Page 104 of Gray

A gunshot suddenly pierced the air. Confused, I searched the room. Then, I saw him. Mason had lifted his head just enough to shoot. With a subtle smile, his eyes closed again, and the gun slipped from his hand.

Phoenix released the hold on me and dropped to his knees. Blood seeped through his shirt as he clutched his chest. An upper-level demon like him was harder to kill, but he wasn’t invincible. A silver bullet would do the trick if it hit the right spot.

And Mason had hit him dead-on. Eyes like a hawk.

I rushed toward Mason, gritting my teeth against the drowsiness. Reaching him, I placed my palm over the wound in the back of his head, healing him with my remaining energy. The bleeding stopped, but blood caked in his short hair. Gently, I pulled him in my lap and bent down to kiss his temple. He was unconscious now but breathing steadily.

My beautiful Marine. He’d fought hard to save me, using every bit of his strength.

Galen dropped down beside me, one eye black and the other gray. He and Wrath were coexisting in that moment, something he hadn’t been able to do in the past. He was getting better at controlling his sin. He hauled Mason up, putting him over his shoulder, and stood.

All the ghouls were dead, and Ramiel had escaped. Relief made me even sleepier. I wouldn’t be able to fly back on my own, so one of my brothers would have to carry me.

“Bell?” I asked, confused.

Bellamy was beside Phoenix, a tortured expression on his face. With his hand shaking, he held it over the wound in the demon’s chest.

“What are you—” My words broke off when I saw the glow emitting from his palm.

He was healing him.

Phoenix opened his eyes with a small gasp, and the two of them exchanged a look, Bellamy’s face inches from his. The demon lifted a hand to Bellamy’s jaw, the tender action taking me by surprise. And then he disappeared.

Bellamy stared at his hands, the trembles in them not dissipating. Why did he save Phoenix? The demon was our enemy. Before I could question him, Sloth finally took the reins. I couldn’t fight sleep any longer.

My lids closed, and I submitted to my sin.

My curse.

***

When I woke, it was still dark outside. Clouds covered the moon, so the room was even darker, no light coming through the window. Wind pushed against the side of the mansion, and thunder rumbled in the distance. A raindrop hit the glass, followed by another.

The world had drastically changed in the blink of an eye. Fitting that it would storm too. Was it the fallen angel Vepar’s doing?

Mason slept beside me, his arms caging me against his large body. I’d almost lost him that night. A lump wedged in my throat, and I pressed myself closer to him. He stirred and opened his eyes.

“Hey, handsome,” I said. “How do you feel?”

“Like I got hit in the head with a two-by-four.” He softly smiled. “I’d be a lot worse if not for you.”

“You saved me too. You shot Phoenix before he could take me away.”

“No one’s taking you from me.” Mason dropped his face to my hair. After a few seconds, his breaths slowed, deepened. He’d fallen back asleep.

A familiar sensation prickled at my skull. I usually felt it when one of my brothers was really upset about something. I placed a light kiss to Mason’s lips before slipping out of bed and leaving my room.

As usual when I woke in the middle of the night, I searched for the colored threads of my brothers. Galen and Raiden weren’t at the mansion. If they were still in Echo Bay, I’d be able to reach them with telepathy though.

“You guys okay?”I asked them.

“Yeah,”Galen answered.“We just killed the last of the ghouls in town. Walking corpses have gone back to their graves. The attacks seem to be slowing. At least in Echo Bay. Not sure about the rest of the world.”

The news didn’t make me feel much better. Echo Bay was safer because of us, but the rest of the world wasn’t so lucky. My dad was close to having enough souls. And once he had them? He’d attack the celestial realm with those powerful fallen angels, and together with Asa, they’d be that much closer to winning this stupid war.

“Be careful,”I told them.“Come home soon.”

“We will.”