Page 25 of Her Twisted Sinners (The Seven Sinners of Hell's Kingdom 5)

But the world shifts again.

I lose connection to her soul.

Pain bursts through my very being.

Everything disappears.

Chapter 9

RAVEN

Last Stand

FEAR CLENCHES MY chest. Hovering over Cassius, I plant my hands on his shoulders and shake him. I don’t know what happened. One second, I felt unimaginable power with the tether I managed to grab onto in his sanctuary, and then in the next, I find my soul standing before me with a dozen angels surrounding it.

We were so close to my soul that I could feel it trying to reconnect with me deep in my being. But something severed it. And whatever did that, also did something to Cassius. He remains unconscious on the floor of the sanctuary. The tether I clung to yanked us back.

“Damn it, Cass-hole. Wake your ass up. Please.” I shake him again, harder this time.

Still, he doesn’t move.

Pinching his chin, I turn his face from side to side and then I lean down. “Hey, fuckhead! Wake up!” I scream out in frustration, and hellfire explodes in my hands.

It tumbles from my fingers and smacks Cassius in the chest, jolting him upright. He hollers in surprise, expanding his wings. His eyes flash with his heavenly power, and he unsheathes his sword, sending blue fire dancing across the blade.

“Get it together. It’s me.” I lock my fingers around his arm, forcing his hand down so he doesn’t accidentally stab me.

Cassius’s eyes dart back-and-forth, his mouth hanging open. This time, I slap him. I don’t know what else to do.

“Cassius! Focus!” Fear rattles me, and my whole body trembles. It’s unlike him to have something affect him in a way that he can’t get his shit together. And I’m scared. He’s supposed to protect me. He’s supposed to take care of me.

“Raven, your soul. Your soul. Your soul.” He repeats the words over and over again, his eyes continuing to shift until they roll back into his head. He falls unconscious once more, and light blooms from his heart, growing across his skin.

What should I do? What the fuck do I do? “Elias!” I shake Cassius again, trying to get him to wake the fuck up. I know Elias should be able to reach us, but I don’t know exactly how to contact him. Or if I can even do it on my own.

Silence greets me, and Cassius glows brighter and brighter.

“Shit. Fuck. Damn it. Cock-sucker.” I struggle to get to my feet, the world turning blinding white around me. There must be something I can do. I need to ground myself.

Focus. I can do this.

Closing my eyes, I try to use my other senses to get a feel of the world around me. It’s hard to concentrate as my eyelids turn bright red. I don’t know what the hell is happening with Cassius, but it’s as if he might detonate at any second. Can an angel actually explode? I have no fucking idea. I don’t want to find out.

I inhale a deep breath. “I taste berries. Fizzy carbonation. Tingles blooming on my skin. The ground shakes beneath my feet. My heart pounds in my ears more erratically than Cassius’s. The light envelops me. I can feel the electricity of it. It shocks through my bones, wrapping around me, tethering to my wrists.”

I talk myself through everything as if I’m speaking to Cassius. I hold my hands out, cupping them and imagining the electric, blinding light zapping my fingers and gathering on my palms.

Something icy lashes over my arms, and I stumble forward, landing on my hands and knees. Snapping my eyes open, I stare in shock at the laces of angelic light tangling around me as a brilliant force pulls me across Cassius’s sanctuary. I scream and fight, twisting so that I’m not pressed stomach down. Cassius’s figure lies motionlessly on the floor, and I buck and wiggle, fighting to move so he can block my path.

“Cassius!” I scream, my voice ripping through the air. A wave of fire shoots from my body, my Hell power taking over. It strikes Cassius in the side, sending him rolling.

He jerks his head up with a growl and whips his attention around the sanctuary. His eyes widen as they land on me, fighting against the light dragging me right toward his legs. Spreading his wings, he launches forward and grabs onto me, lifting me into his arms. He hugs his wings around us and skids across the ground, trying to slow us down.

“Something’s wrong. I think they managed to hook you using your soul, because we shifted from my sanctuary.” Cassius grinds his teeth, gathering heavenly light to shoot in the direction of the pure electricity refusing to let us go.

“Break the line. Come on. Do something. You can’t let them take me.” I clutch onto him tighter, biting my nails into his skin and burying my face in the crook of his neck. “Please. You promised to protect me.”

Cassius growls under his breath, trying to resist the pull of the tether with all his strength. “I will. I won’t let you down.”

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