Downtown Hell

Chapter Sixteen

There's too many of them. We won't make it if we stay. This realization hit me while I was keeping Johns beam of light at bay with my fire.

"Lucifer!!"
He stabbed a guard in the chest and turned to me.

I pointed to the window. God, my hand felt like it was burning itself. The black and red veines came up from under my glove, spreading on my forearm and up my elbow, claiming more and more of my skin with every second I kept the fire burning.
We had to get out of here.

I jumped to the side and unfolded my armoured wings, before jamming the claws on my gloves in an angels' ribcage and sending him to the ground.

A flaming shield now surrounded Lucifer and me, protection from John and Michael.
"Time to leave," I said, panting from the exhaustion of using my powers this long.

We lifted ourselves in the air, to the windows' level and I raised my arms to protect my face while we crashed through the stained glass.

I heard Michaels' yelled order to follow and kill us and appearantly every angel in the city had been alarmed.

"Where's Sam?", I shouted over my shoulder.

"They should be at the gate. Hurry up!"

STOP

A voice echoed through my mind. It made my limbs and wings go weak and I crashed into the street below me. "What the hell was that??", I yelled.

Lucifer had landed next to me, though he didn't seem as affected of whatever brought me down. "A Throne. We don't stand a chance against these bastards, not like this. Come, up." He helped me get on my feet.

YOU CANNOT RUN ANYWHERE

I looked over my shoulder and instantly regretted it. A faceless, humanoid creature with skin like marble hovered in the air, held there by six wings that didn't seem to be connected to its body. Each wing had an eye in the center and a flaming halo of eyes surrounded its head.

"We should try it anyway," Lucifer said and pulled me along. We swung ourselves in the air again and flew to the gates at breakneck speed, while I kept throwing fire at the Throne.

"Almost there!"
I spotted Ryder and Sam at the gates.
My brother seemed to be unconcious.

"Where's Wrath?" I landed next to them.

"Had some trouble a few streets from here. Told us to go. Sam passed out from exhaustion, but I think he's fine."

COWARDS

The Throne had caught up to us. The air was buzzing with energy around him and a cold fire burned in the eyes on its wings. Something about that fire made my head feel like a balloon seconds from exploding.

YOU'RE STAINING THE VERY GROUND YOU STAND ON. YOU AREN'T WELCOME HERE.

"We have to leave. Now."

YOU WILL.... The Throne abruptly let out a screech louder and more painful than anything I had ever heard. The tip of a blade stuck out from its chest and it fell to its knees.

"Run already!!!" Wrath pulled out the sword and came running toward us. Silver blood was splattered on his face.

Lucifer and I each took one of Sams arms and dragged his unconcious body to the closing gate. Once we were outside the Silver Citys shield, we would be able to use a portal back to hell.

We jumped into the golden fog that streched out below the City and a deep purple rift opened in the air, ready to bring us home. Ryder went first, Wrath followed him and Lucifer took Sam with him.
I went through last. As the world blurred before my eyes, I spotted a gleaming light emitting from the tower, accompanied by a piercing sound I later recognised as Johns voice.

I was whirled around in the portal and lost track of where was up and down, until I violently bumped into something cold and hard.

"Ow!"

I raised my head, still dizzy and with blurred vision.

Wrath was looking at me with an amused expression.

"You alright, angel?", he asked and reached out to wipe a trace of blood from my face, but flinched when he touched my skin.
"Shit, what the... you're scorching! Literally!"

I followed his gaze to my chestplate and gasped in shock. The metal was slowly melting off my body.

"I should... you know... I'll take care of this. See ya!" I lifted myself in the air with a few powerful flaps and took off in no particular direction. What was wrong with my powers? In the few months that had passed while I was in training, my skin had never been hot enough to burn someone. And now even Wrath felt it.

I shook my head. It's because of the battle, I thought to myself. I'm just stressed.

I heard the faint sound of distant waves crushing against a cliff. Not long after that, I could spot the sea it originated from. The water was lighter than the ocean that I could see from my apartment and big chunks of ice floated on its surface.

A sudden thought crossed my mind and I folded my wings to dive into the freezing cold sea. At least I thought it was cold. I didn't feel anything, I only saw bubbles rising up from my skin and steam curling above the surface. The water was boiling all around me.

Minutes passed, and I noticed how didn't run out of breath. I didn't feel like suffocating, although it had been more than ten minutes now. I smiled. I could stay here for a while.

An hour or two later, the water stopped boiling and I stuck my head out from the surface. Lifting myself out of the water was difficult, my wings were soaking wet and pulled me down.

It took me some time to get up in the air again, but as soon as I was, I headed back to the palace.
I wanted to see my little brother.