by Ciara Graves
“Well?”
“We went to spy on the advancing army,” Ilran said as Lela yelled at her to stop. “What? He’s right. He should know.”
Lela cursed and stalked away, limping across the floor to a row of chairs. She sat down hard, stretching her right calf. “We found out what Hadariel’s up to. What his main plan is, and then we came right back to Dakota. Happy?”
“No, Lela, I won’t be happy while the woman I care about sits in front of me looking like she was beaten to shit, again.” I bit off each word, and Lela’s jaw tensed. “You’re going to honestly tell me nowhere in this outing of yours were you attacked? Where did you get those bruises?” I scoffed as she glanced away. I shifted my furious stare to Ilran.
“Hadariel tried to kill her,” she said, and a ferocious snarl burst from my chest. “He almost strangled her to death, but she popped him in the face with that damned shotgun of hers, and we got away.”
“See? We got away,” Lela said as if that was the end of it.
“What were you thinking? You can’t be seen by him. He wants you dead.”
“Obviously,” she replied flatly.
“Do you have any idea what you’re putting at risk? You will not throw your life away. Do you hear me? You are going to keep your ass in Dakota unless I say otherwise.”
She shot to her feet, pushing through the pain it clearly caused her. She shoved me again, then once more, even harder, as she shouted, “You do not give orders here, Lord Mech. I do. This is my compound. I am the commander, and they answer to me. Not you. I don’t answer to you,” she added, emphasizing the first word.
I grabbed her upper arms and lowered my face making our eyes even. “You will not leave Dakota,” I seethed. “I will not have someone bring back your corpse.”
“Like I almost did with yours?” I flinched at her words, but then she was talking again. “Do you honestly think for the last six days I’ve been what, standing up here twiddling my thumbs, pining away for you to return?” She tore herself free of me, turned, and limped for the door. “You’re unbelievable,” she threw over her shoulder. “You wanted Commander Lela back. Well, guess what, here she is. Take it or leave it.” Then she was out the door, slamming it shut behind her.
Ilran had her hand over her face, hiding a smile. Bryan rubbed the back of his neck, looking uncomfortable. I took two steps after her, then stopped. She needed time to cool down. I could give her that. For a few minutes at least. I changed direction and came back to the table.
“You said something about an army coming for Dakota,” I said, nodding toward the map. I’d have to have a word with Bobby and Kexan later about what counted as pertinent information. I should’ve known how dire this situation was the first time I woke up.
Ilran thankfully went right into an explanation and said nothing about the fight between Lela and me. “There’s a force coming straight for Dakota, as you heard,” she said as she adjusted the map. “It’s grown and expanded. They’re going to surround us. They’ve been wiping out any human settlements they come across, the ones we can’t convince the humans to flee and come here.”
The mass was enormous. There had to be nearly a hundred thousand marching for the compound. “I’m assuming that you saw Zeraxin when you and Lela went on your spying mission?”
Ilran’s gaze shifted to my side, where I’d been wounded. It took everything I had not to reach for those new scars that gave an uncomfortable twinge under her weighted gaze. “We did, but the tensions between him and Hadariel seemed high.”
“Lela said you heard what his plan is with a device? How it works?”
“Part of it.” Ilran zoomed the map out, so the whole region was visible. “Hadariel has created some sort of device that will keep Hell permanently open to evil.”
“We know that.”
“What we didn’t know,” she said as she glared, “is how it’s powered. And where it is.” She hesitated, seemed uncertain about telling me everything. “Angels. He’s using his own damned angels to fuel the device. Sending them to this sacred location to be slaughtered.”
“Sacred location?” Bile rose in my throat at the notion of Hadariel being so cruel as to kill his own angels. Then again, with what he did to Lela and her family, nothing should surprise me. “Where did he mean?”
“That’s the problem. He didn’t say, but Lela and I are thinking it’s got to be the oldest and most powerful location to both races. The place where our powers stem from. The source. If that’s true, then it might explain why no one alive seems capable of remembering where exactly that is. Bastard.”
“You really think he’s that powerful?”
“At this point, yes, sadly. Not that it matters now. It’d be nice to find the source and the device, but we have more urgent matters to deal with. When that army hits us, we’re dead.”
“You asked Lela about shields,” I said slowly. “What did you mean?”
“She’s trying to find a way to shield humans from the negative effects of being in Hell too long,” Bryan answered. “If we keep retreating, Hadariel and his forces will always find us. But if we can make it to Hell and stay there until we find a way to stop him, then maybe Hadariel won’t succeed in wiping out all of humanity. Shit, maybe we can find a way to seal Hell off from him altogether.”
“Shields using what? hellfire?”
“And holy light,” Ilran added. “She’s almost getting it to work, but they don’t last long enough to be effective.”
“She’s combining them?”
“No, using them separately. But combining them might not be a bad idea to try.”
Try was the operative word. If hellfire and holy light were that similar, why did it make it so easy to kill each other during the war? Why didn’t the source of our power find a way to stop us from slaughtering so many of each race? I guessed it was a stupid, childish notion to think they would somehow end this war. We were on our own. No greater being was going to swoop in and save us. Whoever created us all those eons ago had abandoned this world to its fate, whatever that might be.
“Mech,” Ilran said, yanking me from my musings. “You might want to go smooth things over with Lela sooner rather than later.”
She was right, but that didn’t make me head for the door yet. If I went after her now, she was likely to throw a lamp at my head. Or deck me. Possibly both. Was it so unreasonable that I ask her not to die? I was beyond happy to see she’d found her fighting spirit once again, but not if it meant her standing against Hadariel alone.
“I’m sure I’ll be seeing you both soon,” I muttered, resigned to my fate too, and left.
The demons I had sent outside all gave me varying looks of amusement, annoyance. A few appeared angry. Kexan and Bobby were right. Lela had won the demons to her side. If only she’d been able to do that and stay an angel, then my worries for her might not be driving me crazy. All I could see was Hadariel’s hands around her throat and not getting there to save her in time.
A loud crash came from the armory. T
he guards were outside still, but neither of them moved to investigate the noise. Instead, they exchanged a worried glance, looked over their shoulders, then turned back to face forward. As I approached, they squared their shoulders.
“Who’s in there?” I asked.
“Commander Lela, sir,” the demon replied then winced when another loud crash thundered out the door. “She’s, uh, going through supplies.”
“And does she usually make so much noise?”
“No, sir, but she told us to stay out here.”
A third crash followed by a furious shout had all three of us flinching. I had seen Lela pissed off before, but this felt different. Her emotions battered against me and were all over the place. Standing out here all day was just going to drag out the inevitable fight that was coming.
As I started to go inside, one of the demons muttered, “Good luck, sir.”
I shoved open the door and ducked at the last second as a crate f
lew across the room. It shattered against the door, empty magazines clattering to the floor around me. Lela stood at the other end of the room, eyes narrowed to angry slits.
“Oops,” she said then picked up another crate.
“I did just finish healing,” I reminded her.
A second crate was chucked at me.
This one I caught and set to the side. “You done?”
“What do you think?” She grabbed a third, but I lunged across the room and snatched it away.
“Stop, alright?”
“Is that an order, oh great Lord Tonamech?” She backed away, and her hand twitched toward a metal ammo box this time. If that smoked me in the head, it’d leave a mark. “Do you have any other orders for me to carry out? Should I fetch your boots for you? Shine them too?”
“What has gotten into you?”
“No, what has gotten into you?” she fired back and grabbed for the ammo box. I beat her to it and shoved it out of her reach. I crowded her, stopping her from grabbing anything else she could throw at me.
I held her shoulders when she made to dart to the side. “Stop, Lela. Just talk to me, damn it. Why are you so pissed, huh? What? What did I do?”
“You almost died,” she ranted, and I froze. “You almost died and left me. That’s what’s wrong.”
“It’s not like I wanted to.”
“But you did. I had to stand by and do nothing except pray we got to you in time.” A mad laugh escaped her mouth. “Pray,” she scoffed. “Like that does anyone any good anymore.” Her body slumped forward as she shook her head, sending locks of hair falling from the braid they’d been in. “I threw myself into doing what I could here to try and make myself feel useful.”
“You’re more than useful. Shit, Lela, you do see what’s out those doors, right? You did that. You turned this place into a fortress. You have demons following you. Demons, Lela.”
“It’s not enough,” she whispered and that damned sound of defeat she’d had after Hadariel tore out her wings crept into her voice. “I was almost too late. I can’t let that happen again. I won’t.”
“Sucks, doesn’t it,” I murmured.
“What does?”
“Watching the person you care for most in the world lying hurt, bleeding out.” I tucked her hair behind her ears then cupped her cheek. “You are enough, Lela. But as much as you can do, you have to remember you have limits.”
“So do you.” She ran her fingers along my chest. From the haunted look in her eyes, she saw my wounds all too clearly again. “I’m sorry about your father, Mech, I am, but here on the surface, I have to be strong all the time. I am Commander Lela and as much as I love you going all crazy demon on me when I get hurt, can you please save that for when we’re alone?”
That was not what I wanted to hear, but I nodded. “I’ll try.”
“Guess it’s all I can ask for.”
“You done trying to put me back in the infirmary then?”
“Are you finished trying to keep me from joining the fight?” she asked in turn.
I leaned down and kissed her. “Never,” I whispered against her lips. “But I’m not that much of an idiot to keep arguing with you now.”
“Mech,” she muttered until I kissed her.
Right then, having her in my arms was the only thing keeping me from losing my mind. An army of evil was coming straight for us. Unless she could get these shields of hers to work, there would be nowhere for the humans to retreat.
Today, I’d spend time with Lela, making up for the six days that we both thought I was going to die. Tomorrow, we’d figure out a way to save what was left of our world.
Chapter 4
Lela
“You can stop smiling at any time now.”
Mech’s reflection in the bathroom mirror shrugged. “What can I say? It’s nice to see you getting some sleep.”
“I don’t have time to sleep.” I finished dragging my hair into a bun then turned around.
He stood in the doorway, taking up most of it with his broad shoulders. His horned head rested against the frame, and those eyes smoldered.
“We have work to do. There’s an army coming to kill us all.”
“And?” He took a step forward, and my heart fluttered as a smile spread across my face. He didn’t return it this time. “Melinda and the others told me you haven’t been eating or sleeping.”
“I’ve been doing enough.”
“Those bags under your eyes would say otherwise. You’re not alone, Lela. You don’t have to carry the weight of humanity on your shoulders.” He tilted my chin up with his fingers then lightly brushed his lips over mine. “You’re going to start getting a few hours of sleep and eating regular meals. Understand?”
“What happened to you not bossing me around?” I mumbled, wrapping an arm around his neck to keep him close.
“We’re alone. I can be as bossy as I want. And,” he said, kissing me again, “if you insist on being a pain in the ass and fighting even when I ask you not to, you have to keep up your strength. That means eating and sleeping. Understood, Commander Lela?”
I was ready to argue with him some more, but he cut off my arguments with a kiss that left me breathless. I missed him during those six days. Every time I’d shut my eyes, I imagined him never coming back to me. Sudden desperation had me pulling him as close as I could to remind myself he was alive and with me again. Zeraxin and Hadariel hadn’t won.
“Commander Lela?” Melinda’s voice rang out through the apartment as she knocked. “Nathaniel has returned as have the scouts.”
I broke off the kiss, ignoring Mech’s growl. “I’ll be right down,” I called to Melinda.
“Five more minutes,” Mech whispered in my ear.
I shook my head and pushed him toward the door. “Now. We’ve been up here too long anyway.”
“Not even close,” he said but sighed heavily.
We exited the apartment, trudged downstairs, and passed Melinda and Xavier at their post. Both smiled at us, and we turned for Town Hall. Mech took my hand, and we walked linked together through Dakota. As we neared the heart of the compound, I spotted a familiar head of blond hair surrounded by a sight I never thought I’d see in Dakota again. Angels, far more of them than I thought Nathaniel would be able to get out of the Heavens without bringing down the wraith of Hadariel on his head, were clustered around.
“Might be some hope after all,” Mech said, nodding with approval at the sight of the angels.
Our celebration at the reinforcements was short-lived. When the angels parted for me and Mech, I cursed and ran the rest of the way to Nathaniel. He was being held up by two other angels. Blood covered his chest and face.
“What happened to you?” I took over for one of the angels as Mech held up his other side. A look around showed me Nathaniel wasn’t the only one wounded. “Nathaniel?”
“Lavina.” He spat blood from his mouth then laughed quietly. “Tried to stop us.”
“Why are you laughing?”
He rolled his head toward me. “Cause I finally got her to shut up.”
“Lavina’s dead?”
Nathaniel’s eyes fluttered closed. I tapped his cheek, but he was out. His body turned to dead weight and Mech hefted him over his shoulder.
“I’ll get him to the infirmary.”
I counted the others who were wounded. “And I’ll bring everyone else.”
The details on the fight between Nathaniel and Lavina would have to wait until he was conscious. I directed the wounded angels to follow me to the infirmary and when I spied Bryan standing a few yards away, called to him. He hurried to my side.
I asked him to get those angels not injured to Town Hall. “I’ll speak with them all there once I know Nathaniel’s going to live.”
Bryan gave my arm a quick squeeze, then we set off to take care of our new arrivals.
The next couple of hours were spent patching burns, slashes, and stabs, a few broken limbs, and doing our best to make
the angels comfortable, so they could heal. Nathaniel was the worst, and as Bailey went on her third hour of taking care of him, I paced just on the other side of the partition, praying I wouldn’t hear my friend’s last breath.
“Lela?”
I stopped short at the sound of that voice. “Harriet?”
The angel healer stood in the doorway of the infirmary. She held out her arms, and then she was hugging me. Words tumbled out of her mouth. Most, I didn’t understand.
“You’re alive,” she said clearly when she finally pulled back and cupped my face. “I heard Nathaniel say your name and that you were here, but I didn’t want to believe it. I was so worried when you disappeared. I thought Hadariel killed you. Like he did your parents.”
My smile faltered. “You… you knew?”
She hung her head. “Morael told me a while back when he and Remiel began plotting against Hadariel. It’s why I did my best to look out for you. Lela, I’m so sorry.”
I hugged her then, taking her by surprise. “You’re here now, that’s what matters.”
“You’re not angry?”
“I have a lot to be pissed off about, but you kept me safe, for a while, at least.” We went back to the partition and peered in on Nathaniel. “Did you see the fight?”
“Some of it. He was sneaking angels through the portal when Lavina confronted him. She had her whole guard with her. Nathaniel ignored her and just started proclaiming the truth. It was enough to make Lavina attack him. Those who were loyal to Hadariel tried to stop us.” Her eyes glimmered. “Lavina’s head flying through the air is a sight I’ll never forget.”
“Perhaps I can assist the demon healer,” Harriet suggested then went to speak with Bailey. The two healers exchanged quick greetings then went right to work.
