Chapter 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
RAPHAEL
Istared at the ceiling, tracing the pattern of shadows, knowing sleep wasn’t coming. Not after what I’d heard through the walls. Not after what I’d done about it.
Again.
My hand clenched into a fist against my stomach. Twice now. Twice I’d gotten myself off to her, and it was making me seriously consider slamming my head into the nearest solid surface. Hard.
I’d witnessed countless entanglements in my life and had remained perfectly detached through it all. But now I was lying in a vampire’s guest room, hard as stone because a demon woman had been fucked senseless.
What the fuck was wrong with me?
I should have returned to Earth hours ago and been in heaven helping with Lucifer’s recovery.
But something in my gut told me to stay, and an archangel’s intuition wasn’t something to ignore.
We were created with certain instincts for a reason, even if those reasons weren’t always immediately clear.
Still, this was getting ridiculous.
Lightning cracked across the sky outside, bright enough to illuminate the room even through a gap in the heavy curtains. The flash was followed by another, then another, creating a strobe effect that pulled me from bed.
I crossed to the window, intending to close the drapes completely, but when I reached for the fabric, I paused, looking out at the horizon.
A storm churned in the distance. Lightning forked through black clouds, illuminating them from within like veins of molten silver. No, not silver. They had a faint purple hue.
I’d been to Inferna before, though rarely. But all archangels knew about those storms and knew what they did to demons who got caught in them.
Nothing good ever came from the lightning here.
My stomach growled, breaking through my thoughts. Right. Food. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast. I could have sworn the vampire said he’d have clothes and food brought to our rooms.
I turned from the window and headed for the door, pulling it open. There were no clothes and no food. Fucking vampire.
With an annoyed grunt, I stepped into the hall, determined to go to the kitchen and find something to eat myself. I stopped short.
Samara stood near the stairs, her back to me. She wore a light-colored nightgown that caught the faint light from the sconces, making her look almost ethereal. Her hair was loose, cascading in waves that seemed to shimmer.
“Samara.”
She didn’t respond. Didn’t turn. Didn’t even acknowledge that she’d heard me.
My pulse kicked up. Something was wrong. I couldn’t get an accurate read on her emotions.
I followed her down the stairs, keeping a careful distance. Her movements were mechanical, like she was sleepwalking.
At the bottom of the stairs, I grabbed her arm. “Samara, stop—”
Her fist connected with my nose before I could finish. Pain exploded across my face, and I stumbled into a pedestal. The vase on top crashed to the floor, ceramic shards scattering across the marble.
I pressed my hand to my nose, feeling the blood. It would heal quickly, but that didn’t make it hurt any less in the moment.
Samara didn’t even glance back. She walked straight to the front door, which swung open on its own. This was shaping up to be something straight out of a horror movie.
Was it possible I was having a nightmare? Was she manipulating me? She could have very well lied about females and their capabilities.
I pushed myself up and ran after her. “What the fuck, Samara!” I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her toward the house.
Light burst from her body. The force of it hit me, launching me backward. My back slammed against the side of the house, and I heard the stone crack.
I slid down, gasping, trying to catch my breath. By the time I looked up, she was already running.
Straight toward the gate and the forest. Straight toward the storm.
“Shit.” I forced myself to my feet, ignoring the pain radiating through my spine. I could heal later. Right now, I had to stop her before she got herself killed.
Guards attempted to stop her, but the gate flew open, and they flew to the sides, landing in unconscious heaps.
I ran after her, and she stumbled, going down hard at the tree line before pushing herself up immediately. She’d hurt her leg and was limping but not slowing down.
I sprang forward, wings erupting from my back in an explosion of white feathers. The magic of this place pulled at them, making the shift rougher than usual, but I didn’t slow.
Something grabbed my left wing and yanked hard.
I spun, power already gathering in my palm, ready to incinerate whatever—
Nico’s eyes were wild and desperate. “Let her go. You can’t stop it or she’ll hurt herself.”
“Are you fucking insane?” I jerked my wing free. “She’ll die out there.”
“She won’t.” He moved to block my path, shoulders squared. “This is what she needs. What she’s supposed to do.”
Behind him, Val and Amari ran out the door and bypassed both me and Nico, heading straight after Samara.
Nico threw himself in front of Val. “Stop! All of you need to go inside.”
Val’s fangs descended. “Get the fuck out of my way, rodent.”
Nico planted his feet. “You don’t understand what’s happening. None of you do.”
Amari grabbed Val’s shoulder, yanking him back when he tried to push past. “He’s right.”
We were all moving forward despite Nico’s and Amari’s attempts to stop us.
“She’s going to get herself killed.” Val struggled against Amari’s grip. “I’m not losing her again.”
We reached the edge of a clearing where she’d stopped. The storm gathered overhead, the tendrils of lightning dancing in the clouds in a way I had never seen before.
The first bolt struck.
It hit Samara square in the chest, and her arms spread wide. Her head fell back, mouth open in what should have been a scream but wasn’t. More lightning came, bolt after bolt, each one slamming into her body.
It would have vaporized a human, but she wasn’t vaporizing. She was glowing.
The light built in her chest, spreading outward through her limbs. Her hair lifted, crackling with energy. Her face held no pain or fear. Only peace.
My celestial senses opened wide, reading the magic flowing through her. It wasn’t draining her. It was filling her.
The storm was giving her power like she was an empty vessel meant to be filled.
Holy shit.
“It’s going to kill her.” Amari, who had been trying to stop Val from interfering, now seemed to have reconsidered. His fear had shot up higher than anyone’s.
I reached for him to soothe him, but he moved away. “No, it’s not. This is supposed to happen. If we stop it now—”
Amari shifted to something that was hard to describe. Part demon, part panther, part stone. Wings erupted from his back, leathery and powerful, and his face elongated into something between a panther and a demon.
“Amari, no!” Val attempted to grab him, but he was already too far away.
I didn’t think, just moved. My wings snapped wide, and I shot toward him, intercepting him mid-flight. We collided, and my bones rattled as we tumbled through the air in a tangle of wings.
His stone fingers closed around my throat.
I drove my fist into his jaw. The impact sent pain shooting up my arm, but his grip loosened enough for me to wrench free. We hit the ground, rolling, each trying to pin the other.
His wings beat, lifting us both off the ground. His single hand grabbed my wing and wrenched it downward, and agony shot through the joint.
“V-v-vacants are coming!” Kage’s voice cut through the chaos, high and terrified.
Amari let go of my wing, and before he could stop me, I flew toward Samara, who was now in a crumpled heap on the ground, the lightning now receding.
I didn’t need to see the vacants to know they were moving closer. There was so much wrongness in the air that my stomach churned and bile rose in my throat.
I scooped her up and launched into the sky, my wing screaming at me in protest. Her head lolled, and then her eyes opened slowly, confusion radiating off her.
She looked down. “It’s Taylor! Let me go!” She tried to twist in my arms, the movement making my wings falter.
Not a fucking chance.
Her brother or not, I wasn’t dropping her into a horde of light-drained demons who’d tear her apart before she could blink.
The forest below seethed with movement. The vacants converged on the clearing like a spreading infection.
Could they shift and fly?
I wasn’t going to risk Samara to find out. I quickly calculated where we were in relation to Earth before I landed in an empty field.
I set Samara down in the grass, steadying her when she swayed. “Don’t move.”
I didn’t wait for her response, and I went through the barrier and back to Inferna.
A hell serpent circled overhead, its scales gleaming like obsidian in the darkness. Wings that looked too large for its body beat with enough force to knock over a child. A giant sat on its back, one hand gripping a spike protruding from the creature’s neck.
The serpent banked, heading toward the forest. Its mouth opened, revealing rows of teeth that could shred through steel. The roar that emerged ripped through the air, followed by a wave of flame that engulfed the trees just beyond the clearing.
Vacants screamed with high, inhuman sounds that made the hair on my arms stand on end.
A figure stood in the center of the clearing where Samara had been, perfectly still amid the carnage. That had to be Taylor.
Val, Amari, and Nico were running toward the other side of the clearing.
Nico shifted mid-run, his squirrel form darting into the forest with a speed that would have been impressive if I wasn’t concerned about what the hell was waiting in those trees.
Val wrapped his arms around Amari’s torso, and Amari leapt into the sky.
The hell serpent had circled and was opening its mouth to send more fire.
They were right in its path.
I dove, my hand closing around the edge of Amari’s wing just as another wave of fire lit up the sky behind us. The heat scorched my wings as I pulled us through the barrier.
I lost my grip on Amari right before we hit the ground, and my shoulder took most of the impact. Amari wrapped his wings tightly around Val before they hit the ground, leaving a small crater.
I got to my feet, scanning the field. I couldn’t see Samara, but I felt her light. I pointed in her general direction. “She’s over there. Don’t leave, I’ll be right back with the squirrel and the mage.”
Val was already moving, half-running, half-stumbling across the uneven ground.
Amari shifted to his demon form. “Nico ran after Kage.”
I took off, ignoring the way my damaged wings protested. The barrier was a little harder to get through in my weakened state, making me dizzy.
I pushed through the discomfort and searched the burning forest and clearing below. The smoke was thick now, and visibility was reduced. Looking for a squirrel and an invisible house mage was nearly impossible. The hell serpent was still shooting flames at the forest.
Nico had run off in that same direction.
My heart sank as I returned to Earth. I’d been too late.