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blade glimmering in the dim light. Although she knew him to be a demon, she didn’t detect any threat, only a strange calmness that left her all the more unsettled.
    “Oscar?” A glance showed he’d risen and fought a desperate battle with the wounded demon. Bleeding, his arm broken, his leg mangled, Oscar refused to retreat. She took a step forward to protect him when a strobe of white lights flickered behind her.
    Caly swung around to see another demon streak through the opening, his speed incredible.
    Only to lose his head when the statue spun, arm straight out, his ivory blade at the ready.
    The way he moved fascinated her. Not slow or clumsy like a human, nor fanatic like a demon. Each move was measured, calculated to do the greatest damage. Moves like that took years of training to prefect.
    Over six, possibly even six and a half feet tall, her once gray statue was dressed in black leather pants and no shirt. His muscles did not need stone to look as hard as a rock. Dark hair and darker eyes drew her gaze.
    Only one thing ran through her mind.
    Mine.
    Possessiveness zinged through her system, every inch of her skin prickled painfully to life as she battled the urge to cross the room to him and claim him. The weight of Oscar’s hand on her arm was the only thing that held her back from making a fool of herself.
    Two more demons met their end, clearing the room. Together, she and Oscar faced the stranger. The man who’d saved them. Suspicion curbed the thrill she received by looking at him. “Who are you?”
    Before he could answer, three demons materialized and attacked the stranger. The group stumbled further in the room, a jumble of arms and legs. As Caly jumped out of the way, her hip smacked into one of the altars, knocking her on her hands and knees.
    When she lifted her head, a gaping black hole met her gaze. The stone she’d previously guarded was gone, leaving behind a yawning darkness that sent a chill creeping through her body. She scuttled backwards, the threat in the air palpable.
    She’d screwed up.
    Almost too afraid to move, too terrified at what she would find, Caly stood. And watched, wide-eyed as the skeletons moved. Flesh inflated their tattered uniforms, their arms jerked as muscles grafted to the bone. In a reverse decomposition, the body fleshed out and spidered with veins. The surface of the body bubbled up like wax, forming a thin layer of almost clear skin. It slowly thickened until they resembled humans.
    Her skin crawled at the process, and the air seemed too thin to breathe. One at a time, the Fallen sat, even the one that Henry had desecrated. His head sat drunkenly on his shoulders, but there was awareness in his eyes.
    Caly swallowed hard, backing away. They creaked as they moved. With a few experimental gestures, a wave of an arm, the twist of the neck, they appeared…alive.
    The certainty that she would die here filled her bones.
    At least she would go down fighting. Reaching down, she groped for a knife, cursing when she found only empty sheaths.
    “Run!”
    The raspy voice rippled through her, a dark, visceral response like a tuning fork being struck pulled her attention to her statue.
    “I’ll hold them off as long as possible. You have to leave.”
    “No.” She shook her head, unable to believe they’d ask her to abandon them. The arrogant man didn’t even have the gall to look at her as he issued orders.
    “I’ll follow you as soon as I can.”
    Still Caly hesitated.
    “Do as he says.” Oscar leaned heavily against his staff, wilted but ready to face off with the new threat. Even as she watched, a demon raced forward and slashed a wound across his torso. Blood gushed down his shirt in a dark river, and she bit back a gasp of disbelief.
    He staggered, grimaced and blocked the second blow. “The bomb should generate enough heat to incinerate everything. You must live. Must destroy the Fallen. If even a small piece survives, they’ll swallow up the world.”
    Four