Page 147 of Lourdes & the Mafia
I barely have time to call out a warning cry before Thuriel jerks back up, tearing through Kane’s shadows with the rising force of a powerful being. Electricity sizzles and lashes out.
The same kind that pierced Ramiel before.
A scream rips from me just as Thuriel’s magic hits Kane square in the chest.
Ramiel’s voice rumbles like thunder, and with a powerful stroke of his wings, he pushes forward just as Kane falls. His body crumples to the ground and Ramiel collides in a clash of wings and limbs with Thuriel.
And all I can see is Kane’s rumpled, bleeding form.
And all I can feel is heartbreak down to my bones.
Ramiel
Thesightofmybrother’s bleeding form impulses every move I make.
Thuriel and I tussle, a tangle of limbs and fury. His magic threatens me, but I block. Anger controls every movement I make. We parry back and forth, blocking, hitting, screaming our anger. His strength is almost unmatched.
But he’s recently fallen. He’s fueled by rage. He’s strong but sloppy. And he caught me off guard once, but it will not happen again.
We are a flurry of magic. Darkness and light clashing. It sizzles between us, stabbing in my direction. My fists meet his face and in turn he gives equally. I try to gauge his erratic movements, dodging the bows, attacking his vulnerable sides. It enrages him. Light emanates between us and explodes, blasting us apart from one another.
I land on my feet, my fiery black wings straightening to keep me firmly on the ground. He lands opposite of me. Two adversaries facing off among the chaos.
I stare at the person he is now. Someone who was once my brother, who I respected. He has lost everything, but that’s no excuse for the bitter man that stands before me.
I know my own faults very well. I am a vile thing. I am dangerous. I kill without mercy and end lives at the snap of my fingers. I care not for humans or the lives they live or the things they’ve suffered.
But I am not him, and looking at him now, I see everything I could have been had it not been for my brothers.
The brothers he so mercilessly attacked.
Fires from the Underworld flare at my feet, blazing through my wings to light up the night, engulfing the sky above.
I drown in them, letting my true power shine. For a split second, I see a hint of fear in his gaze.
Let him fear me.
Let him fear the angel of death.
Kane
Myvisionfadesinand out of darkness, the pain paralyzing me to the floor where I currently lay. I can feel warmth seeping at my back. Blood, I’m sure of it.
The electrifying feel of the bastard angel’s magic makes me convulse, but I can’t feel my limbs. I can’t feel anything.
But rage.
And cold.
And I know I am going to die.
“Kane! Kane!” The voice is far away, and I can’t seem to move my neck to turn towards the sound.
It isn’t until she appears in the line of my fading vision that I realize who the voice belongs to. My eyes snatch on her beautiful figure and I try to force myself to focus on it, on her, even with my vision fading, my consciousness making an attempt to fall into darkness.
Her palm comes down across my face, the action making me jolt. I should be blasted away by her touch, feel agony coursing through my veins, but the moment her skin comes into contact with mine, something inside me shifts. For a second, the pain eases.
I don’t know if death has finally come to claim me and I don’t want to think about it. That I’m going to die before I’ve ever lived, that even my brother, with all his magic, cannot stop this from happening. And my one regret is that I never got more time with her.
