Page 51 of Heal Me

She nods.

With that, Sam kisses her quickly, and he and I teleport to Mexico City into an alley behind a huge trash can. Stepping out of the alley, it’s absolute chaos. The street’s jam-packed with people and vendors, but I don’t see Kabel anywhere. Sam touches his hand to his all-seeing eye amulet and is quiet for a moment. His face fills with fury as he yells, “Abort!”

Teleporting back to the compound, I don’t see Sam, but I can hear him. His bellow’s something otherworldly, causing fear to ice over my veins. Following where that gods-awful sound is coming from, I stop short. Gabby’s lifeless, naked body is splayed over Sam’s motorcycle outside of their bungalow. Tears streaming down his face, he picks her up, and as he does so, I can see her stomach’s been carved out.

Turning my head to the side, I throw up everywhere. Sam falls to the ground in anguish holding my dead sister’s naked body. All the Watchers are now around us, silently watching. All except Kabel.

Sam stands, the look of anguish replaced with a rage so deadly I might puke again. “Kabel!” He thunders loud enough to make the ground shake.

Everyone’s murmuring as we walk to the gym, where we find Kabel already there, smiling.

“You want a Challenge, Sam? You got it.”

“Why?” I demand, teleporting to Kabel and getting in his face.

Sam grabs me by the collar and tosses me aside. “Because Kabel’s always been a jealous little bitch, isn’t that right?” Sam sneers in Kabel’s face. “Always jealous of what’s mine.”

“What’s yours is decomposing as we speak. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Such is the way of humans. And little Nephilims. And the Watchers under your leadership. It’s time for a change. Step down, Sam, or be dethroned.”

Sam laughs. Fucking laughs. I’ve never been more scared in my life. “Think you’ve got the balls, my friend?”

“Ita vero.” Thus indeed. “That’s a yes,” he says condescendingly to Sam.

Everyone files inside the gym and upstairs to the viewing gallery, looking down upon the Destroyer arena. I’m nervous, having heard about a Challenge but never witnessing one before. I do know this fight will only end with one of the angels destroyed, and I pray fervently to any god listening the angel left standing is Sam.

Rumel now appears on the area floor. “Gentlemen, a Challenge has been called for by Kabel. The challenger selects the weapon. Kabel,” Rumel says with the flourish of his hand to the arsenal wall.

“I choose my new longsword,” Kabel says, the weapon now in his hand.

“Fucking asshole,” Amer grits.

“Longsword it is,” Rumel says.

Sam nods, a longsword now appearing in his hand.

“No outside interference. Nothing except swords and hand-to-hand combat. Let the Challenge commence,” Rumel announces, teleporting out of the way.

The angels begin fighting, their swords clanging and sparking against each other. Sam’s the best swordsman here, and I can’t understand why of all the weapons, Kabel would choose it.

Sam attacks relentlessly, driven by bloodlust. Kabel’s sword flies out of his hand and he backs away. Sam smiles as he stalks forward, but abruptly stops, his smile vanishing.

“What’s happening?” I whisper to Amer beside me.

“I don’t know.”

Sam’s face is strained, like he’s fighting against something, but he remains motionless.

And then I see it. The faint shimmering of magic around Sam’s feet. Kabel picks up his sword and knocks Sam’s out of his hand. “It’s an angel trap! Kabel’s cheating,” I cry, standing up.

“Fuck,” Turek says on the other side of me, pulling me down by my arm in my seat.

“We can’t interfere,” Amer says sadly.

Watchers might not be able to interfere, but this Nephilim can. Teleporting to the floor behind Kabel, I grip him by the hair and stab him in the jugular. He screams as I pull my arrow out and grab his sword he’s now dropped. Swinging it, I chop off his head.

Squatting down, I lift Kabel’s head by the hair. “You can’t interfere!” his head cries as I pike it on his own sword, and then carve out his heart with my arrow.

I was wrong—today is the day I put Kabel in his place.

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