Free Protect Her: Part 11 by Ivy Sinclair Page B

would happen next. And then I felt a hand on the top of my head.
    “Paige.” It was Riley. His voice was tender. Gentle. As if he was afraid.
    I took a deep breath and lowered my arms. I looked up at my dark angel. His face was filled with concern. “Is it over?” I asked.
    “Look for yourself,” he said. He hooked a hand under my arm and pulled me up.  He cast his arm up and around us. Everywhere I could see, there was a body. It was as if everyone around us had been stricken by a disease that cast them dead where they stood.
    “They’re all dead?” It wasn’t supposed to be a question. That was what we had set out to do after all.
    “All of those that I re-animated, yes. I need to get Klein over here. Those that were infected with a demon will wake up soon enough and have no recollection of how they got here. I’ll set him on making sure they all get home all right. That leaves just those demons that joined the fight after hearing my call.”
    “How many of those are there?” I was stunned at how many there were in the small space. There was a room off to the side of the main area. That seemed to be the place where the strongest foul odors were emanating from. “This requires more than Klein to clean up, Riley.”
    “I know,” he said as he gathered me into his arms. “We’ll take care of it.”
    “How many are left?” I asked again.
    “Not that many. Those that still live will flee now that their companions have been decimated. They won’t want to face the archangels alone.”
    “So yay for us that we get to face them alone?” I said trying to lighten the mood. I had gone to a place that I didn’t like in the short time in Bruno’s company. “Where’s Bruno?”
    “Back in the ether where he belongs,” Riley said. “And this time, I’m pretty sure it’s permanent. It wasn’t a vessel that he was banished from. When I resurrected him, I called him forth in his demon body, although he still preferred to use glamour to look like his old vessel.”
    I shuddered as his true face was recreated in my mind. “For a minute there, I thought you had gone back to the darkness.”
    He curled a hand through my hair. “For a minute there, I did think I did,” he admitted. “If you wouldn’t have been here, I’m not sure I would have been able to abstain. The darkness in this place is…overwhelming.”
    That was a feeling I completely understood. I wrapped my arms around his waist. “Take me away from here, Riley. Please.” When his wings enveloped me, I started to think that everything would be okay.

CHAPTER NINE – RILEY
     
    I couldn’t tell Paige how close I had come to succumbing to the darkness again. Its pull hadn’t been the same as when the dark voice invaded my head, but the presence of such manic violence and pain had been intoxicating. I knew then that I would forever have to be on guard. No matter how ‘cleansed’ I was, I would never be completely pure or free of those demons. It would always be my cross to bear, but I had earned it, after all. I couldn’t shirk that responsibility now.
    Keeping Paige close and safe was my number one priority, especially as we embarked on the next part of our mission. This one would be far more difficult than the first. If it went well, then I would have to rely on diplomacy as opposed to violence. Of course, the last time I had seen the archangels, they had shot first without any talking at all. Hopefully, the fall of the demons in front of them would stay their hand long enough for a chat.
    We appeared on the hill above the church in the cemetery. I heard Paige’s gasp before the scene before me fully registered in my mind. The church of St. Joseph was gone. Nothing but a pile of ash with a smoldering fire around it remained. I had a feeling that Alice would give me an earful the next time I saw her, despite the fact that I hadn’t had a direct part in the destruction.
    There were bodies all around us. Some of them were twisted and