Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Tomas took them to Rogziel’s hideaway. There were guards walking the perimeter of the area. Three men, armed with guns. Seline had never seen them before, but Sam took one look and groused, “Humans,” and she figured if anyone could make that instant call, it would be him.
Sam’s gaze swept the scene, and he inhaled deeply. “Dammit.”
Seline tilted her head and caught the light scent of flowers. The smell didn’t come from inside the compound. No, instead, that scent seemed to be coming from…right behind them.
No!
Seline spun around. But Rogziel wasn’t waiting with his cold eyes. Delia stood behind her. Actually, the angel floated behind her. “Time to make your move.” Delia’s gaze was on Seline. “Rogziel isn’t there. You can get the woman out.”
Seline licked her lips and hoped this wasn’t a lie. But, wait, angels couldn’t lie. Just twist the truth to suit their purposes.
“Helping me?” Sam drawled. “Delia, I thought you’d rather see me burn than ever lift a wing to help me.”
“I’m not helping you.” Delia shook her head. “This isn’t for you. I just don’t believe innocents should be punished.” Her gaze finally slid from Seline to take in the two Fallen. “Better hurry. Someone will be coming back very, very angry.”
“Coming back?” Seline repeated, voice going hoarse.
“Um, it seems…” Delia’s gaze cut once more to Tomas. “Rogziel finally realized the obvious. Sometimes, you just can’t go home again.” Her wings spread behind her. She raced up into the air and disappeared into the clouds.
Sam laughed and glanced toward the house.
Tomas grabbed his arm. “You can’t trust her. She could be setting us up for punishment.”
The guards hadn’t noticed the angel. She’d moved too fast. And they probably hadn’t realized they should be watching the sky. Their mistake. Hell, could humans even see her? Death angels were only seen at the moment of death for humans. As for punishment angels, could they only be seen when they punished? When this current nightmare was over, Seline would be learning every bit of angel lore out there.
“I don’t trust her.” Sam sounded shocked by the very implication. “But I’m fucking ready to attack.” Then he vanished, too. No, he didn’t vanish. Seline knew that he just moved so fast he blurred—angel speed. The first guard went down, slumping back, and Seline realized Sam had subdued him.
The second guard didn’t even have a chance to gasp before he hit the dirt. The third—Sam snatched his gun right out of his hand and then knocked the male out with one punch.
Sam grabbed the front door and ripped it right off the hinges.
Seline had to admit, that was rather hot.
Tomas urged her forward, and they raced inside the house. She realized immediately that those guards outside had just been the beginning. More men and women swarmed, but Sam sent them scurrying back when he let out a blast of fire.
“You don’t want to fuck with me,” he warned them.
Two men ran away. Seline guessed they weren’t in the fucking mood. Four more guards opened fire. Bullets slammed into Sam’s chest. Seline screamed.
“Warned you,” Sam said, and more fire burst free from his hands, flaring higher and greedily chasing Rogziel’s team.
Tomas swore. “You’re killing her!” He ran away from them and hurried down the snaking hallway. “Sierra!”
Seline jumped forward and delivered a hard right hook to the nearest guard. She snatched away his weapon and swiveled in time to slam it against the head of the idiot who’d been lunging for her.
But then Sam laughed. His laughter was rather eerie. Too cold and dark. The hairs on her arms stood up. She risked a glance at him. His gaze was pitch-black. “Playtime’s over,” Sam declared. He waved his hand. All the guards lifted into the air. The guards rose higher, higher. They were screaming. Begging.
Sam dropped them.
They stopped screaming.
Seline’s breath heaved in her chest. Her fingers touched the throat of the man closest to her. Even as she stared at Sam with wide eyes, her trembling fingers searched for a pulse. Searched…
“He’s still alive, sweetheart.” Sam seemed to mock her. “For now.”
A light pulse beat beneath her fingertips.
Screams came from deep within the house. Sam took her hand and pulled her to his side. “Stay with me.”
His eyes were still black. The air crackled with his power. The dark edge she’d always sensed in him had never been closer to the surface. Dangerous. Evil?
Not Sam. She believed in him. “Try to keep me away,” she muttered. “Try.”
His lips crushed down on hers. Wild. Hungry.
Then the rooms swept by in a blur as he took her deeper into the maze of corridors. They followed the screams. Found the bodies. More guards. Some bleeding. Some limp.
There was Tomas just up ahead. He was driving his fist through a metal door and?—
And Seline smelled brimstone.
“No, dammit!” Sam’s roar. She knew he’d caught the acidic scent, too. “Tomas, stop!”
Too late.
The door caved in, and the growls spilled into the hallway. Growls that were immediately followed by the hulking body of the hellhound as the beast leapt onto Tomas.
Azrael heard the screams from inside the old house. He saw the bodies of the guards outside as they littered the ground. Smoke drifted into the air. A lazy beacon that had drawn him in.
The smoke…and the blood. Lately, blood always seemed to draw him.
He’d known Rogziel for many centuries. Known him, watched him, and wondered when the bastard would fall.
So Azrael had already known all about this little hideaway.
His brother was inside. Already battling Rogziel? Why? To save the succubus?
His head throbbed as he stared at the flames. He didn’t understand what was happening anymore. Sammael had never cared about saving anyone. Had he?
I ask for nothing. From now on, I take. Sam’s words, when Azrael had asked him to seek forgiveness. But Sam had refused. He’d fallen instead of repenting.
“An angel dies today.”
Azrael didn’t turn at Mateo’s words. Yes, he knew Mateo. He’d lived for too long and seen too much not to know about the crossroad spirit.
When anyone wants to cheat Death, they go to the crossroads.
Foolish. No one had ever been able to cheat him. He’d been delayed before, but not stopped.
“Did you see that in your mirror?” A vague curiosity pushed Azrael to voice the question.
“Aren’t you going to help him?” Mateo asked instead of answering. “After all, he is your brother.”
The smoke curled thicker in the air. Now, he could hear the rough sound of growls coming from the house. The growls were too deep for wolves or coyotes, and they were growls that he would have preferred to never hear again. “Someone has let the hounds loose.”
“Sam will trade his life for hers,” Mateo said.
Now that made Azrael look at him, but Mateo’s stare was on the fire. “Sammael won’t trade his life for anyone’s.” That was a sacrifice his brother would never make.
“He’d die for her.”
Impossible. Sammael couldn’t?—
“Even the mighty fall, sooner or later.”
Azrael remembered screams. Women. Children. He remembered his brother cutting a path through the dead with eyes gone pitch-black as he killed and killed and killed.
Punishing?
No, Sammael had lost his control. The beast inside his brother was too strong. “He won’t sacrifice for anyone.”
“You’ll see. He’ll burn.” Mateo advanced slowly toward the rising smoke. “An angel dies…”
Azrael stared after him, watching, torn.
His heart raced too fast. His palms were sweating. His muscles locked too tight.
Sammael.
Sacrifice?
He hadn’t understood the emotions he’d seen in his brother’s eyes that long ago day. But those same emotions—they’d glittered in Sammael’s stare when the succubus vanished earlier.
Sammael had always felt too much, and those emotions had been the problem.
Azrael’s hands fisted. Now it’s my problem, too.
Because he wasn’t just going to stand back while Rogziel killed his brother.
Azrael stared at the blaze, heard the hungry growls, and he whispered, “Come get some, hound. Come get me.”
This hellhound was even bigger than the one before. Bigger, darker, with a mouth that was at least twice the size of the last beast’s that had come at them. Just staring at the hound made Seline’s knees shake.
This hound had driven its teeth into Tomas’s shoulder. Blood spilled beneath him. Tomas tried to grab the hound’s head and almost lost his fingers.
But Sam was there. She watched as he shoved his foot into the hound’s head, giving a kick that made the beast howl.
Tomas leapt to his feet. “Get the fuck back to hell!” Tomas roared and lifted his hands. Fire blasted out at the hound.
“No!” Seline yelled, but the fire had already reached the hound. It absorbed the flames, and its eyes flashed an even brighter red. Then the hound got bigger.
Dammit.
“Help me!” A woman’s scream came from inside the room. Oh, no, that woman—Sierra—had actually been trapped in there with the hound? And the monster hadn’t eaten her?
Tomas’s head jerked at Sierra’s cry, and he rushed forward. Right into the path of the hound.
But Sam knocked Tomas out of the way. Seline expected the hound to lunge for Sam, but instead, the hound’s head turned, slowly. It licked its lips and focused that fiery stare on Tomas once more.
“Rogziel gave it your scent,” Sam thundered. “You’re its prey.” The hound slammed its body into Sam’s side and knocked him back.
You’re its prey.
Sam had told her that a hound didn’t stop until it took its prey.
Sam’s shove had sent Tomas stumbling to the ground. The hound closed in on him.
This time, Seline ran in front of Tomas. Her heart raced so fast that her chest shook. But she’d stopped a hound before. She could do it again.
Couldn’t she?
“Get back,” she shouted at the beast. Flames were snaking down the hallway. Great. Fabulous. Just what the hound needed—more power. “Get away from him. Go back to hell!”
The hound looked up at her with its fangs bared.
She straightened her shoulders. “Go back to hell!” Her words were close to a roar.
“Seline!” Sam screamed.
The hound leapt at her. Powerful paws pounded into her chest, and she hit the floor. The hound’s paws shoved against her and the beast hurtled forward over her—and right at Tomas.
But Tomas wasn’t alone. Mateo stood beside him. “Let’s see just how well you can hunt,” Mateo challenged the beast even as he tossed a bottle into the air. A small bottle that Sam snagged with his left hand. In the next instant, Mateo and Tomas vanished.
Get-the-fuck-away spell. Seline knew the witch had used it. Talk about some nice timing.
The hound howled and raced down the hallway, and Seline knew the monster was chasing after Tomas’s scent. Her breath choked out in a relieved gasp. That had been too close.
Sam grabbed her hand and hauled Seline to her feet. “The hound will find them.”
She knew he was right. The hound wouldn’t stop. Not until it had them. “I-I couldn’t stop it.” She’d tried, but?—
“Please, God! Someone, help me!”
“You can’t control them all.” Sam kept hold of her hand and pulled Seline inside the room. “You can only control the one bound to you.”
Knowing that little piece of trivia would have been helpful earlier. Before she’d jumped in front of the hellhound.
“You have to summon it, Seline. You have to control it. You have to get it to kick ass for you.”
A woman with dark red hair waited in the middle of the room. Seline tried to hurry toward her.
Sam hauled her back. “No.”
“Please!” The woman’s fists thudded into some kind of invisible wall. Tears streamed down her cheeks. “There was some kind of wolf in here with me. I thought it was going to eat me!”
Sam pointed to the ground. “A spell has her locked in.” A thin line of white powder circled the woman. “I don’t think this one is too strong, but we can’t take any chances on it being a trap.”
The redhead screamed, “The wolf could come back! You have to get me out of here!”
“The beast has gone after Tomas.” Sam frowned at the line of powder. “It won’t be back until he’s dead.”
The redhead blinked. If possible, her face paled even more. “Dead?”
But Sam didn’t respond to her. He pushed Seline back a bit. “I can burn through it.”
Like there weren’t already enough flames around them.
The woman whispered, “Burn? Uh, wait, don’t?—”
There was no waiting. The flames were already around her. They burned in a bright circle and followed the trail of white powder that enclosed the woman.
Sam stalked toward the flames. “This is gonna hurt.” He reached through the fire. “To get out, you have to walk through the flames.”
Seline’s jaw dropped. “She’s human, Sam! She can’t!”
He glanced back at her with one brow raised. “That’s why it’s gonna hurt.” His arm was on fire.
The woman was sobbing.
“Take my hand,” Sam ordered. “Take it now or you’re dead.”
Seline could barely see through the flames. But she thought the woman reached for Sam. In the next instant, the woman was flying right through the flames. No, Sam was yanking her through. When the redhead hit the ground, Seline immediately started slapping out the flames that licked around the woman. Seline ignored the blisters that burst onto her own skin.
I can heal. She can’t.
“Now get her out of here,” Sam directed as the flames burning his flesh died away.
Seline looked up at him. “And leave you here alone? No way.”
“Delia was right. Rogziel’s long gone.” His eyes still shined black. “But when he comes back, I’ll be waiting for him.”
Not such a fantastic idea. “You can’t face him on your own!”
“I can. I will.” He lifted the bottle Mateo had tossed to him. Then, slowly, he pulled the claw from his right pocket. “I’m going to cut Rogziel’s fucking head off.” His eyes darted to the woman. She stared at him as if he were a monster. Couldn’t the human recognize a hero when she saw one?
Seline yanked the redhead up to her feet. Time to teach this human some hard and fast facts. “An angel risked his life for you.”
Sierra swiped away the tears on her cheeks. “An…angel?”
“A hellhound is chasing Tomas because he came back for you. That wasn’t a wolf, okay? It was a hellhound. ” She shoved Sierra toward the broken door. “Now be smart, and run. Run really, really fast.”
Sierra looked back at her with dazed eyes. “Th-thank you.” Then she ran, really, really fast.
Seline turned to Sam.
“You need to run, too,” he told her.
Probably. “Maybe I’m just not into playing it smart.” She closed the distance between them. “I’m not leaving you.”
He shook his head. “You want freedom. This is your chance. Take it.”
Didn’t he see? Didn’t he get it yet? “I think I want you more.” The stark truth, and one that scared her to death.
Sam’s eyes widened. A burst of blue appeared around the darkness of his eyes. “Seline?”
Her lips started to lift in a trembling smile.
“You want him?” Azrael demanded from right behind her.
Aw, hell. Angels and their too-fast?—
“Then just see exactly what you’re getting.” Before she could even look over her shoulder, Azrael touched her.
And Sam roared.
Hello, Death.
She stared down at the men. She could hear the laughter, but couldn’t understand their words. Their clothes were different. Old. Foreign.
Another time, another place.
But Death was there.
Seline saw Sammael leap from the sky. His wings—strong, black, so powerful—thrust behind him. The men were staring with wide eyes as they looked all around.
But they couldn’t see him. Not yet.
Then he touched the first man.
The man with the red hair screamed, and the sound chilled Seline’s blood. She’d never heard a cry filled with such terror. The redhead fell to the ground, his body frozen and his face twisted in agony. He was the first, but not the last. Far, far from the last.
Soon all the men could see Sam. They were staring at him. Pointing. Screaming.
He…laughed?
More men fell. He cut right through them. Killed, touched, until none were left living.
When the dead littered the ground at his feet, Sammael tilted back his head, stared up at the heavens, and smiled.
More .
“Seline!” Sam’s roar yanked her back to the present just as he pulled her away from Azrael. She realized that only a moment had passed. Barely a second.
It had felt like an eternity.
Sammael put his body between her and Az. “What the fuck did you do, Az?”
“Relax,” Az returned, voice tight. “She’s completely unharmed. You know the touch doesn’t work on those with angel blood. Most of the demons who run on this earth have blood so diluted, it doesn’t matter, but she’s fresh.”
Her hands were shaking. Seline stared at Sam’s back and saw the shadow of his wings.
And when he fired a fast glance over his shoulder, she saw his rage. Seline rose to her toes and craned to see over his strong back so she could glare at Az.
“I just wanted her to see exactly who you are.” Az crossed his arms over his chest. “She thinks that she wants you? Well, she needs to know just what it is that she wants.”
Az’s voice grated in her ears.
Sam must have thought the jerk’s voice grated, too, because he slammed his fist into Az’s face to shut him up. “Don’t fucking touch her!”
“Why?” Az hadn’t moved. Blood streamed from his nose. “Because you didn’t want her to know just what you were? Didn’t want her to see how much you enjoy a kill?” In a flash, Az was beside her. “Those men weren’t marked for death. He decided to kill them, and he did.”
Sam growled. No other word for it. He growled . “They had murdered a village. Slaughtered the children. Raped the women, then killed them when they were done. And you wanted—what? For me to turn the other cheek? Hell, no. Death for death. Eye for—” He broke off, seeming to finally realize just what Az had said before. “See?” he repeated quietly, and his gaze found Seline’s. “He…showed you?”
Not just rage in his voice now. Fear.
She lifted her hand toward him. The slight edge of cruelty was still on his face. It would probably always be there, in the curl of his lip and the hardness of his eyes. But he was more than cruelty and rage. So much more. Why hadn’t she seen that in the beginning?
“Can you really trust him?” Az murmured, like the devil whispering in her ear. “Don’t you want to leave him? Now’s your chance, succubus. Run. I’ll hold him back. Get your freedom.”
Sam flinched.
Very, very slowly, Seline turned her head to meet Az’s stare. “I trust him with my life. And you can just go and fuck off.”
The ceiling trembled above them. Cracks raced across the sagging tiles.
“You should have run when you had the chance,” Az told her with what looked to be a sad shake of his head. “Now we’ll all?—”
The ceiling caved in—no, fell in because Rogziel had just blasted his way through as he hurtled toward them.
“Hell’s waiting,” Rogziel called out, raising his bloody hands, and lightning flew across the room. One bolt slammed into Az’s chest. Another hit Sam’s back. The scent of burned flesh filled Seline’s nostrils.
Burned flesh…and brimstone.
The hound’s teeth were at his throat. Tomas shoved up, but he choked on his own blood. The witch was thrusting a knife into the beast’s side, but the hound wasn’t letting up.
They’d run. Used as many spells as they could, but every time they appeared, the hellhound was right on their asses.
Can’t outrun a hound. Not once the beast gets your scent. The hound would only stop by a master’s command—or when it brought down its prey.
Tomas was down. No matter how hard he fought, he couldn’t get up.
The thudding of Tomas’s heartbeat began to slow. The sunlight dimmed. This was it.
He’d fallen, and now he’d die.
He could still hear Sierra’s screams. She’d never know how he felt about her. She’d never know him at all.
The hound’s breath blew over his face, but then, suddenly, the hound stiffened. The beast lifted its big, ugly head and howled.
The mournful wail shook Tomas’s bones.
The hound licked his throat, drinking away the blood that poured from Tomas’s gaping wounds. Tomas’s hands clawed at the hound’s eyes.
The hellhound leapt back. It howled again, then turned and raced toward the sun.
Tomas couldn’t feel his legs anymore. Or his hands. And that thudding in his ears, so faint…
“Oh, fuck.” Mateo stood over him. “Hold on, Fallen. You hear me? Your woman is out there. You have to help her. You can’t go any damn place yet.”
Sierra.
His lashes were trying to close.
Mateo chanted. Poured something in his wounds that burned and made Tomas howl like the beast had.
Sierra. “Why…” The word came from his torn throat as a whisper. “Leave…?” He couldn’t manage anymore. He wasn’t even sure that Mateo would understand his garbled speech.
“You’re still living…” Tomas thought the witch muttered barely, “so only its master’s command would pull it back.” A pause and Tomas understood, even before Mateo said, “The hellhound has new prey.”
Never taking his gaze off Rogziel, Sam rose to his feet. “I figured you’d be showing up soon.”
Rogziel’s face flushed dark red and his eyes shone black. “And I knew Tomas would bring you to me.”
“That why you had your monster dog waiting to rip him apart? Death was the guy’s finder’s fee?”
Sam slipped out the small vial Mateo had tossed to him and cradled it in the palm of his hand.
“Don’t worry.” Rogziel’s eyes closed for a moment as he inhaled a deep breath. “My monster dog is coming home. The hound will rip you apart, too.”
“Maybe next time.” Sam smiled. Azrael stood in the corner, watching. Waiting. Same routine. Never acting. Always just watching. “This time, I think I’ll rip you apart.” He threw the vial at Rogziel’s feet. The glass shattered, and a thin layer of white smoke rose in the air. High, higher, it wrapped around Rogziel.
The punishment angel screamed, “No!” as he tried to lunge forward, but there was no place for him to go. He was trapped in the cage that he’d first created. Rogziel’s fists slammed into a wall he couldn’t see, but it was one that Sam knew he could damn well feel. Sam smiled and pulled out his weapon. “Gotcha.” Time to carve up an angel.
“No.” Rogziel’s hands dropped. His lips twisted in a grin. “I’ve got you.”
“Sam?” Seline’s worried voice. “I hear?—”
Growls. Snarls. The scratch of claws racing over the floor. The hellhound was coming back.
Sam spun around just as the hound lunged into the room. The beast jumped right at him with its teeth bared for a deadly bite.
But Az drove his body into the hound’s. “Kill him!” Az shouted as he fought to hold the beast. Teeth snapped at him. Claws ripped into his body. Blood gushed. “Kill…Rogziel!”
The scent of flowers filled the room. Flowers…angels. More angels were coming. No, not coming. One was already there. Sam looked to the left and saw Jeremian, his pale face stoic. He knew Jeremian. He’d worked with the death angel for centuries.
Jeremian’s gaze was on Seline.
“No!” Sam roared. “You’re not taking her!” He stared at that thin line of white powder on the floor. Once he crossed that line, he wouldn’t be able to get out, not unless Mateo freed him. He’d be bound in there with Rogziel. Neither could get loose.
If he wanted to kill the punishment angel, there was only one way to do the job.
Sam leapt over the line. He lifted the claw and slashed the weapon down. Rogziel’s blood splattered on him as Rogziel fought back. Twisting, turning, and shoving out blasts of power that just exploded in the small space.
Growls and screams surrounded them. The hellhound was fighting to break free of Az’s hold. The beast’s teeth were snapping. Its claws carved up the floor as it tried to get to Sam. Seline had clamped her arms around the beast as she tried to help Az hold back the hound.
Sam sliced the dragon shifter’s claw across Rogziel’s throat. Blood rained down from the wound. “You’re not getting out alive,” he promised.
“Seline,” Rogziel whispered, and the bastard was smiling.
“You’ll never touch her!” He drove the huge claw into Rogziel’s heart and felt the gush of blood cover his fingers. “And you’re not heading back to heaven.”
A long drop of blood slid down from the corner of Rogziel’s mouth. “Neither…” Rogziel choked out, “is she.”
Sam blinked.
Rogziel’s body sagged. “Didn’t…know? Some angels…no wings…”
Gritting his teeth, Sam twisted the claw. Rogziel stopped talking. A desperate gurgle rose in his throat. Sam yanked back the claw.
Rogziel fell to the ground. His blood soaked his wings. His eyes were open, staring straight up, but fear had frozen his face.
The silence hit Sam then. Thick. Total. He spun around and felt like he’d just had his heart carved out.
The hound wasn’t at Azrael’s throat anymore. Az lay on the ground, not moving, his body torn and battered.
The beast crouched over Seline, and its teeth were at her throat. And behind them, with his hand outstretched, Jeremian waited.
“No!” Sam lunged forward but slammed into the invisible wall that had been created by the holding spell. “Fuck, no! ” Sam blasted the wall. He let fire rip from his hands. He shoved every inch of his power at the fucking wall but it didn’t give. “Seline!”
Her head was turned toward him. Her eyes met his. The hound hadn’t ripped into her throat, not yet. Maybe the beast wouldn’t. Maybe it would somehow recognize her, just as the other hound had.
Fucking bastard Rogziel. Sam kicked the angel’s limp body. Rogziel had said “Seline,” at the end—because he was ordering his hound to kill her. Changing prey. Damn him. “Get away from her!” Sam yelled at the hellhound. “Come for me, hound! Come for me!”
But the beast wasn’t moving. Jeremian wasn’t touching Seline. He couldn’t. His touch wouldn’t stop this torment for her, Sam knew that. The death angel’s touch wouldn’t work on her because of the angel blood that flowed through her body. Jeremian’s job was just to wait. To watch the hound kill her.
Just as Sam was watching. “No!” Sam screamed. “Come for fucking me!”
Jeremian looked at him. “I’m sorry,” he said. Seline wouldn’t be able to hear him, not yet. The closer she came to death, the more aware of the angel she’d become.
Seline—dying?
No, no, not fucking possible. He’d just found her. He’d promised her freedom.
A tear slid down Seline’s cheek. Those teeth were sinking into her throat, and she was pushing against the beast and still looking at Sam.
“ Love…you…” Her lips formed the words as she stared at him.
Sam shook his head. No, no, she couldn’t love him. He was Death. He killed. He destroyed.
Pain twisted her face.
He could only watch. “Seline!” The skin of his hands split open as he battered the invisible walls that held him.
Jeremian’s fingers were inches away from her. “You don’t want her to keep suffering,” the angel said. “It’s time for her to be at peace.”
At peace? Slaughtered by the hound? “I’ll kill you!” Sam roared—the vow was for the angel who just watched and for the beast who was hurting Seline.
Jeremian shook his head. “Doubtful. Though you may try.”
A red haze filled Sam’s vision. He shoved his hands flat against the barrier, pushing with every ounce of his strength. Pushing, pushing, spending his energy, desperate?—
Seline’s eyes widened. The beast’s teeth tore deeper into her throat. Sam saw her lips try to move once more. Another tear leaked from her eye, and her mouth shaped his name, “Sam.”
Then a giant ball of fire exploded, and Seline, his beautiful, precious Seline?—
Everything burned.