Page 211 of Knight’s Retribution

Vorena’s body lay across her dais of mattresses. No, she hadn’t left, but she was obviously dead, and her corpse was bound by some kind of power or magic preventing her from ashing out. Her limbs were at odd angles, her stomach already rounded with the heir she’d so desperately wanted, and there was a hole in her chest where her heart had been cut out.

Bodies lay scattered around her, demons moaning and groaning in pain, fucked up beyond recovery but not given the mercy of death, their heads still attached.

The knights moved as one, back to back, turning in a slow circle.

Chaos motioned to the mutilated demons, screaming, “Who the hell did this?”

Vorena’s head snapped up. Her eyes were still closed, her twisted body making indescribable sounds, jerking and twitching as she stood on broken limbs.

“What the fuck?” Gunner bit out.

She stepped down from her dais, the right side of her body drooping, her foot bent weirdly, bones protruding through her pale skin, head tilted to the right.

“Who are you?” Chaos growled out, because it sure as fuck wasn’t Vorena in the driver’s seat.

Her eyes snapped open.

Yellow irises stared back.

They scanned the knights and locked on Zenon. One of the pale, veiny eyelids slid down, then back up in a fucked-up version of a wink. “Nice to see you again, son.”

The voice was distorted, coming through Vorena’s vocal cords, but there was no doubt who was looking through her eyes.

Diemos.

Zenon growled.

Vorena’s bleeding corpse moved closer to him, head bobbing drunkenly, then leaned in. “I had hoped you’d be useful. I’m going to have to kill you instead.”

Then that yellow gaze slid right to Rocco.

Rocco held his stare, overflowing with malevolence and fury, and refused to look away. “She’s mine,” Rocco growled. “She was never yours, and you will never touch her again.”

The mouth twisted into what Rocco assumed was a smile. “But I did touch her. I slept beside her for months, with my hand between her thighs and my cock against her ass. I’ve had my tongue in her sweet mouth. She kissed me. Did she tell you that? Practically begged me for it.”

It was near impossible not to react, but he shoved down his rage and told the fucker what he hoped would get him to forget about Kyler. “We’re mated,” Roc ground out. “She is useless to you now.”

One shoulder lifted, then dropped, drool sliding down Vorena’s chin in a bloody stream. “When it comes to opening the portal, yes.” The eyes narrowed, grew colder. “But I…I find I’ve grown attached to her. I miss her warming my bed. I’ve decided I want her back, regardless. And I will have her back. Nothing can stop me, you know that, don’t you?”

Rocco stared into those yellow eyes, refusing to show him how those words affected him. “As soon as you leave Hell, Lucifer will take his throne back.”

Vorena’s head shook. “I’ve stayed in Hell. I’ve waited and waited, but my father has done nothing. He hasn’t tried to come home, and he hasn’t tried to stop me. He is the only one who could best me, but he has no intention of trying. He doesn’t want Hell back, he’s made that crystal clear.”

Rocco growled, because Diemos was partially right. Lucifer’s love for his son and his grandson had hobbled him. Roc curled his fingers into fists, quickly losing the grip he had on his dwindling control.

“Every demon in the city will do my bidding,” the corpse slurred, then did another twisted version of a grin. “I’m coming for all of you, and when I’m done, you will be nothing but rotting body parts.”

“You can’t have her,” Rocco roared, unable to hold back another moment.

The corpse took another step closer. “You can’t win.”

The sound that came from Rocco was pure demon as he swung his sword and sliced off Vorena’s head. It hit the floor, squelching in the green mush. Diemos’s yellow eyes continued to stare out of the decapitated head and he laughed, a strange garbled sound. Rocco snarled and brought his boot down on it, smashing the skull, and continued to stomp on it until it was nothing but pulp.

Chaos yanked him back. “We need to get the fuck out of here.”

That’s when Rocco heard it, the thunder of boots outside the building—demons, a lot of them.

Rocco followed his brothers, running for the door, hacking at the demons who had already made it inside the building. They rushed for the stairs, running up them three at a time. They were outnumbered and in a confined space. Rocco and Gunner stood side by side, moving up the stairs backwards, fighting the demons trying to follow.