Dark Angel

by Kim Richardson

  “I’m not going in there,” I said again.

  Jenna’s eyes looked black in the darkness. “If you don’t go through that ward and bring me that Grail right now, I’ll kill you. I swear it!”

  “Really?” I laughed. “You’re on, bitch.” Like hell I would let her stab me again. She’d have a blade perforating one of her pretty hazel eyes before she flicked her wrist. Maybe she had orders to kill me if I didn’t obey. Maybe I didn’t care.

  Jenna’s expression turned ugly. “You fool. You’ll kill us all!” she screamed, filling the night with her anger.

  “Bite me, princess,” I glowered. I was ready. Fury lit through me, twisting inside as I braced myself.

  “You will die for your part in this,” snarled the angel, her face twisting into fury.

  A loud sizzling erupted around us, making my ears pop. Jenna’s weapon hand twitched. The dome walls shifted and lifted.

  And then the wards fell.

  26

  In a blur, I grabbed Jenna’s weapon wrist, pulled her towards me, and gave her one of my signature head-butts.

  “You stupid cow,” I said as I released her and she stumbled back, dropping her weapon.

  I turned and looked around.

  The black haze lapped about the air, touching me and recoiling like a living thing until it disappeared completely.

  I had a really good view of Lucian now. And of Layla. She lay on her side on the ground in a puddle of her own blood. Deep cuts slashed across her wrists. The bastard had bled her.

  The archdemon wore a white three-piece suit with a red tie and matching gleaming red shoes. His features were highlighted eerily by his sleek black hair. Yellow light flowed up from the candles on the monument, where the tools of his ritual were ready to complete the ceremony that would get his wings back.

  He had what looked like a death blade, its edges sharpened to razor keenness, grave dirt, a lot of it, black candles, and several glass containers with undeterminable ingredients. Over to one side was a circle, laid out in blood—Layla’s blood—upon the graveyard ground, maybe twenty feet across.

  The archdemon took a long drag of his cigarette, watching me. I’d expected to see shock on his face at the sight of my new angel-badass self, but he was calm and smiling.

  My eyes found Gareth, my tension rising. “Did you do this?”

  “No,” he said, his face mirroring the shock I felt. “I was watching Jenna.” He pulled his hands free from inside his coat.

  “If Gareth didn’t do this,” said Tyrius, materializing at my side. “Then it could only mean one thing.”

  “The wards fell on purpose,” I finished. We were too late. Lucian had finished his ritual.

  As I stood there, movement caught my eye.

  With incredible speed, Jenna shot past me, her arms pumping as she made a dash for the Holy Grail. She soared across the graveyard, through the fallen wards and tombstones.

  And Lucian stood there, exhaling cigarette smoke through his nose.

  “Something’s wrong,” I said and then I scrambled forward and shouted. “Jenna! Wait!”

  The words were barely off my lips when a crack of thunder rent the air and had me staggering while covering my ears.

  The earth under my boots rattled and shook like a 9.8 earthquake on the Richter scale. I let out a gasp and fell to my knees just as the earth split, a hundred feet across in a jagged cut, making a separation between us and Lucian.

  A howling, whirling torrent of wind shot out from deep inside the crevice, sending sand and debris about me. A flash of green light was followed by a thunderous detonation and the sharp scent of sulfur as wind mixed with green fire spewed out from the hole in the earth, into the air, and up into the clouds above, sliding back and forth like a gushing spring of unearthly flames of green.

  The flames caught Jenna in mid-run, and her body disintegrated into a cloud of ash.

  Lance howled as he dashed forward. I pitched myself toward him, tackling the white dog, and we slammed against the ground.

  “She’s gone!” I shouted and wrapped my arms around the wriggling dog angel. “Don’t! You’ll die too! Is that what you want?”

  With Lance pinned beneath me, I raised my head. I couldn’t see Lucian or the Holy Grail anymore as a sheet of green fire continued to spew out of the earth.

  I glanced over my shoulder. Gareth and Tyrius were both wide-eyed and staring at the sheets of green fire.

  With another crack of thunder, power exploded from the large crevice and into the air, wild and raw, spewing everywhere with hurricane force. Trees shattered and fell. Chunks of granite gravestones flew in the air like they were leaves.

  A wave of power hit me and I let go of Lance as it sent me flying. I rolled on the ground and grabbed ahold of something cold and solid. Probably a gravestone. I blinked through debris and sand until I could see clearly.

  Holy shit.

  Through the veil of green flames poured a mass of demons.

  They crawled out of the gap, writhing together in mindless hunger for blood and mortal life. It ruled them and they would slaughter everything in their path to quench it. Creatures of nightmares burst from the opening, reeking of undeath and hungry for blood. Gray and black tongues licked uneven jaws with huge yellow teeth. Their claws were the size of kitchen knives, and their black eyes flashed, seeking prey—all fueled by hunger for the living.

  It was like the earth had split open and was vomiting all the foulness from her belly. It was just unfortunate it had to be thousands of demons.

  Blinking, I slowly got to my feet.

  The graveyard teemed with demons. Damn. The light pouring from the gap in the earth bathed the graveyard and the night sky in an ugly greenish glow. The primitive side of my brain screamed and howled in terror. Oh, my God.

  The beastly vomit of demons split into separate groups. Some ran into the trees while some disappeared beyond the darkness of the graveyard to the human streets. And as luck would have it, a shitload came straight for us.

  There wasn’t time to run for cover. There wasn’t time to do anything but fight and pray to the souls that my angel-ass survived this onslaught of the Netherworld’s children.

  They were a mass of wriggling, horrid creatures as mindless and nasty as a school of hungry piranhas, just a hell of a lot creepier. Lesser demons. They didn’t have much more intellect than your average dog, driven by the hunger for blood and human life. Still, their mere numbers were scary as hell.

  “Heads up!” I yelled and gripped my soul blade. Lance positioned himself a few feet ahead of me, his lips pulled back all the way as he growled at the oncoming horde of nasties.

  Tyrius emerged by my side. “The next time the Legion asks you to go on a mission,” he said, his body glowing with an internal light. “You say NO!” There was a sudden flash, and then no tiny cat shape was left, but a large, gleaming, three-hundred-pound black panther.

  Gareth appeared to my right, a mix of emotions flashing on his face. There was no time to really say anything. But before I could tell him that, he grabbed me and kissed me.

  The kiss sent a sensation of fire driving from my lips all the way to my feet.

  “Go get ‘em.” He stepped back and pulled his hands from his pockets. Red dust sifted from between his fingers, falling on the ground like glowing faerie dust.

  I gave him a tight smile. We both knew we couldn’t fight this. We wouldn’t survive this many demons. I could tell he wanted to say more, but there wasn’t time. In an onslaught such as this, a mortal had a zero probability of escaping, and so did an angel.

  The wave of sulfur and the putrid stench of the dead hit us first. It was thick and pungent, inhuman—the smell of hundreds of corpses rotting in the sun for weeks.

  “Happy Hunting,” I shouted.

  And then they came.

  Tyrius the black panther let loose a bone-chilling roar that should have split the air, but it was barely audible over the hissing and growling of the mass of demo
ns.

  Tyrius attacked first. His yellow eyes blazed with profound hatred as he crouched low and hauled himself at the closest demon, inciting shrieks of pain, tendons tearing, and bones cracking. Fresh-spilled black blood rushed back and forth across the graveyard ground until it looked like it was raining demon blood.

  In a flash of white, Lance joined him. The demons nearest him tried to rush forward for the kill, but Lance hurled himself into a killing frenzy, ripping and tearing into the demon flesh like paper and leaving nothing but a scattered pile of twitching parts of the first demons. Damn. He was good.

  But I didn’t have time to admire the dog angel as the mass of demons rushed me—a solid line of demons just waiting to devour our faces. Nice. Some of them charged forward, crazed by the need to kill.

  The nearest demon attacked with surprising speed. I ducked and spun, coming back up with my blade sliding into its gut. A black gush of its blood drenched the ground and my arm, and then it exploded into a cloud of gray ash.

  I had a mere second before another demon hit me, and I looked up, only to find Gareth flinging his arms as red, blue and yellow elf dust fell around him. He let a handful of red elf dust fly. It hit a demon, causing it to convulse and its fleshy gray body to tremble before it collapsed.

  A shadow came at me.

  Whirling on instinct, I threw out my blade, grunting to give it strength. It hit something solid. I yanked it out of the horned demon’s skull just as another came at me.

  “Angel blood,” said the demon in barely audible words. Yes, I knew all about the power that angel essence contained. And I knew the blood of an angel was equal to the blood of a hundred mortals. I was a prize. I might die tonight, but I wasn’t going to make it easy on them.

  I twisted my blade in my hand as I rushed forward and slit the demon’s throat. Its mouth moved, spewing sounds unintelligently, and then slumped to the ground, bursting into a cloud of ash.

  Something hard hit me and I went sprawling. I screamed as a demon with skin the color of chalk fell on me, pinning me on my back as I kicked out with my legs and struggled to wiggle out. Fear slid into me as I rocked my body. Its breath was hot and foul, and a forked tongue hung from its maw. Its eyes shone with desire to eat me.

  I bucked with all my strength, and I was surprised to feel a moment of release. I took it. Rolling, I shot to my feet and smashed my boot straight down onto its skull, driving its head down to the ground. And then I stabbed it through the eye for good measure. I would never have been able to push it off me as a mortal. My angel-ass just saved me.

  My moment of triumph evaporated as another monster rushed at me. I sidestepped, lunged, and grazed its neck with my soul blade.

  With a flash of brown, another demon hurled itself at me. It hit me in a blur of teeth and claws and fur. It looked like a grizzly bear that took a shower in acid. Half of its body was covered in thick brown fur, and the other half was red, raw flesh. I leaped to the side and only avoided being squished by a hair.

  It was huge. Damn, it was enormous. And it wanted to eat me. Great.

  “Guess the zoo didn’t want you either, eh?” I said as I positioned myself in a fighting stance.

  The earth shook, literally, as the bear demon tore the ground with its claws and came thrashing at me with impossible speed for its size. I sidestepped to avoid the slashing of claws and heard a roar of frustration as the demon missed.

  “Better luck next time.” Tension spiked through me, but it was a strange thing to be jumping around without the need for a breath or the feel of adrenaline. I would never get used to that. I missed my sweet, sweet adrenaline.

  Pain shot up my arm and I fell back. White light emitted from a large gap in my arm, my angel flesh. The damn bear had sliced my arm open, almost to the bone. My angel essence dripped to the ground, inciting a roar of approval from the watching demons. It was like I’d called all the demons to me.

  I felt it as their attention focused on only me now. My angel blood called out to them.

  “Shit.”

  The bear charged again. A giant, fleshy paw slammed into me and I rocked back, dizzy. The demon bear whirled, its black eyes wild and full of hatred.

  Fear ignited in my mind. This was a mighty opponent. Without my angel speed, I would be dead right about now. The essence from my cut sprayed around me, dripping down my hand to the ground in silvery-white droplets.

  The demon bear closed in for the kill. It hit me from the side and clung to me, its maw snapping as we crashed to the ground. Agony shot through my chest as the demon’s claws jabbed through my soft skin. Shit. It was going to shred me into little angel bits.

  I couldn’t die like this, not for the second time tonight, and especially not on my back.

  Willing all my strength, I brought my soul blade towards my chin and jammed it straight into the demon’s open mouth. The creature hissed and let go, falling back on its haunches.

  I never stopped moving. I bounded forward, yanked my soul blade from its maw, and sliced it across the neck. Then I made an upward strike across its large chest. The demon crashed to the floor and thrashed… and then it was still. A tide of stinking demon guts poured across the ground.

  Far to the left, Tyrius battled with a winged demon. The panther moved fast, matching the other demon in both speed and agility. A long laceration marred Tyrius’s back, swelling with blood.

  Beyond the line of shambling demons, I saw Gareth, exhausted and bleeding from a dozen places. He’d lost his hat, his wild hair flying as he leaped and spun, and his hands were a blur. Gareth ducked and hurled some elf dust into the gaping mouth of the demon. It shivered and exploded.

  There was no sign of Lance.

  I hauled myself across the graveyard. I could see the stain on my T-shirt, a mix of white essence and the splatter of black demon blood. This body wouldn’t last much longer.

  In less than five minutes, the split in the earth had let out thousands of demons. And they just kept on coming. It was looking like a bad night for the home team.

  This was madness. It had to stop. I could barely think beyond the instincts of driving my blade into demon flesh to stay alive.

  Still, there was a thought. One. It wasn’t a gut feeling. I had no more guts. Well, not real ones. It was instinct. Something inside me told me to do it. That I’d never get another chance.

  And so I did.

  27

  I dashed clumsily around the line of demons, holding my middle with my free hand so that my angel guts would stay in place. Demons threw themselves at me, and I ducked, spun, fell to the ground, rolled, and leaped to my feet. I launched myself towards the sky-high green flames.

  I wasn’t stupid. I wasn’t going to throw myself against the burning flames. I saw what they did to Jenna.

  Legs pumping with angel speed, I made my way around the split in the earth. The air thrummed with energy and power as I came up on the other side of Lucian’s wards, right into his ceremonial circle. The wards were down, but I still felt something close behind me, like a door.

  I spun around, expecting to have a few demons follow me, but I was met with only sad-looking tombstones and shadows. The sounds of hissing and writhing bodies reached me, a bloodcurdling chorus of battle cries. I heard the unmistakable cry of pain, and then a howl, rapidly growing louder in pitch and volume causing my body to tremble with a mix of panic and rage. Tyrius. Something was happening to him. Dear souls.

  “Ahh, Rowyn,” Lucian said as if greeting a favorite pet, and I turned my attention towards him. “I was wondering when you’d show up. A bit late to the party though. Tell me, you and your friends weren’t planning on crashing my party. Were you?” he mocked.

  “Bite me, asshat.”

  The archdemon stood across from me. Dizzy, I stifled the panic that crawled inside me. This angel body had run its course. I could see the Holy Grail, sitting atop the monument next to Lucian, just waiting for me to grab it. But there was one problem. How did I save Layla with it? Jenna wa
s supposed to do it, and the idiot angel had gotten herself killed. Swell.

  My eyes found Layla. She lay on her side on the ground, right next to the monument. Her skin was white as snow, and her lips were corpse gray. She looked dead, and yet I knew she wasn’t. Call it my angel intuition, but somehow I knew she was alive. And that filled me with hope.

  Lucian’s red eyes rolled over me slowly. “An angel. How unimaginative. And yet, how fitting.” He took a drag from his cigarette and blew out a ring of smoke.

  “You knew. Didn’t you?”

  “Of course I knew,” he said, smoke curling around his words. “Who do you think you’re talking to? I practically invented the Legion. I know how they think. How they operate. I knew they’d make you an angel.”

  “A dark angel.”

  He lifted his hands in mock surrender. “Excuse me. A dark angel.”

  Holding my middle, I looked at the wards painted on the gravestones. “And these?”

  “All specifically tuned to you, dearest. You couldn’t get through. Not until my ritual was complete. I couldn’t have you interrupt my ritual. Now could I? That would be clumsy of me.”

  “That’s not the word I’d use.”

  Lucian’s red eyes flashed. “You were always an angel, through and through. Weren’t you, Rowyn? Yes, you did some very bad things—one could even label them as downright evil—but you were just not bad enough for me.”

  “Well, whoop-de-freakin-doo.” I didn’t like the way he was watching me, with the attitude of a man holding a gun to my head. “What did you do to Layla?”

  The archdemon smiled like a madman. “I bled her, of course. She’s served her true purpose, what she was meant to do. To be.”

  That sounded a hell of a lot like what the oracle said to me, and I stifled a shiver. “You sick bastard. She didn’t deserve this.” I pointed my soul blade at him, but it was pointless. My hand shook with just the effort of holding the blade. I had no strength left.

  Lucian tsked. “Rowyn, Rowyn, Rowyn. If you’re going to point the blame at anyone, you should be blaming yourself. If only you had accepted my gift,” he smiled, “she would still be alive.”