He turned his gaze to mine. “I spent most of my energy on you, leaving just enough to make sure Naomi didn’t bleed out.” His gaze moved to Naomi and he offered the slightest of smiles.
He had performed a miracle. I should have roasted in the sun, or at least dropped dead from the amount of blood loss and crushed bone, but I hadn’t because Michael swept in at the last minute and saved both of us. I just didn’t realize what it had cost him.
I licked my lips and stared at the tile patterns traversing the floor.
“Will you ever...”
“Recuperate?” Michael finished my sentence and shrugged in a way that left my blood cold. “I honestly don’t know.”
“Valerie...” I started and fidgeted, picking at the hangnail on my thumb before I cleared my throat. “Valerie was stabbed.”
“I know.”
“By a demon,” I added.
“I gathered it was something along those lines, especially since she asked for your protection,” he said. “She wanted to make sure you two survived, even if she didn’t.”
“She...” Naomi started.
Michael put his hand up, stopping her from asking the question that swarmed my mind as well. “I don’t have any more insight than that.”
An angel without insight. Now I’ve heard it all, but I wasn’t in the position to make a snide comment. Instead, I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose.
Naomi’s grip tightened on mine and I turned, something outside the window held her gaze. When I followed her gaze to the glass, my already chilled blood froze and my chest constricted like someone tied a complex and very tight knot with my lungs.
Outside, the crazy nurse I killed stood next to Valerie’s truck, staring at us through the window with a narrowed glare. She cracked her neck and smiled, and then her lips moved reciting the unmistakable name that would bring the devil to our door.
Lucifer.
The freeze in my blood turned to the burn of adrenaline and I grabbed Michael’s arm with my free hand, moving us with a speed I didn’t think I still possessed. It wasn’t vampire speed, but it was damn fast, especially while dragging an old man and my stunned wife.
I turned toward the belly of the hospital, looking for a way to escape our intertwined fates. My heart hammered in my temple, creating a beat my feet followed. The clap of thunder announced his arrival, but I didn’t even chance a look, instead, I found a staircase leading to the floor below.
It wasn’t until I stood in the sparsely populated cafeteria that I stopped. Both Michael and Naomi huffed, their faces as red from exertion as I imagined mine and I let them rest at the table near the door. Michael collapsed in the chair next to me and Naomi took the one farthest away from the door.
Her head dropped to the table and the rise and fall of her back was enough for me to grab the nearest garbage can and slide it under her. She spit a couple of times and then nodded and I moved the can back to the wall by the door. As I approached the table, the air in the cafeteria shifted and I stopped with my gaze locked on Naomi’s.
I didn’t need to turn to know Lucifer stood behind me, but I wondered if he was in the same condition as his brother. Michael stood and for a brief instance, I saw the fire flare in him, but it flickered and he grabbed the edge of the table to steady his feeble form.
I inhaled, and spun, facing the monster that was hell bent on destroying me. Lucifer stood before me in human form, but unlike Michael, he was still young. A bandage covered his neck and Eve’s burning form had left quite a bit of damage on the right side of the devil’s face.
His gaze narrowed as he studied me and then it transitioned to Michael.
“You fool. You gave him your grace?”
My skin flushed hot with those words. Michael’s grace? Holy shit. The old angel stepped to my side but I couldn’t look at him. I was still processing Lucifer’s words.
“Now all he needs is yours,” Michael snarled and Lucifer’s clawed hand shot out, puncturing Michael’s chest.
“He may have your grace, but I am claiming your soul.”
Michael somehow produced a smile. “My soul belongs to God,” he uttered.
Lucifer yanked, ripping the heart from Michael’s body. A scream pierced the room and the shuffle of panicked footsteps filled the cafeteria. Michael collapsed on the floor and Lucifer stared at the heart, mesmerized as the muscle’s contractions slowed until it was still.
I stared as well, unable to move, to allow my brain to grasp the death of my uncle or the words he uttered. It wasn’t until Lucifer brought the heart to his lips, that my paralysis broke and I stepped backwards, running into the table.
The beast ripped the heart in half, his eyes closing as he savored the taste and I shivered with revulsion. My gaze darted around the now empty room and back to Lucifer. He swallowed the rest of Michael’s heart and slowly licked his fingers.