by Layna Snow
Seth stepped in front of his friend.
They needed to know as much as possible and pissing off the only one who could help wouldn’t work.
It didn’t mean that Seth’s insides weren’t still blistering to fight Axel.
“I didn’t tell you because you guys thought that you had it all figured out. You thought that you knew who was attempting to get Mel and why. You also broke my rules. Why would I allow you the chance to ruin everything that I had worked for? At the first opportunity, you would have gone against my instructions. I could not have that.” He said, as if it was all reasonable.
Did he not know how much damage had already be done? Did he not realize that Melody could be dead. Dying.
Hurt and in pain and begging for them to save her.
Shit! Seth closed his eyes, tried to ignore the image!
“These are lives you are gambling with. Caleb could have died that night that he and Mel were attacked. Why do you get to make decisions that affect our lives?” Seth asked. Why do you get to play God?
But he knew what answer he would get before it was said. He knew how this man’s mind worked.
“Because I can.” But Axel didn’t leave the explanation like that. Instead, he turned to face Seth dead on. His eyes hard but intelligent. “I’m protecting many more than just you. I have to think about the other people on this planet. Your life is meaningless compared to billions. Besides. I gave you a choice, your partner made the wrong decision.”
Seth heard Cay curse, and felt like joining him. “Then how do we get Melody back? If you know where she is, if you have a plan, we will follow it.” Seth promised.
They needed to.
Mel’s life was most important, it superseded his pride.
“She’s at his motel room. I have sent men over there already.” Axel announced. “I will explain everything in the van.”
Seth nodded and followed him as he started across the grass to a beat-up old van across the street. He was sure that Cay stayed close behind.
They would do this. They would go get Melody back.
She’d be safe. She’d be alive.
She’d be in their arms soon.
“Agent Winters, you’ll rescue Mel, right?” Emily asked when they passed her. Seth noticed that she kept away from Nate. He wondered why, but it didn’t matter right now.
Seth had a job to do. He barely noticed when Axel smiled—it was just a slight tilt of the lips.
“Call me Axel.” The big man answered, not stopping. Not even slowing on his way to the van.
Was he impersonating an FBI agent? Maybe that was why he was wearing a suit, and why the police let him past the barricade.
This man had many talents.
He hoped one was getting Fallen Angels back, alive.
40
Melody didn’t know what to do. The truck was quickly reaching the outskirts of town, and Mel didn’t know where they were going.
What could she do if he took her out of town? How could she escape?
The drive was mostly silent. Tim didn’t bother talking with her, which she didn’t find reassuring.
Nothing was reassuring right now.
Nothing could stop the chattering of her teeth, or the pain that radiated up her leg with every bump in the road.
And nothing could help her figure out a plan to escape.
She had no real combat experience. If she had been a Warrior Angel, Mel was sure that all her friends would still be alive.
But the Archangels were right. She was not strong enough to fight Demons. She could hardly fight this man. All the techniques she had tried to learn by studying Aamaya had failed when she really needed them the most.
Don’t let fear rule you, the internet said, when she looked it up.
Seth had told her that she couldn’t protect herself, and she wanted to prove him wrong.
When fear is in control, you cannot function. Let fear be a trigger to act, not freeze. But she had frozen. She had felt the terror overtake her brain and simply did what Tim had told her to do. She fought back, but it was too late, she was too desperate.
Despite what many people thought, Angels did die. They could stand more than most, but Warrior Angels who were attacked too viciously on Earth, and were unable to regenerate, did lose their lives.
Melody knew that if she had any hope of surviving this, she needed to ignore her emotions, her fear, and take control.
She had to use what she knew against Tim.
He had a weakness, he didn’t want her dead, and she could use that against him. She had to.
“Fucking bitch,” he cursed, reaching up with his right hand to wipe off some of the blood that dripped down his forehead and into his eyes.
Melody was happy that he hurt.
Never would she have admitted to this malicious, evil side, but it was there anyways.
“What are you smiling about, bitch? If I crash, you’ll be dead too.” Mel doubted that. She could take a lot more damage than he could. And a car crash would bring attention and help. But she couldn’t afford that.
It was too dangerous.
“Where are you taking me?” She asked, hoping to gain some insight into what was happening. She couldn’t come up with a plan if she didn’t know the specifics.
She couldn’t push past the fear if there was nothing to focus on.
The trees moved past the windows too quickly. The lights of the car making them appear and disappear like images in a pop-up book. Two dimensional and fake.
Too fleeting for her to see fully.
Where are we going?
“You’ll see soon enough. Shit, I should have gagged you,” Tim muttered. He seemed a little frantic. His eyes were roaming around, and he kept checking his mirrors. Melody wondered if he was worried that someone would come after him.
He also was twitchy. His fingers constantly tightened and loosened on the steering wheel.
Was he nervous? Maybe she could use that to her advantage.
She needed anything that she could get. One tiny distraction might be enough to escape.
It didn’t take long for them to reach a small, deserted building.
The sign said “Welcome Inn” but there were no cars in the parking spots. Even the sign was barely lit, making the words read differently.
It didn’t look very well taken care of. The grass was overgrown, and there were cracks in the pavement. The doors set along the wall were in need of more red paint, for they were peeling.
It seemed like no one worked here or lived here.
No one to hear her scream. No one to come to help.
She had to admit, that might be good.
No one else to die for me.
Tim drove around to the other side of the building, taking care to park the truck in a dark spot that was covered with tree shadows. Nobody from the road would be able to see it.
She was truly alone.
And now she might die.
Stop it Mel. You need to think, not react! She needed to be in control of herself.
Besides. He said that he didn’t want to kill her. So he had something else planned.
Something else that was probably terrible.
“Don’t get out until I get you.” Tim warned, reaching out to hold the gun on her.
Melody assessed her options. If she got out, she wouldn’t be able to run. Her ankle still ached, even though she hadn’t moved it.
She couldn’t get away from Tim. She’d have to incapacitate him first.
So Melody waited until he came around to her side. He opened the door, and kept the gun trained on her as he motioned for her to get out.
She knew it was going to hurt to put weight on her injured leg.
But she was unprepared for the agony to pulse through her again.
Unprepared for the sudden chill that shot down her spine.
Tim shut the door when she moved away from the truck, hopping awkwardly the whole time.
Tim continued to hold the gun pointed at her
chest, and gestured her towards the closest door. But she held her ground.
Mel knew that if he got her into the room, she would be in trouble. He might have other weapons or medication. He was a doctor and she had seen some of the things that Seth had at the clinic. Surely if they had things that kept dogs asleep, Tim could have medicine that would put her to sleep.
Then she would have no defence.
No way to fight back or get away.
“Move,” he told her, pressing the gun to the middle of her chest.
And suddenly, something clicked.
Not the gun. A memory.
Visceral, and real. Something that broke through the terror and pain.
When Aamaya was teaching her some self-defence moves—all while assuming that Mel was sent down to Earth for an assignment—she had mentioned one that involved guns.
They had stood in this exact position. Aamaya holding the metal to Melody’s chest.
One thing that she had taught her was how to get out of this position. Even though Mel was never fast enough while training, she knew that she had to try.
Now or never, as they say.
Already fear started to swamp her again, but she couldn’t let it pull her under, not now.
Not when she had some strategy.
“I said move!” Tim said, his eyes bloodshot, one already swollen shut. His face was a mess of injuries, and she was sure that his torso was just as bruised.
It had to be now. She couldn’t afford to let him attack.
Mel closed her eyes. Focused on what Aamaya had taught her. Focused on the memory of the other woman’s words.
She twisted her hips, using her left hand to push the gun away from her torso.
Not taking time to look, to think, Mel used her right hand to twist the barrel, at the same time bringing her knee up.
She should have hit his groin as she took the weapon. That was what was supposed to happen. That was what Aamaya had done. But Tim bowed his body to escape her attack.
But he lost the gun.
Mel could have laughed.
She had the weapon now! She had the advantage! The technique worked, just like Aamaya said it would!
But now that she had the weapon, what would she do with it?
Melody held the weapon by the long shooty part—what was it called? But didn’t really know how to use it. Maybe she should imitate Tim, holding it and putting her finger in the little circle part. Yeah, that sounded good!
But before she could do that, Tim had recovered from his shock.
With an angry growl, he dove at her, pressing his shoulder into her and shoving her to the ground.
Agony blared through her, stealing her breath as she hit the ground.
Tim followed her with a whoosh, their impact pushing all the air from her body. She heard her head crack on the concrete, and her vision started to go black around the edges.
The gun falling out of her grip.
No! Fight! She could hear the voice in her head.
She didn’t know whose it was, and she didn’t care.
Melody fought to bring the world back into focus. She fought to think back to the situation at hand.
Pushing past the pain. The fear. The failure.
No, can’t fail.
Tim was on top of her, his body straddling hers and his face set in anger, although he also looked hurt! His eyes blazing like the hottest of fires. Wide, bloodshot. Crazed.
“I don’t know where you learned that. But it won’t help you now.” He said, smiling evilly, blood staining his teeth. He looked like a Demon. Like he just crawled from Hell to kill her.
And maybe he would.
Tim wrapped his hands around her throat, gripping her so hard that she couldn’t breathe.
Mel’s first instinct was to yell, to thrash, but she knew that it wasn’t the right solution. She needed to use his weakness, his preoccupation.
But it hurt! Panic bubbled in her brain. Popping like cereal, taking her thoughts with it.
He’s not thinking about his arms. Aamaya’s reminder flashed in her head. There one moment and gone the next.
Instead of trying to claw at his face, which was out of her reach, Mel wrapped her hands around his wrists from the outside and pulled his arms apart.
It was what she had been told to do, but it was hard.
Hard to focus. Hard to act.
He hadn’t been expecting it, moving away from her, rearing back as if in shock.
She didn’t think. Didn’t take time to do more than pull in a desperate breath.
Then Melody used all the force she had and reared up, butting her head into his face.
She could feel the crack of his nose, could hear the breaking sound as it crushed under her advance. It was disgusting, and it hurt her forehead, but she knew, by the howl that he made, that it hurt Tim a lot more than it hurt her.
Stars dancing in front of her eyes, Melody struggled to see the figure still looming over her. Still straddling her. Still dangerous!
“Shit, shit, fucking shit!” he yelled, his voice taking on a strange, slurring, nasally quality. It sounded weird, foreign, and unlike a voice. It made Mel feel sickened. The rush of blood didn’t help.
But he was still on her, and her ankle was broken. She couldn’t push him off, not without a lot of pain.
And, oh gosh! Where was the gun? If he could get to it, she was sure she would be dead.
Mel turned her head, and two feet from her, she could see the cool black metal shining in the moonlight.
It was her saving grace, her hope. But she had to reach it before him.
Melody forced her body to move, twisting and bucking her hips, trying to unseat Tim.
But he held on, and turned his head towards the gun.
A fractured, wet laugh pierced the air, sounding full of glee and pain.
Melody wouldn’t let him get it! She wouldn’t let him win!
Instead of reaching for the weapon, Mel put all her energy into thrusting up with her hands, palms open in order to help her movement, and caught Tim in the chest.
He reeled back, caught off balance as she thrust her hips up one more time.
Tim tried to regain his position, but Mel punched him in the torso, hoping to cause damage where Emily’s punches had landed. By the large man’s wince, she was sure she hit the right spot!
Desperation clawed through her body, and Mel knew that soon she would run out of strength.
With all the energy she had left, the tiny bit that she had, Mel attacked again, this time pushing him to the side, and off her body.
Now free, she used her arms to crawl towards the gun.
It was a relief to hold the metal in her hands. She had seen Tim grip the gun, squeezing the piece of metal inside the open circle near the handle. She was sure that was how to fire the thing. If she had to fire it.
But as she held the thing for the first time, she felt a tugging on her leg and turned back to see Tim, kneeling at her feet, a nasty gleam in his eyes.
His other hand took a hold of Mel’s injured ankle and gave a quick tug, causing agony to rip through her body, and a scream to come from her throat.
Shards of pain pierced her, too strong to ignore. And for a second she thought that she was going to die. That she’d lost.
But she couldn’t. Not now. Not when she found so much.
Not when she was so close to getting away.
Mel rolled onto her back, causing more pain to rush from her offending limb, but she didn’t stop.
This ended now.
Ignoring the dimming of her sight, Mel pointed the gun at the man in front of her and squeezed. There was a loud booming noise, and then a shock wave of force that traveled up her body, pushing her back.
Mel hadn’t known it would do that!
She couldn’t account for the power.
She couldn’t stop it from throwing her upper body back to the ground, or stop herself from smacking her head on the pavement.
But before the darkness took her, she saw Tim’s body start to go down, a large red stain spreading from his chest, or what was left of his chest.
In the darkness, it was hard to see.
It was hard to focus.
This time it was over.
Soon, things would be black for good, and the pain would go away.
Soon, she would be back in Heaven.
Are those voices Angels that were coming for my soul? Mel wondered, listening to the hard commands and words that seemed to puncture the silence around her.
She then heard some familiar voices and smiled. Seth and Cay were there. Wasn’t that lovely? At least they hadn’t been hurt. At least they would survive.
She just hoped that Seth didn’t feel betrayed. It wasn’t his fault that Tim’s soul was rotten.
But at least Tim would spend the rest of eternity in the fires of Hell. He deserved it!
That was her last thought before she allowed the darkness to pull her down under the comforting cool night.
41
They had just gotten to the motel when he heard a scream.
Cay didn’t even wait until the van was stopped before throwing the sliding door open and jumping out.
Mel was in trouble!
He couldn’t stop his heart from beating at a rapid pace. He couldn’t stop the ringing in his ears.
What happened?
He knew that it was her scream. He recognized the agonizing noise for what it was. He had heard it before, in a situation very similar to this one.
And he found himself running, just as fast as he had before, despite the fact that his ribs throbbed, the fall earlier having jarred them.
And he was sure that it didn’t help that he was breathing so rapidly, his heart beating against the injured bones. It also didn’t help that he sprinted around the building, instead of walking gingerly.
No, his ribs didn’t fucking matter because Melody was screaming!
Fuck! He hoped that he’d get there in time to help her!
He needed to do something!
He wouldn’t let her die, wouldn’t let her down.
She meant the world to him.
Faster, asshead. His mind screamed, pushing him to move. But even as he was running as quickly as he could, it didn’t take long for Seth to pass him.
Seth, with his fucking long legs!