Page 127 of Hell’s Weapon

“You can’t have him,” Wyatt had shouted with such conviction in his voice my chest had felt a little warmth. He’d pulled me behind him.

The pain inside my skull increased further and I’d been forced to use his body to stay upright. My vision had blurred as the white-hot lightening forced my control to recede.

“He’s already ours,” the shorter one replied.

I remembered the moment Wyatt and I were forced to break apart, the feeling of knowing that I’d touched him for the last time.

There was more commotion but I only saw glimpses as I fought to stay conscious. My knees made contact with the tarmac, my hands followed, landing in something warm and sticky. Blood.

Breathing through the pain, pulling oxygen into my lungs felt impossible, like I was sucking in tiny shards of glass.

No. Don’t give in.

Flashes of Tacita at my bedside in a medical room rolled through my head. Then of watching her at the first challenge. I’d shown them Garrick too, him teaching us how to shift.

Don’t show her.

I’d forced them to see images of Wyatt instead. Of Rio and Seffy, of the rest of the contestants. Hoping I was giving them nothing of value, I kept pulling different sections out from my mind, jumbling them up and jumping around in the timeline.

The moment their hands landed on me it was over. The white heat of their intrusion on my mind erupted through my whole body and my walls broke. The force of it vibrated my bones, tested them to their absolute limit and I was powerless to stop it.

As the darkness descended I’d let myself feel the love we had built. Let myself have a final moment of happiness before I’d lost consciousness.

Chapter 43

Tacita

The first goes down before they even see me coming. My blade slides right between the third and fourth vertebrae of his spine. He drops to the ground with a sickening crunch and an explosion of feathers. Another dragon roar cuts over the night as Wyatt takes to the sky.

My immediate concern is if the Angels manage to get Milo through the portal. I have no idea what will happen when I follow but I have already made the decision that I will be going through before they can close it.

My knife lands back in my outstretched hand as I dive left to find an opening on my next target.

Fire erupts below, and I chance a glance at Wyatt, he’s being bombarded by over a dozen of the Angel soldiers. They’re trying to get a grip on his wings, his tail, even on the spines along his back to throw him off balance. Zafihra, in the sky above, roars in retaliation. I know she’ll come to Wyatt’s aid, as will the other guards. But, Zafihra is the only one that can’t get cooked if she gets too close to the constant stream of flames Wyatt is spewing.

I launch my dagger again.

“Fuck!” I yell as it misses, before I can remember I shouldn’t be vocal if I don’t want to be recognised. It doesn’t kill the Angel but instead plunges into his shoulder. It must sever the nerves as his arm releases its grip on my human, but he lives on.

Recalling the blade again, I’m waiting for it to streak across the sky as the Angels suddenly pull up on their trajectory towards the portal they control. Black smoke explodes in front of their flight path and Hades's form becomes visible as the smoke dissipates. His magnificent wings, which he rarely shows, flap to hold him steady, their black so deep they’re almost iridescent.

“You’re not going to win this time, Camael.” Hades’s voice reverberates throughout the whole valley, halting several of the Angels and Demons alike as he announces his appearance.

“Aren’t we? You’re rocking up rather late to the party, Hades,” the shorter, stockier Angel answers.

“Leave with your legions now and I won’t annihilate you all.” The threat is a serious one.

The blade in my palm feels heavy, correctly weighted for me to take a shot, but I hold off whilst I wait to hear their reply. It’ll only piss them off if I kill another one of them and with Hades now here, I have to fall to his command. As much as my entire being feels like it's being wrapped in barbed wire, I have to wait out this verbal standoff.

“Let us pass and you have a deal.” Camael’s eyes narrow in challenge.

“Give me my contestant and you can go.” Hades holds out a hand towards Milo, who is still hanging limply between the two Angels.

“Ha!” Camael laughs. “You think this is your contestant? He’s one of us. We’re simply bringing him home.”

Hades’s eyes track to me for the quickest of seconds. I’m glad for my mask so he can’t see the extent of the lie in my eyes. But he knows that I knew. No matter that it was a matter of hours, I can tell he’s pissed.

“He entered these games like everyone else here. And from what I’m told, has excelled. So if he wants a place in my realm, he deserves the chance.” I have no idea whether Hades is telling the truth or simply bargaining to keep Milo here so he can punish him for the double cross.