Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
“Why didn’t you tell me about him?” Az’s hand stroked over the curve of Jade’s back. She sat on the edge of the small bed, and, at his question, she glanced over her shoulder at him.
Her cheeks were still flushed, her lips red and plump from his mouth. She was so beautiful to him. Even now, he ached for her, but she set me up.
With an effort, Az kept his voice calm as he asked, “Was there a reason you didn’t tell me the truth about Brandt?” Did you want him to kill me?
She blinked those fuck-me eyes of hers. “I…told you. He’s a psychotic shifter. Super strong, super crazy, and?—”
“And he’s got a whole lot of angel blood flowing through him.” Now the rage did break past the ice in his words. “Didn’t you think it was important that I knew that little fact? The death touch won’t work on someone like me.” One of the little safety clauses that the big boss had put in place. Angels weren’t supposed to kill each other.
But Jade shook her head. “He’s no angel. You saw his claws—hell, I’ve seen him shift! He’s a panther. He’s not like you.”
Az just stared at her as his mind whirled. He’d broken so many rules for her. He’d thought she could offer him redemption, but the chance to get his life back had never been further from him.
Now they didn’t just have to deal with her bastard of an ex, they also had to deal with death angels who’d be on their trail.
“Every Other can recognize their own kind,” he said. It was a rule of nature. Shifters could catch the scents that would identify others of their ilk. Witches could feel the magical pull from those with powers like their own, and as for death angels…“My touch would have killed a normal shifter.” He lifted his fingers off her skin. The possibilities ran through his mind, then the strongest one clicked in his head. “My guess is the guy’s a hybrid.”
She rose from the bed and turned to face him. Jade didn’t even seem aware of her nudity. That was fine. He was plenty aware of it for them both.
“A hybrid?” Jade repeated with a little line deepening between her brows. “You mean, like, his dad was a shifter and his mom?—”
“Probably was an angel.”
Her eyes narrowed. “He never talked to me about his mother.” She searched the room. Found her shirt. Frowned at it when she realized it had been sliced to pieces.
“So you truly didn’t know?” He rose slowly and stretched. Her scent was on his skin. Az rather liked that. What he didn’t like was the idea that she’d deliberately set him up. While his touch hadn’t been able to kill Brandt, that bastard’s claws had done a thorough job of slicing him to pieces.
Shifter claws weren’t a weapon forged of man, so, yes, they’d do the trick when it came to killing an angel.
Is that how Brandt’s mother had died?
Her hands clenched in the torn fabric of her shirt. “You actually think I set you up? To die?”
He stared back at her, waiting.
She threw the shirt at him. “No, jerk, I didn’t!” Then she whirled around and started yanking open closets and drawers. Jade growled when she didn’t find any clothing, then she spun back around with blazing eyes.
Red stained her cheeks, but he didn’t think that glow was from passion anymore. More like fury. “ I’m the one that took the claws to the chest in order to protect you. Remember that sweet little moment? Because I sure do. It’s kinda etched in my memory.”
He’d never be able to forget that moment. In that instant, he’d decided?—
“So, no, I didn’t think it would be a fun game of shits and giggles for me to set you up so that my ex— who has made my life nothing but hell and blood for the last ten years —could slaughter you. I was really rather hoping that the all-powerful, badass angel would be the one to take him out.” Her chest rose and fell with her fast breaths.
She was strangely beautiful when enraged.
Her gaze dropped to his cock. Narrowed. “Don’t even think it right now, got me? You just accused me of using you as some kind of kill toy for Brandt. That’s not how I work, and you, angel, well, you need to think again.” She stomped away from him.
He should let it go. Let her go. But…“Who did you kill?” Az asked her.
She froze with her fingers inches from the doorknob.
With a wave of his hands, he conjured clothes for himself—and for her. She might be pissed, but he wasn’t letting her waltz out of the room naked, not with the others just a few feet away.
In a blink, soft jeans and a white T-shirt appeared on her body. Underwear. Sneakers. She didn’t acknowledge the clothing, though she started in surprise. Still not looking at me. He’d make her see him. After what he’d traded for her, she damn well owed him the truth.
“Did Brandt tell you that I’m a killer?” Her voice was soft. “You know you really shouldn’t trust him. He’s a pathological liar.”
“It wasn’t Brandt. It was an angel I’ve known for centuries.” A guy who couldn’t lie. Unlike Brandt, Bastion wasn’t a hybrid. Pureblood angels only spoke the truth.
Since the words had come from Bastion, he knew they weren’t a trick. He’d thought she was innocent. In need of protection. But she’d been lying to him all along.
Not so innocent. Not even close.
Why do I still want her so much?
She still didn’t look at him. Her fingers reached for the doorknob. “Then I guess you know the truth.” Jade opened the door.
No. He grabbed her and spun her around. Az slammed that door shut, and in an instant, he had her caged between his arms. “Who was it?”
A faint sheen of tears filled her eyes. “Go to hell.”
He stepped back, shocked more by the tears than by her words.
“Don’t stand there and judge me. You’re a death angel. Not some gentle guardian. Death is all you know. How many lives have you taken, huh? Hundreds? Thousands? You don’t know what my life has been like, and you sure don’t understand what I’ve had to do in order to survive.”
Kill.
“Humans adapt, right? That’s our strength?” Her lips curved in the hardest smile he’d ever seen her give. A smile that didn’t match the trace of moisture in her eyes. “Let’s just say I’m a pro at adapting. Now do me a favor and step back .”
He stared down at her and didn’t move an inch. “Do you know what I traded for you?”
“Considering I was ready to trade my life for you, right now, I don’t really care.” She didn’t wait for him to move. Jade shoved him—shoved, and Az flew back five feet.
Her jaw dropped open. “How did I—” She broke off, staring at her hand. “I’m sorry. I-I didn’t mean…”
He rose from the floor. The blood . He’d have to tell her what to expect, but…he didn’t know what to expect.
Jade whirled around and yanked open the door. She rushed out even as Az called her name. She didn’t get far though. A few steps, and she slammed right into Tanner.
The shifter caught her arms and held her in place. “We’ve got a problem.” A muscle flexed along his jaw.
She pulled away from him. “ A problem?” Her laugh held a ragged edge. “Trust me, I think we’ve got a whole lot more than just one problem to deal with here.”
Tanner glanced over her shoulder at Az. “He’s hunting us.”
Az just nodded. He’d figured that Brandt would come after him sooner rather than later.
“We maybe have an hour, probably less than that, before he tracks us here.”
“How do you know that?” Jade demanded as she ran a hand through her hair. “How can you possibly?”
“Because I’ve got one friend still in that pack, and he just called to tell me that we need to get the hell out of this place.” He huffed out a rough breath. “Heather’s still alive. Brandt forced her to scry, and she told him exactly where we are.”
So the bastard was coming for him. Fine. “Let him hunt.”
Tanner lifted a brow. “You’re that eager for another ass-kicking? Because I’m not.”
Az crossed the space between them in an instant. His power might not work on Brandt, but Tanner was one hundred percent shifter. “You knew what he was.” Jade hadn’t. He got that, now. But Tanner was a different story.
“Yeah, I knew.”
And with a wave of his hand, Az tossed the bastard through the nearest window. Glass shattered as Tanner sailed toward the dock.
“Az!” Jade spared him a shocked glare before she rushed outside after the now-groaning shifter. “Jeez, a punch would have sufficed,” she yelled back at him. “The slam through the window was a little much.”
Not really. He figured he owed Tanner more.
He conjured a ball of flame and followed her out of the house and onto the rickety dock. Tanner had just risen. He took a look at the flames hovering above Az’s hands and his claws immediately sprang out.
But then Jade jumped between them.
Az held back his fire.
“Is there a reason you didn’t tell us about Brandt’s little, um, side powers?” Jade asked, voice hot enough to burn like the fire in Az’s hands.
“I thought you knew,” came Tanner’s instant answer. “Hell, I thought there wasn’t anything you didn’t know about Brandt. And if you believed this guy—” Tanner pointed a claw at Az. “If you believed he could take Brandt out, then I believed it, too.”
Until the moment Brandt had sunk his claws into Az’s chest. Then they’d all stopped believing. “Here’s some angel trivia for you.” Az let the fire die. He could always conjure it again easily enough. “It takes more than the death touch to kill our own kind. Angels, even half-breed ones, can’t be killed with mortal weapons.” Give them a few more runs through the blood chain, a few more generations to dilute that powerful blood, then you could have a being that would die with a touch. But full-blood and half-blood angels were too strong.
Their magic fought Death.
“So if you can’t kill him, then what are we supposed to do about Brandt?” Tanner wanted to know as he began to pace the length of the dock. “What? Are we just gonna wait around here, let him come, and kill us all?”
“That’s not a good plan,” Jade snapped.
No, it wasn’t. “He has the witch.”
Tanner stopped and nodded.
“We need her.” He didn’t like Heather. Didn’t trust her—especially after what she’d done to Jade—but if they were going to take out Brandt, they’d have to save her. “She knew about that brimstone bullet. She might have even been?—”
“She’s the one who made him the bullets,” Tanner admitted, stopping Az’s words. “She found a wounded hellhound a long while back. She ground up its claws to make the bullets.”
A hellhound, huh?
“Wait!” Jade held up her hand. “He told me that he got those bullets from a witch in Vegas.”
“Yeah, that’s because he originally hooked up with Heather in Sin City.”
“Hooked…up?” Jade asked. Then she shook her head. “You don’t mean they?—”
“Right. They were hot and heavy, until Brandt met a certain human who got under his skin. Heather told me that once he met you, he left her—for fucking dead, by the way.”
Her hands clenched into fists. “Sounds like Brandt.”
“You knew all of this about her. ” Az strode along the old dock as he closed in on Tanner. “And you still trusted her? You sent us in with her and?—”
“He cut her up and tossed her into the swamp!” Tanner stood toe-to-toe with him. “It’s not like she was mooning after him. The woman wanted vengeance! I thought she’d help us.”
“She wanted vengeance alright.” Jade’s angry voice had Az’s gaze sliding to her. “She was willing to kill me in order to get it.”
“I never thought she’d attack you,” Tanner said. “I swear, okay? I figured she’d want to kill Brandt, not you.”
But Az understood. “She was attacking Brandt when she went after Jade.”
Jade nodded. “She told me that she was taking his heart.”
By killing her.
“Bitch,” Jade mumbled. She rubbed her arms, as if chilled.
“I’m sorry.” The gritted words were Tanner’s. “If I’d thought for a moment that she would try to kill you, Jade, I never would have taken her with us.”
It was a mistake Az would make sure they didn’t repeat.
But Jade’s assessing stare was studying Az now. “Well, whatever else we say about her, the witch knows her weapons. Those bullets she made worked on you.”
“So they’ll work on him, too.” They’d wound Brandt. Kill him. “We just need Heather to give us a new batch.” Then they’d be on equal battling ground. Claws versus brimstone.
Maybe not quite equal.
And maybe Brandt would be dead.
Az smiled. “Let him hunt us. While he comes after us, we’ll be heading right back into his camp.” And taking the witch.
A sharp bark of laughter escaped Tanner. “You’re crazy, aren’t you?”
Perhaps. A Fall could send some angels into raving insanity. Create killers. Monsters. Nightmares that walked the earth.
“But that’s a pretty fucking smart plan,” Tanner continued with a touch of admiration. “One Brandt won’t see coming. We’ll need to move fast, though.” His head whipped to the left as his nostrils flared. “What in the hell?”
Az followed his gaze into the twisting darkness of the trees.
“Has he already found us?” Jade’s hushed voice.
Tanner strode past her. “Someone’s hurt out there. I can smell the blood.”
Shifter senses.
“Not human,” he added, almost as an afterthought.
Jade frowned at him. “Who is these days?”
Az let his gaze search the trees. This could be a trap. Brandt was a wily hunter. He could’ve put out weak bait to lure them in. Az had seen killers use this move dozens of time over the centuries. “You got a lock on the scent, Tanner?”
The shifter nodded. “A mile to the left. Whoever it is, they’re moving real slow.” He glanced back at Az. “Could be close to dying.”
The dock squeaked. Az glanced back and saw Cody advancing on them. Now their little group was all together.
Worry showed on the demon’s face. “We can’t leave someone to die out there.”
Jade stiffened when she saw the doctor, and she took a quick step toward Az.
“We don’t have a lot of time to waste,” Tanner growled. “Brandt’s hauling ass over here. We can’t defeat him and his whole pack right now. We need to be gone.”
“We need the witch,” Az said. He had to get those bullets, and Heather was the one who could provide him with that perfect weapon.
There was no way he’d forget or forgive what she’d done to Jade. Or to him. But he would be using the witch. “She’s the one who can give us the weapon we need.”
“Is she really our only option?” Jade’s delicate jaw clenched as she moved even closer to Az. “Sorry, guess I’m just a little hesitant because of the whole trying to kill me bit.”
His fingers brushed over her cheek. “She’s not going to hurt you again.”
“No,” Jade was definite, “she won’t. I’m not going to give her the chance.”
Tanner cleared his throat. “We’re all pissed. We all want our pound of flesh.” He sighed. “But if we want to use her, then we have to hurry up and go get her.”
“Not yet.”
They all turned at Cody’s hard snap. The demon stood his ground. “We’re not leaving yet.”
Like the doc was going to stop him.
But Cody pointed to the woods. “I can smell the blood, too,” he said. “Someone’s out there, hurt. Are we really just going to leave them?”
No, they weren’t. Az inclined his head, and Tanner took off running. He cleared the dock and headed toward the left. They all fell in behind him, racing through the thicket of trees. The shifter didn’t hesitate as he tracked through those woods. When it came to hunting, nothing beat a shifter’s nose.
And Tanner made short work of cutting through the swamp and finding his prey. The others followed him, and Az made sure he kept Jade close to his side. Until he found out all the effects his blood would have on her, Az didn’t want Jade out of his sight.
Tanner stopped. Inhaled. Pointed to the side. “The scent of blood and flowers is coming from that way.”
Blood…and flowers? Az’s heart began to beat faster.
Tanner cocked his head as he studied Az with a growing understanding in his eyes. Jade and Cody huffed out breaths as they paused.
“You sure you want to play hero again?” Tanner asked. “Maybe this isn’t someone you want to save. Maybe it’s someone that you already gave one ass kicking to.”
Maybe. Blood and flowers. He wouldn’t know for sure, not until he actually saw the prey.
They started moving again. Faster now because Tanner was closing in on that scent. Jade was moving too quickly for a human, and she didn’t even seem to realize that fact. He didn’t know how long the blood would keep impacting her. The fact that she’d seen his wings?—
She wasn’t afraid.
The trees seemed to blow past them as limbs reached out and scratched at his flesh.
“Tanner!” For an instant, he lost sight of the shifter.
Then Az rounded a bend, leapt over a fallen tree, and found Tanner crouched on the ground.
A blond woman lay in his arms. Skin pale and bloodstained. Marna.
No.
In an instant, he was at Marna’s side. She was on her back, with her eyes closed. He lifted her up carefully. Her clothes were torn but the skin of her stomach and chest were fully healed. Angels could heal so fast, even from a panther’s claws.
But as he lifted Marna higher into his arms, he realized that some wounds just couldn’t be healed.
Her wings had been sliced off. The flesh of her back was still mending, crossed with thick, red slashes, and her wings were— gone.
“Az?” Now Jade’s voice held fear.
The angel who came to take your soul. Did Jade remember her? He couldn’t look at Jade then. The guilt was too much. Marna’s injuries were his fault. He’d interfered. Altered fate.
An angel couldn’t fly to the gateway and enter heaven without her wings.
“I know that handiwork.” Tanner’s low, rumbling words. Az glanced at him and saw that Tanner’s face was twisted in fury. “Looks like Brandt got hold of her.”
Marna’s eyes weren’t opening.
Jade touched Az on the shoulder. “You know her.”
He nodded. “Her name…She’s Marna.”
“Another angel?” Jade whispered. “This—this probably sounds crazy, but I think I’ve seen her before.”
“You have seen her.” An angel’s power came from her wings. Without the wings, it would take Marna weeks to build up her strength. The others could see her now because her wings were gone. Marna’s life was gone. “When it was time for you to die, she’s the one who came to take your soul.”
Jade sank to her knees beside him. “Then why is she the one broken on the ground?”
Because of me.
Cody bent to press his hands against Marna’s back. “I can stitch her up. We need to get her back to my place. I’ll clean the wounds, bandage her?—”
“And then Brandt will appear and finish slicing her up,” Tanner snarled. “Sorry, but hell, no. This woman’s best chance for surviving is to get out of here.”
He was right. Az stood, with Marna cradled in his arms. His gaze met Cody’s. “I’m trusting you with her life. If anything happens to her, you don’t even want to know the fury that’s gonna rain down on all of us.”
Cody nodded and reached for her. “I’ll treat her, I’ll?—”
“You and Tanner will get her out of here. You run as fast as you can, and don’t look back.” Because when Brandt came hunting, he’d follow Jade’s scent, not Marna’s. Jade’s and Az’s. They had to split up from the others if Marna was going to survive. Az held the demon’s gaze. “When she wakes, whatever you do, don’t let her touch you.”
Cody gripped Marna in his arms. The doc’s eyes widened. “Why would?—”
“She’s going to be furious, and you’ll be the demon within striking distance. One touch, and you’ll be dead.”
Cody swallowed. “Guess I’ll be strapping her down.” His hold tightened on the unconscious woman.
“If you want to keep living, you will.”
A nod from the demon.
Jade was silent beside him.
“How will you find us?” Tanner cocked his head as his eyes narrowed. “Once you get the witch, what’s the big plan? You going after Brandt on your own?”
Perhaps. “Head back to New Orleans. Meet me at a bar called Sunrise tomorrow night, right at midnight.”
“And you’ll be there?” Tanner pressed.
Lying wasn’t an option, so it was a good thing that Jade said, “Yes” before Azrael had to reply. “And bring the angel,” Jade added.
“Go!” Az told the other two, because tension already held his body tight. Minutes were trickling by. Brandt would be coming closer.
Tanner and Cody vanished into the trees. They’d protect Marna. Az just hoped she didn’t wind up killing them for their trouble.
“We need to make sure that Brandt has a scent to follow,” he said. “You’re the one he wants, so he’ll ignore everyone else and focus just on your trail.”
Jade nodded, then turned and started running deeper into the woods. He stayed right on her trail. Running with her, keeping close, but not trying to mask her scent in any way.
Then they broke through the brush. She stood gasping at the edge of the thick, green bayou water. “Now…what?”
They’d run far enough to lead Brandt on a nice chase. Az caught her hand. Pulled her close. He’d never tried this with another person. “Do you trust me?”
“Yes.” No hesitation.
“Then hold on.” He tightened his arms around her.
And they vanished.
When Jade opened her eyes, the whole world was spinning. She stumbled away from Az and nearly fell to the ground. Az’s reflexes were super fast though, and he caught her right before she could slam into the earth.
“Easy,” he breathed against her ear. “It’ll take your body a few minutes to adjust.”
Adjust to what? Nausea welled in her stomach, and she had to crouch, putting her head between her knees. “What just happened?”
“We moved very, very fast.”
Blinking, she glanced back up. The bayou was gone. They stood just a few feet from an arching cypress tree. Not just any cypress. She remembered staring up at this tree as she struggled to live.
Azrael paced away from her. He bent and studied the ground. She saw his shoulders tense.
The ground seemed to shake beneath her feet.
Jade sucked in a deep breath. Then another. She followed him on shaky legs and saw the bloody black feathers on the earth. The feathers were far too big to belong to a bird.
Come with me, Jade. It’s time for you to rest. She remembered the words, whispering through her mind, though she hadn’t told Az about them. She remembered the words and the angel who’d appeared.
Marna.
But Marna had never touched her. If the angel had, Jade knew she wouldn’t be there.
“Where’s his camp?” Az asked as he kept gazing at those feathers. “Where’s the hole that the bastard retreated to after he sliced her apart?”
Az glanced at her, and she went very still. His eyes weren’t blue now. They were demon black. And the rage in them stole her breath.
“Where would he go?” Az stalked toward her. “You know him. Know how he thinks. Where would the bastard set up his base?”
Close by. Jade stiffened her shaky knees as she pointed. “Probably across the water.” She knew this area. Now that the fog was gone, she recognized the place because she’d visited it in her youth. “They could have gone over on motorboats. From what I remember, there used to be a campsite over there. Lots of abandoned buildings.”
Az straightened and strode to the twisting pier. Gators slowly glided in the water.
She could just make out the old campsite. “He won’t have left the place undefended,” she warned him. “He’s too smart for that. He’s hunting, but he’ll have left a trap behind. Left men behind.”
“I was counting on that.”
The deadly promise in his voice made chill bumps rise on her arms. This Az—he was different. From the moment he’d found Marna in those woods, a coldness had crept over him.
“Let’s see how fast they die,” he announced even as he snagged her wrist. There was no warning this time. Just the wild rush of wind. The feel of a thousand skeletal hands on her body, and in the next instant, they were across the water. On the shore.
And she knew Az was about to hunt.
They’d appeared right in the middle of the area, less than two feet from a lounging shifter. When he saw them, the shifter let out a startled grunt and jumped toward them with his claws up. Az wrapped his hand around the guy’s throat and lifted him into the air. “I want the witch,” Az ordered.
The shifter swiped out with his claws. Blood poured from Az’s shoulder.
Az just smiled.
That smile chilled her. This wasn’t the Az she’d come to know. In this moment, he was something altogether different.
With his left hand, he broke the shifter’s wrist. Shattered bones.
“You’re dying,” Az told him. “It’s just a question of…how painful do you want that death to be?”
A faint glow appeared beneath Az’s hand as it gripped the shifter’s throat. Smoke began to rise from the panther’s skin as he convulsed.
“You can burn,” Az told him, “from the inside out.”
And he was.
“Az?” Jade lifted her own hand, then hesitated when the shifter started to speak.
“T-to the left. Th-third building. Witch is—th-there…” The words ended in a choked gurgle as the shifter fell to the ground. His body was still smoking, but his eyes were open and staring at nothing.
Jade turned away and glanced to the left. She saw the shadowy bodies of two more shifters coming toward her. Only they weren’t attacking as men. They were rushing forward on the silent paws of panthers. She opened her mouth to cry out a warning.
There was no chance to warn Az. No chance, and no need. A ball of fire flew from his fingertips and headed for the pouncing panthers. One cried out, a high, keening sound, and flew to the right. The flames slammed into the second beast. He fell to the ground and immediately began rolling as he fought to put out the flames. His fur vanished as he lost the body of the beast, and the man’s flesh burned as he transformed.
The other panther rose. Faced Az.
Az began to stalk toward him.
Okay, fine, so he had this. She’d take care of the witch. Maybe she’d even get some payback herself because it wasn’t like she’d ever forget that woman shoving the knife into her chest.
Jade raced behind Az. Counted the buildings. One. Two. Three. She kicked in the door. “Okay, witch, I’m?—”
Heather was tied to the bed. Blood pooled all around her. The witch’s face had been sliced. Her body clawed. There was blood. So much blood . Yet she still lived.
How?
Jade swallowed back the bile that rose in her throat. Heather’s head had turned when the door flew open, and her dazed eyes locked on Jade.
The witch begged, “H-help me.”
Pity tore through Jade even as she remembered… The knife shoving into her chest. “I’m taking his heart. ” Only Heather hadn’t taken Brandt’s heart.
She tried to take mine.
Jade eased into the room. Her gaze searched each corner. All the shadows. No panthers waited.
“Please!” Heather’s strangled cry. “Need…” She tried to lift her hand, but the rope on the old bedpost wouldn’t allow her wrist to rise.
Jade crouched near the bed. Damn. Those slices were deep. And all that blood… “You’re going to be okay now.” No, she wasn’t. Not unless Az could get in there and help her.
His blood. That angel blood of his might be strong enough to save Heather.
“You’re going to be okay,” she told Heather again, meaning it this time. “Az!” Jade screamed his name.
The witch had suffered. So much torture. Jade didn’t forgive the woman for what she’d done, but dying like this—no one deserved to die like this.
Jade yanked at the thick ropes around Heather’s wrists and managed to get the witch’s left hand free.
“Az!” Jade yelled again. She needed him, now. Dammit, if he wasn’t coming in, she’d have to go drag the angel off those panthers.
Jade turned from the bed, but Heather’s free hand flew out and wrapped around her wrist. “Sorry…so sor…ry.”
Shaking her head, Jade said, “Forget that now. You can beg forgiveness, I can kick your ass—later. We’ll do that whole bit after?—”
“Had to hurt you…to get…to him …” Heather’s breath heaved out. “Only way…” Blood trickled past her lips.
Yeah, well, it had been a shitty way, but they’d deal with that after they stopped Heather from dying.
“You make…him weak.”
“Nothing makes Brandt weak.” Heather should have realized that. “He doesn’t really love me. He can’t love anyone.” He was a sociopath. Incapable of actual love. She’d learned that long ago. He’d said the right things at first. Done the right things. But the man was broken inside.
“I’ll be right back,” Jade promised her. “I’ll get Az. He can help you.”
But Heather wasn’t letting go of her wrist. “You…kill him.”
The witch’s nails dug into her skin.
“Have to…” More blood bubbled from Heather’s lips. “He’ll…destroy everything.”
“If you want me to stop Brandt, then you have to help me.” Jade tried to keep the fear out of her voice. The witch didn’t look like she had much life left in her. “We need those brimstone bullets that you made for Brandt. Az thinks they can take him out.”
Heather moved her head in the smallest of negative shakes. “No…more.”
Well, hell.
“ You kill…”
A rush of air shoved back Jade’s hair. She blinked and found Az kneeling beside the bed.
When she saw him, Heather cried out and tried to back away. There was no place for her to go. “ Don’t! Don’t touch?—”
“Where are the bullets?” he barked.
Heather started gasping.
Jade grabbed his shoulder. “She doesn’t have any more bullets. Just…shit, help her. ”
He turned his head slowly to meet Jade’s stare. “She drove a knife into your chest. And she laughed while you bled.”
Um, she didn’t exactly remember the whole laughing part.
Then Heather started to laugh again and the trickle of an icy memory flowed through Jade’s mind.
“Knew…knew it would be you,” Heather whispered. “Always…” Her eyelids started to sag closed.
Az shook her. “You’re not dying yet.”
“I’m…already dead.” She didn’t open her eyes. “You know…how it works. Should have taken me before…can’t stop death.”
The chill just roughened Jade’s skin all the more. “Are there more brimstone bullets at your shop?”
“Go to…hell…to get them.” Heather’s breath seemed to choke out. Her chest barely rose. “Maybe…maybe I’ll find some when I get there.” Her pale, bloodstained lips curled.
“Do something, Az!” Just watching the witch die was tearing Jade apart.
But then the room seemed to grow very, very dark. As if something was sucking all the light away.
A thick shadow appeared near the bed. A shadow with the form of a man. He hovered over Heather. Reached for her.
Even as Az reached out at the same instant. Az’s hand pressed on top of that shadowy hand. Heather stiffened. Her mouth parted in a soundless cry. Her chest stopped rising.
Jade whirled away. Shoving open the door, she fled outside. Two shifters lay sprawled on the ground. Motionless. Were they dead, too?
She was so tired of death. Jade ran toward the woods. Maybe she should have felt relief that Heather was dead. One less crazy bitch out there who wanted her dead.
But she wasn’t relieved. Heather shouldn’t have ended up that way. No one should suffer that much.
Jade slammed into a strong chest. Powerful arms reached for her. Held her tight. Jade’s head whipped up. Her eyes were caught by a golden stare. One that seemed ice cold.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” the man said, and his hands tightened around her. “Time to come with me.”
Jade kicked him in the groin. Startled, he let her go. His hair blew in the breeze.
“Keep waiting, asshole,” she told him as she backed up a few precious steps. “I’m not going anyplace with you!”
A line of fire appeared, separating her from the grabby stranger. “Stay away from her, Bastion!” Az roared. “Don’t touch her!”
Too late. He’d touched. And the guy—Bastion—just leapt right through that wall of flame and grabbed her again. Grabbed her—and she finally saw the wings that sprouted from his back. Oh, damn.
He lifted her up, holding her effortlessly. His face—handsome, strong, too hard —came close to hers as he stared into her eyes.
Those wings of his seemed to block out the light. Not shadows like Az’s, but full, real, thick wings. Black wings.
Bastion’s eyes froze her. “You should be dead.”
Same song. “I’ve been getting that a lot,” she muttered.
“Bastion!” Az bellowed, and then he slammed into the other angel. At that shuddering collision, they all hit the ground. Jade grunted at the impact and rolled away. She sprang up and found Az and Bastion circling each other.
“Going to shoot me again?” Bastion taunted. “Going to keep turning on your own kind in order to protect the human?”
What? “Az?” He’d shot this angel?
Az immediately leapt toward her, half-positioning his body in front of hers.
Bastion laughed at the move, but the sound held no humor. Just more ice. “Trying to play the hero? What? Does your little mortal mistakenly think that you’re the good guy in this story?”
The wind rustled around her. No, not the wind. Bastion. He’d moved in a flash and come to stand right beside Jade. “You’re a fool,” he told her. “He’s not the good guy. Not even close. Azrael was cast out for a reason.”
Her hand reached for Az’s. Her fingers locked with his.
Bastion’s gaze dropped to their entwined hands. He blinked, as if confused, then his eyes slowly lifted once more. This time, his stare met Az’s. “You’ll destroy her. You know that. We destroy everything that we touch.”
“Not this time.” Az’s words sounded like a vow.
But Bastion shook his head. “She should be dead. One touch, and she should be dead. Don’t you realize what you’ve done?”
Az wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer to his chest.
“You’ve already destroyed her,” Bastion said, voice softer. “You just don’t even realize it.” Then he lifted his hands. He stirred fire, just as she’d seen Az do many times. Bright, red and gold flames. Dancing. Spinning in a circle. Spinning—and flying right at her.
Jade screamed as the fire swelled even higher. She felt the scorch of the heat on her skin. But then Az was there. Shielding her and taking the blistering fire right into his body.
Taking it, then sending it back at the other angel. Bastion screamed. The scent of burning flesh filled the air.
Bastion vanished.
At first, Jade didn’t breathe. Her gaze swept the clearing. Left to right. The ground around them had blackened with the blaze. “Is he…” She sucked in a deep breath, cleared her throat, and asked, “Gone?”
Az didn’t let her go. “No.”
Great.
“But he won’t attack again, at least not yet. Not until he’s sure he can take me out.”
That wasn’t the reassuring news she’d been hoping to hear. Az needed to work on that whole building team morality bit. “Then let’s get the hell out of here, okay? Do that super fast move of yours and get us someplace safe.” Even if it made her feel nauseous. Being sick was better than being dead.
She had no doubt that Bastion wanted her dead.
“There is no safe place from Bastion. He will be able to follow us anyplace we go.”
Again with the whole not-what-she-wanted-to-hear response. But before she could speak, Az lifted her into his arms. She wrapped her hands around his neck. Held onto him as tightly as she could.
When the world spun around her, she wasn’t even afraid.
Okay, maybe she was. Because as she glanced back over Az’s shoulder and saw the twisting trees begin to fade as he raced away, she glimpsed the hulking shadow of powerful black wings.
Bastion. Chasing right after them.
You’ve already destroyed her.