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.I can tell right away that Zavier is too strong for Jordan.I need to help out, but to do that I will have to step further away from the car.Amber stirs and starts to come to.Relief gives me extra momentum, but before I use it the sky darkens overhead and my stomach sinks at the sight of twelve dark angels circling us like hawks zeroing in on their prey.I recognise Prince Luca’s Prodigies, the same team he brought with him from Skade the last time he tried to take me away with him.They touch down without making a sound.Interestingly, I notice how they’re all wearing black wrap-around sunglasses.This must be how they’re tolerating the intensity of the Earth’s bright sun.So how long have they been on Earth? I have a sudden terrifying thought that they’ve been here since Nathaneal’s battle three months ago.By now Zavier has flung Jordan’s chain off.Amber stumbles out and helps Jordan get back into the car, motioning to me to hurry.Meanwhile the soldier I recall being Luca’s lieutenant strides past Zavier with an arrogant look and turns to me.I’ve ended up a metre from the car door, a metre too far from the protection I need right now, and I start taking tentative steps towards it.The lieutenant smiles at me.It’s the lazy, lecherous look of a predator confident his prey has nowhere to run.I can only imagine the perversion his soul would reveal to me if he were not wearing block-out sunnies and I could look into his eyes.The sirens grow louder.It sparks the lieutenant into action, calling out four names and giving them orders to get rid of Zavier’s car and fix his mess.He then points to two other soldiers.‘Ezekeal, Tobias, you take the boy.Now!’‘Take?’ Zavier queries.‘Saul, I have orders for the girl only.’‘Your orders have changed,’ Lieutenant Saul says.Amber cries out, ‘Ebony, get in quickly.’But Amber doesn’t understand who these twelve angels are, nor what’s about to happen.As Ezekeal and Tobias reach into the car for Jordan, I swing round and make Amber look at me with one hand on either side of her face, stopping her from seeing Jordan being yanked out of the car and carried away.‘Listen to me, Amber.Listen! You have to leave now.’She whimpers, ‘Why can’t you just get in?’I glance at the two dark angels lifting Jordan higher and higher into the sky.‘They have taken Jordan.And they’re going to take me.’ Tears sting my eyes.‘But I can’t risk them hurting you.I couldn’t bear it.’We smile grimly at each other as tears run down our faces.Behind me I hear Lieutenant Saul command another member of his team, ‘Sarakiel, you and I will take this one.’‘Amber, I need you to go the monastery.’ Four arms start dragging me backwards.I call out to Amber, ‘Wait there for Gabriel.Tell him what’s happened.’She doesn’t move and I have to yell at her.‘Go! Amber, go now!’I hear the engine click over and then the sweet sound of the Lambo reversing.Relieved she’s getting away unharmed, I spin round and start fighting.First I break their holds on me, shoving my assailants off with a kick to Sarakiel’s groin, and a well-aimed punch to Saul’s jaw.They fall back, their massive chests heaving.The lieutenant holds his hand out towards Zavier.‘Did you bring it?’‘Yes,’ Zavier says, ‘but, Saul, we don’t need it yet.’‘Give it to me!’ the lieutenant commands, grumbling, ‘Obviously she hasn’t hammered you in the head yet.’‘Ebony,’ Zavier calls, ignoring Lieutenant Saul’s command, ‘you’re a very smart girl.You can see that you’re not getting away today, can’t you?’‘Where have you taken Jordan?’‘Come with us calmly and I’ll take you to him.’How can he even think I would trust him now? ‘Tell you what, Zavier, you bring Jordan back here, now, and after I watch him leave I’ll go with you calmly.’He groans, shaking his head.The lieutenant folds his arms over his chest.‘Now will you give it to me, Zavier?’Zavier remains quiet.‘Give me the damn syringe!’‘All right!’ Zavier snaps.‘But I’ll do it.’‘Wait!’ I start moving backwards.‘What are you talking about?’ If I can distract them long enough for the police to arrive, maybe they will fly away so they are not seen.‘What’s in the syringe, Zavier?’ I ask.He pulls out a hypodermic needle like the vets give to horses.‘Just a sedative, my lady.’‘Stop calling me that!’The sirens are so close now.I glance over my shoulder and spot two police cars with flashing blue lights tearing up the hill behind me.I turn and run in their direction.Obviously a stupid idea since these guys can all fly.Where are my wings when I need them? Two come down behind me, two directly in front.I aim my left foot into one angel’s face, knocking him backwards.I throw my right fist into another’s gut, misjudging my aim a little too high.He doubles over anyway so I must have hit a tender spot.I spin round to do the same to the two soldiers behind me, but more of them come down, and now they completely surround me.It takes six of them to hold me still long enough for Zavier to stick his syringe in my neck.‘Damn you, Zavier!’ I scream at him as the cold liquid enters my bloodstream.‘Sarakiel,’ the lieutenant calls.‘Quickly, the humans are arriving.Help me collect the girl so we can finish this.’My hair is all over my face, practically blinding me as Lieutenant Saul and Sarakiel come to collect me.I manage to make a few more kicks and punches connect before two arms swing round my waist.The swish-swishing of strong, fast-beating wings fills my ears as I rise up into the sunlight, my limbs becoming wearier by the second.‘Stop squirming, my lady, we are already high enough off the ground that should you fall you would seriously injure yourself.’ I recognise the voice, the familiar accent and smooth deep tones.I shove the hair from my face and look at the angel holding me.‘You! What happened to the other two?’‘I overruled them,’ Zavier says.‘But I thought Lieutenant Saul was in charge.’‘Where you are concerned, my lady, the only one to carry you will be me.’33NathanealA sudden cloudburst of acid rain cascades down the main vent from the crater opening high above us.Our stinging eyes send us scurrying back to an abandoned cave we recently passed.Solomon remains by the opening to check in with his informant inside Prince Luca’s city palace.When his mind-link concludes, he enters the cave but waits at the entrance, standing still and quiet, as if gathering his breath.He walks past Jez, Tash and Uriel.They glance at him, eager for news, but he ignores them, making us all uneasy.Especially when he continues past Isaac, sitting on a boulder attempting to replait his knotted hair, and then Michael, whose golden gaze, once upon you, is difficult to ignore.But Solomon doesn’t utter a word until he is standing directly in front of me.By now my heart is pounding like a wild beast running for its life.‘What is it, Sol?’‘My prince, no one has seen him.’‘Can you be more specific?’He twists his fingers, a strange activity for such a robust angel.‘No one has sighted the Dark Prince since your battle with him on Earth.’For a beat there is nothing but silence, punctured with the sounds of our breathing and hearts beating fast.‘Of course there’s been no sight of him,’ Isaac says, finishing his braid though he’s only halfway through it
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