Page 22 of The Fallen

?Once again, he felt a threat coming from the opposite direction. He turned to catch a metal arrow, coming for him, in midair. He threw the arrow down when it started to burn his skin. He concentrated on that direction, still feeling for the other enemy. This wasn't working.

?“Marie!” he yelled once more.

?She finally stirred and tried to lift herself up. Her elbows were wobbling, but she managed to get up on her knees.

?“We have to get out of here. I need you to fight through this and make it to the truck. Can you do that?”

?She shook her head and balanced herself on the door knob. She pulled up on it and finally stood.

?“When I say go, get to the truck as fast as you can and get in the floorboard,” he said.

?She nodded.

?The throwing stars continued to come down on them heavy. Brenton kept swatting them down with the fire. Then, in an instant, the assault ceased and he didn't waste any time.

?“Marie, go now,” he yelled and she took off running as fast as she could.

?He still had his guard up, trying to maintain the fire before it went out. He walked down the steps, scanning the area for danger, until he saw Marie fall out of the corner of his eye. She laid there, face in the dirt.

?Something was blocking the sun, he looked up and realized it was thousands of daggers coming over the wall of sand, headed for Marie.

?Rage coursed through him and flames danced before his eyes. He felt like everything was going in slow motion as he let the rage take over. He didn't think about what needed to happen next, he released the angel side and went with it.

?He went into hyper speed and snatched Marie, threw her over his shoulder and took off. He was in the middle of the sand trap when he realized it was starting to crumble around them. A large boulder fell in front of him, almost pummeling them. He skirted around it and tried to regain speed. It seem like the road went on forever.

?Marie was unconscious again and he struggled to keep her up. His momentum was waning quickly. Knives were still coming down out of nowhere, but he kept running; his eyes stinging from the sand. He decided to stop trying to focus on where the threat was coming from and get help.

?He finally made it out of the sand trap and was back in the desert. This wide open space made it easier for them to get killed. He could sense the angels were still following, but he couldn't see them.

?He called on Micheal and let him know they were in trouble. He let Micheal search his mind to see what happened and where they were. He let go of the connection as quickly as possible to focus on running.

?He ducked and dodged knife after knife while holding Marie up. He finally decided to redirect his path. He circled back and headed for the mountains to have some kind of cover.

?Just as he got closer to the mouth of the forest, thunder crossed the sky, clouds rolled and he knew Micheal was making a grand entrance. The wind picked up and blew sand all around them. Brenton could finally rest easy.

?A cloud was traveling quickly toward them, then Micheal shot out of it like a bullet. Brenton took Marie off his shoulder and cradled her in both arms.

?“You call for air service?” Micheal said laughing.

?“Whatever man, just get us back to Marie's house.”

?Micheal's eyes darted to the left of them, he took a deep breath in and blew it out slow, “It's DeMar and Shaniece, Azazel's descendants, we have to get out now.”

?Before Brenton could come back with a snappy comment, he flew around them so fast, he looked like a blur, a smudge against a page and they vanished in thin air.

?They crashed in Marie's room like a whirlwind; the room was in massive disarray. Brenton laid Marie on the bed and fell to the floor. Renea burst through the door, eyes hysterical and ran straight to Marie's side.

?They filled her in on what happened and explained that Marie would be okay. She just needed to get past the fever.

?“Why didn't you call me in the first place?” Micheal asked.

?“I had it under control. If Marie wasn't sick, we could have taken both of them,” Brenton replied defensively.

?“Still trying to prove something, huh? How many times have I told you, we work as a team, that is our greatest defense. You have so much to learn.”

?“That doesn't matter now. Are you sure those were Azazel's people?

?“Yeah, I'm sure. I could smell the celestial metal in the air. And the fact they were using celestial weapons means they were shooting to kill,” Micheal answered.

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