Free Phoenix Contract: Part Four (Fallen Angel Watchers) by Melissa Thomas Page B

puddle of viscous shadow.
    “I can’t move.” The demon thrashed in panic.
    “You allowed the girl to bind you, fool,” Guillaume's mouth curled into a sneer.
    Aiden . At last, Magnus identified the source of the offensive spell and realized why it felt familiar. He attacked without further delay. Dropping the last ten feet, he positioned Acerbitas straight down and aimed at the Soul Eater’s head. Magnus put his full strength behind the blow.
    The demon screamed bloody murder and thrashed about with senseless desperation as the sword plunged through the top of its head and followed the length of its spine on into the Soul Eater’s torso. Straight into the heart of darkness...
    Metal screeched in protest as the steel patio chair the Soul Eater had occupied collapsed beneath Magnus’ weight. Black tentacles thrashed everywhere as the demon gave one final cry. The Soul Eater crystallized into a solid statue of glittering obsidian, opaque and impenetrable. His remains were frozen in crystal, features frozen forever in agony.
    “Get back to hell!” Magnus snarled . With a grunt, the Celt wrapped both hands around Acerbitas’ hilt and bore down with all of his strength, forcing the ebony blade deeper. He refused to leave any part of the demon intact, not even an obsidian statue that paid final tribute to the Soul Eater’s death throes.
    A crack appeared at the top of the statue’s head where the dragon tooth blade was buried. A dozen fissures followed, widening and deepening into fractures. With the sharp ring of breaking crystal, Acerbitas broke free from her prison. The entire statue shattered and dissolved into millions of glassy black pieces.
    Around them, a hundred gawking spectators looked on with dropped jaws and expressions of patent disbelief. Magnus had no concern for the offense he had committed against the narrowly defined reality of so many people.
    “Is he dead?” Magnus asked. He brushed black dust from his sleeve and stepped away from the pile that had formed at his feet. His boots were covered in glittering crystal shards, so he stomped his feet one after the other.
    “Completely destroyed,” Acerbitas confirmed. Her hollow voice had acquired a lost little girl quality.
    “What’s wrong?” Magnus asked. He had expected her to be overjoyed, gleeful, and triumphant.
    She hesitated in reply. “It’s just... I thought that after he was destroyed and I’d fulfilled my purpose... that I’d be done.”
    “You expected the fulfillment of your destiny to grant you peace?” Magnus clarified.
    “Yes.”
    “Things never work out like that.” Magnus hesitated and then assured her, “Don’t worry, I know who to kill to bring you that peace.”
    “Magnus,” Guillaume called from his seat at the table.
    Head cocked to the side, Magnus approached the Frenchman with a chilled smile concealed beneath the folds of his cowl.
    “Hello, Guillaume,” he drawled.
    “You killed my minion,” Guillaume chided, indicating the obsidian shards with a flourish.
    “Your minion pissed me off,” Magnus retorted, hard and unapologetic.
    The Frenchman laughed. “Magnus, you haven’t changed at all?”
    He cocked his head, and offered a cold smile. “Oh, but I have.”

    An inferno engulfed Aiden, obscuring her entirely from view behind a wall of flame. She screamed, a horrific sound that turned Matthew’s soul to ice as her wails continued from within the bonfire.
    Dear God! The priest lurched to his feet and rushed the wall of flame with the intention of yanking his daughter to safety. Heat scorched the old man’s face, blinding him as he reached for Aiden. A tongue of flame lashed out and hit the priest, throwing him clear across the study and into the far wall.
    Matthew collided with a sickening thud, like a deer hitting a car hood. He slid along the wall to the floor, leaving bright red streaks on the white paint. While he lay in a heap, he squinted through old eyes that were tired and failing. He