Chapter Forty
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RAMIEL WISHED HE COULD have spared Caterina from the pain when he’d extracted the bullet from her back. She’d passed out and he’d cleaned her skin before putting a plaster on the wound.
Now that the danger was over, he took the stairs to the next level of the resort. Four women were being held captive. They all had gray souls, so he set them free. “The men who imprisoned you are dead,” he informed them when they gathered together in the upstairs hallway.
“What are you going to do with us?” a female asked. They were far too thin and looked haunted and defeated.
“You’re free now,” he said. “I need to get my female somewhere safe so she can recover from being wounded.”
“You’re just letting us go?” another human asked incredulously. “You don’t want anything for saving us?”
“No,” he replied. “I suggest searching this building for supplies before you leave,” he said, then headed downstairs.
Caterina hadn’t moved and was still unconscious.
Ramiel went in search of a vehicle that worked.
He found several cars and a pickup truck in a sprawling garage.
The truck was old and battered, but the engine worked when he turned it on.
He was thankful that the keys had been left inside it.
He reversed it out and parked in front of the resort, then went to retrieve his cambion.
His female slept through being carried to the truck and placed on the back seat. Ramiel sensed the humans moving around inside the resort, searching for supplies just as he’d suggested. He drove back to their former ride and stashed their gear in the bed of the new truck.
Keeping the map on his lap, he chose a route that led him twenty miles away from the resort.
Houses were scattered all around the area.
None of them had lights glowing in the windows.
That didn’t mean they weren’t inhabited.
He picked one that stood far back from the road and scouted it on foot.
“It’s vacant,” the knight said in relief, then sprinted back to Caterina.
He drove up the long driveway and parked in the garage. It was empty, so the owners had probably driven to their local church on the night of the Rapture. They’d left the front door unlocked when he checked it. Leaving it ajar, Ramiel scooped his cambion into his arms and carried her inside.
Caterina stirred as he climbed the stairs to the second level.
“It’s okay, female. You’re safe,” he murmured.
She snuggled against him and his heart picked up speed.
Her trust that he would guard her filled him with pride.
He’d never felt this protective of anyone before, except his commander.
All of the knights would lay down their lives to keep Amaros alive.
His survival was key to them winning their wars.
“What’s the point of it all?” Ramiel muttered as he studied the master bed.
It was covered in dust, so he held Caterina with one arm long enough to strip the bedding off.
Gently lying her down on the mattress, he returned downstairs to retrieve their belongings from the truck.
Locking the doors and windows next, the warrior headed back to the main bedroom.
Lying down beside the female the Mad Prophet called his mate, his own words bounced around inside his head.
What was the point of their wars? Why did Order and Chaos keep their eternal battles raging?
Now that he finally had someone to love, he didn’t want to stay on the endless carousel of fighting and dying or killing all of their foes and winning.
Both inevitably resulted in being sent back to the Void to be put in stasis again.
“When will it end?” Ramiel whispered too quietly to disturb Caterina. He’d slid his arm beneath her head so she could use his bicep as a pillow. The phantom pain in his back was down to a dull throb, which meant she was mostly healed now.
Mulling over his entire existence, Ramiel realized none of the Knights of Order had ever questioned Order’s plan before. They’d obeyed their commands to fight their enemies countless times. They were all chess pieces in an eternal game they had no control over.
“It isn’t fair,” he murmured in growing anger and despair.
This time, Fate had placed Caterina Blaze in his path.
Was his cambion supposed to be a consolation prize that he would get to have for a few short years?
If so, it wasn’t fair to either of them.
It was cruel to give him someone to cherish, then to whisk him back to the Void once their war was either won or lost.
Lying there with his female beside him, Ramiel couldn’t fall asleep.
He desperately wanted to find his commander, but he also dreaded it.
Amaros wouldn’t be happy when he found out one of his knights was having rebellious thoughts.
He might blame Caterina for his unrest, believing the cambion was twisting Ramiel’s mind.
“She’s a pyrokinetic, not an emotion manipulator,” he said, trying to convince himself that it would be okay.
So far, his plan to find his brothers wasn’t going so well.
His female had been wounded and could have been killed.
Leaving her in the truck when he scouted the locations rather than taking her with him was equally risky.
Humans could spot her and shoot her with a long-range weapon before she even knew she was in danger.
He knew Caterina wouldn’t be happy about staying in this house to wait for him to return either.
How could he keep this precious, gorgeous female safe while hunting for his brothers?
The conundrum followed him when he finally fell asleep long after midnight.
Ramiel dreamed about past wars and this modern era until they turned into one long nightmare.
He saw Caterina being overwhelmed by humans and Soldiers of Chaos over and over again.
Each time she died, he felt like his soul was being torn apart.
He woke with a start several times, only to sag in relief each time he found his female alive and well beside him.
His final dream was different. Ramiel and Caterina weren’t alone as they fought their enemies.
His commander and half of his brothers were there as well.
Other females with indistinct features he couldn’t quite make out were with them.
Each one wielded a unique weapon. One shot lightning from her hands.
Another was using nearby metal objects to defeat her foes, controlling them with ease.
A redhead encased several opponents in ice, then Tolas shattered them with his sword.
He saw one female using wood as her weapon.
Trees bent to her will and smashed her enemies to pieces.
There were other females in the battle as well, but their gifts were harder to define.
One seemed to anticipate what her foes would do before they struck, as if she had a form of prescience.
A tiny blonde female was tossing knives with deadly accuracy.
She was moving so quickly that not even the knights or soldiers could match her.
Kochab was shot in the chest, but a tall female with blonde hair caught him before he could fall. She put her hand on his chest and the wound vanished. His brother kissed the female in gratitude, then returned to the battle.
The female standing at Amaros’ side was using a rifle to attack, yet he had the distinct sense that she was the deadliest one of them all. A shadow seemed to hover around her, growing more menacing by the second.
Caterina was by his side in the dream, just like his brothers’ females stood with them.
This time, she didn’t conjure up small fireballs.
She concentrated and held her hands two feet apart.
A gigantic ball of molten air formed between her palms. His female felt far stronger this time, as if she’d been given a huge boost of power.
With a primal scream of triumph, she hurled the fireball at their enemies.
It cut a wide swathe through humans and soldiers alike, instantly burning them to cinders.
Jerking awake again, dawn light now filtered through the drapes. Ramiel tried to hold onto the dream, but the details were already slipping through his fingers. He was only left with impressions and even they were hard to remember.