Lucifer Reborn by Dante King (ebook reader play store .txt) 📕

I snickered. “Later. Let’s take this guy down first.”

“Keep him busy,” Christina giggled, doing something with her hands. “I’ve got a couple tricks up my sleeve I want to try…”

I could do that. With a grin, I flapped my new wings at Aztomund as hard as I could. The two of us grappled, each weaponless but doing our level best to knock the other guy out of the air. It should have been an easy win for Aztomund—he was so much bigger, after all—but his morale was broken. I had all the power, I’d transformed in front of everyone, and the name on the lips of all the demons watching below was not his, but mine.

“Luke!” Christina’s voice reached my ears, more savage than ever. “Duck!”

I dropped like a stone, cocking my head upward to enjoy the show. A spike of pure darkness pierced Aztomund, sinking into his armor like a hot knife through butter. The scarab demon howled, his wings faltering, only for another half-dozen of the sharp, glittering shards to force their way through his flesh.

It took a moment to figure out what they were. Christina’s claws. She’d removed them and lengthened them, turning them into sharp spears. They extended like Wolverine’s claws, dropping smoothly from her fingers once they reached around a six-inch length. They left new, shiny black nails behind, pointed in that way I liked to have raking down my back, so that she could either continue on with her day or reload with a whole new set of spikes. Fucking cool, I thought.

 The last spike was extra long, the size of a javelin. Christina aimed this directly between the scarab demon’s eyes—it didn’t miss. Aztomund’s face collapsed, the inside of his skull caving in, and the big man crashed to the plateau beneath like a meteor.

 The crowd was silent for a moment as he landed. Then they erupted in cheers.

 Christina fluttered over to me, wafting on the breeze now that the combat was done. A faint sheen of sweat stood out on her body, her shoulders rising and falling rapidly. The extra-demonic features I’d seen on her in combat had already begun to fade, and she looked a little more like the Christina I knew. Utterly sexy, and totally dangerous.

 “Where’d you learn to throw like that?” I asked as we landed back on the plateau.

 “Track team,” she said with a grin. “I used to throw shot and the javelin, back in college. Had a hell of a long jump, too.”

 “I bet,” I said, looking her up and down. “You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?”

 As my feet touched the ground, the power I’d felt erupt inside of me began to ebb. My wings retracted, folding inward and disappearing into my back. I felt between my shoulder blades, finding only smooth, unbroken skin where they’d emerged. Curious. The appearance of the wings had torn my clothing, but with a simple thought, the special threads Lucifer had given me repaired, good as new.

 “Wings, shadespawns, pyromancy, flight,” Xora said, ticking the list off on her fingers. I had no doubt she’d committed every one of my powers to memory, and she’d be reporting it to someone later. “Most impressive, Luke.” The rusalka turned to the demon who’d started taking bets when the fight began. “You owe Mareth and I quite a bit of money, imp!”

 The imp looked extremely unhappy that we’d won. “You cheated,” he hissed at the rusalka. “You knew he was one of the contenders for Archlord, and didn’t tell anyone! We wouldn’t have bet against him if we’d known…”

 I stepped in between them. “You saw us both,” I said, laughing and shaking my head. “You made the call. Never place down money you’re not willing to lose. I thought demons would know that a little better than humans?”

 Just then, two figures on the far side of the plateau sat up. True to what Xora had said, Bryan and Aztomund came back to life a few moments after they’d been killed, their bodies healed up like they’d never been wounded.

 “Holy hell, new guy!” Bryan clapped me on the shoulder, shaking his head in disbelief. “You’ve got Lucifer’s own fury, or I’m not a thrice-damned hellion! Did that guy say you’re a candidate for Archlord, too?”

“Yeah,” I admitted, feeling a little awkward about the whole thing.

 “I can believe it,” Aztomund agreed. “I’m looking forward to seeing him take some of those noble assholes over in Pride down a peg.” His gaze turned to Christina. “You, my lady, are quite fierce—but your aerial repertoire could use some practice. If you choose to make Wrath your home, we’ll definitely have to perfect your moves.”

 Christina sounded thrilled at the prospect. “I’m definitely new at it,” she said, putting a hand around my waist. “But I’m willing to learn.”

 Both of us were. And it seemed we’d learned quite a lot from Wrath.

“Perhaps we should continue with the tour?” Xora asked, gesturing toward an island smaller than the rest in the distance. A long, thin chain bridge connected it to the plateau —apparently, it was the exit to the next School.

Chapter 14

We stepped through and found ourselves surrounded by smoke.

“Uh, Xora?” I asked, looking all around. “What’s going on in here? It looks like someone should pull the fire alarm…”

My companions had disappeared—I reached out in all directions, trying to grab onto Christina or Mareth, but they’d dissolved the moment we stepped through the door. I was all alone.

Holding my hands in front of myself, I took a hesitant step forward. The ground remained solid beneath my feet, so I took another—then another.

“Hello?” I asked, cupping my hands around my mouth. “Fuck, where did everybody go? Is this some kind of prank?”

A few steps further through the smoke, a figure appeared in the