Page 46 of Heavensent & Hellbent

The jinn turned, hands bloodied—with Zain’s blood. And that’s when I charged toward him with all my strength, with no real plan except to get my hands on him. I felt the compulsion to rip him apart with my bare hands, like I was a wild animal, like it was something I had done before.

When I was finally just feet away, I saw Zain. His leg was broken in numerous places, his face bloodied, lip split. He tried to stand, and seeing him try, the way his face contorted in pain, though no sound came out of his mouth, broke me further.

The jinn cocked his head and grinned at me. The sight was terrifying, the smile manic, teeth sharp, eyes tunnels of darkness.

I eyed Zain holding the lighter. Would it be recharged by now? We had to hope so.

“First,” the jinn groaned, “I must end the angel. I will be the one to do that, since the others failed so miserably.”

He turned away from me like I meant nothing. Like he could kill Zain right in front of me, with his back to me, and I couldn’t do anything about it. I supposed, to him—a jinn—I was weak. I was human. Iwasnothing. But he couldn’t have realized how much fight I had in me. For Zain, not only would I fight, but I’d die in the process.

“Take one more step and I’ll send you to hell. I was being kind before,” the jinn said to me, back still turned. It produced fire from the palm of its hand, the flames becoming a ball, circular and whirling.

Zain eyed the fireball cautiously, lighter in hand. He quickly flicked it, but nothing happened. It was slight, but I noticed his shoulders slump. This jinn appeared to be so much stronger than the others.

Still, my legs propelled me forward. I hadn’t even intended to move. It was like I had been taken over, my legs moving while my brain was whirling, asking if I had a death wish. I leaped onto the jinn’s back, pressing my own palms into his head, attempting to break it as I had seen Zain do, twisting his head to the right. But I wasn’t strong enough—or at least, I didn’t think I was. The jinn let out a low howl, the flames in hispalms extinguishing. I hadn’t heard a crack, had barely moved his head, really. It was like my touch physically hurt him.

His reaction was so overblown that I let go, confused, stumbling backward. The jinn turned on me, and Zain wasted no time in grabbing the dagger from the ground and limping over to the jinn, thrusting the sharp edge of the weapon right into its back. The jinn groaned in pain, less than when my hands were on his head, and then fell to his knees. From behind him, Zain wrapped his hands around the jinn’s neck and cracked it to the side.

And like the jinn in the alleyway, the body vanished into dust.

“Are you okay?” Zain asked, limping over to me and scanning my body. I nodded, unable to speak. He let out a deep sigh of relief. “I need to deal with the others. I only stunned them.”

I nodded again and hung back as he snapped both their necks like this was routine to him, their bodies limp until they disappeared.

Zain seemed too injured to drive but said he was fine, wincing as he got into the driver’s seat. I was too shocked to insist I drive. Truth be told, I wasn’t even sure I could. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking; they were coated in blood from the jinn. I reached into the glove compartment and cleaned them with the antiseptic wipes, the alcohol stinging my cuts.

We rode back for a few minutes in silence.

“What the hell was that?” I finally bit out when we hit familiar streets and I knew we were close to home.

“They’re after us, like in the dreams,” Zain ground out. “This is just the start.”

20

“They almost killed you,” Zain continued, pulling into a parking spot halfway home, his eyes dark.

“And you,” I said. “They almost killed you, too.”

He shook his head, like that was irrelevant. “I need to go to the Underworld. Tomorrow. Once I’ve fully healed. We need answers, and a way to stop them from tracking us.”

“I think you’re going to need a bit more time to heal than that.”

“Angels recover pretty quickly. My leg is nearly fine now.”

I stared at his face, and you would’ve thought his lip had been busted a week ago. But I didn’t dwell on that fact too long and said, “Okay, well, can I come?”

Zain’s jaw was set. “No,” he said without further thought, like the idea wasn’t worth considering.

“I want to come,” I said, leaning toward him. “I need tocome.” I paused, though, before asking, “What is the Underworld, exactly?”

His hands tightened around the steering wheel before he stretched his fingers out, then gripped the wheel again. His knuckles were coated in dried blood. “The fact that you’ve asked me that question is why you can’t go. The Underworld is in another plane, where most jinn live and hide out. I want to speak to a seer there.”

“Another plane? What does that mean?”

“Another plane of existence,” he answered, like he had just told me that Burger King was a fast-food restaurant. Matter-of-fact and unbothered. “The Underworld is best described as a kingdom, and the Jinn King, Zahhak, rules it. He’s…That’s a story for another time. But jinn mainly live in the Underworld.”

“And the seer is a jinn, as well?”