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Among those sounds were howls. The feel of Sabrine’s aura told Max that not all of those howls were the victorious kind.
Max showed them the Moonstone. “We need to get this to Darien and the others. They’re at the entrance into Spirit Terra, and this—” He held it up. “—is our only way of turning that entrance back into a wall.”
Dallas’s wings flared out, feathers whooshing. “Dominic and I are flying it.” Her silver-green eyes met the Angel’s icy ones. “Ready?”
Emilie stepped forward. “I’ll go with you.” She looked skyward, where more of those batlike creatures had gathered several blocks over, swooping down into streets and alleys with a hunger that would be insatiable until the moon set. “I think you could use the extra help.”
“We’ll follow from below,” Max said, gesturing between himself, Sabrine, Blue, and Cyra. “It’ll take us longer to get there, but we’ll be as quick as we can.” They would have buildings and corners obstructing their path, not to mention the countless demons currently swarming the city streets, but Max wouldn’t let that stop him.
Dallas walked up to him, wings drooping, the tips of the feathers that made up the longest parts of them sweeping across the sidewalk. “I’m going to need that Moonstone, big guy.”
This was goodbye, then. Max could only hope it wouldn’t be the last time he would get to look upon her face.
He took Dallas’s hand into his and flipped it palm-up. Placing the stone in her hand, he closed her fingers over it, keeping his eyes locked with hers all the while. “This isn’t goodbye,” he said. “I’ll be right behind you, I swear it.”
“You’d better be.” Dallas drew a deep breath that rattled. “I’m not about to lose the only man I’ve ever loved.” It wasn’t a straight-forward I love you, but it was progress for Dallas, and Max accepted it gladly.
“I feel the same way about you, Dal. Except, you know, you’re a woman.”
The corner of her mouth quirked. “Very smooth.”
“I’ve never been very good at talking.”
“Then kiss me instead.”
Max did. It was a long kiss, a deep one. Max never wanted to let her go. Her fingers threaded through his hair, pulling him as close to her as possible.
By the time Max broke the kiss, they were both out of breath. “Go,” he told Dallas. “Make your real family proud.” The family that would always love her, even if she failed.
Dallas’s reluctance to let go of him was tangible, but she did, walking over to join Dominic and Emilie.
The plan was in place. Angelthene Boulevard wasn’t far, but getting there would be a task—
There was an explosion way off in the distance, near the freeway that looped around the North End. It was a sound akin to an earthquake, the force of it snapping powerlines and crumbling buildings.
Suddenly, Max couldn’t hear. All sound in the area was cut off by a sharp ringing that wormed deep into his skull. He stumbled, the chill of the night shifting into a boiling heat that melted the flesh off his bones.
Blue’s eyes went to Max’s right hand that was sweating at his side. She mouthed his name and pointed with a blue-tinted nail.
Or maybe she’d shouted his name, but he still couldn’t hear. That high-pitched ringing grew to a volume that made his nose bleed. Red dripped to the sidewalk. His brain rattled and swelled, pressing like an expanded balloon against his skull.
He followed Blue’s line of sight. Looked down at his hand—
That hand was on fire. On literal fire. Flames licked up his wrist, a blue core burning among the red and orange.
“What the fuck!” He shouted out a mess of words even he couldn’t understand. Words that sounded like a made-up language. “Get it off!” He waved his hand, frantic, desperately trying to put out the flames.
Fire. He was on fire.
The others hurried forward to help, mouths forming words he couldn’t hear, but he staggered away, swinging and thrashing his arm, panic squishing his heart into pulp.
The flames spread at a rapid speed, and soon his whole sleeve was on fire. The others were still trying to help him, but he couldn’t stop panicking.
“Maximus, hold still—"
“It’s okay, we’re going to get it out—"
“You gotta stop moving, bud—"
