I was going to be sick. Tainted Army. Those assholes from the Tainted Academy had known Lincoln by name, and it had bothered him. Now they were out there fighting for the demons? Enslaving humans for them? It made me sick.

I started to pace the short hall. “Raphael. Michael. What are they doing?”

“They put a rescue team together an hour ago, but our Light Mages can’t find him. Even Claymore is at a loss.”

Oh my God. I couldn’t do this. A stifled sob left my throat then as my tough girl façade cracked.

Shea put both hands on my shoulders. “We’ll find him. If the Dark Mages are hiding him, there must be some other way to track him.”

I’d forgotten Sera was with me until she vibrated on my hip.

‘I can’t find Lincoln, but I can find his sword. If he’s still got it with him, we’ll find him.’

Hope burst in my chest at her words. “Noah, did Lincoln have his sword on him when they took him?”

Noah’s forehead crinkled but he nodded. “Yeah, he had it.”

‘I can trace another person’s infinity weapon so long as I’ve met that weapon.’

I didn’t understand it, but Sera had certainly ‘met’ Lincoln’s weapon hundreds of times.

“Sera can trace his infinity weapon,” I told them and started running to the parking lot.

“Awesome. I’ll tell Michael!” Noah shouted after me, then whipped out his phone.

We made quick work of getting to the parking lot where Darren was at the wheel of his SUV, Blake sitting shotgun. I quickly told them the news, and Noah, Shea, and I squeezed into the back. Then we were off.

The entire drive, I repeated one thing incessantly: Lincoln’s okay, Lincoln’s okay. He had to be okay. I couldn’t even conceive of a world where Lincoln was lost or dead. I felt physically ill, my hands shaking from adrenaline.

When we arrived at the base camp within the war zone, we exited the car quickly, making our way to Michael and the twenty-man battalion that stood with him.

“Brielle!” Michael sounded cheery.

Mr. Claymore and Raphael were both with him.

“Is it true? Sera can track Lincoln?” Raphael asked me, pride gleaming in his eyes.

I nodded.

‘I just need a bit of archangel blood. Preferably Michael,’ Sera told me.

My eyes bugged.

‘What! You never told me that!’

‘Well how else am I going to find his weapon? I need some powerful blood to work my magic,’ she said matter-of-factly, like that made total sense.

Blood magic. My weapon did blood magic.

‘I’m just supposed to ask one of them for their blood?’ I screamed at her, my face pinching in anger.

Michael frowned. “Is something wrong?”

I laughed nervously, and now Raphael was looking at me like I was crazy.

‘It has to be one of the archangels who have blessed Lincoln with power, so either will do, really,’ Sera said, as if that was helping.

My hand nervously ran through my hair. “Well, I guess Sera needs archangel blood for her magic finder spell… so…”

Oh God, kill me know.

Michael stepped forward, bringing with him the air of power, and held out his arm. “No problem. I trust you, Brielle.”

Those blazing blue eyes looked right through me, straight into my soul, and I nearly covered my chest in an attempt to hide. I felt so exposed, so… raw.

Archangel Michael trusted me. Angel blood fetched a fair price on the black market, and he trusted me.

‘Come on, Lincoln’s being tortured for all we know!’ Sera shouted, making me jump a little.

Breaking out of my Michael mesmerization, I pulled Sera out.

‘Just a little taste is all I need,’ she instructed.

Gross.

Michael held his arm out, and I reluctantly sliced a little cut on the upper part of his left forearm. He didn’t even flinch, but I did.

I just freaking cut Archangel Michael. I was totally going to hell.

‘Oh yum. He tastes even better then he smells.’

Oh. My. God. My face fell.

‘You’re completely nuts,’ I told my blade.

She didn’t seem to care. ‘Get in the car. I’ve got a beacon on your man.’

Relief washed over me. “She’s got him!”

I ran to the car, Noah hopping in the driver seat while I sat shotgun. The rest of our crew pilled in the back, with Michael and his warriors following us in one of the Fallen Army-issued fifteen passenger vans. They were blacked out, and had such severe tinting you couldn’t even see inside of them.

Hopefully we would be low-key.

‘Go right,’ Sera urged suddenly.

“Right!” I shouted, and Noah slammed on the brakes, cutting the wheel to make the turn.

I muttered an apology to him and told Sera to give me more notice next time.

‘I can’t. Go left,’ she shouted.

“Left here!” I pointed to the road we were about to pass.

The tires squealed as we made the turn, and Noah gave me a glare.

“She can’t help it! Drive slower,” I shouted at him.

“Yeah,” Shea backed me up.

Noah sighed, easing on the brakes and slowing to a crawl. We made our way slowly into the city of Inferno, almost to the outer edge where there were high gates and tons of demon guards.

“What’s that?” I whispered, staring at the gates.

“We call it the city of Limbo. It’s a demon stronghold,” Noah explained.

Oh God. If Lincoln was in there, I would cry.

‘Left and stop. He’s here. The big brick building up ahead,’ Sera told me.

I relayed her words to Noah, and we turned left and parked. Up ahead, there was indeed a large red brick industrial building. It felt like the gauntlet all over again.

‘How can you see when you don’t have eyes?’ I asked Sera.

‘I’m an angel blade. I don’t need eyes to see,’ she retorted.

Show-off.

Not one of us dared leave the car for fear of tipping them off and them killing or moving Lincoln.

“I have a plan,” Michael said over the radio. “Our Light Mage says this building is heavily guarded, and I don’t want to spook them. Brielle, do you feel ready to do a mission?”

To save my boyfriend from Tainted Army assholes? Hell yes!

“Yes sir,” I told him. Raphael could be ‘Raph,’ but Michael was always ‘sir.’

“Let’s fly, then.” And the line went dead.

Noah pivoted toward me. “Are you sure you’re ready for this? You can say no.”

I rolled my eyes. “Are you kidding? I’m going to help Lincoln.”

Noah shrugged. “Lincoln would want me to try to stop you at least once. Now, I can say I did. Good luck. We’ll be right behind you once you secure him.” He clipped a walkie-talkie to my belt and nodded.

Lincoln would want Noah to protect me, because Lincoln was always protecting me. The thought made my heart pinch.

I’m coming.

Shea reached over and squeezed my bicep, and I squeezed her hand back before exiting the car. Michael was waiting for me on the curb, wearing a hooded sweater. His wings were drawn as far behind him as possible so as to appear normal to a passerby, I assumed.

The moment I stepped in beside him, he started to walk.

“We’ll land on the roof. They won’t expect that. When we get inside, I’ll fight you a path to Lincoln. I suspect he’s restrained, so untether him and call for backup.”

I nodded. Didn’t sound too hard.

Michael grabbed my arm. “If at any time you feel your life is in mortal danger, you break a window and fly out of it, understood?”

No way.

“Yes, sir.”

He grinned in a mischievous way that told me he most definitely had read my mind.

Just then, his wings snapped out and he blasted off the concrete into the sky. I stared at his miraculous flight in awe.

‘Get up there, you dingbat!’ Sera shouted.

Oh shit. Right.

My wings snapped out, and then I was right behind him, flapping and pumping my black wings to crawl high above Inferno. It was a ghastly town, full of demons, poverty, and death. I wanted to free the humans being held there. Knowing that was ultimately the Fallen Army’s plan, I couldn’t wait to be a part of that.

The air was freezing, as we were super high. Higher than I normally went in practice drills with Lincoln.

Michael suddenly pivoted in the sky and started to drop down, me right on his tail. Lincoln Grey was not someone I planned on ever living without.

Our boots landed on the rooftop, and Michael wasted no time cutting down the Monkshood demon that stood guard. His sword literally cut through the demon like he was made of butter, leaving a blue fire in its wake. It was both a glorious and disgusting sight to behold.

Next, Michael used his sword to cut the door handle off, again like butter. I was starting to see why the demons would find his sword so valuable.

He peered inside the now-open doorway and lurched backward just in time to miss having his face marred with acid.

God, the Snakeroot demons were populating like crazy! Michael sliced him down too, while I just stood there stupidly, holding Sera, waiting to see if he would need any help.

He didn’t.

We ran down the stairs two by two until we reached a closed door.

Cut off handle, kill demons guarding, rinse and repeat.

We’d gone down three levels when I heard it—Lincoln’s strangled cry one floor below.

“Lincoln!” I shouted, my entire body clenching as my fight or flight mode kicked in. Pivoting, I beelined for the doorway, leaving Michael to fight the Yew demon on the current floor we were on alone. I ran full speed down the stairs to the floor below, just in time to see two big-ass Tainted Academy students dragging a barely conscious Lincoln out the door. His feet, legs, and wings were bound with thick leather-looking straps.

How. Dare. They.

Anger exploded inside of me as I thrust Sera in front of me and released a savage battle cry. She pulsed a white light so bright that the men holding Lincoln were forced to drop him and cover their eyes. I lunged forward, slicing into the brute nearest me and gouging his side, letting my knife sink into his rib cage.