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Perhaps Zander was meant to be my distraction so I couldn’t stop the needle, either dipped in poison or a sleeping potion. As soon as the cold needle pierced the skin of my neck, I yanked it out—too late.
One of you will die. One of you will betray your friends. And one of you will know torture beyond imagining. Perhaps the fortune teller was reading our team’s future after all.
The line of demons swayed. I got a blurred glimpse of Zander ramming into Asmodeus before I collapsed on my back with my neck craned to the side. Paralyzed.
Angels don’t feel external temperature, but something cold slithered down my back to my toes and my fingers twitched again and again. I urged my wings to open and fly me to safety, but numbness took over, and the sensation of free-falling came suddenly. Perhaps that was the feeling moments before death.
I couldn’t make out what was happening from the fuzzy, limited view. But I heard two loud splashes that I assumed were Tank and Otis. They wouldn’t die from drowning, but they could bleed to death.
My team. My family. I felt grateful to have known them and blessed we had this time in the human world. We had laughed and built precious memories together. But as a leader, I had failed them. I was so angry with Zander for allowing his pride to stand in the way of saving our friends.
I now understood why angels were not meant to stay on Earth for too long. Emotions and attachments can be a challenge to manage when you are fighting a war. An angel warrior cannot afford to make decisions based on emotions. Zander had become a costly distraction, and we would all pay the price.
I didn’t know if I could look at Zander the same way ever again. I’d thought I knew him, knew his heart. But his pride obviously meant more to him than our friends’ lives.
Perhaps there was a reasonable answer behind his actions. This angel capable of loving me so tenderly couldn’t be that asshole, I reasoned.
Hair brushed against my cheek and a hand yanked my head back. My eyes had shut and I could no longer fight to keep them open. But I knew who it was. Only one demon in the cave had long hair.
“You should have told me where you kept the divine sword when you had the chance,” Levia cooed with mock sympathy. “Now the sword and Zander are mine. I’m going to enjoy him, and the pleasure my body can give him will make him forget about you. Men are all the same, supernatural beings or not. They think with their dicks.”
She let go of me and my head smacked into the dirt. Bitch. You touch Zander, I’ll hunt you after I die. But if I live, I’ll repay all the kindness you’ve shown me.
Someone else shifted me onto my hip. I expected a demon soldier to shove me into the water. I wanted to get up and fight but I couldn’t move. So helpless. I hated this feeling. I might as well be cuffed with hematite crystals.
“Find it,” Levia demanded.
A hand gripped the back of my neck and tugged hard. When my wings protruded, the hand pushed through the layers of my feathers. Probing deeper. No. Not the sword.
The divine sword must be protected at all costs, even at the cost of one’s own life. To break this vow was an execution—I’d be dead either way.
No one knew except for my team where I usually hid the sword.
I pried my eyes open. I had to know the betrayer. A blurred face came into view and I blinked rapidly to stay awake.
“See, I told you it was inside her,” a muffled female voice said.
The voices faded to indistinct murmurs. As they walked away, I got a blurred view of the familiar pattern of vines and thorns on the back of a cloak.
I gasped for breath, air coming in spurts. I had no fight left as I wondered who had betrayed us. Dawn or Snow? Though surely any demon could have purchased one just like it. Right?
Chapter Ten
Abomination
Michael
My wings beat rhythmically as I soared over the rolling plains, the rush of wind and the warmth of the afternoon sun against my face. As a rice field passed below me, I glided lower and landed behind trees where I couldn’t be seen, and then sprinted toward a barn next to a house.
Simone would be inside the barn about this time of the day. I shouldered in through the crack of the door and found her toward the back with a pitchfork in her hands, sifting through bales of hay.
I walked quietly so as not to disturb the horses in their stalls and crept closer to get a better view. Her beautiful locks of golden hair swayed from side to side like the motion of a boat in the sea, as her arms moved with a steady beat. A beam of light from the gap in the wooden roof illuminated her body. She could have been an angel.
As she pivoted to the bale of hay near the post, I admired her profile and something warm settled in my chest. Her dazzling blue eyes, cute bunny nose, and those luscious lips that I’d kissed over and over—she was breathtaking. I could watch her all day long.
“Would you like some help?” I walked toward her, my feet shuffling through hay.
Simone jolted, her delicate hand going to her chest as she panted. “Michael. You shouldn’t sneak up on me. When did you come?”
