Terminal (Terminal trilogy #1)

12: Coursing

Kell seemed like he was considering a response to what had just transpired, and everyone else was watching him in anticipation. "I told you, he's not some pet you can just drag around."

"In my defense I'm fairly certain you never said that."

"Does that even matter? If I didn't say it, someone else did, or maybe it should have just been your common fucking sense that told you that maybe there was a reason we only kept him in chains. You know we can't trust-" He glanced at Percy. "People like him."

"I'd love a recap here. Is there any context to a woman getting her throat ripped out, or is that normal here in Hell?" Asked Percy dismissively.

"What- no, it's not normal here. Why would it be? We're not barbarians," said Lane.

"Excuse me for the concern, but in Heaven we don't typically have this happen in our meetings."

"Do you guys have 'meetings'?" Leigh asked.

"Can we stop and deal with Mannie first?" Kell re-centered everyone's attentions towards me and my posture got worse. If I had a chair to be sitting in, I'd be balling up.

"Can we not?" I said quietly.

"Mannie, I- I wanted to talk to you alone. But when things like this happen, I'm not sure what I feel in regards to you. Except, obviously, quite upset."

"Sydney's dead," Noel offered, like her dead body wasn't a foot from her face.

"You guys kicked her out!" This was not the right thing to say, though the looks of repulsion on everyone's faces was more from the blood than my own social blunders. "I didn't realize he'd do that."

"You left him alone with her," Kelsey stressed, "What did you expect?"

"Him to be... more polite...?"

"People like him can't be," Charlie, the capricorn emphasized. All the people in this room were starting to melt into one under this thick layer of rust and death, and I was sick of spinning to meet everyone's gaze. God, eleven was a lot of people.

I was responsible for Sydney's death. That... was it. I knew it, it was obvious, and there was no way I couldn't be blamed for how much blood pooling around my shoes.

But I never wanted to face the consequences for any of my actions. Kell was rare to lose his temper, but he was grimacing at me now, holding his chin in one hand. Blood on his fingernails.

Only one thing to do, then: "That's the thing about locking up angels like him, I mean. Torture them for too long and they get a little stir-crazy." I wasn't even trying to make it sound like a natural sentence.

"What." Said Percy as Kell bit his lip, "Who was that? What was his name? You said you hadn't been abducted any of us. Are there more?" It was fantastic to watch Percy blow up like this, mainly because it took the pressure off me.

"Look, Rhamiel was the only-"

"Rhamiel? Rhamiel? I knew Rhamiel! What did you do that made him crack like that? And what happened to his face?" When people get angry they always try to make themselves as tall as possible, and the already tall Percy was standing on his tiptoes. "Trust me, no one's going to want to hear this. The deal's off, for one. And for another, I'm sure that there's going to be dire action taken against you. And-" He had been running his fingers against his ring for awhile now, perhaps deciding on the best time to draw it. "This too."

With a jerky motion like his sword was already drawn, Percy summoned his blade to his hand. Then, like it was a fresh pair of chopsticks, he pulled at the hilt and suddenly had twin blades. They solidified slowly, going from a pale green light to solid silver.