Page 33 of Wings of Strife
Holy shit! I can make more fucking blades!
“That must have been what I did at the well when those demons turned to ash. It sure as hell would have come in handy earlier, say before I got fucking stabbed, though.”
“Hey,” Theo says, placing a comforting hand on my arm. “We can’t change the past. We can only move forward.”
He’s right. I can’t do anything about the things that have already happened. I can only look ahead, and maybe, if I can create more sunfire imbued weapons, then we’ll stand a fighting chance in winning this war with demons.
“How good are the chances that someone here knows how I can do the whole harness and imbuing thing?”
“Not so fast,” Castiel says before anyone else can speak. “We need to be careful.”
“Be careful?” Zeke scoffs. “We’re at war with demons and we’relosing. Things are so bad some of our own kind are ontheirside. The time for being careful has long since passed.”
Castiel sighs. “Acting rashly won’t help you win any wars, Ezekiel. In fact, doing so will most likely get you killed. I’m not saying you shouldn’t make those weapons, but you don’t yet have all the facts.”
I shoot Zeke a look, hoping he’ll get the hint and just chill the fuck out for a minute. “What can you tell us?”
“God believed those sunfire imbued weapons could harm more than just demons. From what I’ve heard, he was positive that if they were infused with enough sunfire, they could harm even him.”
Theo grimaces. “So what you’re saying is if this information gets into the wrong hands, or even makes its way to the Archangels, they might have the same reaction as God did.”
I shrug, not having heard enough to keep me from at least trying. “Then we keep doing what we’ve been doing and be discreet. I agree that it’s risky, but if I have even a sliver of a chance to help us fight back against the demons, I’m going to do it. We all saw what those creatures did to the students at SCU, and I know firsthand what their deadly blades can do to us. I’m a lot of things, but a coward isn’t one of them.”
Zeke, who had been silently pacing, stops. “I agree with Hayliel. And when you succeed in making more blades, we can’t just waltz in and supply the guild with some. Not until we figure out who the mole is and just how much leverage they have.”
“Wait. There’s a mole in the guild?” Mira asks, looking alarmed.
Castiel raises an eyebrow, realizing he and Mira are the only two who seem surprised. “This is news to me as well.”
I slap my hand to my forehead. Whoops. I guess we never really spilled the beans, did we? “Sorry. With so much having happened, we must have missed filling you in. The short story is that demons and angels are working together, though the cause for their partnership is undetermined. We know the guild is involved because of conversations we overheard between a demon and an unknown angel, though we suspected it before then.”
“And during the attack at SCU, one of the guild’s secret armories was broken into, and that’s pretty much impossible to do without someone on the inside,” Zeke adds.
I rack my brain, trying to determine if that’s the gist of everything we’ve been through so far, but it’s too hard to tell.
“Well shit. That’s not good.” Mira laughs. “How the hell are any of you passing classes with all of this going on?”
“By the skin of our teeth,” Dina says dryly.
“This is grave indeed and might explain why the guild was less than helpful during the attack,” Castiel adds, looking concerned.
Zeke nods. “That’s my suspicion as well. I assume whoever the mole is paid several angels to make fake reports and clog up the call systems. It’s why when I called my father, or even Lieutenant Azrael, no one answered. Apparently, everyone was seeing demons that day.”
I shudder at the thought, not wanting to relive that awful day on campus. Sure, it might have brought my transformation on and finally led me to know what I am—something I still can’t believe to be true—but it still haunts me.
Mira looks like her mind is a million miles away, so I’m surprised when she speaks. “Knowing all of this, I have to agree with Hayliel on creating those blades. Does that mean you can summon sunfire at will, or? How does that work?”
I wince, not wanting to admit defeat, but knowing I can’t lie. “I, uh … haven’t quite figured that bit out yet. It happened once, but honestly, I thought the transformation itself was the cause.”
“Hey,” Raphael says, pulling me in for a quick hug and placing a quick kiss on my forehead. “We’ve uncovered another piece of the puzzle now. You’ll figure it out in no time, sunshine. Just you wait.”
“Speaking of figuring things out,” Castiel says, “Have you attempted to connect through your mental channels yet?”
My cheeks flame as I think about what me and the guys were doing when we discovered the mental pathways were unblocked. I sure as shit won’t tell Castiel it was during a three-way in the weaponry building.
To make matters worse, Dina jumps on the questioning train, and all I want to do is hide. “Wait, it’s back? When did this happen?”
“Yeah,” I damn near squeak. “The other day.”
