Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
“No, he’s not.” Jade’s voice was confident and held no fear. “I don’t know what you think you saw, buddy, but you’re wrong. Az has done nothing but help me from the moment we met.”
“He’s tried to help himself.” At Mateo’s cold words, Az locked his back teeth. “Stepping into that alley that first night had nothing to do with you and everything to do with Az’s need for violence.”
Jade shook her head. “You’re wrong. He saved me!”
“Az likes violence.” A pause. “Sex and violence, haven’t you noticed? Or maybe he just likes the sex more with you.”
“Az has never hurt me!”
The witch was about to push too far. “Create the bullets,” Az ordered. Jade had made a mistake in offering a debt to Mateo, but Az could take care of that for her. He’d make sure she didn’t have to sacrifice anything.
Mateo liked sacrifices too much.
“Once he realized you were human, Az knew he could use you.” Mateo’s voice was mild. The male needed to shut up.
Az lunged forward and grabbed Mateo’s arm. “The bullets.”
Mateo smirked at him. “I’m not afraid of you.”
He should be.
“Az isn’t using me!” Jade was still defending him. Why did that make him feel so…guilty?
“ Sí, he is. Ask him.”
Az shoved the witch away from him. He couldn’t kill Mateo, at least, not until he’d gotten the bullets.
A grim smile lifted Mateo’s mouth as he studied Az. “After all,” he said, “we all know angels can’t lie.”
“I don’t need to ask him!” Jade’s green eyes flashed fury as her dark hair tumbled wildly over her shoulders. “What could he possibly be using me for? I’m the one who needs him! He’s saving my ass and?—”
“And he thought you were his ticket back to heaven.”
The witch really did see too much.
“Helping a human, helping one of the favored…” Mateo stroked his throat. “That was supposed to fast-pass you back upstairs, right, Azrael?”
“You seem to have all the answers,” Az snarled at him. “So why even ask?”
“Because she needs to see you for what you are.” Mateo’s face twisted with anger. “She’s blinded by you. She doesn’t get that you are?—”
“Enough talk.” Jade’s voice cut right through his raging words. Az glanced at her and did a double take. Jade had snatched up the knife from Mateo’s table, and she’d just shoved the tip against the witch’s side. “We made the deal, now just do your part.”
Mateo’s mouth slackened in shock.
“It’s a magic knife, right?” Jade muttered. “Hell, isn’t everything magic these days? And I’m thinking if it can cut you, maybe it can even kill you, even if you are some super-powered caller.” She pushed the blade’s tip a bit deeper into Mateo’s skin. “At the very least, I can make you hurt.”
Mateo’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t care what he is.” Surprise slipped into his eyes, but vanished almost instantly.
“I want him,” she said, “just as he is.”
Az rubbed his chest, aware of an ache that rested beneath the skin.
The witch searched her eyes. Then, after a moment, he inclined his head. “Wait outside. I’ll give you what you need.”
“You’d better.” Very slowly, she lowered the knife. “And stop the trash talk about Az, understand? I get it, you’re not a fan, but back the hell off.”
She was protecting him. Az stepped closer to her. He brushed back a lock of her dark hair.
Her head turned toward him. “I don’t care, Az. Whatever the reason you came to me, I don’t care .”
But…but there was a flash of pain in her eyes.
He’s using you.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Come on.” They’d wait downstairs. He’d explain things to her.
“I need your blood, Fallen.” Mateo’s words stopped him.
And, of course, he did. Didn’t everyone want angel blood?
“You have to pay, too,” Mateo murmured. “So I’ll be taking that pound of flesh you offered.” A slight pause. “Good thing your kind heals so fast.”
But Az didn’t want Jade to watch him get sliced open. “You got spells protecting this place?” he asked Mateo.
“Always,” was the instant answer.
Exhaling, Az said, “Go downstairs, Jade. I’ll be there soon. Give me just a minute.”
She nodded and stepped away from him.
But before she left, he wanted her to understand…“I’m not going back.”
Her body tensed.
“I’m not using you as some trade-off for heaven.”
She turned toward him. Her hand lifted and touched the edge of his jaw. If he’d had one, the look in her eyes would have broken his heart.
But angels didn’t love.
Angels didn’t, but Fallen?—
“Good,” she told him quietly as her hand slowly fell away, “because a trade with somebody like me—with all the things I’ve done—hell is more likely what you’d get in return.”
Then she was gone. The door shut quietly behind her. Az realized his hands had tightened into fists.
“I guess it’s true.” Mateo came to stand in front of him. He held a knife loosely in his hands.
Az forced his hands to relax. “What is?”
“That every angel has a temptation.”
She wasn’t just a temptation.
“Maybe that’s the real challenge.” Mateo’s gaze was hooded. “Can you give her up? If you did, perhaps you’d get what you want.”
“You don’t know what I want.” What he wanted was heading down the stairs. He could hear the soft tread of her footsteps. “So just get to slicing and let’s hurry the hell up.” He had places to be. An angel to see.
A shifter to kill.
“If that’s what you want.” Then Mateo started cutting him. Az clenched his teeth and refused to cry out as the witch carved into him. Mateo caught his blood in a cup, holding it close.
Az didn’t make a sound. He didn’t want Jade to see him like this. Didn’t want her to hear his pain.
So he closed his eyes, ignored the hot slice of that knife, and thought of angels, and their deadly schemes.
She’d known he was too good to be true. Jade paced the dusty bottom floor of the warehouse with her arms folded over her breasts. That first night—she’d known that fate couldn’t be so kind to her.
“Using me,” she muttered, and so what? Hadn’t she been using him, too?
So why did the knowledge of Az’s true intentions make her heart hurt?
Because you know he doesn’t want to stay with you. You know that when this nightmare is over, Az will find a way to get what he wants most.
And what he wanted most just wasn’t her.
Dammit.
Az wanted to go home.
How could a girl compete with heaven?
She glanced upstairs. She hadn’t heard so much as a peep of sound since she’d walked down to the first floor. That was weird, but?—
“Help me…”
Jade tensed at the cry. Faint, drifting on the wind. She hurried to the warehouse door. Putting her ear against it, she listened.
“Help me!” A woman’s voice. Desperate. Louder. “Please, help me!”
Jade jerked back. She grabbed the handle of the door. Yanked.
The damn thing didn’t open.
The woman screamed, the cry high and full of pain.
Jade yanked harder on the door. It wouldn’t open. She ran toward the boarded-up windows. Pressing close, she squinted and could just make out the form of a woman huddled across the street. The woman was holding her stomach and weaving on her feet. And there was a trail of blood in her wake.
Oh, hell. “Az!” Jade yelled for him. “I need you!” Because she couldn’t just stand there and watch that woman die. Jade spun around. She needed something, something— the chair. She rushed for the old desk and chairs, and her hands closed around the nearest chair.
She dragged it with her and rammed it against the window. The glass shattered. The wood that had been nailed into place groaned.
The woman’s cries were getting weaker.
“Az!” Jade shouted again. “Help me!”
The wind howled in the apartment as the magic flared. Mateo was mixing Az’s blood and the hellhound claws, pounding them up and re-forming them with his powers.
No furnace was needed to cast these bullets. Mateo used his own firepower to burn and shape them.
The howling sounded like a thousand voices screaming in his head, and even with the fire spinning just feet away, Az felt a chill ice his skin.
Some magic could give even angels pause.
And this—the powers that Mateo called—they were damn dark.
Az was glad that Jade was safely downstairs. He didn’t want this darkness touching her.
The wood cracked with a groan. Jade heaved the chair once more, and it flew through the shattered beams of wood. Then it was her turn to hurtle through the window. The woman wasn’t crying anymore. She’d slumped over on the ground, and she didn’t appear to be moving at all.
Don’t be dead. Please don’t be dead.
But Jade could smell the too-sweet scent of flowers, and that was supposed to mean that a death angel was close, right?
“Hold on!” Jade cried out as she raced across the street. “You’re not alone. It’s going to be okay.”
She fell to her knees by the sprawled figure. The woman had turned away from her, sagging against the old brick building. Jade reached for her shoulder. “It’s going to?—”
The illusion fell away. And that’s all it was, an illusion, one that couldn’t survive touch. Because Jade wasn’t clasping an injured woman’s shoulder. She was touching the hard strength of a man’s arm.
Her gaze lifted slowly, and she found herself caught in the too-bright stare of an angel bent on death.
“Demons aren’t the only ones who know how to use the power of glamour.” Bastion smiled at her. “Angels hide in plain sight all the time. Why do you think humans never see us?”
She could barely hear him over the mad pounding of her heart. Jade tried to jump to her feet and back away.
Too late. His hand flew out and caught hers. “I can’t let you get away,” he murmured. “Not this time.”
“Az!” Jade screamed his name as loud as she could, but even if he heard her, she knew he’d never make it to her in time.
Az…
He couldn’t hear a thing. Az stalked to the line of windows. The sunlight streamed in, but no warmth filled the room. A puff of chilled air appeared in front of his mouth every time he took a breath. Ice and evil liked to stay close.
He gazed out of the window. All of the nearby buildings were abandoned. His gaze trekked down. Then every muscle in his body locked.
Jade was across the street. She wasn’t alone.
Her head turned toward him, and Az saw her lips move in a desperate scream that he couldn’t hear.
His name.
He roared and smashed through the glass. Two seconds later, he was on the ground, his knees barely buckling as he lunged forward.
Bastion was smiling. His hands were wrapped around Jade.
“Let her go!” Az bellowed. He didn’t know why Jade was out there on the street. Didn’t care. All that mattered was getting her back. Keeping her safe and?—
And she vanished. Bastion vanished.
No .
When the earth stopped spinning, Jade collapsed on the ground. Not the rough asphalt of a paved street, but on soft, grass-covered earth. Nausea roiled in her stomach, and she squeezed her eyes shut as she fought for control.
Then she realized she was still alive. Because if she felt this miserable, she had to be alive. Her eyes flew open, and she shot upright. That fast movement just made the nausea worse.
“Easy.” Bastion frowned down at her. “I’d forgotten that humans don’t always react so well to magic.”
She swallowed rapidly. “Magic? And here I just thought you’d…done that angel…super speed thing.” Second by second, she was getting her control back.
“We needed something stronger this time.” One brow lifted. “You weren’t the only one to visit the witch today.”
What? That jerk Mateo had totally sold them out!
“Az changed you. Gave you his blood.”
Everyone seemed to keep harping on that.
Bastion lifted his hand and stared down at his fingers. “A simple touch from me can’t kill you. Az’s blood is making you immune from the death touch, for now.”
That was good, wasn’t it?
Bastion dropped his hand and stared into her eyes. “I don’t want you to suffer.”
She staggered to her feet and put some precious distance between them. “What a coincidence. I don’t really want that, either.”
His head cocked as he frowned at her.
“So how about you just go your merry angel way.” Now she could see the wings bursting from his back. Rather hard to miss them without his extra magic mojo distorting his image. “And I’ll go mine.”
Bastion shook his head. “I need you.”
“No, you need to get the hell away from me. Once Az gets here…” Get here, Az, get your Fallen butt here. “You don’t want to be around.”
“Things have to be set right. Az can’t be allowed to change fate.”
Oh, no. That sounded very bad. “You want to kill me.”
“You should already be dead.” He gave a short, hard shake of his head. “Instead, the Fallen attacked an innocent. He brutalized Marna, an angel who’d never?—”
“Whoa! Hold on there.” She was gonna ignore that whole “You should already be dead” part for the moment. “Az hasn’t attacked any angel.”
Bastion laughed. “Really? Then how’d I get a brimstone bullet in my gut?”
Ah…right. About that?—
“I went to take you, and he shot me.” His eyes glinted. “You’re marked for death, and, once marked, there’s no changing what will come.” His eyes darkened. “I’ve seen you die.”
Jade licked her lips. “Now when you say that, do you mean?—”
“You’re on my list. I’ve seen what will come for you. It’s a vicious ending.”
Did he have to sound so chirpy about it? Weren’t angels who still had those precious wings supposed to be un emotional?
“As I said, I don’t want you to suffer, but other plans are already in place. The death touch from me would have been merciful, but now, another end waits.”
“Yeah, well…” And she dug deep, trying to pull out that new power that she still couldn’t even control. “I’m gonna have to take option B on all this and say…” She sent a burst of fire out at him. Not a controlled ball of flames, but a swirling, bulging wall of heat. “Screw your plans.”
Then she turned and ran, not even bothering to see how Bastion stopped the fire. Get away. Fast. That was her priority. Get away. Get to Az. Get?—
She hit the dirt. Something hard and strong had slammed into her back, and Jade’s feet just flew out from under her.
“Abomination.” Gravel crunched as Bastion circled around her. “Humans weren’t meant to have such powers.”
She tasted blood in her mouth. Jade lifted her head. Nope, the angel wasn’t so much as singed. He stood about five feet away, not looking winded, but appearing mildly annoyed.
Well, big damn deal for him. She was feeling pretty annoyed, too.
“You’re not going to get away.” Bastion’s wings fluttered in the breeze. They were doing that neat magic trick again where they seemed to just burst right through his shirt. He crouched so they were more on eye level. “He’ll find you soon.”
Now why did those words fill her with dread?
Because he’s setting a trap for Az, and I’m his bait.
Az didn’t bother knocking at the witch’s door this time. He just blew off the right wall of the place and stormed back inside.
Mateo turned at his approach. He held up the small, black bag that Jade had given him. “Ah, back from your psycho moment, are you? Good because I’ve got your bullets.”
And Az had him. His hands locked onto the witch’s shirt, and he yanked Mateo toward him. “You’ve had another visitor.”
Mateo glanced down at the floor. Az was holding him a good foot in the air. “I have many visitors.”
“In a moment, you’re going to be in many pieces.”
Mateo’s gaze lifted. “Your eyes have gone black.”
“Where. Is. She?”
“Some beings are too powerful. When emotions hit them, they lose all control. Power without control can mean?—”
“Would you like for me to incinerate you?”
Mateo smiled at him. “I’ve felt fire before, Fallen. Remember where I came from.”
Hell.
Mateo jerked away from him. Wind rushed in the air. “Your friend paid me for a job. The job is done.” He tossed Az the bag.
Az caught it and tried to fight the rage surging within him. Jade. Gone.
Bastion should have never touched her. Never. “Is she dead?” he gritted out.
Mateo shook his head.
Az took a breath.
“Now you know better than that…there’s a price for information.”
Az let his power rip from him. In an instant, fire engulfed the building. The remaining walls burned. The windows exploded. Smoke thickened the air.
Mateo’s eyes widened.
The flames were less than a foot away from the witch. The fire wasn’t touching him, but only because Az didn’t want Mateo dead, not yet.
“I think you’ve confused me with someone else.” Az’s voice boomed from him, easily louder than the crackling flames. “I’m not Sammael. I’m not here to save your ass and play your games.”
With a wave of his hand, he sent the fire to lick across Mateo’s arms. Agony twisted the witch’s face.
“This isn’t hellfire,” Az snarled. “You don’t control it.”
Mateo slapped at the flames, but they just flared higher as he began to scream.
“So the games end now, or you die.”
Mateo fell to his knees. The flames closed in.
“The choice is yours.”
Jade shoved up to her knees. “Okay, angel, I get it. You’re pissed?—”
“Angels feel no emotions.”
Yeah, she’d call bullshit on that one. The jerk was a big old vibrating ball of emotion. Mostly rage.
“Whatever. So I’m the walking dead, and you want to put me in the ground.” She straightened her shoulders. “But here’s the deal. Az isn’t gonna let you do that, okay?” He’d better not. “When he gets here, he’ll be freaking furious, and you don’t want to be in the area when that guy is enraged.”
She’d hoped her threat would make the angel back off long enough for her to get a running start. But he was holding his ground.
Then his lips curved. “I never said Azrael was the one coming to find you.”
Her heart seemed to freeze.
Bastion pointed to the woods behind him. “Your shifter has found a new base. Just a mile or two over that hill.” In the next second, he was at her side. He grabbed her arm, and sliced her with a knife she hadn’t even seen.
She didn’t give him the satisfaction of screaming. Since when did angels go around knifing people? How was that possibly in their job description?
“Your scent is special to the shifter.” Bastion dropped her hand. “He’ll follow the blood trail, and he’ll find you.” He stepped back. His wings began to spread out behind him. She realized then that the bastard was just going to leave her, bleeding, for Brandt to find.
“Order will be restored,” Bastion declared.
She covered the wound. He’d sliced her deep. A cut that went almost from elbow to wrist. “Why didn’t you just drop me on the bastard’s doorstep?”
He hesitated.
“Were you scared he’d slice you apart, too?” Her words came fast, and she wouldn’t let her gaze drift over Bastion’s shoulder. Don’t come, Brandt. “For the record, he’s the one who attacked the other angel, not Az. Brandt. The guy is some kind of hybrid shifter and angel mix. He attacked her and now?—”
Now she definitely had his attention. Bastion stood right in front of her. “Her wings were sliced from her body.”
More rage. And Bastion thought he didn’t feel emotion?
“Yes.” Her voice was soft. “We found her in the woods. A doctor is helping her.” She left out the little bit about Cody being a demon doctor.
Bastion’s brows pulled together. “No, Azrael?—”
“Az found her. Brandt was the one who got off on slicing her apart.” She swallowed. Don’t look over the hill. “Just like he’s going to slice me unless we leave here, now.”
His gaze held hers.
“I’m telling you the truth. It wasn’t Az.” She swallowed. “Please, believe me.”
“Angels can’t lie.” His own voice had softened.
She knew what he meant. Angels couldn’t lie, but humans could. “Humans can also tell the truth.”
He studied her a moment longer, then seemed to…believe her? He pulled her against his chest and held tight. His wings were stretching out again as he prepared for flight. In the distance, she could hear snarls.
Brandt had her scent.
They needed to get the hell out of there.
Now.