Page 96 of Knight’s Retribution

Chaos yanked him back. “We need to get the fuck out of here.”

That’s when Rocco heard it, the thunder of boots outside the building—demons, a lot of them.

Rocco followed his brothers, running for the door, hacking at the demons who had already made it inside the building. They rushed for the stairs, running up them three at a time. They were outnumbered and in a confined space. Rocco and Gunner stood side by side, moving up the stairs backwards, fighting the demons trying to follow.

The roar of at least fifty demons, maybe more, coming up after them filled the confined space.

Gunner took off a demon’s head and Rocco slammed his fist into another’s face, knocking him over the stair railing to the ground several stories below.

The roof door banged, followed by a flood of moonlight. They rushed through, then Chaos, Kryos, and Laz held it shut.

Zenon tore a steel pipe off the air-conditioning unit and wedged it in front of the door. “Burn the fuckers to the ground.”

Their wings sprung from their backs, and they dove off the side of the building. Old cars, abandoned wrecks, were scattered around. Zenon sliced through the steel of one with his sword like it was a tin can and tore out the gas tank, then tossed it through a lower window. Rocco and Gunner did the same.

Gunner strode to one of the smashed windows, aimed his Glock through the new hole they’d made and fired. Demons ran out in a panic, but the flames spread fast, trapping most of them inside.

Rocco and his brothers took flight, watching as the flames spread and listening to the screams of the demons trapped inside.

They’d been fighting all their lives, training for what was coming.

They were at war.

And this was only the beginning.

* * *

Kyler rolled over when she heard Rocco walk into their bedroom.

She shot up in bed, all but jumping out of it, and ran to him. “What the hell happened, are you injured, you’ve been burned?”

She ran her fingers over him gently. Rocco’s jeans were singed, and there were streaks of black on his arms, chest, and face.

“I’m not hurt,” he said. There was something in his voice she’d never heard before. Fear. The deep, soul-quaking kind that wakes you from your sleep at night screaming.

“What’s going on, Rocco?”

His eyes locked with hers. They were darker, his demon with him right then. “Diemos contacted us tonight. We knew it was coming, but he confirmed it. We have some time to prepare, but when the portal opens next, he’s coming. He’s done waiting.”

“He contacted you?”

Rocco nodded, his gaze filling with that awful fear again.

Her knees went weak. “He’s coming for me, isn’t he? You told him we were mated, and he didn’t care. He wants me back with him?”

“I won’t let him near you, Ky. I won’t let him fucking anywhere near you.”

Kyler nodded as he pulled her in tight, wrapping his arms around her. But Rocco knew as well as she did how powerful Diemos was. The knights were brutal fighters, they were incredibly strong, but they couldn’t win, not on their own. Diemos was Lucifer’s son, and he was powerful enough that he’d locked his father and his handmaids out of Hell.

Rocco and his brothers would fight with everything they had, but right now, the chances of them winning were next to nothing.

If they didn’t come up with something between now and the equinox, they were all going to die, and Kyler was going to get dragged back to Hell.

Chapter 27

Roxy and Ursula looked them over—Roxy with a wide grin on her face, Ursula with her eyes narrowed.

They’d been training with the handmaids every night for the last month and a half, and they’d made huge strides. Their defensive fighting skills—physical and using their powers—had come a long way.