still think they can take us on. “Get down here! Bring the fight to us!”
Good. None of us can fly up to help her against Anderson, but if she gets him on the ground, my brothers and I can overpower him easily.
I think I see her nod, but it’s hard to tell if she even heard him. She’s blazing with heavenly light again, looking terrifying and beautiful as her sword rings against Anderson’s.
“Trin! Down here!” I yell, using the fact that I’m closer to her as an advantage.
She definitely hears the call this time. She shoots downward, and Anderson follows, lashing out with his blade. They drifted higher and higher as they fought, and they’re a good way up now.
But Anderson is the stronger flyer. He tucks his wings and shoots ahead of her, then whirls, slashing again. She pulls up short, stopping her descent as she lifts her own blade just in time to defend herself.
Their swords ring in the air, and I can’t look away as Trinity begins to glow brighter and brighter. She’s glowing even more brightly than Anderson is, I realize. Does that mean she’s stronger than him? That her virtue makes her more powerful?
Maybe Anderson has the same thought at the same moment I do, because he shouts something at her and feints to the left, drawing her out before darting right.
He swoops around behind her, raising his sword, then brings it down in a broad arc—right at the place where her wings meet her body.
Trinity’s scream echoes in the depths of my soul.
My heart seizes in my chest as her beautiful white wings tumble downward toward the mountain. For a split second, her body still seems to levitate, suspended in the air as if by some unseen force. Then she begins to fall too.
But as she drops, a flower of red blooming on her back, she reaches out and catches Anderson’s hand. He jerks in the air as he suddenly has to support both his weight and hers, and before he can regain his equilibrium, she swings her angel blade upward, impaling him through the gut.
He jerks, a choked cry pouring from his lips.
And then they’re both falling.
Fuck, no. Trin.
I’m moving in a heartbeat, sprinting forward at the same time my brothers move, all of us converging toward the point on the ground that she and Anderson are hurtling toward.
No. No. No.
It’s the only word that can penetrate the horror in my mind. I can’t let her hit the ground. I can’t let her die like that.
Around me, I see the terrified faces of my brothers, and time seems to stretch, two seconds expanding until they seem to take a lifetime.
We’re so close.
But not close enough.
Her body hits the ground with a heavy, dull thud. Anderson hits a second later, the blow driving the sword deeper into his body.
He’s beyond dead. I don’t even have to look at him to know that. But I don’t even care. The second Trinity hit the ground, time sped back up, and I throw myself to my knees beside her, my heart cracking as I look down at her small, fragile form.
“Trin. Trin!”
I lean over her, searching for some sign that she’s still alive. She’s barely breathing, but she told me once that angels don’t have to breathe often, so maybe that doesn’t mean anything.
“Fuck!” Ford’s cry rips through the air, full of every bit of pain and fury we all feel.
I search for a pulse, but I can’t find one. Fuck. Why can’t I find one?
“Here.” Beckett kneels beside me, pulling a small vial from his pocket. A healing potion. “It’s the best one I have. I’ve kept it with me in case…”
He trails off, but I know what he was going to say. He’s kept it in case Trinity needed it. Maybe he hadn’t even admitted to himself when he first started carrying it around with him how much he loved the woman he carried it for. But I’m glad as hell that my brother has a sentimental side.
I take it from him and uncork it quickly. But when I press it to Trinity’s lips, she’s unresponsive.
Knight lifts her head a little, moving gingerly, and I try again. But when I pour a few drops into her mouth, they just leak out the side of her lips. She’s not drinking, and unless we can get her to drink, this fucking potion will be useless.
I can feel the tension of my brothers around me like a ten-thousand