Requiem

Stunned, Claire looked down, and then turned to Jared. “They went through me.”

Claire and Ryan fel to their knees at the same time, and Jared rushed to his sisters side. He pul ed me with him, and I fel to my knees just behind him.

Ryan’s head fel back, and he coughed, blood spraying up and spattering across his cheek.

“Oh, God, no!” Jared cried, pul ing off his shirt and wadding it up, pressing it against Ryan’s wounds.

Isaac’s maniacal laugh seemed to be al around us. “I always wanted to see that smug smile wiped off your face, Claire.”

Bex glanced at the bloody scene, and then focused on Isaac, his hands bal ed into fists at his sides. He lowered his chin, then, and his expression morphed into something one might see from a demon rather than an angel.

Claire looked up at her brother, expressionless. “End this.”

Horrified, I watched Claire tend to Ryan’s wounds, but within moments, Jared pul ed me to my feet.

He took my hand in one of his, and then pul ed out his side arm with the other. He pointed it directly at Isaac, shooting one round after another, walking toward him as he fired, forcing me to fol ow.

Isaac jerked with each hit, stumbling backward. “You son-of-a-bitch!” Jared screamed, his eyebrows and lips pul ed in so tight, the skin around them was white.

“Jared!” Bex cried, but it was too late.

Donovan had his gun to Jared’s temple. “I suppose it’l take you a while to heal from this one,” Donovan said.

An abrupt blast resounded in the room, and Donovan fel to his knees, final y fal ing over, succumbing to the bul et hole I had just shot into his brain.

“Shawn!” Isaac said, struggling to reach his Taleh.

It was too late for both of them. Shawn Donovan’s life had already spil ed onto the floor.

Isaac fel back, already feeling a weakness in his body.

Jared’s eyes were wide as he processed what had just happened. “You kil ed him,” he said softly, looking to me.

“He was pointing a gun at your head,” I explained.

Jared laughed once, momentarily forgetting that we were stil surrounded by the enemy.

A quick wind passed by, and Bex and Shax were suddenly in a bal . The sounds coming from their scuffle were horrific. Distracted, Shax lost his control on the demons clustered on the wal s and ceiling, and they began descending from their position, and swarming around us.

“Run to Kim!” Jared said, pushing me in her direction.

The hundred yards down the aisle to where she was protecting the book seemed a mile away, but I took off without hesitation.

Seeing that I was running to her, Kim scrambled to her feet, sprinting down the aisle to meet me. I turned, seeing Jared and Bex attacking Shax, and his minions were quickly crawling to the floor in endless numbers. Adrenaline kicked in, and my feet moved faster, desperate to reach Kim before the demons caught me.

“Run, Nina!” Kim screamed, the horror on her face tel ing me in moments I would be crushed and torn apart by the Hel so closely pursuing my flesh.

Their screeches were almost on top of me when Kim’s long arms reached out, encompassing my body as she brought me to the ground. The wailing of the minions experiencing what Kim was capable of was deafening, but the individual howling resounding farther away was most definitely the sound of Shax losing his fight with Jared and Bex.

And then it was quiet.

Chapter Nineteen

Waiting

I peeked out from under Kim’s arms, seeing Jared and Bex slowly making their way down the aisle. Kim helped me to stand, and Jared wasted no time pul ing me into his arms. His hands were trembling, and he was uncharacteristical y shaken.

“Are you okay?” Jared asked, evaluating every inch of me for any signs of trauma.

“No, I’m fine,” I said, shivering as the adrenaline soaked back into my system.

Bex carried Ryan in his arms, leaping and maneuvering around the ruins of St. Anne’s to the entrance.

With the inordinate level of noise from just moments before, the night seemed eerily quiet. The crumbling concrete, wood and sheet rock grated against each other under my feet with every step. Those tiniest sounds echoed, even though the church seemed to be torn open and vulnerable, a contrast to the silence outside.

“We’re going,” Claire said, her voice distant and emotionless.

“Right behind you,” Jared said. He lead me quickly out of St. Anne’s by the hand.

I turned to take one last look at the rubble, and saw Kim help Father Francis to his feet. She threw his arm over her shoulders, hobbling along herself beside him as they fol owed us to the Escalade.

Time passed in slow motion. Although everyone was desperate to get Ryan to the hospital, the distance to Jared’s SUV seemed like miles, and getting everyone, bruised and bleeding, settled into their seats was a slow, frustrating process.

Claire rode with Ryan in the hatch, holding his head in her lap as he was nearly sprawled out. She seemed lost as she held pressure on his wounds, watching his face intently.

Bex sat in the back seat with Kim and the priest, but his focus was on Claire. He reached back, gripping his sister’s shoulder. Bex’s expression was heartbreaking, as the worries in his mind played out across his face.

“The closest hospital, Father,” Jared said.

“Landmark Medical Center. Two minutes away. Stay on this street, and then turn left on Cass Avenue.”

Jared blew through the stoplight, and then weaved in and out of traffic, making a hard right turn into the hospital’s ambulance bay.

“We need help here!” Jared yel ed, jumping out of the driver’s side.

I ran to the back, watching Jared open the hatch. Bex helped the priest into the Emergency Room, and Claire let Jared place Ryan on a gurney.

Jared was gentle, as if it were Claire he were holding. A smal cry escaped my throat, drawing Jared’s attention away for just a moment. His eyes were dark, and suddenly I felt an overwhelming sense of déjà vu —but more of an out-of-body experience. Watching Jared and Claire hover over Ryan’s limp body was like seeing my last trip to the hospital from a different, more real perspective. It was cruel for both of them to have to suffer through it again.

Ryan was pale, but he had stopped coughing up blood. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

He managed a weak smile for Claire. “How about a kiss…just in case?”

Claire tenderly touched his forehead. “I’l tel you what, Cowboy. You come out of this alive, and I’l kiss you.”

“You promise?” he said.

“I promise,” Claire said, letting go of his hand.

In the emergency department’s waiting room, Jared sat on the sofa next to me, Kim kept to herself, alone in a chair, and Claire stood with Bex in the corner. No one spoke, further discussion was unnecessary. We were waiting for someone to tel us if they had saved Ryan, or if Claire would die.

Claire kept her eyes closed, concentrating on everything she felt from Ryan. Her clothes were ripped and filthy, and her platinum pony tail had given up holding her hair in place hours ago. Once in a while she would twitch, and I wondered if she could sense when they used the scalpel, or if it was difficult while he was under anesthesia to sense anything at al . Jared would have answered my questions, but it was hardly the time.

The tension in the room was unbearable, but the waiting was worse.

I watched the faces of the people walking by. Some noticed our rag-tag group, some didn’t. Glancing around the room, passers-by would no doubt wonder if we’d been in some sort of large accident. The news of the wreckage that was once St. Anne’s would soon spread, and I worried that the hospital would be crawling with police officer’s soon.