by Lizzy Ford
When she had calmed, Amira sat up and gazed at him. Her expression was desolate, scared.
“What’s wrong, baby?” he asked softly.
Her eyes dropped to his lips as she read the words.
“I did something bad,” she said again.
Can’t be worse than anything I’ve done lately, he thought. “I doubt that.”
She wiped her face and wrung her hands, distraught.
Nathan tipped her chin up, so she could see his lips. “What is it?” he asked.
“I told them where the gateway is,” she said, more tears in her eyes.
It definitely wasn’t the greatest news he had heard this day.
“I didn’t have a choice,” she said and swallowed hard.
“They tortured you.”
“Yes, but they said they would kill Troy if I didn’t tell them.”
Nathan smiled sadly. Troy, his mentor, was Amira’s soul mate. Nathan ached for her. There was no rule he wouldn’t smash in order to save Kaylee this time.
“It’s okay,” he said and rested his palms on Amira’s cheeks. “Troy is stronger than all of them combined. They’ll never find him. If they did, he’d take out anyone who hurt you.”
“But they can find him,” she said, sighing. “Maggy knows where he is.”
“Maggy is too tough to take down.”
Amira’s brow furrowed. “But, Nathan, Maggy helped them question me.”
Nathan went still. His thoughts froze and then began racing. Zyra had visited Maggy’s townhouse, where she and her lieutenants hid out. Nathan had never asked how Zyra found the place. He had also wondered who at the townhouse had switched out the solutions several weeks ago, when he went to kill Kaylee. He’d been forced to use a knife instead of the drug they planned. If Maggy were working with Zyra, then she would have known the leader of 3G didn’t want Kaylee dead. Had she been planning on it not being in Nathan’s nature to murder Kaylee?
Had Maggy tipped off Zyra about Nathan as well? Was that why Henry had pulled the footage from the roof camera?
Kaylee. His breath caught. He had given her Maggy’s number to use if she managed to free herself from Eddy.
Not for the first time the past few days, Nathan found himself putting his faith in the Satanist assassin.
“Nathan?” Amira was studying him, fear in her eyes.
“We’ll figure it out,” he reassured her. “But first, we need to escape.”
“It’s only half the gateway, but it’s still more than they had.”
“I’m not sure I understand.”
Amira closed her eyes in a sign she wasn’t going to discuss it further with him. Nathan smiled despite his worry and wished he had her ability to shut out others.
Releasing her, he stood and turned away, waiting until he faced the door before breathing out a puff of air. He rubbed his face, unable to control the primal fear streaking through him, or the sense of betrayal.
Zyra he understood.
Maggy? Had she really bought into the 3G ideology and betrayed Pedro and the others?
Nathan had understood the appeal of 3G before he saw the lengths the radical group was willing to go to in order to carry out their agenda. Torturing Amira was beyond horrific.
Who else had suffered, or would suffer, if 3G had it their way?
Nathan shook his head. Anger unlike any he’d experienced since becoming a guide was building in his chest. It had been directed at himself since Kaylee almost died. It was currently directed at those responsible for hurting the innocent.
He focused on the problem at hand: escape. Four guards had been stationed in this hallway when he was brought to this locker. Nathan could handle all four, especially if he had the element of surprise on his side.
But he couldn’t fight the rest of 3G to escape and he couldn’t disable the cameras around the building to cover their tracks, either.
His thoughts shifted to Eddy’s hiding place. There had been MREs and bottles of water down there, enough for a few days. Zyra planned on moving out in the morning. Would she stop her plans if he disappeared, or stick around long enough for them to run out of food and water?
They didn’t have any other option, Nathan decided. They could hide and then work on a plan to escape, preferably after Zyra left. If that plan failed, he’d figure out what to do next. They couldn’t risk staying in this locker until morning, when Henry would gleefully put a bullet in Nathan’s head.
Steeling himself, hiding his true emotions from Amira, Nathan faced the key holder once more. Amira was a mess. Whether or not he had the right solution, he needed her to trust him enough to move if and when he said to.
She sat huddled in her corner again, hopeful gaze on him.
He had never failed an incarnated angel, and he wasn’t about to start.
“We’re leaving tonight,” he told her. “I want to wait an hour or two to ensure no one else is roaming the hallways.”
She nodded eagerly. “How?”
“I have a few tricks up my sleeve,” he said with a wink. “Trust Nathan, okay?”
Amira smiled. “Troy will kick their asses for hurting us, won’t he.”
Nathan laughed. “Yeah. He definitely will!”
The first gen appeared calmer and rested her chin on the knees she hugged to her chest.
Confident of their ability to escape, furious for not seeing the signs about Maggy, Nathan sat down with his back to the door to wait. He listened for the sounds of the guards moving around and talking, trying to determine if they had added more people to stand guard.
Never in his lifetime did he think he would have a soul mate, entrust her safety to someone like Eddy, and have one of his closest friends betray him. His world had gone from simple and predictable to a dumpster fire of epic proportions overnight.
I need to get out of here now.
Fifteen
Kaylee and Shanti continued down the middle of the road as night overtook the cloudy sky. They walked for miles in the rain. The air grew colder, and both women shivered. Kaylee couldn’t help glancing at the foggy forest periodically, wondering if Eddy or Maggy or Zyra – or their people – were following. If they were, Shanti would read their energies, but this knowledge did little to reassure Kaylee. She’d been through too much to believe she could walk away from anything.
“Someone is coming,” Shanti said, head tilted.
Kaylee froze, expecting someone to attack. “Where?”
“A car. About two miles away.” Shanti pointed in the direction of the cabin.
“I saw a trail leading into the woods.” Kaylee led her to the side of the road, down a shallow ditch, fifty yards back the way they’d come, and into the forest. “If it’s a guide who can read our energy, how far away do we have to be?”
“Guides read auras, not energy,” Shanti replied. “But … maybe two hundred feet, behind the trees, just to be certain.”
Kaylee kept her eyes on the narrow path. It was similar to the one she had walked down at the campground where Bullet threw her off a cliff. Was there a camping area nearby?
No human could help them, and if either of them had someone to call for help, she would have done it already.
Whenever the feeling of helplessness crept over her, Kaylee reminded herself she was part of this because she was special – an incarnated archangel, if she believed in that sort of thing. She wasn’t powerless to change her fate. She just didn’t know what that power was.
At the moment, her sole advantage was not being in the possession of anyone who sought her.
Shanti tripped. Kaylee slowed their pace while listening for sounds of the car passing by them.
The vehicle crept past, as if searching for something or someone.
“They’re looking for us,” Shanti said. “Wait.” She tugged to a stop and turned, head cocked to the side.
“What do you see?” Kaylee asked.
“Three of them in a car. They passed us but are coming back,” Shanti said. “Do you have that cell
phone?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I’m pretty sure they’re tracking it.”
Cold slid through Kaylee. She pulled it out of her pocket. “I didn’t think of that. God, I’m terrible at this!”
“You’re innocent. There’s a difference,” Shanti said kindly. “But I’d recommend throwing it, preferably not in the direction we’re headed.”
Kaylee mumbled curses that would make her socialite mother faint. She flung the cell as far as she could into the wilderness, grabbed Shanti’s hand, and started down the path as fast as they could go.
Not long after, voices reached them, too far to distinguish their words, but close enough Kaylee began to feel frantic.
“It’s okay,” Shanti said. Her warmth moved through Kaylee, easing her distress. “We just keep going.”
“They’re going after the cell.”
“They’ll fan out and search for us once they realize we’re not with the phone.”
Kaylee stopped to step over a log in the path and helped Shanti navigate it. The muddy trail split ahead. The fork was marked by a small sign, confirming her belief the path was manmade, which meant they were probably close to a campground. She went right.
“Wait,” Shanti said again and stopped. She turned to scan the forest. “They’re searching the area. It won’t take them long to reach us. Is there anywhere to hide?”
Kaylee looked around wildly in the dark, seeking any sort of shelter. “Just trees and brush from what I can tell,” she said in frustration. “Come on. We have to keep going.” She tugged Shanti forward and trotted, anxious to be away from whomever was pursuing.
Shanti clung to her arm to maintain her balance. “You have to consider what I told you,” she whispered between breaths. “They won’t kill me. But they might kill you!”
“We don’t know any of that to be true,” Kaylee said. “I get you’re okay with sacrificing yourself for me, but I’m not okay with it. We do this together, or we surrender together.”
Shanti sighed.
They concentrated on jogging down the dark, wet path. Even Kaylee had trouble seeing too far ahead in the darkness.
A rumble spread across the sky and seconds later, lightning lit the sky.
Kaylee glared upward, irritated that the universe thought she needed more of a challenge.
The downpour became heavier, punctuated by distant thunder and flashes of lightning. They were forced to slow when their visibility decreased.
“Dammit!” Shanti muttered. “Dropped my guide stick.”
Kaylee stopped. She saw nothing around their feet.
“It’s okay. Let’s just go.”
They continued, arm in arm, cold and wet, for what felt like forever, but which Kaylee judged to be about an hour or hour and a half. After a particularly brilliant flash of lightning, Shanti stopped.
Kaylee caught her balance in the mud. Both shuddered from cold. Her lips were cold, her cheeks, fingers, and the tips of her ears numb.
I won’t feel anything if Eddy chops off my fingers now, she thought ruefully.
“Anything?” she whispered to Shanti.
“We haven’t lost them,” was the grim response. “We have to keep going.”
Where? Kaylee didn’t ask the question beating at her brain. They were running blindly in the rain with no destination and no plan.
It wasn’t going to end well.
She slipped in the mud and crashed to her belly, dragging Shanti down with her. The two of them struggled to their feet, caked in mud and soaked to the bone. They helped one another to their feet.
“Kaylee!” Shanti said suddenly, grabbing Kaylee’s arm. “We have to leave the path!”
Kaylee was too cold to ask why and walked into the brush, holding onto Shanti not only for balance but for warmth as well. They maneuvered their way through the brush and trees. When they reached a fallen tree, Kaylee stopped and tugged Shanti down beside her.
“What did you see?” she whispered.
“We’re surrounded.”
The coldness of Kaylee’s body was nothing compared to the chill in her heart. None of her senses picked up what Shanti did. Without the blind gatekeeper, Kaylee would be dead on the road.
Kaylee closed her eyes.
Are you there? She asked the archdemon sleeping inside her.
He stirred.
I need help.
“Uh … whatever you’re doing, it scares me,” Shanti murmured and shifted away from Kaylee without releasing her.
“Talking to Shadowman.” Aware of how weak he was, Kaylee focused on being open to the archdemon’s messages. “If he has anything to do with it, he won’t let them kill me, but I don’t think I can protect you.”
A flicker of something different, new, moved within her. It wasn’t cold and dark, like Shadowman, but warm and bright.
Reading her aura and energy, Shanti gasped. “Do more of that!”
Kaylee had no idea what she had done. Rather, what Shadowman did. This didn’t feel like him, but she hadn’t done anything at all aside from ask him for help.
An image of lightning flashed through her mind.
“Stop showing me that if you aren’t going to tell me what it means!” Kaylee snapped.
Barachiel.
Kaylee’s heart slammed into her chest.
“What?” Shanti prodded.
“He showed me a picture of lightning and said the word Barachiel.” Kaylee waited for more. Nothing else came. She opened her eyes. “I take it back. We both might die tonight.”
“Barachiel,” Shanti said, a smile spreading across her face. “Did you know that name when you went to see Pedro?”
“Maybe.”
“That’s what Pedro meant. You are Barachiel.”
“It does no good for me to know which archangel I could be if I can’t do anything!” Kaylee asked. “We’re sitting ducks!”
“I don’t know what we’re supposed to do. If Julie were here …” Shanti’s voice turned sad.
You are who you think. Pedro’s assertion emerged from the recesses of Kaylee’s mind.
Her attention turned towards the sky, where thunder and lightning flashed and boomed. “It doesn’t matter right now. We’re not going to make it through the night.”
“They’re closing in,” Shanti said, hunching down. “But …” She tilted her head. “… something isn’t right.”
“How many?”
“Twelve total.”
“What do you –” Before Kaylee could complete her question, the report of a firearm tore through the night during a pause in the thunder. She ducked closer to the muddy ground and pulled Shanti with her.
“I need to see,” Shanti said and pushed at her.
Several more shots went off.
“Stay down!” Kaylee flinched with each shot. “I think we can rule out them shooting at us.” She and Shanti crouched in silence.
Lightning, thunder, and the furious firing of weapons filled the air around them. Rain pelted them and dripped down her nose and hair. Shanti shook as hard as she did. Kaylee glanced up at the next lightning strike, unable to piece together what Shadowman was trying to tell her.
If she knew one thing, he wasn’t getting stronger, and he hadn’t seemed at all interested in the location where a portal to Hell was supposed to have been. If anything, he appeared to be weakening.
The gunfire stopped, and Kaylee held her breath.
“I need to see,” Shanti said again.
Kaylee released her hold on the gatekeeper. Shanti lifted her head above the log. No gunfire sounded. Briefly, Kaylee hoped everyone had shot one another, leaving her and Shanti with a path out of the forest.
“If I tell you where to aim, can you shoot?” Shanti whispered.
Kaylee withdrew the sidearm Nathan had given her. She sucked in a deep breath, horrified by the idea of hurting anyone.
“They’re guides,” Shanti reminded her. “You won’t kill them. We just need them stopped so we can escap
e.”
“Okay.” Kaylee struggled with the mud until she could balance herself. She rested one arm on the top of the log. “I can’t see anything.”
“Right, about fifty yards.” Shanti rested a hand on Kaylee’s arm and shifted her over. “There. I think.”
Kaylee swallowed hard, feeling as if she were completely blind to the world. She followed the instructions Eddy had given her.
Breathe in, breathe out, hold, squeeze.
The weapon kicked in her hand.
“Left, seventy yards.” Shanti moved her arms once more.
“Did I get the first one?” Kaylee asked nervously.
“Yes. There are only a few more. The rest went down with the gunfight, I think. I can’t read their energies.”
“I don’t like hurting people,” Kaylee whispered.
“Because you’re an angel,” Shanti said proudly. “Now shoot!”
In, out, hold, squeeze.
“One more,” Shanti said urgently. “That one’s headed towards us.”
Kaylee obeyed, firing into the night.
“One more. Fast!” Shanti shifted her arm one last time. “Hurry!”
Kaylee heard the crash of brush a few feet from them a split second before she fired. The guide was lit up by lightning as he fell on to his face and went still.
“Now we run,” Shanti said and took Kaylee’s hand.
Kaylee hurriedly put the weapon away and charged through the brush towards the path. She slid into a tree once she reached the mud and dragged Shanti forward at a run.
A dark figure stepped onto the path ahead of them then quickly ducked behind a tree. Kaylee thought it was Shadowman until lightning illuminated the man’s frame a split second before he sought cover. Kaylee slid to a halt, and Shanti careened into her.
“What is it?” Shanti asked.
“You can’t see him?”
“No. He must be using the trees.” Shanti sucked in a breath. “This is bad.”
They were both blind. The man launched at them from around the tree.
Kaylee yanked Shanti off the path and toppled into the brush.
Gunfire rang out, this time within feet of them. A shout went up from one direction and was followed by the reports of several more weapons.
Kaylee and Shanti huddled together, forced to wait until the chaos ended before they could decide what to do.
