have to know.”
My body felt frozen in place. “Pulled their wings off?” I whispered. “Like a butterfly?”
Ariel glanced down at the necklace that I was gripping. “Just like a butterfly. That’s how he would do it, but maybe you should practice.” She snapped her fingers. “Today. Come on, put your sword up.”
I dug the toe of my Converse into the wooden attic floor. “I’d rather not. I took marital art protection classes when I was younger, but they don’t seem to be coming in handy here.”
Ariel placed her hand on her hip and rolled her eyes. “Well, I’m sure your instructor didn’t think you would be battling fallen angels either, now did he?”
“Probably not.”
“Okay, then. You’re getting a lesson in killing angels from me.” She pointed toward herself as if she were the greatest gift on Earth. “Okay, put up your sword. For me, the easiest way to hold it is on my shoulder. You might have to use both arms to give it a good swing. Don’t miss.”
I placed the blade an inch from my shoulder.
“Good. Now you want to get on the side of the angel, okay? When you swing it, you want it to go a straight line, parallel to the middle of the back. It needs to hit right where the wing connects to the shoulder.”
Bracing myself, I took a practice swing. Ariel shook her head. “That was horrible. Give me a grunt with it.”
“I’m not grunting.”
“Come on, grunt.”
Shaking my head, I said, “No, not going to do it.”
“Here watch me.” She swung the blade and grunted as she did it.
I laughed and dropped the tip of my sword to the floor. “I’m glad you enjoyed that, but I’m not doing it.”
“Okay, well at least give me a semi-good swing. Your swings are girly.”
“I am a girl.”
“But you don’t want to swing like one, especially when our lives are at stake.”
Sighing, I brought the blade back up to my shoulder. I swung with everything I had, trying to make a straight line. “Is that better?”
Ariel shrugged. “I guess that will have to do. Maybe when your adrenaline kicks in you’ll do better.”
“You just said it was better?”
“Better, but not as good as it needs to be.”
Ariel took my sword and placed it to the side with hers.
“Ariel, do you think that we could walk out of this fight alive? I mean, what are our chances?”
“Slim.”
“You’re not scared of slim being our chance at winning?”
“I’ve been around a long time. I’m not scared of dying, especially since it’s the right thing to do.”
“Ariel.”
“Hmm.”
“Thank you for saving me and my sister. I will never be able to repay you for this.”
“You don’t have to. Just kill a fallen angel for me. That will make us even.”
I nodded. “I’ll give it the best I got.”
Ariel smiled and looked down at the swords in the corner. “I’m scared that our best might not be good enough.”
***
Dawn broke and I was up to watch it. I couldn’t sleep, thinking about what was going on not too far from us. Just thinking about Darrton and realizing he had no choice but to call Satan. Or Scotty, giving his soul up when I knew he still had good in him. Mom and Dad wouldn’t get to tell us goodbye. The reality was, Samantha and I probably wouldn’t make it out of this alive.
It’s only a matter of time.
Warren, Caden, and Scotty will find us eventually.
The sun made its appearance over the trees in the distance. It would have been a pretty sight any other day, but not today. I had a gut-wrenching feeling that this would be our last day to see the sun.
CHAPTER 18
Darrton
Ian’s house was empty. There were chairs knocked over, sheets torn, and no one in sight.
Ian had been more serious in the last hour than I had seen him in the entire time I’d known him. He shook his head and stroked his chin as he walked through the messy, cluttered house. “Well, at least we know it was them.”
My patience was running thin. I kicked the staircase and noticed a cell phone laying on the bottom step. I picked it up. It was pink and had some sort of jewels glued on it.
“Whose phone is that?” Ian asked from behind me.
“Shit.”
Ian cocked an eyebrow. “Well.”
“It’s Samantha’s, Elizabeth’s little sister. They have her with them.”
Ian spat. “Bastards. I wish I could stick my boot up their asses. What do we do now? We don’t know where to go?”
Following the