Walking back over towards Malachi, he got extremely close. “I needed someone more capable for the job. Therefore I sent your cousin Jeffries over to get your “Angel” and bring her here. He’s almost as strong as you are, but has a mean streak that even impresses me.” With that, Azazel gave a small wink. “I never had any doubt.”
Malachi’s heart was in his throat. He wouldn’t get to her, Tori and Terah would make sure of it. He tried to control his breathing as he addressed Azazel. “It’s not going to happen, he’ll fail too.”
“Really? Then why did I just get a phone call, informing me that they had her and were on their way?”
“You piece of shit! I’ll fucking kill you!” Malachi thrashed and tried to pull out of his restraints as Azazel practically skipped away. He had to free himself. He was not going to let this fucker win…again.
“Tisk Tisk, Malachi. You know you don’t have the power to kill me. The only thing that can stop me is twenty feet away from you.” He gestured to a pile behind him that contained all their weapons. “Now, how should I do it, any suggestions?” Azazel was almost giddy as he rubbed his hands together.
“I was actually thinking of killing her, and then waiting to kill you after her soul had been reborn. That way, she’d be constantly searching for her one and only, and never be able to find you. Kind of like torturing you while you’re in the grave. What do you think?” Azazel laughed at Malachi’s struggle.
Malachi didn’t answer, but instead let out a roar of anger as he tried to free his legs. He couldn’t let her get here while he was helpless to protect her. He had to get free, and quick.
******
Trinity was hurting to the point where she was in tears. It was completely dark and all she could feel was the pain. Her legs were burning and the wrist restraints they had put her in were cutting into her skin. She tried to press them together to relieve the tension, but nothing was working. Constantly blocking out the pain was not helping her to conserve any energy.
At least there were only two now, instead of the original three. That made her odds a little better when she finally got out, of course she didn’t know how many would be there once that happened. The men had shoved her in the trunk of their car, after roughly tying her wrists together with twine.
Trinity fought back the tears when she thought about the attack at her home. She had been lying on the couch with her eyes shut, fighting off a killer headache when the doorbell rang. Everyone that would have come to see her where accounted for, so she was confused about who could be there.
When Tori made her way to the front door, she looked through the peep hole and jumped back. “Fuck! They brought a nephilim!”
After that, everything happened so quickly. There was a loud explosion that blew up her back door, and two men walked in through the new opening. Terah ran, and was there in a matter of seconds.
Trinity would never forget what happened next. Tori turned to yell something at her, but never got the chance. As if going at lightning speed, the front door was kicked open and a knife was being dragged across Tori’s throat by an extremely large and mean looking male. Tori’s eyes met hers the split second before they closed and she fell to the ground.
She was momentarily stunned, but then her basic survival instincts kicked in and she ran. The man that slit Tori’s throat, zeroed in on her and started to make his way over. Managing to miss his grasp by inches, she maneuvered around him and ran into the kitchen to find Terah.
Terah had her hands full with the others and Trinity knew that she was on her own. Narrowly making it back to the living room, she got to the bag the girls brought over and saw something she recognized. She grabbed the small spear shaped weapon but before she could make another run for it, the man was on her. Wrapping his arms around her, he started to squeeze and Trinity knew she only had seconds before she blacked out.
A familiar sensation coursed through her body; the same one that had come when she was attacked by Seth in the parking lot. She felt stronger, and knew this was one of the many gifts that Malachi had given her. It took this new energy to be able to use the weapon and stab the man in his leg. The floor came up fast when he ended up dropping her. She hit hard, but didn’t let it slow her down. Turning, she pulled the spear out of his leg and gave no second thought to ramming it into his chest the moment she had an opening.
They both stood still, and it was like time stopped as they stared at each other. Eventually, he snapped out of it and charged. Grabbing her by her throat, he hit her against a wall and squeezed, successfully cutting off her airway. “You little cunt! You really think that would kill me? You’re gonna have to do better than that.”
Trinity was pulling against his hold on her throat and trying to gasp for air. She couldn’t breathe, she needed to breathe! When his grip loosened a small amount, she took gulps of air and ceased her struggles. Grabbing the handle to the spear, she looked him right in the eye and choked out, “This is for Tori, asshole.”
Trinity will never forget the sound it made when she pressed the button. She could just picture the different extensions cutting into the muscle of his heart. His eyes opened wide, obviously not expecting this outcome, before his body collapsed to the ground, bringing her down with it.
She had killed someone. When she had a moment, she would contemplate how she felt, but right now, she had to get out of here.
The other two men walked into the room just as she was standing up.
“Hey Jeffries, you ready to go? It took a while, but we eventually took care of…”
The man stopped talking at the sight before him. She knew she probably looked feral, covered in blood and standing over a body, but she didn’t care. She reached down and grabbed the fireplace poker and charged the two men. All she knew was that they were standing in the way of her and her way out.
It was a decent fight and she had gotten in a few good hits, but her body was too exhausted from what she had already been through. Eventually, they subdued her and bound her wrists. Before shoving her into the trunk, she watched as they torched her house. A feeling of dread filled her, because she knew that if Terah and Tori didn’t wake up fast, they would truly die in the fire.
Shaking off her emotions, she strained her ears and tried to listen to what her captors were saying, but their voices were too muffled. At first she had tried to remember the direction and turns they took, but soon got mixed up. Now, she felt extremely helpless as she lay there waiting for the trunk to open.
Fighting through the pain, she felt around the dark space, trying to find anything that might help her. She quickly realized that she was the only thing in the trunk. A thought then occurred to her as she felt around the edges of the upholstery and the side paneling.
As a teenager, she had once gotten a flat tire. Not wanting to have to rely on another person for anything, she watched diligently as Joseph changed her tire. He had pulled part of the paneling off and exposed the jack and tire iron.
Jackpot! Trinity popped open the compartment and felt around inside for what she had in mind. Finally, she felt the long metal tool and quietly pulled it free. Holding it there, she quickly formed a plan.
After some time, the car began to slow down and Trinity wrapped herself around the bar. She could do this, she could do this, she repeated to herself. Not knowing what she was getting into, she knew that she was not going down without a fight.
The car eventually stopped, and she heard car doors open and shut before finally hearing voices near the back of the car. She tightened her grip and waited.
“What the hell happened to you two?” Trinity knew that voice. Of course he would be behind this; he had been the cause of all her troubles for the last two years.
“Hey, she wasn’t alone. Plus this she-cat didn’t come easily.”
“Whatever. She’s never been…”
The trunk popped open and Trinity threw herself up and started swinging. She got one good hit across the head of one of the men, and felt a sm
all amount of satisfaction when she saw him drop to his knees. A set of hands reached out for her, and she brought the bar down on top of them. Someone let out a curse and she brought it up to swing again, but her weapon was then ripped from her hands.
Hands were everywhere now, grabbing at her as she fought and lifting her out of the trunk. Someone grabbed a hold of her hair and another got her arms behind her back. A man stumbled towards her and placed fingers against his head where he was bleeding.
“You bitch!” He yelled at her, before backhanding her across the face.
Shit, that hurt. Flexing her jaw to relieve some of the pain, she looked back at him. “So I’ve heard.”
“If you guys are done, I would really like to move this along.” Looking over, she saw a man looking towards them and fear coursed through her. This couldn’t be happening, she thought.
“Aww, so you do remember me. That speeds things up.” Trinity was frozen as she watched him turn the other way. When she turned her head to see what he was looking at, her fear intensified. No! Malachi! Looking at him now, he resembled a wild beast more than the man she loved. His face was covered in blood, and he wouldn’t stop thrashing and yelling out. At a closer look, she noticed the blood dripping down from his wrists and she had to plead with him.
Malachi, you’re hurting yourself, stop!
It was as if he didn’t hear her, because he continued to throw threats at Azazel and pull on his restraints.
The men brought her forward, and she put up no fight as she examined her surroundings. As they got closer, she noticed all of Malachi’s weapons not too far from her and got an idea. She had to help. She was not going to sit by and watch what he wanted her to anymore.
Immediately, she started to pull against the men restraining her, kicking out and biting any appendage that she could get to. With her quick change of going from docile to attack mode, the men were taken off guard and she managed to get free. Not pausing once she did, she started to sprint towards to weapons. She had seen the sword many times to know that it was Malachi’s. After wielding it so many times in her dreams, she was pretty sure she could handle it now.
Leaning down in mid-run, she scooped it up. Ignoring Malachi’s yelled warning, she held it with her bound hands and pointed it in the direction of Azazel. Damn, this thing was heavier than it looked!
All he did was turn and smile. “I do like this one. She’s got spunk.”
“Yeah, so much spunk that she took out Jeffries.” One of the men chimed in.
Azazel looked on, but with an expression of awe. No remorse was present. “Really?”
“Let them go!” She gestured in the direction of Malachi and Gemariah, ignoring Azazel’s question.
“’Fraid I can’t do that, love.” He turned and held his arms out wide. “Tell you what…I’ll give you a free shot. Make me let them go.”
“No!” This was yelled simultaneously by Malachi and Gemariah, but she wasn’t listening. This, whatever he was, needed to be stopped. Taking a step forward, she swung the sword. A look of surprise crossed his face before jumping out of the way. She missed her mark but did end up cutting a small strip across the front of his shirt.
Everyone was quiet and staring at her with their mouths ajar.
“What the…” Before she knew what was going on, Azazel was directly in front of her and ripping the weapon from her hands. He tossed it to one of his many minions.
“Swing that!”
The man picked it up and adjusted his grip before bringing it back. He didn’t make the forward swing before dropping the sword and going down to his knees. He was screaming in agony while staring at his hands. At a closer look, Trinity saw that the flesh off the man’s hands was disintegrating enough to where the bone was starting to show.
“Oh Crap.” Trinity couldn’t take her eyes off the man. She then looked down at her own hands, grateful she wasn’t subjected to the same fate.
“You two have already bonded! Of course, why didn’t I see this before?” Azazel frowned down at her. “This complicates things. Now I only have so many ways I can kill you. But now my fun can last even longer.” The last part was said as an afterthought with a grin on his face.
He held up his hand and brought it to her arm. She was still in her same t-shirt from before, so his fingers touched her bare skin. Trinity watched his hand gently caress her upper arm before he took one of his long nails and started to push it into her arm.
“God Dammit! Get your hands off her!” Malachi yelled.
Everything stopped and there was a collective gasp as Azazel froze. “What did you say?” The menacing sound to his voice made Trinity shiver.
“You heard me, God Dammit!”
Malachi barely finished what he was saying, before Azazel flew over to him and threw a punch that connected with his nose. The punch had enough force behind it, that anyone near could hear the bones crunch under his hand.
She wanted to be concerned for Malachi, she really did, but all she could think about was the pain exploding over her face. She threw her hands up and covered her nose before she dropped down to the ground moaning.
Azazel paused in his assault on Malachi and started to laugh. “Oh this is too good. She feels your pain. This is going to be so much fun!” He turned to look at his men. “Seth, handle your woman. Bring her to her knees.”
“Gladly.” That was the only thing she heard before she was lifted off the ground and placed facing Malachi. She hated to be touched by Seth and she tried to shrug him off, but he just tightened his hold.
The pain had slowly subsided as she knelt there, and she was finally able to open her eyes. Malachi was staring at her with a look of dread in his eyes.
She took a moment to look him over. His face and shirt were covered in blood, but she couldn’t find a wound. It had probably already healed, she thought. Then what Azazel said finally hit her, she felt Malachi’s pain. Trinity remembered the sudden headache earlier, and she eyed Malachi’s bloody wrists as she remembered the pain in hers before. This bit of information should have shocked her, but after everything she had learned recently, it didn’t. Did she understand it, no, but that would come eventually. She did understand that Azazel was going to use this against them and she had to brace herself for the worst.
Trinity watched as Azazel unsheathed the sword at his side, that she had failed to notice earlier. He examined the blade and slowly ran his hand over it, as if in a comforting gesture. In the next instant, he quickly thrust the blade into Malachi’s shoulder.
Shit! The pain was unbearable! She wanted nothing more than to curl up and scream out, but she wasn’t going to give him that satisfaction. As she knelt there, she blocked out Malachi’s roar and Gemariah’s shouting. Azazel’s laughter slowly faded, and Seth’s touch was now non-existent to her. She looked passed everything and stared at the tree line, while refusing to move.
The pain was still just as strong, and she noticed from the corner of her eye that Azazel was frowning at her while holding the sword that was still impaled in Malachi. A look of determination crossed his face and he gave his wrist a swift twist, successfully rotating the sword.
She was going to be sick. The feeling was beyond anything she had ever felt before. God, please let it be over soon, she thought.
Trinity slowly looked over toward Malachi and noticed that he was staring at her, probably trying to judge how much she was feeling. Slowly, she grinned at him.
I love you.
At that moment, he understood. She felt everything, but was holding it in for him. Immediately his body relaxed against the pain and her discomfort dimmed. They could do this, they could manage, together.
A fresh wave of pain hit her when Azazel pulled the sword free. He growled. “I guess I was wrong.” Immediately, he shook off the disappointment and gestured in her direction. “Back to the original plan. Kill her.”
Trinity immediately tensed and Malachi looked panicked as his struggles started up again.
In
stead of the killing blow that she expected, she was pulled back against Seth. “No. You said I got to keep her for a while.” As if to punctuate his point, he wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled her neck. A fresh wave of nausea came forth at the close contact.
Azazel looked furious and turned his gaze in their direction. “You dare defy me?”
She felt the body behind her start to quake out of fear, but he still didn’t move. “You promised.” He now sounded more like a child, denied his favorite toy.
She watched as Azazel walked over toward Malachi’s bag and pulled forth a weapon with a long blade before coming towards them. She really thought Seth had lived his last day, and if the tightening hold on her was any indication, so did he. When he reached them, he held the knife out with the handle side closest.
“Kill her now! If not, I’ll make a meal out of your intestines and make sure you stay alive to feel every last bit of it.”
Seth didn’t hesitate in grabbing the knife.
“No! You fucker, I’ll kill you! Don’t touch her!!” Trinity’s body began to ache even more, and she looked up towards Malachi. His attempts to escape his restraints were doubled, cutting into his skin with each pull.
“Through the heart should do it.” Azazel’s words brought her attention back to him. He looked so calm, and at that moment and she witnessed how much evil had really taken him over.
She felt the tip blade at her back and she looked over towards Azazel. “He’s never going to take you back, you know.”
There was no misunderstanding who she was talking about, and the look of utter hatred that came over his face said that he knew as well. “Now!”
It was so quick, and there wasn’t as much pain as she thought there would be. He removed the blade just as swiftly, and she started to fall towards the ground. Before she touched, however, all hell broke loose.
There was a sharp cry from somewhere around her, and Seth’s body hit the ground before hers did. She saw his body land and his head roll in the opposite direction, while Gideon was standing over her, breathing heavily. Glancing around, she noticed Tori, Terah, and others she didn’t recognize, joining in the fight as well.
Celestial Beginnings (Nephilim Series) Page 34