Dark Angel

by Kim Richardson

  Jenna looked at me, her face rigid with frustration. “Because it would be far too easy for an angel or an archangel to have access to it.”

  I shrugged. “And that would be bad?”

  Jenna’s expression became sour. “Like all creatures, not all are created equal.”

  “Amen,” mewed Tyrius and curled his tail around his feet.

  “Some desire power,” continued the angel. “The Holy Grail would give them that. If it fell into the wrong hands, the Holy Grail would become an instrument of destruction and devastation.”

  “Nice,” I muttered. I shared an anxious look with Gareth, the fear on his face striking me cold.

  “So the Legion thought it best to hide it in the mortal world,” said Jenna, her voice harder. “Away from the angels and other celestial beings who would want to use it. It was placed in the care of the Divine Overseers, a select group of angels created by God and the archangels. These angels are the very elite of Horizon’s forces, angelic warriors. They are our most skilled and the strongest of all the angels.”

  “Like super angels,” I said.

  “That’s right. Their only job was to protect it, day and night. It’s all they did.” Jenna pressed her lips tightly. “Well, not anymore. The Holy Grail was placed in a metal box forged by the oracles themselves as an added protection.”

  “Demons can’t touch the box,” said Lance, glancing at Tyrius as though in challenge. “If they do, they’ll suffer a true death. Only angels can touch it… or those with angel essence.”

  “Like Layla.” It was all starting to make a lot of sense. “Lucian had Layla kill your super angels and then steal the box with the Holy Grail in it.”

  “That’s what it looks like.”

  Cold fingers of dread crawled up my spine and grasped my throat. This was it. This was the reason why the Unmarked existed, why I existed with both archdemon and angel essence—

  To steal the Holy Grail.

  Lucian’s gift of power had always been about the Holy Grail. He needed someone like me or Layla with angel essence to steal the box, but they also had to be infused with enough of his power to kill the super angels.

  And now he’d succeeded.

  Worry clenched my chest and I licked my lips. “What happens when the archdemon gets the Holy Grail? What will he do with it?” I had a few ideas, but I wanted to hear from the angels.

  Jenna looked around my apartment, a nervous energy making her eyes flick back and forth rapidly. “It can be used in a ritual,” she said softly, “to release a captive angel,”

  I started to sweat. “You mean in an angel prison?”

  Jenna looked at me like I was a dimwitted kid. “Not exactly. It can raise and heal a fallen angel.”

  Oh. Crap. “He wants his wings back,” I said, and Jenna nodded her head.

  My breath caught. “Holy shit.”

  “ Holy Grail ,” retorted Tyrius, his face scrunched into a frown.

  My heart throbbed against my chest. “What happens if he gets his wings back?’

  Jenna’s expression grew dark. “If he gets his wings back… He will be fully restored as an archangel. It would be as though he was never stripped of his title, as though he was never cast out. He’ll be able to return to Horizon.”

  “And I take it that would be bad?” I asked.

  Jenna clenched her jaw. “That can never happen.” Her face twisted into something ugly, her eyes wide with fear. “If Lucian returns to Horizon, he will destroy it.”

  I was struck by the tone of her voice and the expression on her face more than the words themselves.

  Tyrius cleared his throat. “You do realize if the Legion had sent angels to protect Layla and Rowyn from Lucian earlier,” he said, “none of this would have happened.”

  Jenna and Lance said nothing, both avoiding our eyes. I could see the hint of unease in them. Tyrius was right, of course, but it would do no good now to throw around blame. I was mad as hell at the Legion. Furious. But Jenna and Lance were just obeying orders.

  Still, even if the Legion had sent a cavalry to protect us, I had a feeling the archdemon would have found a way around them.

  “What’s done is done,” I said, though my own feeling of unease tightened in me. “We can’t go back. We can only go forward. We need to fix this.” My eyes fell on Gareth, my pulse racing. “Was Lucian with her? Maybe disguised as someone else?” I knew the archdemon couldn’t walk around our world in daytime without possessing a human body to protect himself from the effects of the sun and the Veil.

  “No,” answered the elf. “It was just her.”

  I let out a sigh. “Okay. Then Layla still has it.” My eyes moved from Gareth to the angels. “Lucian can’t show up until sundown, which leaves us less than two hours to find Layla and the Holy Grail before he gets his hands on it.”

  “And grows a pair of wings,” said Tyrius.

  Jenna shifted her posture, a hint of relief and hope at the possibly of fixing this mess in her eyes. “The Legion needs to know.”

  “Finally.” Tyrius rolled his eyes.

  “How soon can we expect their help?” asked Gareth, pulling the question right out of my mouth.

  Jenna’s face creased. “Not fast enough,” she said, her disappointment matching my own. “I’ll stay with you. You’re going to need my help. Lance,” she said, as she turned towards the white German Shepherd. “You need to get word to the Legion.”

  “Consider it done,” said the dog as he bounced to his feet, looking like a bigger version of Tyrius. His eyes moved to me. “You have good water pressure in this joint? I need a bath.”

  If I didn’t know that angels required a large amount of water to transition their bodies back to Horizon, I would have thought him mad to want to take a bath right now.

  “The water pressure sucks,” answered Tyrius. “It’ll take you half an hour to fill it high enough.”

  I shook my head. “Forget the bath. There’s a large pond behind the priest’s house. It’ll be a lot faster.”

  Without waiting for a response, Jenna crossed my apartment and held the door open for Lance. With a blur of white fur, the dog disappeared through the doorway. The sound of nails ripping up the stairs echoed loudly, and then I heard the bottom door burst open followed by a loud bang of it hitting the wall.

  I caught a glimpse of Tyrius, and I swear I saw disappointment on his face. I think he was starting to like that dog.

  “You know where she is. Don’t you?” asked Jenna, as she stood next to the door. I wasn’t sure what I saw flicker on her face. Nerves? Excitement? Was it a willingness to find the Holy Grail or was she anxious to put a soul blade through my sister? Either way, I wasn’t letting Jenna out of my sight.

  “Yeah. Yeah I do.” Gareth was watching me, a whisper of pain reflected in his dark eyes. He knew what I might face, at the choice I might have to make.

  I didn’t want to hurt Layla. But I might not have a choice.

  Adrenaline spiked as I crossed my apartment and made for my weapons belt. It was going to be a hell of a night. I needed to prepare myself both mentally and physically. The physical part was easy, but the mental part had me uneasy.

  One thing was for sure.

  I was going get the Holy Grail back before Lucian had the chance to sprout wings.

  18

  As my luck would have it, Layla wasn’t at Danto’s place, just a freaked-out vampire.

  Danto, still on the mend, had nearly collapsed at the sight of us barging into his place, especially at the sight of Jenna. And it all went to hell at the mention of Layla.

  Danto was a mix of hysterical anger and feverish fear. He wanted to save his Layla, and my heart ached for him. It took a few minutes of convincing and skillful lying to get him to go back to bed. I didn’t want Gareth to dust him into a coma. My vampire friend had gone through enough. He’d only allowed me to help him back into bed when I told him that Jenna, the angel, was going to cure Layla. Total lie, and I was surprised sh
e actually played along. Guess she’d do just about anything to get her hands on the Holy Grail.

  I hated having to lie to Danto, but there was no way I’d let him come with us. His movements were stiff and slow, and he could barely walk as it was. Finally, with the vampire safely tucked into his bed, we’d hurried out.

  There was only one other place I could think of where I knew Layla would be safe and alone until the arrival of Lucian—a place she’d been before, somewhere she knew no one would look for her.

  It took us nearly forty-five minutes to drive north to Parks Hollow, to the late Lisbeth’s lab. Combined with the short excursion to Danto’s back in New York City, we’d lost a total of ninety minutes.

  We had approximately thirty minutes left to find Layla and somehow manage to overpower her and grab the Holy Grail. Yeah, it sounded impossible.

  Gareth’s pickup truck jolted over the railroad tracks. The angel bodies in the back hitting the sides of the box were a reminder of how powerful Layla had become. The four of us sat in a collective anxious silence as we drove into the old part of town, me next to Gareth with Tyrius on my lap and Jenna next to the window. It was uncomfortable at best. I’d never been so close to an angel before, and I made sure I was pressed up enough against Gareth without looking like I was sitting on his lap. I didn’t want to have my thigh accidently brush hers. Because that would be awkward. She was a celestial being, a walking corpse. She wasn’t mortal.

  But then I had Tyrius, a baal demon sitting comfortably on my lap.

  It didn’t help that twenty of her dead comrades were riding in the back with us.

  By the time the address 1295 Industrial came into view, I was feeling slightly claustrophobic. Gareth pulled into the driveway and parked. He’d barely turned off the ignition as I scrambled for the door, pushing him out with me.

  The smile he gave me as he helped me out the door before I fell out flat on my face nearly made my heart melt. The warmth of his hands seared through my thin shirt, and he held me there longer than necessary.

  “This is the ugliest building I’ve ever laid eyes on,” claimed Tyrius as he padded on the cement walkway. “It looks like a giant aluminum box just threw up its lunch. No wonder Lisbeth picked it. It threw her up too.”

  Regretfully, I broke away from Gareth’s grip. “I never thought I’d see it again,” I said, remembering how Lisbeth had nearly killed my gran, Kora, and Tyrius and had nearly finished me off too. Bile rose up in the back of my throat at the sight of it. I didn’t think you could actually hate a building, but what I was feeling now was pretty close.

  It was also where Ethan, Miguel, Hannah and James had all perished—all because they didn’t want to share the gift. Dumbasses.

  “You think she’s in there?” questioned Jenna, a slight grimace on her face as she took in the rust-covered building.

  I wasn’t sure how I knew, but I was certain she was. “Yeah. She’s in there.” I hoped my instincts were right this time because I couldn’t afford to be wrong again.

  “You were wrong about the vampire’s apartment.”

  Touché. What the hell did she want me to say? Yes, I was wrong and you win? I clenched my jaw tightly so I wouldn’t cuss out the damn angel—because I really, really wanted to.

  I looked at Jenna and her expression became empty of emotion again. Fantastic.

  With my temper rising like a fever, we all made our way towards the rust-plagued warehouse and headed for the large metal doors. Gareth pulled them open, and we rushed in.

  The interior of the warehouse was exactly as I remembered, big and ugly, except for one huge difference. It was empty. All those thousands of moisture-wrapped wood crates that had packed the warehouse were gone. And the racks that had reached the ceiling were empty. What remained, though, was the reek of disinfectant and bleach. What the hell happened here?

  It was also darker. I counted only one tubular light fixture spilling down light from the ceiling. The others were burnt out.

  “What?” questioned Tyrius, seeing my reaction.

  “It used to be packed with crates,” I replied, my voice low. “Thousands of them.”

  The cat whistled low. “Looks like the Gray Council hired a cleanup crew,” said the baal demon, and he padded forward without a sound while my boots clanked loudly on the cement floor. I needed a better pair of boots.

  I glanced around the now empty warehouse, wondering what else they’d taken and why. What had Lisbeth been hiding in those crates? Now I would never know. Oh well. I had a feeling discovering what was inside those crates would have been very interesting.

  Tyrius halted, standing with his right front leg bent close to his body and his tail straight out behind him like a pointer. “She’s here.”

  I threw out my senses, scanning for angel and demonic energies similar to my own. I felt the familiar throb of energies, faint, but there. But I couldn’t detect anything else, and no smell of cigarette smoke either. Lucian wasn’t here yet.

  But there was another presence, something stronger—the channeling of very old, ancient power. It filled my senses, my aura, like a bright, dazzling glow of energy. It leaked over my soul and spindled a wad of it in my head. The rush of power struck hard, and I clenched my fingers as I felt it leave through me. Holy shit.

  “You feel that?” questioned Tyrius, and I cursed. “That’s got to be the Holy Grail. I’ve never felt anything like it before.”

  My pulse thrummed. “It means she took it out of the box.” We shared a look.

  “Maybe she doesn’t want to give it to Lucian.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know if that’s worse or better.”

  With my heart in my throat, I made to move, but someone grabbed my arm.

  “Rowyn.” Gareth held on to my arm, his expression shifting to alarm. “You know that’s not your sister in here. Not anymore.”

  I’d already gone through all the technicalities about Layla’s DNA with Tyrius. Now was not the time to go through it with the elf.

  “I get it. Let go of my arm please.”

  “You can’t let your emotions get in the way,” said the elf, and I hated that Jenna had moved closer to listen to our not-so-private conversation. Damn that angel.

  “I won’t.” If I didn’t try to save her ass, who would?

  He bobbed an eyebrow at me, never letting go of my arm. “The darkness is in her now. Don’t forget that. She nearly killed you and Danto. And from how you described it to me, she wanted to kill him.”

  “I know.”

  “The Layla we know loved that vampire,” he stated, his expression grim. “She would never have harmed him. This isn’t Layla. She’s an extension of Lucian. He’s in her. Controlling her.”

  “I know that too.”

  “I know you care for her,” the elf exhaled softly. “She’s not about to hand over the Holy Grail. She’s under Lucian’s spell.”

  “He’s not here yet,” I said, my insides twisting. “I can get through to her. She’ll listen to me. I just need to talk to her and make her see who Lucian truly is. That he’s a selfish asshole.”

  “Maybe,” said Gareth. “Maybe not.” He pressed his lips together and then said, “You need to be strong. You need to think about what will happen if she doesn’t listen.”

  Pissed, I yanked my arm out of his grip. “What the hell are you trying to say?” I hissed as low as I could. “I thought we agreed. If things got hot, you would restrain her with your elf dust.” When the elf said nothing, I pressed. “Gareth?”

  The elf bowed his head closer to me and said, “There’s a chance my magic won’t affect her.”

  I glowered and pulled back. “What about the dragon’s breath?”

  Gareth shook his head. “I used it all on Danto.”

  I inhaled slowly, trying to find a state of calm. “We don’t have time for this.” Lucian will be here at any moment.

  And when Jenna yanked out her soul blade, I nearly lost it.

  Frustrated, my an
ger fueled my legs, and I was practically jogging as I reached the back door. Tyrius was already next to it.

  “Ready?” Tyrius looked up at me, and his loyalty and belief in me fueled me with confidence.

  “Ready,” I answered, blood pounding through me.

  “You know what you’re going to say to her?”

  “Not really. I thought I’d just wing it.”

  Tyrius grinned. “You’re crazy. You know that?”

  “It’s why you love me.”

  The truth was, Layla could have hit me harder with her new powers back at Danto’s apartment. In fact, she could have killed me. But she didn’t.

  I had to believe that meant something. I had to believe under all that darkness, that power and the demon, my sister was still in there somewhere. I could still reach her.

  With Gareth and Jenna behind us, I pulled open the door and stepped through. We piled into a large workroom where there’d been tables teeming with computers, microscopes, and other elements normally found in a modern lab when I’d first seen it. There had been a large metal cage with my gran, Kora and Tyrius imprisoned in it. I’d never forget it.

  Now it was empty, save for a few footprints scattered on the dust-covered concrete floor, the only evidence that the Gray Council had come and gone—and Layla.

  She sat on an empty crate. A small silver metal box lay open at her feet.

  And on her lap was a golden cup. The Holy Grail.

  19

  “ H ey, big sister. I had a feeling you might show up,” said Layla, sounding like herself and not the demon-like, guttural voice I’d heard her use when she’d nearly fried my ass. From where I was, I could see that her eyes were brown, not black, and I took that as a sign she hadn’t completely surrendered to the archdemon power.

  Her lean figure was perfectly enclosed in a tight leather black ensemble of bustier and pants. She finished off the look with red knee-high boots. She wore her hair in a slicked back low ponytail, which only accentuated her pretty features. I couldn’t see any weapons on her, not that she would need them. She was the weapon with the power inside her.

  “Hi, Layla.” Jaw clenched, I strode towards her but stopped with about twenty feet between us. I decided that was close enough to have our conversation and still close enough to the only exit in this damned place in case I needed to split in a hurry. Tyrius settled next to me on my right as Gareth and Jenna came around to stand on my left.