“A hundred vials? That’s excessive,” Galen said. “He will die if you extract too much.”
“He won’t die. Celestials self-heal, idiot. He will replenish the blood as quickly as we take it.”
Fury washed through Cassiel. His blood was his, and no one had a right to take it.Find a way out.
An idea came to mind. He placed his heel over the thumb joint of his right hand and kicked down in one swift strike. His thumb popped inward, and he hissed through his clenched teeth at the pain. The shackle slid off his right hand. He quickly dislocated his left hand, wincing at the sickening crunch of his ligament. The shackles fell with a dull thud at his feet. He set his thumbs back in place as they healed. Now he had to free himself from the shackles at his ankles. Those he would probably have to break.
Someone lifted the tarp at Cassiel’s back, and he hid his hands in his lap. He met Galen’s sneer. Behind him, Draven’s legs were visible where he stood on a large crate that faced a mass of bodies.
“Stand up,” Galen barked. “Try to appear majestic.”
Cassiel snorted at the demand. A scowl twisted Galen’s face. He lifted a metal baton and hit Cassiel through the bars. The end zapped, and electricity burst in his chest. His body convulsed, lungs scorching. He keeled over, revealing his freed hands and the empty shackles.
“Clever fowl,” Galen growled and hit Cassiel again.
He gasped a weak cry as his body arched, electricity searing through him. Galen unlocked the large cage and clambered inside. His boot smashed into Cassiel’s jaw. Dirt and blood burst in his mouth. His vision swam, and he was momentarily immobile as Galen shackled him again.
“Try that shite again, and I’ll cut off your damn wings myself,” Galen snarled. “I’ll bleed you dry, hack up your flesh and grind up your bones. Every piece of you will fetch more than your weight in gold.”
Malakel’s voice slithered in Cassiel’s mind.You are irrelevant. A blight. When you are gone, no one will ever care to remember you.
But they would remember him. As the Celestial that took away the peace of the Celestial Realms. He would be their eradication.
“There will be nothing left of you once this is over,Nephilim.”
Cassiel’s glare cut to Galen.
“Aye, I know what you are.” He cackled. “You may have fooled my brother, but I’m no fool. I heard the stories of half-breed Celestials and their different colored wings. Still, your mixed blood is worth something. I doubt you’re the only one left, too. I’ll find whatever muck heap the rest of your kind has hidden under, and it’ll be the females we take first.” Galen sneered in his face. “I’ll greatly enjoy making my own flock of Nephilim bastards.”
Rage burned through Cassiel like molten lava. Illustrations of the Decimation flashed in his memories, and the screams of his ancestors filled his head.
“Now get your arse up.” He turned to leave.
Cassiel lunged and wrapped the chains around Galen’s neck. The startled poacher yelped, dropping his baton as he kicked and convulsed like a desperate animal. Cassiel tightened his hold, listening to Glen choke as the life slowly squeezed out of him.
In one last bout of strength, Galen kicked against the cage and threw Cassiel backward with the force. The commotion called the dwarves. They stabbed through the bars with their batons from all sides. The painful zaps seared his limbs, forcing him to let Galen go. He collapsed on his knees, and they continued to shock him until he was writhing on the cage floor.
Galen stumbled to his feet; dark eyes full of wrath. A ring of red and purple marked his neck. He snatched a hatchet from a dwarf.
“Stop, Galen,” the dwarf whispered. “Master is about to—”
“Welcome!” They flinched at the boom of Draven’s voice. The roar of the market noise fell silent. The lifted section of the tarp exposed the edge of a brick wall and a partial view of Draven standing on a crate, facing the crowd. “You have heard the rumors, and I swear to you they are true!”
Galen jerked his head for the dwarves to leave the cage. He climbed out as well but remained to guard the door, his hateful glare on Cassiel as his brother’s speech continued.
“I have captured the rarest creature that none of you have had the privilege of seeing. Many of you think of it as a myth or as a legend long forgotten, but they exist in this Realm with us. They have not returned to Heaven’s Gate, as they led us to believe. Well, I won’t keep the suspense going any longer. Ladies and gents, I present to you a real, in the flesh Celestial!”
Galen yanked the tarp off the cage. Cassiel lifted his shackled hands, shielding his face against the sun’s glare. He drowned in the deafening cheer that rose from the spectators all around. Once his sight adjusted, he found his cage placed center stage within the Port of Azure Market.
Humans and creatures of all kinds gaped at him in wonder. Rich and poor all gathered together. Some waved their sick children in the air while others held their arms to the Heavens, giving thanks for this sacred gift. Some cried at the sight of him, but most looked hungry to tear him apart. Cassiel’s pulse raced, his chest heaving. If it wasn’t for the damn shackles, he would have flown into the open skies and vanished behind the clouds.
Draven waved his arms in a grand motion at the cage. “Feast your eyes on the God of Urn’s dark Celestial!”
Galen took the coil of chains from the cage floor and wrenched Cassiel out. His shackled feet stumbled awkwardly onto the stage.
“It’s a fake!” someone in the crowd shouted. “He’s no Celestial!”
For once, those words were a hope instead of a curse. Cassiel held his breath as a disturbed murmur went through the crowd.
