by Cynthia Eden
The damn book. It had once belonged only to Azrael. Immense, magical, it contained the names of all the dying. Once a name appeared in the precious book, the soul would be collected within forty days.
There’d only been one soul to ever escape the collection. Only one. A vampiress.
But if one could escape, then the rules could be broken. “Jade is not going with you.”
Bastion shook his head. “You don’t want to fight with me.”
“Yes, I do.” And he tossed a ball of fire right at Bastion’s chest. Unprepared, the angel took the blast and flew back through the air.
Fire couldn’t kill an angel. The angels could control that element too well, but it could take them by surprise.
Bastion rose to his feet in an instant. “You would war with me?”
That wasn’t the option he’d prefer, but, yes. “It’s one soul.” There were thousands more to take. Millions. “You can stand to lose her, just this once.”
“You know that’s not how it works.” The flames lingering on Bastion’s skin vanished with a wave of his hand. “And you can’t stop me. You’re not an angel any longer. You’re not the one in charge upstairs. You can’t—”
“I’m Fallen.” Az jumped off the porch and reached in his back pocket for the bullet that he’d dug out of his own skin. He’d taken Jade’s gun earlier and tucked it into the back of his jeans. As he strode toward Bastion, Az loaded that single bullet into the weapon. “Being Fallen means I don’t have to play by the good rules any longer.”
Bastion smirked at the weapon. Smirked? The angel was playing with all kinds of emotions. Did he realize how dangerous that was? Did he even care?
“Bullets won’t hurt me. Have you lived with the humans too long? No weapon of man can kill an angel.” Bastion shook his head. “And your death touch won’t work on your own kind.”
Footsteps thudded behind him. “Az!” Tanner’s shout. “We need that blood, now! She’s—she’s—”
Bastion inhaled a deep breath. “Her heart is stopping. The doctor can’t help her.”
“Now!” Tanner yelled.
Tanner wouldn’t see the angel. Only those with angel’s blood in them could ever see the angels. Those with the blood . . . or those near death. When it came time for Death to take you, the dying could always see the angels at their sides.
“I can help her.” Az lifted the gun. His finger curled around the trigger. “Get out of here, Bastion. You’re not taking her tonight.”
“Uh . . . Az?” Tanner’s confused voice. Bastion didn’t move. “And you’re not in charge anymore.”
“No, but I’m the man holding the bullet made of brimstone—and I’m the one who’ll shoot you with it if you don’t fly your ass out of here.”
Bastion blinked. “B-brimstone?”
Az knew fear when he heard it.
“It’s not a weapon of man. More a weapon of the devil.” The gun didn’t waver. “I can personally attest, these bullets burn. And when they’re fired into an angel’s heart, I’m laying odds that they will kill.” He lifted a brow. “Shall we find out?”
Bastion backed up a step. “I want Marna.”
“Then go and find her. Just stay away from Jade. She’s not dying for me.”
Bastion’s wings unfurled. He stared hard at Az, then glanced up at the sky. One moment passed, two . . .
“Az . . .” Tanner grabbed his shoulder. “Stop talking to your damn self and—”
“She’s not the innocent you think.” Bastion took another step back. Retreating. “You think you’re saving a weak human, but she’s not what you believe her to be.”
“She’s exactly what I believe her to be.”
“A killer?”
Az didn’t let his surprise show.
“Because she has killed, and not just once.” Bastion raised his arms before him. “Would you really battle with your own kind in order to protect the soul of a killer?”
She took the blow meant for me. “You don’t want to test me right now, Bastion.”
But the angel wasn’t backing down. “You’ve already failed every test. That’s why your wings burned to ash.”
Bastard. “And it’s why you’re about to have a heart full of brimstone.”
“I hope to God you’re really talking to someone,” Tanner snapped. “Because I just can’t deal with another crazy asshole right now.”
Bastion’s eyes narrowed. “She dies now!”
No, she didn’t.
Az shot him. Not the heart. He didn’t want to kill Bastion. But the bullet thudded deep into the angel’s stomach.
Bastion doubled over and howled in agony.
“That’s pain,” Az told him. “It’s what it feels like when angels hurt.”
Bastion glanced up at him, eyes stunned.
“Get out of here,” Az told him. “And stay away from Jade.”
The angel’s fingers were stained with blood. “You . . . you’ll regret this . . .”
Az stared back at him. “You’ll need to dig the bullet out. The longer it stays in you, the more it will hurt and burn.”
Bastion’s wings began to flap as the angel rose. “I’ll . . . be back for her.”
But not right away. The angel would need to heal. That would buy them some time.
“You . . . you’ve just asked for a war.”
He’d asked for a life.
A muscle flexed along Bastion’s jaw. “The punishment angels will come for you.”
Like he was supposed to be afraid of them? Not likely. “Are you forgetting?” He asked. “I’ve already fought one punishment angel. And Rogziel was the one who wound up in hell, not me.” Enough of this. Jade needed him. “Want to join the bastard?”
Bastion’s eyes narrowed as he fought the pain. “Death always finds a way,” Bastion snapped. “You know that.” Air rushed against Az’s skin as Bastion took to the sky. Despite his injury, the Death Angel soared quickly, hurtling upward and vanishing almost instantly.
Gone. For now.
“The scent . . .” Tanner inhaled. “Okay, want to tell me what the hell is going on?”
Az shoved the gun into the back of his jeans. “Not now.” He hurried inside and left the shifter on the porch. The smell of blood was stronger, and when he entered the back room, he saw Cody bent over Jade’s prone form. Tubes ran from her arm. The doc held one piece of tubing and a big-ass needle in his hands.
“This isn’t the way we’re supposed to do this . . .” Cody began.
Az stalked forward. It was the way they’d have to do it.
“A transfusion like this is too risky.” Sweat covered the doctor’s forehead. “The risk of infection, disease—”
“I don’t have any disease.” The guy could knock that worry off the list.
The doc didn’t look reassured. “What if your blood type doesn’t match hers?”
“Consider me a universal donor.” He knew his smile was bitter as Az ripped open his own vein and got to work connecting the tubing. Angel blood was supposed to be all-powerful. And his blood was Jade’s only chance. He’d either save her or—
Or I will keep fighting death as long as I must.
Cody rushed around the table and began the work of adjusting the tubes and monitoring the beeping array of machinery that he’d set up. Blood flowed from Az, dark red, as it filled the tube and slid its way to Jade’s body.
Az realized he was barely breathing. Waiting. Watching. Fight, Jade. Fight.
The blood in the tube reached her. Fed into her body.
One second. Two. Az’s own heart had nearly stopped. Jade . . . stay with me.
Jade’s eyes flew open. Her eyes weren’t the dark green that reminded him of lush fields he’d once seen in Ireland. Instead, the green was brighter than he’d ever seen it before.
Relief had his shoulders sagging. She’d be alright. She’d be—
Jade screamed. Again and again. Her long, horrified screams filled the air. Her eyes were on him. Full
of terror.
And her screams wouldn’t stop.
Marna didn’t return to heaven. Bastion paced the Great Hall, unease rippling through him. She should have flown back to their realm by now.
He wasn’t afraid. He couldn’t feel fear. But a tightness constricted his chest as he remembered Azrael. Az—a Fallen who’d been ready to kill to protect a human.
Marna had been the one sent to claim the woman’s soul. Had she faced Az’s fury as well? Except . . . perhaps Az hadn’t just threatened to kill her.
Bastion’s wings spread as he launched from the Hall. Clouds raced by him, one after the other. He knew where Jade Pierce had been scheduled to die. At the edge of a Louisiana swamp, right under a cypress tree that swayed near a gator-infested pond. She should have died there, with Azrael at her side.
Marna had foreseen the human’s death days before. She’d come to him and told him because she’d been startled that Azrael had been in her vision.
Marna wasn’t like the others. He’d tried to protect her over the centuries and attempted to make sure that no one saw her weaknesses.
Or her fears.
She’d been afraid of Azrael. Most beings were, though. But Bastion knew that when Marna had gone out on that last mission, she’d been afraid to take someone that belonged to the Fallen. She’d feared how he might retaliate.
Perhaps she’d been right to be fearful.
The ground was a sea of green beneath him as he flew over the trees. Marna couldn’t just vanish.
His feet slammed down into the earth just yards from the swaying cypress tree. He stared at the signs of battle. Blood on the ground. The battered earth.
So much blood . . .
His nostrils flared as he strode forward. There was blood, but . . . more.
His heart began to pound faster in his chest. So fast that the deep beating startled him. He’d never been worried before. Never been afraid.
But this time . . .
Black feathers—wings—were on the ground, smeared with blood. His hand shook as he reached for the wings. An angel didn’t just lose her wings. It was nearly impossible to cut them. They could burn off in a fiery fall from heaven.
Or . . . or they could slip away when an angel died.
The drumming of his heart grew even louder. Marna was a good angel. Only wanting to help others. She should never have been a Death Angel. Carrying souls actually seemed to wound her. She should have been a guardian. She should have—
A scream ripped from him. Fury. Pain.
There were more black, bloody feathers. So many more. And the scent of blood that coated the feathers—it was angel blood.
Azrael had made sure that his mortal’s life was spared, and in exchange, he’d known just how to balance the scales of death to give Jade Pierce more of a fighting chance.
A life for a life.
If Bastion checked the Book of Death, Jade’s name probably wouldn’t even be listed anymore. A soul had been taken. Death had been satisfied for that instant in time.
Because Azrael had sacrificed an angel to let a human live.
Bastion’s heart burned in his chest. A Death Angel shouldn’t want vengeance. Punishment angels would be the ones to deliver fury and wrath.
But Azrael has already killed a punishment angel.
After his fall, Azrael had battled a rogue punishment angel named Rogziel. Rogziel hadn’t been given the lighter sentence of banishment from heaven for his crimes. Instead, Azrael had been the instrument of his destruction.
Would the other punishment angels go after Azrael for this offense?
Or would they fear him too much?
Azrael had introduced fear into the hearts of many angels.
The feathers fluttered in the breeze. There was no sign of Marna’s body. Only the broken remnants of her wings.
Bastion forced himself to rise. Slowly, his fingers released the black feathers that they clutched.
If the punishment angels would not do their job, then he would seek vengeance.
Azrael wouldn’t get to keep his human. He wouldn’t get to cheat death.
Because Death is coming for you, Az.
This time, Azrael would be the one to fear—and to die.
Marna, I am sorry, but you will be avenged.
“I’ve done all that I can.” The demon doc tossed his bloody gloves in the trash. He shook his head and stared down at Jade with tired eyes. “Now we just have to wait and see if your blood can help her.”
Jade hadn’t stopped screaming, not until Cody had pumped her full of sedatives that had knocked her out. Az had tried to get close to her, to comfort her, but as soon as he’d advanced, her screams had become even more frantic.
She’d looked at him, but seemed to see a monster.
Now she’s really seeing me.
“How long will she be out?”
“At least till dusk. Hell . . .” Cody rubbed his forehead. “With all those tranqs I gave her, an elephant would be out until sunset.”
Az stood by her side. He couldn’t move away. Her color seemed better. No lines of pain ravaged her face anymore. A sheet covered her chest and lower body. Beneath the sheet, bandages hid her injuries.
There was no way a human wouldn’t scar from those wounds. But then, a human shouldn’t live with them, either.
“You know that she’ll be . . . more when she wakes.” Cody’s voice was hesitant.
Az frowned and glanced at the demon.
Cody still gazed at Jade with a faint furrow between his brows. “Human before,” he murmured, “but, now, with your blood . . .”
“She’ll be the same as she was.”
Cody lifted a brow and turned his too dark stare on Az. “Do you really believe that? Or are you just trying to make yourself think that it’s true?” Cody exhaled on a rough sigh. “When the first angels fell and mated with humans, their blood mixed—”
“And demons were born.” He didn’t need a history lesson. He’d been there for that history. He’d witnessed the temptations. Cleaned up the chaos left in the wake of so much recklessness.
“Even vampires can go wild when they ingest an angel’s blood.” Cody lifted Jade’s wrist and checked her pulse. “I’ve heard vamps say they can actually drink an angel’s power through the blood.” He put her hand back down and stared at her still form. “I can’t help but wonder . . . did you think about the risks to her? Or did you just not care?”
“I wasn’t letting her die,” Az growled.
“But you weren’t going to let her stay human, either, were you?”
“She still is human! She won’t change.”
The doctor turned away. “She already has. Didn’t you hear her screams?”
Az brushed back her hair. He let his hand linger on her cheek. “She was delusional. Out of her mind from the pain and the attack—”
“No.” The demon stared out of the small window. “She just opened her eyes and saw monsters all around her. She saw monsters when she’d only seen men before.”
Az’s body tensed.
“She saw my black eyes,” the doctor continued as he turned to slowly face Az once more, “and I’m curious to know, what do you think she saw when she looked at you? Because whatever it was, that sight made her scream the loudest.”
CHAPTER TEN
It was the beeping that woke her. A slow, steady beep of sound that gradually penetrated Jade’s consciousness. She opened her eyes, then immediately squinted against the light.
“You’re back.”
She stiffened at the deep voice.
“Don’t worry.” A warm hand covered hers. “You’re safe here.”
Jade turned her head and met Tanner’s worried stare. She licked her lips, swallowed back what tasted like ash on her tongue, and managed to ask, “Where am I?” Her voice came out cool and . . . normal. Why had she thought that she’d be hoarse? Why did the memory of screams whisper through her mind?
“Ah . . .” He exhaled. “Okay, don�
�t freak on me, but we’re at my brother’s place.”
In an instant, she yanked her hand away from him and snapped upright. Something sharp yanked on her arm. Quickly, she glanced at her right arm. What was that? A needle? An IV? She hated needles. Jade ripped it out and tossed it away from her. “You sold me out!”
“Easy.” He lifted both of his hands in one of those I’m-harmless gestures that people did. “I’m not talking about that brother, okay? Not the insane, psychotic prick who wants us both dead.” He jerked his thumb behind him, to the wall of bandages and medicine and what looked like hospital equipment. “My brother Cody is a doctor, and after you were injured—”
“You mean after you and that bitch witch friend of yours tried to kill me—”
“You weren’t going to make it back to the city alive.”
Okay, that stopped her. “I knew I was dying.” Crazy, but, she’d almost felt death touching her.
“Your angel wasn’t real keen to let you go.”
Angel.
Her gaze flew back to his.
“Yeah, I know what he is. This isn’t my first ball game, lady. And when we got here and he started talking to people that I couldn’t see and my nose”—he tapped said nose—“kept catching the scent of flowers, I knew Death was standing close by.”
Now Tanner had lost her. “Flowers? What are you even talking about?”
“An old legend. At least, some folks think it’s legend. When an angel’s close by, if you pay attention, you’ll catch the smell of flowers in the air.”
“Az doesn’t smell like flowers.” Man. Power. Not petunias.
“That’s because he’s not exactly an angel anymore, now is he?”
She swallowed. “No, he isn’t.” The bandages on her chest were pulling on her skin. She didn’t want to look down and see the mess that had been made of her flesh. She could still feel Brandt’s claws, sinking into her chest.
Jade took a deep breath and forced her head to lift. Tanner’s gaze was full of sympathy and that just made her feel vulnerable. And a little sad. “How am I still alive?”
“You’re alive because your veins are pumping with that not-quite angel blood.”