Azrael blows out a breath, Rafael drops his head back, the two quiet angels sit and observe, and Peter just narrows his eyes at me.
“She has a point,” Azrael states reluctantly.
“The damned always have a point,” Peter volleys, eyes never leaving mine. “It’s how they coerce you into doing their bidding with a smile on your face, never realizing how thick and murky the water has gotten until—”
“Yeah, yeah. Blah, blah, blah,” I interrupt, batting a dismissive hand. “Only I’m not good at deception,” I add in reminder, smiling like the evil woman I am.
“You’re unquestionably good at getting your way,” Peter fires back.
“I’m not seeing the logical argument on your part. If you don’t help me, you keep your balance and the world likely turns to ash the second that thing breaks free from its cage. Or, you risk a fall, help me level up, so I can go break all the rules and play the hero.”
“Don’t make it sound as though you’re doing this for the greater good,” Rafael says in an emotionless tone, eyes still fixed to mine. “You don’t care if the world is ash or in one piece, so long as you get to carry on with your ‘love’ story.”
“I don’t understand why my motives are being called into question when you still get what you want. Make a deal with the devil, and you get what you get,” I say with a shrug, still smiling. “Do you want my help or not? It comes at the risk of falling in an effort to propel me forward in my evolution.”
Peter mutters something under his breath as he turns and puts his back to me. Rafael is oddly calm, probably because he’s already locked into this agreement. Azrael looks as though he dreads this with all his might, but I can see the concession in his eyes.
The two quiet angels keep their mouths shut as though they’re waiting to be instructed.
“It could kill you,” Azrael says again. “Then what’s the point of all of this?”
“It won’t kill me,” I say with possibly a little too much confidence. “Probably,” I add just to be sure not to jinx myself and all.
Peter is turned back around and already berating the others when I spin to face them from my newfound distance. “I can’t believe you’re even considering this. Why do we keep listening to her maddening theories and—”
“And so far she’s come a lot farther than any of us expected,” Rafael says as he pushes off from the rock. “I’ll do my part. You four decide if you’ll do yours,” he adds as he faces me head-on, preparing for battle.
“What do you want from us exactly?” one of the two quiet angels asks.
I smirk. “Hit me with all you got, and when I try to fight back, you fight twice as hard. I’m stronger than my siblings. I need to be stronger than you. Quick question: Will the world really implode if I fight Lucif—”
“Don’t!” they all shout quickly, eyes wide and horrified.
Talk about riling angels…
“Okay then. I’ll take that as a yes,” I say on a sad sigh.
I’d really hoped Lamar was exaggerating.
“There should be a safe-word,” Azrael says to me, grudgingly taking a spot next to Rafael. “That way we don’t manage to unintentionally kill this feebler version of you while we’re in purgatory, where you’re only that much weaker.”
I want to throat punch them for calling me weak.
I smirk as I prepare myself for the beating of a lifetime.
“Don’t worry. If it gets to be too much, that’s when I’ll really come to life. I’ll level up. Then I’ll adjust your balance by retaliating. Fair warning, it’ll probably hurt like hell. Everyone’s a winner.”
I clap my hands together as the two nameless angels flank Azrael and Rafael.
Peter lets out a sigh of defeat, shaking his head as he comes to take his own spot.
“If we fall because of this, I want to remind everyone I opposed this ludicrous request from a being who can’t be trusted,” he adds just to be sure he’s not the one at fault if I pull a fast one on them.
I snort. “Even angels cave to peer pressure, eh?”
Without any warning, bright light blinds me, as a ripple of the most painful pulse I’ve ever felt rips through my body. A scream is torn from me before I can hold it back, my eyes almost feel as though they’ll explode, and dirt sprays my legs like razor-sharp sand.
The light grows even brighter around me, consuming me, running through my body as my veins burn like my blood is boiling acid in my veins. Another raw scream escapes me, my body not even responding to my commands.
I can’t even attempt to hit them back, because I can’t move. My body slams against the ground, and my back bows, as the light grows all the more glaring until it’s all I can see.
Over and over again, I try to lash out, only to seize in more pain, as though trying to fight back only gets me punished that much harder. Each attempt results in more torture, the pain so unbearable that I regret ever coming up with this plan.
My throat closes up, cutting off my scream, as the thought of a safe-word crosses my mind. I couldn’t have even used it, because I’m left writhing in silent agony by the second minute of a full-on archangel assault.
A ringing starts in my ears, growing louder and louder as my lungs starve for a fresh breath. My heart thumps so heavily it feels as though it’s trying to batter its way free from my chest. My fingertips explode from the pressure, spraying my black blood into the light until it burns away.
Just when I’m ready to lie down and give in, my eyelids growing heavy, as the pain gets so intense that I can’t even bring myself to futilely fight against it anymore…there’s a loud pop, pop, pop…
The rapid-fire popping is reminiscent of popcorn in the microwave, just before something explodes from my body.
The light fades so abruptly that dots speckle my vision instead of me getting a view of what’s going on. A dull roar of pain comes from somewhere close by, as I whimper, turning over on my side as the dots slowly fade.
Ash is raining down on us, and the angels are picking themselves up off the ground—all five of them.
My eyes land on Peter’s wild ones, as he starts slapping his head, moving toward me rapidly…like he got a taste of the dark side and wants more.
Their balance is truly a precariously fragile thing in comparison to mine.
Something coils around my hands, and I look down, finding purple gloves appearing slowly, stretching up my arms as the telling sensation of power washes over me.
Thunder boulders through the sky, only empowering me that much more, as the ground starts rumbling under me. I stagger my way back up to my feet, swaying a little as the ebbing dizziness works its way out of my system.
A dark grin curves my lips as my wardrobe changes on its own, and my chakrams light up with the same purple flames that begin burning around my entire body.
“My turn,” I say quietly, taking a step toward them, ignoring my lingering aches and pains that are healing so rapidly that it’s barely a hindrance.
The ground splits apart as purple flames shoot through the cracks, and lightning rains down all around, as cyclones form in a circle surrounding us.
As the power rolls over me and they struggle against my very own storm, I feel the train of my new dress whipping behind me.
Smirking, I hear my voice echo in the winds, warning them something bad is coming. “Mwa…ha…ha…ha…”
Chapter 16
PACA
I wake up with my head on a bare chest, and I glance up to find Ezekiel sleeping peacefully with his arm around me. Sitting up, I notice Kai on my other side, snoring soundly as he holds my hand in his.
See? Would it kill them to all be this sweet when I’m awake?
They mustn’t have been far behind me, because the nightmares never came, even though I accidentally fell asleep from exhaustion while waiting on them to return.
Gage and Jude are nowhere to be seen, and I get up when Ezekiel and Kai start rousing from sleep.
I creep out, even though I hear a small, disappointed groan from behind me that makes me smile. I smile because that disappointment stems from missing me already. At least that’s what I tell myself.
I move through the hallways as I go phantom and change into my sexy devil girl costume. When I turn back whole, I’m reminded of how much more sensitive my entire body is.
It’s not because of the brutal beating. The most recent progress has left my body’s senses heightened in all ways.
I can’t wait to show them my new level of awesome…and hope they don’t ask me how I did it.
With any luck, Ezekiel and Kai didn’t notice the bruises that are still tender and decorating my—
“What the hell happened to you?” Jude asks in a quiet voice, startling the shit out of me as I leap like a cartoon cat and go stiff as a board.
My eyes dart over to find him casually propped up against the wall of the adjacent hallway, eyes on me like he’s been waiting to find me.
“Sheesh. Don’t scare The Apocalypse! I could accidentally blow this place up,” I say on a staggered breath, putting my hand over my pounding heart.
His eyes stay on me, a neutral, flat look in his gaze as he remains silent and stoic.
“H-how did you know I’d come this way?” I ask him when he doesn’t bother saying anything for an awkward amount of time. “Did you level-up enough to see the future? Is that a thing Death can do?” I ask a little hopefully. “Because that would be totally helpful.”
His somber expression never changing, he comes up, grabs my wrist, and rips the red glove down my arm to reveal all the bruises there.
He quickly does the same to the other, and then bends over to tear down my stockings, revealing all the bruises I thought I’d so cleverly hidden. I stay still as he finishes, and I swallow the knot in my throat as he studies them.
I don’t even want to see the ones on my torso. I hope he doesn’t know about them. That’s the spot that took the brunt force of the archangel smiting.
Jude stares at me with some impatience, and…something else. Not love, but…is that concern? Death gets angry, not worried.
“I leveled up,” I tell him, smiling to help lighten the mood, but his expression never wavers. “I didn’t want you having to witness what I presumed it would take to level up again. It gets harder every time, but…I think I maxed out, at least for now, if that makes it any—”
I shut up real quick when he shoves my chest and knocks me against the wall, caging me in as he bends to be eye-to-eye with me.
“I don’t know what’s worse: Knowing you can slip off to level-up without us having a clue what you’re up to, or watching it happen before our very eyes and not being able to do anything about it,” he says with that steady, quiet tone, while he keeps his hands on the wall on either side of my head.
“I don’t understand all this any better than you do,” I say softly, clearing my throat. “I’m guided by instinct and determination right now. It’s like I’m on a dark and twisted adventure run, and while the rules and regulations are vague, the quests are obvious.”