Page 26 of Fated Angel

Colt

Colt uses his body to block the passageway in front of him as he’s led towards their purchase. He can feel Gabby close behind him, and although he can’t see him, he knows Nathaniel is nearby as well. Gabby is buzzing with energy, her movements quick and jerky as they make their way deeper into the bazaar.

After the purchases were made, Asher’s cage was removed from the premises for everyone’s safety. According to the auctioneer now before them, their prize is deeper within the ground and they must follow him to collect it.

Try as Colt might, the deeper they get into the abyss of this magical city, the more he feels like this may be a trap. He turns, sharing a concerned look with Gabby. She nods as she worries her bottom lip with her teeth. She can sense it too. Colt looks from her eyes to her bag, and obediently Gabby’s hand slips inside. He can see the muscles in her forearm stiffen as she grabs the spear and readies herself to fight. Colt resists the urge to spread his wings defensively. They need this auctioneer alive, at least until they have Asher in sight.

Finally, the hallway opens up to an expansive room with a river running through it. There’s a ship on the dark, still water, and Colt freezes in place when he sees cult members loading Asher onto the ship.

“What the hell is this?” Colt snarls.

The auctioneer turns on him with a flourish. The man grins, rotten yellow teeth flashing, and he begins a chant.

“We’ve been set up!” Gabby snarls, ducking underneath Colt’s legs and driving the spear into the warlock’s chest.

“Two birds with one stone, right? Or in my case, an angel and a demon?” a woman in robes says as she steps on the gangplank of this ship and begins walking towards them as if she hasn’t a worry in the world. “I’ve been waiting for this for a long, long time…”

She throws her robes back, revealing tight leather over bronze skin. Her clawed fingers curl as she rises from the ground, an incantation slipping from her ruby lips.

“A witch!” Colt shouts, flinging his wings out defensively to guard Gabby.

“She doesn’t stand a chance,” Gabby hisses between clenched teeth, then taking to the air.

The witch finishes her spell and hurls a ball of fire at Colt and Gabby. They watch it come as if in slow motion, and right as it’s about to hit, they move to the side and let the ball fly through them as if it was never a danger at all.

“Is that all you have?” Colt spits.

The witch’s face contorts in fury. She launches fireball after fireball at them with no luck. Cult members begin running off the ship, flanking her. Some have swords and some have guns, but none of them stand a chance. There comes a roar of anger from where the river leads out, and Colt grins as Nathanial flies in on his alabaster wings and shoots his own fire down on the enemy.

“Let’s finish this,” Gabby snarls as she dives into the men and spins. She flies through the crowd of cult members like a cannonball, throwing them to the ground in a screaming mess.

Colt meets the witch’s gaze, and her fury is embodied in her dark aura. “You will never win, even if we die today, even if you get the last stone?—”

Colt flies forward and silences the witch with a hand on her throat. He squeezes, smiling into her face. “If we have all the stones, all you are is defeated, which means we win.”

“Foolish demon, the stones are just half the battle!”

Colt’s eyes narrow at her words. He relaxes his hand, deciding to keep her alive for a little longer.

“Why do you hesitate?” Nathaniel snarls. He swoops down and impales his heavenly sword through the witch’s chest from behind. “We don’t have time for this. We have to get Asher to Gabriel!”

“Nathaniel!” Colt roars. “These people know something we don't! We can’t keep killing them!”

“Anything they have up their sleeve will amount to nothing with the power of the Heavens against them,” Nathaniel says arrogantly, then turns to slay more of the cult members.

Colt glowers at him, diving towards Gabby and coming up to guard her back. “There’s something we’re not seeing,” he warns her as his own demonic sword is summoned to his hand and he hacks and slashes at the remaining cult members.

“There’s always something that we don’t know, Colt. We have to focus on the things we do. We know where the last shard of the obsidian is, and we know Asher is on that ship.”

Colt and Gabby spin as one, ending the last of the men near them and spinning into each other's arms. They still in midair, gazing at each other. The last shard is theirs. Before either can speak, a roar of fury echoes from the bowels of the ship.

“Asher,” Gabby says, her gaze tearing away from Colt’s and falling on the ship.

“Let’s get what we came here for, shall we?” Nathaniel asks from the air.

Colt looks around—the ground is littered with bodies. The sounds of battle have faded to nothing. They’ve killed them all, and the only thing standing in the way of them claiming the last shard is a bit of wood and a shapeshifter it’s holding.

“Do we have any idea at all who this guy is?” Gabby asks, taking the first step onto the ship.

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