by Mary Ting
“Last chance. Where is the book?”
“Why are you—”
“Wrong answer.” Tanya slammed Jonah’s hand on the table and pierced it with a fork.
Jonah howled in pain, music drowning his cry, as blood seeped from his wound, the fork pinning him to the table.
Mayra hissed. The girl next to her clutched her throat.
“I told you he wouldn’t tell.” Marcus growled like a beast of nightmare and his eyes flashed like...
Oh hell, no. Please. Go away. Only a nightmare. Wake up.
I closed my eyes to clear my head but then flashed them open when someone pulled me off the ground so that my feet dangled. Grabbing at the hand fisting my shirt, I gawked at Marcus.
What the hell was his problem? More appropriate question, how could he lift me off the ground with just one fist? Sure, he was taller and had beastly muscles, but I was no wimp. And how had no one around noticed?
I cupped Marcus’s hand, trying to loosen his fingers. “Hey, man.” My words strained. “You want me to say that I know that girl. Sure, I’ll say it. Just let me go and walk away. No one has to get hurt. And you want a book. I’ll buy you a book.” Even in danger, humor took over.
I chanced a glance to Jonah, wishing I had hallucinated what had happened to him, but he was trembling, his features marked with gut-wrenching pain. He looked from me to Marcus and then back to me, useless as I was, his hand still bleeding.
I thought I had gotten through to Marcus when he released me. Wrong.
“Watch out!”
Screams filled the space around our table.
Golden light flashed like lightning, shaped like an arrow, but disappeared as soon as it hit the target—the chair behind Marcus. He ducked and the chair split in half, the molten-gold beam sparkling like fireworks.
Then chaos took over the nightclub. People ran as if fire had engulfed the perimeter.
“You ass. That’s what you get for showing yourself.” The brunette pointed a dimly glowing bow at Marcus, and the guy by her side held a sword. She fired again, again, and again. So fast. More light blasted.
When I recovered, three girls at our table burst into flames and then vanished like a magic trick, only they weren’t magicians.
My body crashed against the table. Knife at my throat, Marcus hovered over me.
“Get back or I’ll gut him,” Marcus said.
The brunette girl lifted a shoulder. “Go ahead. I was going to kill him anyway, so you’ll be doing me a favor. Besides, you need him more than I do.”
She was joking, right? I had no clue who any of these people were.
“I’m no fool, Keira. You are the fool who walked into my trap. Look behind you.” He smirked.
Freakin’ hell. I was either dreaming or I’d gone to actual Hell. The demons from my nightmares, twice my size, stared back at me. Fear wrapped around me like python coiling its prey. My muscles became liquid and I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe.
Jonah’s roar echoed in my ears and a high-pitched sound I’d never heard before—beautiful and piercing—resonated through the air, bursting glasses at each table, one after the other.
My body levitated, my muscles bound by the same force. I floated in midair as Mayra plunged her hand through the chest of the girl holding her hostage and yanked out her heart. She smacked the bleeding heart into the chest of the girl, Tanya, to distract her.
Tanya flinched, and Jonah ripped the fork out of his own hand and stabbed it through Tanya’s eye. His wound healed as I watched. Then Jonah gripped my shirt and pulled me down. With Mayra behind us, we ran through the chaos of nightmare-demons and...wings? Angels? There were about a dozen of them, moving with grace and speed.
Slivers of light, like thin ribbons, streaked past us. A table nearby obliterated, and plates and glasses shattered to pieces. A demon leaped onto another table and crushed it into splinters.
Keira picked up one of the broken pieces, ducked a blow, and swung around to stab a demon. It growled, reaching out with claws sharper than the knife sticking out of its jugular.
Just as we reached the door, I flew several yards sideways, collided with something hard, and dropped to the floor. Dazed, I shook my head and pushed up to rise. Thick hands—no, claws gripped my neck and hauled me up.
I shuddered, my pulse racing. Up close, I got a better view of the demon’s face. Its leather skin was covered with warts, and it had a nose like a bull, multi-layered teeth like shark, and eyes dark as night.
“Give us the book or you will pay.” Its guttural voice sounded exactly like all the demons I’d heard in dreams and waking nightmares.
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about, asshole. You ugly mother f—”
“You’re dead.” It pointed at me.
I swallowed. Something inside me surged, panicked, and then exploded. My hands glowed like the birth of sunrise. I didn’t know how it happened, only that my will to survive pushed through fear, breaking free from some deep part of me I hadn’t known existed. But I had one problem. I had no idea what to do afterward.
The demon slowly curled its lips. “You’re—”
It never finished the sentence.
Someone from behind decapitated him, one clean slice across its neck. Then Jonah’s head appeared, and the demon’s body thumped to the ground.
“It took you long enough,” I said.
“Better late than never. Try not to get hit this time.”
Jonah clutched my wrist and before I could blink, we were out.
Chapter 10
The Escape
Enoch
Adrenaline pumped through me as if I had taken a bunch of steroids. Every part of me knew what had happened inside the nightclub couldn’t have happened, but Jonah and Mayra...they moved like skilled assassins. I had kept my mouth shut, trying to survive. Now that we were in the car, racing to escape, I couldn’t hold it in.
“Who the hell are you, and what did you do with my friend?” I gripped the handle when Jonah jerked the wheel and the car skidded to the right.
After Jonah and Mayra exchanged a glance, Mayra turned to me.
“I was hoping we could postpone this, but I guess it’s time,” Mayra said calmly, like she was telling me about the weather.
“Time for what?” My tone was neither calm nor friendly.
“Re—”
Something landed on our roof with a thump, and then slammed right between my legs. It almost hit my freaking jewels. I realized it was a demon’s claw, elongated to spear through the metal. I froze only for a second and a girlish scream I never knew I could make erupted from me.
“Stupid watchers.” Mayra hissed and wrapped her fingers around the claw.
To my horror and gratitude, black smoke sizzled where her touch burned through the claw-spear. The demon roared and half its claw dropped on the seat beside me, still fizzling.
“Watch out!” I ducked uselessly. Not much I could do in the car.
Demons flew down at the windshield. These...these...creatures had wings. They looked like furless bats. Their skeletal parts and wrinkled flesh made them even more hideous.
One shattered the front window with its hind claws. I covered my head with my arms crossed. I looked up in time to see Mayra torch its leg with her hand and Jonah punch the living daylights out of it.
The demon flung itself back into another demon aiming for us, and they hit one another, causing a ripple effect. It bought us time, but not much.
Mayra reached for something inside the glove compartment and spun to me. “Do you remember anything?”
“That’s very vague, Mayra. I don’t even know who you are. Or what.” My voice got louder with every word, my teeth grinding. “I’m doubting who I am at the moment. Shit like this doesn’t happen in real life. Am I crazy or dreaming?”
Ever since the accident, I’d felt like I was living in my nightmare world. I couldn’t tell the difference between reality and my dreams.
“Nei
ther. And here.” She tossed me a few quarter-sized silver discs with sharp edges, and a gun.
“I don’t know how to use a gun,” I shouted at her. I was freaking out.
“You don’t need a lesson. Any idiot can shoot. Now shoot before we all die.”
She flung one of the silver miniature throwing stars. As it flew, it spun in circles and hit her target. Within seconds, the spinner ripped through the demon, which oozed black liquid and then burst into flames. Then she tossed more, one right after another while Jonah swerved between lanes and cars honked at us.
“I can’t see.” Jonah jerked the car from side to side and then slammed the brakes.
The demons had covered the entire car, their claws scratching and digging, like dogs desperate for buried bones. I grimaced and tried to shut out the screech of metal against metal. The car swayed as if it had been caught in a wild storm in the ocean. There were too many demons howling for our blood.
Then the car behind rear-ended our bumper. Judging by the honking and metal crashing, a cascade of cars had piled behind us. One good thing came out of that—the impact flicked the demons off the car.
Why hadn’t they gone after the people in the other cars?
“All these people. They can’t see the demons?” I finally concluded, clutching the back seat as demons came at us from the side.
“No. Humans can’t see them.” Mayra’s arm wavered, poised to throw.
Human? Then she was what? And I was...
“Hurry up, Jonah. Drive faster.”
“I’m trying.” Jonah checked the mirror. “Do something, Mayra! More are coming.”
Mayra pulled the trigger, often missing her targets. Too bad she had poor aim. A few demons pounded on the roof while one busted my side of the window with its fist. With trembling hands, I fired the gun. The demon let out a deafening screech and tumbled in midair to hit an oncoming vehicle.
Poor car. The person had no idea what had hit him.
“What! It didn’t die?” I peered through the gun hole like an idiot, and then pulled away and prepared to shoot again.
The demons had dented the roof to the point I had to hunch.
“The bullets are filled with holy water. Regular bullets won’t do any harm. You have to cut off its head to kill it.” Mayra pointed her gun at the roof and winked at me. “Get ready.”
Get ready for what?
The roof peeled off like the lid of a sardine can but faster and deadlier. Scared out of my mind, I froze and couldn’t pull the trigger. That precious second cost me, and a demon punctured my shoulders with its hind claws.
Pain erupted through every nerve ending in my body, and I could do nothing but let the demon take me. As it yanked me out, Mayra and Jonah cursed.
Light blinded me. Not from the sun, but light so pure it had to be divine. The demon that captured me released me and I landed. No, not landed. My body jerked as if I had been retracted by a spring cord. Keira. She’d rescued me...then I remembered she wanted to kill me.
Keira had told Marcus she didn’t care if he killed me because she was going to do it anyway. I only had one choice. With the gun still in my hand, I raised it to shoot her, but I never had the chance.
Mayra fired at Keira and she caught me before I dropped to my death. It was then I saw Mayra’s wings. Beautiful, glorious wings.
In the Bible studies I recalled, none of the angels seemed to be spunky, cocky, and seductive as Mayra. I supposed there were many different kinds of angels, if she was even one. Perhaps she was a new kind of species.
Mayra held me in her arms, her wings flapping and ready for take-off, as she floated above Jonah’s car.
“What do you want with Uriel?” she asked Keira, who had stopped the bullet with her bare hands.
Mayra hadn’t shot to kill, then, but rather forced Keira to release me.
Keira flapped her wings as fierce and swift as Mayra. The hurricane-force wind kept the demons from reaching them. “If he remembers, he might ruin us all. We can’t let him.”
“I assure you, he doesn’t recall his past. Let it go. Let him free.”
“I can’t. There’s too much at stake. He needs to be gone. It’s the only sure way to prevent a war.”
“You don’t know that for sure.” Mayra sighed and held me tighter. “He’s worth more alive than dead. He could end the war forever.”
Keira cocked her eyebrows and scoffed. “Forever? Demons and watchers are still here. After two thousand and eighteen years, they’re still here. A war is what we need. To finally end it all.”
From Mayra’s muscles tightening and her knees bending slightly, she poised to spring somewhere.
No, not spring...surrender?
Mayra began lowering toward the car, her wings still flapping. But they were talking about Uriel, not me. Then Mayra tossed me into the car, somersaulted in the air, and kicked Keira out of existence. The demons around us waiting for the wind to subside attacked, and then as suddenly, stopped.
“We’re here.” Jonah shut off the engine.
Disorientated, I hung halfway in and half out of the roof. I had no idea where here was. With my shirt soaked with my own blood, pain took hold of my sanity.
Chapter 11
Our Target
Keira
“Marcus and Tanya are here.” I gestured to the table to the left of me. “There are four other female watchers with them. Jonah is there, but I don’t know who the female next to him is. I don’t recognize her.”
“You worried?” Daniel gulped down a whiskey and smacked his lips.
“Nah. Later generation watchers are easy to kill. Those first twenty are far more powerful. Marcus, on the other hand...Well, we’ll see. Besides, we have back up.” I glanced over my shoulder at the table at the corner near the restroom and turned back to meet Daniel’s emerald eyes that shimmered brighter under the florescent light. “They look nervous, except Suri and Kai.”
Daniel cocked his brow. “First time. Weren’t you nervous your first time?”
I snorted. “You’re kidding me, right? I couldn’t wait.”
Daniel pressed his shoulder to mine. “You’re different, Keira. I’ve never met anyone quite like you.”
Our eyes locked a bit longer than necessary. Uneasy, I turned away and pretended to observe Marcus again. Daniel and I had trained together, along with a few other newbies. Daniel, Suri, Kai, and I had hit it off well when we’d first met and had become a tight team.
I had been recruited into NU—Nephilim Unification—after demons had murdered my parents when I was born. When I was old enough, I swore I would take my revenge.
Angels like Uriel didn’t belong on Earth either. They only caused problems and confusion. They also placed themselves in higher ranking positions than nephilim and had treated them like dirt since the beginning. I was going to change all that.
“He’s here.” He jerked his chin toward the door.
Daniel brought me back to the present, sitting taller in his seat. I eyed the two swords crisscrossed on his back, hidden from the world. His amazing, twelve-inch daggers could also expand on his command to swords, tripling in size.
“Who?”
“Enoch.”
I searched again and caught a man with light brown hair and broad shoulders weaving around the tables. He looked a bit lost, but then found Jonah waving at him. Then Enoch shook hands with Marcus. Tanya shoved Enoch down to the seat next to her.
“I don’t think Enoch knows who Marcus is, or he’s pretending,” I said.
“You’re concluding too fast, Keira. Just see what happens.”
I tuned into their conversation with my super hearing ability. Not many nephilim had that gift, and no one knew of my power. Not even my best friends.
I stiffened when Enoch twisted at the waist and locked eyes with me. He gave me the same intense gaze as I was sure I was giving him. Could he tell Daniel and I had been scouting his apartment for months? Oh God. I would die if he confronted me.
My heart lurched as an unnerved feeling I couldn’t describe flashed through me. Maybe I didn’t want to admit I’d found my target attractive. I looked away, needing to take a breath.
“What’s wrong?” Daniel rested a hand on my shoulder. “You look like you saw a ghost.” He snorted.
“Nothing.” I shook my head. Then I gave him a light punch. “Pay attention. Something is going to happen.”
Through eavesdropping, I found out the name of the girl sitting next Jonah. Mayra. I snickered when Enoch gave Marcus a sarcastic remark—something I would say—but then reprimanded myself for not focusing. Then Marcus asked right out where the book was.
When Enoch didn’t answer, Marcus said, “Last chance. Where is the book?”
“Why are you—” Enoch began but couldn’t finish.
“Wrong answer.” Tanya slammed Jonah’s hand on the table and pierced it with a fork.
That’s gotta hurt. I winced.
“Get ready,” Daniel said.
Jonah howled.
Mayra hissed, and I could have sworn I saw a feather poke out of her back. Then Marcus gripped Enoch and hauled him off the ground. My cue. I took out my weapon from my boot as I wondered why didn’t Enoch fight back.
Enoch grabbed Marcus’s fist. “Hey, man. You want me to say that I know that girl. Sure, I’ll say it. Just let me go and walk away. No one has to get hurt. And you want a book. I’ll buy you a book.”
Even in danger, he was making jokes. Idiot.
My rod, about the size of a pen, grew five times its size at my command, forming into a bow. Courtesy of my angelic blood line, golden light flashed like lightning in the shape of an arrow.
No mortal seemed to care what happened at the table, but mortals couldn’t actually see the watchers, so everything was fine until Enoch yelled, “Watch out!”
Screams filled the air. Damn it.
Enoch had seen my arrow and meant to warn his friends, but ended up warning Marcus instead. I would have hit him dead on.
Marcus’s chair split in half, the light-arrow exploding in sparks. Then chaos took over the nightclub. People ran as if fire had engulfed the walls.