72. "Hired" assassins

**Blake**

“No,” The simple word firmly tumbled out his lips, the inhuman creatures intently watching our every move while the guy holding that silvery blade frowned unsatisfied at my brother’s response.

“No?” The angel’s eyebrows shot up, curiously eyeing my brother, momentarily stopping his actions.

“Oh, I believe you heard me,” He retorted, crossing his arms, intently putting up a defiant stance.

“Mr. Summers, I’m afraid we are in the middle of a misunderstanding.

Hand us over the girl now, or there will be serious repercussions,” The angel stated in a dangerously calm tone, my brother, however, seeming completely unaffected by the silent threat underlining his tone as he carelessly fired back,

“Like what?”

“I’m afraid we will have to use physical force.”

“Oh, by all means, I’d like you to come and just fucking try!” He seethed, his voice sounding more determined and powerful than ever, swiftly pulling his Beretta 92 from the back of his jeans, tilting his head to the side as he pointed it straight towards our winged “friend”.

“Very well,” The angel simply nodded, clearly intending to keep his promise, and I felt my brother’s hand once again grabbing mine, this being his way of telling me “it’s all gonna be fine”, like always, though we definitely knew this time, it was not the case.

We both knew what was about to happen.

Yet, we refused to go down without a fight.

Not this time.

Not ever.

The angels slowly advanced towards us, forming a circle and I slowly exhaled, briefly closing my eyes, trying to conjure every ounce of power left inside me before I swiftly bent down and snatched the dagger I knew my brother always carried attached to his ankle, quickly straightening back up then took a defensive position, keeping my body close to his, back to back.

The sound of his barrel clicking briefly pierced through the thick, tensed air and my hand wrapped tighter around the dagger’s handle, carefully watching the male creatures advancing towards my side, my heart pumping faster and faster with anticipation.

Inhale. Exhale.

Inhale. Exhale.

I kept chanting, not daring to give away the slightest tremble, refusing to show any sign of weakness as I calmly waited, preparing myself.

“What in Belzebub’s name is going on here?”

That velvety, unmistakable voice suddenly stopped our every action, drawing our attention and the very moment we looked up, our guardian archangels slowly descended from the perfectly clear sky, Lucifer’s ebony with a tinge of red wings gracefully flapping through the air as he firstly touched the ground, quickly followed by Azrael, Gabriel and Michael.

I simply stared at them in awe, silently admiring Michael and Gabriel’s wings, -since this was the first time I was actually seeing them- noticing the few bloody red feathers at each ending, contrasting that pure white, also exhaling in relief, feeling so thankful for their such great timing.

“Brothers,” One of the angels acknowleged, all of them now standing still in their spots and I watched Azrael quickly making his way right towards me, brutally pushing two of the angels aside in his path, not one of them even daring to throw him a dirty glance, let alone react.

Once he reached me, he carefully retrieved the dagger from my hands, securely tucking it in one of his jeans pockets then gingerly cupped my cheeks, his deep blue oceans attentively scanning me from head to toe, obviously checking for any injury.

“Are you ok?” He softly whispered, sounding genuinely concerned, and I slowly nodded, gently biting my lip, feeling slightly overwhelmed by all his sudden attention.

“Micah, can you please tell me what is going on here?” Michael’s deep, strong voice now drew our attention and I lightly moved to the side, watching him walking straight towards the angel holding that shiny, silvery blade, a deep frown etched on his carved features.

The angel made a small bow as Michael stared down at him, all powerful and demanding, curtly answering,

“Sir, we were sent to exterminate the abomination.”

My stomach suddenly dropped after hearing those words, instinctively moving closer to Azrael’s body for protection, feeling his arms gently wrap around me as I watched Michael take a deep breath, closing his eyes for a brief moment, seemingly trying to calm himself down before he replied,

“The abomination you are talking about, is MY child.”

The angel’s eyes suddenly bulged out, his gaze quickly darting between Michael and I for a few moments, staring utterly speechless.

“My apologies, I-I...”

“Who sent you?” Michael suddenly asked, instantly cutting him off, giving the angel a harsh glare.

“I...” Micah nervously fiddled with the silvery dagger, unable to find his words, before Michael’s powerful voice angrily boomed, practically roaring at him,

“WHO SENT YOU?”

“The Elders, sir,” Came his quick answer, our archangel friends quickly freezing in their spots, feeling even Azrael suddenly tense beside me, his grip slightly tightening around me while Rick and I simply stared between them, utterly confused.

“Leave,” Michael seethed, barely containing himself from hitting the inhuman creature.

Blinking a few times, the angel awkwardly stared at him for a few seconds, before simply uttering,

“Sir, I’m afraid we cannot.

We have fulfill our task. If not...” He trailed off, slowly lowering his gaze somewhere on the lush green grass, seemingly conflicted.

“Do you really want to do this?” Michael simply asked, raising one eyebrow, curiously eyeing the angel, awaiting his response.

From the looks of it, it was pretty obvious this was an already lost fight for our attackers. However, they did not attempt to make a single move, standing their ground, silently watching our guardian archangels’ every move.

Wow...

I breathed, watching the whole uncomfortable situation. Whoever these bad-ass Elders were, I imagined they must be pretty scary, to practically force them to fight against each other.

Noticing they were not going anywhere anytime soon, Michael sighed in annoyance, lightly shaking his head and with a slow stretch of his hand right towards me, he offered a small, warm smile, silently beckoning me to approach him.

Giving him a curious stare, I hesitated, wondering what was going through that twisted mind of his, but nevertheless, I eventually gave in, granting his request.

With slow, steady steps, I made my way towards him, also feeling Azrael’s warm touch slip from my body as I did so, that sense of security slightly diminishing.

But once I’ve reached the one celestial being who created me, that small sense of insecurity quickly washed away, the moment his fingers gingerly curled around my marked wrist like I were the fragilest being ever to exist, those chocolate with a tinge of red irises watching me in the most affectionate, caring ways.

With careful movements, he beckoned me to stretch my hand out and once Micah’s emerald green orbs landed on the weird symbol, a deep frown suddenly marred his features.

“You will be punished for this!” He instantly seethed, his eyes quickly darting to Azrael, who simply rolled his eyes in blatant annoyance at the angel’s statement, making me feel strangely amused by his reaction.

“Now...Do you really wish to watch this world burn to the ground?” Michael then asked, quickly averting Micah’s attention back to us, a wild look marring his face as he alarmingly replied,

“Sir, I believe you don’t understand. If we fail to complete this task, we will face eternal torture!”

Hearing his words, Michael firmly crossed his bulky arms over his chest, a determined look displaying on his angelic features as he simply stated in a dangerously calm tone,

“Well, touch one strand of her fiery streaks and I promise to you I will rip that grace out of you with my bare hands.”