37. Chapter Thirty-Seven

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

MICAI'S POV

A black blade wedges itself in the wall across from Ezra, the magical bullet crushed by the black metal as it sits beneath it.

I look toward my outstretched hand, and a new black mark is embedded on my wrist. The new shape instantly reminds me of the older girl's mark in my dream.

Was that blade from me? Had I somehow formed it while trying to protect Ezra? Had it appeared from the marks like it did in my dream?

"Micai!" Ezra shouts, fear in his voice as the gun-wielding attacker swings around and aims toward me.

Ezra reaches him before I can move, his eyes glowing a bright lilac as he rips the weapon from the man's hands in a blur of movements and cracks the attacker's neck in one swift move.

The others begin to chant around Ezra and start to throw attack after attack toward him. I dash toward the blade embedded in the wall, ripping it out quickly and slashing it toward the nearest warlock to me.

I twist around, reaching Ezra as he uses two of the warlock's magic against them. He somehow manipulates their power with his own and uses it to attack them instead.

I lunge toward another warlock standing behind Ezra as he forms his next attack. Using Ezra's shoulder as leverage, I swing around and kick the attacker backwards. He crashes to the floor, the area slightly cracking around him with the force of the kick.

The final four start casting and chanting together, flames and electrical static forming around each of them as they take a step toward us. Ezra's eyes start to glow a bright lilac again, and the warlock's gazes turn glossy and dazed as their magic becomes shaky. The magical flames and static formed by the warlocks suddenly twist around and turn on them, attacking their casters.

A dark grin forms on Ezra's lips before he whips around toward me. His grin fades as his eyes run up and down the length of me, a worried expression taking over his features as he reaches for me.

"Micai, how are you feeling? What happened?" He wraps his arms around me, dragging me in for a hug before quickly pulling away and moving me behind him. His eyes stare around the room at all the men clad in black.

"Why are you down here?" His tone is laced with concern, his eyes flickering back toward me before watching the area around us. "If you only woke up, you should stay in bed and rest. We can handle this."

I watch as more people clad in black enter the abattoir and head toward the guys.

"There is no way I would leave you all here to fight without me. I'm not exactly sure what's happening or why I collapsed, but I'm strong enough to help." I grip the blade in my hand, taking my place beside him. "I won't watch the people I love get hurt anymore, Ezra."

He meets my gaze briefly, a small sigh leaving his lips as he warily watches the groups attacking the others around us.

"I would have agreed more easily if you hadn't been unconscious for a couple of days with a bad temperature, Micai."

My brows furrow with his words. Two days?

I shake my head and the thought from my mind. Now was not the time for questions, only actions.

I glare around at the intruders destroying parts of the abattoir with their attacks. "I promise I feel better. I know my body, Ezra. I can and will help."

He gives me one last worried look before sighing. "Fine, but we stick together. Don't leave my side for a moment."

I give him a small nod as we set off, heading toward Creed as more of the black-clothed men surround him, their attacks toward him relentless. But he doesn't even seem fazed by the oncoming barrage.

The magic explodes around Creed; fire, lightning, and blades are all thrown in his direction, but with one swipe of his hand, his black coils lash out, destroying anything in its way like a tidal wave. Then it barrels toward the attackers, seeping up each of their limbs before wrapping around them, tightening until they're gasping for breath and turning a dark shade of purple.

Ezra and I make it over as another group forms around Creed while he's finishing off the remains of the other attackers.

They quickly begin casting, their magic forming as Ezra uses his own abilities to help ward them off.

I dash toward them, my blade gripped in one hand as I dodge their attacks and take them out one by one. My movements are swift and precise as I target any weak spots I can find. I take down the three around me as Ezra and Creed deal with the ones closer to them.

I approach my fourth target as he turns toward me with two daggers gripped between his fingers. I reach him within seconds, my own blade ready. But before I can take him out, Creed's black coils wrap around his neck and limbs before he can attack me. He lifts him off the ground, his smoky-black coils tightening further around the man as his eyes widen and bulge. A whimper leaves his throat before he falls silent and is dropped limply to the ground.

I glare at Creed before turning away and making my way toward Ezra, to make sure he's okay.

He's standing over two fresh corpses, his eyes bright lilac, before noticing my gaze. A gentle smile takes over his face as I reach him. His arms wrap around me instantly as his eyes soften and he leans down for a quick kiss. "You amaze me more and more every day, Micai."

A smile tilts my lips before I hear a noise from behind me, and I twist around to meet Creed's gaze.

"How do you know how to move and fight like that? The academy doesn't teach such advanced techniques."

Creed makes his way over, his brows knitted with blood splatters covering his face, his gaze questioning but with none of the normal anger or suspicion laced in the look.

But why did I have to answer the asshole? I didn't owe him anything and won't forget or forgive so easily for how he's treated me.

I turn back toward Ezra before Annex's crazed laughter pulls my attention toward him and the battle happening in the centre of the room.

"Is that all you've got?" He laughs dementedly as the group around him clutch large wounds or broken limbs. Some are even holding their bloody, dismembered body parts as he continues to cackle away.

A pile of corpses are strewn across the floor below him and around the broken bar as he twists a blade between his fingers.

"Who's next?" He glares down at the group, some taking a step away before one of them calls to the back of the group. A large man appears, twice the size of the others around him, with his eyes glowing gold, before he quickly shifts into a large brown wolf.

The wolf has nothing on Mallyn's beast, but would still be considered bigger than the average shifter.

He charges toward Annex while the men behind him cast their magic, forming it into blades and flames before aiming it toward Annex, standing on the bar.

I grip my own blade, ready to dash forward, but Creed places a hand out, stopping me in my tracks. I'm about to cut the dickheads arm off when Ezra asks me to watch him, a small grin on his lips as he nods toward Annex.

"He's in his element. He needed this. Especially after you fell unconscious." A frown coats his lips with the memory. "It'll help him relieve that stress and frustration."

I glance over, watching with my blade gripped between my fingers and ready to move in an instant. Instead, I observe Annex jumping from the bar, moving back and forth quickly between the men, a speed rivalling even my own as he takes them down one by one.

He knocks the shifter down with one hit, its force sending the large wolf flying past his group before crashing to the floor.

My brows creep to my hairline. I knew Annex was strong, but I didn't think he was that strong.

Annex then dashes through the magical attacks aimed toward him as if they're nothing. The wounds on his body heal quickly as he slashes each man before reaching the shifter at the back.

"No one gets to enter our home without our permission." A demented grin stretches his lips as he palms his blade, slowly stalking toward his prey. "And you certainly won't be leaving with everything intact."

The shifter attacks, feigning to one side before attacking from the other. Annex sees the bluff instantly, and as the wolf leaps, he twists around, slicing down its torso and toward its belly.

My nose scrunches up, a slight bit of bile rising to my throat as I watch its remains spill out onto the ground and toward Annex's feet.

The crazy jackass just grins maniacally.

A roar pulls all of our attention toward Mallyn, his beast on a rampage before he's surrounded by the last of the men. There are at least a dozen shifters all shifted into their animal forms, with another five warlocks casting restraining spells trying to hold his beast down.

Multiple chains wrap around his giant paws, holding him in place as the shifters all barrel toward him. The spells shake against his large body as the wolves attack.

I take a step forward to help, but I stop in my tracks as I glance toward the beast and his blue eyes. A familiar glint shines in them, and a toothy snare and growl leave its large lips.

He was playing with them.

As soon as the shifters reach him, he breaks free of the magical chains as if they were made of string and rips into each creature near him, killing them instantly before hurdling their remains toward the shaking warlocks.

A deep growl reverberates around the abattoir as he takes a slow step toward the shaking warlocks, their spells no longer having any effect on Mallyn's beast as he prowls toward his prey with blood dripping from his large fangs.

He lunges toward them in one swift move, his claws meeting each torso or neck quickly, tearing them apart or taking their heads clean off.

His bright blue eyes turn to meet mine before his large body begins to tremble and shake, transforming into a very naked Mallyn. I keep my eyes on his face and try to stop myself from wandering lower.

Mallyn's grey-blue eyes meet mine, a soft, knowing smile spreading on his bloodied lips before his gaze falls behind me and suddenly widens.

I whip around, instantly noticing the fear in his gaze, and catch a warlock left from Creed's group forming a large static of lightning and aiming it toward Ezra.

I throw my blade toward the warlock, but am too late as the lightning strikes out toward Ezra. I fling myself in front of him just as he twists around. Pain sears through my chest as I'm hurdled back into Ezra by the lightning.

I hear the thump of the warlock's body hit the floor and see my blade embedded in his head as I collapse fully into Ezra's warm embrace.

The pain spreads through my chest, and out toward each limb, my sight blurring as I hear Annex and Mallyn shout my name.

Ezra's hands clutch onto me, pulling me closer to him as I gaze into his shaking turquoise eyes.

I feel another set of hands join him on my chest as a soft, soothing feeling begins to ease the pain. Darkness takes my sight, leaving me with the last image of the four of them crouched over me with worried-gazes, all promising me that I'll be okay.

A soft light trickles along my eyelids, my body not yet ready to wake up as his gentle hum fills my ears once again.

Zrael's sweet tune surrounds me, his beautiful, soulful tone embracing me as his humming grows into a song.

The sweet memory of his voice takes hold of me, encapsulating me with each soft lyric. It soothes me, relaxing my tired soul as he continues to bathe me in this melodic dream of him.

How I missed this…how I missed him …

If only I could find him sooner, save him from The Facility and have him in my reach just a little earlier.

"Zrael," I call to him, begging for this dream to last just a little longer and praying that I can stay with him here and continue to hear his voice… at least for now.

His voice grows slightly louder, the song clearer as my brows furrow slightly. I don't remember him ever singing this song to me.

How is this possible?

Is this not a dream or a memory from my past? How could this be a memory if I had never heard him singing the sweet song he is now?

Could I have died when the lightning hit me? Was this some type of heaven? Had he been waiting for me here? And waiting for us to be together again?

What other reason could there be for him to feel so close and to hear him so clearly?

He continues to sing, the song coming to an end as a tight feeling forms in my throat. A soft trickle begins dripping down my cheeks as I pray for his song not to end. That whatever this was—dream or some glimpse of heaven—that he wouldn't be taken from me again.

His voice grows lower, the song coming to an end as I feel a warm hand stroke down my cheek.

My brows pinch further together…how was that possible?

How could I feel these things if this was a dream? And if I was awake, then how could I still clearly hear Zrael's voice?

A tremor works its way into my body as I slowly open my eyes, Zrael's voice still clear in my ears as the song begins to slow, nearing its end.

I open my eyes, fighting the light trying to make me close them again and gaze into two familiar turquoise eyes. His lips are parted as the last soulful lyric leaves Ezra's mouth.

My eyes widen, my breath catching in my throat as I gaze into his lilac-flecked eyes.

That voice…there was no way I wouldn't recognise his voice.

"…Zrael?"