Angel's Redemption (The Fallen Warriors Series Book 6) (8 page)

“Give it up,” a white-wing yelled. “You’re outnumbered.” Almost the moment he made that statement, a lick of flame shot up from below, catching him around the ankles. The flame sped upward, burning him to a crisp.

Seth allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction when the other white-wings glanced below them for the first time and realized a small army of armed humans was in place just outside the tower.

One of the angels aimed his torch toward the ground and shot it. Screams and the smell of burning flesh gripped the air.

Then, the humans returned fire en masse… and all hell broke loose.

Chapter Nine

T
he leather whip cracked as it flew through the air, landing on Lily’s back with enough force to rip through her flesh. She screamed as blinding pain shot through her body, making her back arch helplessly as she swung back and forth on the manacles holding her restrained in the air.

“You should have never betrayed your own kind,” the cruel voice of her torturer sounded out. Darius was an enforcer for the Tribunal, and an angel she’d once played with as a child. He’d always been drawn to inflicting pain, which meant he must be very happy right now.

“You bastard,” Michael bit out. “Why don’t you use that on someone who can actually kick your ass?”

Anger bristled from Darius, and for a moment, Lily thought he would turn the whip on Michael, but instead he flicked his wrist and sent it arching toward Eva. She let out a loud scream and convulsed wildly.

“No!” Michael screamed, his voice heavy with anguish. “Leave her alone, you monster!”

He struggled against his manacles, swinging his legs in an effort to get some traction. His wrists were already torn to shreds, and his frantic maneuvering only served to send rivulets of blood down his arms.

Oh Gods. Lily closed her eyes, gritting her teeth against the pain. She could well understand Michael’s panic. The two of them couldn’t die from this torture, as horrible as it might be. Eva, on the other hand, wasn’t pure angel like they were. A nephilim could be killed through torture.

Where the hell had they taken Adam? Darius had shackled her, Eva, and Michael in this room upon arrival at the Central Park tower, but they’d taken Adam elsewhere to “question” him. Lily knew what that meant: They were going to torture him until he’d revealed everything he knew to them.

Fury mixed with pain at the thought of what evils Adam might be undergoing right now. The knowledge that he could so easily be killed made her want to howl in agony. It wasn’t right. He didn’t deserve it.

When Darius edged closer to Eva, Lily resolved to steal away his attention. Unlike the free hand he was using to whip her and Eva with, he’d decided it would be better torture for Michael to hang there helplessly and watch while the two of them received all the mistreatment.

He was right. There could be no worse fate for Michael than to have to witness this, knowing nothing he did or said could help.

So she’d have to help Eva on her own. Somehow.

She summoned her courage and searched deep within herself for inner peace and calm. If she could withstand the fiery ravages of that hut, where she and the other Fallen had almost lost their lives, she could take whatever Darius decided to dish out.

“Tell me something,” she snarled, twisting her head to seek out Darius’s gaze. “Were you born such a momentous asshole, or is it something you’ve worked toward all these years?”

Darius’s face morphed with rage, and he turned back to her, driving the whip toward her back. It snaked around her side and onto her stomach, and a mewl of agony escaped her.

Michael roared with anger and resumed his crazed attempts to get his hands free of the restraints.

The ring of Darius’s cruel laughter filled the air. “Don’t bother. You’ll never get loose. I—”

He cut off abruptly as an abnormal vibration stirred in the air.

A prickling sensation crept along Lily’s body, tickling her spine.

More angels approached the tower.

A broken sound tore from Michael’s throat, and threads of cautious hope and disbelief filtered from him. Lily understood just how he was feeling. Because the sensation crawling along her back told her the same thing it told him: The rest of the Fallen were attacking.

Either they were about to be saved… or they were all about to die.

Darius stiffened, anger pulsing off him in loose waves. “Those idiots think they can stop us?”

The note of arrogance dripping off him said just how ludicrous he found that, but only a moment later, the screams and yells of battle started. Echoes of fear drifted into the room where they were being held prisoner, and a man’s voice yelled, “Darius, we need you!”

“What?” Darius whispered to himself. Frowning, he started across the room. He set the whip onto a wooden table placed against the wall and picked up one of the torches resting on it. Uncertainty wafted off him as he headed to the door. He opened it and stepped out without bothering to shut it behind him.

Lily turned to exchange a glance with Michael. Pain lanced off her injured body, but she gritted her teeth and ignored it.

Michael’s expression said it all. If there was ever an opportunity to escape, it was now.

She allowed herself a glance at Eva. Pity wrenched her heart when she saw her friend was only barely conscious. Eva couldn’t withstand this torture much longer.

Tamping down on her fear so as not to cause Michael further alarm, Lily whispered, “I can try to break my hand.”

“The manacles are too tight,” he murmured, his voice flat with despair. “I fear it would accomplish nothing.”

He was probably right, but it was better than just hanging here, helplessly.

“My hand is smaller than yours,” she said. “It’s worth a try.”

When he nodded his assent, she took several deep breaths in an effort to calm her fear. Granted, she was already in pain, but the thought of bringing more upon herself didn’t hold any appeal. She would gladly do it, however, if it meant they might be able to escape.

With one last breath, she readied herself to try and wrench her arm free, but before she could act, a figure stepped into the room.

Lily’s gaze shot to the woman standing at the door, and her body seized in disbelief. “Samantha.”

“Thank the Heavens,” Michael muttered, hope skittering off him.

Aaron’s mate gave them a grim smile, but her expression grew worried when she glanced them over and her eyes came to rest on Eva. She entered the room and closed and locked the door. Then she raced to the side table where Darius had deposited his whip.

After shutting her torch off, she placed it on the table and grabbed a chair.

“I crept in through a side entrance while the others kept the angels occupied up front,” she said as she dragged the chair to Eva. “I’d hoped I could get the front door open, but there are too many white-wings guarding it.”

She climbed atop the chair and dug through her pants for a metal pick. Once she had in in her grip, it took all of a second for her to pick one of the locks binding Eva’s wrists.

Eva cried out as her arm came free and wrenched her body in the process. Her eyelids fluttered, and her head lolled backward.

“Shit,” Samantha muttered.

“Beloved?” Michael whispered, his voice lined with fear.

“She’ll be okay,” Lily assured Michael. She had to be.

Samantha undid the other lock and tried her best to keep hold of Eva, but her dead weight brought both of them crashing to the ground.

“Eva!” Michael jerked frantically against his manacles.

“Easy, Michael,” Lily whispered to him.

Samantha rolled Eva onto her back and scrambled to her feet. Her gaze shifted between Lily and Michael.

“Him first,” Lily told her. Even if she hadn’t felt every bit of Michael’s despair, she would still understand his crazed need to hold his mate.

Samantha quickly complied, dragging the chair to Michael and freeing him of the manacles.

Blood oozed from the ruined flesh on his wrists as he rushed to Eva and folded her into his arms.

A moment later, Samantha was in front of her, working on the manacles. One arm came free with a painful yank, and then the other.

Lily moaned as she dropped to the floor, landing in a squat on her feet. Her back felt as if it were on fire, and the wound on her stomach from that final whiplash oozed blood, but she was still conscious and in one piece. She had to be thankful for the little things.

Dizziness set in as she forced herself to stand.

Fighting back a burst of nausea, Lily asked Samantha, “Have you seen Adam?”

“No. I’ll go look for him next.”

Samantha’s voice said it all. She didn’t hold out much hope of finding him alive. But no, Lily refused to accept that.

“What’s happening out there?” she asked Samantha.

“Ruby and the rebels gathered a team of humans. Almost a hundred of them.”

Lily’s breath caught. No wonder the angels were panicked. The humans had to outnumber them by several fold. “They’re armed?”

Grim satisfaction rolled off Samantha as she nodded. “Oh yeah. They’re trying to cause a diversion so one of the others can fly in and let them all inside the tower.”

One of the others.
Did that mean…?

“Seth?”

Samantha nodded. “He’s here.”

An unexpected weight eased from Lily’s chest. Seth hadn’t been with them when they’d gotten caught, but she’d still feared the worst for him.

Gods only knew what he was going through now.

That knowledge propelled her toward the table, where several unlit flame torches rested beside the one Samantha had set down. Lily grabbed one and gave Michael a glance. He was still preoccupied with his unconscious mate, as he should be. She would have to do this herself.

Lily headed for the door, calling out to Samantha as she walked, “Look for Adam. I’ll go find a way to let the humans in.”

“Lily,” Samantha whispered.

She turned to face Samantha.

“Be careful,” her friend whispered.

Lily heard in Samantha’s voice what she hadn’t said aloud. She was scared that once Lily went out there, they would never see each other again.

“I will,” she told Samantha. She edged open the door just enough to see what was on the other side. The path was clear, so she slid out into the corridor and flipped her torch on.

One way or another, she was going to get that door open.

She’d only been half conscious when they’d dragged her in here, her mind still reeling from the pain of having the muscle and sinew of her back torn, but she remembered the path they’d taken.

The long winding corridor was strangely silent as she tiptoed her way down, but the commotion she’d heard earlier was now taking place toward the entrance. It sounded like the angels guarding the tower were frantically trying to figure out how best to defend it.

Her body protested as she forced herself to keep moving. The fatigue that had been plaguing her earlier had only been compounded by her imprisonment. She wasn’t as strong as she needed to be, and she knew it, but this battle wasn’t going to wait for her to be ready for it. Like it or not, the time to fight back had come. And the Fallen needed every bit of help they could get.

She poked her head around the corner into the room that served as the tower’s entryway, and the reason for all the shouts and panic became clear.

Ethan had managed to gain entry, probably through one of the tower windows, if she had to guess. He was partially hidden behind a stone column and engaged in a flame torch battle with nine or ten white-wings whose backs were turned to her. The room was devoid of all but several columns, like the one Ethan hid behind, and a reception desk, so the angels were doing their best to zig and zag in an effort to avoid Ethan’s flames.

A stray flame shot her way, and she ducked behind the safety of the wall. Only when a minute had passed with no additional fire did she dare look back. That was when she noticed a second man hiding behind the column closest to Ethan.

It was Seth.

Her breath caught in her throat. She hadn’t expected to feel such overwhelming relief, such love at seeing him. It gave her renewed strength to do what she did next.

Lily turned back to the room and took aim with her torch.

Her gaze almost immediately landed on Darius, who was so preoccupied with shooting at Seth that, like the rest of the white-wings, he hadn’t noticed her behind him.

Grinning, she pointed the torch right at him and shot a flame.

It caught him square on the back and he screamed as he caught fire.

She only had a moment to rejoice in Darius’s demise before several of the white-wings turned toward her.

Aiming her torch, she shot several flames, and then dropped to the ground and crawled back behind the wall.

A scream told her at least one of her shots had found its mark. Still kneeling on the ground, she chanced a peek around the corner.

Seth had emerged from one of the columns, and he expertly aimed his torch and fired two shots in succession. Both scored hits, and two more white-wings almost instantly burned to ash.

Yes!

The white-wings might have invented the flame torches, but clearly they weren’t battle trained like the Fallen and their human accomplices. Knowing them like she did, Lily was willing to bet they had never expected to be attacked like this. Their hubris would be their downfall; she was determined of that.

Ethan stepped from around the column and whirled toward a few other white-wings, shooting a succession of flames at them. They flew in a haphazard pattern through the air, but he still managed to connect with one.

When a lick of flame shot toward him, Seth yelled, “Watch out.”

That was when Lily noticed that all of the angels were preoccupied with avoiding the flames. No one guarded the double doors as the front entrance, which were currently bolted with an iron slide bolt.

Her heart rocketed in her throat as her eyes swiveled back to Seth. He seemed to sense her because their gazes locked, and his eyes widened as he read the intent on her face.