Page 48 of A Shadow in the Reaping
It's really fucking cool.
See also,FUCKING TERRIFYING.
That thing vibrates with power. You can feel it from a distance. Like a hum in the air, the buzz of static before a storm.
I draw my dagger and turn to Ashen, making a stabby motion and mouthingkill, kill, killwith a menacing smile.
"No fucking way," he whispers.
Come on, I whisper soundlessly.It'll be fun.
"I do not agree with your assessment offun."
I give him a pout and my saddest puppy eyes and Ashen smirks in response. His gaze lingers on my lips when my expression collapses into a smile. I can feel the heat of his gaze tingling in my skin. We're so close in the sand that our legs touch as we huddle behind the stone. It would take barely any movement at all to lean forward and press my lips to his. I see him swallow and I wonder if he's thinking the same thing.
There's a flash of light so bright I'm not sure if a star hasn't exploded in front of my eyes. I'm pushed into the sand. I scramble to find my bearings but I can't see. It's gone from bright light to utter blackness. I smell tobacco and ink. The blindness of the flash fades just enough that I can see my fingers in the sand. I'm covered with smoke.
"Stand down,anunnaki," I hear Ashen say. He is not fucking around. I can hear the ripple of fire on his sword as the blade scorches the desert air.
"I have no quarrel with you, demon," a deep voice says. "I am merely curious."
"Curiosity fulfilled. Now leave," Ashen says.
I push myself up to stand behind Ashen, mykaikenready in my hand. The angel is perched in his bare feet on the stone we were just hiding behind. Ashen glances over his shoulder at me. A streak of worry flashes in the fire of his eyes and he turns back to the angel, raising his blade.
"So, it is true. Werewolves making hybrids. Vampires saving Reapers. The Living Realm crumbles before my very eyes," the angel says. I can't see his face behind the veil, but I hear the mockery in his voice as he turns his head toward me. This outfit of his is very haute couture with his weird, shroud-like veil. It's like he's cosplaying a mummy in Chanel.
Ashen moves his free hand behind him, trying to push me further back into his shadow. "You know about the poison."
"Of course."
"Who gave it to the wolves?"
"I have some ideas."
"Care to share?"
"No."
The three of us stand, unmoving and uncomfortably silent. I have a super inappropriate urge to start dancing, or maybe make fart noises. The angel tilts his head as he looks at me and I try to subdue the smirk that's creeping across my face.
The angel raises a gloved hand and points.
"They need one like her to make another. She would be safer in our realm," he says.
Hellfire surges across Ashen's blade. "No."
The angel draws his arm down. His wings stretch behind him and he stands to his full height on the stone. "Suit yourself, demon. It will be your own demise,” he says. With a flash of light and movement and a crack of sound, his wings draw to the front of his body and slap both our faces. I fall to my knees as the angel takes off into the sky.
"Fucking prickface motherfucker," Ashen says, spitting hot blood into the sand. "I fucking hate it when they do that."
I'm still down on my knees, my palm pressed to the side of my face. It's damp with thick, black blood that colors the grains of dust beneath me. The pain was on delay but it's hitting hard now and I struggle to steady my breath.
"All right, vampire?" Ashen asks, and I feel his hand on my shoulder. I nod, but I'm not convincing either of us.
Within a beat of my heart, Ashen is kneeling in front of me, prying my hand from my face.
"Fucking hell," he whispers. He whips his jacket from his shoulders and presses it to my torn skin. "You'll be safer in his realmmy ass. He's here for two minutes and rips half your fucking face apart."
