It's when Luna really starts gaining speed, her body getting closer and closer to the ground with a pace I don't much care for, that I feel like I'm going to die from a heart attack.
I'm just about to dive for the crazy woman when, out of no-fucking-where, a set of wings dripping in black feathers splits through her back, slowing her descent until she lands on the tallest pile of rubble as though she didn't just scare fifty years off my immortal life. I don't even know how that could work, but logic has flown far and fast out of the window.
Her back is to us, dark hair billowing in the wind while her wings expand to at least six feet. What the unholy shit is happening right now?
Luna has wings.
How?
The black wings are almost luminescent beneath the moon's pale glow, but it's the feathers that confuse me. They don't look like any normal feathers I've seen before. They don't look soft and silky, nor do they look light and fluffy. In fact, many of them glint in the moon's rays like daggers.
"Flower?" I choke, the relief of seeing her alive finally catching up to me. I could cry all over again. Fuck me.
Luna turns around slowly, the moon illuminating her silhouette, her wings more prominently on display when she faces us. On closer inspection, I notice her feathers are all as sharp as knives, littering cuts across Luna's beautifully tattooed skin. Pools of blood drip down her pale skin, falling off her fingers in steady drops. She either doesn't notice or doesn't care, because she doesn't react. Her raven-colored eyes look us all over slowly, almost as though she's committing our faces to memory.
After a moment, her ethereal voice announces, "Keep safe and don't die. I have things to do."
With those parting words, Luna bends at the knees and shoots off the ground like a bullet from a gun, blending into the dark sky and vanishing from sight.
Brutus the Cerberus follows after her, running at a speed I wouldn't have thought a dog that size could possess. He's gone in a blink, the two leaving behind a massive mess and a group of guys who look as confused and crumpled as I do.
***
The Uber Noah ordered pulls up ten minutes later. Luckily, Noah had the forethought to ask the guy to stop just down the street so we wouldn't be caught standing amongst the ruined house. Try explaining that to someone without sounding crazy or getting arrested. Neither option sounded appealing to any of us.
Asher has been quiet and reserved since the Uber took us to the hotel. Devon's looked seconds away from committing murder, while Noah looks completely helpless. We've been sitting in the hotel room for an hour now, silently wallowing in our shitty moods. Ash and I are still healing, a slow process, but the bleeding has stopped completely. Now that the adrenaline has passed from everything that's happened tonight, I can feel every cut, scrape, bruise, and ache in my body. In short? I'm wrecked, and my brother isn't faring much better.
"What are we going to do?" Devon finally asks the room, breaking the silence. Asher doesn't even flinch while he lies on his stomach on the bed, letting his wing scars breathe. Noah seems miles away, sitting in a chair that faces the window of the hotel room. Devon is standing against the wall, looking at the floor like it holds all the answers to the questions we have.
I found myself sitting on the floor, my side leaning against the occupied bed with my body facing the door. For some reason, I thought that having my eyes trained on the door would summon Luna, and I'd be the first to see her when she came back. It's been an hour, and she's still missing. This. Is. Hell.
Asher grunts from the bed, barely staying awake though he’s giving it a really good try. Noah doesn't answer, a frown pulling his eyebrows down even as his eyes look spaced out. Guess I'll answer the white-haired angel, then.
"Not sure what there is to do. We have no idea where Luna is, don't know where she would possibly go, and no way to get home. If you have a suggestion, I'm all ears," I tell him, a little snappier than I intended, but I'm sore, mentally fucked, and I want my damn woman back at my side. I've barely had her, and now she's sunk herself into a deep depression that's turned her hair and eyes black, and she's sprouted vicious wings, and her power has morphed as a result. Did I mention the woman is fucking missing?
After disappearing into the night with a Cerberus on her tail, it's as though all traces of her disappeared. Her clothes have gone from the hotel room Devon found her at, there isn't a thing left in the one we're all currently bunkering in, and not a soul has seen the angel who has the power to warp reality.
Pretty sure this is karma kicking me in the balls for every bad thing I've ever done in my long existence. It would make a whole lot of sense, even if I hate it.
"Shouldn't we go looking for her or something? She shouldn't be left alone right now, especially in a place she has no knowledge about," Devon argues, crossing his arms against his chest but keeping his eyes averted. I can only imagine the tremendous amount of guilt he's feeling right now. After all, he and Luna weren't exactly quiet on the plane, and I damn near punched his teeth into his oesophagus when Luna turned stand-offish, refusing to talk about what had happened. The only reason I haven't pummelled his face into his stomach is because I'm wounded and too worried about Luna to give him the energy that would require. I'm sure my brother would have already beaten me to it if he could spare the effort.
"And you have knowledge about this place?" Asher grumbles from the bed.
Devon doesn't reply to the question, instead responding with, "We should at least try and look for her."
"She doesn't want to be fucking found right now. She's in pain, and she's dealing with it the best way she can. She'll come back to us when she's ready," Asher answers, the conviction in his words enough for me to settle down a little more. I've said it before, but Asher has always been the most observant of us both. He knows people better than I do, so if he says to give our woman some space, then that's what we'll do. Sure, it didn't quite work last time since we went two weeks without her being present even though she was in the room with us. I just have to trust my brother on this one. There isn't anything else we can do.
"Didn't you fucking see her? That shit doesn't happen just because of grief. Her hair and eyes turned black, for heaven's sake! She wasn't right, her power didn't feel right, and she sure didn't look right. She's not herself right now, and you want to wait until she comes to us. Are you insane?" Devon snaps, pushing away from the wall to glare at my brother and me.
Noah, finally breaking out of his trance, quietly says, "Angels aren't known to grieve at all. Especially in heaven where everything is always calm and tranquil. When was the last time you grieved for something you lost before coming to Earth to recruit Luna? She's spent enough time on Earth to develop strong emotions and attachments. Ms. Frenchie is the only human on the planet that Luna has ever loved since her brother passed away. And she was snatched away from her right in front of her eyes. An angel who feels as strongly as Luna does? It's no surprise it's taken its toll. I've never seen such a thing happen before, but Luna is an enigma to us all. It's only right to realize that hurting an angel with emotions as deep as Luna has comes with a steep cost. Luna is still in there, but she's hurting over a lost love of hers. Give her time. I wholeheartedly believe she'll come back to us. She needs us as much as we need her."