“Can I strip anyway?” Shitty Ritchie asked, testing the waters.
“No. Just watch.”
Gideon began to pace the edge of the massive hole and shoved his shirt into the pocket of his combat pants. My hand went to my mouth involuntarily as I took in the muscular and perfect torso of my man. But gifting me with some eye candy wasn’t the reason he’d taken his shirt off. Nope. He’d made room for the shimmering ebony wings that erupted from his back. A bright golden glow emanated from his skin and surrounded him. The span of his wings was six feet on either side, and the shimmering light made them sparkle.
My breath caught in my throat. His wings were even more stunning than his body, and that was saying a lot. He looked like the gorgeous avenging fallen angel that he was. His power andrage at the situation radiated off of him. He was terrifying and beautiful, and he was mine.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Candy Vargo said with a laugh.
“I already am,” Gideon replied with a raised brow and the barest hint of a smile. He extended his muscular arms like he had when he’d transported our group earlier. However, this time he was taking us on a flight. “Hold onto me and don’t let go. When we touch bottom, immediately back away so I can retract my wings. Am I clear?”
“Totally, big guy,” Jennifer said with a grin. “That’s a good look on you, young man.”
“Thank you,” Gideon said with a chuckle and a shake of his head. He was millions of years old. Jennifer was in her sixties. Her calling him a young man was hilarious. But somehow, she made it work.
We all held on as the Grim Reaper flew two of the true Higher Powers, the Keeper of Fate, The Courier Between the Darkness and the Light, and the Angel of Mercy into the bowels of what felt like Hell to find our daughter. Chamuel, who didn’t need a ride, floated beside us for the descent.
“You still in there?”I asked Hemah, who’d been awfully quiet.
“I am,”It replied.
“As soon as I see Alana Catherine, I want to start the spell.”
“I shall be ready, Daisy. Just say the word.”
If this worked,and it would, I would be a few steps closer to believing that Hemah could be redeemed. However, it was one careful step at a time.
The flight took only seconds and we all landed with our appendages still connected to our bodies.
“Back away,” Gideon commanded as we landed as gently as we’d taken off.
Each and every one of us obeyed with Immortal speed. Gideon’s wings retracted with a sharp woosh of air that almost blew me off my feet. I quickly looked around to get my bearings.
What I saw made me sick.
It was similar to what I’d seen in Hemah’s memories, but bloodier and more unhinged. The room was thirty feet by thirty feet—dirt floor and dirt walls. The area was lit by crude torches, the same as Chamuel’s cave had been. Zamirs slithered along the ceiling and up the walls. Body parts, not bones, were strewn everywhere. I wasn’t sure if Uranus was a cannibal, but it was looking that way. Everything about the former Higher Power who was supposed to embody logic was disgusting. Had Uriel always been this way or had living in a cage for eternity made It crack?
All of this was fucked.
“Daisy,” Gideon ground out, pointing to the back of the room. “There. Go.”
My eyes landed on the cage at the same time Gideon’s did. A scream lodged in my throat as I sprinted across the room, jumping over arms, legs, torsos and zamirs. Alana Catherine lay lifeless on the dirt floor of the cage. Her skin was pale and almost gray. My baby’s gorgeous dark curls were matted and her body had grown very thin in the short time since I’d seen her last. She was breathing, but barely. Chamuel had been correct about her outer physical status. I spotted no exterior injuries. No blood. No broken bones.
However, what had been done to my child was far worse—far more evil. Uriel was an atrocity.
“Jennifer, go to Daisy,” Tim commanded as he stood guard in the middle of the room next to a seriously pissed off Candy Vargo.
“Done,” Jennifer answered, making her way to the cage as quickly as she could.
“Harbor me,” Chamuel said to Jennifer as It floated next to her. “If Uranus comes back and sees me as a ghost, it will not be good for anyone. I will come out when the time is right.”
“Roger that,” Jennifer said, wrapping her arms around her dead counterpart and taking her into her body.
The ghost disappeared.
Gideon had followed me into the cage. His roar of agony when he saw Alana Catherine shook the room. Dirt began to slide in clumps from the walls and cracks opened across the floor.
“Suck that fuckin’ shit back,” the Keeper of Fate warned the Grim Reaper. “If you love your daughter, you will shut your cakehole and guard her. If you bury us in dirt, we’re screwed. You hear me, motherfucker?”
