“Come on, now I’m really curious. I won’t squeal,” I said. She looked thoughtful for a second.
“Sorry, this one’s confidential. What kind of a friend I’d be if I couldn’t keep a promise,” Amelia said. “
Ask her. Maybe she’ll tell you.”
I felt the frown form on my face.
“I’d rather not. That woman gives me the creeps. What kind of a heavenly-being give people chills.”
“Only misthangers,” Amelia said then laughed.
“You’ll have to tell me when and why misthangers are in Paradise Realm, working for hunters,” I said. “Tonight.”
“Oh yeah, you don’t know,” Amelia said. “Fine, but you better consider my words from last night.”
I sighed.
“Let’s get going. Ready to get this over and done with. The faster we get the tear, the faster I can get a beer.”
Now it was Amelia’s turn to frown.
Chapter Thirty-four
Everyone, except Lyla, had their game faces on as we sat at the conference table. Amony took her sweet ass time with briefs and motivation speeches to the other crews.
They were a mix of ex-special forces, a lot of witches and probably magicians I’ve never heard of. Many of the magic wielders came in this room every now and then to shake the hands of Devante and Layla, asked for advice, and just fawned over them.
It was annoying because Layla sat close to me, which often got me a face full of jacket, skirt, bag, or purse. At the fifth smack in the face, I stood up, angered, my eyes glowing. Everyone froze—no one other than my crew knew that I was a demigod—so to them, I probably looked like either a show-offy sorcerer or an unfamiliar magician type.
“Celebrity time is over,” I said, voice even but somehow sounding everywhere. “Get the fuck out.”
An incredibly buff man with a full beard, glared and stepped up to me.
“You better sit the fuck back down, small fry, or we’ll be having our first casualty before we even get to Sunset’s headquarters.”
The entire place grew silent. I have to give credit to this human for being ignorant enough to have the balls to speak to me that way. They say ignorance is bliss. I have to disagree.
“Hedrick, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll back down,” Devante said. I could tell he was straining to hold back a grin, maybe even a laugh.
“Master sorcerer, why do you have someone like this stinking up your space,” Hedrick continued, ignoring Devante’s warning. “The way he’s looking at me—it’s really pissing me off.”
That day, Hedrick made a mistake. He threw a punch at me. I stopped it with a single pinky.
His eyes to widened.
“I think Amony has been slacking in her recruiting,” I said, evil cheerfulness in my voice. Hedrick was pale, afraid to move his fist.
“I never said anything about my identity having to be secret though. Maybe I should tell our meathead here who the fuck made it possible for his family to eat.”
“She said it’s for your own safety,” Sin said. “In case we get eavesdroppers and infiltrators.”
“Ah,” I said then turned back to Hendrick.
“Want me to break his arms?” Elly said then grinned.
I laughed. “Not this time, but I’ll need to set an example.”
With the same pinky, I released just a tiny bit of essence. That rocketed Hedrick out of the room, into the lobby, and onto his back.
I walked over to him, only to stop when I saw Mickey. She rushed over and smothered me with an unbreakable hug. I still wanted to issue some divine punishment to Hendrick.
“I really missed having you here,” she said, releasing me. “No one would tell me where you were at…I thought maybe you were…”
“It’s a long story,” I said, “but I’m glad you’ve made it through the crisis fine.”
“Yeah,” she said, twirling her dark brown hair. She was a woman in her early twenties with an appearance of a fitness instructor. Dressed in secretary attire, she only seemed to feel comfortable around me and her coworkers. Couldn’t blame her since everyone else where either spellcasters or otherworldly. She looked into me the eyes. “Do you have any idea what’s going on?” Mickey was too close. While no one else would care—I didn’t need Amelia to land here and misread this, so I took a step back.
“You could say we have a really big bust coming up,” I said. “Everyone’s on the edge. Some so nervous, they’d accidentally assault their coworkers.” I gave Hedrick a look. The big man bolted out of my sight. “You,” I said to a human at the desk. “Make sure his actions are submitted to Amony. Can’t have anyone like that watching my back. Arrogant men like him cost lives.”
The attendant nodded then rapidly typed on her keyboard. The attendants figured since I basically meet with the boss on a daily basis, my position was as high as it came. “You stay safe, Mickey.”
I started to walk back into the conference room, but the woman grabbed my arm.
“Wait. Could we talk again later, maybe after work, over dinner?” she said. “I haven’t seen you in months. It feels like you’ve risen from the dead. I know it’s ridiculous.”
I thought for a split second. Looking back on my actions, I took a risky dinner with Elly once. It wasn’t anything special—and that was back in my earlier days of being a confused fugitive. There was no confusion anymore.
“My girl—”
A flash of bright light, followed by a loud blast of what sounded like thunder erupted everywhere. People outside screamed. What the fuck?
“Stay inside with your attendants,” I said then turned to the door, only to stop when I felt a vicious, powerful, dark, frightening presence.
Neither god, demon, nor devil. This was far worse. And now of all times. I knew that feeling. Oh, fuck did I know that presence, the aura, the vibe. Sin, Devante, and Elly rushed toward me, solemn expressions.
“What’s going on?” Layla said, holding a head. She leaned over to whisper in my ear, gathering a glare from Mickey to my surprise, but I didn’t have time to dwell. “Something struck the wards really hard.”
Sirens and fire alarms went off in the building. The lights flashed from white to red.
“Is she trying to give us seizures with this alarm system?” Elly snarled. “Fuck.”
“Go to the bottom floors,” I commanded the attendants. “Let the armed agents handle this.”
Mickey grabbed my hands. “Please be safe. I…want to talk to you later.” She hurried into a door with the other attendants, which led to a set of stairs.
Nobody bothered with the elevators.
Amony bolted from whatever room, to us, almost frantic.
“You guys never told me what’s happening,” Layla said.
I looked at her, eyes glowing. “Fucking Fallen.”
I shook my head as I remember how we all didn’t stand a chance. Truthfully, I wasn’t confident about facing the monsters even in state three. How the hell did the knights deal with them….my thoughts froze.
“Amelia…no,” I said, feeling it. Pain in our bond. I switched from partial state three to full for the first time. “She’s right outside. You can stay here or not, I’m going.”
Without waiting for the others to answer, I burst out the door and toward the scene.
Chapter Thirty-five
Divine state Amelia and a Fallen were locked in a fight that shook the city. The pressure they emitted generated hurricane-force winds. Humans were of course not around, their instincts strongly urging them to stay away from this area. Stay inside. Add on the paranoia from the enslavement days and walla! Panic. Many of them probably moved out of the city since then. The Fallen was a woman with Indian features, purple eyes and messy dark brown hair. The black wings and purple Not-heavenly-light gave me real chills.
The airborne women suddenly landed. Amelia looked terrible. Her shirt and pants were full of rips, her wings looked worn, her face covered in sweat. The Fallen appeared to
be completely unharmed, which was unsurprising.
I let my anger expand, stirring up my new state. Both of the women looked at me. I didn’t let my uneasiness show when the Fallen smiled.
“You,” she said. “Finally found you. Now I can leave this dainty city. Come with me.”
You know at this point, I was sure nothing else could surprise me. The Fallen proved me wrong. Also, let me take the time to say, Amelia filled me with so much pride. Despite the overwhelming power difference, she fought the monster without hesitation. And from the fire in her eyes, she’d do whatever it took to win, no matter how dirty. I could only assume that this professionally trained fighter learned from the last time we tangled with the Fallen and had something in mind. Another part of me hoped that she didn’t fully count on me to be the answer to this awful situation.
The others finally caught up. I noticed that we were in the middle of an empty intersection, a quarter of a mile from Secure Corps. Woops.
“I’m sorry, who are you again?” I said, walking to Amelia’s side. My goddess still haven’t taken her eyes off me, either surprised by the appearance of my full state three or the Fallen’s words.
The Fallen quick-ascended in front of me and snatched my arm in an impossibly strong grip. My goddess blasted her with some kind of white light.
While that hurled the monster a couple of feet away, she lurched herself at me again, wings expanded.
I moved out of the way at the last second. She soared high into the air. Reaching inside, gathering my essence, I converted it until…a fireball?
It pulsed in the palm of my hand. Shrugging, I hurled it at the Fallen as she falcon-dove toward me. I knew my friends prepared their attacks, but waited, curious about that I could do. When the monster made contact with the ball of flames the size of a baseball, it unleashed an explosion so strong, the winds of it flung everyone to the ground.
Okay then. So I can fling around miniature bombs like it’s nothing.
Note to self: sleep outside before training with Mom.
The Fallen looked taken aback, but unharmed. Fuck, after that ridiculous explosion, how? How did the knights or even the primals fight these things?
She wagged a finger. A vampire-like smile curled onto her face
Frustrated, I released a quick binding between the Fallen’s shoes and the ground. I took in the sun’s energy, surrounding myself with its energy.
Then, something strange happened! My entire body burst into flames.
The fire didn’t burn me nor my clothes. What did this mean? The Fallen moaned, loudly, as if she was pleased.
“Yes, yes, yes! Come with me, now, you belong to us.”
The monster easily broke my binding. She flew toward me with a speed that I could barely register.
At that split second, I thought how I needed a weapon. Without thinking about it, I willed some of the fire into a sword.
Then I swung.
The Fallen caught it with a hand then snuffed it out with seemingly little effort. With a single finger, she bashed me on my back.
The creature raised a hand into the air. Black sparks flickered around each of her long fingers.
Knowing that if I let that go through, I’d be finished, I aimed hand at her and released as much solar energy as possible. The Fallen yelped as my attack sent her flying backward at least forty yards.
Yet the bitch was still unharmed. She stood up, laughing so hard.
“We’ve got to get the fuck out of here,” I said to my friends. “Amelia, summon your mom. Or we’re dead. Even with my new powers, I’m no match for the Fallen.”
“I can’t,” Amelia said, “I already tried. Messed with the weather too. Something’s blocking my connection to Paradise Realm.”
“You think we wouldn’t prepare after what happened to our newest recruit?” the Fallen said, then laughed. “You fools! Fools, fools, fools, fools, fools! This is why I insisted to come here. You pretty folk think we’re mindless idiots. Brainless. Insulting us, the true pioneers of genius. Now.” She looked at me. “You’re getting married, mister prince. Connected to the universe, you’re going to give us your power. No…you’re going to work with us. It’s for the better. Crush this stupid system will we and anyone who stands in our way.”
I could practically smell the fear on my friends. That’s why it surprised me when Layla lurched into action to distorted reality around the Fallen. A prism of crackling blue energy surrounded the woman.
She couldn’t move—banging her first frantically on the prism, screaming curses, and when looking at me, making strange gestures with her tongue. I looked at Layla.
“Well, damn,” I said. “If I weren’t afraid of getting electrocuted, I’d hug you.”
Chapter Thirty-six
Layla smiled for a second before letting it fall. “Don’t celebrate yet. That will hold the bugger for about an hour. After that, well, I’ll collapse. The Fallen’s...” she panted, “just too strong.”
The Fallen laughed maniacally as banged on her magical prison with impossibly strong fists. Shit, this couldn’t be happening. Even if we ran, the bitch would simply chase us down the moment Layla’s spell wore off.
“Amelia,” I said, “can you ascend to Paradise Realm.”
“No,” she said. “The Fallen has blocked access, somehow.”
I thought for a second, forcing myself to concentrate through the annoying laughter. The fire that covered me earlier, retracted back to the edges of my heavenly-light.
“Alright, I should be ready.”
I spun to see Amony. I almost forgot she was there—as the ancient witch rarely tagged along with us.
“Got a plan?” I said.
“Ever since that first Fallen attack, I’ve been working on a spell that may penetrate their natural defenses,” Amony said. “Layla and I that is. She holds them down, I smite. But…there’s no guarantee this will work.”
Amony aimed both hands at the trapped Fallen and chanted something unintelligible. A large arrow-shaped mass of intense light shot out from her and struck the Fallen, somehow ignoring Layla’s show of magic.
To my surprise and probably everyone’s, the woman inside screamed...then that scream turned into laughter.
“Shit,” Amony snarled. She tried four more times to no success.
“We could go outside of the city limits,” Devante suggested. “See what happens.”
Amelia’s eyes snapped on him.
“Let’s try it,” she said. “I think their powers are simply influencing the city, but I know somewhere they cannot influence. I wonder if she minds some guests.”
Amelia pulled out her phone and dialed a number. She briefly explained the situation to Amanda then urged her to bring the car as fast as possible. Sin grabbed his vehicle, loading it up with Amony, Devante, and Layla. Elly would be riding with Amelia and me.
“We could stuff everyone in,” he suggested.
“No,” Amelia said. “Besides, I want my friends here.”
Then what happened next felt like a blur.
The second Amanda arrived, the Fallen let out a huge eagle-like screech that hurt the shit out my ears. Layla’s magic vanished.
“In the car now!
She didn’t have to tell me twice—we dove in, slammed the doors shut and hit pedals to the metals. I looked in the rear-view mirror. The bitch was following us.
“Go, go, go, go!” I snarled. We swerved around curves, ignoring stop signs, traffic lights, and the works. I wasn’t sure how Amelia was doing it, but the traffic parted ways to let us through. In fact, almost every road we entered had few humans around. The laughter of the Fallen woman seemed to be everywhere. The bitch was having the time of her life while we were scared shitless. Flashes of how Jade and even Bronze were snacked on entered my mind, causing me to get sick to my stomach. I did my best to ignore the cruel thoughts.
A mass suddenly smashed into the side of car. Amanda lost control, hit the brakes, but we already smashed into a stop
sign. Fortunately, everyone had their seatbelts on. We undid the belts, but not quickly enough. The Fallen yanked my door off.
Elly, hit her with an energy ball to no effect. I felt her cold hand grab me, before pulling me out of the car. Three arrows struck the bitch in the forehead perfectly. A beam of golden light followed. No effect. Amelia’s divine state seemed to flicker.
I didn’t sit there idly. I struggled against the impossible grip on my arm. The Fallen women, still smiling, sighed.
“You should stop struggling,” she said. “You’re in no danger. Well, no immediate danger.” Everyone but me grew still, waiting for the next move. “Cooperate and you’ll be fine.”
“What do you want?” I said, still trying to get out of her grasps.
“You ask the silliest questions. Obviously, your power. Do us a tiny favor and you shall remain unharmed as one of us, where you belong. The moment we felt someone connected to the universe appear in this realm, and then took back the city from our royal snacks, we just knew.” Glowing purple eyes looked deeply into mine.
“You will give your seed to us, produce us the ultimate weapon. We’ll raise it to destroy those who forced you into Hell. You, who didn’t deserve it. Of course, you don’t have a choice in this matter anyway, so you better hang on tight.”
I saw raw panic in Amelia’s eyes as the palpable essence of ascension gathered into the air. We were about to go to another realm. Fuck! I had to do something. I regretted leaving Ruin behind, thinking I’d be fine with my new power. The sword just wasn’t charged enough. It’d need so much power to reach its full potential. Risking it before then was pointless.
That’s when an idea sprung to my mind. The elite’s sword… I’ve completely forgotten about it. With my free hand, I sliced across the air, opening the pocket dimension and then pulling the red blade out. It sung with power. I wasn’t sure why Miliana wanted it so bad—I’d find out.
Alright fucker, let’s see if you’re worth all the trouble I went through. With one strong swing, I sliced off the Fallen’s hand that gripped me. She screamed and then fell to the ground. Amelia powered into her divine state, aimed a hand at her, and released the white beam of energy from before. At the same time, Elly fired a shit ton of purple magic balls. Devante casted lightning.
Till the Last Breath (Blood for Soul Book 2) Page 17