Raja laughed heartily as he continued to easily ward off every strike that Lillith and I threw his way. I began to doubt our ability to defeat him. And if we couldn’t kill Raja, we stood no chance of killing Azazel, even if we did manage to retrieve my sword.
And he dared to attack me with my own sword, which made the entire situation even more precarious. I had to get it back before he managed to kill me with it. Lillith and I would need to work together if we were to defeat our mutual enemy. I opened my mind and let her inside my head.
“We can’t beat him,” I said.
“If you’re going to talk like that, you might as well give up now. Let him slice your throat,” Lillith replied sharply.
I ducked just as Raja swung my sword, barely missing the top of my head.
“Careful, you idiot! He hits you with that thing, even a scratch, and you’re as good as dead.”
“You think I don’t know that?” I barked back. “He’s already hit me once. I have no intention of letting him hit me again.”
Lillith arched back, drawing in her stomach just as Raja jabbed the blade at her gut, missing her by an inch or two. She swung her sabre around and down, knocking his sword to the side. Raja came at her again, but she twirled around and threw herself backward. She appeared suspended in midair, lying on her back as the weapon whizzed past her, leaving her unscathed. She threw her hands over her head and pushed herself, flipping forward as her legs kicked up, landing hard on her feet, sword at the ready. She went on the offensive, doing her best to keep Raja off-balance.
But it didn’t seem to matter. For every move that Lillith made, Raja was able to counter it with skilled ease. I came at Raja from the other side, but he was able to defend himself from two assailants at once. It grew evident that we could have had the help of ten more Hybrids, and it wouldn’t have made a bit of difference. He was undefeatable.
Just as I thought our plight would end badly, Dorian arrived. He leapt through the air, as he’d done the day I’d met him, a Chakram in each hand. He flipped over Raja with his arms crossed and sliced in an X-like manner.
And even though Raja was impervious to a beheading, at least with his wings still attached, it did temporarily slow him down. Each side of his neck was cut. The gashes were deep, but not life threatening—not for a Watcher.
Raja was dazed and distracted by his wounds. His hands reached up, and he shoved his fingers inside the lacerations that lay close to his throat. It only angered him more.
Dorian went at Raja with the fury of a hundred wild horses. Lillith and I continued our constant barrage of thrusts and jabs, trying to slow him down even more. But he just kept coming.
In a last, desperate move, I dropped to the ground and swept his legs out from under him, sending him tumbling forward. He struggled to control his descent as he fought to regain his footing.
Lillith dove the tip of her blade hard into the center of Raja’s chest as he fell to the ground. He came to rest on his knees, a look of shock in his eyes as he stared up at the blonde beauty who’d just impaled him. She swung herself around and, with a single roundhouse kick, drove the sword even deeper into Raja’s chest cavity.
Raja’s hands surrounded the blade penetrating his torso. He stared down disbelievingly at what had just occurred, emotionless and placid.
And then he began to laugh. It started as a quiet chuckle and built to an enormous belly laugh. His gaze shifted upward in Lillith’s direction. The evil stare gave me chills, and I knew Lillith had somehow made things even worse.
But we had to keep the pressure on him and get him to drop my sword. I raised my own blade and prepared to fight while Dorian did the same from the other side. Raja pulled Lillith’s sabre out of his chest with one hand and raised my stolen sword in the other, blocking our attempts with a loud clang. Our swords struck his and bounced off.
Raja’s reflexes were quick. I don’t even remember seeing his arm move. There was a twist of his arm and a downward motion. Before Lillith, or any of us had time to react, her own sabre had been plunged down at an angle into the left side of her neck.
Dorian screamed.
But Lillith smiled.
Her time was coming to a close, and if she was going to die anyway, I knew she’d want it to be on her terms and no one else’s. She’d gone down fighting. And she’d been valiant in her efforts, choosing a hero’s death rather than disappearing into nothing at the end.
Our gazes met briefly. Lillith gave me a look that told me all was okay between us in the end. She gasped for breath, and then uttered, “Kick his ass.”
Her eyes rolled back, and the smile slowly evaporated from her face. Raja pulled the sabre out of her neck, and Lillith fell to the side and collapsed on the bare ground of the Badlands, sending up a small cloud of dust from beneath her body.
Dorian’s fury escalated, his rage directed at Raja. He flew at him twice as fast as before. Dorian sprung and flipped, trying to disorient his enemy.
“Lillith!”
I heard Sean’s voice clearly in the darkness, and my chest tightened significantly.
“Lillith!” he cried again.
He skidded to a stop and dropped to his knees beside her body. He began to yell her name again. His voice cracked with grief.
“Sean. You need to get out of here!” I yelled. Dorian was keeping Raja preoccupied for the time being. But it wouldn’t last, and I shuddered to think what would happen if Raja managed to get his hands on my best friend. “Sean! Go!”
Sean refused to listen and stayed steadfast at Lillith’s side. He lifted his head and stared me in the eye. I knew what he wanted.
Revenge.
I nodded. He didn’t need to say anything. I understood.
My sword raised, I jumped into the fight with Dorian against Raja. Together, we pushed him back, pressing harder each time to weaken him, or at the very least, slow him down. We kept him on the defensive, rarely allowing him the opportunity to be on the offensive. We knew if we were going to have a chance to defeat him, it would need to be when he was caught off guard.
Raja spread his fiery wings and leapt high into the air.
“Coward!” I screamed, following him in flight.
Dorian, being unfortunate enough not to have been born with wings, was left helplessly on the ground below. Upon glancing down in his direction, I could clearly see the frustration in his body language.
The race to catch Raja began. We flew through the Badlands, soaring past the large formations, and at times low amongst the brush. Our wings beat hard against the cold air surrounding us. It was so cold, in fact, that I almost expected to see steam rising from the fire that made up his wings.
He made a sudden left, and I had to backtrack to continue the chase.
Glancing down, I could see the battle had raged on without us. The Hybrids of Shamsiel and Azazel continued to fight to the death. They each advanced, weapons raised, all in an effort to defeat their respective enemies.
My eyes again focused on my enemy, who was just ahead of me.
Raja’s flying ability was swift and efficient. But my wings weren’t merely designed for decoration. They were strong and agile. My three hundred years on Earth had given me plenty of time to perfect my aerial skills, and I was determined to use them to catch the evil bastard who’d just killed my friend.
Although I was able to keep up, I was unable to reach him to engage in combat. My mind raced, trying to come up with a way to beat Raja at his own game.
Then, I had an idea.
I opened my mind and reached out to Dorian. He was clearly grieving for his sister, but he’d accepted her death, as well as his own, years ago. Dorian knew there was more at stake than their own demise.
He listened to my idea and agreed it was our best chance. As I prepared to put my plan into action, I asked how Sean was doing. Dorian told me Sean had yet to leave Lillith’s side. Their relationship had seemed unusual to me. They didn’t appear to like one another when she was alive, and he enjoyed nothing more than making her remaining time a living hell. But at the root of it all, they’d been friends. Odd, unlikely friends, but friends nonetheless.
Deciding on a different course of action, I descended and headed back to where Sean stood vigil over Lillith. I was sure Raja would soon realize I was no longer in chase mode and come after me. In fact, I was banking on it.
Just as I’d hoped, Raja began to pursue me. I continued my course straight for Sean and Lillith and acted as if I was unaware of Raja’s presence. But I knew he was there. The flames licking off of his wings against the dark sky made it virtually impossible not to notice where he was at all times.
The ground grew close, but I didn’t slow my descent. To the casual observer, it might have looked like I was going to crash.
From the corner of my eye, I could see Raja gaining on me quickly. He held my sword firmly in his hand, clearly ready to run me through the moment he caught up.
Focusing back on Sean, I could see he had finally stood and taken a few steps back from Lillith’s body. His hands seemed to hang limply at his sides as he stared expressionless down at our fallen friend.
But Dorian was nowhere to be seen.
My grip tightened around the hilt of my borrowed sword. I aimed for Sean, flying as fast as my wings would take me. He finally looked away from Lillith and redirected his gaze on me. He seemed unaffected by my rapid descent.
I nodded once, and he nodded back.
Just when it looked as though I’d hit the ground with full force, I pulled up, flying mere inches over Sean’s head.
Raja, in turn, tried to do the same.
Sean raised Gladys over his head, aimed, and pulled the trigger, striking Raja squarely in the chest.
It was nothing more than a flesh wound and was hardly fatal, but it had been enough to catch him off guard. He landed with force, shaking the ground beneath him. He took his eyes off of me for a split second while he inspected the bullet hole.
Then, he began to cackle. It was maniacal and frightening. His eyes lit up with revenge, and they zeroed in on Sean.
Raja raised my stolen sword, holding it straight as if to point at his target. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
He took a step in Sean’s direction, grasping the sword with both hands and raising it over one shoulder, ready to strike. I made an abrupt turn in the air and flew toward Sean as quickly as I could to protect him.
Suddenly, Dorian was in the air, holding half a Chakram in each hand. He soared above Raja’s flames, and with a single, smooth movement, sliced off his hand, the hand that held my sword.
Both Raja’s hand and my sword laid a few feet away from where Sean stood.
Raja’s reaction was delayed, as if he himself couldn’t believe what had just occurred. The disbelief in his eyes was clear, but it quickly turned to rage.
He flew at both Dorian and me with Lillith’s sabre, pouncing on us with an anger we’d not yet seen.
Sean dropped to the ground and belly-crawled toward my sword. He grasped it by the hilt and held it tightly in his hands.
“Skyy!” he shouted, tossing it toward me as hard as he could.
In one fluid motion, I grasped the hilt of my sword as it floated toward me, and spun toward Raja. I brought the blade down once, slicing off one of Raja’s wings. My feet planted and my body pivoted, I swung the blade back up, taking Raja’s other wing with it.
Raja screamed. It was a primal roar originating somewhere deep in his chest. Everyone on the battlefield heard, causing the fighting amongst the Hybrids to come to a complete halt as they all watched in utter shock.
The inference wasn’t lost on anyone who was witnessing it.
Raja could now be killed.
But it quickly became clear that the loss of his wings didn’t make him any less deadly. He turned with fury in his eyes and with his remaining hand swung his sabre at Dorian’s head, but Dorian was ready for any retaliation that Raja might dish out, blocking every potential blow with his Chakram halves. Dorian’s speed and agility kept him out of range of Raja’s sabre.
The clanging of metal grew louder as time passed, both men trying to conquer and finish the other in dramatic fashion. But they seemed to be evenly matched.
I glanced up to where Azazel stood as he looked down and watched his protégé fighting for the cause. His gaze met mine, and there was a moment of recognition that chilled me throughout. I wanted to look away, focus on the fight happening right in front of me, but his eyes were drawing away my attention.
A loud cacophony of grunts brought me back to reality. Somehow, Raja had pinned Dorian down, bent backward against a small rock formation. Dorian had positioned each Chakram into a V-shape, stopping Raja’s sabre from slicing his shoulder. But Raja was strong, even with only one hand, and his blade pressed down, growing closer and closer.
Gunshots rang out in succession until all that could be heard was the click of an empty weapon.
Sean had seen that Dorian’s life was in danger. He knew that Raja, being an angel, couldn’t be killed by any mortal means. But he also knew that unless he did something, Dorian would die, thereby diminishing any chance we had of defeating Raja and Azazel.
The placement of bullet holes to Raja’s back was impressive and tight. Sean had arranged them directly between where Raja’s wings used to be. It would have killed a mere human instantly.
But Raja wasn’t human.
Raja pulled back and away from Dorian, turned, and lunged at Sean. Raja almost seemed to take flight, even without his wings to assist him.
The sabre slid into Sean’s torso like butter and came out through his back. Raja’s hand never left the hilt as he stared into the dying eyes of his victim, only inches away.
Sean stared down at the sabre penetrating his chest. And then he smiled defiantly, just as Lillith had, glaring back into the face of his killer.
“Was it worth it?” Raja asked Sean. “Was it worth dying for a losing cause?”
Sean opened his mouth and tried to speak. He struggled, his breathing heavily labored. Blood trickled from his mouth. A forced smile spread across his dying lips as he finally spoke, gasping between words.
“Skyy. Will. Destroy. You.”
Sean glanced over and found me, staring in disbelief at the entire scene. His smile remained for only an instant. His eyes then froze, and his chest expanded one last time.
Sean was dead.