Gone. For now.
“The scent . . .” Tanner inhaled. “Okay, want to tell me what the hell is going on?”
Az shoved the gun into the back of his jeans. “Not now.” He hurried inside and left the shifter on the porch. The smell of blood was stronger, and when he entered the back room, he saw Cody bent over Jade’s prone form. Tubes ran from her arm. The doc held one piece of tubing and a big-ass needle in his hands.
“This isn’t the way we’re supposed to do this . . .” Cody began.
Az stalked forward. It was the way they’d have to do it.
“A transfusion like this is too risky.” Sweat covered the doctor’s forehead. “The risk of infection, disease—”
“I don’t have any disease.” The guy could knock that worry off the list.
The doc didn’t look reassured. “What if your blood type doesn’t match hers?”
“Consider me a universal donor.” He knew his smile was bitter as Az ripped open his own vein and got to work connecting the tubing. Angel blood was supposed to be all-powerful. And his blood was Jade’s only chance. He’d either save her or—
Or I will keep fighting death as long as I must.
Cody rushed around the table and began the work of adjusting the tubes and monitoring the beeping array of machinery that he’d set up. Blood flowed from Az, dark red, as it filled the tube and slid its way to Jade’s body.
Az realized he was barely breathing. Waiting. Watching. Fight, Jade. Fight.
The blood in the tube reached her. Fed into her body.
One second. Two. Az’s own heart had nearly stopped. Jade . . . stay with me.
Jade’s eyes flew open. Her eyes weren’t the dark green that reminded him of lush fields he’d once seen in Ireland. Instead, the green was brighter than he’d ever seen it before.
Relief had his shoulders sagging. She’d be alright. She’d be—
Jade screamed. Again and again. Her long, horrified screams filled the air. Her eyes were on him. Full of terror.
And her screams wouldn’t stop.
Marna didn’t return to heaven. Bastion paced the Great Hall, unease rippling through him. She should have flown back to their realm by now.
He wasn’t afraid. He couldn’t feel fear. But a tightness constricted his chest as he remembered Azrael. Az—a Fallen who’d been ready to kill to protect a human.
Marna had been the one sent to claim the woman’s soul. Had she faced Az’s fury as well? Except . . . perhaps Az hadn’t just threatened to kill her.
Bastion’s wings spread as he launched from the Hall. Clouds raced by him, one after the other. He knew where Jade Pierce had been scheduled to die. At the edge of a Louisiana swamp, right under a cypress tree that swayed near a gator-infested pond. She should have died there, with Azrael at her side.
Marna had foreseen the human’s death days before. She’d come to him and told him because she’d been startled that Azrael had been in her vision.
Marna wasn’t like the others. He’d tried to protect her over the centuries and attempted to make sure that no one saw her weaknesses.
Or her fears.
She’d been afraid of Azrael. Most beings were, though. But Bastion knew that when Marna had gone out on that last mission, she’d been afraid to take someone that belonged to the Fallen. She’d feared how he might retaliate.
Perhaps she’d been right to be fearful.
The ground was a sea of green beneath him as he flew over the trees. Marna couldn’t just vanish.
His feet slammed down into the earth just yards from the swaying cypress tree. He stared at the signs of battle. Blood on the ground. The battered earth.
So much blood . . .
His nostrils flared as he strode forward. There was blood, but . . . more.
His heart began to pound faster in his chest. So fast that the deep beating startled him. He’d never been worried before. Never been afraid.
But this time . . .
Black feathers—wings—were on the ground, smeared with blood. His hand shook as he reached for the wings. An angel didn’t just lose her wings. It was nearly impossible to cut them. They could burn off in a fiery fall from heaven.
Or . . . or they could slip away when an angel died.
The drumming of his heart grew even louder. Marna was a good angel. Only wanting to help others. She should never have been a Death Angel. Carrying souls actually seemed to wound her. She should have been a guardian. She should have—
A scream ripped from him. Fury. Pain.
There were more black, bloody feathers. So many more. And the scent of blood that coated the feathers—it was angel blood.
Azrael had made sure that his mortal’s life was spared, and in exchange, he’d known just how to balance the scales of death to give Jade Pierce more of a fighting chance.
A life for a life.
If Bastion checked the Book of Death, Jade’s name probably wouldn’t even be listed anymore. A soul had been taken. Death had been satisfied for that instant in time.
Because Azrael had sacrificed an angel to let a human live.
Bastion’s heart burned in his chest. A Death Angel shouldn’t want vengeance. Punishment angels would be the ones to deliver fury and wrath.
But Azrael has already killed a punishment angel.
After his fall, Azrael had battled a rogue punishment angel named Rogziel. Rogziel hadn’t been given the lighter sentence of banishment from heaven for his crimes. Instead, Azrael had been the instrument of his destruction.
Would the other punishment angels go after Azrael for this offense?
Or would they fear him too much?
Azrael had introduced fear into the hearts of many angels.
The feathers fluttered in the breeze. There was no sign of Marna’s body. Only the broken remnants of her wings.
Bastion forced himself to rise. Slowly, his fingers released the black feathers that they clutched.
If the punishment angels would not do their job, then he would seek vengeance.
Azrael wouldn’t get to keep his human. He wouldn’t get to cheat death.
Because Death is coming for you, Az.
This time, Azrael would be the one to fear—and to die.
Marna, I am sorry, but you will be avenged.
“I’ve done all that I can.” The demon doc tossed his bloody gloves in the trash. He shook his head and stared down at Jade with tired eyes. “Now we just have to wait and see if your blood can help her.”
Jade hadn’t stopped screaming, not until Cody had pumped her full of sedatives that had knocked her out. Az had tried to get close to her, to comfort her, but as soon as he’d advanced, her screams had become even more frantic.