Dragon's Storm (Legion Of Angels #4)(23)

He didn’t care about me, neither as a lover nor as property. He hated me. He thought I was trash. He just wanted to mess with Nero. And he knew Nero did care about me.

Streams of lightning shot up Colonel Fireswift’s arm, swallowing it. The whip was hitting him with more lighting than anyone should be able to take. I hoped it didn’t lose its charge. I couldn’t cast elemental magic on weapons myself. The electric whip was powered by a tiny Magitech battery. It needed to be recharged by a larger Magitech generator. The whip was powerful, supposed to last the whole day under normal combat. Which meant it might last a couple of minutes against an angel.

“Stop,” I warned him. I kept my voice hard and cold, trying to cover up my fear that the magic would go out on the whip. That whip was the only thing standing between me and Colonel Fireswift’s plan to send Nero a message by kicking my ass. “I will take off your arm.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“That just goes to show that you don’t know me at all. I would dare a lot of things.”

Colonel Fireswift pushed against the whip’s hold. He was going to wait it out until its magic failed. Bastard. The hum of the lightning was growing weaker. It wouldn’t last much longer. I had to change tactics. Colonel Fireswift knew he could beat me in a direct fight. He wasn’t afraid of me. He wasn’t even afraid of Nero. But there was someone he was afraid of.

I pulled out my phone. “Shall we have the First Angel settle this? I have her number saved.”

Colonel Fireswift looked at me with those cold, inhuman eyes. Those eyes that had tortured thousands in his centuries as an angel. He was trying to psych me out. I met his eyes and didn’t back down.

“The First Angel does not get involved in such trivial matters as lowly insubordinate sergeants,” he finally said.

“Maybe not, but she does get involved in angel disputes.” I was showing him I knew exactly what this game was about.

“You have no idea what you’re doing.”

“I know exactly what I’m doing. I’m refusing to be dragged into your spat with Nero.”

“Windstriker will eat you alive, you stupid little girl. And he will spit you out in pieces. That’s what angels do. You are nothing to us. Playthings, distractions. This is our game, and you don’t even know you’re playing it.”

No. Nero didn’t want to be with me unless I knew what I was getting into, unless I accepted the rules of the game. Colonel Fireswift wasn’t giving me a choice. Nero was. That was one of the many, many differences between them. If I decided I didn’t want to play, Nero wouldn’t push me.

“Do you think you’re the first naive girl who’s caught his eye? There have been hundreds just like you,” Colonel Fireswift told me.

I smirked at him. “There’s no one like me.”

His eyes swept over me. “You’re right. The others were prettier.”

I resisted the urge to punch him. Firstly, because that wouldn’t be self-defense; it would be attacking an angel, a superior, out of anger. And secondly, because he would kick my ass.

When I didn’t take the bait, he lowered his hand. I held in a sigh of relief as I slowly retracted my whip. But I wasn’t putting it away. I had to be ready in case he attacked. Colonel Fireswift could kill me before I could call Nyx. He must have been thinking the same thing because he started to move toward me again.

“Wow, you sure will be in an awkward position when Nero is promoted and outranks you,” I said quickly.

That froze Colonel Fireswift, right down to his icy eyes. “If Nero doesn’t survive, you will be in the awkward position. And I will be waiting.”

He looked me over like I was already dead, then turned and walked down the hall. As soon as he was out of sight, I took a deep, calming breath. I unclenched my fists and went into the lab to speak to Nerissa.

“He really is an ass,” she commented.

“No kidding.” I set my hand on her back. “Are you all right?”

Nerissa let out a pitiful laugh, then dropped her head to her desk.

I shifted my phone to my right hand. Colonel Evil put Nerissa on the list, I typed to Ivy. Hurry down to her lab. She needs you.

Be right there, she wrote back immediately.

Ivy had a talent for talking to people. If anyone could cheer up Nerissa, she was the one.

“I should have hit him,” I said to Nerissa.

She lifted her face off her desk just far enough to give me a censuring look. “That would have been foolish.”

“Probably. But it would have felt really good. Well, at least for the split second before he hit me back.”

Nerissa didn’t laugh. Clearly, my attempts to distract her weren’t working.

“The Colonel is a calculating bastard,” she said, leaning heavily against her arms. “The cold kiss of vengeance doesn’t come swiftly. It is agonizingly slow. The worst part is watching death come for you, knowing there’s nothing you can do to stop it.”

“Don’t talk like that. You’ll be ok.”

“Leda, I’ve spent years doing only the minimum physical and magical training required by someone in my position. It’s enough to keep me fit and battle-ready if the apocalypse knocked on our door tomorrow. It isn’t enough to push me higher. Nero was fine with me where I am.”