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He nodded and sighed. “The order didn’t come from a commander but from the scout. I feel ashamed. I should have known. I can’t recall her name, but she had red hair and amber eyes.”
His description pointed at Levia or Dawn, but Levia wasn’t an angel so that left … I swallowed. No. Other angels had red hair and amber eyes. Until proven guilty, Dawn was not a traitor.
“I don’t know how much I can help.” He gave me his back and released his wings, then faced me again. “They make us fight in a tournament, and I’m useless.”
I gasped and covered my mouth. One of his wings was chopped off.
I placed my hand on his fingers gripped tightly on the bars. “We’ve all done things we could have done better or had better judgment. Do not blame yourself for your team’s lives. And you’re not useless.”
He dipped his head.
“I have to go, but I promise with my life I will come back for you.” Please stay alive. “I’m looking for another Seraphim named Zander. Have you heard of him and if so, have you seen him here?”
“I don’t know that name.” He placed his palm on his face and shook his head.
“It’s okay.” I glanced back at the cart. I probably had five minutes left. I didn’t want to leave him, but I had no choice. “Uri …” I waited for him to meet my gaze. “Stay alive. I’ll be back.”
He gripped my arm when I took a step to leave. “Who gave you that ruby pendant?”
“Asmodeus. I mean … the servant put it on me. I’m assuming it’s from him.”
“Be careful. Beautiful things have the power to distract you and lead you to a desire for material possessions. Many lesser angels have denounced the OA and have joined Asmodeus’s legion for that reason.”
“Thanks for the warning,” I said and rushed down the cavern. “Zander, please be here,” I mumbled to myself as I took a quick glance at each cell in passing.
I didn’t recognize any of the prisoners, but I didn’t look at their faces for fear the guilt would make me want to comfort them. I risked Elizabeth’s and Clara’s lives to have a chance to speak to Zander, to let him know I was here. That I had come for him as he did for me.
Toward the last cell, one female angel lay on a bed of her own feathers. What happened to her? I couldn’t stand to be here. Despair weighed me down as I took in their pain and sorrow.
No Zander. He must be locked up somewhere else. Probably heavily guarded. After all, Asmodeus came for Zander himself at our hideout.
What was so special about him? It could only be his wings. He was the only one who could shoot out his feathers besides the hybrid Michael.
I was about to head back but I halted in front of a door with a small dirty window. I couldn’t see through it, so I smeared the dirt away in the center. Good enough, but I wished I could unsee what happened next.
Two midwives held down a woman giving birth on a table, her ankles and arms clamped in shackles attached to the table legs. The woman screamed, panting and her mouth open wide as sweat beaded her forehead.
A midwife with dark hair held a small blanket between the woman’s spread legs and pulled on the baby’s head with a metal clamp. When the baby slid out, she wrapped the infant with the blanket.
Blood streamed off the table from the woman giving birth. Her chest rising and falling was the only sign she was still alive. When the dark-haired woman turned to show the other midwife, the infant’s eyes glowed red. I shuddered a breath.
Saving Grace. The midwife dabbed the baby’s human face with the blanket, then the leathery skin, and stroked the fine, delicate feathers on his back.
The blond woman brought the baby closer to the mother. The woman kicked and screamed, but the chains held her in place.
The other midwife slapped her. “You’re an unfit mother. That’s your child.”
The mother spat at her, anger searing in her eyes. “You did that to my child. He’s a monster. You’re all going back where you came from.”
The dark-haired woman kissed the infant and cooed, as a wicked smile tugged her lips. “You hungry? I shall name you Adam. The first of your kind. Demon, angel, human, and vampire.”
She placed the infant on the mother’s stomach. The mother screamed when the infant showed all its tiny teeth. He latched on to her breast and drank her blood. The mother thrashed her body, but the infant held on and kept drinking.
I pressed my hands over my mouth to suppress a scream. May the angels be with the mother. I had seen enough. And I had run out of time. My muscles slackened as I made my way to the cart. Even without the hematite cuffs, I had no strength to run faster after all I had seen.
Elizabeth stopped pacing. I’d thought she was going to give me an earful, but she released a long breath.
“My lady, hurry.” Clara lifted the fabric.
