by Lola StVil
“Why didn’t you tell us all of this before?” Pryor shouts.
“I just wanted my boy to be safe. Safe from everyone, including me.”
He tells us where we can find RJ, and then he pulls a blade from his back pocket. All of us stand at the ready, in case he’s thinking of attacking us. But as it turns out, we are not the ones the Gentleman wants to hurt. He jabs the knife into his own chest and starts to cut himself open.
“It’s Malakaro. He knows I’ve been keeping secrets…he’s making me do this.” The demon groans in pain.
“Damn it, you sadistic asshole, stop it!” Pryor shouts to Malakaro as if he were standing in front of her.
We try to stop him from further injuring himself, but it’s no use. The blade has been inserted as far as it can go. The only thing keeping the Gentleman alive is sheer will. He signals for me to come close. I kneel beside him and lean in to hear what will be his dying words.
“Protect RJ; promise.”
I nod slightly, but that’s not enough for him. He looks at me with steely resolve. He refuses to give in to the pain until he is certain I will do as he asks.
“Protect my boy,” he implores.
“Okay,” I reply.
“Say it…say it, Noru!”
“I will protect him.”
The Gentleman lets out a small gasp and dies with his eyes open.
Even though we know it’s useless, we do try to revive the demon. A few minutes later, we are left with the reality of the Gentleman’s demise.
“Am I the only one who needs time to digest what just happened?” Harris says.
“This is mission five for me; now I just wake up expecting to be shocked into silence,” Randy replies.
“He’s right. If you have an issue with secret babies, back-alley deals, mental torture, melting flesh, and the occasional bloodbath, you are better off finding new angels to have a playdate with,” East warns him.
“Swoop has a son. How did we not know about that? How did I not know?” Key asks.
“She had her memory erased, Key. Don’t be too hard on yourself,” Bex says, placing an arm around her.
“Is there any chance he’s lying?” Mateo asks.
“No, I think it’s true. He had this look on his face the last time I saw him, and I couldn’t place it. It was that of a concerned parent,” I reply.
“He knows about Sparks. Maybe he’s just using your emotional state against you,” Bex says.
“What would be the point of it?” I ask.
“He worked for Malakaro. Who knows what he’s cooking up,” Bex points out.
“C’mon, he just gave his life to protect the location of his kid,” I reply.
“His demon kid.”
“Argh! There you go again. Why are you so damn judgmental? That’s why I like Hunter better; at least he’s open about being a dick.”
“I want to think this kid is good and that he’s worth saving because he’s also a part of Swoop. But it’s crazy to forget that he’s also the child of a demon. Or that fifty percent of his mother is deranged.”
“So, what, we should leave the kid out there for Raven to get to?” I ask.
“No, I’m saying we need to talk this out before we do anything rash.”
“You’re right, Kon, we wouldn’t want to do something as crazy as rescue a kid from a killer,” I counter.
“The two of you are not helping. And what’s more, you’re starting to get on my damn nerves. Now will you two please shut the hell up?” the leader demands.
We all fall silent.
Pryor composes herself and addresses us in a controlled but firm tone. “We don’t know what kind of kid RJ is, but we know that he’s family. So as of now, we will save him from his mother’s alter ego. Also, Omnis will not be attacked on our watch. So we will add saving him to our list, along with saving Swoop. We can make all three things happen by getting the flower, so that’s what we will do. No more arguing from anyone. That’s an order. Am I clear?” she asks.
We all nod in agreement. Pryor takes to the air and the rest of the team follows either with Ports or wings. Just before we land, I overhear Bex talking to Pryor.
“I just wanted you to know that I fixed things with Hunter. He will not be releasing the video—ever.”
“Really?”
“Yes, I took care of it. He’s been banned.”
“Banned from the board meetings?” Pry wonders.
“No, he’s banned from the kingdom.”
“Bex, that’s a big deal! How can he be next in line to be king if he can’t enter your kingdom?”
“He’s no longer next in line. I took his title away. He will never be king.”
“Bex, I know you were trying to look out for me, but I don’t know if that was the right thing to do,” she says.
“It wasn’t about you. We don’t blackmail people in my kingdom. And to be honest, Pry, you’re not the first angel I would go to for guidance on what’s right and what’s wrong.”
We land on the outskirts of the city known as Odessa; there we find a barren winter wasteland abandoned by the humans. The ground is frozen, the trees are encased in ice, and the two-story homes that line the main street are coated in thick layers of frost. The sky is murky; there’s a sharp chill in the air and wind howling in the distance.
“Does anyone else feel like we just stepped into the last five minutes of a Stephen King novel?” Randy asks.
“Count me in,” East replies.
“We had to make sure the Midnight Flower was somewhere the humans wouldn’t go,” the Kon explains.
“Us angels aren’t too thrilled about going either,” East says as he zips up his coat.
“Which way do we go?” Key asks.
“We need to go past the residential area, through the frozen tundra, and down into the opening at the base of the mountain ahead,” Bex replies.
“Seriously? You had to hide it on the other side of this frozen hell?” Randy says.
“We needed it to stay safe,” Bex repeats.
“Ever hear of a safety deposit box?” East teases.
“East,” Diana scolds.
“Well, at least it’s not hidden in the forest,” Randy says as he motions towards the wooded area a few yards away.
“All right, guys, keep your eyes open. Nothing about this place says welcome,” Pry warns us as we start down the icy road.
We’ve only walked a few steps when Harris signals for all of us to halt.
“What is it?” Pryor asks as she scans the area.
The team and I look around, but we don’t see anything out of the ordinary. Harris walks towards the edge of the forest, where he says he heard a strange sound. Mateo cautions him against going, but he vows he’s only going to take a peek. Once he’s done, he turns back and starts to walk towards us.
“I’m sorry. I thought I heard—”
Before Harris can finish his thought, a creature leaps out from the edge of the forest and attaches itself onto his back. The beast has a body that resembles a gaping wound; it’s six feet tall, with a dome-shaped head that’s covered in scabs. Its unhinged jaw exposes rows of jagged blood-soaked fangs. And there is a pool of creamy white goop where its eyes should have been.
“The creature is called Endu. Its claws and fangs are poisonous. If it makes contact with your bloodstream, it will release a toxin that will eat away at your organs in a matter of minutes!” Harris yells as Pryor tries to take aim at the beast without hurting Harris.
I order East to look after Randy and Mateo. Key and I help Pry pull the Endu off of Harris. But the bastard is strong and refuses to let go of his victim. Key manages to grab hold of the Endu and yank it down to the ground. But by then it has taken a chunk of Harris’ shoulder between its teeth. Harris falls to the ground, crying out in pain. Diana rushes over to him, but I can see his veins already turning black. The toxin is in his system; our guide is going to die.
“Please help him!” Mateo begs Diana.
>
She looks into her pouch of mixtures and takes out a small clear vial. She admits she doesn’t know if it’s strong enough to stop the toxin but that it may slow it down. From the look on Mateo’s face, it’s clear that Harris is more than just his mentor.
While Diana administers the mixture, Pryor holds the Endu down and East bashes its head into the pavement. The rest of us try to stop the bleeding by applying pressure to Harris’ wounds.
“It’s not working. The toxin is spreading,” Diana says frantically.
“We have to get him help. Once it makes it into his eyes, he’s gone,” Mateo shouts.
“We have to go back!” Diana says.
“No, we need to save Swoop, and that flower is the only way,” Key says.
“The toxin has reached his chest,” Bex says as Harris groans in pain.
“Diana, you and Mateo go back the way we came, and get him some help. The rest of us will continue,” Pryor says.
“Diana can’t take Harris back that way,” Randy says.
“Why not?” I ask.
Randy signals for us to turn and face the path that leads back home. Every inch of it is covered with Endu. There are hordes of them on the ground, on rooftops, and in the trees. Randy is right; there is no way to get Diana and Harris past them. The only thing we can do is keep going straight ahead. However, as the number of Endu rises, going forward will be just as deadly.
“The Endu that stands in the center of Main Street, that is the leader. He is assessing whether or not they can take us on. If he thinks he can’t, he will step back, signaling for the others to retreat,” Mateo says.
“And what happens if he thinks he can take us?” Randy asks him.
“Just stay still,” Bex says.
“Why?” East asks.
“They will see that as a sign of respect. And know that we are not their enemy,” Harris says in between labored breaths.
I look down at him; the toxin has spread and is nearly up to his neck. Pryor and I exchange worried glances. Thankfully the leader starts to step back slowly. We all stay perfectly still, fearing the slightest movement could send us into a full-on battle.
Suddenly, something near Randy catches my eye. There is a large crystal spider with a red tail. I’ve seen them before. They are bone spiders. They feast on dead bodies. They have no interest in live beings, so they aren’t harmful. However, Randy is deathly afraid of spiders and is likely to freak out.
Bex sees the spider on Randy and looks at me as if he’s about to warn Randy. I signal that he should not do anything, in hopes Randy won’t feel it on his shoulder. I reason that even though Randy is terrified of them, he knows that the Endu pose a far greater threat than one spider.
Thankfully, by now the leader has taken several steps back. He is on the verge of pulling his army back into the forest. That’s when Mateo, unaware of Randy’s phobia, whispers to him, “Hey, there’s a spider on you.”
Randy jumps into the air like his ass has been set on fire. The Endu takes the sudden movement as a sign of aggression. The leader roars into the night sky and orders his army to attack. I quickly toss Pryor a Holder; she places Randy and Harris inside it. Randy is objecting and demanding to be let out. But we don’t have time to argue with him; we are under attack from all sides.
Chapter Twenty:
What You Took Away
Key opens both palms and blasts the Endu heading towards her. They burst into bloody drops and rain blood down on the town. Mateo stands still and waits for an Endu to charge towards him; then he disappears at the last second. This gives Diana a chance to catch the Endu off guard and finish them off.
East summons his lasso and hooks the beasts three at a time, smashing them into the surrounding homes. Bex uses his Powerballs and is able to kill many of them. Pryor pulls the life force out of the Endu with precision and speed. I aim my fire at the woods where the Endu are coming from, setting dozens of them on fire. Yet no matter how well we fight, the sheer number of Endu is overwhelming and they are starting to get the upper hand.
Mateo uses his power and disappears just as the creature runs towards him, but he misjudges the distance, and when he reappears, he lands right in front of the Endu leader. The furious beast roars and pounces on top of Mateo.
“Look out!” Pryor shouts.
It’s too late—the Endu leader rams Mateo into a tree trunk. The half angel’s eyes glaze over and his head flops over to the side. The Endu leader, relishing the chance to end his enemy, growls and moves in to sample Mateo’s flesh. His fangs are inches away from tearing Mateo in two when Diana saves him. She snaps off a branch from the tree and skewers the Endu in the back of his skull.
An Endu with a scar across his face is able to worm his way out of East’s lasso and use it against him. Bex rushes over to East, who is now being dragged by his own lasso. Bex intercepts the creature and saves East, but the Kon has no idea that he’s about to be attacked by the Endu behind him.
“Bex!” Key yells from across the path.
There is no way she can make it to him in time and she knows that, hence the look of horror on her face. I blast the Endu approaching Bex from where I stand, and it goes up in flames. Bex looks over at me, as if surprised I would help him.
That’s just like a fucking Para: suspicious and wrong.
Key is too relieved that Bex has been saved to take note of the Endu inches away from her. There is no time to even call out her name. The Endu opens its gaping mouth and readies to clamp down on her neck.
“GET THE HELL AWAY FROM MY TEAM!” Pryor shouts as she rescues Key by jumping on top of the Endu, grabbing its head and snapping it off. The creature dies with a whimper.
Key pulls a group of Endu off of Mateo, who is now awake. Meanwhile I help East restrain a small pack coming from the left of us. A few yards away, Diana and Pryor fight alongside each other and take out a slew of Endu. Bex tackles one of the bastards who tried to tackle Key when she wasn’t looking. We are deep in battle and trying desperately not to get bitten.
Randy calls out to us and says we need to check up on Harris. I don’t need to go over there to know that things are bad. I can see black veins appearing on Harris’s cheeks. He will die in a few moments. Mateo races over to him and goes to pull the Holder out.
“No!” I shout.
The half angel can’t stand the thought of watching his mentor die alone, so he lifts the Holder and exposes Harris and Randy to the battle.
DAMN IT!
The Endu attacks Randy first. Key tackles him before he makes contact with Randy’s body. Pryor opens her palm and drains the life out of the six other Endu that are headed towards Randy and Harris.
“Mateo, put the Holder back!” Bex yells.
Mateo doesn’t listen. He’s too busy mourning his friend. The toxin has reached Harris’s eyes; he’s gone. Mateo weeps over his body while a swarm of Endu tries to kill us.
“We can’t hold them off forever!” East shouts between blows.
“Hey, what is that?” Randy asks, looking off in the distance.
I don’t have time to follow his gaze. An Endu has pinned me by my wings and is about to cut my head clean off with its claw. There’s no time to fight back. By the time I summon up a fireball, I will have already perished.
I close my eyes, ready to accept my fate. Yet death doesn’t come. Instead I feel a bright glow near me. I open my eyes and find the Kon standing over me. The Endu that almost killed me lies at Bex’s feet.
Crap, it would have been better to die.
“Thanks,” I say reluctantly.
“What’s going on? Why are they retreating?” East asks.
I look around, and the Endu are running away at top speed. They are not the only ones. The birds are fleeing the area in droves. Suddenly not one living thing wants to be where we are.
“Silver, what’s that making its way towards us?” East asks.
“It looks like a tunnel that’s picked up snow and ice along the way,” I re
ply.
“Mateo, what’s happening?” Pryor asks.
He’s too wrapped up in grief to look up or reply. Right now, I don’t think he cares what’s happening.
“Randy, grab the Inka and point it in the direction the animals are fleeing from,” I order.
“Oh no…” Randy says once the crystal gives him the information.
“Randy, what is it?” Bex asks.
“OH MY OMNIS!” Randy shouts.
“What is it?” Pryor demands.
“It’s an Echo,” Randy replies. He then reads the description written inside the crystal.
“Subject: Echo
“Description: Echo is a ‘supercell’ tornado stronger than any other force on Earth or in the light. It picks up the surrounding evil energy and uses it to destroy any and everything it in its path, good or evil.
“Weakness: None
“Please note: If you are close enough to see an Echo, it is too late to save yourself.”
I look back, and the small gust of wind has now grown to nearly ten times its size. The speed has picked up and the tornado of dark energy is headed our way. It’s approaching speeds of over one hundred and fifty miles per hour.
We are so fucked.
“WE GOTTA GO! NOW,” I shout.
We start to make a run for it, but Mateo remains seated on the ground with Harris’s body. We shout at him that he has to come with us, but he refuses to leave.
“Mateo, you can’t stay here!” Diana screams.
“I can’t leave him,” Mateo says, cradling the body.
“Guys…it’s coming!” Randy shouts.
The Echo has taken over nearly the entire sky, obliterating anything in its path.
“Mateo, if we don’t leave now, we will all die,” I promise him.
“Just go without me. Leave me with Harris.”
The wind rips the trees from the ground as it nears. Debris flies all around us. Animals that couldn’t get away fast enough now swirl around in the air, lifeless. The crystal was right; there is nothing left of the town once the Echo hits it. And soon there will be nothing left of us.
Fuck it!
I reach down and punch Mateo in the face. He’s knocked out cold. Diana thanks me as I throw him over my shoulder; then we all literally run for our lives.