Page 81 of Wings of Torment
I never make it to the blade.
He rushes forward and wraps his arm around me in a way that could almost be considered an embrace. Except I don’t feel safe or loved.
I only feel pain.
It erupts in my shoulder, my side, my back. My lungs struggle to draw in oxygen, and I fear my lungs might give out. A burning heat weaves its way through my veins until it feels like I’ve swallowed the sun. Something ignites deep in my chest until all I am is fiery pain.
“Dead little angels don’t have power, do they?” the scarred demon whispers in my ear before he drops me, and I sink to my knees.
My chin falls down, and I catch sight of something sticking out of my shoulder.
A blade.
Is this what hurt me?
As the excruciating pain builds within me, I only stare at it. The intricately detailed handle holds me in a trance. Along thehilt are runes, and sitting at the very top is a gorgeous black orb swirling with red.
How can something so beautiful cause so much pain?
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Iblock an attack from the left, then whirl around to avoid incoming claws from the right. My blade buries into the chest of my attacker, but even though he’s down for now, he’s not dead.
Having the Guild show up and fight at our side is a fucking blessing. With our measly weapons, we wouldn’t have lasted much longer. I mean, shit, Raph and I are already wounded. Ezekiel looks as calm as ever, but he can’t hide the blood seeping through his shirt. Hayliel, my bright firefly, fights like a warrior. Her strength and determination fuel my own, and when I saw a demon fuckingbitingher, I almost lost it. None of us are getting out of this unscathed.
It could be worse, though. They fight us with claws and teeth and brute strength. All things that can harm us, sure. But theycan’t kill us. And none of the demons seem to hold the angel blade that can carve us from this world.
Sounds of the snarling beasts threaten to take me under, to paralyze me and send me back in the past, but I fight against it. I’ve already had to rely on my friends far more than I care to admit tonight, and I don’t want to make it any worse.
If only it were that easy.
A female voice shouts in pain from behind me, and suddenly I’m tumbling back in time. I turn toward the noise, but my vision turns fuzzy. The view before me of a Guild member and a demon locked in combat shifts. I no longer stand on an open field. Below me is the asphalt in the skate park. And a few feet away from me is my old friend, bleeding out beneath the angry demon stabbing her to death.
I blink and it’s gone, shifted back into the field.
Everything is blurry, but I can still see the demon approaching with lustful hatred in its eyes.
I should move. Bring up my weapon. Something! But my limbs no longer want to cooperate. Regardless of how hard I try, my body won’t listen, so I do the only thing I can do. Prepare myself for pain.
Zeke rushing toward my attacker, taking its focus off me, penetrates the fog of my vision. Then the calming voice of the man who’s saved me from myself far too many times.
“Come back to us,” he says, turning me around to face him. His hands are warm against mine, grimy with a mixture of black and red blood, but warm.
“Raph,” I croak out, willing my mind to get it together.
“I’m here. We aren’t in that skatepark. We’re in an open field close to Guild headquarters, remember? It’s not exactly safe, but we need you for a little longer, Theo. The Guild is here to help, but we need you too.”
With my eyes closed, I breathe in and out, letting his touch ground me. Sounds become sharper, and when I open my eyes, the world is no longer fuzzy.
Around us, demons take to the sky, flying off in all different directions and carrying their injured with them.
“They’re leaving.”
Ezekiel is talking nearby, but my mind is still too fucked up to make out what he’s saying.
“They must have finally realized they had no shot at winning,” Raphael adds, still assessing me closely. His eyes travel over my wounds, just like I’m doing for him.
But nothing makes sense. Everything that I know about these creatures leads me to believe that they don’t give up. And despite the Guild being here, not a single demon actually died a true death. That doesn’t really scream defeat.
