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BELLA.
I couldn’t breathe. My heart was banging in my chest and no matter how fast I gasped, I couldn’t get enough air into my lungs.
“Slow down, slow down...” I whispered to myself, trying not to gulp at the air. The last thing I wanted was to pass out. The door was locked, and I’d managed to shove an antique chaise against the wood.
“Open up!” A deep booming voice yelled through the door. I ran for the window, pushing the curtains even further open, praying to God the sun would set.
I stared out into the distance. The round yellow orb of the sun was half gone, but the rays of light were still cast over the house. I squeezed my eyes shut, jumping when they began to break the door down. I didn’t know how many of them there were, but I had to fight. Surely?
My beautiful Rafael was still frozen, in his gargoyle form, probably out of his mind with worry. I rushed forward and placed my hands on his chest, staring into his stone face.
“Rafe, I hope you can hear me. The house is being attacked. There are men here to kill you. If you can fight this, please please please, wake up. Wake up now. And fight these guys with me.”
I stared long and hard at the gargoyle in front of me, and nothing happened. I glanced over my shoulder at the sun. It wasn’t falling fast enough.
The doors burst open, and two men pushed the chaise out of the way and stormed into the room.
“No!” I screamed, racing around Rafe’s gargoyle form and standing at his back. I threw my arms out wide, trying to block them from touching him. “Get away!”
The men stopped for a moment, staring at me as though dumfounded.
Their walkie talkies buzzed. “Spread out. We’ve only got five minutes until sundown. Take them all out at once.”
“You got this one?” One of the men asked, and the other nodded.
He headed off, probably to attack one of the others. I couldn’t stop the whimper that left my lips. “Please, stop. You don’t have to do this. We’re leaving New York. And we’ll never come back. I don’t know whose paying you to do this, but please... just tell them we’ll go.”
The man marched forward and pushed me out of the way. I stumbled and fell, then turned back and threw myself around Rafe’s statue.
“No!”
The man set up his gun and said, “You can stay there, but I’m destroying this statue. One piece at a time.”
I wrapped myself around Rafe the best I could, damning myself for not bringing the shotgun with me. “I’m sorry my love, I’m so sorry.” Rafe had been damaged in gargoyle form before, and he still struggled with the nightmares because of it. I’d worried about him for so long, but at least I still had him, and that was all that mattered.
These men weren’t going to leave him battered and scarred. They wanted him dead.
“Get out of the way.” The gun man said.
“No!” I screamed at him. “I won’t live without him.”
I closed my eyes and pressed my face to his cheek, wrapping my arms around his wings and hoping that someone, anyone, would save us. Hot tears streamed down my face. In the distance I could hear the sound of my sister in laws screaming for their men.
The walkie talkies went off again. “We were told not to hurt the women.”
“Their fault if they get in the way.”
“Three minutes. Go.”
The stone beneath my hands began to soften, the wings beginning to shrink.
“Not this time, freak.” The man in black spat at us and I moved around in front of him, blocking Rafe’s body completely with my own.
“Collateral damage...” The guy muttered... and squeezed the trigger.
The sound of the machine gun firing so close to my ears made me cry out, expecting blinding pain and darkness. But I didn’t move out of the way. The cold statue beneath my hands became flesh. The wings in my fingers disappeared, and my huge man stood up, holding me in his arms.
“You’re alive.” I whispered, staring up at his beloved, damaged face with tears still blurring my vision. “Or are we in Heaven together?”
