Chapter 9

Elias and Eugene stood in the doorway, their arms shifted into their lion forms.

"What's going on?" I asked, rounding the table.

They walked into the room.

"Don't you know?" Elias asked. His tone from before, the dejected mien, the sad voice … it was all gone. "Eugene thought you were smarter than that."

I knew why they were here. To get me for the reward. That much was clear. "What did you do to them?"

"Remember that necklace?" Eugene asked. "Yeah, it was all a lie. The whole thing. We found out Mrs. Dennis had access to the Grand Eternity Hall, where we had heard the fugitive angel was hiding, so we threatened her son if she didn't help us. We got a random necklace of hers and made her enchant it with a sleeping spell that would work on witches and warlocks."

Elias laughed. "Her included."

"Don't worry," Eugene said. "Your friends will wake up tomorrow morning with a headache."

Hiding behind a tall chair, I reached into the table and got a steak knife that was there, out of place.

Elias tsked. "What do you think you'll be able to do with that?"

I raised the knife. "Kill you."

He laughed again. "You're funny."

"Maybe that's why the angels are offering such a large reward for you," Eugene said, and Elias laughed once more.

They took slow steps toward me, as if they were enjoying this game.

I wasn't.

My heart was beating out of my chest, and my hand shook around the knife.

I almost told them to stop. Right now, there was nothing I could say or do that would persuade them to change their minds.

There was only one thing left to do.

I bolted to the backdoor, where I had seen Myg going several times, but had never gone through myself.

The lights went on in the narrow corridor, and when I turned a corner, they went off, but blinked on the other side.

"All right, all right," I muttered, following the lights.

The hall hadn't played with me. It had tried to steer me away from the dining room so these two couldn't get me. Damn, I had been so stupid. I wouldn't doubt the hall ever again.

I ran through a giant, half-modern, half-ancient kitchen, through another narrow corridor, past a closet, and into a large hallway like the ones on the second floor.

The lights continued blinking, taking me away from the dining room. Behind me, I heard Elias and Eugene on my tail, cursing as vines sprouted from the walls to stop them. But with their powerful claws, they cut through them like paper.

The lights flickered in the library. I rushed in and the doors closed on their own.

I stopped for a second to catch my breath. What now? Would the doors hold them until the others woke up? They said it would be tomorrow morning. Could I hide in here until then?

"Come out, little angel!" Eugene shouted.

The door shook with their heavy bangs.

No, it wouldn't hold until tomorrow morning.

The lights flickered beside one of the long tables. I dashed there … and then stopped. "What are you trying to tell me?"

A vine lengthened from the big tree, wrapped around my leg, and slipped its tip inside my pocket, right where my phone was.

I gasped and grabbed my phone.

The vine retreated.

My hands shook as I unlocked my phone. I almost dropped it as a huge bang came from the door and one hinge flew out.

I opened the contact app, found his name easily, and pressed it.

The phone rang three times.

"Now is not a suitable time, sweetheart. I?—"

"There are two lion shifters here," I said as fast as I could. "They sedated everyone?—"

"WHAT?"

"—but me. I'm locked in the library, but the door won't hold."

I shouted as a bang louder than the previous ones echoed from the door and another hinge shot toward the tree.

"Ariella, listen to me." There was a bite to his word. "First, take a deep breath." I did as he said. "Second, go into the bookshelves, hide there. The hall will help you."

"And then what?"

"Then pray I get there before they lay a hand on you. Otherwise, I won't just kill them. I'll skin them alive, feed them to piranhas, pull them out when they are an inch from death, and rip their hearts out with my bare hands."

I shuddered. From the hard tone of his voice, I knew he was serious.

"Levi—"

The loudest bang yet made me jump. The doors went down. In their lion forms, Eugene and Elias ran at me.

I suppressed a scream and ran toward the bookshelves to my right.

The vines shot out from the tree, wrapping around one of the shifters, while a bookshelf extended across the floor until it reached the table, blocking the path of another.

I stepped between two bookshelves and stopped.

Why would I hide in the dark, when I could get out of reach another way?

I called my wings, felt the familiar course of the magic as they came forward. They ripped the back of my shirt and spread wide. I pushed with my feet, flapped them, and went up to the glass dome.

The lions jumped on the long table, walking over the books, pushing them out, ripping pages, making a huge mess.

I was away from their reach now, and safe.

Eugene transformed back into his human form, and stood several feet under me, naked. He placed a hand on his waist. "Do you think that will be enough to escape us?"

"It has worked so far." Even if so far was only a minute or two.

I could stay here and flap my wings until Levi arrived, or I could do something. I might be magicless, but I wasn't helpless. I could fight them, especially now that I had the advantage of being in the air.

Besides, I had no idea how long it would take Levi to get here, and my wings were like any other limb: it could get to a point when I couldn't fly anymore.

"Silly angel," Eugene said.

I aimed the kitchen knife at him—and realized I had dropped my phone somewhere. No time to worry about that. I threw the knife as Eugene shifted back. The blade scratched his back as he pounced off the table.

He and Elias ran to the stairs on opposite sides.

What, they thought they could get to me from the second floor?

The lions showed up on the last landing, a few feet from my wings on each side. I tucked my wings in a little, which made it harder to flap and keep myself afloat, but it was doable.

For now.

They let out a loud roar. Together, they both shifted back to their human forms. Eugene let out a laugh as he reached for a thick book from the shelf behind him. Elias broke the iron sconce from the shelf's end.

I snickered. Were they going to throw those at me? I was fast with my wings. I could dodge their attack easily. In fact, I could do something else.

Not waiting for them to act first, I flew down, grabbed the steak knife I had thrown earlier, and flew directly toward Eugene.

I was fast and my momentum was enough to bury the knife in his chest, but when I was right in front of him, he threw the book up like a brick.

I frowned, confused, and lost a little bit of my momentum.

On the other side, Elias threw the sconce up too.

Realization hit me a second too late. I flew toward the door as the dome shattered and large pieces of glass fell on me.

I felt something tugging me back and fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes. When I lifted my head, I saw the big piece of glass stuck in the stone floor that would have cleaved me in two, and the retreating vines that had saved my life.

"Thanks," I muttered.

Hurting from the lacerations across my skin, I pushed to my feet, spread my wings, and flapped. But I cried out in pain as one of my wings bent in an odd direction, cut from the glass shards.

Shit.

Without a choice, I tucked my wings, groaned in pain, and ran to the door.

I didn't make it ten steps before a lion lunged at my back and I fell again.

I grabbed broken glass, turned around, and stabbed the lion in the shoulder.

It let out a painful roar, then bit down on my arm. I cried out.

"Don't kill her!" one of them shouted. I was too far gone with pain to pay attention. "We need her alive."

The lion retreated half a step and shifted. With the shard still stuck in his shoulder and bleeding, Eugene leaned over me and smirked. "You're done for, angel."

He reached for my middle. I grabbed another shard, but this time he was prepared. He slapped my hand away, making me drop the shard, and then punched my temple.

I saw stars.

* * *

I didn't fully faint, but I couldn't hang on to consciousness for long.

Eugene had carried me over his shoulders through a portal, into some dark place, where another supernatural waited for us, and then into the backseat of a car. My wrists and ankles were tied with non-magical rope, but even though I willed my body to move, to break the ropes, to open the car's door, and jump out, it didn't obey.

I didn't know how much time had passed, but at some point, we were on the road, and I was feeling slightly more awake.

Pretending to be still passed out, I took inventory of my surroundings. We were in a small car. I sat beside Eugene, Elias was in the passenger seat, and another man was driving.

I tried picking up what he was, but I was too weak to even try.

I had to get out of here.

Before I could fully plan this out, I lifted my bound wrists, brought them over the front seat, and strangled the driver with the ropes.

Eugene tugged at my arms, Elias turned and tried intervening, but that only tightened the ropes more. The car jerked, went off the road, fell into a ditch, and hit a thick tree.

I was thrown against the seat, hard, and my head was dizzy for a moment. No, I had to push through the haze. I had to get out of here. Trying to focus, I looked around.

The front glass was broken, mine was cracked, the driver was smashed between his seat and the wheel, dead. Elias and Eugene had their seat belts on and were having a tough time moving.

Something glittered from the car's floor.

The steak knife.

What was it doing here? I didn't question it. I took the knife and went for Eugene. He sobered up half a second before the knife plunged in the middle of his chest.

He groaned, his eyes wide.

From the front seat, Elias twisted as much as he could and shouted. "No!"

I elbowed the window by my side, finally breaking it, and crawled through. I felt the broken glass scratching my arms and legs, but it didn't matter, I needed to get out of here.

Though I tried catching myself, my body was hurt and sore, my mind addled, and I fell on the rough ground hard.

Groaning, I pushed through the pain and the haze, sat up on my knees, and grabbed a small glass shard to cut my ropes. I freed my ankles but before I could work on my wrists, I heard the sound of the car groaning as Elias exited it.

With renewed energy, I escaped from the ditch and clambered into the road.

Elias let out a roar as he ran after me. I glanced over my shoulder and panic started anew as he gained ground as a lion. He launched himself toward me. I sidestepped him, but he was fast. He hit my shoulder with his big paw and I fell on the hard ground, arm first, and pain radiated through my limb.

By the light, I must have broken it.

Elias spun and came at me. I tried gathering myself, but the lion crawled over me and pushed me to the ground. With his paws on my shoulders, he let out a loud roar right in my face, his breath foul.

I pushed my hands inside his mouth and stabbed the glass shard deep into his throat.

The lion sputtered for two seconds before falling heavy over me.

I shouted in anger, in pain, in fear. I was pinned to the ground, hurt, and alone on this dark road. Tears brimmed in my eyes and I let myself take thirty seconds to steady my heart and my breathing.

Then I pushed the lion up a little and crawled from underneath him. The ropes around my wrists were loose, and it was easy to undo them now. I rubbed at my red skin, though my wrists were what hurt the least.

I looked around.

There was nothing but a long road, trees, and darkness.

I could go back to the car, search for someone's phone, call Levi, or Hazel … but I really didn't want to go back there. I needed to get out of here.

I called my wings, tried to spread them out, and flap them, but one was twisted, and the other had several rips. I would never be able to fly like this.

I continued down the road, dragging my feet and doing my best not to pass out. This road was bound to lead somewhere, to some town, and when it did, I would find a store, someone who would let me make a call.

Not even ten minutes later, when I thought I would finally break and faint right here, I heard the zoom of wings, as if a big bird was soaring through the sky.

I glanced up at the darkness and saw a shape fast approaching.

My heart seized and panic threatened to spill.

No, please, not again.

But then I recognized him.

In his powerful demon form, Levi landed six feet from me. He didn't stop moving when his feet touched the ground. He ran to me, almost crashed into me, and wrapped me in his big arms.

I broke then.

I clung to him and a sob shook my body.

He held me tight, a big hand on the back of my neck, the other securely wrapped around my waist, and his temple touching mine.

"I've got you now," he whispered. "You're safe, sweetheart."

He glanced above my head and a growl started deep in his chest.

I followed his gaze, afraid another supernatural had popped out of nowhere, but I could only see Elias' body on the road.

"They are all dead," I said, my voice hoarse.

"That's my girl," Levi said, sounding proud. He hooked his arm under my knees and picked me up. "Let's get you out of here."

He pushed up and we took to the sky.

I hung on to him but didn't have the strength to keep conscious.

In seconds, I fell asleep.