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Remembering the dozens of angels in the square, Alex’s pulse quickened in alarm. Oh, Christ, the thing had gone to get them – in minutes they’d have an angel army coming down on their heads, all of them intent on killing Willow.
He broke from the shadows, pounding across the courtyard where Willow’s angel still feinted with the female. No one seemed to have realized he was there; he saw a rush of startled faces as he lunged at the wall; scaled it quickly and dropped to the ground. He ran down an alleyway, bursting out onto another street. The angel was flying fast, heading away from him.
“Hey!” shouted Alex, his feet pummelling the pavement as he ran. “Hey!”
The creature whirled in surprise as Alex shot. Rage creased its glorious face and it came at him, swooping down like a giant bird of prey. It was faster than he’d expected. Alex dove to the ground as the angel screeched overhead, its fingers grasping towards his life force. He rolled and was up on one knee in seconds, wishing for his rifle; it handled ten times better in situations like this. The thought flashed past. He took aim as the angel roared towards him again in a fury of light and beauty, taking care not to look into its eyes, to keep his gaze only on the halo—
He shot.
Leaving the remnants of the angel floating gently behind him, Alex tore back up the alleyway. The whole episode had only taken a minute or two; as he dropped back into the courtyard, he saw Willow’s angel still holding off the larger female. Their wings blurred as they fenced and parried, and he could tell that it was Willow’s vulnerable human form the angel was now trying to reach. A couple of people stood watching with open mouths; the others dashed back and forth, trying to take aim at the angel. Tex was just struggling dazedly to his feet.
Alex tracked the angel, getting her halo in his sights. “I’m on it!” he shouted to Willow. Immediately, her angel twisted away, plunging back towards her human form. The creature started to follow and then wavered, turning towards Alex as it sensed a trap.
It was all the time he needed. The muffled sound of his silenced bullet thudded around them and the last angel vanished into a fountain of light.
Alex let out a breath as he put his pistol away. He looked towards the drive, and saw Willow rising to her feet in the shadows. Their eyes met. She seemed shaken, but gave him a small smile. She was okay; it was over with. Alex felt himself relax a notch as he smiled back, and for a second there was only the two of them. At a slight movement to his left he glanced over, his gaze leaving Willow reluctantly – and his blood froze.
Tex was aiming his gun right at her.
“No!” Alex hurtled forward, tackling him just as the pistol went off. They crashed to the ground together, the gun skittering across the pavement.
“What the hell are you doing?” he shouted. “She’s on our side!”
The guy writhed under him like a fish out of water, struggling to get free. “Let me up!” he yelled. “She’s not human – her aura is angelic—”
“She’s on our side!” shouted Alex again. Tex’s fists were flailing; Alex held him down, ducking to avoid being hit. “Jesus, will you listen to me—”
Tex bucked upwards, half getting away as he scrambled on all fours for his gun. Alex threw himself after him, grabbing him around the waist. The guy twisted and swung, his fist connecting hard with Alex’s cheekbone. The world went red; Alex slammed him back to the ground. Drawing his pistol, he shoved it in the guy’s face. The struggling stopped as Tex stared at it.
“Do. Not. Move,” Alex gritted out.
Slowly, he rose to his feet, still aiming his pistol at Tex. His cheek was throbbing; he hardly noticed. The others stood nearby, staring, not moving a muscle. “All of you – guns on the ground,” he ordered without looking at them. Silence. “Now,” he barked.
They must have heard something in his tone that convinced them. There was a brief hesitation, then the clatter of weapons being dropped on concrete.
“Willow, are you okay?” called Alex, not taking his eyes off the muscular blond guy. He held an arm out in her direction, and felt infinite relief as she appeared at his side, slipping under his arm.
“I’m fine,” she whispered. “Alex, I’m fine; he didn’t hit me. ”
Thank god. “Get behind me,” he muttered, squeezing her shoulders briefly. Tex’s gun was just beside his foot; as Willow moved behind him, Alex kicked it away, sending it spinning into the shadows.
“She’s not human!” insisted Tex from the ground, his drawling voice fierce. “She’s one of them – you must be on their side, too—”
“Yeah, that’s why I just shot three angels, and why she was holding one off until I could get to it,” snapped Alex. He glanced at the others. Four of them, all looking shaken. “What do you think?” he demanded of the girl with the sharp face. “You’re the one whose life she just saved. Do you want to take a shot at her, too?”
There was a slight shuffling as they all looked at each other. “Her aura. . . and there was the angel, with her face. . . ” stammered the girl.
“That’s so great that you know how to see angels,” said Alex coldly. “You might want to work on your interpretations a little. Her angel didn’t have a halo, or didn’t you notice?” With his pistol, he motioned for Tex to get up, sending him to stand with the others. “Now, listen to me: she’s on our side. Anyone who doesn’t believe me, you’d better go for your gun and shoot me now – because I’ll kill the next person who tries to hurt her. ”
His words hung in the air. Nobody moved. In the sudden silence, the drone of traffic could be heard, along with the fluttering of moths as they battered against the naked light bulb over the doorway.
“Good, I’m glad that’s settled,” said Alex finally.
He took in the tense group, wondering who they were – all the voices he’d heard so far were American. They stared back at him. Apart from Tex and the sharp-faced girl, there was a short guy with wiry rust-coloured hair who looked frozen in place; a curvy brown-haired girl, features tight with worry; a black guy who met his gaze sullenly, arms folded across his chest.
“So who are you all, anyway?” asked Alex. “You’re sure as hell not Angel Killers. ”
Tex bristled. “We sure as hell are. ”
“Yeah? So that’s why you managed to kill, like, none of them, right?”
Tex’s muscles swelled as he glared at Alex, like a quarterback in a barroom brawl. Before the Texan could respond, the brown-haired girl cleared her throat. “We. . . we were angel spotters,” she offered. “Back in the US. ”
Alex’s forehead creased. “What, you mean for Project Angel?”
She nodded. She had an earnest face and blue eyes, her hair drawn back in a ponytail. “Until just a few months ago. And then—” The girl Willow had saved nudged her, giving her a piercing look; she flushed and fell silent.
Angel spotters. Alex nodded slowly. Yeah, that made sense. The angel spotters had worked for the CIA too, the same as he had – their role had been to locate angels and send texts to the AKs with their locations. They were trained to see angels, but wouldn’t have much of a clue about the rest of it.
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