“We’re flying, Angel,” Will said in her ear. “Keep your eyes closed and relax; we’re descending.”
She nodded and stilled.
“WILL!!” James yelled in fear.
Will whipped around to see a flock of Angels ascending on them. They were dressed for battle and looked furious.
“No,” he whispered and sped up. They were so close…he could see the ridge clearly.
He had to get her there; he didn’t have any other choice. Where were the Sun Angels and why weren’t they here defending Jenna? Their absence throughout this entire ordeal angered him.
“Go!” Lena called out, surprising him. “We’ll hold them off the best we can! Just get her there!”
James pulled away and Will watched as he took Lena and threw her directly into the crowd of Angels following them. She latched herself onto one and killed it before jumping to another one. Will couldn’t help but be impressed by the way James and she worked together; he reluctantly found himself liking her a little. Without sparing another moment, Will turned and continued racing toward the ridge that would save Jenna’s life. She’d remained still but when he glanced down, he saw her eyes were open wide in alarm. She closed her eyes and clasped her arms around his neck.
“I trust you,” she whispered in his ear.
A movement to his left made him turn as an Angel barreled into him. He held on tighter to Jenna as the Angel clashed into him again. Pulling out his sword, he and the Angel began to duel.
“Throw me!” Jenna hollered, suddenly alert.
Without a second thought, Will tossed her as high as he could in the air and attacked the Angel, but he was an even match. Will spun and caught Jenna before throwing her up again.
Jenna didn’t like being thrown in the air; it made her sick. She tried to remain calm and think of what she could do to help out. An idea struck, and she decided she’d land right on the Angel attacking them.
Will threw her up a third time and when she peaked, she dove straight for the other Angel. She landed on his back. He tried bucking her off, but she grabbed hold of the base of his wings.
Yelling out, the Angel thrust his sword up and sliced her arm. Ignoring the burning pain, she twisted one of his wings as much as she could, making the Angel howl in pain. They dropped twenty feet.
Will seized the opportunity made by Jenna’s distraction by jamming his sword into the Angel’s chest. Jenna braced herself to jump to Will when she noticed another Angel behind him.
“Will!!” Jenna screamed as the Angel thrust his sword into Will’s back.
His face froze in surprise, and he began falling down out of the sky. Jenna was knocked off the Angel she’d been holding onto and began falling after Will. He reached up and grabbed her, pulling her close to him.
“Will!” Jenna cried. “You’ve got to fly! Fly!”
A streak to their right slammed into them throwing Will and Jenna down to Earth fast. It was all Will could do to hold on to Jenna as they crashed into the rocks knocking him out and throwing Jenna out of his arms.
Jenna screamed as she skidded across the rocks, tearing up her body as she slid. She watched as Will lay there, not moving.
“Will!” she cried out in a weak voice. She was so tired, her body was bleeding, bruised, and broken. Jenna knew at least one rib had to be cracked.
A heavy thud made her look up as an Angel landed next to Will, his back to Jenna. He looked familiar.
“You don’t know how long I’ve waited to do that,” he smirked leaning over Will.
Jenna inhaled sharply recognizing the voice. She’d talked to him not even a half hour ago. She watched in horror as he drew his sword.
“First I’m going to kill you and then I’m going to kill your Angel,” he paused. “No hard feelings, mate. I’m just doing my job.”
Jenna stumbled to her feet and staggered over to them.
“No!” she stood in front of Will and turned to face Liam.
“Get out of the way, Jenna,” Liam sneered. “Don’t worry; you’ll get your turn.”
He shoved her roughly, causing her to stumble over Will and crashed to the ground. Hitting her head, Jenna winced as her vision clouded and swirled for a moment.
“That was pathetic,” Liam shook his head. “You know I used to find you terrifying?”
Jenna ignored him as she grabbed Will’s arm and willed him to heal. She knew it wouldn’t work as fast as he did it, but anything would help.
“I’ve just decided I’m going to kill you first,” he stepped over Will to stand over her.
A single tear leaked out her eye as she turned to look at Will as Liam struck her with his sword. She cried out just as Will’s eyes opened and hers closed.
His skin iced over in anger, fear, and rage. Will thrust his hand toward Liam’s chest as the ice grew into a long, sharp dagger. The ice pierced Liam’s heart, and Will expanded it making the ice fill it.
Liam fell back with permanent surprise etched on his face, dead before he hit the ground.
Will spun and picked Jenna up.
“You’re going to make it,” he growled more to himself than her as he slowly returned to his former self.
“Sir!” Emanuel ran out onto the rock. “Is she?”
“No!” Will snapped over his shoulder, “guard me.”
Gently laying Jenna down in the exact spot he had turned her mortal all those years ago. He quickly pulled out his knife and cut a piece of his hair off and a piece of Jenna’s. Putting them together, he lit them on fire chanting a short verse from the book he’d read earlier.
While the hair burned, he quickly cut his palm and laid it over Jenna’s heart, saying the few words that were required. He couldn’t help the tears as they rolled down his cheeks. Next he bent his wing over his shoulder and pulled out a feather. Raising it up in the air, he lit the black feather on fire and let it burn while he closed his eyes and whispered the final words of the ritual. He threw the flaming feather into the air and a loud crack of thunder clapped through the darkness. Streaks of lightning showered around Jenna. Will collapsed backwards from exhaustion and pain. He glanced up at Jenna who continued to lay still.
“Come on,” he growled. “Wake up!”
“Sir?” Emanuel said behind him.
“What?” Will snapped.
“I’m sorry.”
“She’s not dead!” he said defiantly.
“Sir!” Emanuel grabbed his shoulder and pointed at Jenna.
Will spun and looked down. Her chest was raising and falling, the wound in her chest gone.
“Will!”
“Jenna!”
James and Lena were running to them looking haggard but alive.
“Is she…?” Lena fell down beside Jenna fear clouding her brown eyes.
“She’s alive,” Will answered sternly.
“Let me heal you, mate,” James quickly worked over Will. “What happened?”
“We were ambushed, thankfully only by two,” he winced as James worked on his stab wound in his back.
“I’m glad you made it,” James answered. “How long until Jenna’s back fully?”
“I’m not sure,” Will shook his head.
“How did the Angels know we were here?” James wondered.
“We were betrayed.”
“Betrayed?” James looked around them. “By who? Oh no. Liam.”
“Yes, and he nearly killed Jenna,” Will said through clenched teeth. “Stabbed her right in the heart.”
“How did you kill him?”
“I filled his heart with ice.”
“How?” James asked astonished.
“I turned into ice,” Will turned to look at James in bewilderment. “I’ve never done that before.”
“What? Like your whole body became ice?” Lena asked, butting in.
“Yes,” Will nodded. “I was the ice completely.”
“Hmm,” James rubbed his chin. “It must’ve been from your emotions. You better be careful with that,
mate.”
“Jenna!” A new voice yelled out.
They all turned drawing their swords.
“Richard,” Will sighed in relief putting his sword away.
“My Sun Angel!” Richard cried reaching down and pulling Jenna to him.
“She’s alive,” James said. “Will’s already preformed the ritual and now we’re just waiting for her to come to.”
“I don’t mean to interfere, but we need to go,” Emanuel spoke up.
“Right you are,” James nodded. “Lena, if you’d come here.”
She nodded and walked to him.
“Where will we go?” Richard asked still clinging to Jenna.
Will felt a wave of jealousy wash over him. Richard was able to freely hold her when he wanted so badly to be the one holding her.
“I have a hidden place we can go to,” James answered pulling Lena into his arms and slowly lifting himself into the air. “Will, get Jenna. Emanuel and Richard, follow us on foot.”
“Yes, sir,” Emanuel nodded.
Will walked over and reached for Jenna but Richard wouldn’t give her to him.
“If she doesn’t recover, I will find a way to kill you,” Richard threatened.
“I hope this works, more than you know,” Will bowed his head and took Jenna from Richard.
“You have no right to love her,” Richard continued.
Will said nothing, knowing it was true.
“And you do not deserve her love.”
“I know,” Will whispered and jumped into the air to follow James.
Chapter Seventeen
They flew fast trying to remain undetected and get into hiding. Jenna still hadn’t woken up as they flew over Utah. So many questions and concerns raced through Will’s mind. Liam had been a close friend, why would he betray them? When would Jenna wake? She had to, Will’s strong arms flexed as he pulled her closer to him. There’s no way he could lose her, not now after all the trouble he’d gone through to save her.
“What I want to know is where are the Sun Angels?” Will wondered as they flew in the sky. “Why aren’t we being attacked anymore either?”
“Those are questions I want answers to myself,” James agreed. “Do you think maybe Richard tried contacting them the reason he took so long ?”
“It could be, but then why wouldn’t they be here now taking her to their kingdom?”
“You don’t think the temporary King has anything to do with their absence, do you?” James asked.
“It’s possible,” Will narrowed his eyes. “If it is, then he’d better watch out because I’ll be after him.”
“You and me both, mate.”
“That’s another thing that bothers me,” Will mentioned. “I could hear everything when Liam was trying to kill me. He called me mate. He never says that.”
“Do you think he was trying to maybe pose as me to make you think it was me who had killed Jenna?”
Will nodded, “That’s exactly what I think, only it didn’t work out for him in the end.”
James laughed bitterly, “If only I’d known sooner. I’d love to have ripped him to shreds.”
“He got what he had coming,” Will glowered. “I should’ve known.”
“There was no way of knowing, sir,” James assured, “he’s been our best mate for as long as I can remember. He knew how to fool us.”
“Pisses me off,” Will muttered. “Goes to show I can only trust you.”
“And me!” Lena yelled out from James’ arms.
“I still don’t know about you Guardian,” Will snapped. “Who’s to say you won’t betray us later?”
Lena seethed, “I’ll have you know I wouldn’t! And don’t you think I’d have betrayed you before Jenna got her powers back?”
“She’s got a point, mate,” James acknowledged.
“I don’t want to discuss this,” Will grumbled. “Let’s get Jenna out of harm’s way and then we can have it out.”
***
“It’s been three days,” Will muttered as he paced in front of the living room window that overlooked the city of Seattle.
“I don’t know what to say, mate,” James ran his hands through his hair. “This has never happened before.”
“I just want to know if I did something wrong!” He shook his shoulders. “I mean, the sun still hasn’t come back.”
“Maybe it’ll come back when she awakens?” James suggested.
Will shrugged, “I hope I didn’t mess up the ritual.”
“I’m sure you did it right. It wouldn’t be like you to mess up something this important.”
“I’m going to run perimeter with Emanual,” Lena yawned getting up to stretch. “I’m bored.”
“No.” Will stated.
“Are we really going to have this conversation again?” Lena complained falling back on the couch.
“No,” Will continued to pace.
“I’ll go with him,” Richard stood and swept out of the room before Will could say anything.
“He still hasn’t told us,” James muttered to Will.
Will narrowed his eyes at the door through which Richard disappeared.
“I know,” he muttered.
“He has to tell us,” James gritted his teeth. “We need answers.”
“We’re not Sun Angels,” Will finally looked at James, “he’s not going to tell us.”
“Will he tell Jenna?”
“Yes,” Lena answered James. “Of course he will; she’s the Sun Queen.”
Will ignored them as they began discussing what would happen once Jenna woke. He turned and stared out of James’ top floor penthouse window. He had to admit he’d been surprised that James hadn’t ever told him about owning the real estate but was glad to have it available to them now. He knew James loved the human world but didn’t think he’d goes as far to own property.
He turned his back to the lit up city down below, Jenna was still alive, he could feel it. But when would she wake up? It was irritating him that he had no control over it.
“Mae,” he said out loud.
“What?” Lena asked as James looked at him for an answer.
“I wonder if Mae would know why Jenna isn’t waking,” he elaborated.
James shrugged, “Probably not, mate. From what I got from her she didn’t know much about restoring Jenna to begin with.”
“True,” Will finally sagged into a soft black chair. “What do we do, James?”
“She’ll come around,” James patted his shoulder, “she has a lot of healing to do.”
Will sighed heavily, “You’re right.”
“She’ll wake up soon,” Lena said confidently then dropped her gaze. “At least she better. What would we do without her or the sun? I mean have you seen the news lately? It’s getting worse.”
Both men nodded.
“It’d be worse if Will didn’t hold the night creatures back,” James pointed out.
“Really?” Lena turned to Will surprised. “You can control them then?”
He nodded.
“So then tell them to stop attacking the humans!”
“I can’t control them like that,” Will reluctantly informed her. “I can only hold them at bay.”
“That’s holding them at bay?” Lena’s mouth sagged open in horror. “Dang, Jenna needs to wake up fast.”
“No kidding,” Will muttered, “we don’t have much time left.”
***
Jenna fell hard onto the ground, skidding across the rocks. She was running from James and Will. They’d been after her for the last five years and finally had caught up.
“You can’t run forever, Jenna!” Will mocked her.
Panic swept through her; she didn’t know what they would do to her if they caught her. It forced her to run harder; she hopped across wide crevices in the orange rocks, beginning to lose them. They couldn’t catch her or else her plan would fall apart, and she wouldn’t be able to stop Silas from taking over.
Too late, Jenna
had finally figured out what Silas was really after. She knew that she had to at least save Will from him, and the only way to do that would be to die. But now Will was ruining everything. Didn’t he know the world wouldn’t survive without the Sun? She hadn’t had time to hide it yet when they caught onto her trail and tracked her down to now.
“Gotcha!” James yelled tackling her as she jumped across the Grand Canyon. Both fell fast to the Earth below fiercely entangled with each other. James managed to get on top as they collided with the ground. Jenna gasped as the wind was knocked out of her and her vision clouded.
“Wait,” she tried to say but nothing came out.
James pulled her up and jumped into the air, flying her back up to the top.
“Got her,” James threw her to the ground where she fell, sprawled out.
Inside Jenna knew this was a memory; she wasn’t experiencing it in real life because she could feel the soft bed under her, the warm blankets that kept her from shivering with panic. Why couldn’t she wake up? She tried dragging herself from the depth of sleep, but the currents were too strong and she was swept back under.
Mostly she welcomed the dark clouds of unconsciousness; it took away from the physical pain her body was enduring now, but she had to wake and tell Will what Silas was trying to do. Did he figure it out already?
Light came flooding down on her like a spot light; it was warm, and she turned to it, welcoming it, letting it envelop her like her Sun had always done. For the first time since being stabbed, she felt content. Only the warmth became too hot to an almost burning sensation. Jenna tried pulling away but couldn’t. Trying to pull herself awake again, she was able to open her eyes and cry out once, but a big tidal wave of darkness captured her, dragging her away just as she saw Will’s frightened face in the doorway.
“She had her eyes open!” Will shouted for the third time.
“We get it,” Lena snapped. “We’re not disagreeing with you, Raven.”
“We’re just wondering what’s keeping her under,” Richard answered as he studied Jenna. “She’s fighting it, but who else than a witch can do something like this?”
“It wasn’t Mae, Will,” James gave Will a pointed look. “She wouldn’t do this to either of you.”
The Sun Angel Page 24