A Slither of Hope (11 page)

“He walked in on Cam and I,” I rambled without thinking, his switch in attitude throwing me off guard.

Kade's eyes narrowed, the barely contained anger in them darkening his pupils. “Doing what?”

I swallowed and looked away.

“Are you kidding me? What the hell is wrong with you? Haven't we been over this before? You keep this up with him and he's as good as dead.”

I shucked his grip and stood as tall as I could against his almost six-foot frame. “I don't remember asking for your permission for anything, but you aren't listening to what I'm saying!”

“That you compromised an angel? Oh, I think I got that part.”

“Did you? Or are you just disappointed it was him and not you?”

Kade faltered, pulling back a fraction of an inch. Remembering myself, I blinked away the anger boiling my brain into careless mush.

“I'm sorry.”

Kade shook his head.

I reached forward for his hand. “Kade, I'm sorry. That was—”

He slapped my hand away. “What did Elyon do?”

“Kade…”

“What did he do?”

I battled a wave of emotions to answer him. “At first he acted like he didn't see… anything.” I thought the best way to spare Kade—and myself—further humiliation was to leave out the unnecessary details. “And he had a lot to say to me, but didn't speak to Cam at all. When I left the room I heard him dig into Cam. He agreed to keep… what he did see a secret.”

I transported myself back to Cam’s glorious living room, recalled what struck me as off about Elyon. “When he was talking to me, he kept touching the sword in his belt.”

Kade shoved both hands through his hair then slapped his palms down on the railing. “So you're telling me not only is Elyon on Earth for the first time in years, but he also has The Sword of Honor with him?”

The Sword of Honor? That didn’t sound so bad to me. Then again it hadn’t looked harmless from where I stood.

He didn't wait for a reply. “We have to get you out of here. For good this time.”

“Don't you even want to hear what he had to say?”

“No, Rayna, I don't, and neither should you. Elyon is the king of lies, right behind Lucifer.”

“What are you talking about, he's an angel, right?”

“No, well, yeah, but he's a Seraphim, levels above most angels. Elyon isn't
just
Camael's superior, he's the angel that brought the seventh plague to Egypt.”

“And that’s supposed to mean what to me? Human, remember?” I peeked back at my wings reflecting the light of the setting sun over my shoulder. The bay-chilled breeze cut through my feathers, sending a chill up the back of my neck. “Well, mostly human. Point being, I haven’t been around long enough—”

“It means he’s dangerous. He cast a violent rain of hail over all of Egypt. That takes a whole hell of a lot of power.”

I wanted to wave my hands in the air and say “Ooo hail, someone save us” as sarcastically as I could, but fought the urge when that almost imperceptible line formed between his brows. The one that only showed up when he was well and truly steamed.

“It wasn’t just a hail storm either,” Kade went on after spying the look on my face. “Imagine ice the size of lawn chairs and fire raining down, killing everything in sight.”

I shook my head, dismissing his warning. “That won’t happen here, and my dad is in a hospital bed, fighting for his life. I'm not leaving.”

“You really don't understand how serious this game just got.”

“I think I get it.” After all, I blasted someone—something—with a jolt of energy that came from my wings.

He stepped up and gripped my chin, dragging his thumb across my lips. The rough callous scraped against the dried blood I’d rubbed off my raw skin. “Did he do this to you?”

“No, it was… can we just get out of here? I need some air.” I shirked his grip a second time, spinning to grip the edge of the balcony's railing.

“We're outside.”

“Can we just go?”

Kade cursed, and the unmistakable sound of his wings jerking open made me jump.

“What?” I turned my attention to the street, looking down the long stretch of concrete and windows, thirteen stories to the ground floor. In the tick of a second, Kade was behind me, lifting me onto the ledge of the balcony. I gripped the inside edge of the railing. “Uh, what's going on?”

“Someone's coming.”

“So that means throwing me off a balcony?” One look down from this angle split my stomach open.

“Someone like me.” His fingers dug into my hips as his words pierced through my new-found fear of heights.

“Fallen?” I croaked out, twisting to look at him rather than the huge drop-off. The answer lay in his eyes, in the way darkness crept outward from his pupils like tiny branches reaching to invade the white. “How close?”

Another Fallen. Oh crap. Crap. Azriel. It could be Az, crawling out from Hell to come for me again. Or worse, to get his nasty claws on Lee, Dad, or Laylah.

“Rayna, he's close. In the building.”

“Aren't you supposed to be able to feel them before they get that close?”

“I was…distracted.”

Great, I couldn't even argue with him anymore because it meant Fallen could creep up on us. “Well good job on that. So what's the plan?”

“I need you to open your wings and jump.”

“Jump? Are you nuts?” I tried to keep my voice at a whisper, but at his suggestion it rose to birthing-a-calf status.

“They'll be able to feel me. Right now, you'll be safer on your own. We'll meet up at the apartment. Unless you see someone there or it doesn't feel right. Then we'll meet at point two.” Mentally winding through Kade's glossary of safe places, I realized he was talking about AT&T Park, where the Giants play during baseball season. “And don't give me that look. This is what we've been training for.” His dark eyes pierced into me.

With his help I steadied myself on the railing and looked down. Big mistake. He released me, his hands hovering an inch off my body. I held my arms out for balance. When I failed, I clamped his hands back on my hips, holding them there with white knuckles. “But we never talked about separating.”

“Because I didn't want to worry you. We always knew it was a possibility.” He slid one hand away, having to fight my death grip. I remained clamped on to the other, closing my eyes. “You have wings. And you don't even have to fly. Soaring's easy. Just open them against the wind and ride the current down.”

“No. I can't.” My legs shook from hip to ankle. Plus, my feet weren’t doing so well, either.

He pressed his body against the backs of my legs. “You have to.”

I opened my eyes, testing my bravery. “But…I don't—”

Kade yanked his hand away and shoved me off the balcony. My shoes squeaked against the top of the railing as they left solid ground. Wind rushed against my face. I covered my eyes and stretched my wings open, waiting for the wind to shift under me, or instinct to take over, or for my descent to slow. None of that happened. I was falling like a brick from the sky and my small wings were too weak to hold my weight.

“Kade!” I cried, peeking through my fingers, preparing to see the ground just before the fleshy splat I'd make on someone's car.

Chapter Fourteen

Rayna

Air rushed past me, drowning out everything but my thoughts. I released my hands and tried to flap my wings, working my arms and shoulders. Fatigue burned through my muscles, old and new. Nothing. I continued to sail like a rock toward the concrete.

The wind ripped the wig from my head, the pins tearing my hair beneath. The pit of my stomach disappeared. Gone. Abandoned somewhere up near the twelfth floor. My eyes stung and watered, even through closed lids. With my arms crossed in front of my face, I fought to accept my fate, not doing such a stellar job considering I probably had about ten seconds of life left.

An arm wrapped around my chest. Another clung to my stomach. The chill from the wind subsided a bit. The familiar sound of wings catching in the air slowed our descent. I opened my eyes. Immediately mint and soap and leather replaced the absence of scent during the fall. With what little I could move, I reinforced Kade's arms and held on tight. I turned my head and planted a big fat kiss on the sleeve of his leather jacket. “I've never been so glad to see you.”

His fingers tensed before he spoke, “That should've worked. You did everything right.”

“At least we know I can't fly.”

He tilted, easing his wings to the right, veering us between buildings, and littering the tiny pieces of my stomach left clear across the city. “Your wings must be too small. I should have known. But why do you have them if you can't use them?”

To avoid wincing every time we narrowly grazed a building, I angled my head toward him. “Is that really what you're worried about right now?”

“There has to be a reason for them. If they weren't meant to fly…uh-oh.”

“Uh-oh? What uh-oh?” I squirmed against his hold. Not the wisest move several stories in the air.

Kade's grip remained tight, a safety net, something he’d been for me since the beginning. Damn those arms and my always needing them.

“I can see your wings. The angels can see them. But they're too small to fly with. The only purpose they serve is as a big foam finger to point you out to both sides.”

Despite the fifty-something-degree wind blasting my face, I hung my head. And growled.
“Wonder-freaking-ful
. But now might be a good time to fly us out of here. If there's a Fallen around I really don't think we want him on our tail.”

“Yeah, about that. I can't really fly anymore. I must have reached my limit that night Azriel snapped my wing.”

The night he and Cam pulled me back from Hell. The night I gave them hell for doing it. “Well, being sixty feet off the ground is a great place to hear that news! Since we're being honest up here, something weird kind of happened earlier.”

“Other than what you already mentioned?”

“Yeah, it was a little more seri—”

A sleek black patch below us stunned me into silence. “Uh, Kade?”

“I feel them.”

“Then why didn't you go around—wait,
them
?” I looked again, squinting against the wind tangling my lashes. The glossy black wings looked especially big from up here. That must have been because several sets were bunched together. At least four Fallen were walking on the street below us. My nails dug into Kade's skin as we silently floated past them. My heart hammered in my throat, beating in time to the rhythm of gut-wrenching fear.

“I'm going to try setting us down on a rooftop.” His breath warmed my ear and cheek.

In spite of the fear rolling through me like so much thunder, I released my hold on his arm and readied as he drew his wings tighter, and we dipped lower.

We came in fast, too fast. By the time we were over the roof of the building, half of it had already disappeared behind us. Kade dipped us down, catching me off guard. My shoes skidded on the tar and gravel roof, momentum shooting me forward like sharpened skates on smooth ice. I tripped forward, somehow miraculously managing to stay on my feet. Kade released me, tucked his wings in, and barreled through the air right over my head. He crash-landed and rolled to the end of the roof. Still moving, he flipped heels-over-head and disappeared over the lip.

“Kade!”

I rushed to the edge of the roof, sliding to the ledge on my stomach. Loose rocks caught on my jacket and scraped my skin raw. Kade smiled up at me from the fire escape. The joyful twist in his lips was a refreshing sight.

“Ugh. Jerk.” I said the words without feeling them, my lips pulling up, my chest lighter. Half-hysterical laughter bubbled up in me and I gripped the edge and kicked my foot as I let myself go for the first time in such a long time.

Kade reached up and tugged my sleeve. “C'mon, Chuckles.” He tugged a disheveled ball of blond from the inside of his jacket and slapped it on my head.

“Gee, thanks.” I tugged my wig into place, untangling it as best as I could without a mirror. Sure, I joked, but the damned thing bathed me in comfort. My disguise hard-wired me with a certain degree of safety. Either that or Kade—

“Get moving,” Kade said. “We do still have black wings on our tails.”

We descended the fire escape to the street, gaining more than a few curious looks from the people on the sidewalk. A thread of music pulsed beneath my feet. The Warfield, a small but popular concert venue, stood to our left. Thick black letters announced the event; behind it the whiteboard shone out, faintly illuminating the concrete and the smokers banished outside in a shallow, dull glow.

Kade threaded his fingers through mine and rushed us inside, firing pitch-black eyes at the ticket taker. The music surged with a lively beat. A heavy stream of bass boomed straight into my chest, impacting my heartbeat. It was the kind of erratic, exciting tone that would have been banned at the SS Crazy. An enticing mix of rock and electronica—electric guitars, drums, bass, and synthesized noises packed in the kind of rhythm that made you want to forget all your troubles and dance.

Halfway through the hallway, Kade picked up his pace, pulling me along. He pushed through the double doors. The music and screaming fans erupted into view. The volume spiked, more than tripling. The colored lights from the stage drew my eyes there immediately. Five people were on stage, singing and moving with the music. It was one of the most beautiful sights I'd ever seen.

Then Kade tugged and we were on the move again, barreling through a seemingly never-ending crowd until we reached the far end of the auditorium, where he threw back a thick, blood-red curtain and shoved me behind it. In the darkness, I grabbed for him and pulled him in with me.

“Don't think you're just leaving me here.”

Blue and green lights pulsed under the bottom of the curtain, which was a few inches too short to cover our feet. Our backs were pressed against the wall with the curtain dangling in our faces.

“We need to split up,” said Kade. “They can feel me. They might not be able to feel you—I know I can't.”

“I'm not going to let you take all the risk to lead them away.”