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I want to ask him more, but he picks up his pace and launches the two of us in the air. I clench my jaw to stop from screaming at the sudden ascension, far faster than Dante or Andre has ever flown with me. My eyes blur with the icy air, Elias’s new body cooler and not doing much to keep me warm as we propel higher and higher until the mist of the clouds above shields us.
Elias flies me in silence, keeping his guard up, ensuring that we don’t come across any angels. “Darlin’? Where should I take you? I don’t want the devils getting pissed off that we’ve disappeared.”
I keep my eyes shut to stop them from watering. “I don’t know. We were at the hotel because the angels were tracking us. I just need to be able to summon Micah. He can get the devils to us.”
“I wish I were still capable of opening a summoning circle. But my heavenly light doesn’t allow me.” Elias’s voice softens with his words. “Do you remember how to do it? I know it can take a lot out of you.”
“Yeah, if you could just get us somewhere safe long enough to do it. What about your old house?” I ask. I know what the answer is already, but I’m not even sure where to go. “Or maybe the Demon’s Den? I can always ask Gia.”
“The guardians will surely be surrounding all of the demonic hotspots. We just need to figure out somewhere they won’t look.” Elias flaps his wings, keeping us level in the air.
“What about somewhere sacred? Somewhere heavenly?” I manage to rest my head to peer around the misty world. “Somewhere that the devils wouldn’t go.”
“Neither of those would work. Demons always look around places that they think they can corrupt souls. But I have an idea.” Elias suddenly closes his wings, nosediving from the clouds.
He flies so quickly that I can’t even make a noise, my whole body tensing with fear. I’m not afraid of falling. I’m afraid of getting caught and maybe a little afraid of getting sick. I know that he just wants to get to the ground as quickly as possible, but I could’ve used a little warning.
The world slows as Elias touches his boots to the ground with a thump and runs a couple of feet until we can take cover under another tree. I gasp, my heartbeat rapping furiously against my ribcage. I swallow and try to settle my wild nerves. And then my stomach twists, and I dry heave, my empty stomach not allowing anything to expel from it.
“Shit. I’m sorry, Raven. I just wanted to get out of sight as quickly as possible. Take a slow breath,” Elias says, stroking his fingers across my lower back without putting me down even though I could throw up on him.
I hug him tighter, just getting used to his new body. I can feel a rush of something familiar crash over me. Without looking, I can feel his gaze boring at the side of my face. So, I tilt my head to look at him, and I drink in his features. Long dark lashes that match his hair, a couple of shades darker than his other body, rim his round eyes. I reach up and caress my fingers along his jawline, memorizing the curve that leads to a less prominent chin than what he had before. His face shadows with stubble, and he lets me touch his slender nose and thin lips. In places he had muscles before, Elias’s new body is a bit softer and sinewy. And he’s handsome. I don’t know if it’s because his very being calls to me, but I feel as if I know him already. I love him. I don’t care what form he’s in. That won’t ever change. He is Elias, regardless.
“I wish I didn’t have to take on this new form. I know it’s different. The only way I could have a body that you were familiar with is if I listen to the calls that try to get me to go to Heaven. I just can’t do it. I could never leave you.” Elias takes a couple of steps from the tree with his words, keeping his gaze on mine and managing to navigate the lawn of what looks like the courtyard of an...elementary school? Fuck. It is. Children play on the playground as a supervisor blows the whistle. I don’t think anyone can see us, but it is weird as fuck to be here.
“Your appearance doesn’t matter to me,” I say, sitting up straighter now that my stomach doesn’t threaten to make me sick. “I can feel your soul as if it’s my own. I’m just so incredibly relieved that you are here. I missed you so fucking much. It has been torture thinking that I lost you.”
“I know, darlin’. The whole situation is fucked up. I don’t even really know what’s going on with myself. I don’t remember the moments between dying and waking up in this body except that the man who owned it gave me permission to take it. He hung out for a little bit, but then he moved on and left me with it.” Elias strolls closer to the buildings nestled together with outdoor corridors. “But honestly, I don’t care. Right now, all I care about is you. And what happens next. Fuck. I still can’t believe you’re pregnant.”
I can’t help the smile crossing my lips at his words. The softness of his voice wraps around me, and I can feel his love. I can feel his heavenly light. It makes me feel as if the shitshow will actually turn out fine in the end.
“You can’t believe it? I can’t believe it. But here I am. I saw it myself, and I have something more that I need to tell you. I’m having more than just a baby born with your light. I’m having twins, and one seems to be a little…devilish.” I brace myself for his reaction, because I was a little bit freaked out hearing the news and seeing the shadowy form next to the pure light on the ultrasound machine.
Elias’s brows pinch together, and he gapes at me in confusion. “What? How? I mean, I know fucking how. But damn.”
I laugh in exasperation, my voice echoing through the air. “You read my mind. All I know is that it is what it is, and Heaven is going to try to keep me from them. They’re trying to stake a claim—”
“Over my dead body. My angelic soul. Over my fucking power and psycho ass as an angel will I allow that to happen. The devils will help. We just have to summon them.” Elias finally sets me on my feet. I nearly ask him to pick me up again because I don’t want to be even a foot away from him, but I know he wants to have a better view of the world around us in case he has to do something to protect me.
“You’re shitting me. You want to summon a Hell portal at an elementary school?” I shake my head, whipping my black hair around. “Why here? Couldn’t you find a church or something?”
“The angelic army would look at all of the churches and cemeteries around. They look at the demon-run bars and basically everywhere else except an elementary school. Demons and devils do not mess with the innocent. They’d rather corrupt a damn nun or something. The angelic army will never look here.” Elias expands his translucent wings, the brilliant light making me squint my eyes. “Now, if we can just find what we need.”
I don’t even know where to start. The supply room? The teacher’s lounge? Maybe even the parking lot. All I know is that we need some salt, fire, and a candle.
I wish it wasn’t so hard. I wish I could just call upon my devils and have them come bursting through the ground.
The ground shakes at my thought, startling me. A couple of the kids’ screams rip through the air, and a supervisor blows a whistle. I spread my arms wide, trying to keep my balance through the earthquake. He swears under his breath and reaches for me. The ground cracks open, and the scent of Hell wafts through the air.
Fire bursts from my hands, and Elias jumps back, holding up his palms with heavenly light. But it does nothing as fire engulfs the world around me, and the portal to Hell opens up with me in the middle.
I fall into the fiery pits.
Elias shouts my name.
Screeching, I flail my body, expecting to crash into a burning lake of lava. And if I don’t, I’ll probably end up in some disgusting demon’s belly.
The drop from the mortal plane only lasts a couple of seconds, and my world comes to a halt as muscular arms wrap around me, catching me before I hit the liquid fire of Hell.
