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Elias spread his wings, creating a wall around us on one side, and I join him, helping to close Raven off between us. We stand with our backs toward her, keeping our view of the world. She hovers flush against me, practically trying to climb up my body to look over my shoulder.
“We can’t stay. Keep moving. Just keep Raven safe.” Zade circles fast, acting as our first defense if any of the angels reach us.
“They’re going to head to the crack to try to seal it. The others should keep them distracted long enough to allow us to put some distance between us and them.” I nudge Raven, getting her to shuffle along as I stroll back to back with Elias, his wings brushing mine and mine brushing his, but neither of us complains about the pain of our bodies being so close.
“Something’s wrong.” Raven gasps with her words, the fear in her voice stopping me in my tracks.
I stretch my neck and look at her from over my shoulder. “That’s just you feeling the angelic army coming. It’s probably messing with all of the tethers to Hell.”
She audibly swallows, her voice whimpering with her gasping breath. “You’re probably right. Let’s hurry.”
“Slow breaths, Raven. You’re panicking.” Zade cuts between mine and Elias’s wings, meeting Raven face-to-face. I tense, not liking that I feel horrible without him circling us, but I understand what he’s trying to do. He can tap into Raven’s emotions and help balance her out. And right now, she’s probably experiencing a rush as we grow nearer to her soul.
“I’m trying. I just feel sick. The babies are flipping around and beating the crap out of my insides. I think they can sense danger coming.” Raven’s voice shakes, and I try to suppress my anger that she has to go through this. This shouldn’t be a time of fear and worry. It should be a time of joy and love and everything good in the world. She shouldn’t be facing a war like this. But it was her decision, and despite my feelings about it, I will stand by her regardless.
“Zade, carry her. We have to move.” Elias glows brighter, trying to use his angelic light to shield us the best he can. With the light, it’s harder to pinpoint our darkness.
Zade lifts Raven into his arms, and she buries her face in the crook of his throat, breathing against his neck. My whole body aches at the sight, and all I want to do is join him in a cuddle fest, ensuring Raven is okay.
“Just hold on. We’re almost there.” Zade whispers his words, keeping his voice low. I don’t think we’re as close as he says, but whatever helps Raven.
“Fuck. Up ahead. Get ready.” Elias folds his wings as he wields his sword, getting ready to fight against the three angels materializing in front of us. It’s as if they knew we were here, because they should’ve gone to the others first. We should’ve had more time.
Raven gasps, her voice echoing through the air. She thrashes in Zade’s arms, igniting fire and light in her palms. The world quakes around us, and Zade swears under his breath. My mouth falls open at the sight of Raven lighting up the world around us. The ground rumbles under our feet, and I watch as the three angels fly across the plane in our direction. But they’re not doing so by their own freewill. It’s as if Raven snakes out tethers and latches onto them, yanking them to us.
No, not Raven. The tendrils of light whip from her stomach as the twins react to everything happening. It makes me question how much they’re aware of. They know whenever Raven feels as if she’s in danger, but this time it seems different. It seems as if they use offensive power and not defensive power.
“Release us!” A masculine voice booms through the air as heavenly light shoots in our direction.
I expand my wings, preparing to launch forward. Elias joins my side, and we create a wall between Raven and Zade and the angels coming our way.
I’ll destroy them before they even get within reach of Raven.
“Fuck,” Raven whispers, her voice softening. “You have to move. I have to do this myself.”
I dig my nails into my palms, wishing with everything in me that I could ignore her demands. I don’t want the angels getting close to her. I don’t want to risk her safety and have them try to kill her mortal body right here and now.
“You have to trust her,” Zade says, tugging my shoulder to get me to move. “Look. She’s going to take their energy. Look at the power.”
I gather my nerve and peek at Raven, seeing the light and dark swirling around her just as I’ve seen a dozen times when she opens the plane to her private world created by the twins. It’s the same world she anchors the energy of souls to. But this is different. These are angels and not those forsaken and damned by Hell.
“We have to trust her. She has never failed us. Not like we have her.” Elias folds his wings and rubs his lips together. He speaks more about himself in this moment, but he’s right. I failed Raven the moment I ignored her pleas for help. I ignored her when she asked for redemption instead of being in a contract with Lucian. But all of my mistakes and feelings led to this moment. It has been my path to follow, and I still believe we are being guided. Just not the same way as before. I don’t have the same intuition. All I know is that wherever Raven goes, I will be beside her. I will never abandon her.
“Stop! You are going to destroy everything!” A man skids across the plane and tumbles until I jab my sword into his wing, stopping him from crashing into Raven.
He hollers in agony, thrashing and shooting heavenly light in every which direction, searing it over my skin, but I don’t react. The only pain I feel is the pain risen inside me by the thought of losing Raven.
Raven pushes past Elias, and Zade manages to pin the other two angels by their wings. He crunches the bones beneath his feet, using his devil form to restrain them.
Raven heaves a couple breaths, the Hell power and heavenly light coursing over her and sending static through the air. Her black hair blows around her face, blocking her beautiful features. I stand ready to lift her off her feet to make a run in the direction I think her soul remains captured.
“I never wanted to do this,” Raven says, peering down at the angels. “You have failed humanity. You have failed your duty to Heaven. I’m here to set things right. You will serve a better purpose.”
With her words, Raven thrusts the huge ball of energy at the three angels, setting them aglow. The world quakes around us, and the beautiful meadow she manifested blinks in and out of existence, turning the world fiery and then to shadows and back to white. She arches her back as she absorbs the angels’ very essences into her being, sending her body floating a foot into the air unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
I grab her hand, afraid that she might float away, and it snaps her out of the powerful hold created by the twins and grounds her back to the plane by my side.
“That was incre—” Blinding light steals my vision, and I growl and cover my eyes, trying to ignore the wave of pain cascading over me.
