Broken Wings (Hidden Wings Series Book Two) (20 page)

“Thank you
,” were the only words that escaped my lips. But they were also sincere.

“
I just want you to know that I love you. I have always loved you and Alaine.”

I nodded. T
ears filled my weary eyes. I didn’t know how else to respond, but I could tell that my tears had spoken the words that I couldn’t.

We started to move forward toward the end of the tunnel when I remembered the drop.

“Samuel, we can’t go that way. There’s a huge pit full of snakes ahead,” I said, holding his arm back.

“I know,” he said, tigh
tening his belt and tucking his sword away.

A quieted hissing suddenly became loud
er and louder, and there was movement in front of us. Samuel reached in his pack and cracked a light stick and threw it about 20 yards ahead.

The ground was moving
, slithering, and completely covered with snakes.

They
’d found a way out of the pit!

There were snakes of every kind,
color, and length quickly slithering towards us. I backed up, but Samuel grabbed my arm and held me in place. We were completely surrounded.

“No sudden movements
,” he whispered.

“Don’t worry. I won’t,”
I said, already frozen in place. A pang of horror shot through my body, knowing I was surrounded by one of the things I feared the most.

“Emma,” he whispered.

“Yes?”

“
I want you to climb onto that rock to your left. Very slowly.” I turned my head a bit, and saw a rock to the side of us that was about three feet high. It was very uneven and had sharp pieces jetting out all over it.

G
reat. I was already having a hard enough time trying to stay balanced on solid ground.

“You can do it. Just move very s
lowly,” he coaxed.

I couldn’t look
at the ground, so I lifted my leg, placed my foot on the rock, and took in a deep breath. Samuel’s hand gripped mine.

“You’ll be okay, Emma. Go.”

I slowly shifted my weight to the foot which was on the rock and pushed myself up. My ankle was twisted, so I looked down to secure it to a spot that was a little more even. When I glanced down, the whole ground around the rock was moving. The snakes had already surrounded it.

“Up,” Samuel said evenly.

I pushed my body away from his grasp and made it onto the rock.
Just when I thought I was safe, a piece of the rock cracked, twisting my ankle and sending me falling backward. I hit the ground with a thud, and in seconds was surrounded by dozens of snakes.

Shit!

I froze. I knew snakes
responded to movement, so I stayed as still as possible, trying not to breathe.

“Emma, don’t move
,” he yelled. He didn’t have to worry about me. I was a statue.

I watched him attempt to slice the snakes around me, but a
s fast as he slayed one, it seemed another two would take its place.

There was a sharp pain in my leg, and when I looked down a snake had sunk its fangs into my
right shin. Then another, and another, struck at my legs and arms. I tried to shake them free, but their jaws were locked on tight.

I felt
the bites, but wasn’t feeling any side effects of toxins. Maybe the suit was helping. I needed to get up and the very moment I thought it, Samuel was above me, kicking and pulling the snakes off of me. He reached down to me, and I quickly grabbed a tight hold of his hand. In one swift movement, he swung me around to his back. The snakes were striking at him, but his boots kept their sharp, venomous fangs from his flesh.

I
instantly felt pressure on my chest, and then miraculously, two of the most beautiful, silky, black wings appeared on Samuel’s back. I gasped, and wrapped my arms around his neck.

“Are you ready
to fly?” Samuel called back to me.

“Heck yes
,” I answered, and wrapped myself tighter around him.

With one flap
we were in the air, and my stomach felt weightless. With another flap, we were up about fifty feet off the ground.

“Hold on
,” Samuel said.

“
I am!” I answered. He suddenly leaned forward and with another flap, we were soaring above a huge pit of thousands and thousands of slithering snakes. The sight made my skin crawl.

I was fl
ying!

I was actually flying on my Father’s back, and he
had wings! It was the most amazing and exhilarating feeling, and literally took my breath away. Aside from the fact that my first flying experience had to be in these horrifying conditions, I was glad to have been given the chance. And with my father! It was a moment that was beyond description.

In a matter of
a minute, we were at the fourth gate. Samuel landed softly on the ground, just before the tunnel, and helped me off.

I had
a smile plastered to my face, at least for a moment.

“So I take it you liked the flight?” he smiled.

“I think
like
is an understatement.”

“
Well, hopefully it won’t be our last,” he said with a saddened smile.

“W
hy can’t we just fly the rest of the way?” I questioned.

“If it were
that easy, I would, but they’ve taken that into account. It was easy to fly over the snakes, because they cannot fly or attack us while we are in the air, but there are other things, things much worse, which can possibly injure, or even kill us if we take to the air. I won’t risk it,” he said, “especially when I have my daughter on my back.”

I sm
iled, because I was proud of that fact. Proud to be his daughter.

Chapter 11

Level 4:

“Samuel, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure, but the keepers of this
fourth gate will smell our presence soon, so we should get moving. You can ask on the way.”

“Okay,” I gasped, and completely dre
w a blank.

We were about ten yards away from the gate and Samuel was being very cautious. Moving slowly and deliberately, sniffing the air.
He then sat behind a large boulder.

“
Go ahead, Emma. Ask away,” he whispered.

“Shouldn’t we be moving?” I asked.

“Yes, but I want you to have my full attention,” he said. “Once we enter the cave, we will not get a chance to speak.” I swallowed hard and sat down next to him, and pulled out the dagger.

“The symbol on this dagger, is it Michael the Archangels?”
I questioned, lightly tracing it with my finger.

“
Yes,” he said glancing at me with an odd look.

The symbol was a small circle, attached to the left side of a “V”. The right side of the “V” continued up and then became an upside down triangle, which continued then came to a stop, even with the bottom of the “V”.

It looked oddly familiar. Like I’d seen it somewhere before. Maybe one of the other Guardian’s had one that looked similar. Samuel’s symbol was an “X” with a small diamond in the center. It also had an arrow going through it, from right to left. The left had the point, and the right had a small circle.  

I felt the mark on the back of
my neck, but it was flat. I never really looked at mark, because I had acquired it when I was a child, and had forgotten it was even there. Plus, I never looked at the back of my neck anyway. Who does?

“
So, the double mark on the back of my neck is the same as yours and Alaine’s?”

“Yes.”

“And, Alaine’s mark is the same as her fathers?”

He
paused, and there was a look of confusion in his eyes.

“Yes,” he nodded.
“You amaze me, child,” he said, shaking his head, laughing. “Just a day ago, you were a scared, sad little girl. Look at you now. You have not only shown strength and fearlessness, but you are also very intelligent.”

I smiled
.

The Bloodstone around my neck started to heat up, just as a
loud growl echoed in the cave behind us. I knew our conversation was over.

“What kind of crea
ture can make a sound like that? Is it a dog?”

“No.
It’s not a dog. What lives in that cave is called a Grimlock.”

“
A Grimlock?” I did
not
like the sound of that. It sounded horrifying and… grim.

A
nother booming growl was followed with large steps that shook the ground around us, making loose dirt and pebbles dance all around our feet.

The
Grimlock must have been coming.

Samuel pushed me behind him. “Emma, don’t
make any loud noises or run. Grimlocks are blind but they have an exceptional sense of smell, and impeccable hearing. They’ll be able to smell you, wherever you are, and hear every move you make.”

“Okay,” I breathed, which was nearly impossible to do in our situation.
I caught a whiff of something horrible. It was the smell of death. Like a rotted, decaying corpse. “Uuuugh! What’s that smell?”

“
I guess I should tell you that the Grimlocks are cannibals. They eat raw meat, as in, anything they can get their filthy hands on. Humans, angels, animals, even their own kind,” he said in a quieted voice.

“Are you serious
? Raw meat?” I gulped.

“
Yes. So stay right behind me. Unsheathe your dagger and be ready to fight if necessary. If you get into trouble, go for the neck, and make sure it’s deep enough to kill it. You cannot be afraid, Emma. Fear will kill you down here. Do you understand?” he asked. His eyes were boring into mine, making sure that I did understand.

I
again swallowed hard, steadied my nerves and nodded. I hoped I wouldn’t come into contact with whatever that Grimlock creature was, but it was inevitable. I would soon have to face this creature. Just the name alone was pretty scary, and the fact that we could feel its footsteps meant that it had to be huge.

“Is there only on
e Grimlock in there?” I asked.

“No,” he answered. “
The last time I came down here, there were around twenty-five or so. But that was hundreds of years ago. There are probably a lot more now.”

“Hundreds of years?” I gasped. Those numbers did some major work on
my brain. It was hard to accept that my father was centuries old.

“Yes,” he said with a small grin. “
This gate is the place where Lucifer has assigned the Grimlocks to dwell, but he has also allowed a porthole to open for them into the human world, a few times a month. The porthole opens to places where people are homeless, or ridden with drugs and crime. The Grimlocks are only allowed to hunt during a specific time, and only under the cover of darkness. They are sent to hunt for food. So, I suggest that when we make it through the tunnel, that you don’t focus on anything around you. Just focus on getting to the next gate as quickly and quietly as possible.”

“So are you telling me that there might be other humans down here?”

“Yes, but if they are down here, then they are already
dead. Grimlocks don’t take their captives alive. They kill their prey first, before dragging them back into Hell.”

Oh G
od. The thought made my stomach turn and I instantly felt nauseous. Those poor humans. What if they had families? What if they had loved ones who were looking for them? That was completely unnerving, and made me want to hurl. But I had to think about all of those who were depending on Samuel and me to make it back to them. Failing wasn’t really an option.

The
footsteps were getting louder. I wished I could disappear, but even if the suit could make me disappear, it wouldn’t matter. The damn creature was blind anyway.

But
if that Grimlock even tried to take a bite out of MY flesh, I wouldn’t have any problem slicing its neck.

Crap
, the thoughts that were running through my mind. Slicing necks? That totally wasn’t me.
I could feel a change inside. Something that was making me a little stronger. A little braver. It all started the moment I realized who I really was. My father was a warrior, and his blood flowed through my veins. I would do anything to save the ones I loved. Alaine, Kade, Courtney, Caleb, all of those who were falling prey to the evil agendas of Lucian.

From the darkness
of the tunnel came a loud swishing sound. It sounded slow and then started to gather momentum, soon sounding like a tornado. I peeked behind the rock, and strained to look into the darkness, but I couldn’t see a thing.