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“An-gel.” He spun back toward me and gave me a hard shove. “How dare you move against me? After everything I’ve done for you.”
I scooted back, dragging my body over the dirt.
“You. Are. Mine.” He picked up the sledgehammer along the way. “And your life is mine to take.”
Shit.
He lifted the sledgehammer and prepared to slam it down on me.
Somehow, miraculously, I rolled out of the way.
The earth shook when the sledgehammer landed, like an earthquake had struck.
Another jolt of adrenaline hit me because I needed to take this opening. I needed to get to my feet and hit him from behind. A rock that could barely fit in my hand was on the ground, and I grabbed it in my fingertips before I rose up and slammed it into the back of his head.
He went down, face forward, and his palms caught him in the dirt.
I jumped on his back and slammed the rock down again, drawing a gush of blood from the back of his skull.
“Ahhh!” He threw me off, and with speed I couldn’t replicate, he was on top of me, the bloody rock in his hand above my face. The obsession was gone from his eyes, and now there was just hate. Raw and unadulterated hatred.
I didn’t know what else to do but shield my face with my hands.
Another gunshot rang out.
Forneus collapsed, the rock falling to the dirt.
My arms dropped, and I saw him beside me, his eyes still open in death. “Oh shit…” My attention immediately went to Benton, who was still on the ground, blood all over the side of his face and neck. In his hand was a smoking gun.
“Benton!” I crawled over, the world starting to shake again, the scenery blurring into shadows and monsters. My hand reached for his arm, and I swayed as I gripped him. “Are you okay…?”
“Baby, I’m fine.” He pushed himself up with a grunt then pulled me close. His lips pressed against my forehead, and he held them there as we both breathed. “I need you to stay with me, alright?”
I nodded against him. “I took a lot…”
“I know.” He got to his feet then pulled me to mine. He moved slower than usual, like he really was hurt. “Come on.” He took my hand in his and guided the way forward. He pulled a radio out of his pocket and made the call. “Send the choppers.”
Twenty-Five
Benton
“Jesus fucking Christ.” Bartholomew ran to me the second he saw me caked in blood. “What happened?”
“Sledgehammer.”
He threw my arm over his shoulder to support me.
“No.” I pulled away. “Constance…” I held her by the hand, lifting her up every time she started to collapse as the acid pulled her under. “We’ve got to get her out of here. She’ll die if we don’t.”
Bartholomew abandoned me and went to her instead. He lifted her in his arms and carried her for me. “Come on, let’s move.”
The chopper landed in the field, and we ran across the grass to get there. The Malevolent had run into the surrounding trees, and the demons had been killed by the angels with their guns. Most of the cabins were on fire, but I didn’t know who’d set them. Once the fight had broken out, I’d headed straight for the black church, ready to get rid of that fucker once and for all.
Now he was gone.
It was over.
Now we just had to survive.
Bartholomew got her into the chopper first and then came back for me. He gave me his hand and pulled me up to get me into my seat. He shut the door, and then we were off the ground. He started barking orders to the medic. “Pump her stomach. Now.”
My mind started to go black. I did my best to resist, but the corners of my vision were fading.
“Benton, don’t you fucking dare.” Bartholomew struck me so hard I hit the wall. “Is Claire going to grow up without her father?”
I could barely get the word out. “No.”
“Then get your shit together, or I’ll punch you in the face.”
The medic got to work on Constance on the floor of the chopper, putting her under before he stuck a tube down her throat to pump her stomach. It might be too late, but any bit that could be removed before it entered her bloodstream would make all the difference in the world.
Every ten minutes, I started to fade.
But Bartholomew was there to slap me hard.
“Thank you.”
“I know you’d do it for me.”
“With pleasure.”
He grinned.
I grinned back.
When we made it to the hospital, we were pulled in separate ways.
I couldn’t stay with her, and she couldn’t stay with me.
I didn’t know if I’d ever see her again—because one of us might die.
Didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye.
I couldn’t remember exactly what happened. I was seen by the doctors, they said something about surgery, and then I was under. The next time I woke up, I wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but it must have been a while because Constance was at my bedside.
