The Deal with the Demon Prince

*Chapter Thirty-Six*

*Chapter Thirty-Six*

As her scythe cut vertically down, severing bones and flesh, the black mist rose up higher. It circled around the creature that should now be dead. Still, there was no blood. His skull, now cracked open, had a sickly black liquid oozing out of it. She narrowed her eyes. That couldn’t be his ‘blood’, could it?

He vanished.

Aurora quickly took a large step back. She twisted her around several times, trying to predict where he will appear next. She felt a tug on her ankle and looked down. The scythe cut easily through the hand, and it dispersed into fog once again. She caught a quick movement, and she looked up.

“Gabriella! Don’t!”

Aurora didn’t want her to get too close to this area. Cade, please stop her! It was pointless. Cade and the other two unfamiliar people stood still as a rock. Their gazes were blank as if they had been put under some spell.

As far as Aurora knew, the guy emitted some sort of strange aura that would kill any living beings that stood too close to him. She didn’t want to drag Gabriella into this mess. Aurora then realized something. The fog was gathering. Worse, they were traveling towards Gabriella. Her mouth opened to warn her.

Their gazes met. Nothing happened. Aurora lunged at her friend, intending to push her out of the way. It was too late. She could see the mists forming a hand on the angel’s shoulder. There was no way Gabriella was getting out of the mist.

The hand slipped around her throat, and his familiar face appeared just behind the angel.

“You’re going to be a good hostage.”

It was impossible for Aurora to reach her in time, no matter how hard she pushed her legs. She could only watch as his hand squeezed. He could end her life in a matter of seconds.

“That was very bold of you,” she said, her voice perfectly steady. “I knew you never had any intention for ‘peace’.”

A blinding light appeared, and the mist was repelled away from Gabriella like magnets of like poles. The mist formed his torso, and he hissed. Aurora’s eyes dashed quickly between him and her ‘friend’. Questions bubbled within her, but she decided it wasn’t the best time to voice them. With a wave of Gabriella’s hand, the human fell unconscious.

“You,” he said it as if it were the vilest curse he could think of.

A casual smile appeared on the blonde’s face. Aurora stared at her with a dumbfounded look. She finally couldn’t keep her curiosity in check anymore. She settled for the simplest question.

“Who are you?”

Gabriella did not even spare her a look. “Me? Gabriella Shay, an angel born to serve the archangels as well as a student in Artemis -”

“No, you’re not her.”

The blonde turned by a fraction. The side of her lips quirking up slightly. She cocked her chin to the creature in front of her. “One can say I’m borrowing Miss. Shay’s body. I’m his counterpart.”

His counterpart.

The phrase echoed itself a few more times in Aurora’s mind. So many things had happened that nothing made sense anymore.

“I apologize,” Gabriella or whoever it was said. “I should have stepped in earlier, but I really had no evidence against him.”

Aurora wanted to laugh. At the same time, she wanted to cry. What on earth was going? Her frame shook with silent laughter.