Page 48

Chapter 47

The B Team Strikes Again

SJ

H ellen’s winds, even at their most tumultuous, had nothing on the sensation of free falling from Heaven.

I tried to speak, to shout out to the Hounds as we plummeted straight through those fluffy clouds, but the wind filled my mouth the second I opened it.

I had a sudden, mad realisation that I was, at that very moment, life imitating art. Lucifer’s fall from Heaven was a defining moment in human religious mythology. It, of course, had never really happened.

Until now.

I laughed at the absurdity of this, of the entire situation I’d found myself in, but the wind flapped so violently at my cheeks that the only noise I made was verging on obscene. It put me to mind of the sound of me enjoying some self-care in my favourite Hell hot spring.

Which only made me laugh harder. Perhaps I’d truly, finally lost the plot entirely. I had just leapt out of a Heavenly high-rise, after all.

Crunch!

My body jerked violently, my neck snapping forwards as I stopped mid-air. I clutched a howling Beezle and Bub closer to me.

“You’re a real wanker, Son of Satan.”

I turned my head, wincing as my neck cracked, to be met with the smarmy face of bloody Mike. And Gabe and Raphe. Their wings were flapping frantically as they all worked together to hold me up.

“For badness’ sake! Will you let me go?” I grunted. “Do you know what your Queen wanted me for? Because I guarantee if you did, you’d be happier to let me fall to the Human Realm.”

Raphe rolled his eyes as Gabe scowled, “We don’t argue with Her. We just do as we’re told. And right now, we’ve been told to haul you back up to Heaven and lock you up until you’re ready to cooperate.”

Shit. We were … rising!

No. No, no, no. I could not go back there. I was not buying into Her little enslavement contract. She wasn’t as bad as Hellen—She was worse.

Thinking fast, I glanced down at Beezle. His eyes darted wildly, and he pawed at my hand.

“I can’t loosen my grip, Beez, I’ll drop you!” I snapped as the three archangels continued to ascend.

Beezle rolled his eyes impatiently. “Por, por por!” he barked.

“Gesundheit!” I replied. But then Bub joined in.

“Tal, tal tal tal!”

“Por por!”

“Tal tal!”

Home’s bones, why didn’t I think of that?

“The B Team strikes again,” I murmured, hefting Beezle tighter into the crook of my arm, freeing my hand and wrist.

“Do it, Boss!”

I began conjuring. The lights coalesced beneath us.

Unfortunately, the bloody angels noticed.

“Wait, what’s he?—”

“Oh, shit, he’s making a portal!”

“Don’t drop him, or She’ll?—”

The B Team struck.

Beezle turned and bit a chunk out of Gabe’s leg. He howled and released me. I thrust my elbow into Raphe’s windpipe. He made a gurgling sound and fell away.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Mike grunted, but he was one slender angel trying to support the weight of not just a burly devil, but also the two biggest-brained Hell Hounds ever to live.

“Oh yes, I do!” I growled. “Tell your Queen She can take Her batshit contract and stick it so far up Her arse that even in Heaven it will never see sunshine again!”

And Bub, with timing so perfect I would recall the moment for centuries, latched on to Mike’s nethers and bit down.

I was sure I heard the wet pop of a bursting gonad. Mike screamed, releasing me to fend off bitey Bub, who, in even more perfect timing, let go. As Mike doubled over his bleeding bollocks, we fell.

Right into the waiting portal.

* * *

We tumbled out onto the rug in Jemma’s living room, gasping and panting and laughing manically from the sheer adrenaline of our escape.

“What the fuck have you done with her?”

I sobered instantly, disentangling myself from the Hounds and rolling to my stomach. I pressed myself up, gritting my teeth through the twinges of pain riddling my body. I still hadn’t properly recovered from all those attempts to bulldoze my way out of the invisible cell the angels had held me in. And then there was that jerk out of my freefall that had definitely put a nasty crick in my neck.

But all of that paled in comparison to the sudden, lurching, sickening bolt of pain in my chest as I came face to face with a furious, tear-streaked Ezra. At his side was another male—the one I had seen chatting with Jemma at her market stalls—cradling a limp, white bundle.

“Luci!” Bub howled, scrambling up and clambering over the lounge to reach the other male. I couldn’t drag my eyes from the tiny, vulnerable little body.

“Where is Jemma?” Ezra demanded, his body shaking in my periphery. “What did you do?”

I opened my mouth, but the clenching sensation in my chest stole my words.

“You better have something to say, dickhead!” Ezra shoved my shoulder. I staggered backwards, catching a horrifyingly familiar scent lingering in the air.

“Hellen.”

It was the only word I could get out.

“Isn’t that … your sister?”

I turned to Ezra, my thoughts spinning, my chest vibrating. My stomach swirled with nausea.

“The Soul Token!” I grated, gripping Ezra’s arm. “Do you know where she put it?”

Ezra’s brow creased, his scowl deepening. “She didn’t want to touch it after you left. It burned a hole in her hand from how much you hurt her!” He spun, striding towards the kitchen. “She dropped it right …”

He froze, staring at the bench. At the completely bare bench.

“It was right … here,” he muttered, a shaking hand sliding across the laminate. “Maybe she moved it?” He turned to me, eyes wide. “She might have decided it was time to put it somewhere safe …”

The hope in his voice almost broke me as I shook my head.

“I can smell my sister.” I sniffed. Yes, that burning coal scent was all her. “If my sister has been here, then …” I turned to the other male, who had moved to sit on the couch, Luci in his arms, Bub in his lap. Bub was lapping gently at Luci’s face.

“Is she …?” I couldn’t bring myself to finish the question.

“I don’t … I think …” The other male choked on his words.

“Joe was here, too!” Ezra blurted frantically. “His car is still parked outside! I walked in expecting to see the pair of them sniping at each other, and instead … nothing. And Luci, crumpled on the floor over there.” He pointed to the far wall.

“She’s got them both, then,” I snapped, whirling, already conjuring another portal. “She’ll have taken them down.”

“What the … you mean, she’s taken them to Hell?” Ezra shrieked. “You better bloody fix this, Satan Junior! The last thing Jemma needs after you broke her heart is … fucking Hell !”

“I intend to fix this,” I snarled as the portal stretched wide. “Bub, you stay with Luci … if there is any way to save her, you do it!”

Bub didn’t respond, he just kept licking Luci with such tenderness it made me want to scream. What if it was too late for Luci? What if it was too late for …

I sprinted into the portal.