Page 80 of Heavensent & Hellbent

“I’d take you to Hull so you could see where I grew up. You could meet my best friend, Nic, and she’d probably drag us to one of the very bad clubs there. Then, we’d debrief the next day at our favorite local café. Hull is very different from Denver; it’d be cool if you were able to see it.”

“One day I will,” Zain said. “I promise.”

I sighed. “You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I have every intention of keeping this one.”

Zain began to slow down and pulled into the gas station. I needed to pee like nobody’s business, so while he filled up, I used the bathroom. He warned me that it would be disgusting, but I hadn’t quite envisioned how much so until I entered it and immediately smelled urine.

Holding my nose, I went into the stall. Just as I finished peeing, footsteps entered the bathroom. I was about to flush the toilet when I saw two figures in the gaps between the cubicle doors. One of them was distinctly male. What was most eerie was that neither of them said anything, not for the ten beats that I held my breath. If I could see them, they must have been able to see me.

And then, the stall door was kicked in, the door swinging toward me, knocking me back. I was so stunned that I didn’t have time to prepare for the man who approached me. He grabbed me by my top, raising me into the air. My feet hung off the ground. I kicked out my legs, but he didn’t seem to be affected by the blows I was dealing him. There was a woman behind him, though there wasn’t enough space in the stall for her to enter, too. The man yanked me out of the stall and into the main bathroom, dropping me to the ground, where I fell directly onto my ass.

They dressed similarly, in all black trousers and black leather jackets, the woman East Asian and the man white. The woman was shorter, with slicked-back hair, while the guy was bald and tall, with a thick ginger beard. They both wore black sunglasses.

A voice called softly within me that while they looked different in this lifetime, I had seen their kind before.

And yet, I still found myself saying, “What do you want from me? I don’t have any money, but my friend is outside, and he can give you anything you want.”

They were blocking the exit, and the man who had heldme up let out an incredibly short laugh. It was more of a bark, really. The sound made me shrink back.

“Roxana,” he said coolly. “We do not want your money; we want your life.”

“Why?” I asked, though I knew the answer. I was just buying myself time. Willing Rabiya to charge through my veins, to find a way out of this. She was unhelpfully dormant through my bond now, though.

“You have a bounty on your head.”

“But I haven’t done anything—”

“This is boring,” the woman said. “Let’s just do our job.”

“Who even are you?” I squeaked out.

“Hunters. We serve the elders.”

“Whatever magic you used to shield yourself is fading, by the way,” the woman called, with a cruel smile.

“You’re going to kill me?” I ground out. “How are you any better than jinn?”

“Enough,” the woman said, procuring a dagger from the belt hook of her trousers. It glistened, even in the dim lighting. The end was curved. It was one thing to see my demise in my dreams, but to be moments away from it was something else entirely.

She approached with the dagger, and I backed up on the floor until my shoulder met the wall. “Zain!” I yelled. “Help me!”

“We’ve locked the door,” the male hunter told me. “Warded the space so your little angel can’t hear you. And anyway, he’s next.”

Something in me switched on with those words.

He’s next.

“You’re not killing Zain,” I said, with the same kind of certainty he had that all of this would be okay. “You’re not.”

The dagger drew closer, and the female hunter grabbed me again by my shirt, lifting me so I was standing. She was just as strong as the man. “I’m afraid we will,” she said, before jabbing the dagger toward my chest, right for my heart. “And I’m looking forward to ending that jinn lover.”

I gripped the hand that held the dagger just in time to stop her. Rabiya woke within me then.You are much stronger than you believe.I saw her, in a flash, breaking the necks of men who had gotten in her way, or hurling fireball after fireball and slaying the angels who outnumbered her.

I was more powerful than this hunter, and she wouldn’t be killing me or Zain. Not today.

As I pressed harder into her wrist, she let out a scream. I glanced down and smoke had emerged from my hand. I released her in surprise, and she stumbled back, dropping her dagger. Her wrist was covered in welts, like she had been burned.