Jai pushed him back, glaring daggers. “Oh, I don’t know. I guess I left the thinking to you so I could be free to actually do something!”
“Do something? You can’t interfere every time he decides to do something you don’t like.”
“There was no deciding, and you know it.” Jai jabbed his index finger into Noel’s chest.
Noel smacked his hand away with an audible slap as his lips pursed. “You had no right—”
“I had every right.” Jai invaded Noel’s space until they were nose to nose. Noel didn’t even flinch. “He was scared.”
Noel’s conviction faltered, his eyes darting away. “Maybe he was just nervous.”
Hold up! Were they talking about me?
“He didn’t want her.” Jai crossed his arms over his chest with an obstinate jut to his chin.
Noel threw up his hands impatiently like he was dealing with a stubborn child. “We shouldn’t have interfered. We aren’t supposed to—”
“We aren’t supposed to do a lot of things, but you didn’t seem so averse to breaking the rules when you were playing his damn computer games.” Jai smirked in victory as Noel wilted, guilt flitting over his gentle features.
Okay, they were definitely talking about me.
Forgotten in the face of their argument, I backed away. My ears rang, obscuring their shouted words, and I used their distraction to escape. Turning tail, I sprinted away from the pulsing music and drunken laughter, the heated yelling between my two new almost-friends.
Shock covered me like a blanket, numbing me to the fear and confusion swirling through my body. The ghost of Kayla’s hands on my hips and the taste of fake grape on my tongue blurred my vision with tears. To flee my mounting sins, I ran.
Chapter Seven
My lungs burned for oxygen as I limped toward my dorm building, the stitch in my side complaining with every step. I wasn’t exactly the athletic type, and I resembled a fish out of water as I staggered toward the front entrance, panting. My impromptu exercise routine merged with my shame, and I swallowed bile.
I had gone to a party and allowed a girl to kiss me, to touch me. I was dirty and soiled; I needed to cleanse. I needed to kneel before my bed and beg for forgiveness. I was a vile, wicked boy. Sick, evil, foul—
“Excuse me.”
A shadow shifted in the alley between the two dorm buildings, and an embarrassing shriek exploded from my mouth as I was torn from my self-deprecating tirade. Hand on my abused heart, I faced the stranger bathed in shadow as the autumn breeze drifted lazily through my hair. My gut twisted with irrational fright, and the urge to run rushed through me—stitch in my side be darned.
“Excuse me, I seem to be lost. Could you give me some directions?” the man asked, his eyes glittering in the dull light of the lamppost.
I shoved the foreboding feeling away, even as my instincts screamed for caution. “Um, yeah, sure.”
“I really appreciate the help. I’ve always been rather useless in unfamiliar places.” His forced chuckle grated on my already frayed nerves.
I expected him to approach me, but he remained just inside of the alley. Hiding my annoyance, I shuffled forward. “Where do you need to go?”
As I drew near, the darkness eased, and moonlight glinted off his shiny, bald head. His features were boringly common, from his simple brown eyes to his weak chin. He was entirely forgettable in appearance, but my survival instinct reared back when his gaze met mine.
“Where do you need to go?” I repeated when he did nothing but stare at me.
Astonishment colored his expression momentarily before an unnerving smile curled his lips. “Huh, I thought you were female. Not that it matters.”
“Excuse me?” My sour mood plummeted further. Maybe I wasn’t the epitome of manly, but I was still a boy!
He ignored my indignation, inhaling deeply, testing the air. His body stiffened. “Peculiar.” He tilted his head in curiosity. “What an unexpected treat you are. Come here, child.”
I folded my arms over my chest, half-turning away. “Listen, mister—”
Fast as lightning, he moved. A fist tangled in my shirt, and I was dragged into the alley. He muffled my cry of alarm with a hand over my mouth as I fought in vain against his too-strong hold. The biting scent of sulfur and ash burrowed into my pores. On a cellular level, my body rebelled.
My back met the brick wall, fingers circling my throat to pin me there. I screamed into his palm as he stooped to my height with pupils blown wide. The sclera of his eyes bled red, and his lips parted over gleaming fangs where his incisors should have been. Razor sharp, they lengthened before my very eyes, and my thin thread of sanity snapped.
This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real. Vampires were folklore, stuff of legend, and my mind wasn’t to be trusted. I was overstressed and experiencing another psychiatric break. Yes, that was what was happening right now. This wasn’t real. Please, don’t let this be real!
“What a pleasant surprise, coming across such a delicacy.” He growled, the sound more animal than human. “I’m not even sure what you are, but I have a feeling you’re going to taste divine.”
My every struggle was met with unyielding strength. The hand at my throat cinched my airway, hoisting me into the air until my feet dangled above the ground. I couldn’t scream. I could barely breathe. Oh God, tonight was really not my night!
Tears streamed down my cheeks as I choked and sputtered. The creature relished my strangled sobs, and my stomach heaved as something hot and wet slicked up my throat—his tongue. Piercing fangs scratched over my jugular, and my pathetic whimpers dissolved into weeping. He was going to kill me. I was going to die.
“I’d tell you not to scream, but I do so enjoy it.” He tongued my pulse point, and I squeezed my eyes shut, praying for a miracle. “By all means, child. Scream for me.”
Needle-like fangs sank into the nape of my neck, ripping through skin and tissue. Agony tore through me; acid burned my blood, disintegrating my arteries. Muscle and sinew melted. As my flesh dissolved, every bone in my body simultaneously shattered. My vision darkened, blinding me to everything but the pain.
And scream, I did.
What felt like years later, I surfaced from the eternal suffering to the most beautiful sound I had ever heard—a rasped snarl I had come to recognize.
“Get your filthy claws off my ward!”
As the vampire released me from his bite, my head lolled to the side, and I whimpered. With tears blurring my vision, I barely managed to make sense of the image before me. Jai stood at the mouth of the alley, eyes blazing with wrath, face pinched. But what terrified me more than the promise of murder in his expression and the two swords in his grasp were the two massive, ebony wings sprouting from his back.
Wait, what?
Midnight wings fluttered anxiously, moonlight glinting off the iridescent plumes as Jai stalked into the alley. His body glowed with vengeful rage, his eyes black and feral. Two onyx swords glittered in his grasp, the handles gleaming silver. He was a terrifying picture of a biblical avenging angel. I trembled in the face of his wrath.
The monster released me, and my knees buckled under my weight. I crashed to the pavement, my hand instinctively cupping my injured neck. Hot blood slicked my fingers.
“Well, well, well, if the mudblood doesn’t have his own little Guardian.” The creature licked his blood-stained lips. “Though from the smell of you, I assume you’re nothing but a Secondary. Where’s your Other?”
“Right here.” Noel stood on the other side of the alley, boxing the vampire between Jai and himself. His long hair twisted into a braid over his shoulder, and snow-white wings rustled at his back. “Prepare your blackened soul for the depths of Sheol, demon, because that’s exactly where we’re sending you.”
With a maniacal laugh, the vampire-demon-thing leveled his red eyes on Noel, then Jai. “Do you really think you two can take me on without your Prime?”
“Watch us,” they responded i
n unison.
They crouched into matching defensive positions as two swords appeared in Noel’s hands. They were, unsurprisingly, the opposite of Jai’s shiny black ones, crafted of sparkling opal with silver handles. Long as my forearms and wicked sharp, the blades seemed to glow with the same energy pouring off of the angels in waves.
Chuckling, the demon drew a broadsword from thin air, eyeing the angels with wicked delight. “We’re going to have so much fun together.”
Jai and Noel moved in the same moment, lunging forward as they swung their weapons in mirroring arcs. The demon parried, dodging the hits with inhuman swiftness. Metal clanged as the fight commenced, and I cowered into the brick wall.
There was a sword fight happening in an alley on my college campus between two winged angels and a vampire-demon-monster. If I wasn’t absolutely sure I’d lost my mind before, I was now. I had officially gone insane.
Jai and Noel moved in sync, twisting and twirling around each other like they were performing a choreographed dance. As if they knew where the other would be before they moved, they ducked and weaved as they attacked the hissing creature from Hell. Graceful as a ballerino, Noel danced circles around the demon as Jai lunged with fluid agility, his swords whistling through the air. But no matter how perfectly they worked together, neither hit their target.
Apparently, the demon was just as gifted at swordplay. He blocked every swing of the angels’ blades, defending himself from two sides. As the fight heated, their movements sped, and they became nothing but blurred shadows in the night.
Metal screeched against stone, and power surged through the air like a thunderclap. Jai and Noel flew back, swatted away by some invisible force. They landed in matching crouches, their chests heaving from exertion.
The demon swiped his thumb across a shallow cut on his cheek, the blood smearing black against his skin. He cracked his neck and sighed.
“Getting tired already, little Guardians?” The demon swung his heavy sword, like he had all the time in the world to waste. “Pity. I was hoping for more of a fight.”
“You won’t be so cocky when I detach your head from your shoulders, you sick fuck.” Jai bared his teeth as he rose to his feet, and Noel copied him, his anxious gaze flitting over me every few moments.
“Let me tell you how this is going to play out.” The demon pointed to Jai. “I’m going to kill you; I can already tell you’ll annoy me to no end.” He dragged his finger to me, and I whimpered. “Then I will drain your ward dry. And then, it will be just you and me.” His attention ended with Noel, a disturbing grin splitting his mouth. “I can think of several fun games we can play. You’re such a pretty thing.”
Noel’s beautiful face morphed to disgust as a wordless cry of outrage left his lips. He brandished his swords in preparation to attack, but it was Jai who snarled like an animal.
“Touch a hair on his head, and I’ll disembowel you with a spoon.” Jai’s frigid threat was met with an unconcerned cackle.
“Oh, so possessive.” The demon’s sharklike smirk widened. “Afraid he’ll enjoy sucking my cock more than yours?”
A split second of silence fell between them, so heavy I could have heard a pin drop, and then it shattered with a furious roar. Noel lit up like a neon sign, the ethereal glow nearly blinding as he rushed the demon. Jai’s cry of alarm was lost to the chaos as the demon met Noel’s attack head-on.
The dark angel leapt into the fray, but the damage had already been done. Jai and Noel had lost their rhythm. Out of sync, they nearly hit each other as much as they landed strikes against the demon. Jai dodged both the demon’s broadsword and the opal swords of his partner.
They were quickly losing ground, and I could do nothing but watch in mounting horror as the demon landed a thundering kick to Noel’s chest. With a deafening crack of bone, Noel flew back. Jai’s focus turned to his partner, eyes wide, expression tortured.
“No—” Jai’s cry cut off with a wet choke as the demon spun and sank his blade into Jai’s stomach to the hilt.
Jai gasped, his eyes widening in apparent confusion as he studied the weapon embedded in his gut. As an afterthought, the vampire jerked the sword from Jai’s torso. Noel screamed. I covered my mouth with my palm to stifle my own wail of horror.
With a wet cough, Jai collapsed. “Gideon, where are you?” His garbled words petered out as bloody saliva trickled from the corner of his mouth.
With a fearsome battle cry, Noel’s light grew in intensity, illuminating the alley until it was bright as midday. He raised a hand, palm out, his face a mask of retribution.
Jai groaned, slumping as his dark eyes met mine. “Riley, run.”
Frozen in fear and shock, I couldn’t move, much less obey his command. I squeezed my eyes shut to protect my retinas from Noel’s blinding light. I felt the shockwave, the explosion of power blasting through the alley like a hurricane. And then nothing.
When I opened my eyes, Jai was where he’d fallen, his bloodied hands cupping his wound. Noel crumpled to the ground, his skin a deathly pallor. Black and white wings melted into the angels’ backs until they looked human again. The demon groaned as he straightened to his full height. Like a victim of extreme sunburn, his skin was red and blistered, but he was still alive.
“Fancy trick. But it won’t save you.”
The demon advanced on Noel, who crab-walked backward, unbridled fear coloring his face. Jai released a heart-wrenching sound, like that of a wounded animal as he struggled to climb to his feet. And I scrambled for a handhold as the irrational urge to protect Noel swelled within me.
“Pretty little angel,” the demon cooed as he lifted Noel by his throat and slammed him against the wall. “You’ll make a fine new pet.”
“Fuck you,” Noel croaked, cringing away from the demon as he pressed his nose to Noel’s Adam’s apple.
“Everyone breaks eventually. I’ll take great pleasure in ruining you.” The inhuman creature nuzzled Noel’s throat, and Noel’s courage fissured, terror taking its place.
Jai stumbled in his attempt to stand, to close the distance between himself and Noel. Determination hardened his features, but his injury thwarted his every try to save Noel. “No-Noel.” He fell to his hands and knees, coughing blood.
I wasn’t a fighter, had never thrown a punch in my life, but I couldn’t sit here and do nothing. Jai was bleeding out. Noel was moments away from dying at the hands of a cruel monster. I had to do something.
When I finally managed to stand, my blood rushed to my toes. I listed to the side, barely keeping my balance as my head swam and vision darkened. My stomach heaved, and I leaned against the wall and vomited. Yeah, some savior I was.
The moment I straightened, wiping the bile from my lips, several things happened at once. Jai and Noel jerked their heads to the mouth of the alley. The demon froze. The hairs on my arms stood on end as light flashed, and an overwhelming rush of power crackled through the air. Seconds later, a monstrous male stepped out of the shadows.
His body aglow, he studied the situation with a deep frown as golden wings spread behind his back, spanning the width of the alley. Golden swords appeared in his hands, and the demon instantly released Noel, taking a step back. I didn’t blame him. The newcomer was terrifying.
“You attacked my ward and injured both my Secondaries. Either you’re incredibly stupid, or you are suicidal.” His deep voice resonated through the alleyway, heavy with authority and disapproval. He towered over both the demon and the other angels, his broad shoulders and bulging biceps straining the material of his button-up shirt. With a body that large, he tromped more than walked, advancing on the demon with purposeful, yet somehow graceful, steps.
Dark blond hair curled in waves around his ears, and his eyes glimmered like emeralds, promising destruction. “I can’t cure your lack of intelligence,” he said as he swung one of his golden swords. “But I can easily deliver on your death wish.”
The demon bared his fangs, hissing as he raised his bl
ood-slicked blade. “I will cut you down as I did your pathetic Secondaries.”
A fleeting grin tipped the edges of the Greek god’s mouth, hinting at a dimple on his right cheek. “We shall see.”
The angel’s business casual attire didn’t impede his ability to wield his weapons, and his tie swung through the air as he met the demon’s attack with surprising agility for someone of his size. His loafers were soon smeared with dirt, and I feared for the future of his khaki slacks as he and the demon circled one another.
Noel crawled out of the way as the two engaged, gritting his teeth as he pulled himself toward a barely conscious Jai. The angel and the demon fought with skill and fervor, cursing and roaring as blades crashed. I couldn’t track their too-fast movements and instead, focused on Noel and Jai.
“About time he got here, the fucker.” Jai’s strength waned, and he crumbled to the ground as Noel scrambled to catch him.
“Whoa, there. I got you.” Noel sloppily hoisted Jai into his lap, half-holding him, half-leaning on him. “Don’t you dare die on me, you selfish prick.”
“Selfish? I took a demon sword for you, you dumbass,” Jai slurred, and Noel scoffed.
“Yeah, and now you’re the one with a hole in your gut. That makes you the dumbass, dumbass.”
A weak chuckle scraped Jai’s throat, and Noel angled Jai’s head to rest on his shoulder. “Fuck you.”
“You’re not my type. That demon’s loony to think I’d get anywhere near your junk.” Noel panted as his forehead pressed to Jai’s.
“Sure know how to sweet talk a guy, don’t ya?” Jai coughed out another chuckle. “Surprised you get dates at all.”
Noel laughed, the sound weak and airy. “Shut up and let me heal you.”
“Don’t, No. That energy burst did you in. I’ll be fine.”
“Do you always have to be so stubborn? You’re still bleeding. Let me heal you.” Noel glared at Jai, but the dying male simply flipped Noel his middle finger.
“You heal me, you could die. If you die, I’ll have to drag your soul back from Elysium so I can kill you myself,” he grumbled as he relaxed in Noel’s hold. “Oh fuck, I don’t… shit.” His eyes rolled back into his head, his body going lax.
Revelations: Fire & Brimstone Scroll 1 Page 8
