“—then I’m going to make sure we both get there safely.”
She checked the clock on the dashboard. They still had at least another hour of driving before they reached the site, and already she could feel the effect of that other power. She was suddenly grateful Wrath was there. And he was right. Ramiel should have come with her. “Thank you.”
As they drove closer, the tingling in her skull developed into a full-blown headache. The pain in her head radiated in dull throbs that made her teeth ache. She reached for her power to block it out. The pain in her chest increased to a sharp ache, but when she tried to draw her power, she found she couldn’t. Low level panic unfurled in her belly as she tried again to draw her power. The horsemen had her power and were using it against her.
Their grip on her power tightened, a steady, merciless tug that she was unable to stop.
“Wrath,” she whispered. With the pain shifting into her neck and shoulders, she found speaking difficult. Her back muscles went rigid as she tried to fight the pull.
Wrath glanced at her. “What is it?”
It was hard to form words over the roaring in her head. “I can feel them. They’re compelling me closer.”
He yanked the car to the side of the road. “Fuck this. We need to go back.”
“Please.” She didn’t know who she was begging to stop.
Wrath turned the wheel, ready to turn the car around.
The pain became unbearable, fastening cruel, raking claws through her chest. “Stop,” she panted.
The agony subsided slightly.
“We have to keep going.” The horsemen were not going to allow her to turn back.
“Haziel.” Wrath gently turned her face to him. “We have to go back.”
“I can’t,” she managed. “They’ve got me, and they’re not letting me go.”
“Fuck!” Wrath pounded the steering wheel. “That fucking dipstick of an archangel needs to get here and help you. Now.”
Haziel felt Wrath call for Ramiel through their bonded power. It was something all hell princes and archangels could do with their counterpoint. A sort of cosmic paging service that linked the balancing forces.
The horsemen’s power swelled in her brain, insisting she obey. It overwhelmed her thinking like a massive invader in her brain, and she had no choice but to answer the summons.
As if from a distance, she watched her hand reach for the door handle and open the door. She had lost all control of her body. Deep within her own brain, she was aware that none of this was right, that she was not in command of her actions, but she was also unable to resist.
“Haziel.” Wrath grabbed her arm.
Her own power surged and was amplified through her until it threw him back. He exploded from the car as if launched by a rocket and landed several meters into the bush on the roadside.
Inside, she screamed for him, she wanted to see if he was okay, apologize for using her power against him, but she couldn’t. It was like her being had shrunk into a tiny kernel within her, trapped by a force greater than she could imagine. If she didn’t obey, it would tear her apart.
Her wings unfurled, and she took to the air. Her body moved of its own accord, another master at the helm. The speed of her flight increased, straining her muscles and wing bones until she felt like she might break into pieces, but she couldn’t slow down, and she couldn’t control the flight.
She became aware of Wrath trying to catch up with her. But seraphim were faster in the air, and at the speed she was going, he could never reach her.
Hurt throbbed through her entire body. She felt like an open nerve ending being constantly pummeled. The pressure in her head increased, and a trickle of blood escaped her nose and was swept away by the speed of her flight.
Sharp pain seared from her wings where feathers were ripped off, and she veered in the air, not able to control her trajectory. Stress fractures ribbed along her wings, compressing the hollow center of her wing bones.
And still the horsemen had her under their control, tearing her forward at whatever cost. For the first time in her long life, Haziel knew debilitating fear. They would kill her before it was done. Her vision blurred, darkening around the edges. At the same time the force was pulling her, it was also drawing from her in great, greedy gulps.
“Release your power,” Wrath shouted, dim over the distance between them.
She tried to tell him that she couldn’t, but her mouth wouldn’t form words, and they screamed silently through her head.
And then she was veering toward the ground, traveling too fast to stop in time. Her body collided with the earth, snapping bones as she made contact. The pain from her body, however, was nothing, compared to the sheer agony of the horsemen pulling her.
Wrath landed beside her. His great black wings sheltered her, and then his beautiful face was hanging over hers.
The dreadful pulling stopped, but her power was being leached out of her in steady draws.
“Haziel.” Carved face creased with worry, he knelt over her, pulling her body against his. She felt the wash of his power. So different, yet almost the same as Ramiel’s.
Some of the agony eased, and she was able to draw a full breath.
“My wings.” She wept for her beautiful, broken wings radiating agony through her entire body.
“I know.” Wrath smoothed the hair from her face. “We will fix them, angel. Ramiel comes, and we will fix them.”
“They’re taking my power.” It was hard to form words through the constant hurting. “The horsemen are drawing my power into them.”
Wrath looked up suddenly, his expression turning feral with rage. “It took you fucking long enough.”
“Satanus.” And Ramiel crouched by the other side of her. His green eyes were laden with sadness as he stared at her. “The horsemen are using her power to awaken.”
“Stop it,” Wrath snapped. “Make it fucking stop.”
