“It’s been spelled, I’m afraid. Just a little precaution I had to take with you always going off somewhere for that silly job of yours. It keeps our binding nice and strong. You were always such a good little girl,” he crooned. “You took the candies everyday.”
He let her go. Shae stared blankly at him. Her body still immobilized and held prisoner by his power, but her mind was hers again. Hatred and rage tore throughher.
Samael strolled across the blood-drenched grass and stared down at her unconscious mother. “Pity. I didn’t like hurting her. She’s a fighter, like you. Aza needed his little mating mark to keep track of you, but I always knew where you were.” He frowned, looked around. “Where is he?” Then he shook his head. “No matter. He’ll be back foryou.”
Samael glanced back. “Do you know why he wants you? It’s because you were a little psychic. He likes the extreme in his sexual encounters—sex with near asphyxiation. Before his usual place, Club Illudo, burned down a year ago, he killed several human women in his quest for the perfect partner. Being who you are, you’d probably survive suffocation. So you see, my dear, why I’mbetter?”
Havta kill him—havta!
“Ah, finally. The esteemed archangel himself hasarrived.”
Michael appeared in a shower of silvery sparks. Those fractured blue eyes swept over Shae and her mother in a swift glide. “Let them go,Samael.”
“Why?” Power hissed out of his palm, hitting Michael straight in the chest, sending him a step back. “You want to save them, then I want something from you. Since you did this to me when you first tried to remove my wings, you will mend me! I know you’ve been gifted with the power of healing by your ancient goddess, Gaia. Perform that task, and you can have them once Ileave.”
“You can’t run from justice. Release them,” Michael said, tonecalm.
“Justice?” Samael rumbled. “Amazing, archangel, how you continue to serve Him, hunting runaway angels even though you can no longer call the Celestial Realmhome.”
Michael’s mouth tightened. “Release them.Now.”
“Your word,archangel?”
A long silence. “Verywell.”
Samael narrowed his eyes. “Try anything, and Jenna dies. Shae will remain permanently frozen, like a statue, for the long life she’ll have as anephilim.”
Nooo. Shae pushed and clawed at the psychic hold Samael had overher.
Samael turned and waited. Shae gaped. Through his shredded white shirt hanging loosely on him where his wings had shot out, red streaks marred the pristine feathers near the base of his left shoulder. The wings were bloodied and slowly disintegrating—they were dying. The plumage close to his skin had almost blackened. Dark, vein-like threads spread over hisskin.
A silvery-white healing light left Michael’s hands, coalescing on the damaged extremities. The once deformed wings slowly mended, becoming strong and healthyagain.
Samael inhaled a deep breath of relief. Then he stepped back and smiled. “You should never have come after me, knowing what I was created to do. Soon, with a psionic and a nephilim bound to me, I’ll haveeverything.”
“I’m well aware of what you are…Death.” Michael retied his loosened hair. “Once you are no longer, a new angel will assume the position.” His hand flashed out. A sudden explosion of power, and a blinding light streamed across the night. Shae couldn’t see for several seconds. Samael’s snarl ricocheted through the air, his hold on her loosening. In the distance, swordsclanged.
Shae lurched toward her mother. Out of nowhere, Aza appeared, clutching her upper arm. Before he could flash them away, Samael blasted him clear across the yard with a wave of his hand and grabbed Shae around her waist.No!
She tried to latch onto his abilities, drain him, but she hit a wall. His mind guards were too strong, like reinforced armor. A strange heat seeped into her, spiraling through her body…not hers. Frantically, she tried to teleport, but his power was too intense, overwhelming hers. At Samael’s feral expression of delight, understanding pounded through her.Hekept her here…he wanted her to killagain.
She coughed, pain ripping through her insides, struggling to hold onto her own splinteringshields.
“Go on, Shae, let that beautiful power out. End him. He doesn’t deserve to live,” Samael murmured. “Michael was the one who killed thoseunfallenangels who mated humans, as well as theiroffspring…”
Shae shook her head as Michael fought an invisible barrier to get tothem.
“He killed your father, too,” a whisper in herear.
“Nooo!”
“Yesssss.”
The storm inside her gathered force, spiking higher and higher. She would kill him. Kill themall—
With a blast of her mind, Michael flew through the air, a fiery power haze surroundinghim.
“Good girl. Now the others, starting withhim.”
Her gaze followed to where Samael pointed. Amidst the rioting demons, under the silvery moon, she sawhim.
She angled her head. Her powers churning like a geyser inside her and sparking in her palms, she stared silently as a demon charged him. The tall warrior whipped around, his long hair flying about him then he stumbled. More surrounded him, swordsraised.
A blood-curdling scream left her. She threw out her hands, a bolt of power escaped, torpedoing straight to him. He flew back, crashing through the demons, toppling them likedominoes.
“Good girl,” Samaelcrooned.
