Magnus

I only beat Corson to where Caim vanished because he paused to lift Wren into his arms and carry her through the woods. Raphael soared overhead before arcing toward the ground.

When I saw Caim again, he wasn’t in raven shape but had resumed the form of a man. He darted back and forth in front of a woman as he used his open wings to block her from running past him.

The silver spikes protruding from the upper and bottom tips of his wings flashed as he moved. Like in his raven form, his ebony hair and coal black eyes shimmered with hints of rainbow color. Unlike the other fallen angels, who regrew more bat-like, veined wings after shearing them off when they first fell to Earth, Caim’s wings had regrown feathers, but those feathers grew back black instead of white like the non-fallen angels.

The woman ducked to the side before spinning and dashing past the edge of one of Caim’s wings. She plummeted into the woods with her hands out to stop any branches from slapping her face. I didn’t think she had any idea where she was going or what lay ahead of her as she charged forward with the recklessness of an immortal.

Speeding after the woman, I kept my gaze locked on her so I wouldn’t lose her in the forest. As she ran, her ginger hair trailed like a banner behind her and revealed its numerous colors. It appeared redder one moment, blonder the next, and the color of a pumpkin in the following instant. I realized her hair was like the sky at sunset, ever-changing and multi-hued. The sides of it were pulled back into two braids that became one as they ran down the center of the thick mass.

I couldn’t see her face, but if it was anything like her hair, then this woman was magnificent.

I wasn’t overly thrilled with having to run, it wasn’t an exercise I partook in often, but I had to catch her because I had to see her. I poured on the speed as curiosity about this creature propelled me onward.

Slender, the woman moved with the grace of a demon, but I didn’t know which kind. The bottom of her short-sleeved, yellow dress beat against her ankles when she leapt over a fallen log and around the body of a woman. The past week had been unseasonably warm for February, and her clothes, as well as my own short-sleeved shirt, reflected this.

“Corson, I’ll get her. Check the woman!” I shouted over my shoulder.

The shadow of an angel swept over us again. I didn’t know it belonged to Raphael until he plummeted out of the trees. A cloud of dirt and leaves billowed up around his feet when he landed before the fleeing woman. She made such an abrupt right that I nearly collided with Raphael when she changed course.

If the woman wasn’t at least five-foot-five-inches tall, I would have assumed she was a tree nymph, given the grace and speed with which she moved. However, I’d never seen a tree nymph who stood over five feet.

Watching her, I had the sinking suspicion I knew what she was and what happened to the others at the camp. This woman might be the only chance we had to save some of the others, and she could not be allowed to escape.

Tired of running, I planted my feet and bowed my head. In my mind’s eye, I conjured the image of a wall before the woman. Lifting my head, I watched as the mirage formed ten feet in front of her, but it developed too late, and she ran straight through it.

“Shit,” I snarled before sprinting after her again.

In raven shape, Caim dove at her and cut off her forward path. Staggering back, she spun away, but he turned to the side. One of his wings skimmed the ground, clearing the forest floor of debris as he flew around her in a circle.

She was turning to head back toward the camp when I dove at her. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I tackled her. Without thinking, I turned to shelter her and took most of the impact with the ground as we bounced across the dirt.

When we finally came to a stop, I wanted to lay for a minute, catch my breath, and try to get this situation under control. The squirming Hell monster in my arms had other plans as she kicked my shins, clawed at my hands, and fought like a cornered hellhound to get away from me.

Rolling, I pinned her stomach to the ground. Her fingers tore chunks of soil away as she tried to pull herself free of me. Her tiny feet continued to batter my shins as she wiggled beneath me.

“Enough!” I yelled at her.

Caim landed beside us and transformed into a man. “Fiery little thing,” Caim murmured with his head canted admiringly to the side.

“Hmm.” I grunted when she almost succeeded in driving my nuts into my body with her heel. “I could use some help!” I snapped at Caim.

“She’s a tiny thing; you can handle this,” Caim replied with a smirk.

If I’d been able to wield fire, I would have torched the fallen angel’s ass all the way back to the pits of Hell. I could only settle for a brief scowl at him before the witch almost launched me off her back with a vicious buck of her hips.

Finally succeeding in pinning her down, I sat on her back as she squirmed like a worm beneath me. I caught my breath while I kept her hands clasped against the small of her back. After a few minutes, her struggles ceased, and she lay panting beneath me.

A twinge of regret filled me as her forehead lowered to the ground and her glorious hair fell forward to shield her features. Seized by the urge to know what she looked like, I carefully adjusted my hold on her, rose slightly, and rolled her over.

My breath caught when I found myself staring into almond-shaped eyes the same color as her hair. I’d never seen eyes like hers before, but then I’d never seen anyone like her before. From her slender, pert nose to her rose-red lips and round cheeks, she was exquisite. Yet the dusting of freckles across her nose and cheeks gave her an innocent air that contradicted her inherent nature, as the jinn were anything but innocent.

And I did not doubt that for the first time in my life, I found myself face-to-face with a jinni, a member of the jinn race. The involvement of the jinn in whatever happened to the others was the only thing that made some sense.

None of us knew much about the jinn. Their powers were mysterious and frightening, which was part of the reason one of Kobal’s ancestors locked them behind the ninetieth seal in Hell. The jinn were set free when all the seals collapsed.

The woman stared at me with a mixture of annoyance and fear, but if she could do something to me like what she’d done to those at the camp, I’d already be sleeping somewhere.

How does the jinn power work?

I didn’t think we’d get any answers from her, but I didn’t plan to release her anytime soon. All jinn would happily torment and kill any who fell under their spell, but something about this small, deadly woman intrigued me.

“Well, hello,” I greeted; her glower deepened. “And where were you running off to?”

When Corson skidded to a halt beside me, the bird earring dangling from the tip of his pointed ear swayed back and forth. Corson’s foot-long talons protruded from the backs of his hands as he leveled the jinni with a stare promising death.

Cradled against his chest, Wren’s pale hair fell over his arm. Her matching earring to Corson’s twirled around before coming to a halt. The anguished look on Corson’s face was one I’d never seen before. As an adhene demon, Corson lived for laughs and to fight, but once he claimed Wren as his Chosen, he also started living for her. Her death, if it happened, would devastate him.

I would not allow that to happen. Love wasn’t something I ever planned to experience in my life, but I wouldn’t lose one of the few friends I had, or his Chosen.

“What did you do to those in our camp?” Corson demanded.

Beneath me, the woman sagged, and most of the fight went out of her as she gazed from Corson to Wren and back again. Sadness crept over her features, but I knew better than to think a jinni would ever regret their actions. I may not have dealt with them before, but their ruthlessness and trickery were legendary.

“I didn’t do anything to them,” the woman murmured.

“Liar!” Corson accused. “Whatever you did, fix it!”

The woman glanced at me and nervously licked her lips. My gaze fastened on the glistening wetness she left on her full bottom lip. Despite this horrible situation, I found myself growing aroused as I inhaled her scent. She held the fiery aroma of Hell, but also something else…

Then, it hit me. She smelled of the promise of spring, a warm, cloudless day on Earth, and better things to come, and I wanted more of her.