His full mouth curved into a smile as hiswings rippled behind him but didn’t unfurl. Black, like Lucifer’shad been in my dream. I knew these wings would be as malformed andlethal as my ancestor’s were when stretched out. This close, Icould see the deadly, silver tips of the wings resting behind hishead. Those tips weren’t as long as Lucifer’s, but they were a goodthree-inches of ‘poke my eye out’ fun. I didn’t dare tear my eyesaway from him, but I knew without looking there would be two moresilver tips at the bottom of those hideous wings.
“That wasn’t a very polite way to greet youruncle,” he murmured, his voice still pretty and his face nearlyrepaired. “I was sent as a welcoming gift for you, child, to assureyou were taken to where you belong. Your father sends hisregards.”
My stomach lurched as I realized Azote wasthe gift Lucifer had promised to send me in my dream. He’d sentthis angel, and possibly others to find me, to bring me back to himbecause they all truly believed Lucifer was myfather.
I was going to throw up, as soon as this wasover.
At least the others hadn’t heard what he’dhad to say. Vargas was still out of it, if he wasn’t dead, and Hawkand Erin were too far away to have heard his words. They may havebeen warming up to me throughout all of this, but I doubted anyonewould want to associate with the descendent of Lucifer.
Spinning, I threw myself to the side when oneof those black wings swung at me in an attempt to knock me on myass. The wind the motion created blew my hair forward as the wingwhistled only centimeters above my head. He wanted me alive, but hedidn’t care if I still walked.
Scrambling forward, I rolled and seized thediscarded door again as Vargas’s head lifted and his eyes blinkedblearily at me. His head swayed on his shoulders, but he managed tolift his gun and hold it before him. I lifted the door, using it asa shield when Azote swiped at me with his wing again.
The wing hitting against the metal knocked meinto Vargas. My back pressed against his chest as we were pinnedagainst the tire by my demented, angel “uncle.” Azote’s wing tipscreeched across the metal door like fingernails on a chalkboard. Icringed and resisted the impulse to cover my ears against thesound.
“Get under the truck,” I commandedVargas.
Vargas’s breath was heavy in my ear. “I canshoot him again.”
“That only pissed him off.”
Azote drew his arm back and drove his fistinto the door so hard that he dented the middle of it. My eyescrossed as I stared at the perfect imprint of his fist now touchingthe tip of my nose. The metal creaked when he yanked his hand fromit. Taking the opportunity, I drew my feet up against the inside ofthe door. With a loud shout, I thrust it away from me and straightup at him, knocking him back a step.
I didn’t stay to see what happened as Iswiftly rolled under the truck behind Vargas and popped up on theother side of it. I leaned my back against the step rail on thepassenger’s side, while I struggled to get my breathing undercontrol and formulate a plan. If I could draw Azote into the open,I may be able to hit him with some fire, but I had no idea whatwould happen in these close confines.
I rested my hand against the ground, feelingthe spark of life beneath me, but like the fire, I didn’t dareunleash it amongst these trucks.
“Come now, child, do you think that’s goingto stop me?” Azote taunted from the other side of the truck.
I was beginning to think nothing could stophim, but we had to keep moving.
The driver side door on the truck across fromus started to open. I leapt forward and pushed it closed againbefore it could open more than an inch. Erin’s head popped upbehind the window.
Stay hidden,I mouthed to her.
I kept my hand against the door, ignoring the‘if looks could kill’ stare she gave me as I strained to hear whatwas going on around me. Right now they were safe and off of Azote’sradar; I hoped to keep them that way. Vargas stayed against myback, facing in the opposite direction while we waited to see whatAzote’s next move would be.
A loud groaning noise filled the air. I hadno idea what was going on until the truck we’d rolled under tiltedtoward us. “Roll! Roll! Roll!” Vargas shouted.
I clawed at the dirt and rocks beneath me asI scrambled forward. Throwing myself down, I rolled beneath thetruck with Vargas at my heels as the other truck hit the groundbehind us with a loud crash. A rush of air blew dirt into my eyeswhen I turned to look back.
I hastily wiped away the grainy bits of duststicking to my lashes. My body froze when I found myself staring atthe roof of the other truck directly across from us. Beside me, atremor ran through Vargas’s body.
“We have to move,” Vargas panted.
“Yes,” I whispered.
Rolling out from under the truck, we leaptout on the other side as Hawk flung his door open and jumped down.Erin followed close on his heels. I didn’t try to stop them. IfAzote turned this truck over, they’d be trapped inside with onlyone way out. We stood, listening to Azote’s crunching footsteps ashe strolled across the lot toward us.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are!” hecalled in a singsong voice that made me decide to set his balls onfire first.
CHAPTER 25
River
“Behind the truck,” Hawk commanded and waveda hand toward the back of the vehicle.
It wouldn’t do us much good, but it would buyus some more time to prepare for Azote’s attack. We made it to theback of the truck as Azote stepped around to where we’d beenstanding. Hawk gripped my hand and pointed at my guns while Vargasreloaded his.
