A Z R I E L (A Freenbecky Fanfiction)

CHAPTER 20

"Ahhhh!!!"

A synchronous scream reverberated inside the vehicle.

A woman landing in front of the car caused it to screech to a halt, terrifying the three women inside. Standing in the headlights was a figure, her cold, terrifying, and deadly eyes locked directly onto Aelia—the only elemental in the group.

"It's her," Celestine whispered, shaking with fear.

"Lilith."

In the blink of an eye, the woman who had been standing in front of the car vanished. Then—silence.

A silence so loud it made Aelia's skin crawl.

"Where is she?" she whispered, heart pounding.

Suddenly, the car door beside her was ripped open. Before she could react, she was yanked out and thrown several feet across the ground. She landed on her back, coughing, gasping for air—
—and then she felt it.

A hand, cold and merciless, clamped around her throat, squeezing so tightly she couldn't breathe.

"BELLA!" screamed Eirene.

The couple rushed forward to help, but a wave of powerful energy surged outward from Lilith, throwing them back violently, their bodies hitting the ground hard, groaning in pain.

"An elemental," Lilith muttered with coldness, releasing Aelia, who gasped for air and crawled backward, trembling.

"What do you want?" she asked, her voice shaking.

"To kill you," Lilith said, calm and resolute.

"Why?"

"Because you're an elemental. And elementals... shouldn't live."

Lilith stepped forward, each step pulsing with menace.

"I didn't even do anything to you..."

"You don't have to," she replied with a dark chuckle. "Being what you are is reason enough."

She extended her hand. Without touching Aelia, she lifted her into the air with invisible force, squeezing her lungs shut, choking her without mercy.

Aelia writhed, gasping, eyes wide. With her last strength, she focused her energy into her hand, forming a weak but desperate fireball—and hurled it at Lilith.

I won't back down without a fight, she thought.

But the fireball hit an invisible barrier surrounding Lilith and fizzled out instantly.

All hope faded.

Her vision darkened, oxygen slipping away, thoughts fading—
—but then, just as consciousness was slipping from her grasp—

The grip vanished.

She dropped to the ground with a heavy thud, wheezing for breath.

And the last thing she saw before passing out was her.
The woman who haunted her dreams.
Azriel.

An intake of a sharp breath startled the brown-eyed woman awake. 

Azriel, bruised and bandaged, jolted upright from where she had been resting on the couch in the corner of the spacious room. Despite the pain radiating from the wound on her stomach, she rushed toward the bed where the elemental lay.

Aelia awoke with wide, frantic eyes. Disoriented, she panicked at the presence she felt beside her. In a flash, she jumped from the bed, falling with a heavy thud that alerted Azriel.