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Chapter 2
I hadn’t had a check-in from Diana in over twenty-four hours and could barely feel her through our soulbond. The radio silence between us was driving me insane. What if something happened to her? She could be locked away as a prisoner in their house. Or hurt. Or completely fine… although I had a dreadful gut-feeling she wasn’t. Des and his crew could be brutal, especially Mal. After he tried to choke her to death, it took everything in me not to fly over there and beat the shit out of him and the rest of those morons. Possessed or not, Mal should have never been left alone with her. Hellbounds endured punishment for a reason, and they trusted him too much.
If we didn’t connect with each other by tomorrow night, I was going to go to their house and find her myself. They knew about me, so the cat was out of the bag now. Even if she didn’t want to see me, I needed to know she was okay. Diana was right. What kind of pseudo-guardian was I for leaving her in a place where she didn’t feel safe? I wanted to protect her, whisk her away somewhere and hope for the best, but my visions were never wrong. She needed to stay with them to learn everything she could from them.When she faces off with Red a year from now, it will all be worth it.That’s what I had seen coming, and I needed to hold true to it.
I sat on my bearskin rug, crossing my legs and breathing deeply to center myself. With my hands resting on my thighs, I focused on Diana. My magic caressed our soulbond, plucking the ethereal force connecting us to see if anything happened. I could barely feel her, less so than when I checked a few hours ago.Something is definitely wrong.I should always be able to feel her through the bond without issue.
I sat down on the couch and tried to read a book. After reading the same page three times and not retaining anything, I put it down and sighed. A cup of tea and half a can of pizza flavored Pringles later, I was still stressed. Nothing on Netflix caught my attention, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t feel her. The thought of never feeling her or seeing her again came to the forefront of my mind, no matter how hard I pushed it away. After that kiss we shared in the river, I wanted more. I wanted to get to know her better, find out everything about her mind, body, and soul. Despite watching over her for years, there were still things about her I’d yet to find out.
It wasn’t until I heard a thud through the open window and smelled the overwhelming odor of roses that my heart took a breather from the marathon it ran in my chest. There’s no way she could possibly be here.I would have seen her coming.
I followed my nose and went outside. All the air fled my lungs as I looked down and saw Diana passed out on my doorstep and soaked in blood.
“Diana?!” I dropped to my knees beside her and felt for a pulse, only finding a slight flutter where it should’ve been. “Diana, can you hear me?”
She was unresponsive. Her chest was barely rising and falling, and I panicked.What the fuck do I do?Was she already dead? No, she couldn’t be because then our bond would be completely gone. I ripped her shirt open, putting my hands against the wound and tried to heal her. My magic healed some of it, but the wound was too far gone. The damage was done. I swallowed, dreading what I thought about doing, but it seemed like the only option. Truth be told, I had no clue if I was capable of doing it alone. This was a spell that needed a large amount of magic and took multiple people to cast. If I messed this up, I could kill myself, but it was the only way to stop her from dying before I could figure something else out.
I held both her hands, and willed as much of my magic as I could into an equilibrium spell. She wouldn’t die–she’d just exist in some kind of limbo until I could come up with another way to save her.
After carrying Diana into the house, I washed all of the blood from her, dressing her limp body in the same pair of sweats and tee she wore the last time she was in my cabin. I tucked us into my bed, spooning her as my mind free-fell.
How did she survive getting stabbed in the heart?
Who did it?
How the fuck did Desmond and his crew let this happen?
They were supposed to take care of her while she stayed with them. The more I thought about it, the harder the anger swelling inside me pressed against my chest. The only thing I took comfort in was the fact that Diana thought of me in her last moments. It was the only way she’d end up on my front porch. I held her tighter against my chest, and tried to calm down. I wasn’t any use to her if I couldn’t remain level-headed.
Wait–when was she attacked? She had to time travel either forward or backward in time to arrive here. Maybe she had already faced off with Red? Or maybe someone else stabbed her? The guys made some enemies over the years, and with Diana’s power signature and attitude, she was bound to run into trouble.
“Don’t worry, honey,” I murmured into her neck before softly kissing her over her pulse point. “I’m going to figure this out. You’re not going to die, and whoever stabbed you is going to pay.”
I laid awake for hours, running dozens of scenarios through my head about who could have killed Diana, and how I could keep her alive. None of them made sense. My mind was weary from a lack of sleep and food, but I couldn’t shut it off. When I finally did rest, it was a fitful sleep plagued with nightmares of her death.I refuse to lose her.The world’s fate rested on her shoulders...and I cared about her. Even though I was supposed to remain impartial as her guardian, I couldn’t help but carry a flame for this beautiful, sassy woman.
There was only one person I could call for help, and he’d be mad enough to rip my wings off over this. Michael trusted me to watch over Diana, and I failed him. I sat up in bed, centering myself so I could contact him. Clearing my mind took way longer than it usually did as I waded through the stress and trauma of finding her almost-dead on my doorstep. When I was finally in a calm state, I created an orb with my hand and brought it to my lips to blow my message into it.
Michael, please come to my house as soon as possible. Emergency concerning my ward.
The message was vague enough that if it fell into the wrong hands, no one would know exactly what it was about. I thought about a fond memory of Michael from when I was training for my wings, to ensure the message made it to him, and it floated away through the open window next to me. Eventually Michael would come down, and hopefully he would know how to save Diana.
Three days and two messages later, Michael finally made it to my house. Apparently, there were some urgent issues upstairs that needed his immediate attention. I regretted not being more specific in my messages.
“What happened?” he asked as he looked around the cabin. It was a smaller space than he was used to. “Is she alright?”
“No. She showed up on my porch a few days ago bleeding to death from a stab wound, but I put her in equilibrium so we could figure out a way to save her,” I responded as gently as I could.
“Where is she?!” Michael’s face crumpled with pure fear. I gestured toward the bedroom, and he stomped through my living room, throwing the door open so hard that it bounced off the wall, leaving a dent behind.
I didn’t think he could get paler, but the sight of Diana prone in bed made him rival a white crayon. He sat on the edge of the bed and extended his hands until they were a few inches away from her body. He moved them slowly from head to toe a few times until he seemed satisfied with whatever information he gleaned. He then pulled her shirt down enough that he could see the stab mark. With his hand in the same position over the wound, his white magic pulsed through her. Nothing changed.
“I think there’s a way to save her, but I need to get Desmond’s crew on board. Can you contact them and arrange a meeting between the seven of us?” he requested, like he was giving me his sandwich order. Did he want toasted bread, condiments, and extra insanity on the side?
“Do we need them? They obviously have something to do with why she ended up in this condition. I don’t trust them.”
“Azazel, you need to let go of the animosity you carry for them. Their fates are as closely entwined with Diana’s as yours is. You told me before on a few occasions that they’re in your visions of her. The five of you need to work with her as a team, because you each offer her different strengths. Unless you want the world to end?”Fuck Michael and his wiseness.I shifted in place, tapping my fingers on my thigh. “I know your emotions are running high, but right now, I need you to do what needs to be done. Can you do that?” He clutched my shoulder and smiled at me, the way a father would look at their errant son.
I should be immune to that look after everything that happened. Sadly, I wasn’t, and he was right. As her guardian, I had to do everything I could in order for her to succeed. Even if that meant being around Desmond and Bash again. And Ares.He’s so annoying.
