Page 42 of Beautiful Madness

For a few seconds, there wasonly that blazing white light and stunning, chaotic, unfamiliar noise, and Icould not hear, or feel, or think.

Then my mind seemed to adapt,to right itself, and I saw an incomprehensibly huge figure with wings that hidthe sky and blocked my moon. The blinding white light changed into equallyblinding black light, crushing my body, my mind, my soul.

I fought it though. I fought tonot be overwhelmed by his power with every single drop of my own, and finally,I could think again. I could breathe.

He was darker than the night,so he couldn’t blend in or hide himself in that darkness. He stood out starkly,a black-winged thing that did not belong in my world.

The angel had come.

And though I’d meant to be, Irealized I was not truly ready for him at all.

ChapterTwenty-Two

The long strands of his blackhair waved in an invisible wind, and his black eyes were rimmed with silver. Hewas either stunningly beautiful or inconceivably ugly, I didn’t know. I just knewhe was terrible.

And though he was right therein front of me, it was as though we stared at each other across a vastdistance, at least at first.

“Hello, Lucas,” I said, andwhen I spoke the words, the angel sort of…normalized. It was as though part ofhim—or even most of him—had remained in his world, and when I spoke to him,acknowledged him, or said his name, I somehow pulled him into my reality.

But that in no way made himless.

Right now I was in crisis mode,and I was ice. Later, though, when this was finished and he’d gone, I’d dealwith the effects of facing down a dark angel—if I survived the encounter.

He took a step closer to me,his wings drooping and thick and dragging over the hard ground. “I do not wishto waste time, woman. I have a war to fight.” His stare skimmed my body like aphysical touch as he searched for the item he’d come for. “Where is the blade?”

I knew he was more powerfulthan Saul’s magic—and if he’d believed the knife was on my body and hidden bymagic, he would have seen it. But he believed I’d hidden it somewhere far awayfrom me, and his eyes did not see what his mind told him was not there.

At least that was what Ibelieved. I couldn’t know, not really, but no part of me believed the creaturestanding before me was not powerful enough to do…well, anything, really.

“The blade is mine,” I toldhim, “and I won’t hand it over to a worthless thief. Go back to your battle,Lucas. There’s nothing here for you to steal.”

His muscles bulged when hecrossed his arms. “I will give you the alpha you want for the blade I need.”

I swayed, suddenly dizzy.“What?” I whispered.

“Kait,” Sam cried. “Fight foryour motherfucking self.”

The angel’s grin flashed, andmy mind cleared. If I gave Lucas the blade, I would be giving himme.And I abruptly understood what Sam had been trying to get through to me. Theold Kait would not have hesitated.

I would have given much to havelearned Jared’s location.

But I would not give myself.

Not anymore.

It was my turn to smile, andsomething close to confusion skittered through Lucas’s eyes. “I will give younothing, angel,” I said.

He dropped his hands to hisside. “Then I will take it.”

I lost my smile but not mycourage. “You can try.”

I’d faced Lucas before, and Ialready knew he was as brutal as he was powerful. I also knew that he’d heldback when dealing with me. He hadn’t wanted to kill me, or he would have.

That belief was one of the mainreasons I was able to stand quaking before him, my chin up as I called my magicand my rage, both of which I would wear like armor. And though I needed tothink of my “psycho” as justme, right then it helped to think of it asa whole separate being who was coming to help me.

Because I’d never felt so alonein my life.

I needed terror, rage, orintense pain to help fuel my power, especially since I was a bit depleted fromfighting the daywalkers and from my lack of sleep—and Lucas was happy enough tooblige.