A Matter of Time (The Angel Sight Series) (21 page)

I lagged behind, glancing into the dawn sky. A Fallen swooped over me and tackled Ray to the ground. They rolled into a shredded car abandoned on its side with a loud thud. I was on him in seconds, smashing his head into the bottom of the car. Sprays of the Fallen’s blood dotted Ray’s face. I didn’t let up until he stopped moving. Then I rolled him over, shielding her from having to watch while I drove a knife through his heart. I kicked him to the side and reached behind me for Ray. She didn’t grab my hand.

I turned. She was still on the ground. Her face was strained and pale. I followed her gaze down her body. She clutched her thigh with both hands. Bright red blood bubbled over a rusted shard of metal protruding from the car and through the better part of her leg.

Shit.

I knelt beside her, searching for a way to lift her off the scrap without causing more damage.

Her eyes flicked skyward. “Leave me.”

I shook my head, still focused on her leg.

Her fingers, hot and wet with her blood, gripped onto mine, tangling until they stopped slipping. “I’ve got this. I’m a weapon, remember? Just get far away, and fast.”

The urgency in her eyes, the sureness in the curling of the edge of her lips made me agree. She didn’t just need to do this—she wanted to.

Even though I would have gladly fought off any Fallen that came near her until my last breath, I did what she wanted.

I ran two blocks to the left, then straight another block and a half.

A light brighter than any I’d seen since they kicked me out of Heaven scorched the clouds in the sky. It shot straight up like spotlight, glimmering gold and silver before it nearly blinded me. I turned away, watching the beacon in the unbroken windows of the building across from me. It expanded, swallowing up what must have been an entire city block. My skin vibrated, separating it from muscle and bone. The hum, like an explosion of bass, made my eardrums bleed. Pain rocketed through my every cell. I couldn’t so much as breathe. The joints in my body slowly slid apart. Locked in place, pulled in every direction, as if being drawn and quartered. Pain locked my vocal chords, making my screams silent. The joints in my fingers popped from their sockets one by one. The pressure pulling my neck made me guess it would be next.

With a single flicker, the light and hum died off.

I collapsed to the asphalt. My body worked overtime to right itself. I wriggled until I could flop over onto my back so I could watch the sky. It was empty except for the perfect circle cut into the clouds above.

That had come out of her.

The light show hadn’t lasted more than twenty seconds. It was more than enough to attract the attention of every other Fallen in the city. I struggled to my feet ran back as fast as I could, wishing for my wings back to get to her faster.

More Fallen had arrived by the time I got there. Nearly a dozen.

I ducked behind a mound of torn up asphalt and watched. Some of them had suffered the same symptoms as me, but not all. We must have been too close to her blast radius. I’d managed to get nearly four blocks away and even that was too close.

The Fallen examined the piles of ash near the center of the street, beside a rather large puddle of blood. But no Ray.

She had to be here. She had to be.

I scanned the area twice. The slightest hint of movement drew my attention; two bright hazel eyes blinking from beneath an overturned car.

She was alive. I exhaled, closing my eyes to savor the image. The strength of the blast, the range it had spanned … it should have killed her.

There had to be more Fallen on the way. They’d find her under there eventually. She needed a distraction the size of a school bus.

I picked up a piece of rubble and chucked it into the building behind me. I palmed my larger knife and waited. A Fallen stalked forward. I jumped out from behind my rock and sliced his throat. It wouldn’t kill him, but it would make enough noise to attract some attention.

Shouts rose. A leader among them sent a group of the Fallen after me. I ran, hard, back a few blocks to where I had spotted some vehicles that hadn’t been completely demolished. I stayed too close to the buildings for them to swoop me up, so most followed on foot. Up a small hill, one car was parked in the street. I tried the door. Unlocked, it opened for me. I shifted the car in neutral, straightened out the wheel, and let it roll. It collided into a cluster of cars gathered at the bottom of the hill. One still had a working alarm system. The alarm blared, calling more attention.

A streak of black barreled into me. My back scraped along the concrete like a stone skipping over water. While the Fallen on top of me tried to snap my neck, I glanced further up the hill and found our saving grace. A tank.

Chapter Thirty-One

Rayna

When the four Fallen had landed all around me, one by one, I hadn’t needed to summon the anger or hate that had helped me use Lucien’s essence before. I simply let the darkness inside me creep over, smiled, and closed my eyes against the light show.

I reeled, but fought against the dizziness threatening to take me. Straining to pull my leg free of the broken car piece, I used that pain to keep consciousness close. All the while coughing up thick clumps of dark red blood. My leg throbbed. My chest wheezed. I was afraid I would rip wide open. It had been a long time since I’d felt this kind of pain, and I hadn’t been prepared. In a way, this was like Lucien’s final payback.

I grunted and maybe whined a little, definitely coughed—a lot—but I didn’t scream. I did, however, sputter more blood more when I finally twisted my leg free. A lot more. Instead of ruining my jacket, I grabbed a handful of Fallen ash in front of me, cringed, and slapped it on both sides of the wound to stall the bleeding. Then I dragged myself to the first sign of shelter—an upturned car maybe ten yards from where I’d been.

Broken glass slid into my skin as I dragged myself onto the roof of the car seconds before a set of black wings landed. I settled between the two front seats, stifling my hectic need to cough, and fanning my hair out in front of my face so they wouldn’t be able to see the whites of my eyes. As long as the sky didn’t get too bright they probably wouldn’t find me for a while.

Eight more Fallen landed.

I kept my breaths short and shallow, fighting the need to cough. Instead of watching what I could see of the Fallen examining the ashy remains of their comrades, I stared through my hair and out the cracked windshield. My heart throbbed against the roof of the car. The sound echoed in my ears. I had no choice but wait to be discovered.

Movement to the right of the Fallen caught my eye. A head poked up. Kade, his face dark with ash. My chest filled with air. Thank Heaven he’d gotten far enough away from the blast. I was so relieved I risked movement, angling my head slowly to the side until a clump of hair slid away from my face.

The Fallen walked the perimeter, slowly, purposefully. I winced when one of them passed where Kade had been squatting. The Fallen must not have been able to sense him among all the Fallen and chaos, because he looked surprised when Kade latched onto him and slid a knife across his throat. The Fallen gurgled as blood sprayed from the wound. Kade turned and took off running.

“Bring me his head,” the Fallen closest to me shouted.

Seven of the nine Fallen in the area shot into the sky to pursue him.

Then there were two.

I was still bleeding pretty profusely, and could barely hold myself up I was so weak from the first blast. I doubted I could muster up another. Plus, I had no idea if Kade was a safe distance away. No way would I risk his life after all he’d given up.

If—
when
—they found me, they’d probably take me to whoever was in charge. Azriel, if Kade’s guess was right. That would buy me time and distance. Then I could blast Az in his stupid jerk face.

A crash burst from somewhere not too far away, followed by the blaring of a car alarm. That got the attention of the remaining two Fallen.

The one closest to me shouted to the sky, “Go check it out!” There must have been more in the air. “Expand the search area,” he ordered those on the ground. “She couldn’t have gone far with that injury. Look for blood.”

I didn’t risk another glance at my leg. For all I knew I could have had a river leaking down the overturned car’s roof and out one of the broken windows. Slowly, the feet in my view walked away.

A huge boom shook the ground. It reminded me of the mine thingy going off at the apartment building.

All at once, the feet of the Fallen left the ground, stirring up dust and ash. I held my breath, resisting the urge to cough. When it could no longer be stopped, I buried my face in the crook of my arm and closed my eyes. A second boom came. I dragged myself to the broken window and surveyed the sky. No Fallen. Unless one was perched on a roof somewhere. With the third boom, I threw caution to the wind and crawled out of the car toward the nearest building.

The front of what had once been a bank had been blown wide open, weeks ago from the sight of it. On my hands and knees I weaved through the rubble and up a set of crumbling stairs. There I took shelter in a dark hallway. I breathed and coughed and listened. Seven more booms fired in the distance before the city fell silent.

The phone in my back pocket vibrated. I could have jumped out of my skin. I answered the call without thinking. When I opened my mouth to say speak, I found my voice had fled.

“Ray?” Hearing Kade’s voice made my eyes flutter closed.

“Yeah.” I whispered back, even quieter than him.

“Where are you?”

“Some blown up bank across the street from where I was. Second-floor hallway.”

“Great. I’ll be right there.”

I rushed to say something before he hung up, to hear his voice for even one more second. “Kade?”

“Yeah?”

“Be careful. There were a lot of explosions out there.”

“Yeah, a tank will do that.”

“A tank? Oh, never mind, just get here.”

“Done. See you soon.”

I waited for Kade, but expected the worst, just like he’d taught me. I couldn’t bear to risk looking at my leg. The pain had intensified since I moved into the bank, throbbing and burning. I tried to shield myself from the pain without losing consciousness by retreating to my happy place. A compromise between the two could not be met. Instead, I focused on my surroundings, hiding the knife he and Cam gave me the day we embarked for the city up my sleeve.

I kept the handle in my hand when the footsteps came. They closed in on the second floor then kept going. I had told Kade exactly where I was, so why did the footsteps continue up to the third floor?

Because it wasn’t Kade.

The flap of wings stirred up debris in the small portion of hallway I could see connected to the landing.

I waited, watched, but no one else came.

I thought about calling Kade to warn him, but he knew enough to be on alert. A call from me could throw him off enough to get caught. I wouldn’t risk that.

After what felt like hours, another set of footsteps sounded, these softer than the last. I held my breath, fingers curled tightly around the base of the knife. The silhouette that turned the corner lacked wings. A flashlight clicked on.

“How are you?” Kade asked, voice soft, every inch of him covered in a lighter dust than I’d packed my leg with.

“Someone with wings came by, but they blew past. I think we’re good.”

“The rest of them might be busy picking up the pieces for a while. I don’t think they’ll bother us here. I made sure to blast the ones that had been in this area. They have bigger problems now. Some angels showed up. They were so busy fighting they didn’t notice me slip away.”

“How did you get hold of a tank?”

“Luck. Pure stinking—” He shone the flashlight on my leg.

I followed the beam of light down to my thigh. My pants were still wet with blood, but my skin beneath was pink and whole. The pain must have been the start of the healing.

I swallowed and climbed to my feet.

“What the hell?” he asked.

“I must still have some of Lucien’s essence in me,” I said, hoping to brush off his concern, but not brave enough to meet his eyes.

“He didn’t transfer that much into you that night in the graveyard. I won’t pretend to know how this crap works, but that wound … you should be bleeding out right now.” His gaze dipped low as if realizing I could—should—be on my way to the grave.

Confessing how much of Lucien’s essence I had in me would only freak Kade out more. It would also intensify the hatred I felt for myself at not being rid of him completely. That was the worst part, knowing Lucien wasn’t completely dead because part of him still lived inside me. “I … don’t know how it works.”

“Bullshit. What’s there not to know, Ray? You healed from that, and it didn’t surprise you.”

I crossed my arms over my chest awkwardly so I didn’t stab myself with the knife in my hand. “Just drop it.”

“You’re lucky I need you on your feet, otherwise I would have knocked you out by now and carried you to the angels.”

He was right; we should have been focused on the angels, on the endgame. But Kade was too good at pushing my buttons. And I wasn’t above pushing back. If he wanted to unearth truths, that street went two ways.

“What happened to
you
down in Hell, Kade?”

“The same thing that happened to you.” His answer was softer, less angry.

I pushed harder, desperate to drown in something other than self-hatred. “No, not the same. You never told me anything when we were down below. I at least shared some of my pain. You kept silent.”

“Because you wouldn’t want to know.”

“Try me.”

“They made me torture people. Your turn.”

“I’m not playing your game.” I walked by him to hide my shock.

He held his arm out, palm flat against the wall, to stop me. “This is no game. Tell me exactly what happened the last time you healed yourself.”