Pain lances my side, and a breath is ripped out of me when I’m kicked by an unseen force and blown back hundreds of feet. The dirt in my lungs tries to block my air, even as I cough to expel it, losing more acidic blood.

I hear Jude’s cry of pain, and I heave myself to my feet, biting back a weak whimper as I pop that same knee back into place. The cuts on my face start healing, closing up as my breath rattles in my ears.

My blood burns in my veins when the next hit comes, sending me sliding across the ground and rolling back up to my feet a little slower.

I spot Kai getting yanked across the ground by an invisible attack of some sort, as Ezekiel’s chest cracks open.

I’m slammed hard again, screaming in frustration when I’m hit while I’m down, struggling with panicked desperation to get up. I can’t breathe. The sounds are all muffled by my hammering heart that is pounding in my ears.

I hear a roar of pain from Ezekiel as hot tears rip down my face, and I stay pinned to the ground, unable to move, forced to simply watch as his neck is broken and his body drops lifelessly to the ground.

“Nooooo!!” My scream echoes over and over, spanning the land all around, as I watch…helplessly.

Ezekiel’s vacant eyes stare back at mine, endlessly blank.

My jaw trembles as a hot fury creeps into my chest, and their pained yells only spread it quicker. The tears drip carelessly down my cheeks as I shove to my feet, feeling the force holding me down.

Eyes on Rafael as something powerful shatters against me instead of knocking me to the ground, I let go.

I simply…let…go.

Gray dirt explodes into the air, and I scream with the effort it takes to squeeze every ounce of deadly power out of me.

My head tips back as a cry is torn from my throat, and I feel my bones all break at once for another time today. But it’s nothing compared to the pain ripping at my heart.

I can’t even swallow as the wind starts violently crashing all around me, slamming that son of a bitch angel into a rock so hard he’s forced to cry out in pain for a change.

Something shatters at my back and another scream comes from Gage just as it all goes up in flames.

Purgatory catches fire like I’m trying to turn it into hell, and it spreads to cover more and more ground all around me.

I’m blown back as a thundering ripple explodes from me and launches outward in a ring of destruction. The roar of the power in the air is mine for once.

Where was it earlier, damn it?

Hot tears race down my cheeks as I see Ezekiel over and over in my mind, the wrath burning so hot in me that it becomes too painful.

Utter, undeniable, crisp obliteration—that’s the only way to describe it. Everything directly in front of me is shattered like glass—from boulders, to trees, to mountainsides…

As I look for the angel, debris rains down heavily, obstructing my view as I weakly shove to my feet once again. The only thing I can hear is the staggered pieces of destruction falling from the sky.

“Gage! Jude! Kai! Somebody answer me now!” I say on a choked cry, limping through the fragments of rock, stumbling my way through thick veil of dirt cloaking the air.

It’s eerily silent, and no one is answering. I’m forced to choke back a sob as I try to stay focused and strong for the moment.

Just for the moment.

“Somebody answer me!” I scream louder, ignoring the hot tears rolling down my cheeks as I spin in a circle, searching and finding nothing.

The air around me suddenly clears as a purifying breeze wafts over me. My jaw grinds and I start to throw myself at Rafael when I spot him limply leaning against another angel and simply staring at the ground.

But I forget he even exists when I hiccup out a sound of a laughing sob, seeing all four of my guys walking toward me without a scratch on them.

I cover my mouth, refusing to make any of the sounds I want to, because I just saw Ezekiel die. Is this an illusion or was that?

“Forgive me,” comes Lucifer’s voice, reminding me what’s going on as my heart hurts and rejoices at the same time, so confused about how to feel.

Needing touch to trust my eyes, I practically drag Ezekiel to me, practically nuzzling him like an affection-starved cat as I narrow my eyes at Lucifer.

“An illusion?” I ask him quietly, swallowing the lump in my throat.

“They now know for sure,” he says with a tight smile. “You’ll heal faster in hell than in Purgatory. You’ll heal faster in Purgatory than topside. We’ll talk when your emotions don’t leave you unreasonable.”

He’s gone before I can call him a whole string of very creative names he can add to that long list of titles he loves so much.

Rafael’s eyes meet mine, and I stay on my feet by the power of utter stubbornness alone.

He almost looks regretful, as though that makes this all okay for his pure-of-heart soul. I don’t like being called a liar, even if I try to lie. I really don’t like being lied to after being called a liar.

He holds my gaze for a second longer in silence, and then he vanishes from sight, along with everyone else, sans the five of us.

The second they’re gone, I give up the charade of being invincible, and give a small cry of pain as I drop, gritting my teeth as I clutch my side.

Ezekiel goes with me, catching me before I hit the ground and eases me down the rest of the way. Eyes go to my middle, taking in all the purple bruises covered in goo and gray dirt.

The bruises are everywhere, and it feels like some things are too broken to heal back as fast as they were earlier.

I’m vaguely aware of the fact I’m only viewing them with one eye, but I don’t care. Because all four are here.

All four.

They’re all okay.

They’re all okay.

The wrath slowly recedes from the edges of my mind, and more choked sobs slink out of me. They all hide any expressions and keep their silence as I take a long few minutes to pull myself back together.

“I’m still mad at you, but you’re my favorite just because you’re not really dead,” I say on a broken whisper to Ezekiel.

His eyes rake over me, jaw grinding, just like all of theirs.

“I’m sick of the games. Someone needs to tell us what the fuck is going on,” Jude bites out as Ezekiel gingerly lifts me, cradling me in his arms like I’m breakable.

He glides with smooth movements, careful not to jostle me, as the muscle jumps along his jaw.

His eyes are cold as he looks over at Kai and says, “I vote we let her heal and start setting fires of our own for a change. Fuck them. Fuck this. Fuck the fucking balance or what-the-hell-ever is going on right now.”

I feel us siphoning, and I let Ezekiel carry me to a familiar bed that has turned fully purple. This is the room where I chatted with the Devil.

“Where are we?” Gage asks as Ezekiel puts me down on my feet.

I manage to go phantom, using that nifty ability to clean myself and change in the short amount of time I’m strong enough to stay in that form.

When I suffer, that form suffers the hardest, when it was oddly the only form I had for so long. It’s like there had to be balance for that as well.

“I don’t know. It’s not like I did that,” Ezekiel says quietly as they look around.

I hobble to the bed, not bothering to hazard a guess as to what’s going on. I just know everything hurts, and hell’s healing abilities are really helping with the unrelenting pain.

Jude looks over as the doors close and lock, and he swings his scythe around, ready to fight.

“I did that. I’m not surprised a piece of information I just know is how to lock my door in hell after having my mind thoroughly tortured by my father and my ass kicked by his angelic brother. It’s a shit family I’ve been manifested into,” I state dryly.

“We cut through a lot of guards. I’m sure that’s going to piss someone off,” Gage says on a tired breath.

“When?” I ask, my lids growing heavy as I hide how much pain I’m really in, toughing through it like a boss, if I do say so—

A slight whimper escapes me, and Kai is quickly in the bed beside me, gently slipping his hand through my hair and pushing it back from my face.

“All good,” I assure him tightly.

He looks over me as he softly presses his lips to the top of my head in quite possibly the gentlest touch he’s ever given me.

“It takes so much to get you guys to be nice to me. It’s hardly worth the effort,” I say through strain, trying to lighten the pitiful stares they’re all giving me.

Kai sighs harshly against the top of my head, not giving me the groan I was expecting.

“I want him dead. Fuck the balance. That was nothing but cold. What’s the fucking purpose of this?” he grinds out.

I’m not sure who the him is that he wants dead. There are a few candidates that spring to my own mind.

Lucifer being one of them.

The beating was preferred to the anguish I felt when I had to watch Ezekiel’s eyes go flat. It was so damn real. I even heard the last quiet patter of his heartbeat, and saw it expire through his gaping chest.

“I need Ezekiel for a little bit,” I say as I brush a kiss across Kai’s lips.

His eyes show understanding as he kisses my head again and stands. His fists clench as he walks off, and Ezekiel carefully climbs into bed beside me.