Page 7 of Grave Revelations

“You could heal yourself.”

“What do you mean?” she choked out.

“You and the other witches were playing with your gifts, were you not?”

She rolled her eyes. “What did I say about straight answers?”

Azazel stood, holding his hand out to her. “Come, the temperature is dropping. Let me get you somewhere warm where we can continue this conversation.”

She released her hold on her foot and stood, placing weight on it experimentally.

Azazel bent, scooping her into his arms.

“Hey! Put me down!” she shrieked, slinging curses at him as he lifted from the ground, his inky, insubstantial wings beating overhead.

She tilted her head back, staring at them. “How do they hold us up when they aren’t solid?”

“How does a demon levitate?”

She scowled, dropping her gaze, and risked a glance over her shoulder. Her stomach flipped as she took in the tiny green dots far below, too small to make out, and squeezed her eyes shut, curving against his chest.

A rumbling sound, suspiciously like a purr, rolled across her back.

The biting chill of rapidly cooling air made her thighs tingle. She could get no warmth from the body partially shielding her from the wind’s chill, and soon, her teeth were chattering.

“Hold tight, Light. We’re close.”

Rebecca’s eyes snapped open as they landed hard. She glanced around at an unfamiliar patch of mountain surrounded on three sides by a dense copse of pine trees and on the fourth by sparkling cerulean.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“Slight complication. We’re going to have to stay here for the night.”

She stared at him as he spun in a circle, surveying the landscape. Apart from the dark swirls curling over his skin and the massive wispy wings reaching into the tree branches, he seemed like the Gabriel Allie had spent time with, if less reserved and a lot more naked.

Perhaps he wasn’t as demon-like as she’d first thought.

He sent his hand down, and roots burst from the ground, forming a solid cane.

“It’s likemyearth magic,” Rebecca remarked.

“I did say witches were born of seraph blood.”

“No, you didn’t. You asked me where I thought witches came from.”

Azazel arched one dark brow. “You have a brain, Rebecca. I’ve seen you use it many times in your long life.”

She gasped. “You’ve been watching me even before Allie’s life?”

“Come, let's get out of the cold.” He handed her the cane he’d made, and she took it, leaning against it to lighten some of the weight from her sore foot.

Before long, he’d outpaced her by a good distance, and she stopped, catching her breath. When he kept walking, she froze, darting her gaze from side to side. Could she escape him now? She took one step sideways, tucking herself behind a wide tree, and held her breath.

She heard no sounds of feet crunching over broken branches, but perhaps he was too far away.

“Will you fight me forever?”

She jumped, spinning to find him standing behind her. She lifted her chin, squaring her shoulders. “Where are you taking me?”

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