Harold and Benicio stood at the nursing station on the third floor. “Where is everyone?” Benicio asked. He and Harold were still out of breath from running up the stairs, and Benicio didn’t want to waste time after all that rushing.
Harold looked worried. “I don’t know — there’s always supposed to be someone here.”
“Hello,” said a pleasant voice. “What’s going on?”
Benicio turned, then stared in disbelief. The pleasant-sounding nurse standing in front of him was Jenna.
“Benicio?” Her eyes were wide. “What are you doing here?”
“Do you know if Jake Tunnel and his son are here?”
“Well, yes, they are, but —”
“Take us,” Harold pleaded. “Take us there now.”
Jenna looked at Harold, then at Benicio.
“Please,” Benicio added.
Jenna nodded. “Come with me.”
The bearded man lifted his arms to the ceiling in a slow, sweeping arc. The nurse instinctively stepped back, fearing a blow was coming.
What was coming was much worse.
Azazel allowed the costume of his former host to drop to the floor. The body was useless to him anyway. He stood in Wyatt’s hospital room in his natural form, a massive, glowing golden figure. An angel.
Jake didn’t move. He didn’t dare. No one even breathed.
Azazel stretched, knowing his time was short. Already, his skin was starting to burn. He focused on the nurse who had been watching the machines. He could almost feel her terror. He placed his strong hands on her arms and pulled her towards him, then slipped his golden self inside her skin, replacing her life with his.
Jake continued to hold his wife and tried to back away.
The body of the nurse looked at the people in the room. Then the body turned to the bed.
“Hey,” Jake said softly, suddenly aware that something might happen to his son. “Hey.”
The body of the nurse strode toward Matthew, who finally turned his head. When his eyes met those of the body, he looked terrified.
“Yes,” the body of the nurse said. “The mistake ends here. It ends now. You are the last in the line of Nephilim.”
A tear dropped from one of Matthew’s eyes.
Jake let go of Abby. He couldn’t allow whatever was going to happen. It was crazy.
The body put its hands on Matthew’s head and lifted the boy off the bed. Off Wyatt.
Matthew screamed.