Page 64 of An Unexpected Ascension
She steps onto the path without hesitation. The earlier incident, hardly but a thing of the past. With her back to me, I can see her pale skin peek through tears in the fabric of her black shirt. Her denim shorts, heavy with blood and water.
Bones crunch beneath her feet as she follows the winding trail. Keeping to it will lead you straight to the gates, it’s hoping the chase from a Hell Hound won’t throw you too far off.
“Bits and pieces are... coming back to me,” she shares begrudgingly.
“Your memories?” I clarify.
“Mhm. In Heaven, they allow you to have access to them, but it seems only the good ones.” She swallows. “When that... thing—” she refers to the hound, “—was attempting to tear my arm off, something came back to me.”
“I’m no head doctor, but by all means share. It will make this journey less boring.”
“I’m glad my trauma is amusing to you.”
“Your trauma is nothing to me. I care very little about you or what happened to you on Earth. Care little what happens next, but perhaps it will drone out that incessant screeching from the crows.”
She spins, slamming straight into my chest. The palms of her hands already planted and pushing with all her might – little as that may be against Lucifer’s Second. I don’t budge, but she does, stumbling back a couple feet.
“Fuck you!”
Barely made it out of Heaven and that mouth of hers can’t keep that hateful curse out of it.
“I’m not usually one to pass up a woman’s offer, but these woods aren’t much for anything but horror. Don’t need scraps of skin falling from these trees should I take you upon one.”
Her lips pinch in fury while mine curl up into a vicious smile.
“Or perhaps we find one a little cleaner, yeah?”
“Ugh!” she growls, storming back off in the direction she was going.
However, I did yearn to block these crows out. Howling and screaming non-stop. Another turn ahead has her disappearing behind a thicket of trees.
“Maybe I was a little har?—”
Stunned.
A wicked blow of a small fist cutsacross my cheekbone, my face jerking to the side with the impact. Pain throbs throughout my face, little pulses echoing around my skull.
Briar’s arm cranks back for another hit, greedy after her luck with the first one. Instantly, her wrist is in my grip and I’m twisting her arm behind her back while kicking her legs from under her feet. She falls face first into the mucky ground, groaning.
“Try it again and I promise you, the pain you felt earlier will be but a fraction of what I will show you,” I snarl in her ear. “Get up.”
I push off her body as I bring myself to stand. As she rights herself, I grab the front of her shirt and back her into the trunk of a nearby tree. The branches dance with the impact, and Briar’s hands enclose around the wrist that’s still twisted in the fabric of her sopping wet shirt.
Gripping her face with my other hand, I slam the back of her head into the bark behind her. Those jade eyes widen with fear as I inch my face closer to hers, breathing in the fading scent of Heaven.
“Now, you’re going to be a good girl and do as I say, or I can leave you here with the crows and the hounds. Nod if you understand.”
She narrows her eyes and tries to escape my hold, but I only pinch her cheeks harder. Her face contorts in pain and finally, she relents.
“Good.” I release her jaw and shirt, taking a step back. “Let’s go before I decide to do something we’ll both regret.”
“Asshole.”
“Mmm, yes, my favorite part of a woman’s body. I can show you if you’d like.” I toss the retort over my shoulder.
“Ugh!”
Chapter 21
