Then she vanished.

Nathaniel’s eyes grew wide and he waited for her to reappear. When her form blurred into view, she was too fast for him to react. Her swords gone, she grabbed the gun from his hands and snapped it in half like a Popsicle stick before she chucked the pieces at the ground.

Will came out of nowhere and wrapped his arm around Kelaeno’s throat, digging up against her windpipe and yanking her back. He held on until she shoved her elbow into his gut and managed to wrench herself free. Nathaniel threw out a fist, but she caught it and struck him in the jaw. Will grabbed his sword off the ground and swiped it at the demonic reaper’s back.

Kelaeno’s ears pricked as she heard Will coming, and she spun around to defend herself, leaping back as his blade slashed across her chest, leaving a deep, bleeding gash and very nearly slicing off her head. She hissed and swung around in pain, clutching her open wound. The flesh wrapped over itself and wove back together, healing perfectly. Kelaeno’s red eyes burned like flames with her rage at receiving another wound of that severity in practically the same spot.

I rushed forward to help Will, but two other vir intercepted—the remaining female and the last male besides the wounded Rikken. They slashed and hissed, throwing punches and kicks that I dodged. I buried one blade in the male reaper’s heart on my left side, whirled at the female on my right, and cut off her head with my remaining blade. The male was in flames when I spun back to him, and I caught my falling sword as his body turned to ash.

Kelaeno grasped her clawed hand around my arm, and as I swung the blade in my free hand, she grabbed that wrist and squeezed, nails digging into my skin. I screamed and cried out. Blood seeped, and I was forced to drop my sword.

“Time to go,” she said sharply, and began dragging me toward the nearest escape route.

Then Will struck her brutally in the side of her head, so hard that she released me and her knees buckled. Will clamped his hand around the back of her neck, wrenched her off me, and threw her through the kitchen wall with all his strength. Wood shattered around her body as wet, icy-cold air rushed inside through the hole. Kelaeno crashed into the deck, destroying the railing, and she disappeared as she hurtled toward the ground with a scream of fury.

Will turned to me, and I exhaled a sigh of relief.

The breath caught in my throat as Kelaeno burst through the air over the deck, her wings spread and beating violently. Time seemed to slow. I stared deep into Will’s eyes, my expression widening in horror, as Kelaeno’s outstretched claws grappled at his body, snatching him and yanking him back out the hole in the wall and into the rain and darkness.

“Will!” I shrieked, and grabbed my fallen sword and dived through the demolished wall. The deck groaned and shifted uneasily beneath my weight, but I didn’t care as I ran to the edge and peered over the shattered floorboards. Icy rain stung my skin, and I shivered viciously at the wind whipping my hair, clawing at my clothes, and beating my face.

Down on the cold, muddy ground, dashing through the rain, Will and Kelaeno were fighting. Talons ripped Will’s arm wide open and he yelled out, tearing away, as Kelaeno landed in a crouched position. She jumped up and swiped again, her claws shredding Will’s shirt. Kelaeno ducked as he swung his sword, and she kicked him in the chest, making him grunt and knocking the sword out of his hand. They collided in a fury of swinging, pounding fists.

I heard a tremendous sound behind me, and I whirled. Merodach and Rikken were nowhere to be seen, but Nathaniel was punching through the only remaining wall in the hallway leading from the kitchen to what was left of the front door. The staircase behind him was a demolished and nearly inaccessible pile of rubble. Nathaniel pounded his fists—left, right, left, right—into the wall, exploding wood, drywall, and insulation. I stared at him, distracted by my confusion as to why he would be trying to knock this wall down. For a second, I almost forgot about the missing demonic reapers.

Then Nathaniel stopped, and the hole he’d created revealed a set of various weapons hidden in the wall. He reached his arm into the wall and pulled out a dark metal object: a mace. The weapon looked old and heavy, and the shaft was long and wrapped in leather. The round head of the mace was made of silver, and deadly looking spikes stuck out in every direction, reminding me of Rikken’s skull.

Rikken. Where was he? And Merodach?

“Nathaniel?” came a small voice.

We both spun to find Lauren standing just inside the blasted-open front of the house, her long hair billowing in the violent wind. I was suddenly numb, and I glanced at Nathaniel, whose face was frozen with fear.

He shook his head in disbelief, his copper eyes flashing bright and vibrant like brand-new pennies. “No,” he breathed. “Lauren, you’ve got to—”

Before he could finish, Rikken appeared between them, reaching for Lauren, and Nathaniel hurled the mace with a cry of rage. Rikken leaned back, avoiding the blow easily, and as Nathaniel’s torso went down with the arc of his swing, Rikken smashed his elbow into the back of Nathaniel’s head, sending him to his knees. He recovered quickly and grabbed Rikken’s fist as the demonic reaper swung, and Nathaniel swept the mace up and raked the spikes across Rikken’s chest as Rikken jerked his head out of the mace’s path. Rikken doubled over, clutching his wounds as saliva poured through his teeth and hit the floor, and Nathaniel rose.

Lauren’s hands covered her mouth in terror. “Nathaniel!”

He reached for her, dropping the mace to the floor and grasping her hands with his own. “You’ve got to go. I can’t protect you.”