Page 85 of Angel's Enemy Omega

They see the light.There’s no point in trying to be careful now. Tap-tap-scrape.Nur’s skin tightens.

“Arsene, if you’re in there, open the door!” He slams on the door again. Then, miraculously, there’s a flicker of awareness from the other side of the bond.

He pounds the door with his fist as the back of his neck prickles. “There’s something down here with us!”

A deep groan comes from behind him. He sees the shadow first, huge and hulking. Then he smells it: sour and horrible, like something rotting. The creature itself is next. Massive, filthy wings trail like a cape in its wake. Tattered clothing hangs off its skeletal frame, stooped against the low ceiling. Hands dangle at its sides and its left foot drags. Its eyes are dark and empty.

Bile rises in Nur’s throat.

It’s an angel.

Don’t talk to angels,the human girl said.

The thin mouth opens. “Mine,” the angel groans, reaching out.

He raises the torch, chasing the shadows back, and the angel cringes.

“Arsene!” Nur yells, hammering on the door again without turning his back on the thing.

“Give it back,” comes the rasping groan again as the huge, half-dead angel staggers toward him.

“I have nothing—leave me alone!” he shouts.

The angel is so massive he fills the whole hallway. A full primus. There’s no way Nur can get past him without coming within reach of those long arms. The angel’s wings sweep along the floor with a shushing sound as he staggers toward Nur. Tap-tap-scrape. He looks emaciated, but Nur knows better than to underestimate a sentinel’s strength. Even without a weapon, even half-starved.

Arsene is a rapier, deadly but not un-killable.

This angel is not a rapier.

“Stay back!” He brandishes the torch like a sword.

The angel opens his mouth and lets out a long, wretched noise. It takes a long, horrible moment for Nur to realize it’s a laugh. His teeth are crooked and blackened by corruption. Thefoul stench of his breath chokes Nur from twenty paces. Nur recoils instinctively, his back bowing.

“My…treasure…Mine!”

The angel moves faster than he could have imagined. Between one instant and the next he closes the distance. His huge hand wraps around Nur’s throat and Nur chokes, dropping the torch as he’s yanked upright. He rips into the angel’s hand with his claws, his only thought to free himself. The angel lets out a screech and drops him. Blood flies from the wound as he shakes his hand. Nur ducks, grabs the torch and tries to clamber past the hulking figure.

Another hand on his collar pulls him up short. He twists and swipes the torch toward the angel, earning himself a shake. The creature handles him like a chimera taking down a dog, and for the first time a bolt of real fear slams into him.

“I don’t have your treasure!” he snarls, twisting again, his feet barely touching the ground.

The world spins and Nur hits the wall. Something cracks. He slides to the ground with no breath left in his lungs to yell, a sudden sharp pain in his left lung. In the corner of his eye the sentinel angel stumbles over to his abandoned pack on the floor and begins to rifle through it with clumsy fingers.

The bond flares to life and Nur knows with certainty Arsene is behind the door and he’s conscious.Not now,he begs.Stay hidden. Stay safe.

“Where! Whhheeere!” the angel roars, hurling the bag.

He shuts his eyes briefly, gasping for breath. The same stabbing pain attacks him. He groans. The angel ignores him—he seems to have turned his attention toward the door. Nur’s stomach twists.Does he know Arsene is there?

The angel’s fist rises. It lands on the door with a thundering rattle that makes the ground shake. The metal bows under each blow.

“Where!”

Again.

“It…is…mine!”

Again, and again.

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