“You won’t get away that easily, Keeper!” Kane shrieks sinking his nails deep into meat and bone of her ankle. Unsheathing her sword, she lashes out slicing the fallen angels arm off at the elbow in a spray of dark blood.
Refusing to be denied, Kane roars and reaches his good arm up grabbing hold of his now severed arm like a grappling hook in a wall. The sharp corrupt claws of the dead hand dig further into Elina’s flesh holding fast, preventing her escape.
Elina screams in agony at the weight pulling on her ankle tearing at the meat of her leg. They both plummet towards the ground.
Elina pools her power into her hand and reaches down, she places her palm on Kane’s forehead. She blocks out his screams as her power floods into him burning his face.
He releases her and hurtles to the earth, landing hard. Elina jerks his hand from her ankle and screams as the claws are ripped from the flesh and bone. She tosses the hand away. Disoriented from pain her breath rushes out as she is caught in midair by strong arms.
Malach has her before she hits the ground and she wraps her arms around his neck savoring the feel of his body, willing herself to breath. She clings to him until she feels him land. Immediately she pushes against his chest.
“Release me!” Elina snaps struggling to break free.
“Cease, keeper! You are safe now.” He says and she feels her body’s reaction to him and she weeps inside for she knows that is not true.
She stops moving and her eyes drop to his mouth, nervous she whispers, “Thank you Malach. You can put me down now.”
“Elina, I…” he starts to say, but she puts a hand over his mouth. She looks into his emerald eyes and shakes her head, no.
“Put me down.”
He slowly lowers her feet to the ground and releases her just as Nameed and Simeon join them.
Simeon attacks Kane before he can recover from Elina’s blast. He has the panicked look of one who sees his death, but he fights in vain. His scream is cut short when Simeon severs his head from his shoulders. The headless corpse joins its unholy brethren on the ground. Their bleeding bodies scorch the earth black where they lie, burning the vegetation back to never grow again.
Nameed has called in other angels to fight the demon horde back from the river and drive them to the holes they came from.
Her eyes meet Nameed’s and she knows she is out of time.
She steps away from Malach and whispers, “I didn’t want you to see this, but I am out of time, Malach. I’m sorry.”
Gently she lifts the scroll out of her shirt, ignoring the pain in her leg and slips the red ribbon off the end. When she starts to unroll it, Malach realizes what it is.
His eyes fill with disbelief, when he tries to move Simeon and Nameed each grab an arm to hold him back.
“Nooo!” he yells in horror as she is lifted into the air.
A holy light erupts from the scroll and rolls across the land, flattening every tree, and every demon left within the vicinity.
Elina is lifted into the air. Her clothes are burned from her body, baring her skin for the task at hand. Blinded by the light, all of the archangels except Malach fall to the ground in reverence.
Naked, the ancient Aramaic script is inscribed onto her body and into her soul. Elina does not fight it, she has accepted her fate. She will keep the covenant and do whatever it takes to protect humanity. She drifts slowly to the ground, with the golden lettering embedded into her skin. Malach looks at her, with tears rolling down his cheeks. “No,” he whispers.
Elina stumbles and immediately Malach jumps catching her, shielding her nakedness from view with his massive wings. The pain starts to fade when the scripts fade. Finally, they are invisible once more, and Elina sighs in relief. Trembling, she looks up and wipes the tears from his beautiful face.
“Don’t weep for me, Malach. The Lord is my light and my salvation. He will strengthen me. You taught me that. Now get me some clothes, I like your friends, but I don’t want them to see me like this!”
His eyes are drawn to her naked body and he struggles with his desire for her. The thought occurs to him, that he could take her far away and keep her safe.
Dragon scales start to erupt on his body. He grips her waist and the beginnings of claws starts to sink into her bare skin from his hands. With a tight grip he draws her naked body to his. When her breasts touch his armored chest, she gasps. “Malach!” His reptilian eyes snap to hers and she puts a glowing hand on his chest.
“Release me, Angel!” she snaps and sends a small spark of power through her hand into his chest. Singed he jumps and snarls at her.
In her mind, she sees his broken and bloody wings on the ground and she knows what is coming.
“Give me a moment, Elina. Just a moment to savor? Will you deny me that?”
Elina does the only thing she can think to do, she ports away from him, putting Nameed between them.
He instantly flares his wings and clothes her. “Go, Elina. We will handle him,” Simeon orders.
Malach’s rage of fury echoes through the woods and into her soul.
“Keep him safe for me,” heart heavy with regret, she grabs her bag and ports away.
Chapter 15
Elina shields her thread so that even the Angels will not be able to track her. This time she knows where she is going. It is time to visit Seth in Hawaii. Heather and her father, Scott are with Seth’s family and she will need their help. They helped
