Page 58 of Wings of Valor
Hayliel pinches her brow, clearly frustrated. “I’m sorry, but as great as it would be to blow up their little fucking den, I’m not leaving without doing what I came here for—treason or not. And I don’t give a shit what that fucks up for the Archangels.”
Kirach nods. “I’m in agreement with you.”
“Then we split up.” Castiel steps forward, then taps Mira’s and Raphael’s shoulders. “The three of us will take the explosives and set as many as we can in the time we have left, while you”—he points to Hayliel, Kirach, and myself—“go save our friends.”
I’m a little hurt that he left me off his team, but deep down, I understand why. With demons around, I’m a liability. And a liability with a bunch of explosives isn’t a great mix. He needs angels around him he can trust to keep their shit together, and unfortunately, my track record for not falling apart isn’t too great.
“As much as I hate to split up, he’s right,” Raph adds, taking Hayliel’s hand and placing a kiss there.
“Fine, but who’s responsible for the asshole?” Hayliel asks, glancing toward Darok.
“We’ll handle it and find you at the extraction point. Now go get you your man.” Mira shoos us away. She doesn’t need to tell us twice.
We speedwalk down a hallway and around a corner until we find the stairs that lead deeper down into the bunker. Despite our best efforts, they creak as we descend, but with our new deadline, we can’t tiptoe around. There’s no fucking time to slow down.
Bastards.
At the bottom of the stairs is a long corridor. The room we need to get to is near the end, just before another hallway that will lead to our escape. But guarding that door is another fucking demon. What the hell did Auriel offer them? From everything I’ve ever read about demons, they don’t serve anyone but themselves and the demon king, so why are they acting as guard dogs for an Archangel?
The demon spots us quickly, but Hayliel and Kirach are already racing toward the creature with their weapons raised. I step forward, preparing to join the fray, but something distracts me. There, in the corner of my eye, down another passageway, I swear I see him.
The demon that killed Serah.
I blink, and he’s gone.
My field of vision narrows, and everything shifts. I saw him, didn’t I? That wasn’t a figment of my imagination. I have to go after him. He must pay for what he took from me—for what he took from Serah.
“Theo?” someone calls, but I don’t look to see who it is or what they want.
The moment I’ve spent my life training for can be mine if I just go. The fucker can’t have gotten very far. Ijustsaw him.
Theo.
I feel her. My firefly. She pours her love for me down the mental pathway we share, jolting me out of the haze of revenge. Now I have a tough choice to make. Do I go after the demon I’ve wanted to kill since I was just a teen, or stick with the plan?
One serves as vengeance for a dead friend, while the other serves the lives of the living.
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Theo.
I don’t know why he stopped. Is it a panic attack? Another flashback? I can’t check on him until we defeat these fucking assholes.
What we thought was one demon turned out to be two. The first was easy to dispatch. All it took was Kirach’s quick reflexes and one strike to turn him to dust. But this fucker? He won’t go down.
I barely avoid the swipe of his claw and manage to graze him with my imbued blade. He screeches as he backs up a step, his eyes darting between the two of us. Then he just leaves.
My gaze swivels to Kirach, who looks just as confused as I am. Why the hell would he run away? The asshole could have easily taken us both on.
“Come on,” he says. “We don’t know if they ran off for reinforcements, and I don’t particularly want to be here to find out.”
And we’re running out of time on the damn fucking explosives.
I turn to check on Theo, but he’s already at my side.Is everything okay?
I’m certain I saw Serah’s killer just now and almost went after him, but that’s not what we’re here for.
From the emotion pouring through our connection, I know it took a lot for him to make that choice.We’ll make him pay, Theo. I promise you. Thank you for coming back to me.
