I was worried that I was going to bite my tongue off as Phil's hand gently gripped my heart before slicing through the arteries connecting it to my circulatory system.
Blood splattered everywhere, and I watched my organ continue to beat in his hand for a few minutes before he placed it in an organ transplant box he had beside him.
"So beautiful," he gasped, quickly closing the lid after gently placing my heart into the white box. "I won't bother to put it in the bag since it is going right upstairs to save a well-deserving life."
Pulling off his gloves, he grabbed the box and carried it toward the door. "You just keep holding on. I wonder how many organs I can take out before you die," he chuckled, pushing open the door.
I expected it to slam shut after him, but it remained open, his body not moving forward.
Resting my head against the table, I closed my eyes. I could have sworn that I had heard some of my guys talking, but that was impossible.
Callie, not waiting for me to say anything, dove into my body, frantically trying to suture my arteries closed so I could stop bleeding all over the place.
I smiled, not knowing what else to do. I was going to have to hurry up and die so he could unstrap me from this table.
There was a commotion at the door, and I could hear someone calling my name.
Lifting my head up as much as my straps allowed, I smiled. "Hey!" I grunted. I couldn't stop myself from relaxing as Michael stormed into the room and looked around.
"Thanks for coming," I joked, my head collapsing once again. "Did you happen to find my heart while you were out there?"
Before he could say anything, darkness took over, and I stopped breathing.
-----
Michael stormed into the room, trusting the guys behind him to hold the sniveling human until he could deal with him.
"Nicholas!!" he bellowed, sprinting to where Natalia was strapped to the table.
He frantically looked around, trying to find a way to save her, but it was too late. With her heart removed, there was no way for her to heal.
She was dead.
Collapsing to his knees, he rested his forehead on the table, not caring about the blood. "We are too late," he murmured, causing all of the other footsteps to pause. "There is no way we can save her now."
There was the sound of a snort, causing Michael to look up, his eye flashing a bright white color. "You are laughing that our mate is dead?" he hissed, his wings coming out of his back in a spectacular display. Soft white feathers floated down around him, but he didn't care.
This man was laughing at Natalia being dead.
"Return her heart," chuckled Viktor as he looked at Nicholas.
Nicholas nodded, his body sober at the fact he wasn't able to save his mate yet again.
Opening up the white box in his hands, he lifted out her heart and slowly placed it in the chest cavity. "I'm sorry," he whispered as he kissed her forehead. "But I will see you in our next life."
"Here," grunted Levi, holding something out to the other man. "This will make it easier."
It was her sternum, cut out of her chest and looking like a discarded shield from days of long ago.
Nicholas grunted his thanks and rested the bone on top of the heart.
"Wait…" grunted Grayson, looking at the two men kneeling beside their woman. "You do know she is coming back, right?"
"Not possible. Not even an angel can survive having their heart removed like that," sighed Michael, shaking his head. "It might take a lot to kill us, but we can still die."
"Same with the demons," added Nicholas, his eyes never leaving Natalia.
This was supposed to be easy. Set a trap and catch the killer. Natalia was so happy, looking forward to resuming her policing duties, even if it was only a side gig.
"Where is that fucking human?" growled Nicholas, just now remembering what had brought them to this point. He stood up, his wings sprouting from his back in a blur of darkness before they fanned out on either side of him.
The black feathers mingled with the white ones already on the floor as both angel and demon turned their attention to the man.
"Wait," he stuttered from where he was being held between Levi and Dom. "I was told to do this," he continued, his words coming out so fast that they were practically tripping on themselves. "An angel told me that this was my calling. That I needed to do this to get into the promised lands."
"Angel?" snorted Michael, looking around. "I don't see an angel here besides me. Tell me. What is the name of this… angel?"
"I—I don't know," sighed the man, slumping forward as Levi and Dom held his weight. "He never said. Just that this was what God wanted me to do."
"So is what he is saying true?" asked Levi, looking at Michael. "Or is he just a nutjob?"
Looking around the room, the guys were more inclined to think it was the second option instead of the first. But then again, they didn't know angels existed either until Michael showed up.
"I have no idea," grunted Michael, pulling a long, golden sword out from nowhere. "But it doesn't matter, now does it? He will pay for his crimes."
"Not by us," disagreed Viktor. "As much as I would like to be the one to rip his heart out and feed it to the wolves. We cannot kill a human without a penalty."
"No," smiled Nicholas, his teeth showing. "You cannot. Michael and I aren't part of the Laws of the Six Houses. We can do whatever the fuck we want."
"What?" demanded Viktor, his head snapping around so that he was looking at the demon.
"Yup, your laws don't apply to us; no more than the human ones apply to you," shrugged Michael, his sword raised. He slowly walked over to the human, the sounds of his pleading coming out like nails on a chalkboard to the monster.
With a single stroke, he plunged his sword into the man's chest, piercing his heart and killing him instantly.
"Well, that was slightly dramatic, don't you think?" asked a female voice behind him.