Whoa.

You could see it on Burdock’s face, the moment when he knew he had lost. He opened his mouth to speak, but Lincoln came down sideways with his sword, and took the demon’s head clean off before he could utter a word.

Holy freaking shit. Burdock’s dead.

The glowing red contract in my mom’s hands puffed to ash, and we both gasped.

I was free. I was a free soul.

Tears slid down my mom’s face, and I wanted to enjoy the moment with her. It was everything I’d wanted, to be free of this shithole, everything my mother wanted for my life as well, but I couldn’t enjoy it. Not with my best friend standing across the way, death mark on her arm, dark circles around her eyes and bruises on her face. Tainted Academy was going to break her. Her strong, beautiful spirit was fading day by day, and I’d made a promise to never let that happen. I wouldn’t let her go dark.

“Your slave mark is gone,” my mom said, mystified.

I rubbed my forehead in shock.

Lincoln is so going to kill me.

I reached out, and took Michael’s sword from her. “I love you, Mom,” I told her, then advanced into the circle, stepping over Burdock’s severed head.

I pulled my dagger from my boot and it flared to life, emitting a golden yellow buttery light. I pointed the tip of the blade at Shea’s master.

“Grim, I challenge you in a fight to the death. If I win, Shea’s contract is absolved, and she’s a free soul.”

Chaos erupted. My mother, Shea, and Lincoln all screamed in protest. If Lincoln hadn’t just killed my mom’s boss, I would have fought him to free her but seeing as though he was dead, there was no way to get my mom’s contract. I had to fight for Shea while I had the chance. I knew my mother would understand. Eventually. Assuming I survived.

Master Grim just smirked, his eyes flashing red. “And if I win?” He took off his jacket, revealing a hairy, scarred chest with leathery skin.

I threw Michael’s sword at his feet. “The sword of Archangel Michael. Freely given.” I tried to remember the wording Lincoln had used.

More like freely stolen but I was hoping that wouldn’t matter.

He grinned. “And you. If I win, I want the sword and you. And I change the terms from fight to the death to forfeit. If one of us forfeits, we may keep our life.”

“Fine!” I replied through gritted teeth, before my nerves got the best of me.

“Absolutely not!” Lincoln burst forward, limping. The knife still stuck out of his leg, the tips of his wings were burned, and his hands looked bloody and battered. He hooked a hand under my armpit and started to drag me toward my car. “Are you crazy?” Blood-tinged spittle flew from his mouth in rage.

‘We can do this,’ Sera egged me on. ‘Shea is family.’

I clenched my jaw and pointed to Shea, standing with my mother at the edge of the circle in shock.

“The girl right there is my sister,” I told him.

He furrowed his brow as he looked from my pale skin to her brown tones.

“And I know you don’t trust me, or know me that well yet, but one thing you will learn is that I’m loyal as fuck, and I’m not leaving her behind. I’d rather die!”

He looked defeated, weak, and tired. “Then you might just get your wish.” Lincoln collapsed onto the back of my car, blood leaking from his leg.

Does that mean he’s allowing it? I didn’t wait to find out. Turning, I faced the Grimlock demon. “I accept your terms.”

He sneered and clapped, producing Shea’s contract and handing it to my mother.

“My witness will be here any moment,” he stated.

Lincoln was mumbling something, reaching for me. Shit. He was getting worse by the minute. I opened the back of the car, and helped him inside.

“Are you going to be okay?” I asked. “Should I call for help?”

He shook his head. “No one can help me in here. Just make this quick. The longer you draw it out, the better chance you have of losing.”

Thanks for the confidence.

I turned and came face-to-face with Shea, tears pouring down her cheeks. “What the hell are you doing? Call it off!”

I shook my head. “I’m not leaving without you. You’ll go dark, we’ll stop talking, and my mom will cry all the time. So no.”

She barked a laugh through her tears, and threw herself at me for a bone-crunching hug. “He has an old left knee injury, pains him all the time. His throat skin is the thinnest. Everywhere else is like rubber,” she whispered, then pulled back.

It hit me then that I was about to kill a man, or at least attempt to. The thought was horrifying. Demon or not, I was about to become a killer. Looking across the parking lot, I saw his witness was the Abrus demon that was going to buy my contract.

Great.

I moved to walk into the circle, when Lincoln snaked an arm out, and grabbed my wrist. “If she’s really your family, then there’s nothing that can stop your seraph blade from defending her.”

Whatever I was going to do, I needed to hurry. The back of my SUV was overflowing with crimson blood.

It started to rain, as it often did in Demon City, mercifully snuffing the black portal fire.

‘When he advances, kick his left knee out and then go for his throat,’ Sera told me.

It was like having my own personal battle instructor in my head.

Taking a deep breath, I popped out my wings. I didn’t exactly know how to fly yet, but I could at least hover, which could be useful in a bad situation.

The demon grinned, black leathery bat-like wings erupting from his back.

Oh shit. What have I done?

Without ceremony, he charged for me, holding a big-ass flaming red serrated sword, flapping his wings to hover and advance his height.

‘Plan B!’ Sera shouted. ‘Slide under him and cut his groin!’

My eyes bugged out. ‘What?’ But I didn’t have time to protest; he would be on me in a second.

Here goes nothing.

I used his momentum and dropped to my knees. As he sailed over me, I arched back and thrust Sera into his groin. I connected with something, but I wasn’t sure how much damage I’d inflicted. He didn’t even scream, and the dagger pulled away clean.

Popping up into a standing position, I flapped my wings twice and hovered. Grim was coming at me fast.

This is for Shea.

The only thing standing between us being free souls together was him. There was no way in hell, that I was letting that happen.

He flew at me, his long flaming sword outstretched. We were going to collide, and there was nothing I could do. With no shield or armor, that sword would gut me like a fish.

‘Stick out your leg!’ Sera urged.

I did, connecting with his chest as he sliced into my outer thigh with his sword. Searing pain tore through my leg, and a wail ripped from my throat. The bastard had cut me, but at least my guts were still firmly inside my body.

He grinned and then flew backward to get better momentum, but I didn’t give him a chance. With a battle cry, I flapped my wings harder than ever before, and rushed him, intending to cut into his neck. As I lunged for him, he moved down and my dagger went into his eye instead.

Good enough.

‘Keep it in there!’ Sera shouted.

The dagger lit up a searing hot blue color, and Grim’s high-pitched wails filled the air. He started to lash out blindly, attempting to slice me. I had to let go, and leave the dagger in his eye to avoid being cut again, abandoning my only weapon. Beams of white light shot out of his ears, as he continued screaming.

‘Shea is family,’ Sera declared in a vicious voice. ‘She’s ours, not his.’

Holy shit, my weapon’s gone postal.

I dropped to the pavement as he fell in front of me, trying to pull the dagger out of his eye. The hilt kept burning his hand, so he had to let go, unable to keep a strong enough grip to remove it.

Now that he was on the ground before me, and I was weaponless, I wasn’t sure what to do.

I took too long to think about it, and he grabbed me by the neck, throwing me across the lot. I didn’t have time to pump my wings as I sailed across the space quickly, so I landed hard on my ass, pain exploding in my tailbone. I got the sense from his drunken walk, and tearing vision, that he couldn’t see well out of his remaining eye, or else he would’ve already cut me open easily with his scary-ass sword. He still managed to stalk toward me, at an alarming speed, ripping across the pavement with a growl.

‘Get up and kick out his knee!’ Sera instructed.

Oh yeah, the knee injury.

I shot up, moaning when the pain tore into me. My lower back and leg were jacked up for sure. My left outer thigh was cut and bleeding, so I used my right leg to support my weight as I lifted my left into the air, and sent all of my power into the kick. Just as he reached me, my booted foot connected with his kneecap and a snapping sound rang out across the parking lot.

“Kick his ass!” Shea shouted in a throaty scream. That was the Shea I knew, the fiery spirit who’d been broken down lately.

“Finish it!” my mother added, encouraging me.

He dropped his sword, and as the demon went down, Sera sent me a bunch of mental images, flashes through my mind of things she wanted me to do. I didn’t have the luxury of stopping to think about them, or questioning them. I also didn’t want him to have the time to forfeit and live. I threw myself over him, grabbing the knife, the hilt cool to the touch for me. Pulling it out of his eye with a nasty sucking sound, I went to slam it into his throat.

“I forfeit!” he screamed.

Screw that. I brought my arm down hard, but an unseen power wrapped around my wrist, suspending it an inch from his throat. My eyes flicked up to the Abrus demon. He had one of his hands in the air, playing me like a puppet. He raised his arm and suddenly my body was lifting off the Grimlock demon. Then his power left me, and my feet slammed to the ground, pain shooting up my thigh.

“You’ve won,” he reminded in a smooth voice. “Run along. Don’t worry, we’ll be seeing each other again very shortly.” His eyes rested on Sera. “Nice seraph blade.”

I swallowed hard, and then glanced at Shea in shock.

Her forehead was free of the crescent moon tattoo.

Her contract in ashes on the ground.

Holy shit.

I looked at my mom as she rushed over, head bent low, submissive. Handing me the Michael sword, she pulled me in for a hug. “I’m very proud of you. Call me later, but don’t ever come back here again.”

Her words shocked the absolute shit out of me. Tears swam in my vision, making it blurry. “Mom, what about you and Mikey?”

I was starting to feel dizzy. How much blood have I lost?

“We’ll be fine. Go,” she said more firmly, then turned her back on me, to walk back inside the clinic.

What will happen to her? Why is her mark still there if I killed our boss? I had a hundred questions, but a wave of dizziness took me again. When I looked down, I saw I was standing in a puddle of my blood.