“I cannot.” Ramiel shook his head and looked over his shoulder. “I am not powerful enough on my own.”
“Use me,” Wrath snapped, his face tight with fury.
“And me.” A nimbus of light turned Gabriel’s hair to flame as she leaned over Haziel. “I told you this might happen.”
“You knew.” Wrath bellowed at Ramiel. “You knew, and you let this happen?”
No. Somewhere deep within Haziel, the hurt beat back the constant agony of her power drain. Ramiel had known this might happen, and still he had sent her.
“I’m sorry.” Ramiel reached for her.
With a snarl, Wrath drew her back against his body. “Don’t you fucking touch her.”
“Wrath.” Ramiel looked at her mournfully. In some tiny still functioning part of her brain, Haziel registered that this was as close to a real emotion as she had ever seen the archangel wear. “We had to know how real the risk was, and how close they are to waking. That would only happen if we brought a being of power close enough for them to want their power.”
“And you sent Haziel.” Red flames flared in Wrath’s eyes. “You could have come yourself, you piece of shit. Instead, you did this to her.”
“I agree with you, Wrath, but Ramiel couldn’t.” Gabriel shook her head. “If an archangel was caught in this power flux, that would be the end of one of us, and you know that can’t happen.”
“So, what?” Heat prickled against her skin as Wrath’s anger turned incendiary. “You thought she was expendable? You thought you’d use her like a fucking canary with a gas leak?”
“Now we must break the connection,” Ramiel said. “Gabriel and I are here to free her from them, but we must act quickly, or they will take too much.”
Their voices had gone weaker and weaker, and Haziel could barely hear them. The heat from Wrath was her only tether on reality. She was tired, so very tired, and she wanted to close her eyes and submit to the inevitable.
“Angel.” Wrath shook her eyes open. “You stay with me now. I’m going to break their hold.”
Gabriel shook her head. “You can’t do it without us.”
“I can’t do it without help,” Wrath snarled. “But you fuckers can fuck right off if you think I’m letting you near her. You did this to her, and you don’t get to save her.”
“Be reasonable, Satanus.” Ramiel touched Wrath’s shoulder.
Haziel could have told him not to.
Wrath lashed out with a pulse of power that sent Ramiel careening backwards into Gabriel. The two of them were thrown against a large rock outcropping and crumpled to the ground.
“Stay with me, angel,” Wrath whispered. “I’m getting some help.”
“Wrath.” Shade appeared behind him. “This had better be fucking important—”
“Help me,” Wrath said. “Help me break the lock they have on her power.”
“Hells!” Shade knelt beside Wrath. “The horsemen?”
Wrath nodded. “They are pulling power from her to help them rise.”
“Fuck!”
Shade’s power washed over her, foreign and from hell.
And then Sophia was there as well, her power joining with Shade’s.
More power signatures joined theirs. Hell princes and archangels, until Haziel could no longer identify them as individuals.
Inside her, the parasite writhed and fought, drawing harder, as if it sensed it was about to lose its source.
Her vision grew darker, noises muffled. Her breathing slowed, and her heart stuttered and then gave a thready beat.
And then everything stopped. The leach was wrenched out of her. In its sudden absence, she became aware of the ringing silence. Her entire body felt numb and her brain like mush.
“You need to give her to me,” Ramiel said. “I need to take her to my demesne to heal her.”
“You can fuck right off,” Wrath said.
“Haziel,” Ramiel said.
She forced her eyes open to focus on Ramiel hovering above her.
His gaze bored into her. “Your vow. Honor it.”
And her will imploded like a soft cloud within her. She had given her vow to her archangel. Forcing her gaze to meet Wrath’s, she whispered, “I will go with Ramiel.”
Wrath frowned, fury and confusion blending on his face. “Did you miss the part about him knowing what would happen to you?”
She had no more strength, and she simply whispered, “Please.”
