Page 28 of Give a Devil his Due
“It’s a maintenance closet,” Eric snarls.
I don’t waste time because we have none left. “You get inside. Hurry. George and I will be okay.” My hunter friend nods and squeezes his eyes shut again.
Eric protests, threatening everyone to get them to move out of his way, but luckily, they trust me more than he does. Asshole. Beelzebub and Satanael squeeze inside, too, and I shove Raphael’s back to get him to move faster. At the added resistance, I poke my head around him, and I want to die the same instant. My father’s back is peeking out of the door.
There is no room for the Archangel.
Tears drip over my cheeks, burning a trail across my cold skin. My hair whips around my face when Raphael flips, pressing me on the wall with his chest. The train shrieks around the corner, creating a vacuum of cold air that swirls around us, and there is nothing I can do to stop what’s about to happen.
My face tilts up, and my eyes lock on the warm glow of the Archangel’s golden one’s.
There are so many emotions there that they still whatever air I have left in my lungs. Till the last moment, he stands in front of me to protect me with his body, as well as his life.
Ducking his head, Raphael presses his warm, soft lips on my forehead.
Then he is gone.
Ripped from me forever.
Helena
Rage.
All I feel is rage, and it drowns out everything. The fear, heartache, and sorrow all evaporates the way the shrieking wind blasting around me dries my tears. My scream is ripped from the very center of my soul, and it rises higher than the thundering of the passing train. In the reflection of the streaking windows, a stranger has her mouth open on a silent shout.
Her blonde hair dances around her head with flames flickering at the tips, and the red horns match the fire perfectly. A golden glow transforms her skin and makes it translucent, and the same flames, only a deeper red, swirl under it like a living thing. Her green eyes are lit like lanterns, wide and lost. It’s in a split second that I see her, and a new wave of rage blasts through me.
I have no idea what I’m doing when my fingers brush against Satanael’s back, and his head tilts back just enough for him to see me from the corner of his eye. My chin jerks at the still passing train, and my father gives me a sharp nod.
With one deep breath, I bend my knees and jump.
With one arm outstretched, I latch onto the protruding metal on the side of the train, my body crushing to it so harshly my grunt is lost in the shrieking wind around my ears. Brain numbing pain spreads over my shoulder, the damn thing nearly ripping my arm off when I plaster myself on it. A second after my body smacked it like a bug splattering a windshield, I feel another thump behind me, this one much stronger than my weight smacking on the metal. A few more follow.
Fingers aching, I claw my way to the top of the train, refusing to think that Raphael is dead or about what Eric will say about me throwing myself at the moving monstrosity the way I did. All my limbs shake from the effort when I sprawl on my back on the roof, panting and gasping. Raising only my head, I look down my body to find Satanael hugging the train with a feral grin on his face.
Darting my gaze over his bulky shoulders, I see Beelzebub’s snarl and his bright, feverish red eyes. He nods when he sees me watching him. I guess the three of us are going to play Indiana Johns. I’ll deal with Eric later after I make sure that … what? That Raphael is dead?
I refuse to think about anything right now.
Flipping on my belly, I start snaking up the length of the train. Hand over hand, my boots scrape the metal as I push myself toward the front. It felt like a couple of seconds between the Archangel being snatched away and me jumping, but I have more than half of the train length to crawl to reach my destination. My father and Beelzebub keep pace, and Satanael’s head bumps the sole of my boot a few times.
With all the noise, there’s no way for me to ask if they saw what happened. Did the front of the train catch Raphael and pull him in, or was it the side? No matter what, I have to see for myself. Or maybe I just couldn’t stay back and see pieces of his body and puddles of his blood left in the wake of the cursed train.
Occasionally, I pause and stick my head to the side, eyeing the length to check for anything. A blurred ground and wall meets my eyes, but that is it. Tears burn the back of my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall. I will not cry for him until the last moment, until I know without a shadow of a doubt that he is gone.
He can’t be gone.
I cling to that with all I have.
My progress is slow. Much slower than I like, but I keep going. The others follow behind me, and I promise myself that when this is over, I will give Satanael the biggest hug of his very long life for having my back, no matter how foolish I’m being. Bright lights blind me twice as the train zips through two stations, and I still haven’t reached the front.
Raphael’s parting gaze looms in the back of my mind like an added weight, pressing me to the roof of the train and making me sluggish. My nails break while I claw my way forward, but I’ll reach my destination if it’s the last thing I do. Lost in my head, it takes me a second to realize I’m no longer sliding because a hand is holding my ankle.
Lifting my face off the metal, I look down the length of my body at Satanael. A jolt passes through my inside at his animated face, and I watch dumbly as he points to the side of the train repeatedly. Shit scared to look but wanting to see with all I am, I take hold of the edge and drag myself to the side.
There is nothing but the blurred line of the ground.
My glare will melt Satanael’s face if it’s possible, but my father only shakes his head and stabs his finger at the side of the train again. Grinding my teeth, I peer over the edge one more time, avoiding looking all the way down. The useless hope that spears me dwindles the longer I stare with nothing to show for it. It’s just a fucking train. Metal slabs put together, stupid wheels casting sparks occasionally, a line of freaking windows with one of them broken, and nothing else. No …
