Broken Wings (Hidden Wings Series Book Two) (26 page)

When it was finished,
per my request, Malachi collected as much of his ashes as possible. I wanted to take Danyel’s ashes with us, and refused to leave any part of him in Hell. He didn’t belong here. He belonged someplace beautiful and peaceful, so I vowed that I would carry his ashes with me, and after we made it out of here, I’d take them someplace beautiful and scatter them.

F
our of us remained, and for a while we sat in a somber silence.

Th
ey all seemed to deal with it much better than I was. But I was still human. A girl. They were warriors, which had already dealt with centuries of war and death.

“We’ll stay here until Dom
inic heals enough to move without pain,” Samuel said.

Malachi nodded in agreement.
Dominic was quiet, but his jaw was clenched tight. The wrap he put around his arm was soaked and dripping with blood. He looked pale and his eyes were bright red and glossy. I could tell he was in a lot of pain.

“Can’
t one of you put him to sleep so he doesn’t have to deal with the pain?” I asked.

“No,” Dominic blurted. “I’ve never been
put under the sleeper. Ever. Believe me. I’ve seen much worse days.”

“
Why? Men and Angels… most are so damn full of pride,” I sighed and shook my head. “I don’t understand how you’d choose to suffer while being awake, rather than just closing your eyes and sleep, and wake up healed.”

Dominic paused for a moment
, and we waited for a response.

“
So, you really think I’m prideful?” he asked.

“Understatement,” Malachi said
, and everyone laughed.

Dominic winced i
n pain. “Fine,” he gave in. “But this does not leave Hell.”

A wicked grin crossed Malachi’s face.

“And, I don’t want him to do it,” Dominic blurted, motioning to Malachi.

“Why? I’d tuck you in
nice and tight,” Malachi said, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Whatever dude. Just stay the hell away from me,” Do
minic huffed. “Emma, make sure-”

“
Don’t worry, Dom. I’ve got your back. No one will breathe a word, and I’ll keep Malachi away from you,” I answered.

“Speak for yourself,
Emma,” Malachi huffed. I glared at him and rolled my eyes.

S
amuel walked over to Dominic. “I think you should get into a comfortable position.”

“Wait,” Dom answered, and then
slid down and took a side position. “Okay, do it.”

Samuel kneeled down to him, and
spoke into his ear, “Sleep.”

I
n less than a minute, Dominic was sound asleep and snoring loudly. If he kept that up, we’d all need the sleeper.

“Emma, do you need some help to sleep?” he asked.

“Not right now, but maybe later,” I said.

As time slowly ticked, my heart an
d thoughts were on Danyel. It didn’t matter whether my eyes were open or closed, my mind kept replaying the horror of his death. The last look on his face was what killed me the most. He knew he was going to die, and yet, told me to be strong and take care of my father.

I kept watching the Hell Hound sink his teeth deep int
o his neck and pull away. It wouldn’t stop.  

“You haven’t eaten in a
while, Emma. Here.” Samuel offered me some jerky.

“No thanks. I
can’t eat right now.”

Samuel’s eyes had a look of concern. A look my
mortal father used to give me when he knew I was sick or down about something.

“I
understand what you’re going through,” he said exhaling. “It’s been a rough journey for all of us. Danyel was my best friend, but he was tired of it all. Tired of having to be on a side. Tired of fighting. Tired of not knowing what we were fighting for anymore.

“
Believe me when I tell you that he is finally at peace now. It’s something he has been waiting for, and for a very long time.”

I nodded, fe
eling the tears daring to spill from my eyes.

He came and hugged me. “Don’t worry, Emma. We’ll get through this.”

“Do you really think we’ll make it past the next gate?” I asked.

“I think we stand a
very good chance,” he answered. “Especially with Malachi and Dominic with us now, and after watching you today… I’d say you’re more than capable of holding your own.”

“
I don’t understand what happened to me. It must have been the suit or the dagger that helped me. They gave me the strength to do what I needed to do.”

“
No,” he shook his head. “It was you, Emma. The suit and the dagger only enhance what is already inside of you. You have the power to make a difference. When faced with a deadly decision, you charged forward instead of staying back and watching, and it was that decision that saved Dominic’s life.

“
If you had paused, even for a moment, right now there would be two tragedies, and three of us left. You saved him and saved the rest of us. That’s not something that can be taught. It’s something you’re born with.”

I couldn’
t really grasp the full extent of what he was saying, because I was still unsure
of what I could do in my new skin. This new world, this dark world of death and torment… was burying me alive.

Dominic made a sound, and we both turned to him.
He looked so peaceful, and was finally free from his pain and suffering. He was now resting and healing. Malachi was turned away from us, and looked like he was sound asleep.

“
So what do we do now?” I asked quietly. 

“We wait
. Once Dom’s arm heals we will be able to plan the next step,” he answered. He grabbed his small pack and placing it on the ground. He then lay down, and placed his head on it.

“Do you think they’ll let us see him? Lucifer?
” I asked.

“
I have high hopes,” he said, yawning.

He must have been exhausted, and
we were safe for now. Samuel and Malachi were not under the sleeper, so they would be on full guard.

“Emma, you should get some sleep
. And, don’t worry, we will wake you if anything happens,” Samuel whispered.

“I don’t think I can. Not after what happened.”

“Do you need some help?” he smiled.

I nodded. I really needed some help, especially with the constant horrors playing over and over in my mind.

“You comfortable?” he asked.

I
tried to lie down in the most comfortable position I could. Samuel leaned over and brushed the hair away, which was stuck on my cheek. “Sleep sweet, my daughter.”

My eyes
suddenly became heavy, and my brain started tingling and became numb. Soon, my world faded to black.

Chapter 15

Samuel
gently nudged my shoulder to get up, and when he did, I realized that we were still in Hell. I was still in the nightmare. My reality
was
the nightmare, and it wasn’t going to go away. I had wished that when I opened my eyes that Danyel would still be alive, Kade would be with me as an immortal, or that I’d be back in Los Angeles with my mom and dad. But that wasn’t going to happen, and I had to deal with it. We all had to deal with it.

“Hey
, Emma. Why so glum?” The sound of Dominic’s voice broke me from my mental state, and put a small smile on my face.

“Just wish
ing everything was different,” I answered.

“You know,
the answer to your problem is just an attitude change away,” he said with a wink. “Just saying.”

I thought about his words
for a moment, and he was right. If I focused on the positive, then maybe I could drag myself out of this negative tar pit.

Samuel was still alive, Kade was
safely with Alaine, and we made it through the five levels of Hell. That had never been done before, and would probably never be done again.

I was thankful that Dom, Malachi
, and Danyel came to rescue us when they did. They saved us both, but the thought of Danyel kept breaking my heart. I couldn’t allow my thoughts to linger on him for too long or I’d lose it.

“So how are you feeling?” I asked Dominic.

“Better than ever,” he said, carefully unwrapping the dry bloodied shirt from his arm. My mouth gaped wide as he revealed it. The once mangled, shredded, bloody skin and bones had completely healed. In its place was pink, baby skin.

The last time I saw his arm, it was barely the
re! Now it was brand new.

“Amazing what
a little rest can do to an immortal, huh?” he chimed.

“
Heck yeah. I just hope that I’ll be able to heal that quickly,” I said.

“What are you talking about? You are
already healing like us,” Malachi said.

I guess he was right. Ever since my seventeenth birthday, it seemed I
’d started the change, getting closer to the time of the real transformation. I had eleven more months to survive.

“We need to get moving,”
Samuel said, opening his pouch. He pulled out some jerky, crackers and a few nuts. “Emma, you have to eat something before we leave.”

“I’m not hungry,” I said, stretching my tired limbs.

“I know, but you’re still mortal. You need to eat, or you’ll get weak.”

I took the food and forced
it down. It didn’t taste good at all, but at least it was added fuel to keep me going. He gave me what was left in his canteen, and that was it. We didn’t have any left. All we had to do was survive the last leg of this quest, and hopefully we’d all be home soon.

“So do we have a plan?” I asked.

“Yes. You and I will be going to the last gate together, and Malachi and Dominic will be going back to Alaine,” he said.

“Wait! Hold up! We aren’t
leaving you guys,” Malachi interrupted. He didn’t look too happy with that plan, and I realized that Samuel had made this decision on his own, without consulting with them first.

“Malachi, there is no way
the Fallen will let you enter those gates. Showing yourself at the gate will start a war that we cannot win. You and Dominic have done all you can to get us here safely. Your part of the quest is over, and now Emma and I must finish ours,” he answered.

“Samuel, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I think we should wait out here, just to make sure that everything is okay,” Dominic answered.

“Once we get to Lucifer…if we get to him…we will not come back this way, and you will not be able to enter. We have to make this journey alone.”

Without Dom and Malac
hi, the strongest half of us, Samuel and I were nearly powerless. But I guess we didn’t need strength where we were going. Danyel told me that I’d have to be smart when dealing with Lucifer, so brains would be needed more than brawn.

“Samuel, you’re supposed to be dead.
They think that they’ve killed you. Won’t it be a huge gamble if you go through there?” Malachi asked.

“It
might be, but it was Lucian who saw to my execution. I doubt that Lucifer even knew anything about it. He probably has no idea that I’m supposed to be dead. For the past century, he hasn’t been much into the details of his members. I think I should be fine,” he said.

Malachi exhaled loudly and shook his head.

I knew he and Dominic weren’t in agreement with what was going on. They thought they were going with us to the end, but Samuel was right. They’d never get past those gates unless they were part of the Fallen, and they knew it.

“Well, we aren’t lea
ving until we make sure that you’ve both entered safely. If we hear anything, we will be kicking down those gates, and kicking some ass as we come through,” Dominic noted.

“I
agree with Dom. We will make sure you enter safely, and only when we’re certain that you’ve made it, then we will leave.”

“Well,
it won’t be long until they find out that their undefeatable Guardians of the five levels are dead. Then you’ll be in real danger,” Samuel urged.

“Hey, don’t you worry about
us. We can take care of whatever comes our way. You just make sure that Emma makes it in and out safely, and that we’ll see you both back at the house in one piece.”

“Agreed,” Samuel said.

We all stood somewhere in the depths of Hell and said our last goodbyes. I walked over to Malachi and gave him a hug.

“Hey, you can
do this. I know I seemed a bit rough on you in the beginning, but I believe that you have what it takes to survive,” Malachi said.