The building exploded. Multiple balls of fire rolled into the sky. Debris shot toward Bex and me, and he turned his back to the explosion, shielding my body from the blast. I crawled out from under him, seeing the bright orange glow of heat and smoke that used to be our home.
“No!” I wailed, reaching over Bex. I knew trying to escape from him grip was futile, but the explosion had happened less than a second after Jared had reached the stairs, and I was desperate to get to him.
I looked up to Jared’s little brother. His eyes were wide. He clearly didn’t know what to think. We waited there, and even though the fire roared before us, everything was silent.
I waited for Jared to emerge from the rubble. Every second that passed seemed like an eternity, and panic began to overwhelm any rational thought I tried to have.
“Come on, Jared,” Bex said, his grip on my arms a bit tighter.
“Go get him,” I demanded, my voice broken and shaking.
“I have to stay here with you,” Bex said. He seemed confused and in shock.
I pushed at Bex. “He’s in there somewhere! Go get him!” I screamed.
Bex grabbed each side of my face, looking deep into my eyes. “They are here, Nina. They’re all around us. I can’t leave you.”
“Good kid,” Jared said from behind us. His hair and clothes were singed, his face covered in soot, and the skin on his cheek bone was scraped and bleeding, but he was alive.
He held up two dusty picture frames; one with the black and white picture of me he took the day he fell in love with me, the other of us playing at the beach in Little Corn.
“Don’t do that to me ever again!” I yelled, balling up my fists, and landing them straight into Jared’s chest.
He wrapped his arms around me tightly. “I’m sorry. I realized what was about to happen, and I had to go. These pictures were the only things in the loft I couldn’t lose.”
We turned to watch at our home fall in defeat to the fire. The beams creaked as they gave way, and glowing ash was thrown into the sky, floating all around us. My eyes poured out rivers of tears. I’d never realized how much I loved the loft until I witnessed it dying in front of me. Memories of our first date, listening to our song for the first time, cooking together, laughing, watching Claire and Bex grow a little more each time they entered the front door. It was all gone; reduced to cinders.
Sirens sounded in the distance.
“We have to go,” Jared said, gently escorting me to the passenger side of the Escalade.
As he pulled away, I watched the flames and glowing smoke until I couldn’t see them anymore, and then turned to face forward. Jared placed his hand over mine, and then Bex put his hand over ours.
“It had to be Donovan,” Bex said.
I shook my head. “No. Claire took care of all the humans that might be a threat to us.”
“Except Donovan,” Jared said. His knuckles turned white against the steering wheel.
Bex leaned back in the seat. “He’s the closest human to Shax. Claire left him alive because he's the Taleh of a Half-breed.”
“What?” I said, looking to Jared for confirmation.
He nodded. “Isaac. Very fast, very strong, but emotional. He's been known to make mistakes, but he's still dangerous.”
I blinked, processing what Jared had said. “So to kill Donovan we’d have to kill a Hybrid.”
“Not just any Hybrid,” Bex said. “The son of Michael. An angel in the Holy Army. A warrior of God. At His word, they would exterminate entire blood lines, entire kingdoms.”
I laughed once. “You’re joking.”
“No,” Jared said, pulling the Escalade down a road leading us out of town. “Michael belongs to a family of angels that embodies God's Wrath, and if harm came to his son, that would be an act of war against Heaven. That is the only reason Donovan is still alive.”
The Escalade bounced over the uneven gravel road, and Jared came to a stop just outside a familiar chain-link fence. We walked hand-in-hand to the Warehouse where I met Eli. Jared pushed the button and we waited. Nothing.
“I thought you said he wouldn’t speak to you?” I asked.
Jared stood silent, patient, and calm. Twenty long minutes passed, and then we were finally buzzed in. The breath Jared had silently held, he released. “Thank you,” he whispered.
Bex led the way through the dusty, cement hall. My footsteps echoed throughout the capacious room the hall opened up to, encased by a hundred dirty windows.
As before, we waited in the center.
Jared’s and Bex’s faces were marked by soot from the fire. Their expressions were composed, waiting for Eli to decide to show himself.
An hour passed, and still we waited. Jared slid his arms from his jacket and hung it on my shoulders. I hadn’t even noticed the cold, but once the added heat was around me, I shivered.
“Patience,” Jared said. His words could have been directed at me or at Bex, I wasn’t sure.