by C. L. Coffey
Rage, anger, pain . . . that was what I had inside of me. None of which were going to help.
As tears started rolling down my cheeks, Jonah turned to Britney. “Fine. Kill him.”
Britney grinned, brushing her red hair from her face.
She raised the sword.
Then time seemed to slow. Almost standing still.
The burning inside me wasn’t just burning.
It was fire.
Whether it was that rage, anger, and pain, I could feel the flames, like there was an inferno deep inside.
I reached up, wrapping my hand around the stake. The pain barely registered as I ripped it from my body.
In front of me, Britney’s arm was still moving upwards, unaware of what I was doing. The third nameless fallen angel beside me had eyes going wide, and in front of me, a small smile was creeping across Jonah’s lips.
Like a javelin, I threw the stake.
While everything else was moving in slow motion, the stake seemed to soar through the air, plunging into Britney’s throat. Blood spurted everywhere as time sped up again.
Britney’s sword hit the ground at the same time she did.
“Grab her.”
I dove forward, landing and rolling. Moving onto my feet, I grabbed the sword Britney had dropped, stood, and lunged forward, just as the third fallen angel reached out to grab me.
“Impressive,” Jonah said as the fallen angel slumped to the floor.
Turning, I found him cracking his knuckles, his sword jammed into the ground. “You have ten seconds to get out of here, or your body is joining them,” I told him through gritted teeth.
Jonah brought his fists up, his grin hiding behind them. “Instead of counting, shall we just jump to ten?”
Before I could comment, he leaped forward, punching me right in the middle of my chest.
I fell backwards onto the drive, my body skidding across the gravel as I struggled to take a breath.
The pain was back, like someone was squeezing the oxygen out of my lungs but not allowing me to take air back in.
Rolling onto my front, I somehow managed to get onto my hands and knees, my breath wheezing. Everything was hot. In front of me, now out from behind the tree line, I could see the house was ablaze. Flames were pouring out of every door and window, licking up to the roof.
Yet the fire still seemed to be inside me. I could feel it raging away even more ferociously than the flames in front of me.
And although it didn’t have a voice, I knew it wanted me to destroy the source of my pain—Jonah.
Just as I pushed myself off the ground, ignoring the stones biting into my palms, Jonah’s boot smashed into my side.
My body went rolling further down the drive and away from the house.
Jonah followed after me. “Here’s the thing, princess. I’m not actually going to kill you. I need you alive.” He crouched down over me. “You can make this a whole lot less painful for yourself if you stop fighting me. You might be special, but I’m a fallen angel, and you can’t take me out.”
“The other two are dead.”
“The other two were nephilim.”
Something—I wasn’t sure if it was adrenaline, fire, or both—surged through me. The pain evaporated, replaced by burning that seemed to cauterize everything I was feeling.
Jonah’s eyes went wide. He pulled his head back, recoiling.
Moving faster than him, I sat up, brought my hand back, and punched him in the chest where he hit me. Unlike me, his body didn’t go soaring away. Instead, my fist went straight into his chest. Behind us, the house exploded.
“Ten.” Pulling my hand out, I didn’t even watch as his body fell backwards. The reprieve in pain was temporary, and it came rushing back, causing me to double over.
I sat there, clutching at my chest with a bloody hand as I tried to catch my breath. Everything hurt. I was ready to roll over and curl up into a ball when I remembered something. “Gabriel.”
Against my protesting body, I forced myself to my feet and staggered over to Gabriel. He was still unconscious, but I could see his chest rising. “Gabriel?” I shook him.
Gabriel’s eyes flew open wide in panic. “Kennedy?” He tried to sit up but stopped short, writhing in pain as his hands clamped down on his side.
“Let me see.”
I tried to get under his jacket, but he batted my hand away. And then, frowning, he grabbed it. “Is that blood?”
“It’s not mine,” I told him, helping him upright. “They’re all dead.”
Clutching at his side, Gabriel glanced around. “Their bodies—”
“Nephilim, apparently.” I gestured behind him. “The other one, Jonah, was a fallen angel though.”
Instead of looking, Gabriel’s eyes were locked on my face, his eyes narrowed. “He’s dead? You killed him? A fallen angel?”
I slowly nodded.
Gabriel ran a hand over his jaw then shook his head. “We should get out of here before the authorities arrive.”
“What about Abaddon?” I glanced back at the house, the fire still burning fiercely enough to feel the heat from as far back as we were.
“He’s gone.”
“His truck is still here.” If the fire remained unchecked, the truck wasn’t likely to remain intact, but it was there.
“Abaddon is gone.” Gabriel shook his head. “And we need to go, too.” Fighting back his pain, Gabriel got to his feet, still clutching at his side. “Gather up the weapons.” He finally looked over in Jonah’s direction. “How long ago did he die? We should be able to get past him before his essence is expelled from the vessel.”
“How badly are you injured? You should do your fancy teleporting trick and get to a hospital.”
“We can’t leave our vehicle. It will trace directly back to the college.”
“Gabriel—”
“Kennedy.” Gabriel snapped. “Gather up the weapons and let’s get out of here. Now.”
The fact that he wasn’t telling me how badly hurt he was felt more worrisome than the idea of leaving the bodies where they were, but it still didn’t feel right. Leaving the weapons, I grabbed Britney’s leg and ignoring the protests from my shoulder, dragged her body over to Jonah’s, dumping her on top of him.
“What are you doing?” Gabriel asked as I returned and grabbed the other guy.
“Jonah’s going to explode, right? I’m destroying as much of the evidence as I can.” Finally, I gathered up the various weapons, before pulling Gabriel’s arm over my shoulder to help him walk.
The way the weight of his body fell on me grew with every step we took down the drive. Getting back to the Range Rover took much longer than it had to get to the house. I pulled open the passenger door and helped Gabriel in. Running around to the other side, I threw the weapons in the back.
Just as I opened the driver’s door, there was an almighty explosion that seemed to echo around the mountains more than when the house exploded.
We’d lucked out that no one had driven by to see anything, but I was doubtful that there was nobody around to hear that.
I jumped in the driver’s seat, my hands shaking. Adrenaline was running through me, and now I had to contend with driving.
“Kennedy, take a breath.”
“I’ve not really had much experience with driving,” I muttered, looking at all the buttons in front of me. The little experience I had was in an ex-boyfriend’s wreck of a car, and never at night.
“These things practically drive themselves. Put your foot on the brake.” Gabriel grunted as he leaned forward and pressed the start button that I’d somehow manage to forget about. As the engine turned over, the headlights turned on and the car started bleeping at me. “Seatbelt,” Gabriel muttered.
I leaned over to help him with his before putting mine on, silencing the beeps.
“Put it in drive, gentle on the grass until we get off the shoulder and stick to the speed limit.”
Sucking in a deep breath, I d
id as he instructed. My heart pounded in my chest as I did. The fire was still burning fiercely as we drove past, and minutes later, I could hear sirens in the distance. “Crap.”
“Just keep driving. They’re going to be heading to the fire, not looking at us.”
Blue flashing lights appeared in front of us.
“Are they not going to be wondering why we didn’t stop?”
It took a moment for Gabriel to respond. “No. It’s America. No one stops to help anymore.”
I clamped my teeth down on my lower lip.
Gabriel winced as he shifted his weight. “That was me trying to be funny.”
A cop car and two firetrucks sailed past us.
My heart didn’t stop pounding until I pulled into the parking lot of the motel. Leaving the weapons in the floorboard, I flung a blanket that’d been left in there, over the top.
Then I forced myself to walk around to the passenger side so as not to draw unnecessary attention. The adrenaline rush was wearing off and helping Gabriel into the room and onto the closest bed was a lot harder than it had been dragging the two nephilim bodies to Jonah’s.
As Gabriel’s body hit the mattress, he let out a long sigh. I stepped back and shut the blinds of the large window at the front of the room overlooking the parking lot. Then, making sure the door was locked and secure, I flicked on the light.
The orange light above turned Gabriel’s complexion a funny color. His eyes were closed, but his breathing was too irregular for him to be unconscious.
My gaze dropped to his side. He still had his black jacket on, and although the color didn’t show any blood, I could see the slash and how the surrounding torn fabric was soaked with it.
Sucking in a deep breath, I dropped to a crouch beside him and gently unbuttoned his jacket. The tight black T-shirt underneath was nearly in two pieces. Running under his belly button to a couple of inches below his nipple was a massive slice.
I had to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth a couple of times. Blood didn’t make me squeamish. I’d watched someone—Simone—be decapitated in front of me. But this wound looked infected.
The blood was dark, pooling in the canyon created in his flesh as he lay there. The smell of rotten eggs had also hit me. As Gabriel exhaled, I was sure I was seeing one of his organs emerging from the wound. “Gabriel, you need a hospital,” I told him. “I’m not capable of healing this.”
“I can’t go to a hospital.” Gabriel’s eyes remained closed and his breathing was becoming labored. “These are supernatural injuries, and I will heal at a supernatural rate.”
“You look like you’re dying at a very quick, mortal rate.”
Gabriel’s eyes fluttered open. “My bag?”
“In the car.”
“Please get it. There’s first aid supplies in there.”
Although I was sure the better option would be to take Gabriel back to the Range Rover and find the nearest hospital, I instead went back out and retrieved his bag from the back seat.
When I got back inside, Gabriel was nearly upright, and had almost taken his jacket off.
“What are you doing?” I slammed the door shut, dropped the bag on the floor, and hurried over.
My hands reached out for him, trying to get him to lie back down, but Gabriel waved me off. “Just hand me the supplies, and I’ll do this.” He looked down at his injury and the blood leaking out. “They used a tainted weapon. That’s why it’s not healing.”
“Tainted? Like, infected?” Had the Fallen resorted to biological warfare?
As Gabriel glanced behind him, I let go of him. Hurrying over to the second bed, I pulled all the pillows off. We hadn’t picked the most luxurious of hotels, but the pillows were reasonably puffy. They weren’t perfect, but stacked up behind Gabriel, they would support him.
Or they would have if I hadn’t turned around and found Gabriel staggering away from the bed. “Gabriel?”
“We don’t need my blood soaking into the bedding.”
Abandoning the pillows, I hurried over, helping him into the bathroom where he slid down against the side of the shower. Blood oozed, dripping onto the tiled floor.
As my stomach churned, I ran back into the bedroom, picked up the bag I’d abandoned at the door, and then returned to Gabriel. Sweat was beading across his temple. Moving wasn’t a good idea.
Just outside the bathroom, I tipped the bag upside down, emptying the contents onto the carpet. Tossing the clean clothes to the side, I picked out the first aid items—bandages, gauze, tape.
“Holy water,” Gabriel gasped.
“Kansas has probably got some nice spring water, but I don’t think—”
“The bottle.” He pointed to the heap of clothing.
A plastic bottle was half hidden under a pair of disheveled cargo pants. I’d only half registered it as I shoved the items to the side, assuming it was just an ordinary bottle of water. Picking it up, I stared at it with narrowed eyes. “This is holy water?”
Gabriel nodded. “I need you to pour it on the wound. It’s not going to heal otherwise.”
Holy water healing angels sounded a little too miraculous to me, but I wasn’t going to question it now. Gabriel could explain how that worked after I made sure he wasn’t going to die.
I shuffled back to him and stared down at his chest. Setting the bottle down, I turned and grabbed the small pair of scissors. “I’m going to need to get you out of that shirt.”
It was barely any warning as I leaned over and started hacking at the sleeves on his T-shirt, up to the collar. I quickly stripped out of the tattered garment before I tossed it into the shower, out of the way.
As I sat back, I realized Gabriel was staring at me.
Although my cheeks started to burn, I ignored him and instead, picked the water back up. It was one of those 2-liter bottles of soda that had been emptied and refilled.
Even though diluted soda was probably the least worrying thing that could have been poured into his body, I couldn’t help but hope someone had washed it out properly.
Unscrewing the cap, I leaned forward and slowly started pouring the water.
Almost instantly, Gabriel recoiled, wincing.
I jerked back, spilling water over my lap. “I’m sorry.”
Eyes closed, his hands balled into fists, Gabriel shook his head. “I wasn’t prepared. Just pour it in.”
A thin layer of sweat appeared over Gabriel’s chest.
There was sweat forming on my forehead too. I could feel it running down the side of my face. As I reached up to wipe it away, I caught sight of my hands. Somehow it had completely escaped me that they were still covered in blood. Some of it would have been Gabriel’s but not all.
“Crap.” I got up quickly, then had to take a moment when a dizzy spell hit me. Fighting through it, I turned the taps on. The water that came out was cold, but it was better than nothing as I quickly washed my hands.
Without bothering to dry them more than waving them back and forth in the air, I dropped back down to Gabriel’s side. His eyes were closed and his breathing, more labored.
I picked the bottle up. “Brace yourself.”
Slowly, I resumed pouring the water. Although Gabriel flinched at the initial drops, he remained still. His chest was rising rapidly as he took shallow breaths.
Although I could feel his eyes boring into the side of my head, I kept my focus on the wound. The blood was bubbling and steaming. Considering the water I was pouring was as cold as the water I’d washed my hands in, steaming blood made no sense, but I didn’t stop.
Eventually, the water running to the floor was turning bright red just as I expected fresh blood to be, and the wound was filling with water, not more blood. The thing I’d thought to be an organ had disappeared, and I swear, the wound had gotten smaller.
When there was less than a quarter of the bottle left, Gabriel’s hand reached out and tipped the bottle upright. “That should do it.”
“How do you
feel?”
“It will heal slowly, but it will heal.”
That didn’t answer my question. Which meant he was probably still in a lot of pain.
Gabriel took the bottle from me and lifted it to his lips. Taking small sips, he drank some of what was left. When he set the bottle down, a soft sigh escaped him.
Holy water was a miracle medicine?
I sat back, staring at Gabriel’s torso. Somehow, that’d been the only injury he received, but his chest and arm was covered in blood. Seeing as though he had moved in here to avoid getting blood on the bedding, I reached for one of the towels, tugging it off the rack as I stood.
“What are you doing?” Gabriel asked as I ran the water, this time, waiting for it to go warm.
When the towel was damp, I wrung out the excess water, then I dropped back down beside him. So as not to pull at his wound, I gently started to wipe his chest. “I’m not putting nice clean bandages on you until you’re clean.”
Gabriel didn’t stop me, but once again, his gaze seemed to burn the side of my face.
I’d never really given much thought about angels before Gabriel, partly because I hadn’t thought they existed. People often gave compliments by saying someone had the face of an angel, but I’d never really considered an angel’s body.
If Gabriel were human, the only way he’d have a body like this was after hours spent in the gym with a lot of protein and hardly any carbs. Even as he sat against the wall at an angle, I could still make out the lines of his muscles.
The body of a fighter—a warrior. That’s what archangels were anyway, right?
And it was also pretty glorious.
Chapter Fifteen
Just as I started to feel my cheeks heat up again, I tossed the towel into the shower and reached for the gauze and bandages.
Gabriel reached for my hands once more as he shook his head. “It needs stitches.”
“I thought you said it would heal?” My voice came out a little higher pitched than was necessary. The sound echoing in the small bathroom made me wince. I’d done better with cleaning his wound than I thought I could, but the idea of pushing a needle through his skin made my skin crawl.
“There’s a small tin.” Gabriel raised his hand and pointed.