Free Blood Redemption (Angel's Edge #3) by Vicki Keire Page A

up to a direct assault by a demon, however. I had no idea if demons had abilities the Fallen lacked.
    The cold electric tingle of the Shadows danced in my hands. I thought of a long-ago afternoon when Ethan and I had tried to practice with the Shadows; it left me sick and shaky and I had destroyed a huge old oak tree. But if it gave me any kind of advantage, I had to try. I stopped scrabbling at the merciless arms that bound me, and fisted my hands at my sides instead. It was always an unpleasant feeling, these Shadows; they pulsed in my palms like a dark heart. But this time I welcomed them. Opening my hands, as they flowed across my palms and fingers, and finally, up my arms.
    I closed my eyes and focused with all my might, trying to forget what was happening around me, letting the sounds of angry Fallen angels and demonic snarls fade to nothingness. Belial’s forearm was still pressed against my throat, and I grabbed at it with my Shadow-encased hands, gripping his arm as hard as I could, willing the slippery darkness out of me.
    Thick black lines of power poured forth, wrapping around my arms in a sinuous caress. They crept upward until my skin was almost completely obscured by them.
More
, I commanded the dark place inside me. I had never explored that blackness, and had spent my life trying to pretend it didn’t exist. It was the same place my drawings sprang from, the ones that always came true. I knew this now, just as I knew if I was going to have a chance at defeating Belial, or at least throwing him off balance, I had to dig even deeper. I concentrated on the power and pulled, sending it outward through my hands.
    Belial snorted in surprise.
Not enough
, I thought, and pulled even harder until the Shadows were so thick and dark they almost covered me entirely. I thrashed in his arms, and the pressure increased against my throat. He was cutting off my air again, and damned if I would let him. The world narrowed to just the two of us―Belial and me―locked in a struggle that would determine my fate.
Out
, I thought, commanding the electric cold. His grip tightened further.
    Just as suddenly as the Shadows appeared, they vanished. There was nothing left: not a tingle of cold, not the thick lines of darkness, nothing. I barely had time to wonder what had happened when Belial let out a low roar and flung me away. I flew several feet through the air and landed hard on my back, cracking my head against the ground. I landed hard enough to drive all the breath from my lungs and make tiny white lights dance across my field of vision. I gasped for breath, choking and gagging, tears of pain forming in my eyes. I rolled over on all fours, feeling like I wanted to puke the entire contents of my stomach up. Not that there was much in it; I hadn’t eaten any of Belial’s breakfast.
    That’s when I noticed the full spectrum of what my Shadows had done to him. When they left my body, they had crawled up his arms and now clung to him like carnivorous skin. Everywhere they latched onto him, small fissures appeared. A dark liquid, thick and black in the night that surrounded us, seeped through a couple of the cracks.
    My little trick had worked better than I had ever expected. Perhaps a little too well, judging from the murder buried in the advancing demon’s eyes.
    Asheroth, who had been waiting for just such an opening, tackled him. I wanted to cry out a warning, but clearly Asheroth didn’t care if the Shadows hurt him too. The former angel and the demon went sprawling to the earth, wrapped around each other as they grappled for the upper hand. They fought as only the Fallen can; moving too fast for me to see every blow. Resounding cracks and crashes echoed across the landscape.
    A gentle hand touched my shoulder. “Don’t move,” whispered a voice like honey and velvet. The touch was so soft, it was almost a caress, but it also promised buried strength. I wanted to collapse when I realized who it was.
    Ethan had come for