Through Flame and Blade

Ch. 47 Angelii

*Chiara

Chiara couldn't breathe. Nothing made sense. Was this a long-game? A way for Logan to gain his place among the lords of Hell? Using her as bait to bring Zeigfel here so he could issue a challenge?

Was there truly nothing between them?

Even now, filled with doubt and anguish, her skin shivered at the heat of his nearness. In only a few seconds of being next to him, her breaths matched his, her ears strained to hear his voice.

"This was your plan? To manipulate me to this point," she said.

He shook his head.

"Then let me fight with you," she said.

"When I start fighting Zeigfel, you will have only a few seconds to get out of here. The demons will be watching us, but they won't let you get far if you don't fly hard."

"Meet me in the Midlands," she said.

Again, he shook his head. "There is no where we can be together and you not be in danger."

He was sending her away. This was the end. She needed one last answer to her questions.

"Why did you play the game?" she breathed. "To distract them from me, when I couldn't take it anymore? Why take my torture for yourself and help me through the dark nights?"

"My angel. My light, my only." He cupped her cheek. "It was never a game to me. I have fought all of hell to get you here. Do you think I'm going to stop now? There is only one thing you can do for me."

She leaned forward, instinctively. Every cell of her body crying out for his touch. To feel his lips on hers like a promise he would come after her and they could figure out a way to be together.

His lips brushed the shell of her ear instead of her lips. "Fly."

Zeigfel charged and all Chiara could do was scramble out of Logan's way. Swords clanged, metal on metal, but it felt like the ends pierced her chest.

The two fighters hacked at each other with mindless fury. The other demons crept from the shadows, hissing, cheering, placing bets, and howling.

Electric warning shocked her nerves. The demons in the hall were shifting.

Her angelii seethed in response, hissing in her mind to be let out. Chiara forced it down as she edged away from the fight and closer to the arched opening.

There was a great ledge that extended from the hall, out on the side of the mountain. This was the overlap of Hell with the Midlands, one of the two places that the different realms crossed. There would be secret rifts cutting through the realms and she would have to find one, then cross all of the Midlands to find the next overlap—where Heaven came in contact with the human world, at the Fountain.

Turning away from the heart-rending fight, she inched under the archway and looked out on the edge of Hell.

There was a bridge extending upwards from the side of the balcony. A new, arched stone bridge with freshly cut stones pierced a hug portal, and through the portal....

The Fountain. She could see the ruined Garden and smashed temple to the Fountain.

The demons had established a portal there for an attack on Heaven, just as Daviid had feared they might if they ever took the Fountain. There was going to be an invasion any day now.

She had to warn the angels. She spread her wings.

A cry dragged her eyes back to the dark hole of Hell.

Logan forced Zeigfel to his knees with a repeated battery of blows. Zeigfel knelt, sword above his head to block, and with a final great swing, Logan broke the other demon's sword. Without a single word or second's pause, Logan whipped his sword around, taking Zeigfel's head from his shoulders.