Kieran could handle this. Avoiding falling bricks and hot gusts of volcanic air erupting from the ground was easy. Tedious, but doable.

Until Abaddon had purposely cracked open the earth right under him, obviously aiming for them. Abaddon, the angel of the abyss and destruction, was controlling this, rather than letting the storm run its course naturally.

"AHHHHH!" he roared out from the physical effort to leap over the bottomless crevice, which thought now would be a good time to test his vampiric abilities. Kieran jumped with all his strength while carrying Teru. His foot landed on the other side, continuing on after a brief stumble. That was close. Too close.

When the record-breaking earthquake stopped, so did he when he heard a weak whimper. His omega, who was strong as a werewolf while fighting Abaddon, was now tiny and frail. Teru had the corner of the blanket covering his face, shivering. Witnessing the fifth trumpet's work must be terrifying for a mortal.

And if Kieran wasn't more careful, Teru would experience an omega drop. That could not happen, ever. It would not only endanger Teru, but his pregnancy. Unlike hibernation where an omega can wake up on their own, a drop required their mate. If they were separated for any reason during a drop, it had the potential to lead to organ failure and a coma.

Eventually...death.

"I want to go home," he cried.

Kieran nuzzled his mate's forehead. "The penthouse is gone, little one."

It was true. From where they stood, he saw the capitol building. Half of it was aflame, including their entire private floor. Teru peeked over the blanket with tear-stained eyes. Even when crying, he was still the most breathtaking creature Kieran's ever seen.

"No. Home," Teru stifled. "The forest. I want to go home."

Hearing the desperation in his voice twisted Kieran's heart. But, he had a plan. Missing the plane a month ago wouldn't change things. They just had to take the long way there. "Actually-"

A deep buzzing interrupted him. They both looked down. The sound came from under the ground. Teru squirmed with anxiety when there were screams of terror. Kieran had a hunch of what it was since it was written in stone thousands of years ago. It wasn't his first time experiencing this when Abaddon began the fifth wave of the apocalypse about two centuries prior, but he never finished it. To prolong his stay in this realm, Abaddon forced his pesky minions to cease their job and return to the abyss. Then, Lilith turned him into a vampire and married him for some unknown crazy reason Kieran would never fathom.

They were back to complete their duties and wipe out half of the population before passing the mission on to the sixth trumpet.

The buzzing was closer. A black cloud was enveloping the buildings nearby. Vampires and humans sprinted past them, warning others to run from the mysterious storm.

"Kieran? What's happening? What is that?"

"Do you trust me?" There wasn't time to explain. Unfortunately, their way out of the city was through there.

"Uh, yes?"

"Then, don't scream. Close your eyes or focus on me."

Kieran gripped his mate tight and flew into the swarm of monster locusts. Their sizes ranged from normal bugs to horses. They had scorpion tails, human-like faces, and lion teeth. They chose their prey carefully, only choosing the worst sinners of the bunch. Stingers paralyzed and hurt people, but not killing them. Their duty was to cause torment, stinging and stinging and stinging in an endless loop. Within days, the sinners will wish and plead for death. It was torture, physically and mentally.

Just like the deadly sins, they did not touch every person they came across-only those who stunk the most and deserved to be reaped to Hell. Teru started to yell when an unusually large locust beast followed them with curiosity.

"Don't, little one," Kieran huffed. Run. They had to run and get out of here. Go. Hurry. "They won't bother us."

Not a lie. Both they and Pride were technically heavenly beings, technically on the same team, just on the opposite side of the same coin. It was a mutual recognition, and hopefully, they sensed Teru as a virtue. If not...

The heat was unbearable when they reached the middle of the horde. The early morning blue sky was black. Hellfire blazed under the soil, melting the black tar used to mend the street cracks. It made every step sticky. Teru's bangs dripped sweat. Kieran had trouble breathing when the scent of rotten eggs and sewage wafted from Abaddon's domain. Limestone. Teru's face was green from it.

Ahead, Kieran saw a faint light through the billions of flying locusts that would eventually spread around the globe. There! He went faster, trying not to joggle Teru around too much. Almost there!

Almost!

~~~~~~~~

Kieran slowed and eventually stopped. The light brightened up under Teru's blanket. He hesitantly pulled the sheet down to see. The demonic flying bugs were behind them, a black wall that refused to spread out to this part of the city. Was it over? Teru turned his head to see in front of them.

His heart sunk. The locusts didn't come here because they feared their master.

King Abaddon was standing at the gate, the only entrance that allowed anything in and out of the island. An army, loyal to whoever was ruling Avania, stood at attention behind him in straight lines, at least a thousand individuals with guns and swords. The sun illuminated Abaddon's frame. The yellow rays taunted him, that he could never return to the heavens. Wet and dried blood caked the angel's face, bloody tears falling and falling. His broken, damaged wings pulsed like they were alive but dying. His one red eye still glowed, radiating power as the fifth trumpet. The pervertedness was gone. He openly expressed an unadulterated hatred for Kieran and Teru.

And there was a good reason for also directing this wrath towards Teru.

The left side of Abaddon's face was a nasty horror of penetrating werewolf bites, tangled hair, and missing chunks of brain matter. Why hadn't he healed by now?! Wasn't he the king who had drank from Kieran?! The man should've been good as new. Enough time had passed. There had to be a reason!

"Give. Me. That. Omega," he hissed. Teru got goosebumps from the holy-laced accent.

"Ní hea," Kieran barred his fangs in his native Gaelic tongue.

"No? No?!" Abaddon then responded to the denial with a string of sentences in a foreign language. Teru couldn't understand. It was beautiful, alien, but scary, too. His ears couldn't comprehend the sounds and clicks. Kieran didn't show it, but Teru sensed his confusion, too.

The two alphas sang a hymn of aggressive purrs and growls.

"Foolish. Fucking foolish," Abaddon snarled in English. "Everything Pride once was is dead. You're weak. You're a failure. You're nothing-"

Teru was proud of Kieran for not losing control when Abaddon kept insulting him. The old Pride would've taken these insults personally, hurting his inner sin.

Not this Kieran. Not my alpha. My amazing, fierce, and gentle alpha.

Abaddon stopped his tirade of verbal abuse, eyes flying from side to side before darkening. He growled at the newcomers. Next to Teru and Kieran were his siblings, not in any particular order:

Sloth.

Greed.

Lust.

Pride.

Gluttony.

Wrath.

Envy.

They all stood in a line facing their stepfather, faces contorted with their deadly sins. The only vampire who had not shifted to their full ability was Tristan, still normal. Even in this situation, knowing his family needed his help, he was being like this?! Tristan and Teru accidentally made eye contact. They looked away sheepishly. How awkward!

"How about this Pride?" Abaddon called to him. "Another challenge. Between us," he gestured to himself and his thousand or more trained soldiers, "and the seven deadly sins with anyone else's help...if they want to come to your aid, that is. The winner will be determined until you or I meet death. Choose wisely, Pride. Either accept my offer, or I'll forever hunt you down from your hiding places until I capture you. I'll slaughter your mate slowly after I breed him. You understand, right? I need to continue Ryoma's bloodline and get a few pups out of him. When he's all used up and barren of fertility, I'll freeze his body and force you to eat his boiled meat, soaked in a sauce made from my blood. You can use his skin as a blanket in the prison cells."

Wha-?! Stupid alpha! You idiot bastard! Teru yelled in his thoughts, projecting his own anger into furious, loud purrs that could be heard from a mile away. How dare you! You know you command the military! They don't have an army like you do! There's no one else!

Kieran growled sharply at Teru to be quiet. He listened...begrudgingly.

"And if you die?" Kieran inquired.

Abaddon wanted to laugh. "Whoever kills me will be the next ruler of Avania. Command my armies. Do whatever the fuck they want with it. How about that?"

The ocean wind howled, blowing their hair and clothes. The last of the snow melted, mixing with the blood-tainted road. Everyone waited for an answer. Teru felt Kieran's nails dig into his thighs. Through their destined connection, he knew the emotions his alpha was feeling: worried, peeved, enraged...but mostly scared. Both choices would risk Kieran's newfound family.

He lifted his head proudly and announced, "I accept the challenge." The words rang throughout New York, like the heavens had turned up the volume in his voice to match Abaddon's. Teru prayed that was a good sign, to have them on their side.

They'd need a miracle.