Destroyer: The Dark Angel Chronicles, #4

By Serenity Rayne

Loss… War… Retribution…

You know the final straw? The one that makes everything snap and then all hell breaks loose?

Lucifer crossed that line tenfold.

He stole my daughter…

Killed my grandfather…

I'm out for blood, and there will be no force in Heaven or Hell able to stop me. My sights are set on the Prince of Lies and I will bring him to his knees.

Lucifer will pay for all the pain he's caused.

I was created for a reason, molded to be the Destroyer's perfect successor. With my inherited knowledge of Hell and the Shadow Realm I am building my army.

I am ready to reign on all nine circles, time for war.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Serenity Rayne
• Release date: Feb 13, 2024
• ISBN: 9798215769447

Book preview

Prologue

THANA

Burning rage and pain battle for supremacy within me, fueling the power Samael gifted me. Through ring after ring of Hell, I battle and befriend all manner of beasts and demons, turning most to my side. Grandfather’s lessons play in my mind as I fly. My singular purpose is to distract Lucifer and the princes of Hell so my mates and my father-in-law can save my daughter.

During the descent, the Balor follow me through all the rings, adding to the formidable force I am. The creature within me slithers, winding itself over its own coils, sounding like a rattlesnake’s tail. It speaks to me, telling me what I can and cannot do with it and still ascend to the Silver City at the end of my days. I suspect when my mates arrive in the Lust ring, they won’t be met with opposition. The focus should be on me because of the trail of bodies I’m leaving behind.

Destroyer? Agron, the leader of the Balor, says to me, trying not to draw attention to himself.

Yesssss? The s is a drawn-out hiss from the beast curled up in my chest.

When will we attack Lucifer? Agron’s bloodthirsty nature suits my drive for vengeance, and I can’t help unleashing a toothy, feral grin.

Later. For now, I must keep him focused on me till my daughter is safe. After I check on her and return to the castle, we’ll plan to storm the gates of Hell. Tactically, my plans are sound and hold merit. The Balor lack patience and are impetuous.

Agron nods his great horned head as he motions his legion to attack the guards Lucifer placed on the outer reaches of the Pride ring. As suspected, this is the grandest of the nine rings, evidenced by its streets lined in gold. The craftmanship here is the best I’ve ever seen. The devil is in the details. No expense was spared, nor was any intricate detail overlooked.

Lucifer’s castle is in view as we crest the horizon, and I send the Balor ahead of me, changing my form to shadows and mist to hide from Lucifer’s detection. My raven rises from the mist and flies to the castle and gains entrance. He flies around the interior, undetected, till he lands on the mantle.

Watching Lucifer lose his cool because he lost track of me three rings ago does my heart good. Through the bond, I sense my mates approaching where Nikita is, so it’s time for me to do my part and distract Lucifer. Summoning the black flames of the abyss is much easier now that I’ve ascended. I signal the Balor to blot out the blood moon before I make my approach. The raven warns Lucifer of his impending death, and I see him panic and scramble his troops.

Shooting like a black comet across the sky is as enjoyable as it is deadly. The high-pitched crackles of the glass shattering fill the air as my fiery comet of doom destroys the ornate skylight. Landing in a crouch, I watch Lucifer stare at the flames in abject horror.

His hellhounds know a far bigger beast lurks in the castle now, and they drop to their bellies in an effort to save themselves. The fire reaches for the heavens like a flamethrower set on high. On my command, my raven flies into the flames with me and lands on my shoulder before returning as a tattoo on my arm. Shifting to my reaper form, I make a grand entrance and hover several feet off the ground.

Everything Lucifer fears flashes over my face under my shroud. His face contorts in horror at the visions I reveal to him. You . . . Stole . . . My . . . Daughter . . . My voice reverberates, sounding like Metatron. It fills the hall as if I’m everywhere at once, moving around where he’s frozen in fear. My blood-stained lips curl up in a smirk as I stare down at him, and my familiars rip free of my flesh to flank me.

Resting my hand on the back of my grandfather’s wolf, I tilt my head to the side. You summoned me here . . . It’s time to finish this. I stand before Lucifer without fear, my heartbeat slow and steady, with no inclination toward fear or anxiety. The old me would have buckled and broken before the prince of lies. I have more than enough reasons to turn this place to ash, making it nothing more than a memory in the annals of time.

How dare you! Do you not know who I am? Bow before me, bitch, and serve me for eternity! Lucifer finds his balls and bellows, shaking the very foundation of his castle, knocking stones and glass loose from their places.

Sensing my mates and Azrael reaching my castle, I smirk again, then drop my reaper persona. My armor manifests, and I rest my hand on the pommel of my sword. I wish I hadn’t given the boys Daybreaker. If I’d have kept it, I could end this all right here, right now. Needing to stall for time, I shift my hands to talons and look over the long, obsidian, hooked claws, studying the razor-sharp edges.

You and I both know that won’t happen, Luci. Lucifer sputters at the shortening of his name, and my resting bitch face is on point as I walk among the hellhounds.

How fucking dare you! he screams as he throws his clawed hand in my direction, sending a fountain of fire at me.

Halting the flames before they get close to me, I extinguish them with a wave of my hand. Neat parlor trick, Luci. Learn anything cool since you fell? Rage flows over his crimson skin like the tide rising up the beach. The twitching of his left eye and the agitated flicking of his forked tail tell me I’ve pissed him off.

I feel the moment my castle is invaded, and the rage I suppressed bubbles up again. Lucifer must have noticed the change in my demeanor. His stance changes, and he smiles. I can make it stop, you know? Spare your mates and Azrael. He shifts back to his human form. He’s quite a handsome human.

I bet you could . . . I shift my hands back and concentrate on sending the wolves living around the castle, as well as several of the larger demons, to aid Azrael. The minute Michael has Nikita, I smile and start laughing, staring down at the stones beneath my feet.

Unfortunately for you, I don’t need you to do anything other than be oblivious. My sanguine smile broadens as I sense my daughter reaching the Angelic Realm.

The hellhounds that were once under Lucifer’s command come to stand behind me, along with several of the smaller demons who were in his employ until my arrival. I’ll be back, Luci . . . I wink over my shoulder at him before vanishing from his castle, leaving nothing more than a wisp of smoke in my wake. I could have entered his castle the same way, but it was far more entertaining to destroy part of his domain in the process.

Minor demons besiege my castle in large numbers, and I shake my head, looking down at them. Landing on a battlement above, I throw my hands in the air, engulfing the area around the castle in flames. The scent of charred flesh and scorched earth hangs in the air as a reminder of what I’ve done. The wolves I summoned to Azrael’s aid leave the castle as soon as the fire is extinguished.

Leaping down, I glide to the front steps leading to the interior. Azrael stands in the door to the castle with his arms over his chest, grinning. Theatrical much? He can’t keep a serious face as he looks at the scorched earth and charcoaled remains of the demons frozen in silent screams outside the castle.

Raising my hand, I hold my index finger and thumb slightly apart and wink. The megalomaniac doesn’t know who he’s messing with. Shrugging, I step into my castle, and it bends to my will, reshaping itself into a fortress. The grinding sounds of the stones sliding and realigning fill the halls as Azrael and I walk toward the war room. Once inside, the door shuts behind me and locks. Breaching Lucifer’s castle was far too easy. It won’t be the next time we attack. I look up at Azrael as he nods in agreement.

True. He’ll fortify his defenses and either move the castle or reshape it, like you’re doing now. Tactically, it’s the most sound decision to make at the moment, so it’s the path I’d chosen.

I’m going to head to the Angelic Realm and check on my family before we clean house. We must purge the rings before we cut the head off the snake. Without either of us touching them, the chess pieces representing the princes and their castles move onto the map. With only four princes left, in theory, it shouldn’t be difficult. Unfortunately, they’ve had time to study and prepare for my attack far longer than I did. I have an ace in the hole with my grandfather’s knowledge, and I don’t believe they know I inherited his wisdom at my ascension.

Chapter 1

Raphael

To say I’m stunned by how fast Davina has grown is an understatement. My daughter, who was extremely small not so long ago, is now nearly the size of a five year old. This happened in the blink of an eye. I flip through pages in some of the older books to try to understand whether this is normal. However, this is something that has never been documented. The biggest problem I’m anticipating at the moment is how Thana will react to the size of her daughters.

The thought of trying to explain this to Thana without her losing her mind concerns the ever-loving hell out of me. My mate is a dynamo who will not be at all excited to learn her daughters, who were tiny when she left, are now the size of five year olds rather than the infants she left behind. This does not bode well for the other mates or me.

As I remain in my mini-panic, considering the best way to discuss this with Thana, Michael arrives with Nikita in his arms. Nikita is also nearly the size of a five-year-old human child. How he cradles her reveals she’s much more to him than we thought.

Michael stops walking and stares at me, knowing full well he’s busted. He arcs his head, nodding down the hallway, and starts walking that way. I follow him into the room. In the back, lying in the bed, is my Davina. He places Nikita next to her. Both children seem to be growing more rapidly than we anticipated.

He makes a shushing motion with his finger to his lips and then herds me out of the room once my other daughter is tucked in. I know I have a lot to explain to you, old friend, but this is not the place. Moving down the hallway, we catch the attention of Christian as well as Metatron.

We follow behind Michael as we weave through his house and end up in the dining room. He reaches over and pours us glasses of angelic wine and motions for us to have a seat. The three of us stare at him as he makes his way around the table with our drinks. I know you’re all quite concerned about what’s happening, he says as he stares at his hands.

I’m not sure how to explain this to you or how it affects everyone. In his nervousness, he paces around the table and then stops.

As some of you have already figured out, Nikita is my mate. He lowers his eyes and stares at the ground, knowing full well to see his mate’s wings before the Mate Trials would bar the male from taking the intended mate as his own. It goes against divine law, created as a safety measure to protect the females.

Metatron begins to say something, but I reach over and touch his shoulder to stop him. I shake my head and then turn to face Michael. It’s not the first time this has happened, old friend. It happened to Thana and me when Azrael tested her to make sure she was eligible to participate in the Mate Trials. He wanted to make sure she could contain her darkness, that her dark side wasn’t stronger than the light. I look down and stare at my own hands for a few moments, pondering the fact that two of the most trusted Archangels have knowingly violated divine law.

Metatron stands up suddenly and paces around the table. I understand where both of you are coming from. I saw Thana’s wings at the Tree of Life when she landed with her wings open. That’s how I knew she was mine. He bites his bottom lip, looking between Christian, Michael, and me. But this is an entirely new precedent. He rests his hand on my shoulder, then he looks back over at Michael.

You’re the mate of Cyrus’s daughter. I don’t think this will bode well for you, Michael, if Azrael catches wind of this, he says with the kind of confidence that makes clear he doesn’t understand how close this family is. Shaking my head, I stand up and pat him on the shoulder, then move to stand next to Michael in solidarity.

It won’t be an issue since Thana already knows. She calls Azrael father now and not her own birth father, so I don’t believe it’s going to be a concern. I smile, trying to reassure Michael about the future he and his mate have. It’s ironic—the highest of the high being the mate of the successor to the throne of death. Definitely a twisted turn of events.

Just as we finish up our conversation about what’s to be done with the girls and how things will proceed from here, Uriel enters the room, carrying his large bowl filled with water. He sets it on the table and waves his hand over the top. Our view of the water changes, and we now see the deepest ring of Hell inside the bowl. As we watch, Thana streaks across the sky in an enormous ball of blackened fire. She lands inside the castle, and her fires burn, terrifying all within.

We were already aware this has happened, so I’m unsure why Uriel is showing it to us. We watch as Thana takes on her reaper form, and her face flickers between that of a Basilisk and an Archangel. Lucifer’s terror is almost palpable in the air. Thana yells he’s stolen her daughter. Her familiars rip free from her and take a stance, flanking her. We watch as Lucifer loses his mind and see the calm and peace moving over Thana when she realizes that Azrael and the boys have made it out of the Dark Realm.

I sputter and almost laugh when Thana calls Lucifer Luci and not his full first name. As if it were nothing, she blocks and extinguishes his flames roaring toward her. The demons and other beings present in the room stand motionless and awestruck. These are all moments we did not see before, and I’m still not certain why Uriel shows them to us now.

We watch everything unfold, and I’m amazed that Thana remains calm through the entire confrontation. We see the exact moment Michael receives Nikita from Cyrus and when that happens, she gains control of the room, and the creatures who were once under Lucifer’s dominion are now under hers.

The scene in Uriel’s bowl flashes forward to the attack on her castle and her quick obliteration of the attackers. We hear bits and pieces of the discussion of what they’re getting ready to do. She looks at the moving map that was only a rumor during her grandfather’s time. We’re now down to four princes, which will make the rest of this campaign much easier than it was previously.

Before we’re able to discuss our next moves concerning the rings, Thana, and our other plans, a knock sounds at the front door. Michael leaves the room to answer it. After hearing a bit of murmuring, two sets of footsteps sound down the hallway toward us. Entering the room with Michael is Sigrun, who smiles and bows before us, holding out two small wooden training swords.

Your mate requested me to train her daughters for war. She wants them to have the skills they need to survive. Creator forbid, we leave them defenseless for even just a moment. She wishes for them to know how to protect themselves in all situations. Sigrun lays the two practice swords on the table, then looks up at me. You know, I only agreed to this because she asked. No child should know the fear or the concern of war. I look down at the practice swords and then up at her again.

Thana has a valid reason for calling you here and requesting this of you. I know you’ve been working with the girls and teaching them to fly. I’ve always believed it was an error on the part of the angels not to teach our daughters to fly at a young age. So in times of danger, despite the preference they not show their wings, they’d have a way to escape. I fold my hands and look between Uriel and Michael.

This is something we should speak to our brethren about. We’ve lost so many females through the centuries because of that one simple thing: they haven’t known how to fly. Divine law needs to be rewritten in order to keep our females safe. The female population has suffered greatly because of an ancient law written during a time of peace.

I hesitate, though, hearing the uncertainty in my voice as I look between the others gathered here. Christian stands and walks to my side and then claps me on my back. It’s about time someone higher ranking among us believes that. Too many females have been slaughtered because they have wings, yet they’re forbidden from using them. They die senselessly because they don’t know how to fly, nor do they have the strength to take off and remain airborne for long periods of time because their wings have remained hidden since birth. Christian asserts nothing but the truth and then moves his hand over the bowl, much as Uriel did.

Wars over the past hundreds of years play before us. We watch as female Nephilim and female Angels were slaughtered even though their wings were out. They didn’t possess the strength to take off and save themselves. He glances between the Archangels gathered here and then over to Sigrun.

Do you know why the Valkyrie live? He smiles, tilting his head to the side. Because they don’t shelter their daughters. They teach them to be the warriors they are. Women are the strongest among us. They bring life into this world and endure more pain than a man can ever imagine. He looks down at the water one last time, then over at Sigrun.

When it comes time for me to be a father again, I will joyfully hand my daughter over to you to train and teach all the things she’ll need to be a strong female. I don’t want my daughter to know fear or to be a victim because of antiquated ideals. As Christian utters these words, I see the seriousness in his eyes and his stance. This is one subject he has considered, and I know deep down he will not bend in his belief. Perhaps it’s time for the old ways to change. And I believe it will begin with Thana.

Chapter 2

Thana

Standing over the map, I watch the chess pieces put themselves into play, each representative piece moving to the exact location of its prince for that ring. Raziel, I summon thee. My booming voice reverberates through the castle as the pieces move into place. An influx of power accompanies Raziel when he arrives. The thudding of his boots echoes through the halls as he makes his way to the war room.

Dropping to a knee before me, Raziel lowers his head and spreads his wings wide. You summoned me, Destroyer? He looks up at me and smiles. I suspect