A wail drifted on the hot breeze. “What was that?”
Uriel squeezed my hand, and I realized he had never let go. “Let’s not wait to find out.”
He tugged me across the rocky ground.
“I thought malignant couldn’t hurt you?”
“I never said they couldn’t hurt us. I said I couldn’t be corrupted and taken over, my body used to do ill, and while you wield the scythe, neither can you. Malachi is a regular, he reeks of this place and so they let him pass unharmed, but you and I, we’re fresh meat to be played with. They will prod and probe and take a bite if given half the chance, and we can’t even distract them with a gift of fresh malignant souls to play with.”
Shit. We picked up the pace. “It would help if we knew where the Edge was.”
“We’ll find it. Just keep your eyes open and reach out with your senses.”
The wails were growing louder, eerier, closer. Crap.
We jogged into the twisted tree grove where the air was even thicker, moving like molasses in and out of my lungs. God I was going to be sick.
“No stopping.” Uriel pulled me along, scanning the terrain for any sign of this magical place called the Edge—this prison for the remnants of the purest souls.
I caught a shimmer at the corner of my eye, but when I turned my head it was gone. “This way!” I tugged Uriel in the direction where the shimmer had been. A flicker to the left.
“Over here.” Uriel had us alter trajectory.
The wails were almost on us and then the fiery sky went black.
What the hell. I looked up. But it wasn’t the sky that was black, but a mammoth shadow.
“Uri, what the hell?”
“Malignant. Run!”
Chapter Two
The ground seemed to swallow the pounding of our boots as we ran. The only sound was the wail of the malignant. Louder. Closer.
Where was the Edge?
Darkness descended on us, tearing at us. My scythe flared to life. I swung it in an arc, forcing the malignant back with the celestial light.
The malignant separated into singular entities, crimson laced with obsidian, barely holding a humanoid form as they circled us.
You can’t keep us all at bay.
The voice was a scratch at the back of my mind. It surrounded us, coming from all around us. They moved closer, tightening the perimeter.
“Like hell I can’t.” I swung again to ward them off, earning a screech for my efforts.
Our place, our rules.
Uriel’s hands lit up with silver light and then two silver swords shot out from them. He twisted his wrists so the blades cut through the air menacingly. “Leave now or I will hurt you.”
Our hunger is stronger. We are legion.
Legion, my ass. They couldn’t possess us. We could fight them off.
We wish to see, to feel. We wish to taste.
An idea formed in my head. “Do you want to go back into the fucking scythe?” I held up my glowing blade. “Because I will happily vacuum you all up.”
Please don’t test me. If I did that then I wouldn’t be able to free the pure souls. I’d be saddled with these fuckers.
You cannot hold us. You are not him. You are not one with our world.
Dammit. Malachi would have come in useful right now. I swung my scythe again as they moved in.
I caught movement beyond the horde, a shimmer in the air. “Three o’clock.”
“I see it,” Uri said. “You need to go. I’ve got this.”
“Like hell am I leaving you.”
“It’s been a long time since I had a proper battle.” I could hear the smile in his voice, and when I glanced his way, I caught the grin on his face. Anticipation of bloodshed. Anticipation of battle. “I could do with a little exercise. I’ll be fine. Go before the doorway closes.”
He was a celestial. He was a warrior. If he said he could handle it, then I trusted him. The shimmer was shrinking, ready to move, and if it vanished, we might not find it again.
It was now or never.
“Go!” Uriel ordered.
He rushed forward, swords blazing as he cleared a path for me through the malignant. The spirits screamed in anger and rage, but parted to avoid the sting of celestial light, and then I was through.
“Run!” Uriel bellowed.
I sprinted toward the shimmer, focusing solely on it, afraid that it would melt away at any moment. The spot was a disc in the air, three