Chapter 38
Tacita
Crouching on the roof of the first dorm, I hop the gap to the second building, using my wings to control the landing and ensure I stay quiet. Slotting my fingers in the opening of my leggings, I draw my blade from my thigh as I creep to the edge to try and get a look at the Angels beyond the fence.
They’ve managed to cut a hole in the fencing and are congregating against the side of the main building.
Garrick will be inside by now, prowling through the corridors to scale the attack from there. There are groups leaving the dorm entrances below me as well, coordinated by the senior guards.
Hades had been surprised to hear my voice on the end of the line when I’d called him from Garrick’s phone.
But he’d snapped straight into action. He’d be arriving soon with the Guard unit he kept on staff around the residence he shared with Khaos.
We just had to stop the Angels from blowing anything up in the meantime.
Chancing a look over to the Officers’ building, the windows are all dark.
There is no movement to be seen from the one belonging to Garrick’s room.
I hope Wyatt and Milo stay safe inside until this is over.
No matter what Milo said about me, and that the Angels seemed interested in me, I know they’ll be wanting to collect him on this mission.
If he’s been blocking them from full access to his mind, they’ll be keen to take him so they can intensify whatever magic they’ve placed on him and to find out what he’s been hiding from them.
At least, that’s what I’d be wanting to do.
Guilt runs sticky through my veins that I didn’t reveal to Hades that Milo was the one who gave us the warning about the Angels.
I’d omitted that Garrick and I were already planning by the time Teddy had run up to warn us.
I know I will have to tell him, but the fact won’t change the plan of action for right now.
Which is simply to boot the Angels back to Heaven through the portal they’ve opened, and destroy it.
I still need time to put together my plea for Milo.
Hades has every right to punish him, to send his soul straight to Tartarus.
This is the first time I don’t agree, and it's sitting heavy in my stomach that Hades may well fire me for this transgression. But my heart won’t allow Milo to be sent to the torture chambers.
My chest fractures just thinking about him being trapped there.
I’ll figure it out.
Movement below refocuses my attention. A group of four Angels look to be trying to enter the building, their wings tucked in tight. I take a few seconds to calculate before I’m taking to the skies once more.
Flying over them, I launch my blade, taking down the first. I land on the roof of the main building as it flies back to me, and I throw it again, killing the second. I’m not here to mess around. Them being in our realm is reason enough for me to not spare them.
Taking off again as one uses their elemental magic to form a dagger from ice, I’m in the sky and out of range before they can throw the weapon.
Plucking my knife from the air as it sails back to me, I launch it a third time, the blade lodging itself in the palm of the Angel holding the ice blade like butter.
He screams in pain and the commotion I’m causing hasn’t gone unnoticed. The rest of the group, which had been waiting outside the fence, take to the sky to enter the compound. I have to fly higher to get out of their sight, using the darkness to distort my exact location.
“What the fuck happened?” one of them shouts.
“It’s the Death Bringer. She’s already here,” one of the original group calls back.
“Fuck!” the first one replies. “Move up the plan.”
Suddenly a flurry of activity breaks out. And to my horror more Angels start flying through the portal, their white wings marking the inky sky as their numbers quickly out match our own.
Taking out as many as I can, bodies start falling in quick concession.
But I have to keep moving so they can’t track my exact location.
I’m wondering how to signal to Garrick when a whole team of guards pours out of the dormitories, some of the contestants in tow.
Zafihra is amongst them and it's a relief as she shifts and joins me in the sky, along with a few of the harpies, including Rio, and a couple of the Dark Angels as well.
Dragon fire blasts across the sky, burning the entire front line of Angels as they struggle to form a barrier fast enough. They shift into a formation, earth and ice firing from their hands in an attempt to form a protective wall from the intensity of the flames.
More white winged beings soar through the portal, as I curse under my breath.
They really are not messing about. Ducking and diving, letting my blade fly, I start snapping necks and wings in between throws.
Most of them don’t see me coming, some attempt to fight but I’m far beyond their skills.
By the time I’ve downed a dozen more, I’m questioning the training Heaven provides to its combative force. This is too easy.
After sending a few more to meet Charon, a sick feeling creeps into my stomach. This really is far too simple. Scanning the compound below, all I see is the Guards of Hell taking out our enemy, we’re barely having to defend ourselves.
Flying to the edge of the fighting, I lock onto a male Angel with shaggy brown hair and look of panic on his face. Flapping my wings and sheathing my knife, I’m on him in a second, grabbing him by his feathers and forcibly folding his wings in with my talons.
“What the fuck is going on here?” I growl into his ear as he desperately tries to keep himself airborne. I hold his weight with some effort but my talons dig in deeper as he struggles.
“Please, don’t kill me,” he pleads.
Rolling my eyes, I repeat my question.
“We were ordered to come in and rescue the contestants,” he confesses.
“Rescue them?” I ask, struggling to see the end goal. A decade ago, they blew up the entire facility without any hint of trying to ‘rescue’ anybody.
“Yes.”
“Is that the whole plan?” I’m growing aware that a couple of the other Angels have spotted us now, I have seconds left to question this one before they attack.
“I don’t know,” he answers, twisting in my grip. “I’m just following orders.”
Releasing him, but not before shoving him towards the ground fifty feet below, bright red blood immediately starts saturating his white feathers where my talons had sunk in.
It makes gaining his balance harder but he does manage to avoid slamming to his death on the hard concrete, slowing his fall enough to land on his knees.
Dipping away myself and taking to higher skies again, I try to piece together the bits of the puzzle we know. Using my blade once more, to sever a few more carotid arteries, I keep out of the fray to think.
These Angels are not trained, they’re barely blocking our easiest shots. Yes, they have the numbers but they’re not overpowering us at all.
They’re cannon fodder.
It hits me. They’re the prelude, or a distraction.
Fuck.
I need to get to Garrick.
Streamlining to the ground, I land and immediately vanish my wings. I’m not risking getting injured by leaving them out, and I can move in the shadows more effectively without them.
Making it into the main building without much combat, I pause at the entrance to concentrate on listening out for any noise.
I haven’t seen Garrick since I spotted him entering it, so he must be inside here somewhere.
Storming the halls, every room I come to is empty.
Even the west side, where I’d seen the initial group of Angels trying to break into, is deserted.
It’s quiet, almost too quiet. I can hear the fighting outside but there isn’t a whisper of a being inside these walls.
Crossing to the dining hall, I find it untouched and without trace of any fighting, the tables and chairs undisturbed. Where did Garrick and his team go?
Deciding to leave via the back exit, I immediately spot the Angels just beyond the fence.
It's the initial group, clearly having retreated once more. Sneaking into the shadows, I try to get close enough to hear what they’re saying to one another.
I quickly decipher which two are in charge, and recognise one of them to be one of the twelve Arch Angels, the highest ranking of the heaven realm.
Camael barks orders and fires questions at the others, who appear to be relaying information.
I’ve had one dealing with him before, over a century ago when there had been a fight over a set of souls from the human realm.
The ones on the receiving end of his command have their eyes closed. It’s fucking creepy.
“It's the mind magic.” Garrick’s voice beside sends my heart into my throat.
Wanting to punch him for sneaking up on me, I settle for letting my fingers find his as I return to watching our enemy. He comes closer, until I can feel the heat of his body running the entire length of my side.
“The telepathy?” I ask.
“Yes, I’ve been watching them for the last ten minutes. They seem to be communicating to those in the sky and others beyond the portal.”
“The Angels already here are untrained, sloppy.”
“You think they’ve been sent in as a test?”
I recite my theory, “I was thinking they were a distraction, but maybe they are testing our strengths.”
“Distraction from what?”
“I’m not sure.” I fill Garrick in on my brief questioning of the Angel I caught.
Suddenly one of the Angels in the group starts screaming. They drop to their knees and clutch their chest. Their eyes fly open. “He shoved me out. He’s too strong.”
“Try again. Tell me where he is,” one of the commander’s bellows.
“He?” I ask, the fear I’d had earlier returning full force. “Does he mean Milo?”
“Possibly,” Garrick replies, his lips setting into a grim line.
I pull my knife, ready to send it straight into the chest of the Angel trying to connect to my human. Garrick grabs my wrist before I can let it fly.
“Let me kill him,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Not yet. You heard him. If it is Milo they’re trying to connect to, they failed.”
“But surely their magic is stronger if they’re on the same plane. If they enter his head and see–”
“I know.” Garrick’s eyes pierce into mine.
“If they’re forcing their way into his head, I saw how distressed–”
“I know,” Garrick repeats. “You don’t think that I know how you’re going to plead with Hades to spare Milo because he didn’t show them everything?”
“So let me ensure he doesn’t betray us.”
Before we can argue any further, the ground shakes as a thunderous bang detonates, and the building at our backs shatters.