CHAPTER 209

Murray stopped screaming and looked down at himself in shock. Not only was he coated in Opal's remains, but it had been sprayed everywhere. Bits of the slime girl had sprayed across the three horsemen, as well as Mehkhkahrel.

"YE HAVE BEEN...YE HAVE BEEN..." Golden light sparked across the Mehkhkahrel's wings, and then it fired a beam of light into Pestilence. The whirling mass twisted aimlessly, the eyes blinking rapidly and out of sync. A sound like static filled the air as the angel spoke over itself.

Pestilence raised their hands in defence and then exploded into a cloud of angry insects that dispersed into the gloom. Ashes drifted across the ground.

"What the hell?" War covered his head and managed to narrowly avoid a random blast of light.

"He attacked the wrong person!" Murray held up the dick of Osiris and summoned a magical shield just in time to block an attack. "That girl didn't attack me or him, so it violated its own protocols! My control is slipping!"

Mehkhkahrel let out a scream that caused Murray and the horsemen to stumble and fall. The mists around the house curled inward like fingers and scratched at the exterior, taking away paint and wood. Beth was lying flat on the ground now, terrified of what the mist would do if it touched her.

Murray sent a green beam of light into Mehkhkahrel's core, sweat beading up on his brow. Mehkhkahrel's wings stopped spinning as it let out a groan that sounded like fatigued metal.

There was a flash of light, and then everyone standing was knocked off their feet. Up above, the angel's wings started to char around the edges and turn black.

"No, no, no!" Murray held up his hands and tried to bind Mehkhkahrel once again.

"ENOUGH!" Mehkhkahrel's voice felt like a bomb inside of Beth's gut, and she curled into the fetal position. The air filled with an ominous ticking noise that she realized was coming from the angel above. It stared down with angry eyes, and she saw that several of them were looking right at her. One by one, their gaze turned toward Lily, who lay smoldering on the ground.

"Fuck you," Lily whispered, then grabbed Opal's vessel and flung it far away from her own body to protect it from the coming blast.

"HELLSPAWN." Energy crackled around Mehkhkahrel's wings as it prepared to smite the succubus. "I SMITE THEE IN HIS GLORIOUS NAME."

Lily shrieked defiantly at the angel, but then stopped, her jaw dropping in surprise.

When the beam of light burst forth from Mehkhkahrel, Lily vanished in a cloud of smoke just before it reached her. The beam scoured the ground, sending molten rock through the air as it tried to find her.

The mists swirled around the house, then coiled upward as if being pushed from below. A dark figure approached through the gloom, blue eyes glowing with an intensity that made Beth squint.

The mists parted, revealing a male figure with his arm in a sling. It was Mike, and he glared angrily at the angel above. An aura of blue and green light surrounded him, pushing the mists away from where he stood and radiating outward through the ground. Where he walked, grass and tiny blue flowers burst through the sterile soil and she could feel the ground beneath her beating like a drum.

"Are you the one who took my house?" He sounded calm, but there was a dangerous edge to his voice that made Beth think of a sheathed blade. "The one who hurt my family? The one who just tried to kill my Lily?"

"BE NOT AFRAID." Mehkhkahrel's voice flattened Beth into the ground so hard that she couldn't breathe. Her hair whipped around her head as if she was caught in a storm. Nearby, she heard Murray cry out in rage as he, too, was flattened. Whatever malfunction the angel was experiencing had either scrambled its circuits completely or pissed it off.

The wave of force that burst forth from the angel traveled across the ground and washed over Mike. He barely flinched, his face twisting into an angry mask as he lifted his good arm and pointed at Mehkhkahrel.

"Cerberus." Mike's voice thrummed with power, and Beth watched in awe as three pairs of blazing red lights formed just above and behind him as the hell hound stepped out of the mists. Their teeth were bared and hackles raised as each head growled in a different tone, filling the air with a malevolent melody.

Mike twisted his hand around to make a gun out of it with two fingers for the barrel. When he parted his lips to speak, his teeth were pressed tightly together in barely suppressed rage. "Fetch."

With a triple howl, Cerberus bounded forward and tackled Mehkhkahrel out of the sky. Feathers scattered everywhere as the powerful force crushing Beth suddenly vanished and she was able to rise. Mehkhkahrel and Cerberus tumbled out of sight into the mist, but the air filled with blasts of light and fire as the two battled in the fog.

"Caretaker!" Murray hissed in surprise as he held up his magical dick like a protective talisman. "How are you here?"

Mike didn't answer. Instead, Lily stepped from behind him, her tail wrapping coyly around Mike's torso, the stinger resting gently against his neck.

"Daddy's home," she announced with glee. "And he is pissed." She planted a kiss on his cheek and then disappeared in a puff of smoke.