Chapter 20

After telling JD and Costa what was going on, they insisted that they go with him. The three of them wouldn't all fit in his Viper, so they took the crew SUV out to the desert instead. Criss drove at his usual break-neck speeds once they got out of the city and they watched the desert terrain fly by.

"Do you know where you're going?" Costa asked.

"It was three miles north and a half a mile east of my starting point." He said and stopped the SUV. "Starting point." He said and did a quick U-Turn, driving back the way they came, keeping his eyes on both the road and the odometer. "Three miles." He then left the road and the truck bounced as it flew over rough ground. The smell of sulfur seeped through the seams of the window and filled the car making their eyes water. "We're getting close." He said coughing.

"Close to suffocation." JD complained and Criss shot him a look out of the corner of his eye. His eyes widened and he jerked the wheel, almost sending the truck on two wheels before slamming on the breaks and almost sending JD, who was sitting in the passenger seat, face first into the dashboard. As it was, he and Costa were almost strangled by their seatbelts. Criss bailed out of the SUV as if it were on fire and surveyed the scene before him, not noticing when JD and Costa joined him.

Elidra had her wings out, but relaxed, a sword in one hand and an ax in another, both weapons dripping with thick, black blood. A circle of demons surrounded her and he watched as she beheaded and eviscerated them calmly. One took a swing at her with its sword but she blocked the blow with the shaft of the ax, swinging her sword around. The gleaming metal sliced through the demon's body like a hot knife through butter. The demon froze, but then toppled over, its top half going right while its legs went left. The smell of acidic blood and gore filled the air; filling his nose and making him taste it on the back of his tongue every time he swallowed. She buried the blade of the ax into the chest of one demon and beheaded another with her sword, its body disintegrating as soon as it hit the ground just like the rest.

Her ferocity and mercilessness shocked him. This was a side of Elidra that he's never seen. Her movements were fluid, her face devoid of any emotion, and blood spray decorated her pale skin. Criss knew from their Blending that she killed the evil, but he's never actually witnessed it, all he had were blurred memories of those times. This came naturally to her as breathing did to him. It was all the other actions and emotions that she had had to learn. She was God's assassin and now he knew just what that meant. Movement caught his eye and that's when he noticed the two battered women huddled behind her, holding onto each other tightly as they watched her kill the demons.

Elidra jerked her ax out of the demons chest, its blood leaving the spray across her chest and its body disintegrated into a fine ash, the slight wind making it swirl. Her chest heaving, she passed the weapons over her sides and they vanished, leaving her hands empty. She then turned to the women and fell to her knees before them, her wings sinking into her back. They crawled towards her, tears streaking the dirt on their faces. They fell upon her in embraces and loud sobs and she held them to her as they cried.

Looking over her shoulder at the sound of his boots crunching the ground underneath them, she met his eyes and gave him a weak smile.

"Come on, sweethearts, we have to get up." She said to the two women, and all three of them stood carefully.

"I knew you'd come for us, Commander." One of them sobbed into her shoulder.

"Of course I would, Mahret, you're one of my girls, and I always look out for my girls. I would have gone to the pits of Hell to get you back if I could have." She said.

"We're the only ones left, the rest are dead." The other sobbed.

"You were strong, Allia, you two were strong and you survived."

"Just barely." Mahret said and then noticed Criss standing there. "Commander, there's a human watching us."

"It's alright, Mahret, he's a friend and I trust him with my life." Elidra said and pulled away from them, cupping their cheeks in her hands and kissing their foreheads in turn. She turned to Criss and the two women still huddled closely to her as if she were their security blanket. "Mahret, Allia, this is Criss Angel."

"Hi." He said, waving rather sedately.

"He doesn't look like much." Mahret said, her tears long dried and Elidra laughed.

"Trust me, he's…unique." Elidra said smiling and he smiled back tenderly.

"He has kind eyes." Allia said meekly, her cheek resting on Elidra's shoulder.

"He is very kind." Elidra said and took their hands in her own, lacing her fingers with theirs. "Come, let's go get you two cleaned up and get you some food."

"Where are we going?" Allia asked.

"To where I'm living now."

"Why don't we go Home?"

"I don't have that ability right now."

"I don't understand." Mahret said.

"I Fell." Elidra said and both women gasped.

"Why?" Allia asked. "What happened?"

"I'd rather not talk about it." Elidra said in a very final tone and the two women fell silent. "JD, Costa," she said looking past Criss to his brothers who were still standing by the SUV. "Could you please escort Mahret and Allia into the truck and keep them company? I'll explain later." she asked and the two men nodded, moving forward. "Its okay." She said to the two women who looked at them apprehensively. "They're friends and will do you no harm." The women nodded and hesitantly moved away from her, going to JD and Costa. Elidra watched as they got into the SUV before turning her attention on Criss.

"What's going on, El?" he asked and she gave him tired eyes.

"I'll explain everything when I get back to the hotel. For now, I want you to take Mahret and Allia back to the hotel and show them to my room and tell them that I'll be there shortly. Okay?"

"Elly…"

"Please, Criss. No questions." She said and he sighed.

"We're going to have a talk when you get back."

"Looking forward to it. Now go." She said moving her head at the SUV. Criss turned and started walking back to the truck when he stopped and turned.

"What about you?" he called out to her.

"Me? I have date with the Devil."