Chapter 71: Chapter 71

EVANGELINE

My eyes opened slowly—but instead of the warm golden morning light, I was once again surrounded by the dim darkness of the room. Had we really slept through the whole day?

My body was leaden, every fiber pleasantly shattered. The memory of the previous night flickered behind my eyelids.

His hands touched me possessively all over, his hot breath on my ear as he fucked me all over his house, until we finally ended up in his bed. The muffled, wet sound of our bodies fused together…

Devas breathed quietly next to me, his heart beating tired and full, as if he too was exhausted from our night of passion. His arms were around me like a familiar yoke, pulling me close to his naked torso, where I could smell the scent of his skin.

My eyes lingered on his sleeping face. Those ridiculously long eyelashes, now falling peacefully on his slightly flushed cheeks, and the tangled hair that made him look so innocent.

As if he hadn’t been driving me to the brink of madness for hours with his skilled hands and sharp teeth.

Suddenly, his breathing rhythm slowed down. A grin twitched across his lips before he even opened his eyes.

With a tired but purposeful movement, he turned to me, buried his face in the crook of my neck, and breathed in deeply.

“You reek of me,” he murmured in that raspy morning voice that immediately made me wet again.

His hand glided possessively over my hip, as if he was checking whether I was really still there—or whether he might have overdone it last night. He stretched with a stifled moan that revealed more than a thousand words.

The tense muscles, the soft cracking of his back. When he snuggled up to me again, his gaze was watchful and demanding this time.

“You can’t get enough of me. My little freak,” he whispered against my lips, and I could already feel his body pressing against me again.

The memory of his moans last night, exactly how he called me when I made him tremble beneath me, sent a tingle down my spine. As if the long night had only increased my hunger instead of satisfying it.

Devas moved on top of me, his weight warm and familiar as he leaned on his forearms. His mouth found my neck, suggestively, as if he wanted to explore every inch of my skin anew.

But just as his lips grazed my pulse, the bed beneath us gave way with a warning creak. A loud crash—then we fell laughing into a mess of springs and collapsed slats.

Devas’s laughter was infectious, deep and uninhibited, his face just inches from mine. The little bit of moonlight that fell through the window now caught in his eyelashes and made his eyes glitter as he beamed at me.

Proud, as if he had just accomplished something great and not just ruined our bed. Feathers swirled around us, dancing lazily in the air, before slowly floating to the floor.

Not just the ones from the pillows—my own too, settling quietly in his hair as if to protect him.

“What have we done?” I asked, panting between fits of laughter as I tried to free myself from the rubble.

Devas’s hands found my hips, pulling me tighter against him.

“Well…” he muttered as he pushed himself between my legs, “~you~ demolished my house.”

His lips brushed across my shoulder, hot and playful.

“Me?” I snorted. But my laughter died abruptly as his tongue slid over my bare breast.

His teeth closed gently around my nipple, which was already swollen and oversensitive from the night. Devas sucked it gently into his mouth.

A shiver ran through me as he lapped it with the tip of his tongue, as if it was a silent apology and a pledge at the same time.

“I helped a bit,” he finally admitted, his breath hot against my skin.

Then he slowly licked over the peaked nubs again, as if he couldn’t resist.

A low moan escaped my throat even before the hairs on my arms stood on end, not out of desire but out of instinctive warning.

Devas’s gaze suddenly became serious. His lips parted from my breast, and his head snapped up as if something invisible had pulled him back.

He sensed it too.

This strange, malevolent presence that was approaching—not creeping, but with the force of an oncoming storm.

Then the silence was shattered.

A shrill, crackling tear cut through the air, as if the world itself was being torn apart.

Not like thunder, not like a storm… But like the screeching of a living creature violently breaking free from its prison.

The windowpanes shook, the ground trembled beneath us, and for a moment, it smelled of burnt flesh and molten iron.

Then we saw it.

The portal tore itself open into our reality.

Not a soft glow, not a mystical mist, but a gaping, bloody crack from which flames and screams burst like water from a burst airlock.

But worse than the fire were the sounds that came from it.

A hoarse, gurgling growl, as if a thousand throats were taking a breath at the same time. But not for breathing—for biting.

Snapping, smacking, as if imaginary teeth were already smashing into our flesh.

In between, the rustling of claws on stony ground, the panting snorts of creatures that smelled the odor of fear.

And above it all, a bloodcurdling howl that no animal in this world could possibly make.

It was the call of the hunt.

Hell was not standing at our gates—it had already entered them.

Devas’s hand gripped my arm.

“Abaddon!” he screamed, his voice harsh but composed.

“We need to warn the others. They can’t see anything in my forest,” he said.

I tore my eyes away from the nightmare that was unfolding.

“What should we do? We’re stuck right in the middle of it,” I asked.

My first thought was to fly out to warn Iris and Avery.

But Devas shook his head while he got dressed.

“You wouldn’t make it…it’s too dangerous…the sword,” Devas said, his head nodding toward Father’s sword leaning against the wall next to the door.

And I knew he was right. Abaddon would throw everything at me to get that sword.

And if he succeeded, we would be dead.

My gaze shot to Devas as I hurriedly pulled on my clothes and took the sword in my hand.

“We’ll sneak through the forest…to the first guard post,” he explained as he looked through the window.

I froze as I caught sight of the first wave of creatures already emerging from the glowing maw.

Skeletal, skinny creatures with glowing eyes, their jaws open as if they wanted to swallow the air itself.

“Run!” Devas shouted.

His voice snapped me out of the shock.

His hand grabbed mine, freezing with adrenaline, and then we were off.

Two shadows plunged into the darkness of the forest.

The forest around us wasn’t an enemy—it was an ally. The ancient trees bent their branches low, as if they wanted to hide us.

Their roots lifted exactly where we needed to step, while the ground behind us tore itself open like a living barricade. Thorns shot out of the undergrowth, wild and impenetrable, devouring our tracks before the enemy could catch sight of them.

The air was filled with the whispers of nature. The rustling of leaves, the crackling of branches—but not because of us.

No, Devas’s forest breathed with us, camouflaging our footsteps with its own ancient rhythm. Somewhere in the distance, a gust of wind howled, as if to mislead our pursuers.

Devas was fast, his movements flowing like a stream, but I was close behind him. My blood burned in my veins, every muscle tensed as if I myself were part of this wild escape.

Devas stopped suddenly, the leafy forest floor swirling up as if emphasizing his stasis. We sank to our knees, and his hand lay warmly on my arm.

His index finger touched his lips, a silent warning. My heart was pounding.

Not just in my chest—it roared in my ears, a wild, irregular rhythm, as if it was trying to escape from my body. His face was as hard as stone, his eyes piercing the darkness as if they could cut through the danger before it even arrived.

“We’re surrounded,” he whispered, the words barely audible but deadly clear. “They’re coming from all sides.”

My fingers tightened around the sword hilt, the cold metal a silent reminder that we were not defenseless.

Then he turned to me, his eyes burning with an order I refused to accept.

“You have to be quick…run and warn the others. I’ll stop as many as possible,” he said.

“No,” I objected. My head shook almost of its own accord, my eyes wide as if I could change reality just by refusing.

I wasn’t leaving him behind. Not now. Not here.

My fingers curled, as if the air between them was boiling. Suddenly… a blinding flare, and two fireballs materialized in my palms, their heat flickering in the air above my skin.

The flames cast ghostly shadows across Devas’s face as I slowly lifted my gaze. His glance pierced me as he read my thoughts—and the slow, knowing nod that followed was answer enough.

Not a word needed to be spoken. The corner of his mouth lifted into that dangerous half smile.

He knew now that I would stay with him… Even if we were both dragged into Hell.