Chapter Thirty-Two

Ethan and Khamuel arrived minutes before the fire brigade, the blaze from the apartment had turned into a galactic wildfire that spread to other floors of the building.

Marked by self-determination, Ethan rushed towards the building, his expression much like a horse on blinds.

Khamuel grasped his brother wrist tightly, forcing him back to a halt. "You're not possibly thinking about going inside, are you?! You don't have your wings! You might as well throw yourself into the pits of Hell--"

"She's inside, Khamuel!" Ethan cut them short, "She's inside! Alone, scared, and probably frightened to death… I-- I can't let her die here--" His eyes, his mouth, his heart… all his being was screaming at Khamuel, begging them to let go of him at once. "-- Not now that I've found her."

Seeing him that much distressed, struck them with surprise. For a moment they dozed, but in that short interval, innumerable things appeared to them as if in a dream: Azrael's silver body soaked in gold, Ella's watering eyes and sick cries filling the empty room, and a familiar large white hand holding the sacred Flaming Sword.

Khamuel's pupils dilated slightly in response and a cold sweat broke on their forehead. Before they knew it, their hand released its grip around the other man's wrist.

"I'm not afraid," Ethan whispered back before smiling at them and yanking his hand free, then storming inside the building in flames.

Before they could react to whether what they saw and what he said, the angel disguised as a human disappeared from their sight.

"Stop--!" Their cries managed to escape their lips, although, it never reached its target.

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Ethan threw down the door with a single kick; he had to protect his face with his arms due to the flames bursting out solely on the strong wave of oxygen brought by the tumbling down of the door.

For a moment the wind blew the flames aside, leaving a passage for him to get through. He committed himself entirely to the rescue and ran up the stairs straight to where he assumed the bedrooms would be.

With each door thrown down and every attempts to enter, he'd only encounter more death after death, the bodies of those dear slowly being burned and engulfed by the flames.

By the farthest end of the master bedroom, a dark-cloaked figure hoovered gloomily over the body on the bed. Something ominous hung in the vehement air, a darkness and trepidation that well matched with the current circumstance.

Ethan surveyed that person's slender figure with obvious suspicion. He had to squint to be able to distinguish anything in the room, let alone recognize a face in the middle of that chaos.

The cloak didn't give much to that guy. They were just standing there, unconcerned and collected. Even from the distance, their posture emanated phlegmatic vibes. And they seemed not to care move despite how much more the flames would grow and the fire would gain ground.

He couldn't see his face nor expression very clearly but, somehow, deep down in his gut he knew that person rang a bell. Still, that was proving to be a waste of precious time and so, eventually, he gave up put a name to a face. Besides, there was no saving them at that point, he needed to focus on who was worth saving.

He reluctantly walked away and thus to the next division; he tried paying no mind to what he saw, still that scene remained forever registered in his mind.

At last, he found Ella's door. The room was a complete mess; the fire had destroyed almost everything at that point, scrambles from the ceiling and walls were all over the place, and the air was beginning to prove itself unbreathable.

Ethan pulled up the collar of his shirt to his mouth, trying not to inhale the smoke, and pushed himself through the flames. With each step, it turned out harder to see even a fly right in front of his eyes.

Once he spotted Ella's body, he lowered his torso further down and sprinted to her, ending up falling onto his knees right beside her. "Ella--! Ella, can you hear me?!" He grasped her shoulder and flipped her body in his direction, her torso and arms dropped to the floor like a ragged doll, smack.

Ethan's mind gears immediately stopped functioning at the flaccid response of her body. He tried opening her eyelids, nothing. He tried shouting her name while giving her cheeks small pats, but nothing. She was unresponsive.

Then he brought a pair of his fingers to her neck to check her pulse. Having detected a heartbeat even if the faintest one in all history, that made him relax his posture and let out the breath he had been holding on to.

She was just unconscious, 'Thank God', his forehead fell onto her shoulder, and he took his time breathing in and out a couple of times.

No longer than a minute, he supported her neck with his right hand and slipped his left underneath her knees, thus picking her up from the floor and carrying her out of the room bridal style.

The young angel took a deep breath of the hot, suffocating air and rushed through the hallway, skidding between several wrecks. He staggered to keep on his feet and wiped an arm across his already hot, drenched in cold-sweat, forehead. But he kept pushing on and pursing the exit out of the building, her safety was above his own.

The blaze crackled with a ravenous hunger, gaining and securing more ground with the passing time. While dodging and hurdling through the hall, unfortunately he'd stand way to close to the flames, his arm's exposed skin boiling from the heat, and yet, due to the adrenaline cursing through his veins, pain would fail to make his body succumb to the hell forming around him.

At last, he reached the main stairs, which were surprisingly intact. With careful baby steps, he reached midway without much strain nor any setbacks. "We're almost there--" Ethan heaved a prayer when the ground began to shake, and he had to make the jump, or they would fall through the floor to the bottom apartment. Despite that, he never let go of her, not once. He didn't even flinch, protecting her from the fall with his body while hurting himself in the process.

When one needs to switch to survival mode, you'd be surprised at one's body's capabilities to push forward, be it human or not. Grunting, he got back on to two feet. "D-Don't give up…" Bouncing her up slightly, he adjusted Ella's body in his arms to get better hold her. "We're definitely getting out of here."

Then, resumed his walk and finally left the apartment, although with visible physical difficulty. Carrying a body down a couple of floors was proving more of a struggle than expected. Still, Ethan was committed to save her.

The doors to the exit were just mere inches away from them. Glancing out there, he could already see the flickering white and blue lights, and that gave him a sense of relief and security; a smile crept on his lips in recognition of the sirens.

The yard was filling up with the firefighter's vehicle as two police cars and finally three ambulances arrived.

When he finally reached outside, his knees buckled underneath him, and he fell to the floor in front of him with Ella still in his arms. His chest hurt and, in spite of how much oxygen he would breathe in, it wasn't still enough to suppress his lungs needs. The surroundings moved in slow motion, every and any sound reaching him completely silenced. His head throbbed while he tried to remain focus and alert.

On to his right, the firefighters were putting up a good fight against the tameless wave of heat still burning intensively, opening the way for their fellow colleagues to enter the building and search for survivors, all while trying to salvage what was left of it.

Several journalists were trying to cut through the police line and get the perfect shot for the morning headlines, like hungry vultures. Police officers were effortlessly trying to protect the fire victims from the media exposure but, it was proving to be a difficult job. Some were even detained for insubordination.

A small curious crowed of neighboring people had gathered around the perimeter to watch the building in flames. Many were watching in horror, while others whispered among themselves and called relatives and friends.

And not far back, paramedics were jumping off from behind the assigned ambulances with their crimson medical bags and scurrying through the authorized personal in search for those in need of first aid.

"Azrael!" Then, he heard Khamuel's baffled scream in the distance and glanced up just in time to see them going under the police yellow line and running in his direction.

"Kha…muel…" he managed to utter in a breathless voice before losing consciousness himself.

Khamuel was able to catch Ethan before his body could hit the ground, they supported Ella as well. "Gotcha--!" And did not waste any time, raising their hand in the air, they waved and called out to the paramedics. "Hey-- Here! We need assistance here!"

They came running. One of the paramedics took the girl off the boy's arm and placed her on the stretcher that got to them a few seconds apart. They immediately put her on oxygen support and proceeded to resuscitate her while ridding it back to the ambulance.

Khamuel helped another paramedic with transferring Ethan to the stretcher, he was coming in and out of consciousness constantly. He was also put on oxygen support and monitored. And, before they could take him bake to the ambulance, Ethan grasped Khamuel's wrist, thus stopping the stretcher's motion forward.

Ethan pulled down his facial mask and worn it under his chin briefly, just enough to pass on a request. "P-Please… go with her… don't--don't leave her alone." He had a look that begged to be listened to, and Khamuel was a good observant as well as a good listener. "She'll be scared once she wakes up… please, be there…"

The angel stared at him but nodded still, choking back the words.

Ethan pulled him closer; he squeezed his wrist so hard that almost came hurtful to them, "Say it, promise to me." startling the other creature.

"-- I'm sorry but we need to go. This man needs medical assistance at once, he'll be taken cared at the nearest hospital." Intervened the paramedic with haste.

"O-Of course," Khamuel said, unsure to whom answer first. "Y-You really need to go."

"Khamuel," he called to them, grabbing their attention once more.

It took them a moment to fucus again, but then quickly answered, "Yes! Yes, I promise." Therefore, they placed a hand on top of his and squeezed in reassurance. "I'll take good care of her."

Ethan smiled and placed back the mask while laying back on the stretcher. He sucked in the air provided quickly and then let it escape in a relieved sigh when realized he could rest since now, she was in good hands.

"Let's go," said the ambulance staff while pushing the stretcher. "You can follow, then we'll direct you to your friend's ambulance, they didn't leave yet. Keep up the pace."

Khamuel followed the ambulance staff member suit and, once Ella's ambulance was pointed out to them, they addressed the head paramedic and ask permission to accompany them to the hospital and to which they got a positive answer.

They sat on the typical bus seat holding the girl's hand, silently apologizing to her despite not being really at fault there. Khamuel tossed the thoughts around in their head, guilty at the thought of not acting sooner and allowing that fire to almost take their protégée. If only he had listened to Azrael earlier…Thankfully, they have been able to resuscitate her, and her vitals were looking good, the last thing left was for her to wake up.

"Please wake up," They whispered for her ears only and planted a kiss over her knuckles, the lightest brush of his lips against the back of her hand. "I, myself, have grown quite found of you."

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The sound of an intermittent but steady beep echoing woke her.

Her sight gradually adjusted to her surroundings, as well as her hearing. At first, it was a blur of colors but then, they converged together, and everything became clearer. The constant ringing in her ear also got better, soon, words and full sentences filled the gap.

As expected, her throat felt dry; and before she'd even remembered how to breathe right, Ella acknowledged that she was laying on a stretcher and next to a half-bent man, the sound of his sharp shallow breathing lost under the roar of the diesel engine and the rattle of the vehicle's wheels on the bumpy road.

Ella was going back to ceiling gazing when felt herself breathing heavily; she'd never felt like panicking in her life but, in that moment, she almost did. The last thing she ever remembered until she opened her eyes again and found herself inside the back of an ambulance, was Sam's smiling face, after that, it stood a complete blank to her.

'What happened exactly? Why am I back here?' Ella heaved a deep sigh and let a hand drop onto her forehead, her head ached too much to respond.

Noticing the girl stirring slightly in the stretcher, Khamuel immediately raised their gaze in her direction, "Ella…! Thank God!" and smiled with relief.

Her head fell to the side; she raised her eyes through dark, full lashes and locked full on to his, begging them to fill in the blanks for her.

He squeezed her hand, his eyes desperately trying to tell her something. "We're on our way to the hospital. Rest assure, everything will be fine."

A sigh escaped her lips, and she squeezed her eyes shut. There she was again at the way to the hospital. If that wasn't bad luck, she didn't know what it was.