With a trained swiftness, I slipped the collar down my arm, clicked it open, and snapped it around his throat. His own hands tore up to his neck as he tried to pull it off. He glared angrily at me as he tried to figure out what it was. He threw his arm out in an attempt to use his power and his face fell when nothing happened. He did it again and his fury increased tenfold as he came to the realization that his magic was no longer a part of him. He couldn’t fight with his demon’s fire anymore.
I’d collared him and taken his power away from him. He was mine. I changed the playing field, putting myself at a clear advantage, and he was just beginning to understand that.
I wouldn’t stop until there was only one of us alive.
I kept fighting. I scratched at his face and he howled as I caught him across the cheek with my nails. His silver blade fell from his belt and I pushed off of him, diving at it as it hurtled toward the ground.
Abel tried to fly to grab it too, but I was faster. I fueled my magic to push me forward, using the wind and the power of the earth to propel me toward it. My fingers closed around the pearl inlaid handle of the blade, and I grinned in triumph before I reversed my fall toward the earth using my newly sprouted wings. I flew back toward Abel, ready to end this once and for all.
We clashed, again and again. He dodged my blade, but I never gave up. I went at him until his movements began to slow and I burst toward him, using my wings to surround and imprison him close to me. He snarled and tore at me with his claws, but I was ready for him. I used that knife, whipping my arm around and slashing across his throat just as he had done to me.
The cut wasn’t deep enough and he still fought hard against me. My wings were stronger than his though, and I didn’t have any difficulty keeping him at bay as I went at him again.
Cain roared from far below. His magic streaked by the two of us, intended to take down Abel, but each one missed. Abel tried to pull away hard and I didn’t let him, instead using the knife to sever an integral tendon at the base of his wing. He roared in agony, but I wouldn’t stop.
It was either him or me. Only one of us was going to survive this and I had every intention of it being me.
I tore the knife downward, critically wounding the fallen angel and I flew backwards, releasing him from my clutches. He struggled to use his wings and I roared in triumph as I saw how much I had wounded him. His wings flapped desperately as he tried to fly, but his face scrunched in fury as he realized just how much of a blow I’d dealt against him.
He started to fall. He was so high off the ground that if he couldn’t make his wings work, he just might die from the impact. With a roar, Abel tried even harder to recover, but his efforts simply made his broken wing sever even further. Blood flowed down his gray wings and a look of horror came over him as he fully understood how very much he’d underestimated me.
He hurtled toward the ground and I dove to follow. The earth came toward us at a terrifying speed and as I closed in on Abel, I grabbed at him and threw him down hard, using my strength as a vampire to propel him even faster. After that, I swiftly used my wings to pull myself back up into the air. Then I built up my magic and hurled a sphere of air in his direction just as he was approaching the earth. He smashed into the ground with so much force that a crater of dirt and rocks burst up all around him.
The ensuing rumble as the ground quaked beneath the power of his fall was incredibly loud, a great crescendo of noise that echoed long after the point of impact.
When the dust finally began to settle, I could see the broken body of the fallen angel left behind. His neck was bent at an unnatural angle. Blood seeped from all of him, darkening the dirt beneath his twisted frame. For a long time, I just stared at him, waiting for him to move or come back at me again with murderous intent in his eyes. I expected him to get back up. I expected another fight, but he never moved. I seethed, my shoulders rising up and down with my own battle fury that refused to abate even as my enemy lay before me defeated.
Warm hands caressed my shoulders and slowly pulled me close.
Still, I couldn’t take my eyes from the still form of Abel. I wanted to rip him apart.
“Shh, my sweet angel. It’s all over now,” Cain whispered. I jolted at the sound of his voice, but as his arms surrounded me, the fight finally sputtered out inside of me.
“I want to tear his head from his shoulders and put it on a pike,” I said meekly.
“I know. I want to do the same, but it won’t solve anything now. He’s gone and he’s never going to come back for us now,” he murmured. “You won. You killed him, angel.”
He turned me away from the body of the fallen angel, forcing me to look at him instead. I stared up into those blood-red eyes, expecting anger and fury but finding onl
y softness in their place. He took my chin and lifted my lips to his, capturing me in a kiss that left me breathless. He forced my mind off of the intense and overwhelming battle I’d just fought with that sweet embrace and the resentment I felt toward his brother slowly faded away.
I forgot about everything else as that single kiss consumed me.
When he finally pulled back, he dragged his eyes across my wings and smiled softly.
“You are my salvation, my sweet girl. You are my angel, my everything,” he breathed. Carefully he traced his fingers lightly across my feathers and I shivered hard, feeling the sensation deep in my bones and all the way in the depths of my core. His words dove into my soul and as I stood before him, I quaked with desire.
“Finally, your transformation is complete, Ruby. Now, you are everything that you are meant to be,” he continued, and I cocked my head to the side.
“What do you mean?” I breathed.
“The mark of Cain has been completed. You completed the sacrifice I couldn’t so very long ago and as a result, you have been granted your wings. You are the good to my evil. We are the balance to each other, and together, we will rule the world as equals,” he explained as he took my hand in his. I curled my fingers around his strong hand, clutching onto him as though if I let go that I would lose him completely.
He held onto mine even tighter.
“Come now. Let’s head inside and I’ll make sure that you forget all about it,” Cain whispered, and I shuddered hard with desire.
“Promises, promises,” I sassed.