“I think he did, Ram,” Shem purred. If Ram was murder, Shem was mayhem.
Kicking away from Rafael, I pulled up my leggings, sobbing with relief and reeling from confusion. I glanced at the vision portal that was still burning over Art’s unconscious body. The image of the two of them being tortured was still playing; it had been a trick to get me to leave. My blood ran cold; I had nearly made a grave mistake.
Ramel and Shem watched me cover myself up, and the temperature in the room dropped several degrees. Rafael manifested that fucked up golden scepter, and terror exploded through me at the sight of it.
“Don’t let him hit you with that thing!” I warned them. They glanced at me, their eyes softening.
“We know about the scepter sweetheart, don’t worry,” Shem said, his voice gentle.
“Enough!” Raf snarled. “You’ve left me no choice. We tried to rehabilitate you, but you have forced my hand. I must unmake you. The congregation of Heaven can no longer entertain your treasonous behavior.”
He twirled the scepter expertly between his fingers, and I nearly sobbed with fear.Unmake them?No!
Ramel and Shem exchanged a look. Ramel scratched his chin thoughtfully, giving Shem a nefarious grin.
“What is it that cats eat, Shemhazai?”
Shem turned his gaze on Rafael, and his pupils dilated to tiny pinpoints. His grin spread wide across his face, and I watched in a mix of awe and terror as black, curved claws bloomed from his fingers. Red glowing eyes began to blink in the shadows, and a cacophony of angry yowls filled the room.
A colony of hellcats manifested and stalked out of the dark corners of the room, each one of them made of smoke and shadow.
Before I had time to process the insanity of what I was seeing, Ramel sank into the floor as if it were made of water. I gasped as he reappeared behind Rafael.
Ramel slammed his scythe into the angel’s back, and I gaped as he shuddered and screamed on impact. The magic of the scythe forced Rafael into his angel form just in time for Shem to tear into his feathery wings with an angry hiss.
I watched as Shem gleefully shredded Raf to pieces. The hellcats leapt into the fray to help him, their glowing red eyes leaving streaks of light in the darkness as they launched themselves through the air. Shem ripped out Rafael’s eyes and tore into his wings until the room was sprayed with crimson. Bloody feathers floated down around me like snowfall, and the shadow cats feasted on the angel like starved strays fighting over a pigeon carcass.
Ramel casually picked up the golden scepter from where Rafael had dropped it while Shem continued to violently tear the angel to pieces. Ramel misted it away along with his scythe before turning to face me.
The rage melted from his face, and suddenly he was on me. He cupped my cheeks, tenderly stroking away my tears and checking every inch of me to see if I was injured. I realized I was shaking and cold. Was I going into shock?
“Shh, deathtrap. I’m here. You’re okay. Tell me what happened. Did he touch you?” His tone was soft and gentle. He rested his forehead against mine, rubbing his thumbs across each of my cheeks.
I nodded, feeling burning-hot tears begin to spill from my eyes and down my face. He caught each one and wiped them away.
“Show me where,” he murmured, and I did. With a shaking hand, I pointed to all the places where Rafael had touched me. My neck, my lips, my breasts. Ramel followed my hands with his lips and kissed each spot better, washing away Raf’s touch with his own.
When he was done, he wrapped his arms around me and crawled onto the bed, pulling me into his lap. He rocked me gently and made soothing sounds while I cried into his chest. Soon Shem appeared. His claws were gone, and Raf was now a bloody mess on the ground behind him. Shem crawled onto the bed toward us, his face grim. Reaching out with gore-stained fingers, he brushed my hair out of my eyes.
“Shhh, don’t cry, Lil. You’re safe now… you’re safe.”
“Is he dead?” I asked, hiccoughing. Ram and Shem exchanged a look and pursed their lips.
“No, deathtrap. He’s immortal; he’ll recover from that eventually. The only way to permanently end him would be to hit him a couple times with the scepter,” Ram explained, and Shem chuckled.
“Well, that or use an Aetherium blade, but we won’t be unmaking him for a long time.” Shem looked over his shoulder at the bloody mess of angel wings and smiled. “Payback is going to be fucking sweet.”
“Art!” I cried. “Raf hit him with the scepter. Does that mean he’s…?”
We all looked over at poor unconscious Art, where he lay beneath the illusion Raf had created in an attempt to trick me. Shem frowned and went to him, placing his fingers against his throat to feel for a pulse. His shoulders relaxed, and I let out the breath I had been holding.
“He’s alive,” Shem said just as Art coughed and rolled onto his back.
“Fuck,” he spat out black sludge, and Shem brushed his white hair out of his eyes.
“Hey man, you alright?” he asked, his voice full of concern.
Ramel didn’t seem as concerned with Art’s well-being. He was stroking his fingers lightly up and down my arms and leaving delicate kisses on the top of my head. I snuggled deeper into him, and he curled tighter around me. It didn’t make sense that I felt this safe with the creature who had tormented me my entire life, but right at that moment, I didn’t have it in me to question it. I just wanted him to hold me and comfort me until the shaking stopped.
