No second thought.
Just beheaded the angel in a swish of metal that had Sethios’s brows flying upward to meet his hairline. “Well, that’s one—”
A blistering light sailed through the air, interrupting his response. Gabriel caught the light with his sword, the power vibrating in a ripple of thunderous sound. “Go,” Gabriel grated out. “Now.”
He volleyed the energy back into the night, resulting in a wave of static electricity that fizzled along Sethios’s new wings.
Caro appeared in the next breath, her hand finding Sethios’s as she whispered,Let Gabriel handle this, into his mind.
Like hell,Sethios retorted, too intrigued by the bizarre weaponry to move.I want to see him slice off another head.
Caro grumbled something in his mind about being a sadist, which only made him smile.
Because she wasn’t wrong.
He flew downward in the direction of Leek’s fallen body, determined to find his sword. Only all he found was a pile of dead flesh waiting in the snow below. He frowned.Fuck.
The weapons are part of a warrior Seraphim’s power,Caro explained, landing beside him. “They manifest at will.” She glanced around then, her expression wary. “It won’t take him long to regenerate. Maybe thirty minutes. We need to come up with a plan.”
“Thirty minutes? From a decapitation?” Sethios was begrudgingly impressed.
“Seraphim are resilient. Warriors even more so.” Her gaze flew upward as another light shot through the sky. “They’re fighting with runes from their swords. That’s why you can’t compel them. It’s a defensive marking similar to the one I etched into our daughter’s skin as a child.”
Her brow pinched, suggesting she was contemplating what she’d just said.
He waited, aware that his angel wasn’t finished.
“Well, except Stas’s was a ruse meant to conceal her bloodline, too. So not exactly the same. Regardless, had the rune been designed to deflect Seraphim powers, it would have needed to be rewritten regularly to maintain the block because Seraphim are constantly evolving and working around wards.”
Sethios vaguely remembered Caro discussing this—the way Seraphim fought—with him before, but he hadn’t been given the opportunity to witness it until now.
“Can a rune stop a bullet?” he wondered out loud. Vera had referred to guns as mortal toys, but perhaps her narrow-minded view stemmed from being a Seraphim and fighting with supernatural magic. After all, there was something to be said about mortals and their penchants for war and lethal weapons.
Caro shook her head. “Sort of. Warrior Seraphim use runes to create shields. And those shields would repel the bullets.” She spoke matter-of-factly, her Seraphim nature shining through.
“Why have you never taught me about these runes?” Sure, they’d been busy raising a daughter and hiding from Osiris. But this information could have proved beneficial against a Seraphim attack.
“Seraphim are practical and divide information by power lineage. As a daughter of the messenger line, I grew up learning about concealment markings, not defensive or offensive runes.”
“You mean your council divided the information equally among the masses, ensuring not one area knew too much,” Sethios translated. “Sounds about right.”
It was strategic. A way to maintain order through inconspicuous means.
And since the Seraphim were programmed to rely on logic, they didn’t question the protocol. It would be seen as practical to only learn runes that paired well with their lineage.
Why would a messenger angel need to learn defensive markings?
To fight the system, Sethios thought.
But an average Seraphim would never consider that option. It would serve no reasonable purpose because they saw their existing government as flawless and founded on their prized principle of practicality.
“The Seraphim are victims of their government’s brainwashing, carrying out orders like glorified puppets,” Sethios murmured, his gaze falling to the beheaded Seraphim on the ground. “That almost makes him innocent.”
Except for the fact that he should be questioning everything.
A lack of intelligence had earned him that punishment. He’d come here hoping to kidnap or kill an infant and her mother.
That wasn’t fucking honorable at all.
