All three tigers advanced on the wolf. Growling, Darafer snapped at one of the tigers, and it jumped back.
Markos grinned. “Now this is interesting.”
Russell tried to keep up with which tiger was Jia, but the three large cats were dashing around Darafer, trying to keep him isolated. “Jia, stop! Don’t do this.”
“Eenie, meenie, miney, moe, catch a tiger by its toe,” Markos chanted. “You know if he bites one, it’ll turn evil.” He laughed. “We could have an evil tiger on our side. Wouldn’t that be cool?”
The thought that Jia could be bitten made Russell frantic. He jumped between the tigers and Darafer. “You want me, asshole?”
Darafer growled and leaped toward him.
A tiger jumped on him from the back, raking its claws down a hind leg. Darafer spun about, his jaw gnashing.
“No!” Russell plunged his knife into the wolf’s shoulder.
Darafer snapped his jaws down on Russell’s arm.
“Yes!” Markos pumped the air with his fist.
Russell winced as pain shot up his arm, followed by a surge of anger so strong that it knocked him on his ass.
Darafer changed back to his human form, dressed in black, with no sign of a wound. “You’re mine now,” he hissed at Russell. “Kill the one you love. Use that knife with my demon blood on it so it will burn like hell. Do it!”
Russell’s grip tightened around the bloodied knife as he scrambled to his feet. Red-hot rage flooded him, and all he could think about was murder. Kill the one you love.
Jia. He glanced over at the tigers. Which one was she? The three tigers were huddled up close. No doubt she was in the middle, and the two males were trying to protect her.
“Yes!” Markos grinned. “Kill her, Russell!”
Kill the one you love.
With a roar, Russell dashed forward at vampire speed and rammed the knife into his brother’s heart. A look of shock crossed Markos’s face just before he crumbled into a pile of dust.
Darafer laughed. “Well, that saves me from having to kill him later.”
The knife tumbled from Russell’s hand as he realized what he’d done. The rage inside him exploded, and he threw his head back, roaring to heaven. One of the tigers moved toward him.
A bright light suddenly burst in the throne room, and the seven God Warriors appeared with their swords ablaze with fire.
“Attack them!” Darafer yelled at Russell as the seven angels moved to surround him. “Stab them now!”
“For breaching the decree of free will, you will be banished back to hell,” Briathos announced.
The seven God Warriors lifted their swords of fire and began to chant.
“Damn you!” Darafer broke through their ring, but they moved to encircle him once more. “I’m not going alone!” Just as his form wavered, he grabbed a tiger by the hind leg. Whoosh, he disappeared, taking the tiger with him.
“No!” Russell shouted. With Darafer banished, the effect of the demon bite was immediately erased. All the rage was gone, but now he was filled with abject fear.
Which tiger had Darafer taken with him to hell?
The two remaining tigers shifted back to human form, their faces stricken with horror. Tenzen. And then Rajiv.
“No!” Russell collapsed to his knees. He screamed again deep from his soul.
Jia was gone.
Chapter Twenty-one
The palace door burst open, and Connor, Dougal, and Howard dashed inside.
“We heard screaming.” Connor stopped short when he noticed the God Warriors.
Russell remained on the floor, his thoughts whirling, unable to accept what had just happened. His gaze shifted to the pile of dust that had been Markos, then to the silk robe on the floor that Jia had taken off before shifting. Both of them were gone. Both in hell? His heart clenched with pain, and he was tempted to rip some shit apart and scream until his head burst.
Markos had probably gotten what he deserved, but that didn’t make it any easier to live with. Russell had known he might be forced to kill him, but he’d clung to a hope that he could somehow save his brother. And Jia . . . he hadn’t saved her, either. When he imagined what she might be going through right now, he felt like his heart would explode. He had to help her, but how could he, when she was in hell?
“What happened?” Howard demanded.
Rajiv fell to his knees in front of Jia’s discarded robe and gathered the silk in his arms. “Jia . . .”
Dougal looked about. “Is she injured? Where is she?”
“Darafer took her to hell,” Russell whispered. His gaze fell on the knife still coated with demon blood. Would that get him into hell? God help him, he deserved to go there. He’d killed his brother. He’d failed Jia.
Or maybe not. Maybe he could still help her. He reached for the knife.
Briathos kicked the knife across the room. “Dear soul, you will be no help to her dead.”
Russell’s pain shifted into rage, and with a shout, he leaped to his feet. “How could you let Darafer take her?” He grasped Briathos’s tunic in his fist and jerked the angel toward him. “How could you screw up like that? I thought angels were supposed to be perfect!”
Connor and Dougal pulled Russell back, but he shoved them away.
Briathos regarded him sadly. “We are not perfect. Only the Heavenly Father can make that claim.”
“So Darafer has been banished?” Dougal asked. “What happened to Han?”
Russell glanced at the pile of dust, and bile rose up his throat. He rammed his fist against his mouth and swallowed hard.
“Markos Hankelburg is dead,” Briathos reported quietly. “Russell killed him while under Darafer’s control. We arrived to send the demon back to hell, but as he was vanishing, he grabbed Jia and took her with him.”
Dougal and Connor glanced at the pile of dust, then at Russell.
Howard reached out to touch Russell’s shoulder, but Russell stepped back. How could he accept sympathy when he was the murderer?
“I’ll let Angus know,” Connor said as he headed out the door.
“I’m so sorry about Jia,” Dougal told the were-tigers in Chinese.
“We haven’t lost her,” Russell insisted. “We’ll get her back!”
Rajiv and Tenzen rose to their feet. Since their trousers were ripped to shreds from shifting, they tied their discarded tunics around their waists by knotting the long sleeves.
“Is she still alive?” Rajiv asked Briathos.
The leader of the God Warriors nodded. “Yes. I will give you more information soon.” His face went blank, and his body shimmered like a reflection upon water.
“When?” Russell waved a hand in front of Briathos’s face, but there was no response. “Hello? Are you there?”
“He has joined the Heavenly Host,” another angel explained.
“He’s telling them what happened?” Howard asked.
The angel shook his head. “They already know. We are in constant communication. The council of archangels called an emergency meeting and asked Briathos to attend.”
“They wish to extend their apologies for this unfortunate situation,” a second angel added.
“Unfortunate?” Russell gritted his teeth. “What’s happening to Jia? Is she being tortured?”
“Most likely she will be treated well,” the first angel replied. “Lucifer only resorts to torture when he has something to gain from it. In this case, he would gain nothing but the wrath of the Heavenly Father.”
The second angel nodded. “The Father does not approve of demons taking His children alive against their will.”
Russell snorted. “Well, that’s big of Him!”
“Calm down.” Dougal touched Russell’s shoulder.
“Jia’s in hell!” Russell clenched his fists, wishing he could hit something. “I’ve got to help her!”
Rajiv tilted his head, studying him. “You’re in love with her.”
“Yes, dammit!” Russell’s eyes burned with tears. “I have to save her, but I don’t know how.”
“ ’Twill work out.” Dougal gripped his shoulder harder. “Believe me, I know what ye’re going through.”
Russell took a deep breath and blinked the tears away. He’d never felt so damned helpless. “Tell me what to do,” he begged the angels. “Can I take her place?” After all, he was headed for hell anyway for killing his brother.