The sky above New York was cracked with silent lightning.
Lucifer's wings tore through clouds as he flew, the city burning below in crimson veins of fire and collapsed steel. His horns glowed faintly in the dawn light. Each beat of his wings sent shockwaves rippling through the smoke around him. The world blurred beneath his flight path—skyscrapers like blackened bones, streets strewn with blood and overturned cars. His mind pulsed with his father's last words. Go to the Vampire Realm. Gather your people. Live to fight again.
But every muscle in his body ached to fly toward Adam. To end it now.
His breath shook as he cut through the upper air currents, wings trembling with raw new power. Flying felt wrong. His body was used to running, killing on land, hunting from shadows. Not this. Not open sky and cold wind slicing against his face.
