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Shade’s gaze locked with hers. Blood bubbled on his lips, but he seemed to be beseeching her. He tried to speak, choked, and coughed up blood.
“Is Uriel here?” Chris crouched down to her eye level. “Edme, do you know where Uriel is?”
“No.” She shook her head. Shade had gone gray and was looking worse by the second. He gave her an approving nod. “What have you done to him?”
“Heaven wrought weapons are poisonous to hell princes.” Chris stared at Shade. “You must understand, Edme. They have so much more power than us. They’re not like us. They don’t think like us, and they do not value us as equals. We have a few tricks to equalize things between us.”
“What things?” Eddie wanted to yank the dagger from Shade’s gut. “You’re killing him.”
Chris laughed and stood. “Oh, Edme, you know nothing. Only another hell prince or an archangel can kill a hell prince.” He toed Shade with his tasseled loafer. “Us wielding heaven wrought weapons merely hurts them enough to make them easier to handle.” He chuckled. “We have a theory on how our weapons would impact Nephilim, but they’re so rare and not enough information has been gathered.”
Eddie froze.
Shade’s gaze met hers. Pain registered in the gray depths of his eyes, but also that plea again. He was asking her to keep silent about what she was.
Chris turned to Oliver. “Toss him back.”
“No!” Eddie threw her torso over Shade. “You can’t do that. We don’t know what will happen to him if you do.”
“Not really my problem, Edme.” Chris shook his head. “I see you have fallen under his spell, which is unfortunate.” He gave her a disparaging look. “You do realize that he is the embodiment of lust. Like most women, you are incapable of thinking past your unruly hormones.”
Eddie was torn between her desire to rip his fucking throat out and protecting Shade. Now she was definitely not telling them where Uriel was.
Chris moved behind her. “Apologies, Edme, but I have no choice.”
An shock sizzled through her neck followed by a hard click.
Shade’s eyes widened on the collar around her neck.
“What are you doing?” Eddie grabbed at the collar. It made her hands tingle and she dropped it.
Chris gathered her hands and yanked them behind her back.
Only then did it occur to her to fight, but it was too late. Cuffs clicked shut on her wrists.
“Those are also heaven wrought,” Chris said. “You won’t escape them.”
Through a haze of panic, Eddie watched him grab Shade’s leg and drag him through the door to the hell gate.
The hell gate flared, and Chris shoved him through.
“That’s it.” He stood and dusted his palms. “Now we wait for Deandra to explain.” He glanced at Oliver. “Find that fucking archangel. She can’t be far.”
Chapter
Eighteen
Oliver and Chris left the basement, shutting the door behind them, and taking any available light other than the slight glow of the hell gate.
Eddie couldn’t drag her eyes away from the hell gate. Shade was an asshole, and she shouldn’t care that he was now in hell, gravely injured and vulnerable to Wrath. And yet, she did care. She tried moving, and shocks lanced through her neck and arms from the cuffs and the collar. She experimented and managed to butt shuffle to the nearest wall.
Soft padding sounded from above to her right. Four glowing red eyes materialized out of the dark above the propane tanks, and then came the two hounds they belonged to. Graceful, despite their size, they dropped to the floor beside her. Eddie wanted to cry with relief at the sight of them.
The hound who reached her first sniffed at her collar and recoiled. With a doggy groan, he lay down beside her, his huge body pressed against her leg. The second hound dropped into place on her other side and put his big head on her lap. “We’re in trouble here, guys.”
Hound one twitched an ear. “I’m glad you guys are here.” She pressed her head against the wall. She could barely move, and she couldn’t stand. It felt like the strength was being leached from her muscles. The warm press of the hounds was comforting. She needed something to distract herself. “I really should give you guys names.”
The head on her lap raised and red eyes locked on her. “How about Spike?”
