“I’ll follow your lead.” Giving Nelo’s hand a little squeeze, we found the stairs without too much trouble, easily avoiding anyone in the halls by stepping into the shadows. It helped that no one else made any effort to keep quiet, we could hear them coming from way off.
The dungeons smelled worse than the slave pens, if that was possible. In addition to the usual human body smells, there was also the strong smell of rot, and some other unidentifiable ickiness that made me zip my hoodie up tight and breath through the fabric. The trouble was, Ben wasn’t anywhere to be found on the lower levels. Escaping up to the now blessedly fresher air of the slave levels, we regrouped.
“What do we do now?” I whispered. “It’s gonna take a long time to search the rest of the palace room by room.”
“Maybe we could find someone and ask without drawing too much attention to ourselves. What do you say, Nelo? Feel like talking to some old friends?” Adam asked encouragingly, but I took one look at the tremor in Nelo’s thin shoulders and nixed the idea cold.
“No, we can’t ask him to do that. He’s persona non grata down here, remember? What if we split up? We can cover twice the ground that way. I can start up top and you can start down here, and we’ll meet in the middle.” Almost as soon as the words were out of my mouth I could tell Adam didn’t care for my plan. “It’ll be fine. I’ll take Nelo with me, he can hide me from just about anything.” Except for Raum, but I didn’t feel the need to point that out.
“I’d rather stick together, there are too many things that can go wrong here,” he shook his head.
“Adam, you said it yourself, the sooner we’re in and out the better. I’ll call you if I need you and you can come to the rescue.” I gave him the same encouraging smile he’d tried with Nelo. “It’ll be fine, I promise. I can take care of myself, remember?” Raising a brow, I dared him to challenge me on that. Instead, I could see the reluctant acceptance spread over his features.
“Fine, but call me if
anything
strange crops up.”
“I promise, I will.”
“I’m counting on you to keep her out of sight, okay, buddy?” he wagged a finger at Nelo.
“I will gladly give my life for hers, Master Adam,” the little demon nodded solemnly.
“Come on, we’re wasting time,” I whispered, leaning up to drop a quick kiss to Adam’s lips, but he had other ideas, pulling me close for a proper kiss. “Love you,” I whispered at his ear when he let me up for air, darting out of his grasp before I lost my nerve and went with whatever counter-plan he came up with. “Take us to the top floor, Nelo. Not the court, but the rooms under it.”
“As you wish, Mistress.”
We stepped into the shadows, the sensation not even fazing me anymore as we hopped from one place to another, emerging in what I’d come to think of as my old room. It stood empty after Adam’s release, and I was glad for the moment’s privacy to gather my thoughts. “Are you clear on the plan, Nelo?”
“Yes, Mistress. We hop from room to room looking for Ben. If we get into trouble, we call to Master Ad…”
I cut him off with a finger to his lips. “Don’t say his whole name, he’ll show up here with guns blazing, expecting trouble. But yeah, that’s the gist of it. As long as we stick together and keep our heads, we’ll be home before you know it.”
“As you say, Mistress,” Nelo nodded, taking on a more formal tone now that we were back in his old surroundings. Luckily, he was very familiar with the territory, and it was easy for us to slip in and out of the shadows, checking the rooms methodically. Most of them were vacant, and I wondered who Raum kept them in reserve for.
With a pang, I noticed that Oriana’s plants looked a little wilted in her old room. Doubtless they’d wither and die without anyone to care for them. It was enough to make me sad for her years of incarceration there, but not sad enough to stop and water the plants.
Luck was with us, and on the second stop on the floor below, we hit paydirt. The rooms were smaller on that level, but still nice by my standards. Equipped with a bed and the usual furnishings, they stood untouched, as the single figure in the room sat bound to a wooden chair, his head lolling against his chest in sleep or exhaustion. It was difficult to tell who it was at first, but at least I could see the slow rise and fall of his chest, indicating he was still alive. His clothes were stained but unsoiled, cheeks clean shaven, indicating his basic needs had been cared for at least.
Creeping forward, I suppressed a whoop of joy once my eyes confirmed who it was. “Ben!” I whispered happily, kneeling beside him. His dark eyes blinked in confusion, a glorious smile spreading once he saw who it was.
“I knew you would come for me.”
“Sit tight, we’re gonna get you out of here in no time,” I promised, ducking back to study the series of knots that kept him bound to the chair. “Nelo, see if you can find me a knife or something.”
“How long has it been, my love? Time moves so sluggishly here, it feels as though I’ve been deprived of your beauty for an age.”
“Oh right, Azazael…” I don’t know why I’d forgotten Azazael would be the one in control of Ben’s body. Of course I knew we’d been keeping him bound there with the blessed ropes until the witches’ binding, but for some reason, I’d expected to talk to Ben, and I felt my spirits deflate in the fallen angel’s presence.
“Of course it is I. Why else would you risk all to save me, my love?” he gushed, and I decided to focus on the knots, trying to touch him as little as possible.
All of a sudden it dawned on me. Duh, I didn’t need a knife, I had my own. With a flick of the wrist, I called forth my sword with a metallic snick. “Hold still or I might accidentally cut something off you need,” I muttered, gratified to see his eyes widen at the sight of the glowing sword. “Oh, you remember this, do you? Keep on remembering, or I might decide Adam had the right of it, transporting you in an injured state to keep you more docile.” It was an empty threat, I wouldn’t hurt Ben unless I absolutely, positively had to, and Azazael seemed to think so too.
“You would not hurt this body, you care too much for it,” he scoffed, even as he leaned away from the blade.
Being careful not to slice through the blessed ropes, I worked to free him from the chair. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” I replied. “It wouldn’t be my first choice, and I’d feel really bad about it, but I would definitely hurt Ben in order to save him.”
“I found a knife, Mistress,” Nelo appeared, a small dagger in hand.
“Nevermind that, go get Adam, I’ve got Ben.”
“I am not to leave your side, Mistress. Surely you remember that.”
“I know, but it’s time to go, so go call him before someone else shows up.”
“Ah, therein lies the flaw in your plan,” Azazael smirked, his eyes alight with amusement. “Adamiel will not let you remove me from the prison of his making.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Adamiel is fully on board with this plan. Especially, since we found a way to offload you and give Ben his life back.”
“You found another host body for me?” he blinked. “That sounds promising, I was getting rather tired of this one.”
“Actually, I’m not really sure where they’re going to put you, the witches weren’t at all specific with the details of the binding.” My eyes glittered with malice, enjoying the way he squirmed at the mention of witches. After everything he’d put me through, it was the least I could do in payback. “Nelo, what’s the matter? I thought I told you to go get Adam?” I frowned as the little guy stood with his eyes fixed on the door, his head canted to one side. “Nelo?”
“They come, Mistress. We must flee!” Sheer terror shone from his amber eyes a split second before the door burst open and four of Raum’s guards spilled in. The room got a lot smaller as it filled up with bodies, and I still didn’t have Ben completely free.
“Oh crap…” I breathed, grateful I at least had my sword drawn. Guards I could probably stall until Adam got there, as long as Raum himself didn’t put in an appearance. Speaking of which… “Adamiel? Anytime you want to show up now would be great!” I called out nervously, stepping in between the guards and Ben’s chair.
The soldiers stared at me, as if they weren’t quite sure what to make of me in my jeans and hoodie, but the sword they recognized right enough. Deciding to use their hesitation to my advantage, I gave it an expert swing. Expert as in, I’d practiced that move a zillion times with Sam, not in actual battle, but I hoped they wouldn’t be able to guess that.
“Don’t come any closer,” I threatened. “Let us go and you might escape with your lives.”
“She means it, boys, I’ve seen first hand what she can do with that sword,” Azazael offered helpfully. “Of course, I’ve also seen first hand what Raum does to deserters, so I can appreciate the conundrum you find yourselves in.”
“Stop helping!” I hissed back at him. It was enough to give the closest one an opening. He lunged towards me, sword drawn and I only barely deflected it in time. Once the clumsiness of my response was seen, the others lost their paralysis and drove forward. Only the narrow confines of the room kept me from having to engage all of them at once. I backed up towards the terrace door to keep any of them from circling around behind me, abandoning Ben for the moment. “Adamiel!” I yelled a little louder, wondering what kept him.
I wish I could tell you the training I’d had with Sam paid off, I suppose in some ways it had. I shudder to think how quickly the fight would have been over without those rudimentary skills in place. But in reality, I was no match for veteran soldiers, even with my enhanced strength. Only the thought that I just had to hold them off long enough for Adam to arrive kept me from throwing in the towel when the first solid hit jarred my arm so hard it made my teeth rattle. I didn’t get a chance to try any of the offensive moves I’d learned, I was too busy trying not to lose an appendage as they drove me back, closer and closer to the edge of the terrace.
Right about then I wished I had set Azazael completely free. Even a dangerous psycho’s help would have been preferable to dying on that terrace, and I could hear him shouting threats at them from his vantage point, still stuck to the chair. I might have even called for Raum’s interference then if I hadn’t caught sight of Adam’s face, his eyes blazing something fierce as he burst into the room.
His righteous anger was a sight to behold as he easily dispatched the first two of the guards who pivoted to focus their attack on him. Those brilliant blue eyes were the last thing I saw, as a blow to the side of my head sent me sailing back over the low terrace railing, pitching headlong into the open air below.
Chapter Fifteen
I’m not sure if you remember this or not, but Raum’s palace is easily thirty stories high, set into the side of mountain range. So, a girl has plenty of time to reflect as she plummets to a hopefully swift death on the jagged rocks below.
There was time to regret that the last contact I had with my brother was to leave a nasty voicemail on his cell phone, yelling at him for being so selfish in keeping Oriana for himself. There was time to regret not calling for Adam sooner. Maybe if I’d called his name the instant I’d recognized we had Ben’s room, I might have averted the fight altogether. There was time to regret splitting up with Adam in the first place and I wished I had time to hear his
I told you so’s
if that meant I’d get to see his face again and tell him one last time how much I loved him.
All those thoughts were fleeting, the majority of the time I spent in freefall taken up by mindless screaming as I flailed through the air. I guessed I’d never find out if I was truly immortal like the real angels, because I was gonna bite it on that stupid rock, away from friends and family. I wondered if Adam would have the presence of mind to take my body home for a burial service. I didn’t want to know what passed for a funeral on Midian.
Up above I saw Adam launch himself into the sky, his great dark wings unfurling majestically and then tucking tight to his body as he hurled himself after me. I had time to admire his beauty and grace, even as I knew with a certainty he’d never reach me in time.
And then the most wondrous thing happened.
Everything slipped into slow motion as I felt the rush of air slow, my body braced by an invisible cushion. Before I had time to process the change, the reason for it became clear, as I caught a glimpse of snowy white wings teasing the edge of my peripheral vision. All at once I felt them, the surge of oddly placed muscles stemming from my shoulder blades as the wings beat, slowing my descent and keeping me aloft.
My wings.
Let me say that again.
My
wings.
The most comical look of disbelief swept over Adam’s features as his face loomed closer and he shot right past me, too stunned to put on the brakes. Without understanding how I knew how to use them, I operated on instinct. No longer in freefall, I surged higher, climbing back towards the balcony where we’d left Ben and Nelo behind. Seconds later I felt the rush of air as Adam joined me at my side, a questioning look on his face.
I shrugged, momentarily losing my balance at the motion, but I was quick to recover, flashing him a giddy smile as I shot past him. “You get Ben, I’ll get Nelo.”
“If there are reinforcements on that balcony you stay off of it,” he warned, his voice leaving no doubt he’d physically keep me out of harms way if I made him.
“Okay,” I nodded, still too euphoric from my near death experience to argue. Thankfully, the balcony was deserted apart from our friends, and Adam swooped in to throw Ben over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, the chair disintegrating with one good blow.
“Come on, Nelo, time to go,” I held my arms out to the overjoyed demon. Catching him up, I hugged Nelo close to my body like a small child, taking to the sky once more. “Any ideas where we should go to open the portal again?”