Fallen University: Year Three

ost see-through. Except instead of leaning in to tear through flesh with my teeth, I put my lips close to his ear and murmured, “You’re fighting for the wrong side. You’re attacking the wrong people. Turn around and fight the true enemy.”

The demon shook his head, trying to reject the influence of my persuasion, but I was powered up like a damn battery at full charge. I had power to spare at my fingertips, and I poured all of it into him, willing him to do as I suggested.

Suddenly, he wheeled around and began fighting against the several fallen behind him. They cried out in anger and surprise, but I kept whispering in his ear, urging him on as he fought with deadly precision, cutting them down.

I whispered a few more words into his ear, then hopped off his back to search for my next opponent. Without me feeding more persuasion into him, my influence would fade pretty quickly, but he should be able to get a few more kills in before then.

Above us, Kingston let loose another massive blast of flame, and on the ground, Hannah was using her levitation trick again, knocking demons over like dominos.

Price and her group of Custodians had nearly managed to take out all the cyclops, and everywhere I looked, the fresh fighters were helping those who’d arrived first turn the tide in our favor.

I didn’t have a chance to celebrate that though, because a moment later, the very air around us seemed to split.

A massive portal opened—not just right in front of us, but all around us, on each side of the pentagram that hovered over the crater. From all directions, new underworld monsters began to charge into the fray, running down the slopes of the crater and letting momentum and gravity carry them right toward us.

My sweaty, dust-covered skin chilled.

This was it.

We had sent our second wave of fighters.

And Gavriel had sent his.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Holy motherfucking shitballs.

That was the most articulate response my brain could come up with when faced with the sheer, horrifying volume of fallen that raced toward us now.

Michael had been calling us with reports—hell, I’d seen the army for myself—but nothing could’ve quite prepared me for the sight of that army barreling toward me and my loved ones and allies like an unstoppable wrecking ball.

All of a sudden, my grand plan seemed like the stupidest idea ever. We were supposed to survive against this army long enough for Gavriel to arrive?

How?

“Stay steady, Pipes,” Xero murmured softly in my ear. He was in his demon form, his skin decorated with smears of blood and sand. “We can do this.”

“Any sign of Gavriel?” Kai’s voice was tense, his vampiric eyes moving quickly as he scanned the massive crater, searching out the familiar, horrible face of the lord of the underworld himself.

“Not yet. Damn it.”

My stomach was one big knot, and it was hard to draw in a full breath as the ground beneath us began to shake. It felt like an earthquake as the combined footsteps of the charging army thundered toward us. My men and I gathered close together, Hannah at my side, protecting each other’s backs. Even Kingston had landed and taken a slightly smaller dragon form so he could maneuver easily on the packed earth.

Gavriel’s plan had been a good one.

All of the Custodians—pretty much the entire organization, except for those who were running point back at the headquarters—had come to fight off the invasion. We had used portals to transport directly into the basin of the crater, and now that his second wave had burst into existence all around us, we were trapped, surrounded on all sides by our enemies and the steep walls of the crater itself.

Those who could fly would be able to escape, but most of us didn’t have that power. We were sitting ducks.

Jesus fucking Christ. I can’t believe we did this on purpose.

What had felt like a long shot before seemed like a suicide mission now, and I tried desperately to quiet the thundering of my heart as the combined fear of all the Custodians around me hit me like a tidal wave.

Come on. Fight, damn it. Fight.

Gavriel’s army flowed toward us like water, and we met the threat with everything we had. I redoubled my efforts to turn the fallen against each other, pulling on every bit of power I had to make the persuasion stick. Nearby, Jayce leapt from creature to creature, his hellhound jaws snapping like mad. Blood coated his muzzle, and although I knew what a gentle soul he could be, there was no hesitation as he sank his teeth into the neck of a gorgon who had turned several nearby Custodians to stone.

I swallowed hard.