by ERIN BEDFORD
“What happened?” Dex took a step closer and then winced. It seemed my fire could hurt him.
I shook my head, unable and not wanting to talk about it. “I can’t. I just can’t.” I shifted around so I didn’t have to face him.
He let out a pained sound making me jerk back around. He was trying to get past my fire.
“Stop it. You’re hurting yourself.” I growled at him and then as suddenly as the fire had appeared around me it dispersed. Frowning at how easily, I had lowered it, I rushed to Dex’s side.
He clutched his arm close to himself. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
I grabbed his arm and saw the melted flesh. “No, you’re not. Why would you do that?”
Dex lip ticked up on one side. “Don’t you know?”
I stared up at him in disbelief as his other hand stroked my hair. “But I thought you weren’t going to let the vision come true.” I mimicked his words back to him using my best Dex voice.
He chuckled. “Well, you can’t fight fate, can you?” He cupped my chin and stared deep into my eyes. “And you, Elle Richmond. I think we were meant for each other.”
I swallowed hard, not sure how to respond to his proclamation. No one had ever said anything like that to me before. Sure, guys had been happy to jump in the sack with the weirdo girl but none of them had ever proclaimed any kind of feeling let alone that I was meant for them.
Too stumped by what he’d said, I allowed him to press his lips to mine in an all-consuming kiss. My fingers curled into the front of his shirt careful of his arm as his mouth slanted over mine. His tongue dashed in and out of my mouth tasting every inch of me as if he were trying to memorize every part of it.
A low moan escaped from my throat. I pressed myself closer to him, getting lost in the sensations he brought to me. I let myself be taken over by him, pushing all the hurt and pain I felt into that very kiss.
My leg wrapped around his hip and I tried to climb him as I struggled to get closer to him.
Dex pulled back with a low heated chuckle. “Woah, there. We’re in the middle of the courtyard.” He smiled softly at me and brushed a thumb along my lower lip.
I nipped at it causing him to groan and pull me in for another kiss.
To my dismay, this one didn’t last as long as the other one before he was pulling away once more.
“We can’t. Not here.” He took my hand and led me toward the school. “Let’s go to-”
An explosion shook the ground and the remnants of the courtyard. Dex clasped me tight while we tried to keep on our feet.
“What was that?” I asked after the rumbling stopped.
Before Dex could answer an alarm sounded it over the academy. Worry crossed over Dex’s face and he pushed me toward the door.
“You need to get inside. Go, hide. And don’t come out until I come find you.”
Except I wasn’t about to have anything decided for me anymore. Not now, not ever.
“Not until you tell me what’s going on.”
Dex looked like he was going to argue but then saw my face and sighed. “The angels. They’re here.”
Chapter 22
Screams from back inside the school pulled my attention and I hurried through the doors. The academy shook again causing dust and bits of ceiling to fall down around me.
Dex hadn’t followed me inside. I assumed they had some kind of plan in place for if angels attacked and he was doing his duties.
I had to worry about me.
Rushing through the hallways, I found Ayden and the others coming out of the dining room.
“Elle!” Ayden raced over to me. “What’s going on?”
“Angels.” I told her, my lips pressed tight together and then I looked to the others. “Is there somewhere we’re supposed to go if this happens?”
Joash stepped up with an arm wrapped around Coral. “Yeah, we’re all to go to the library. There’s a secret entrance into some underground tunnels there.”
“Well, then let’s go!” I swung an arm for them to follow me. Why I thought I was the leader now, I didn’t know but something in me said I had to get them to safety before anything else.
The hallways were crowded as we worked our way from the dining hall to the library. Everyone else apparently knew the drill. It made me wonder if they had normal fire drills like this but for angels.
Everyone was so close that it was impossible not to brush up against anyone. My jaw clenched and my nails bit into my hands as I was assaulted with vision after vision. One of them hit me so hard that it knocked me off my feet and into someone nearby.
“What the hell, freak, get off!”
Hands shoved at me as I blinked my vision clear. Dharma, of course I would run into her now. Not having time for her high school drama, I held my hands up and steadied myself. “Sorry.”
“You better be.” She sniffed and then scowled. “What are you doing here anyway? This passage is for students. Not freaks like you.”
“Knock it off, Dharma.” Zephyr stepped between us with a glare. “This isn’t the time for games. The angels are coming and-”
“And who do you think they are coming for?” Dharma interrupted him, stepping into his personal space. “Her.” She pointed a finger at me. “They’re attacking us. Our home because of her. Everything bad that has happened lately has all been because of her.” She snarled and tried to push past Zephyr to get in my face, but he kept her away. “Why don’t you just got to them and leave us in peace? Things were better before you got here.”
“Dharma,” Zephyr growled, this time his brother stepped up with him. “Just go.”
With a harrumph, Dharma spun on her heel and marched into the library.
I stood silent as I watched her go. I wished I could say she was wrong. That all the badness wasn’t my fault, but I knew it was. It always was. It was part of my life. I’d never known anything other than pain, death, and despair. Why should now be any different?
“Don’t let her bother you.” Zephyr moved over to me giving me a small encouraging smile. “She’s just pissed that Dex is finally noticing a student and it’s not her.”
I opened my mouth to argue we weren’t doing anything but then closed it and shook my head. “Don’t worry about it. She doesn’t bother me. Come on,” I jerked my head toward the library. “Let’s get everyone to safety.”
“You too, right?” Ayden touched my arm, concern on her face. When I didn’t answer immediately, she released her hand her face falling with understanding. “I see. That’s what that hug was all about before.”
“No, I -” I began but then stopped. “I have to find out what’s going on. If it’s really about me, it wouldn’t be right for me to run away.”
“I understand.” Ayden’s eyes teared up and she threw herself around me. “Be careful, okay?”
I patted her on the head. “I’ll do my best.”
Pulling away, she wiped her nose with her sleeve. “You better do more than that.”
I smiled sadly.
Bayu pulled her away from me and into his arms. “We’ll take care of her, don’t worry.” I pushed my lips into some semblance of grateful before watching him walk her away.
Coral reached for me but kept herself from touching me. “It was nice meeting you, Elle.”
“This isn’t goodbye.” I told her, causing her to bawl into Joash chest. He gave me one of those little guy acknowledgments when they were too cool to have feelings.
I laughed and waved.
That only left, Zephyr.
“Walk me to the tunnel?” he asked, though I knew it was a facade, I agreed.
While the building still shook around us and the alarm blared its lungs off, the students had mostly gotten out and into the tunnels already, leaving the library deserted.
We stopped by a bookshelf that had been opened some secret way, opening up into a dark stairway.
Staring into the dark abyss of the hidden passageway, I had a sinking feeling. “Where
do the tunnels go?”
Zephyr shrugged. “I don’t know for sure. We’ve never had to use them. Somewhere near town probably.” We went quiet for a moment and then he asked, “Are you going to be okay?”
I smirked but it was forced. “Aren’t I always?”
He huffed a laugh. “That’s the thing with you. Always hiding how much you need others behind your badassery. One of these days you’re going to find yourself very much alone and no one to help you.”
My expression fell. “Yeah. Well, that day isn’t today.”
“No.” Zephyr agreed, patting me on the back. “It’s not today. Watch your back out there, alright?”
I bobbed my head and stepped back from the tunnels. “You too. I’ll see you again.”
Zephyr winked. “Count on it.”
Waiting until he disappeared into the darkness, I let myself have a moment before twisting on my heel and heading back out of the library.
The academy was holding up pretty well all things considered. They must have put up a pretty strong barrier if all that bang around hadn’t destroyed the building around us.
Still, I had to watch my step as I jogged through the hallways and back toward the front of the academy. The initial blast had sounded like it had come from there so that’s where all the action would be.
There were teachers hiding near the front door but none of them paid me any mind as I went past. One door was off its hinges and laying on the ground. The other one stood ajar.
I was temporarily blinded as I stepped outside. Standing still as I waited for my eyes to adjust, I used my other senses to figure out what was going on.
Familiar voices shouted and commands were given.
“Fire workers, over there.” Azazel ordered from the left.
On my other side, my dad’s voice called out, “Wind workers, bring them down to your level.”
A fire ball hurled through the air and through the barrier as if it didn’t exist. The angels, all dressed in some form of armor, dodged and parried them like they weren’t even breaking a sweat. Unfortunately for the Nephilims on the ground who looked like they were about to collapse from their efforts.
Dex was among them.
My feet immediately started for him but a sound in the distance caught my attention.
The rumbling roar of an engine filled my ears moments before Cass pulled up to the front gate. The visual of him there was quite something to behold.
He sat there on his motorcycle with the gleam of his wings barely visible to the naked eye. He was like a warrior on a chariot of fire, waiting to whisk me away from it all.
As if reading my mind, the barrier around us fell.
He didn’t call out to me just waited there for me to make my decision.
This was my chance. This was what I wanted all along. I had the chance to get away from this school, away from my dad, and a chance to decide for myself.
My gaze darted to Dex and my dad for a brief second. Only Dex realized what was going on, his eyes locking with mine through the rubble of the front courtyard around us. He forced himself up and ran toward me.
Before I my mind could tell my body it had made a decision I darted across the courtyard.
I jumped over destroyed statues and dodged angel blasts. They apparently didn’t care who they hit as long as they did some damage. I tucked that away for later as I raced toward my freedom.
Cass waited on the back of his motorcycle. It roared as he revved the engine. “Come on, ‘lil Watcher.” He smirked at me as I climbed onto the back of his bike.
“Elle, no!” Dex shouted as he chased after me, but he was too late.
“Go, go!” I wrapped my arms around Cass’s waist and then was almost knocked out of my seat by the vision that hit me square in the chest.
Cass held me close, his wings wrapped around our naked bodies as we moved together as one. It sent a burning rush of heat to my core and a blush to my face.
“You’re not a mind reader, are you?” I shouted over the wind as he roared away from the school, the sound of the battle fading into the distance.
“No, why?” He called over his shoulder.
I held him tighter and muttered, “No reason. Just get me out of here.”
Check out the next chapter of Elle’s story in Fire In Her Blood!
