nanny, one of the very few people who cared about me.
He took away my hearing.
And worse than all of that, he took my heart…and then crushed it in his large palm.
“You’re lying!” Van protests immediately, adamantly, but he knows as well as any of us that angels can’t lie.
Zolroth and Akor are glaring at Kastros with betrayal and hatred. So much fucking hatred.
And Raz…
He’s staring at his best friend as if he doesn’t quite recognize him. As if they’ve been apart for centuries and have now found each other, only to discover that time has corroded away all that was good and pure.
But he doesn’t look surprised.
Did he…?
Did he know?
I’m going to be sick.
The pain explodes out of me like a can of soda being shaken one too many times. And when I say explodes, I mean literally explodes. An agonized scream rips free from my lips as pure power shoots out of me. It bursts like a bloated rain cloud, intermixed with ribbons of pink and purple.
One of those ribbons captures Water by the throat and yanks him against the wall. Shock splays across his face as he tugs at my magic, but the force of my scream—the force of my fucking agony—holds him immobile.
Lighting gapes at me, stumbling back a step, but my magic coils around his legs and yanks him into the air until he’s dangling upside down. He struggles futilely, cursing in a way I’m sure God wouldn’t appreciate, but he doesn’t escape.
Pain.
So much pain.
I’m drowning in it.
Succumbing to it.
I’m distantly aware of Akor and Zolroth striding forward with their blades extended, but I close my eyes before they deliver the killing blow.
Pain.
So. Much. Pain.
“Baby girl,” Raz whispers in my ear as my body begins to shake and shake and shake. I want to scream and cry and beg Kastros to tell me that this is all a big misunderstanding.
But I know in my heart that it isn’t.
“Raz!” I cry, my body jerking and shuddering as more magic is ripped from my very being. “I can’t stop it.”
“You can, baby,” he whispers, petting my hair. I try to wrangle my magic under control, but it continues to sputter and spark like an electrical cord that’s whipping around and hitting anyone that comes too close.
“I can’t. It hurts, Raz. It hurts.” I’m sobbing, my words nearly inarticulate, but I know he hears me. His arms wrap around my stomach, disregarding the power still radiating off of me in palpable waves.
“I got you, baby. I got you. I always got you. We always got you,” he corrects, tightening his arms almost imperceptibly. He kisses the crown of my head as my legs turn weak and pliable, failing me.
“You don’t,” I whisper as darkness encroaches the edges of my vision. But I will them to remain open and turn towards where Kastros still stands, having not moved a muscle. “You don’t all have me.”
And then…
I lose myself to the darkness.
28
Zolroth
We don’t head back through the field of sunflowers. Raz just slices a hole in the castle wall with his sword, and we fly out, Katrina tucked safely in his arms, the rest of us crowding behind.
My blood rushes in my ears as we fly, and I glance back more than once as we shoot through the sky, pumping our wings hard, not knowing how long the remnants of Katrina’s magic will hold the remaining angels.
Just a bit longer, I plead to Hell, which is too far away for me to see, even when we’re a hundred feet above Heaven’s castle.
Van speeds ahead and reaches out a claw to rip a hole between the realms for us like it’s a fucking curtain. We all zoom through it, hearts and wings pumping double time.
My eyes are wind-burned from the flight, slightly sore when cold air hits us as soon as we make it back into the human world.
Night has fallen, and the sky is pure black, without a moon and only weak stars blinking in the distance like runway guides for all the demons flying through the universe, so they can land in other worlds. Thank fucking hell it’s dark, because I don’t have the damn energy or state of mind to give a shit what those wanker humans think right now. I wouldn’t give a rat’s putrid ass if they saw us flying overhead. I’ve got more important things going on in my head.