Seventh Seal - Jacquelyn Faye Page 0,89

wasn't completely black more of a deep purple. The staircase continued as far as the eye could see, the bottom lost in the abyss.

"Nobody fall," Dennis said solemnly as we peered over the edge.

"Nobody push Jimmy," Jason added as an afterthought.

"Wow, the love is real." I chuckled and continued down the stairs.

"I'm going to scout ahead," Yuki said as she passed us on the outside of the stairs, disappearing in a gust of wind as she practically flew down them.

Be careful, I said as I took the steps one at a time.

Like you do when you go off on your own?

Touché.

Her mental sigh was a real thing. I heard it. I'm sorry, Master.

Don't be. I kind of deserved that.

You just make me so angry when you do self-righteous, self-sacrificing, stupid, ignorant, never-learning, stubborn bullshit every damn time. Trust us. We're here to protect you, not the other way around.

Gosh, don't hold back. Tell me how you really feel.

She gave me a light mental chuckle.

I have no problem with that, Yuki. If the shit we were facing were normal shit. But vampire lords, gods… Come on. You are protecting me by not putting yourself in stupid amounts of danger. I love you guys so fucking much, and it would devastate me if anything ever happened to any of you.

And that's exactly how we feel. Stop. Doing. Stupid. Shit.

Yes, ma'am, I mentally muttered and kicked a stone over the edge as I continued down the steps. It was a full few seconds before the clatter of its impact reached our ears.

You at the bottom yet?

No. Quit throwing shit at me.

Sorry.

Now I am. There's another door and more guards. Have Nana drop another fireball.

Doesn't work like that. She needs to see it to set it off.

Fine. I'll take care of these two.

Yuki? Yuki! No! Negative! Stand down! Heel!

Unfortunately, I felt the impact of her against the unforgiving stone wall at the base of the cavern. With a scream of pain and rage, I launched myself over the edge, ignoring the shouts of the rest of our party. I fell most of the way before plucking my broom from my neck and floating down the rest of the way. With one hand, I clung to the broom and landed in the middle of the circular cavern behind the two angels almost on Yukina. Rage burned through me as I swung the broom, feeling it thicken in my hands and slow as it shifted into my wicked looking scythe. That time, I managed to sever the head of one as the blade sunk into the shoulder of the other. One was silenced, the other shrieked in anger as it rounded on me.

Laughing maniacally, Yuki ripped its head from its shoulders.

Standing over its corpse, tossing its head from one hand to the other, she sneered at me. "There. See how fucking stupid it is now?"

"Wait, you did that on purpose?"

She shrugged.

"To teach me a fucking lesson?"

She shrugged again.

"You're a fucking asshole. I just jumped from like two thousand stories up!"

Her sneer turned into a smirk. "And did we learn our lesson?"

"Maybe. But you're fucking grounded!" I couldn't help but laugh and ruffle her spikes.

"Good. We can be grounded together and Netflix and chill."

I stared at her for a moment.

"What?"

"Yeah. I don't think that means what you think it means, Yuke."

"Huh?"

"It means watch a movie and fuck."

"No, it doesn't."

"Yes, it does. Ask Jimmy."

"Everything means fuck to Jimmy."

"Good point."

Chapter 24

Judging by the number of metal doors with bars lining the hallway on the other side of the door being guarded by the angels, I would have guessed we were in the right place. I'd actually wanted to wait for the others to catch up, but Yuki had talked me into seeing what was on the other side of the door. Cell by cell, we peered through the bars. Finally, I gave up and shouted my father's name.

"Dorothea?" My name was croaked through the bars of the very last cell at the end of the hall.

Stopping the search, I put one foot in front of the other until I was running the rest of the way, using my vampiric speed without realizing and leaving even Yuki in the dust. Slamming against the door, I gripped the bars and peered inside.

My father hung from burning hot chains against the far wall, his flesh smoking in the manacles. "Oh, my goddess," I whispered and kicked at the door. And kicked again. I was pounding and screaming in an effort to get