Page 29 of Give a Devil his Due
Wait, what?
I almost drop off the roof when I yank myself closer to look at the shattered window. My hair slaps my face, and I rip it aside with enough force to make my scalp tingle. With my heart in my throat, I stare frozen at the carriage where shards are sprinkled on the floor, and between two rows of fabric-adorned seats, a boot sticks out like a beacon. My happiness turns to terror when I take note of all the blood there, and around the jagged pieces sticking out like the hungry jaw of a shark from the broken window.
My head whips back to show Satanael that we might’ve found the Archangel, and the forced smile freezes on my face. Now that I’m almost dangling on the side of the cursed train, I see three more bodies lined up behind Beelzebub. George jumped, too? The tears that have been threatening to fall trickle down my cheeks.
Satanael taps on my foot, probably wondering what we are doing. Mind spinning with one idea after another, I stare at him because none of them seem possible. I’m small enough to slide down and hopefully jump through the hole where the window was busted open, but none of them can follow. Well, maybe George, but I’d rather not test that theory. The train doesn’t look like it’s planning to stop anytime soon either, and if this was deliberately done like Eric suggested, it’ll continue until we hit something at the end and explode, dying in flames of glory for all I know.
No, we have to jump off, but not without Raphael.If that is Raphael, girl, IF,a dumb voice drawls, but I shove it away.
Mind made up, I wiggle around until my head is facing Satanael’s. Shuffling closer until my mouth is level with his ear, I yell from the top of my lungs. “We need to jump off before it reaches the end of the rail tracks. It’s not stopping.” Unnecessarily, I explain something so obvious. I mean, there is not a soul inside that train. “I’m going to slide inside through the broken window before we pass the next station. If that’s Raphael, I will push him out first.” I have absolutely no idea how I’m going to lift and throw the Archangel. “If I don’t have time to jump, I’ll wait until the next one. Meet me there?”
Pulling back, I lock gazes with him.
My father searches my face, his jaw set. I can see all the arguments he wants to throw my way because they flicker through his irises fast enough to make me feel dizzy. Since I have no clue how much longer we have to go before the big bang, I nod once and start turning away from him. He will listen or not, and there is nothing I can do about it now. Fingers crossed, he will at least tell the others.
I agreed to this insanity and searching in the hopes we’d find my mother. As pathetic as that sounds. I never agreed to lose anyone in the process, and I’ll be damned if I tuck tail—literally—and sulk without fighting to the last moment for any of them. The Fates gave not just Eric but Raphael to me as well. Resembling a spider, I spin until facing forward, pausing yet again.
Shouldn’t I have felt it if the train killed the Archangel?
There is a hollow void in my chest, yes, but that may just be from the thought of never seeing him again. My body hurts in places I never knew existed, but that can be explained since I jumped on a moving fucking train. Shaking my head, I push that aside, too.
I’m just wasting time.
Swallowing thickly, I don’t give myself time to overthink things. As soon as I’m level with the broken window, I swing my legs to the side and slide down the body of the train until the tips of my boots catch the sill of the shattered glass. Muscles twitching and frozen, I take a deep breath and jerk as hard as I can forward with my hips, almost bending backwards before toppling inside the empty carriage.
A ferocious roar echoes from the outside, rattling the still standing windows.
My head pops up, and I lock my eyes on golden ones that are way too muted for my liking. Eric can be pissed all he wants.
I found Raphael, and he is alive.
For now.
Eric
I’m going to kill her.
Me. I will personally wrap my fingers around her neck and twist until I pop the sense back into her head. My chest still aches for the Archangel, too. Besides how much he means to her, I came to terms with having him around all the time. I don’t like it, but …
I tolerate it for her sake.
Be that as it may, I’m not willing to place Helena’s life on the line for anyone, east of all for the Archangel. But does she care what I think?
Of course not.
“She will get Raphael and push him off on the next station. She’s the only one that can fit. We jump.” Beelzebub roars in my ear, and I glare at him. Like fuck I’m jumping anywhere while my mate is inside a metal contraption headed for destruction. “Tell the others.” With that, he flops around and edges to the side, preparing for it.
Jaw clenched hard enough my molars hurt, I turn to tell my twin to jump, and my eyebrows crawl to my hairline when the human scrambles on top of Colt to hear what I have to say. Repeating what Beelzebub told me, I have no energy to jab at my brother about the situation. His comment stops me, however.
“You are not jumping.” It’s a statement, not a question, so I hold his gaze. “I’ll stay, too.”
“Me too,” the human yells, as well, with a stubborn tilt to his chin, though the wind swallows his voice.
I like him.
Colt sucks in a sharp breath, and I jerk my head over my shoulder just in time to see Helena swing her legs off the train. Terror I’ve never known clamps my chest and squeezes until I fully expect my ribcage to burst. It was not enough to die inside when the speed train carried her away while I pretended to be a sardine in a maintenance closet, but now she wants me to watch her do suicidal stunts a second time and not do anything about it.
Dragging myself to the edge, I peer down at the space between the moving contraption and the railing, cursing up a storm when I confirm there is no way for me to dangle like her without having half of my body shredded in half.
