Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 121324 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121324 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Considering Abel’s number had dramatically dropped now that they were being attacked from both the front and behind, Seth wasn’t wrong.
The problem was that Abel wasn’t so prideful that he’d resist retreating to save his skin. Which meant that the pressure was on for Cain to kill him. But now that the little fucker had two lines of troops in front of him, it had become even harder to strike at him.
“Cain will be a plague upon this Earth if he leaves this place, Seth,” said Abel. “You can stop it. You can save us all. End him now.”
Seth snorted. “Why didn’t I realize how funny you are until now?” He lashed at Abel’s living shields with an electric tentacle, making them stumble backwards.
Abel retaliated with a snarl of fury, sending spheres of blinding light bulleting through the air. But Seth protected himself with a wave of repellent power that sent them colliding into the cliff.
Cain pounced on the distraction, launching balls of plasma at Abel just as the Aeon who’d been fighting Seth once more sprang into action.
Again, Seth used his repellent power to protect himself.
Again, Abel let his guards take the hits for him.
Cain tossed yet more plasma balls his way. Several of the troops who were shielding Abel fell, but the asshole ducked to avoid the attack. Cain bit out an annoyed curse, and his inner creature hissed in irritation.
Abel sprang to his feet, waving his arm sharply. A spiral of air then rushed at Cain, who blasted it with power—a power that tainted it with smoke and sent it whirling back at the invaders. Only Abel remained unaffected. The others coughed and hacked like chain-smokers.
He and Cain were then once more trading blows. Cain kept up the pressure, not willing to give Abel a moment to again strike at Seth.
Cain detested that he had no clue how Wynter fared. He knew she wasn’t dead, but that was all. He had to repeatedly push his worries for her to the back of his mind—the worries that she could be wounded, drained, captured.
Just the same, it pissed him off that he couldn’t see if the other Ancients were all right. He’d heard grunts, curses, and sharp cries of pain, but nothing to indicate that any were severely injured. He had to trust that that was the case, because he couldn’t afford to check; couldn’t afford to take his eyes off Abel, who was so wholly focused on ensuring Cain’s demise.
Fragments of wet dirt pattered him hard. Cain hissed—not at the impact, but at how they blistered his flesh like motherfucking acid. He retaliated with a wave of cold, scalpel-sharp power that raked at Abel’s skin, leaving deep gouges.
The fucker suddenly stumbled backwards, and Cain then realized that several troops seemed to be pulling at Abel and encouraging him to retreat.
Shit, Cain was out of time.
An arrow whizzed toward him. Cain could have dodged it, just as he had the others. Instead, he let it sink into his shoulder. And Christ, it hurt.
He let his body stagger at the force of the hit. He let himself drop to one knee as a silver shockwave slammed into him so hard it almost put him flat on his back. Because he knew Abel. Knew that the bastard wouldn’t be able to resist moving to the forefront of his army to get an unobstructed view of Cain taking his last breath.
“Cain!” yelled Seth, panicked.
“I’m all right,” he called out only loud enough for Seth to hear. “But let’s pretend I’m not.”
Cain didn’t retaliate when power snipped and stabbed at his flesh like scissors. Or when a heavy weight of energy then punched him like a motherfucking sledgehammer. Or when another arrow pierced his side, despite how much his creature raged at him to do something.
Ignoring his monster, Cain merely waited, breathing hard, his teeth clenched as more and more blows came his way—some of which Seth deflected.
A loud booming laugh rang out as Abel pushed his way through his guards. “I told you I would kill you one day, didn’t I? I told you that you would meet death at my hands.”
Cain didn’t hesitate. He let out a smoky wave of dark power that swept across the large space wickedly fast and coiled around Abel like a snake. It squeezed, slithered, and contracted while he screamed, bucked, and frantically tried to free himself. “Yeah, you did. And you were wrong.”
Abel’s struggles grew weaker. His screams choked off. And his eyes went wide.
The smoky power released him, dissipating as his dead body hit the ground hard and then rolled over the cliff.
Satisfaction gripping his gut and flooding his monster, Cain pushed to his feet and yanked out the arrows. He didn’t take a moment to enjoy his victory. He teamed up with Seth to take out the Aeon battling him. Said Aeon soon fell, and so Cain and Seth began aiding Azazel. It was mere moments after Azazel’s opponent died that the other troops on the cliff chose to retreat.