Page 15 of Blood and War
“You’re saying you didn’t know we were dispatched?” His brow rose as he eyed the Archangel, not showing an ounce of the uncertainty that threatened to take hold at the male’s arrival. As an angel for the council, there was no chance Noel wasn’t aware of the reasoning behind The Horsemen’s dispatch. If he wanted the girl, it had to have been because he wanted answers just like himself. Wanted to know why the Horsemen were dispatched to kill a human when they could have easily sent someone else. Someone like Noel.
The angel didn’t answer his question. “Be a good little dog and give me the girl, War.”
Kellan didn’t understand her importance. The council was adamant she needed to be eliminated. It was the only order given to him and his siblings. Kill Demitria Collins by all meansnecessary. She was not to survive if they were to restore the balance. How was a mere human causing such an uproar on Eden? In the Underworld?
The council’s lack of information had been unusual. The decision to split them up had been as well. Something didn’t add up, and if he let Noel get to her, he would never figure out what she was hiding. She had to be hiding something for everyone to be so up in arms. How else could he explain why they had sent a fucking Angel of Death on top of the famed Horsemen.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
The Archangel advanced, his blades tying with Kellan’s. The gold embellishment of the Angel’s twin silver weapons held an unnatural glow as he entwined them with his, their curvature locking his sword in place.
He hated angel blades.
Noel blocked his next swing before feigning left, the top of his curved blade penetrating through the thick leather armor on Kellan’s shoulder, cutting into him, searing as it tore through flesh. He hated those fucking blades even more. With a wince, he continued on.
He was going to be so irrevocably fucked by the time they completed this mission. The Horsemen were known as the council’s guard dogs. They did the shit the council, or other angels, couldn’t bring themselves to do. To put it mildly, he should have been kissing the dirt beneath Noel’s feet. But the Horsemen were faster. Stronger. Better suited to the fight that had been instilled in them, and he hated more than anything having to bow to the lowlifes that were the Archangels.
His kind may have been classified as lowborn, but the council had treated him and his siblings kindly enough. But they were the chosen Horsemen. Warriors of Eden that never failed, and upheld all honor.
And now he was trying to kill an Archangel.
With a slight glance behind, he noted the girl still stood, poised atop her horse.
Stupid Human.
Even given the chance to flee, the girl stood there. Whether she was frozen with fear or something else he didn’t know. He didn’t quite care either, but it would make his job easier if he didn’t have to run after her. Either way, Demitria wouldn’t get far, that he was sure.
Kellan rolled out of the way of Noel’s next strike, his own blade easily tearing through the flesh near the angel’s shoulder. Had the male been wearing armor, his sword wouldn’t have struck. Cocky bastards, they were. He’d yet to meet an Angel of Death, a select group of Archangels that killed for the council, wear anything but the crisp white robes of their brethren. Their only difference were the weapons they bore.
“War! Give her to me!” Noel shouted, pulling him from his thoughts. The angels blade poised high in the air as if to strike him from above. “I want the girl!”
“You’ll have to get through me first.” Protecting her had not been part of the assignment. Far from it, yet here he was. Whether that was because of his own morbid curiosity at the council’s reasoning behind their dispatch, or his own stupid pride in not wanting someone else to take the kill from him, he couldn’t be certain.
“Very well, Horseman.” Noel lunged once more, both of them advancing on the other. But Kellan was faster. Always faster. The sword left his hands as he launched it straight forward toward the male. The throw had caught the angel off guard, the look of utter disbelief taking hold as he fell back to the dirt. The blade protruded from his chest, pinning him there from the force of Kellan’s strike. Striding toward the fallen angel, the anger radiated through him. A familiar feeling, welling inside like the deep churning sea.
“Whose side are you on, Horseman.” He coughed, blood spurting from his mouth as he spoke. Kellan knew he’d punctured the angel’s lung. If he left the angel now, he’d heal. Slowly.
“I am here to restore the balance.” Kellan didn’t blame the angel for wanting to know. In his position, he would have done the same. He would have killed to get those answers. Hewaskilling to get them.
Noel wouldn’t have come here without being sent by the council. There was no reasoning that Kellan could see behind their choice to dispatch an Angel of Death and the Horsemen. The fact that the council thought Noel could do a better job than him, apparently, made him even angrier. The council knew something that they weren’t telling him. Telling all of them.
“I will do what is necessary to restore the balance!” His boot fell heavily on the angel’s chest. Gripping his wings in his fury, Kellan tore them clean from the angel’s body. He felt the soft feathered wings crush within his grasp as he wrenched muscle and bone from flesh. Noel’s scream ripped from his throat, echoing through the night.
He wasn’t finished.
Noel lay there, panting in a pool of his own blood. “Pathetic. You Horsemen disgust me. Your entire race disgusts me. A bunch of half breeds is all you’ll ever be.” He spat. The Horseman answered with force, pushing his sword the remainder of the way through his body. Kellan could feel it pierce down to the earth where it stuck. Noel’s body went limp.
Kellan’s breathing was heavy as he stared down at the dead angel’s body. It took a moment before he pulled the sword free, wiping the gore from the blade across Noel’s chest before returning it to its sheath. The council would be pissed. Very few Archangels did this job, and he’d murdered one of them over his own morbid curiosity.
Kellan you fucking idiot.
Eight
DEMITRIA
Shit
She needed to get away from here. If what the angel had called him was any indication on what was to come, she needed to get back. Needed to warn the others.
