Page 63 of When Monsters Fight
The alarms stop blaring as I slowly turn to look up the corridor.
Rue’s hair is in disarray, her eyes bright in a face smudged with dirt, and is that the hilt of a sword sticking up over her shoulder?
“Hey…” Rue says. “Did you miss me?”
Her words are cocky, but the trembling of her mouth and the heaving of her chest tells me everything I need to know.
I bridge the distance between us, catching her as she throws herself at me. Her scent envelopes me, vanilla tones hidden beneath a bitter ozone smell. Her scent. This is her. And she’s here.
She made it. And I’m never letting her go.
Chapter 32
RUE
The sword, which hummed with power a few hours ago was now silent and inert against my back. But it had worked when we’d needed it. I wasn’t in on the metaphysical mechanics, but it reacted to the Morningstar power when I opened the channel, allowing me to will open a door back to our world. I’d imagined the forest near the church, and it had taken us there.
There’d been activity in the church.
Celestials.
Gabriel’s hunch that the wards might fall had been right. We’d managed to sneak away undetected and gone on foot for a few hours before taking to the air.
We’d expected a warm welcome here. To find everyone inside the base safe and warm, but no, they had the watchers locked outside.
We’d used a second entrance to the base. One only Gabriel knew of and had access codes to. Still, alarms hadbeen triggered, and I was certain we’d have been shot if the head of security hadn’t been in the team come to counter us.
He knew Gabriel.
We were safe for now. I had Bastian with me again, and I’d managed to push some Morningstar power into Tumiel. He was with Bee, healing properly now. Although it had been harder to draw from the channel this time, as if it was resisting me, or as if someone was blocking it.
The Dominion must be doing something to the relic, which meant that time was running out.
There was no time for a proper reunion with Bastian and Bee before General Storm had me, Gabriel, and Bastian in her office, demanding answers.
The silence in the room was almost deafening once Gabriel finished briefing the general. She sat, chin tucked in, head bowed as if the weight of our failure was pressing down on her. She couldn’t be much older than me, maybe mid to late twenties. But she had a weary look in her eyes. One that spoke of responsibility and burdens. Bastian stood by some shelves, his arms crossed almost defensively.
Oliver, the head of security, stood in the shadows behind Storm. Older, jaded. Silent. He watched.
Was he thinking the same thing as me? That the time for talking was over. That it was time for action.
“We must act now,” Gabriel said, echoing my thoughts. “We must free Lucifer from the Dominion’s grasp. She’s our only hope.”
Storm looked up at him, the beginnings of a sneer forming on her lips. “You said she doesn’t know how to reclaim the power in the Morningstar relic.”
Was she implying that Lucifer wasn’t worth saving? It took everything I had not to step in and say something, but I clamped my mouth shut, allowing Gabriel to take the lead.
This was his forte. This was his base, and damn, did he look the part. Even with his auburn locks mussed and streaks of dirt on his face, the celestial radiated authority that was formidable to watch.
“We can figure out how to reclaim the power for her once she’s free,” he said firmly.
Storm made a soft mocking sound. “You want me to risk my people to free a celestial who might not be able to help us? You want me to send my men and women on a mission they may not return from based on amaybe?”
My hand itched to slap her.
“People have fought for less,” Gabriel said coolly. “It’s called hope.”
She raised her chin, eyes glittering. “Not my people. Not our hope.”
