeir’s weapon to finish them off for good.

“Sure, because you losing your wings was all part of the gory plan!”. Azriel let out a grunt as one creature jumped onto his back, injuring him further in the area where his wings used to be. I immediately took to the air with my wings and plunged the sword down the beast’s spine.

It shrieked in pain and then fell down to the ground, convulsing until it eventually stopped moving. I was about to fly back down to assist Azriel in killing off these demons when I felt a sharp stab in my shoulder. I gritted my teeth in discomfort and swung around to see who dared to hurt me.

I flapped my large wings slowly while I glared at Sathanas in his demonic form. “A pair of golden wings will add royalty to my King’s collection” He smirked as his eyes glazed over while he watched me.

“You will not lay a hand on my Mira!” Came Azriel’s voice from below. He was fighting with Kazier on his side, but the blood seeping down his bare back worried me. “Leave her out of this!”. Sathanas tilted his head mechanically to the side to look at Azriel. 

“You made the deal with Lucifer, Wrath, and now you turn your back to us?”. “I do not recall promising anything over spilt blood, the deal is considered as invalid” Azriel said with a slight smile.

Azriel met my eyes and then sent a wink my way. I returned the smile and then turned back to look at the greater demon before me. Further behind Sathanas, I noticed Ryelen stealthily approaching.

“Evil will never prevail over good; I want you to remember that” I told the creature in a bid to distract him from Ryelen who was coming closer towards us. “Is that so? You do not think we have already succeeded? Now that we have your blood, we will be unstoppable!”.

I laughed bitterly and then, as Ryelen stabbed Sathanas from the back, and I stabbed him from the front, I whispered in his ear. “You have already lost”. Sathanas’ eyes shot wide and then he started falling to the ground.

I smiled triumphantly and then landed near to where Kazier and Azriel were. Ryelen was beside me within the blink of an eye and I felt his hand on my elbow, so I turned to look at him.

“I assume Zeir and Clarren have been successful?”. I smiled at Ryelen knowing that he was speaking about my blood, nodded my head and answered him. Then Kazier appeared at my side with a deep frown across his features. “Lucifer is nowhere to be seen”.

“We should have kept a keener eye on him. No one knows what he is planning and we are in his abode” Ryelen said with a shake of his head, after decapitating two demons that flew straight to us. I took care of another two who aimed their claws at Ryelen.

“Clarren has also spotted the others coming our way” Kazier added and Ryelen nodded his head. “Let them come, we are ready for them” He said and withdrew a spare weapon from his scabbard. He handed the weapon to me with a smile. “Showtime”.