XII. Knock
Issa's gun arm remained steady although they were hopelessly outnumbered. As she measured her enemies and came to the conclusion that she was going to lose, she felt calm settle over her. This was familiar territory. This was second nature.
She knew how to maim and kill. She knew how to push through grievous injuries. She knew how to stare death in the eye.
All she had to do was clear a path and distract them until the seraph escaped.
"Run when I say run," she said, taking aim. Please, please let there be a bullet.
"I'm not running."
They didn't have time to argue.
"I'll be right behind you," she lied. "Trust me."
The demons were closing in.
A wave of determination swept through their bond and Edvardiel wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. "Brace yourself," he said in her ear.
Before she could react, his skin flashed like lightning, warmth surging through his body. The demons screamed, blinded.
"Fly," he whispered.
Power bloomed within her. She shone like the sun in the dark and they shot upwards into the sky.
"To Koprivnica," Edvardiel gasped. "Don't stop flying until you reach Koprivnica."
Her mind aligned with the command, her body relaxing into the flight, and Issa let out a sigh of deep relief. Not because they'd escaped the demons, but because she was, once again, a soldier following orders. If free will was a muscle, hers had atrophied. Now that she had a task, she was much calmer.
"That was a brilliant idea," she exhaled.
The wind whipped her face as she flew, her skin shining brightly.
"You were brilliant," she said. "Literally." He'd been like a comet.
Being in the sky was freeing, and now that she wasn't lurching around banging into church ceilings, she found that she actually liked it. Flying wasn't so bad after all.
"Edvardiel?"
His hold around her waist slackened, and Issa spun and caught him just in time. His eyes were closed and his eyelashes were frozen. They had to go down—
Don't stop flying.
Her veins shone a brighter gold and she readjusted her hold, gripping him to her. "Edvardiel. Wake up. We need to stop. We need to get you warm."
He didn't move.
Issa's stomach dropped. How much glory had he used?
Don't stop flying until—
He hadn't said how high. Issa glided lower where the air wasn't as cold and hugged him closer, trying to warm him with her body. How did he radiate warmth? She couldn't seem to do the same.
"Hang in there," she said. She held him more tightly to her and sped up, resolving to arrive there as quickly as she could. Air whistled past her ears as she burned with amplified glory and they cut through the skies like a shooting star.
She'd never moved so fast in her life and yet, she'd never felt as though she were moving more slowly. The moment the borders came into sight, she dipped close to the ground, tearing through the streets for somewhere warm. The small town was blackened and ruined and she barged into the nearest house with a chimney. Ignoring the decomposed bodies strewn on the ground, she headed straight to the fireplace.
Starting a fire was a stupid, stupid move, but she needed him warm fast.
Issa tore down a chair into strips of wood, tossing them into the fireplace together with books and papers. She rubbed the wood together with inhuman speed, watching as they lit up and rapidly catch fire. Blowing at them so the flames spread, she moved Edvardiel closer to the fireplace.
His skin felt like ice.
Carefully, she removed the outer pullover, which was damp from the clouds, and hung them over the remaining chair. He wore two more but the first layer was drenched with sweat. Issa wasn't sure how he was both sweating and cold at the same time but carefully, she peeled that one off too. Her fingers brushed against the barely healed lacerations on his back and he stirred, moaning.
"Edvardiel?"
His eyes opened but they were unseeing. "Please. They're all I have."
"Edvardiel. It's me."
Tears rolled down his cheeks.
No.
No, no, no. Not this.
"Edvardiel." Issa gripped his upper arms, giving him a violent shake. "Snap out of it." She wasn't made for this. She could barely deal with her own shit, let alone his.
As sobs began to wrack his body, she backed away, trying to numb herself to the outpouring of anguish. God, she'd never felt anything worse. It was as though someone had taken her heart, wrung it out and hung it to burn where no one would see it. No one cared. Nothing she did would ever matter. She was nothing.
Issa clutched her heart, struggling to breathe. No wonder he didn't fear Lilith—why would he when his own Hell was inside him?
How did anyone live like this?
He was still pleading with his ghosts when he started to shiver. Issa grabbed a dusty quilt with trembling hands and threw it over him, feeling irrationally angry that he was putting her through this. As though she needed one more reason to be miserable.
She watched him thrash in the firelight as she sat with her back in a corner.
Minutes went by. Hours, maybe. Edvardiel finally calmed and he fell into a feverish, fitful sleep, his glory flaring every now and then. He was nowhere near ready to go out in the cold and they didn't have much time—Koprivnica wasn't far from Zagreb. The demons would find them. If they didn't follow the trail of glory, they'd surely follow the smoke.
Bloodthirst stirred within her.
Let them come.
Issa clutched the gun in her hand, turning the pain into fury as she watched the door. She'd tear through them with her nails and teeth. She'd done it before.
Footsteps approached the door.
Issa stood, positioning herself so that the sleeping angel was hidden behind her. She cocked the gun and took aim. She'd shoot the first few through the door.
"Do we knock first?"
Issa's eyes widened at the voice before she gripped the gun more tightly. It couldn't be. It was another one of Lilith's tricks. Still, her finger hesitated on the trigger.
Three loud knocks.
Every single muscle tensed as she waited.
The door creaked open and Issa jerked back at the familiar flash of pink. Her arm fell limply to her side. The little girl's eyes lit up with delight. Before anyone could stop her, she'd run and thrown herself at Issa, beaming so widely Issa could see all of her missing milk teeth.
"Maman!" she said, her voice high and excited. "It's my angel!"
Does anyone remember Alice from Chapter 5? :D