Free Guardian Demon (GUARDIAN SERIES) by Meljean Brook Page A

didn’t even hurt them. All of the demons who were cut down stayed down, though.”
    Taylor shook her head, trying to imagine . . . but Michael had said the same thing. He’d said that he couldn’t be killed in Hell. At least, not until they returned his soul to his body. And all of the humans and halflings in the frozen field were just souls, too. There was no body to kill, and the rest was truly immortal.
    “So Anaria is basically unstoppable,” Taylor realized.
    “In Hell, anyway, because her army couldn’t come to Earth. But they might be defeated in Hell, eventually. Lilith thinks that if they were burned in the Pit, they’d be released to . . . up there.”
    “Heaven, my sweet agnostic,” Colin said.
    “Or an alien mothership. We don’t know for sure.”
    They didn’t, but Taylor tended to agree with Colin. “But what about the demons who were in the frozen field? Are they unstoppable now, too?”
    “Nope. They’re just gone.”
    “Where?” Taylor had seen them all disappear when the frozen field cracked, but had no idea where they’d disappeared
to
.
    Savi shrugged. “Maybe to the demons’ version of Hell.”
    Maybe. Taylor supposed it didn’t matter, as long as they were gone. “So what happens if Anaria takes the throne? She could open the Gates, too.”
    And probably would, because Anaria was the very worst sort of “good.” She wanted everyone to be happy and joyful and kind—and she’d destroy anyone who dared not to be. And unlike Belial or Lucifer, she didn’t have to follow the Rules. The Guardians might be able to stop her—but as powerful as she was, and with an ability to compel people to follow her, Anaria could do a lot of damage to the world first.
    “No doubt she’d rid the world of vampire abominations,” Colin said dryly. “We ought to cheer for her.”
    Anaria considered them all a corruption, a human disease. And she already knew about Colin and Savi; they’d probably be first.
    No. All of the Guardians would be first, because they’d oppose her.
    “Jesus,” Taylor said. “There is no one to cheer for, is there? Lucifer will bring on the dragons and kill us all, Belial will put the whole world at war, and Anaria will crush us beneath her feet.”
    “Her tiny, perfect feet,” Savi agreed.
    “Is there any hope that they’ll all just kill each other off?”
    “I believe that
is
the hope—with Michael helping them along,” Colin said. “We’ve heard that he has been teleporting there often and slaying legions of them.”
    Because he wanted to burn them all. But Michael was no longer a dragon, and he only had swords. “That won’t be enough. What has Khavi been doing?”
    “No one really knows,” Savi said. “She pops in every once in a while, then leaves again.”
    “Does she say anything? How close are we to Hell breaking loose?”
    “We don’t know. Khavi sees it happening, though.”
    “Tomorrow? Next year? A thousand years from now?”
    “She sees all of the above, I think,” Savi said. “She says she doesn’t know.”
    And if Khavi did know, would she tell? She sure hadn’t mentioned the spear through Taylor’s chest. “Of course.”
    Savi opened her mouth again, hesitated, bit her lip.
    Taylor had to laugh. Savi’s curiosity had begun to bleed through her shields. Waiting even this long had probably almost killed her. “Go ahead and ask,” she said.
    “What the hell happened to you down there?” Suddenly on her feet, Savi began pacing a path in front of the window seat. “All that anybody knows is that Michael is suddenly back, you’re in a freaking coma, and Khavi is afraid to show up in the same place as him.”
    “Really?” Apparently he didn’t like a surprise spear-through-the-chest, either.
    “Yeah, really. Then you pull a gun on him, and I have
never
felt you so scared. I really thought you’d shoot him.”
    “I
hoped
you would,” Colin said with a grin.
    Savi threw him a narrowed look before turning to Taylor