Noah runs over to us, lowering the cell from his ear, panicked eyes checking us over before horror washes over his face as he stares at the remains of the house. Dust has wafted all around us, blurring my vision, but it's not hard to see the ruins where the old, shitty house once stood. The one Luna had been inside of..
"FUCK!" It's the only thing that leaves my mouth when realization dawns on me. A split second later, I'm off the ground and hurtling toward the disaster. I'm jumping over fire-licked beams, crumpled walls, and broken stairs, all to get to Luna. Sharp shards of glass cut into my skin, and my hands grow raw and blistered when I move scalding metal from my path. I can hear the guys yelling for me from a distance, but I have one goal only. To get to Luna and make sure the stubborn little shit is safe and unharmed. I'll throttle the damn woman if she's gone and injured herself.
My heart can’t take it. It's barely hanging on by a fucking thread at this point.
Chapter 3
Elijah
I can do nothing but stare in horror as the building we left Luna inside of is blown to smithereens, debris raining down over the street like confetti. Devon and Asher are blown backward, the force of the explosion flinging them over to where I sit with my mouth agape in horror. Then I'm on my fucking back when the pulse of the explosion downs me right along with them.
Motherfucker.
Pain shoots through my body, my bones aching and muscles rebelling against the force. It's a lost cause, the pulse of power pinning me down until it passes. Groaning, I sit up just in time to watch my brother run toward the house at full speed, jumping over shit as though there are hurdles in his way. Noah and Devon call after him, but I can't get my vocal cords to work to do the same. I can't even bring myself to move because it almost feels like I just watched my whole life crumble down right in front of my very eyes.
There's no way anyone could have survived that kind of explosion. Not even an angel could walk away from something like that. Right?
"Luna! LUNA!" Asher yells frantically, tearing away anything in his way. Pieces of broken furniture are flung in every direction in Asher's attempt to break a path to Luna. "Fuck! Luna, where are you?!"
Like she's going to answer, I think bitterly while my chest resembles a blender, my heart is fucking trapped inside, blades shredding it until it's nothing more than a bloody mess beneath my ribs. I can feel the tears pool at my eyelashes, threatening to spill over. I don't even have it in me to reel them back, allowing them to freely fall down my cheeks while I look on at my enraged brother trying to dig his way to our downed angel.
Me? I feel like I can't take a fucking breath without it hurting. My ribcage feels like it's caving in on itself, my stomach feels hollow, and my mind is screaming at me to get up and help my brother look for Luna. I can't move a damn muscle, though. It's like I'm paralyzed right where I am, forced to endure this unholy torture I'm suffering through. The shit Lucifer put my brother and me through wasn't nearly as bad as this. That sadistic cunt has nothing on the pain that's frozen my ass to the ground..
"Eli, fucking snap out of it!" Devon yells just before a sharp hand cracks my face to the side with punishing force. Holy shit.
I blink out of my daze, finding Devon sitting in front of me with wild green eyes and unruly white-blond hair. He smacks my face a couple more times until I'm focused enough to pay attention to the words spewing out of his mouth. "Come on, dipshit. Snap out of it. We need to find Luna."
Shaking my head to pull myself out of the fog, I take Devon's hand and let him pull me up until I'm standing in front of the destroyed home. I can't see Asher anymore, but Noah is digging into the rubble, moving shit with harsh throws and kicking things out of his way.
Devon leaves my side to do the same, hurrying to catch up with the others. As though I'm living in a nightmare, my body going slower than it normally would have, I tread over to the hill of broken shit. I can't even tell where the basement used to be under all the crap piled on top of one another, the dust getting trapped in my throat with every inhale I take.
Bending where I stand, I start moving smashed dishes that look to have seen better days even before the explosion. Just as I heave a large piece of rotting banister out of the way to reveal a familiar panel with a hidden door, however, the ground rumbles.
Everything around me begins to vibrate, debris shaking and falling around my feet. My legs grow unsteady underneath me the more the ground moves, and when my eyes track the others, it's to find them suffering the same problem. Turning my gaze back to the hidden panel I spotted, I find a large chunk of debris pulsing as though something is trying to push its way through the rubble.
"Guys! Over here!" I call, my voice hoarse from the dust inhalation. I fall to my knees, crawling to the spot that's moving the most, my heart in my throat the entire time. I start tearing at everything in the way, launching it behind me. Asher joins me not a moment later, following my footsteps and digging his way through the shit in front of us.
Devon and Noah join us minutes later, and when Noah pulls a large piece of a door away, we all stop digging and start at the dark fur that's just been uncovered.
"Holy fuck, is that Brutus?" I whisper. I don't wait for an answer, renewed vigor causing me to shift everything from the tuft of fur. Sure enough, when I move a great deal of shit, I hear the tell-tale sign of that massive dog's growling. Brutus' efforts to free himself triple, his movements growing agitated the longer he remains under the perished house.
After one particular movement that sends me to my ass, I yell, "Get back, guys!"
Not a even a minute later, all of us have shuffled back in time to watch a great big fucking Cerberus emerge from the wreckage. The three-headed pitbull snarls, two of the oversized heads spitting saliva from their open maws. Between the teeth of the third head is a lifeless Ms. Frenchie, clenched carefully between the large fucker’s elongated canines.
What I don't see is Luna.
The massive Cerberus crawls out of the giant hole, making a bigger mess as he climbs out of the pit he found himself in. That has to be the basement. So where the fuck is our angel?
A question that's answered when a missile-like object comes bolting out of the hole with all the force of an oncoming train. Dust wafts up with the movement, and I'm forced to cover my eyes to prevent going blind. The air around me shifts, wind blowing my matted hair from my face and coating my sweat-covered skin with dirt.
Moving my hand away when I think it's safe, my head immediately turns upward to see what the hell just flew out of the giant hole like a bat out of hell. My eyes only fucking widen when I see Luna in the air, suspended in the sky just before she starts to fall.
With my ass in my hands, all I can do is watch, the relief of seeing her alive quickly replaced by the sheer panic of her falling from such a height. This woman is not good for my mental health, that much is fucking clear.
"Luna!" Asher yells, finally seeing our woman falling from the sky like some twisted shooting star.
"Fuck," Devon mutters, his hands tightened into fists. Noah doesn't say a damn thing, his mouth open wide enough to catch flies. He looks terrified, a feeling I am understanding all too well right about now.