Burning to Ashes by Evi Asher

and Luke removed his hand from her mouth.
    “You are insane,” she gasped.
    Geo let out a warm chuckle. “Hardly, dear girl. What I am is an Eternal that gets the job done, and you…” He stepped closer to her, lifting her chin with a thumb and forefinger “Are a job.”
    “How did you find me?” Scarlet had to know.
    “I never lost you. Your guardians…” He looked back over his shoulder again as if making sure that no one had spotted them. “…got sloppy in all the excitement. I’ve been following discreetly from our last meeting, even though you chose to hide in the building for that one.” His tone suggested that she’d been a coward for hiding.
    “Kill me, and get it over with, then.”
    Geo rolled his eyes as if she’d just uttered something stupid. “I can’t do that. There are rules, you know. This has to be done in a certain way.”
    Scarlet gasped in surprise as large white wings unfurled from Geo’s back and hooked an arm around her waist.
    “Going up,” was all the warning he gave before his massive wings stroked the air once—twice—and they took flight.
    Scarlet grabbed on to him and held on, her stomach choosing to ride in her throat for the whole trip, which—thank any deity listening—was short.
    Within three minutes—that felt more like five hours to Scarlet—they landed in a clearing in the woods.
    Scarlet swallowed as her feet touched terra firma and she could let go of Geo and step back. As unsteady as she was, she nearly stumbled, but caught herself at the last instant.
    Grateful to be on solid ground or not, Scarlet knew she had to focus, and she had to do it now. Geo and Luke were intent on killing her.
    “Alright, now that we are all here.” Geo reached into the pocket of the trench coat he wore, and Scarlet fought the urge to ask him where he’d stashed his wings.
    “The Enforcers may step forward now.” His voice rang out, carrying across the clearing into the trees.
    Scarlet backed up as men and women began to step out of the trees. They all wore cloaks with hoods pulled up that shrouded their faces in shadow. She thought she had a handle on those in front of her, but then her beast set off an alarm in her mind, its senses saying there were more. Scarlet spun around and saw Enforcers who had stepped out of the trees in a neat circle around her.
    “Get on with it, we have places to be,” a dark bass voice spoke from Geo’s right.
    “Put a sock in it, Nathaniel. I’m getting to it.”
    Geo looked down at his hand, and the parchment he held in it. “Scarlet of the Pyros, you are hereby accused and convicted. Your crime: The betrayal of the covenant of the Eternal, whether witting or unwitting.” He paused for dramatic effect, and in that moment, Scarlet detested the angel with everything that was in her.
    “Your sentence is death.” The hand holding the parchment began to glow white, matching his eyes.
    Small wisps of smoke curled from the parchment, drawing Scarlet’s eyes back down to it.
    In a puff of vapor, the parchment disintegrated in Geo’s hands, and he smiled—A cold deadly smile that made Scarlet’s spine run with chills.
    Geo extended his hands to his sides away from his body, and the white flames climbed up his forearms. “I truly am sorry,” he said with a sad smile. “But now, I have to carry out your sentence.”
    Scarlet took a step back to give herself a little space. She threw her arms out, away from her sides. Mimicking Geo’s motion, she focused, and red flames burst from her hands and forearms.
    She glared at Geo, lifted her chin and spoke two words. “Bring it!”
     
     

Chapter Eleven
     
     
    The creature that had spoken earlier stepped forward and put its arm in front of Geo, restraining the angel. “Oh, my, this kitten has teeth, how…delightful.”
    “We don’t have time for you to be delighted, Nathaniel. I have an execution to perform.” Geo shoved the other male’s arm down and tried to step forward.
    Scarlet