Page 120 of Hell’s Weapon

No, Milo’s identity needs to be kept to a minimum. We should be able to sort out this mess without telling the entire Guard Team which one of the contestants is the one feeding the Angels information.

My office door opens and Tacita–no, the Death Bringer–walks out. She strides to where I’m leaning on one of the desks, still monitoring the screen in front of me. Elisa has moved back to her desk at the rear of the room to coordinate the guards coming up from the armoury.

“Is he on his way?” I ask the assassin as she stops beside me.

She nods, not speaking, seeing as we’re surrounded by many supernatural ears. They’d all recognise her in an instant, having heard Ninety-Eight’s voice for weeks now.

“How soon?” I say and she replies in sign, informing me that Hades will be here in less than an hour.

“Sir, they’re on the move,” Elisa calls over, pointing at the monitor.

Both Tacita and I turn our full attention to the screen. Half a dozen Angels are indeed moving across the ground towards the fence. They’re not flying, probably trying to keep their positions a secret, unaware that we have full sight of them.

“Okay, I’m heading out. We need to take them out before they manage to get into the buildings.” I move, calling orders to the guards still down here to flank me as Elisa updates the group leads of the Officers already out in position across the compound.

Tacita jogs at my side as we head up the stairs. I glance a look at her as we reach the hall but I can’t see anything beyond her mask.

“You’re not going to hold back out there are you?” I ask, a knot forming in my stomach already knowing that she is going to be on the front line of this fight.

She shakes her head.

“Please be careful,” I tell her, wishing I could touch her in some way.

I swear I can feel her grin beneath the mesh hiding her features from me. She pulls open the front door and immediately shifts, her wings exploding from her back, and takes to the skies. It's so dark out that the night makes her nearly invisible but I track her as she banks to stay low and heads towards the furthest dorm roof.

Shifting as well, paws replace my feet on the concrete outside the Guards’ building. I can be quiet on two feet but I’m silent on four. Taking off towards the main building, I hope to use the rear entrance to get eyes on the Angels before we ambush them.

Chapter 38

Tacita

Crouching on the roof of the first dorm, I hop the gap to the second building, using my wings to control the landing and ensure I stay quiet. Slotting my fingers in the opening of my leggings, I draw my blade from my thigh as I creep to the edge to try and get a look at the Angels beyond the fence.

They’ve managed to cut a hole in the fencing and are congregating against the side of the main building.

Garrick will be inside by now, prowling through the corridors to scale the attack from there. There are groups leaving the dorm entrances below me as well, coordinated by the senior guards.

Hades had been surprised to hear my voice on the end of the line when I’d called him from Garrick’s phone. But he’d snapped straight into action. He’d be arriving soon with the Guard unit he kept on staff around the residence he shared with Khaos. We just had to stop the Angels from blowing anything up in the meantime.

Chancing a look over to the Officers’ building, the windows are all dark. There is no movement to be seen from the one belonging to Garrick’s room. I hope Wyatt and Milo stay safe inside until this is over. No matter what Milo said about me, and that the Angels seemed interested in me, I know they’ll be wanting to collect him on this mission. If he’s been blocking them from full access to his mind, they’ll be keen to take him so they can intensify whatever magic they’ve placed on him and to find out what he’s been hiding from them. At least, that’s what I’d be wanting to do.

Guilt runs sticky through my veins that I didn’t reveal to Hades that Milo was the one who gave us the warning about the Angels. I’d omitted that Garrick and I were already planning by the time Teddy had run up to warn us. I know I will have to tell him, but the fact won’t change the plan of action for right now. Which is simply to boot the Angels back to Heaven through the portal they’ve opened, and destroy it.

I still need time to put together my plea for Milo. Hades has every right to punish him, to send his soul straight to Tartarus. This is the first time I don’t agree, and it's sitting heavy in my stomach that Hades may well fire me for this transgression. But my heart won’t allow Milo to be sent to the torture chambers. My chest fractures just thinking about him being trapped there.

I’ll figure it out.

Movement below refocuses my attention. A group of four Angels look to be trying to enter the building, their wings tucked in tight. I take a few seconds to calculate before I’m taking to the skies once more.

Flying over them, I launch my blade, taking down the first. I land on the roof of the main building as it flies back to me, and I throw it again, killing the second. I’m not here to mess around. Them being in our realm is reason enough for me to not spare them.

Taking off again as one uses their elemental magic to form a dagger from ice, I’m in the sky and out of range before they can throw the weapon. Plucking my knife from the air as it sails back to me, I launch it a third time, the blade lodging itself in the palm of the Angel holding the ice blade like butter.

He screams in pain and the commotion I’m causing hasn’t gone unnoticed. The rest of the group, which had been waiting outside the fence, take to the sky to enter the compound. I have to fly higher to get out of their sight, using the darkness to distort my exact location.

“What the fuck happened?” one of them shouts.

“It’s the Death Bringer. She’s already here,” one of the original group calls back.