Page 65 of Conflicted

“Free will?” I hissed, flying up to him. “Was it theirfree willthat caused a crane to fall on them?”

Micah’s throat bobbed. “No, but?—”

“Butnothing.There are people suffering and dying down there, Micah. I don’t give a flying fuck what Heaven says you’re supposed to do.” Grabbing his collar, I shook him. “Wake up, Micah. Stop doing what you’re told, and do the right thing. The thing I know youwantto do.”

My words seemed to unlock something in him, and the fog of indecision cleared. “Fuck. You’re right.”

He wrenched out of my arms and plummeted towards the ground. His hand tapped at his watch a few times, hopefully notifying the Seraphim. We were going to need all the help we could get. Grabbing my phone from my pocket as we flew, I sent an SOS to the group chat.

In the distance, sirens sounded. My stomach flipped. There were too few. They were going to be too late.

They already were for so many.

We shot straight through the cavern, landing on top of a crumpled mass of metal. The white, red, and blue paint was all that remained to show it was a tube train.

“Flames, Nox,” Micah roared, pulling the roof of the train open with his bare hands. “Douse it.”

I unleashed my power, killing the flames instantly. Once the smoke cleared, I could see the true scale of the tragedy.

As Micah and I went to work, pulling people from the wreckage, my brain went into protection mode. Everything was a blur as I focused on nothing but going from helping this person to the next.

Small moments stood out amongst the haze. Angels landing on all sides, their faces grim as they went to work. A dust-covered woman cupping another woman’s face, pleading with her to wake. An elderly man pressing a kiss to my knuckles as I deposited him outside an ambulance. Dahlia carrying a dazed child from the cavern, reuniting him with his weeping mother.

When we’d done all we could to help the people on the train line, we took to the skies as one. The crane had cut a clear path through the building it had hit, whole floors now open to the elements. We checked each floor, rescuing anyone who was trapped. We focused on those who were alive, leaving the bodies to the humans to recover.

The air was thick with compulsion nets, all of us using them to make sure our aid went undetected, that those we saved forgot quickly.

One of the Seraphim, Rami, was apparently gifted with healing powers. He’d set up a triage station on the ground, working to save those who were on the brink of death. Sweat was pouring off him, his powers flickering, but he didn’t stop. He didn’t complain. He just kept going.

The same way we all did.

I was just dropping a young woman off with him when I felt a familiar presence at my back. “Nox?”

Spinning around, I grabbed Darius in a crushing hug. “You came.”

“Course I did,” he said gruffly. “I’ll always come if any of you call, no matter how far away I am.”

My throat thickened at his words. Like the rest of us, his loyalty wasn’t easy to win. Once you did though, you could count on Darius for anything. “I’ve seen Dahlia, is anyone else here?”

Darius nodded, his black hair falling around his face like ink in a pool. “Jeremiah’s here somewhere. Quill too.”

My brows shot up. “Quill’s here?”

Darius pointed at where the counterweight was. “Yep. He’s dismantling the crane so more rescue vehicles can get through.”

Sure enough, I found him amongst the chaos. He was pulling the metal struts apart, moving them to the side to clear a path. There was a vaguely familiar angel with lilac hair at his side—one of the twins, I believed.

“How?” I said in shock. “We haven’t been able to get him to leave the house since we arrived.”

“Guess this was urgent enough to get him over it.” Darius shrugged.

I took in the tight lines around Quill’s eyes, the slight shake in his hands. This emergency might’ve got him outside of the house, but I’d wager he was far fromover it.

“There’s enough sin here to recharge him though. Fucker looked half dead when he arrived.”

That was true, although with the power he was exerting, it wouldn’t last long. That was the thing about disasters such as this one—they brought out the very best and worst in humanity. For every person helping another to get help, there were two more willing to sacrifice others to save themselves. There were even fuckers looting the shops nearby, stepping over bodies to grab whatever they could.

“So…angels, huh? Is it a coincidence that they’re here at the same time as us?”

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