I turned. “Over—”
In an instant Raphael was running ahead of me, pushing through the crowds of Phantoms in order to reach Aphrodite.
A young Phantom was leaning over her, whispering something. She laughed. She always was vain. But she wasn’t a Seeker. She was one of my kind. For her to be on the other side meant I would be fighting my family. It also meant if she was ever with a Phantom, used in the wrong way, they could produce a very powerful race.
I would kill her myself before that happened.
Charging through the crowds proved difficult, with every Phantom wanting to stab me in the heart. I finally broke through the last group of Phantoms, only to have every last one of them screech and disappear back into the sky.
Aphrodite was gone with them.
Raphael was on his knees by the tree, his head in his hands.
Nobody understood how bad this really was. Nobody but the archangels and me.
I sank to my knees and covered my face with my hands.
My family was lost, forever.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Seth
Athena was fading fast. I could only heal her outside wounds. It would be impossible to give her blood.
“Wait,” I said aloud, suddenly remembering a flicker of memory from my past. Blood. It had to do with blood. My blood.
I was fallen, but I still had angelic blood in my veins. I just didn’t know how to get it from me to her. I wracked my brain. The only thing I could think of meant acting like a total lunatic and truly giving into a side I’d much rather forget about. If I cut open her skin, I risked killing her, but if it worked, it might just save her life.
“Athena, I need you to listen.” I steadied her against the wall. “I’m going to do something dangerous.”
Her head fell toward me; she didn’t have the strength to lift it anymore.
I cursed and used my dagger to slice open my hand. I held it to her lips and squeezed. I was seriously grasping at straws here. I had no idea how the human body worked. Would it digest the blood? Would it use the blood to heal her from the inside out? That was what I hoped would happen.
She clung to my hand, her mouth hovering near the opening. Color returned to her skin; it seemed to be working, but it wasn’t working fast enough. I cut my other hand and used my dagger to cut her arm and began squeezing my blood across her cuts. As they healed they sucked in my blood and closed.
“Can you make it now?” I asked, feeling slightly weak.
“Yes.” She nodded her head. “Thank you, Seth.” Athena leaned in and kissed me. Slightly weird, but who I am I to complain?
I nodded my head and led her across the fires.
I would have taken it for her. In fact, I would have died for her. The screams coming out of her mouth were something out of my worst nightmares. I clenched my teeth and pulled her forward.
After an eternity, we reached the end. I scooped her up into my arms just as she passed out and ran as fast as I could toward the crossroads.
Once we were outside the cave, we were hit with a warm wind. Something had happened, but I didn’t have time to think about it. Strength gone, all I knew was that Athena needed Raphael, and she needed him fast.
I ran through the trees, not even feeling my feet as they cut against the forest floor. Soon we were at the clearing. Raphael was on his knees by a tree, and Adonis was next to him. Everyone looked sad, but I had no time to ask why.
“Raphael, she’s injured. You must heal her!” I collapsed in front of him and dropped her to the ground, my hands shaking as blood trickled down my arms. I had officially lost the power to heal myself and given it all to her. I just hoped it was enough.
Clearly my body was going into shock. I couldn’t stop shaking.
Raphael reached for me. “No,” I yelled. “Her. Help her first.”
Trembling, I ripped off my shirt and tried to stop the bleeding in my hand and arm, but the blood just kept flowing out of me. Great, now I was going to bleed to death.
Raphael blew above Athena’s lips and slowly her cuts healed; she inhaled deeply and opened her eyes. It was the last thing I saw, as my eyes grew heavy, and I fell into nothingness.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Adonis
“Athena? Love? Can you hear me?” I touched her face. Since the battle, it had changed dramatically. Her skin seemed to glow even lighter. Raphael said it was because of Seth’s blood. The guy had practically killed himself in the process.
“Athena?”
“Hmm?” Her eyes flickered open, and then she jerked awake. “What happened? Where are we?”
I pulled her into my arms and kissed her, only releasing her because we were in Headquarters. “We’re back at Headquarters.”
“Oh.” She lifted her hand to her head and groaned. “I want to die.”
“No, you don’t.” I chuckled. “Don’t ever say that. I almost lost you.”
“But you didn’t.” She smiled and let out a sigh.
“No.”