Phoenix Fire (Book 2 in the Winter's Series)

Chapter Eighteen: Candescence

"I came alone." I lie, my eyes never leaving his.

"Don't lie to me, zuia." bitch. He says spitting his curse at me.

"Cazzo si!" Fuck you. I return, my anger growing. I clench my fists tightly as I try to keep my anger in check. It's hard to fathom how we got here, how my one act caused all of this. It wasn't a choice I could make, whether his father lived or died. His death was decided for him and it wasn't me who made the call. Why can't he see that, why go through all of this for revenge against me. The corporation who's guilty has fallen why can't that be enough... I pulled the trigger on his father, but the trigger was pulled on me to do it.

"Catch her and bring her to the cellar." Giovanni says glowering at me before making a signal with his hand for his agents to grab me. I run and jump up, flapping my wings to bring me up to the balcony. Giovanni's eyes widen as he rushes to get inside and close the doors. I land on the balcony and shove my wings open wide to drive the agents off of the marble platform. I never break eye contact with Giovanni as I attempt to break the glass doors open. The sound of a rifle firing draws my eyes from Giovanni. An explosive round bursts through the glass and hits me in the chest, sending me soaring back over the edge of the balcony.

I skid across the grass leaving a deep indentation on the ground from my fall. My chest is gaping open from the blast and my body works as fast as it can to regenerate flesh to cover the open wound. The pain doesn't register and I lay gasping for until the skin knits itself back together.I make a mental note to adamantly avoid those bullets. It only took a few minutes but that was enough time for several groups of agents to make their journey to capture me.

Bucky comes from out of the shadows behind a cluster of four agents on their way to me. He stealthily closes in on them and grabs one of the agents near the back of the cluster, wrestling the rifle from her hands he uses the butt to hit her in the head before turning his attention to the other three who have now turned around. He uses his metal arm to punch one in the chest sending them soaring backwards toward me. I grab his collar and force him into the concrete pathway, fracturing the area around him from the collision. I snap my head up and watch as Bucky easily defeats the cluster without taking any damage.

I turn around to face a line of agents following Giovanni's orders. I pull my wings out and stretch them out before starting to run toward them. Picking up speed I close in on them, they fire shots at me and I drop down in a spinning motion. I keep my wings low as I spin, knocking them off of their feet. Standing up I rush toward them as they attempt to scramble back up. Just as they start to rise up I hold my wings level and dive toward them. The blunt force of the heavy bony ridge making contact into their chests leaves them rendered useless for the time being.

I stand up and turn around casting my eyes back to Bucky. He quickly tilts his head and very briefly widens his eyes in an impressed expression. I look behind him and see a flock of agents running straight for him, pulling their weapons out.

"Behind you!" I shout to him before sprinting in his direction to help fend them off. He turns around and charges at them, deflecting their bullets with his metal hand. He grabs the first agent closest to him by his rifle strap and belt, lifting him off the ground with ease. He uses the agent as a shield before hurling forcefully at the rest of the herd, knocking some of them down like bowling pins.

By the time I reach him the courtyard starts to flood with hundreds of agents, and our chances of reaching Giovanni starts to decline.

"I got the three on the left closest to us." I say, panting from the fight.

"I'll cover you." He replies, equally as exhausted as I am. I charge forward, dropping low I pull one wing out and sweep at their feet, knocking them down in a straight line. Bucky swings his metal arm, punching the one in front but sending all three of them flying backwards. One of the agents points their explosive rifle at us and begins to pull the trigger.

"JAMES!!!" I scream out before grabbing him and wrapping my wings in front of him to absorb the blast from the rifle. The explosion knocks up six feet back with Bucky landing on top of me. The wind is knocked from my lungs and I struggle for air as I push him up off of me. He stands up first before reaching for me. I grasp his hand and stand shakily.

I feel wetness on my wings and look to them to see the damage. The cream colored feathers are soaked in blood and I check over Bucky to make sure it's not his. I'm so congested with shock I don't realize that it's my own. My wings have been damaged so severely that chunks of feathers and skin were missing. In my state of trauma, I failed to see the skin and cloth hanging loosely from my legs, nor did I notice the pain from the charred skin and muscle on my back.

"Eden, are you-are you okay? You're covered in blood." He says panting while he looks over my shock encased form. I look behind him and see the same agent pull the trigger again, but I'm too slow to react.

"WATCH OU-" I yell but it's too late, his body is blown back and he slides harshly across the ground before his head is rammed into the marble water fountain with a sickening sound.