Page 120 of Baking and Angels

Eleanor screamed as the teeth came after her. The demon’s speed outpaced hers easily as a cheetah after a gazelle. Still, Rafferty tried to do the same, finding himself moving faster than he anticipated. Human adrenaline was no match for a demon, but it wasn’t nothing either. Grasping at Vassago’s fur again, he only managed to hold on a second longer, being dragged along with the great monster before slipping off.

At the same time, the overly large teeth caught the back of Eleanor’s chef’s jacket. The cloth ripped like tissue paper as the attack pulled her down. Sheoomphed as the wind was knocked from her as Vassago’s overly large body slammed her down. Shaking his head like a dog, the demon tore away what bit of cloth still clung to the jacket.

In the split second it took to spit the cloth out so he could clear his mouth for another attack, figures appeared atthe door.

“Demon! Demon!” a woman’s voice bellowed. It was Agent Sophia.

“All agents, convene at the secondary ballroom,” Agent Archon ordered, though to whom Rafferty had no idea. In the same moment, she lifted a firearmand shot.

Energy arched out, striking the demon. He arched back, roaring like the monster he was as the bolt went through him.

Rafferty scrambled away, in danger of being trampled or clawed by the demon’s thrashing. He encountered Helena, who had crawled after. Her wings came around him protectively, shielding him as her arms embraced hisshoulders.

“I’ve got you,”she said.

He turned in her arms and wrapped his own around her. “I’ve got you,” heanswered.

“I’m so sorry about this,” she whispered, burying her face unabashedly.

“This isn’t your fault,” he assured, cupping the back of her head with his hand, her horns pressing along his neck. He then slid his other arm down and under her, gathering her legs. She was heavier than the last time he lifted her this way, but he remained steady on his feet. Managing to keep one wing up, Vassago was trying to protect his back as the agents battled with him. Rafferty moved the others away from the action. Helena’s hands were weak, barely able to holdon to him.

“I’ve got you,” he repeated over and over, as he marched away.

More bodies were entering the room from both doorways. Rafferty braced himself to be stopped by two agents charging toward them. He expected them to question or even demand he put down the unearthly creature in his arms. Yet, just as he approached, they went around them as if they hadn’t even seen them. Maybe the demon-fighting behind them had been more urgent.

At least that had been what he thought until another agent tried to stop them leaving through the door. “You! Stop there—” and then he paused. His gaze went long and then through them, only to widen as his eyes took in the demon behind them.

“Keep walking,” Éliott said, appearing beside them in the doorway. He seized Rafferty’s upper arm and pulled him along. “They will walk around us and not register that they saw us. Honey is waitingoutside.”

With Éliott’s sure guidance, Rafferty carried Helena down a short hall that drained out into the Wrightwood Ballroom’s foyer. All the glass doors were standing open with other agents escorting chefs, helpers, and crew out to the street. Police vehicles and a firetruck arrived, their lights flashing brightly in various colors, blindingly bright inthe dark.

Rafferty balked a moment at the sight of so much unfeeling authority, but Éliott’s tug wasinsistent.

“Keep walking. They do not see her as she is, keep walking!” he called over the din of theemergency.

Holding to his fledgling faith, Rafferty continued to follow. And it was as the other angel had said, no one stopped them.

Rafferty’s arms ached horribly as he carried her a block away.

“We’re almost there,” Éliott assured him, out of breath, glancing back the way they came, assuring himself no one followed them. Whatever energies the angel was expending on their escape was taking a toll.

At last, Honey emerged from a parked car and scurried around to open the doors to the back. “Comequickly.”

“Honey, she’s not…” Rafferty tried to say, but he nearly dropped her. Both of Helena’s wings dragged on the ground as her head lolled off his shoulder, flopping backward to hang bonelessly.“Helena!”

“Don’t stop, keep going!” Éliott growled, not with anger but urgency.

“I can’t get her in the back!” Rafferty snapped back, “Her wings…”

“One moment!” Honey said, her gentle voice cutting through their fear-laden ones.

Then with an easy gesture, the car shifted into a cargo van, the side door sliding open on its own. On the floor of the van was a cushioned pad. Rafferty brought Helena to it as Honey hopped inside to help guide the broken angel intothe back.

“She will be alright, sweet comfort,” Honey assured him once Helena was settled onthe floor.

Rafferty panted as his back hit the inner side of the van, but he didn’t even wait a breath before he gathered Helena’s upper body into his lap. Cradling her in his arms, he ignored everything else as Éliott joined Honey upfront and told her what happened. Rafferty couldn’t care.

“Please, please, stay with me,” he whispered to Helena’s unconscious form. She felt so cold in his arms, but the uncanny feeling still dashed over his skin where he touched her. Brushing her beautiful red-gold hair from her face, he kissed her, willing his life to enter her and refill her.

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