by Maya Daniels
"You'll pay for this." Snatching my arm and pulling me to him, he growls deep in his throat, turning my legs to jelly.
Summoning all the strength inside me, enough to make women worldwide proud for resisting the delicious specimen next to me, I purse my lips. "I seem to remember that you are the one paying for it, monster boy." Lifting one eyebrow, staring pointedly at his hand wrapped around my arm, I start peeling it from my skin with two fingers. "No touchy-feely for you after making me do things against my will."
"Helena." There is a warning in the way he says my name, but I turn on my heels, strutting away from him.
"Come, boy!" Glancing over my shoulder, I slap my hand a couple of times on my thigh, the leather making a snapping sound echo around the quiet parking lot as if I'm calling a pet. His green eyes turn amber, and I almost stumble from the hunger staring at me from their depths.
Maddison laughs joyfully as she walks towards the glass double doors, and I hurry after her like she can save me from the demon setting his sights on me. When I reach the doors close enough to be able to see the lobby, a frown forms between my eyebrows. Lauren glares at me a moment before all the blood drains from her face, and moving faster than I thought her able, she disappears in the hallway to our right. She can't still hate me for being Eric's mate, can she? Turning around to see if Eric had something to do with her reaction, I’m just in time to see Raphael colliding into his back. The Archangel’s head was swiveling around, not paying attention before bumping into Eric.
"That woman is starting to get on my nerves," Maddison slows down and tells me conversationally, just as we walk through the glass doors that parted in front of us.
"Yeah." Still not understanding her reaction, I glance at Maddison. "I'm not sure she likes me much." Smiling to not show my discomfort, I wave a hand between us. "Not that I care, mind you. I have enough shit to deal with without her."
Nodding, Maddison stays quiet after that, and I forget all about it when we reach the second set of doors. We walk through the creepy hallway with no sound, like a soundproof chamber. I can feel Raphael's anxiety around us, and notice Eric's nostrils flare as he glances at the Archangel. My feet move faster to reach the doors at the end. It's unsettling to not even hear our footsteps on the tiles. We practically spill inside Maddison's office as soon as we reach it in our rush.
"Ah! It's here!" She claps her hands excitedly, rushing to her desk.
My feet slow down until I freeze in place, staring at her open mouthed. Looking at Raphael and Eric, I'm grateful that I'm not the only one shocked to the point of stupidity. Maddison, without a care in the world, lifts the curved dagger from her desk gingerly, like she’s holding some priceless artifact and lifting it for us to see. It feels like we just entered The Avatar, the curved blade resembling the Na' vi daggers. Smiling from ear to ear, she's almost vibrating with excitement.
"This is for you," she tells me, my mouth unhinging more, if that is possible. "It belonged to your father."
Eric
Holding myself back so I don’t rip Maddison to pieces, I clench my fists. She means well; I know that, but she didn't hear Helena telling me she wants revenge. Now, here we are with Maddison handing her a weapon that belonged to a demon of vengeance. It's too much of a fucked-up situation for this to be a coincidence. Do I prevent her from touching it, or should I let the web unravel as the fates seem fit?
Raphael is standing next to me, coiled up like a spring ready to snap, leaning on the balls of his feet. For the umpteenth time, my mind wonders why he is here, however, at this moment, I'm hoping his presence will be the conscience the rest of us are lacking and it'll stop Helena from taking that blade. I almost nudge him to speak, but he beats me to it.
"I'm not sure that's a smart thing to do." He sounds pained, and his voice is strained.
I glare at Maddison. She pointedly ignores me.
"It's her right to carry it. She needs a weapon anyway." My cousin sounds reasonable, like a witch luring you to bite an apple. That thought is like a bucket of cold water dumped on my head.
"Stop!" My yell is like a whip, stopping Helena's fingers an inch from touching the blade. She looks at me over her shoulder, her green eyes wide. "We don't know if that's your father's. Demonic weapons are not something to play with lightly." My murderous glare will freeze anyone in their tracks.
Maddison rolls her eyes. "It belonged to her father, Eric." Waving the blade now clutched in one of her hands, she points it at me. "Only one vengeance demon has died in the last thirty years. Want to guess which one of them is her father?" Her eyebrows climb up her forehead, mocking me. "Plus, I'm touching it dumbass. It's just a blade! A sharp thingy that can save her life if she needs it, I might add." She makes a few jabbing motions in the air, demonstrating the stabbing part of her comment.
I move at the same time as Helena, but she is too close to Maddison. My fingers curl around her arm at the same time as hers wrap around the handle of the blade. Helena hisses in pain but doesn't let go of the dagger. The red leather handle shimmers for a second before the curved blade begins glowing. At first faintly, but the longer she holds it, the brighter the deep red glow is. Symbols are appearing on the blade, easily noticeable by their golden light. Raphael's sharp intake of breath makes my head snap in his direction.
The Archangel looks pale, and with all the blood drained from his face, he resembles a statue. His mouth is opening and closing, but no sound is coming out. His yellow eyes turn to liquid gold, losing their similarity to human eyes. One of his arms is stretched in front of his, as if he wanted to stop Helena before she touched the blade. But he was too late, and it was all for nothing.
Turning back to Helena, I search her face. She ignores all of us, intently studying the weapon in her hand. Her wrist moves this way and that, examining it before testing its weight in her hand. Slowly, she lifts her head up and looks at me. The office is as quiet as the hallway leading here.
I'm holding my breath.
"I like it." Smiling happily at me, Helena moves her wrist in circular motions, testing the blade more. "It freaked me out at first." With a whoosh, I release my breath a moment too soon. "I think it bit me."
"WHAT?" My roar makes everyone flinch, including me.
Helena dances away from me, wrenching her arm free from my grip when I try to snatch the blade from her hand. Raphael seems ready to pass out, so I ignore him. Maddison looks from me to Helena with a shocked expression on her face. Rounding on her, my hand grabs her delicate throat, lifting her off her feet.
"I told you not to give her the cursed blade." She doesn't fight me, goosebumps popping out on her arms at the sound of my voice.
I squeeze harder, angry enough to kill her for hurting Helena. Then, a mind-numbing pain blooms on my side, sending me crashing into the opposite wall. I must've released Maddison because I'm crumpled and disoriented all by myself next to the obviously sturdy wall. Not even dust falls on me from it. Shaking my head to clear it, I look up just in time to see my mate helping my cousin to her feet. Helena even glares at me before fretting over Maddison like she's a human that was just attacked by a demon. The demon being me, obviously.
"What the hell is the matter with you, Eric?" Spitting the words angrily, Helena looks Maddison up and down one more time before fully turning to me. "You are out of control. We are killing each other now?"
And it's that moment that my brain got back online. Lifting myself off the floor, I watch Helena glare at me with her arms crossed over her stomach, pushing her breasts up. "Did you just hit me, cupcake?"
"I've also shot you twice, but you never complained before. And I wasn't the one on the floor so I'd reconsider using the word cupcake." Smirking, her gaze sweeps me, as if checking for injuries. Throwing my head back, I laugh. "I will do it again if you attack either one of them." Her glare is back, but I keep chuckling. "There is nothing funny here!"
"Sorry." Snickering a couple more times, coughing to cover it up with no success, I shake my
head. "I might've overreacted a little." When her glare turns deadly, I amend, "A lot." She huffs but doesn't move away from her place between Maddison and me. "You can't blame me. After our talk earlier, I didn't know what to expect. And you said it bit you. Let me see."
"They must've known the blade would find its way to her." Raphael's words stop me from reaching for the blade. We all turn to the Archangel that is still ashen, resembling a statue with glowing, golden eyes.
"What are you talking about?" Maddison comes around her desk to stand next to Helena and me. "It's a blade, no matter the light show."
"Those are angelic sigils on a demonic blade, Maddison. No one but her could've activated them." His head tilts, the only indication that he is watching Helena since he has no irises or pupils. "You said it bit you, yes? It must've drawn blood. Your power had to have activated it."
"How is that possible." I've never heard of anything like this in all my centuries. "More importantly, how do you know about it?"
"Her mother mentioned it to me before she died. Like she knew her days were numbered. I thought it was some nonsense the demon was feeding her to keep her at his side."
"Exactly how close were you to my mother, angel?" Helena takes the words out of my mouth.
Raphael shakes his head as if clearing it before his eyes turn back to normal, pulling himself out of the shock. "That is a very long story." Watching Helena warily, he clears his throat. "I will tell you everything you want to know, but I thought we needed to get to your earthly father fast. We wouldn't want to leave him to suffer so I can tell you tales from times past."
Helena straightens her shoulders just as the Archangel knew she would. He ignores my glare. Maddison and I exchange a glance, but my mate is already moving. I'll find out what the feathered asshole is hiding if it's the last thing I do.
"Let's go!" Pulling the door open, almost ripping it off the hinges, Helena bolts out of the room like it's on fire. "There will be time to talk later. We must get Hector."
I follow right on her heels, passing the Archangel. "Whatever it is you are hiding, pray to your creator it doesn't hurt my mate. Neither Heaven, nor Hell, will be big enough to hide you from me."
I see him flinch and nod solemnly at me before I disappear through the door.
Helena
The air in the SUV is thicker than before. It’s almost painful to breathe with the testosterone oozing out of Eric in spades. Part of me melts at his protective side, pushing me to go hide and squeal in delight.
Like an idiot.
The other part, thankfully much stronger and smarter, wants me to punch him in the face for acting like a caveman. Or like I have no brain, needing him to tell me what’s right for me. I can’t blame him because of everything that happened, but I’m not happy about it. It makes me feel like a burden. Someone he needs to continually look after, like a child.
I watch the metal bars of the familiar decoration stretching up towards the dark sky holding the peach symbolic for Georgia between them as we exit Atlanta, heading towards the Sanctuary. The traffic thins around us, only an occasional vehicle passing on either side of I-75. Trees stretch in a never-ending line to our right, giving me a peaceful feeling despite the tension around me. I understand Eric’s reaction. I don’t like it, and I’ll have to talk to him about it, but now is not the time. So, pushing those thoughts aside, I look down at the dagger I’m still holding in my hand like someone might take it from me.
“You okay?” Maddison asks softly, for my ears only.
Not looking away from the blade, I barely nod my head a few times. I think I’m okay, which is a lot more than Hector can say. When I first touched the handle of the dagger, it freaked me out when I felt it pinch my palm. Switching hands, I look at the tiny hole at the center. It drew blood before it started glowing, flooding me with so much power I felt my skin might burst from it. Feeling dizzy for a moment, grinding my teeth, I kept breathing slowly, not to freak out the other three people in the room. What seemed like an eternity later, but it was only a second or two surely, it balanced itself out and felt like it was part of me. Not like my guns were; this is much deeper, more personal. The weight of it was like regaining the movement of your arm after it being numb for hours. Painful, yet pleasant. A gift left from my parents before they parted with their lives. Could they have known that I would survive the wrath of the Archangels?
Turning my head slowly to the side, hoping no one will notice what I’m doing, I glance at Raphael in the back seat. I can’t make out his features, just a dark silhouette in the shadows, but I can tell he is sitting still as a statue. Not moving a muscle. The answers lay with him, I know that much. Fortunately for him, because he looks reluctant to share his story, we’ve wasted enough time with my meltdown and Eric’s caveman behavior. I’ll have to get to the bottom of it after we get Hector to safety.
Lost in my thoughts, I don’t realize how much time has passed. When I look out the window, the familiar secluded road meets my gaze, twisting and turning between tall, thick trees. The headlights turn off, plunging us into darkness. My heart jackhammers in my chest while my hand clutches the blade in a tight grip, and I blink a few times trying to adjust, seeing only with the moon as a guide. The silvery glow peeks in and out between the tops of the trees we are passing. I almost scream when Eric’s fingers grip my shoulder. A pathetic yelp escapes, unfortunately.
“We will get him out, Hel.” I can hear the laughter he is hiding clear in his voice at the embarrassing sound I made. “Let’s just not act rashly, that way we don’t hurt the innocent bystanders.”
My anger spikes, remembering all the hunters responsible for the destruction of the home Eric and Maddison built for their kind when Michael took me. They don’t feel like bystanders to me. I tell them as much. My words are like an axe hitting the executioner’s block just before the head thumps to the ground. It’s almost as if no one is breathing.
“Don’t blame them for something they may not have control over, Helena,” Raphael speaks for the first time. “My brother can be very persuasive when he wants something as badly as he wants you.”
“You forget I was there, Archangel.” Turning to see him over my shoulder, I make sure he knows I’m not going to allow them to get away with hurting those that haven’t done anything wrong. There were children there for God’s sake, regardless if they were demon or human. “I fought them, and they looked very lucid to me.”
“I’m not saying for you to let them hurt you. I’m just saying they might be misguided in some matters,” he says tiredly.
The SUV comes to a stop just as my patience flies out the window. Pushing the door open, I stop, my body half outside, half inside the vehicle. “I’m the last person you should worry about hurting innocents, Raphael. But know one thing.” Turning to look him dead in the eyes, I see him stiffen. “Anyone that has hurt Hector is fair game to me. He raised most of them, feeding them and wiping their tears while growing up alongside me. If they don’t know what’s right, or wrong, I’ll make sure to teach them tonight.”
Jumping out of the car, gently pushing the door closed so I don’t announce our presence if patrols are nearby, I turn in a circle, looking around. Eric comes to my back, his arms circling my waist and pulling me into the warmth of his body. Allowing myself a moment of weakness, I lean on him, relishing his nearness. Who knows what we will come across tonight. I’ll enjoy this moment as much as I can. His head comes down, his breath tickling the skin on my neck before his warm lips press on the carotid artery pulsing wildly there. “I got you, Hel.” His lips skim the surface of my skin when he speaks. “You are not doing this alone. Where you go, I go. We will get him out.”
“I know.” Speaking just as softly, I squeeze his forearms encircling me in gratitude. “I just don’t know what we will find when we get to him.”
“We are talking about Hector.” Turning me around so I’m facing him, Eric looks sternly at me. “The old man that had balls of steel when he came to me and a
sked me to kill his daughter. Even knowing that I wouldn’t be able to do it. No matter what they’ve done, as long as he is breathing, the old goat will be fine. You’ll see.”
I can’t help but smile at that. Eric has a point. I think my stubbornness comes from Hector, even if he is not blood. Knowing that he will pull through no matter what makes me stand straighter. Eric grins proudly at me, so I punch him in the gut just because.
“So violent for a half angel.” He chuckles, but he is grinding his teeth, making me grin at him.
“Helena!” Jared hissing my name from behind one of the trees puts my mind back on track.
“Jared?” Quickly glancing around, I run towards him, the rest of our group following fast. “Why are you here? I told you to ask George to meet us!”
Jared looks over his shoulder as if expecting Michael to pop out from behind a tree. Anxiety ricochets to new heights inside me. “They dragged George out, kicking and screaming, while I was telling him what you said.” Gulping, his wide, panicked eyes look glazed with terror “They said he was possessed, and he needs to be locked up or put down for our safety. I couldn’t help him. I stood there watching them drag him away, Hel.”
He is horrified, shaking like a leaf. “Where is Cass, Jared?” Grabbing his shoulders, I jostle him to make him snap out of it. “Look at me, Jared! Where is Cass?”
“I don’t know…” his words trail off as if it is the first time remembering his girlfriend. I frown at him.
“What are you playing at Jared?” Releasing him, I take a step away from him.
His face transforms from terrified to gloating in a blink of an eye. Black spots are dancing at the corners of my eyes. “Not so tough now, Helena, are you?”
