by Amy Vansant
“What about the other Sentinels? Can’t they help?”
“They’re trying to let as few people as possible know about the situation, for security reasons.”
Con dropped his head into his hands and collapsed back into the sofa. Glancing up, he noticed Boudica still standing there. He waved his hand back and forth between the two redheads.
“Oh yeah. Annie, Boudica; Boudica, Annie.”
Boudica held out her hand and Anne shook it.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Anne. Only he calls me Annie. Your name sounds familiar.”
“She was queen of the seeing-eye,” said Con, throwing back his head to stare at the ceiling.
“The Iceni,” corrected Boudica. “Though I might be familiar to you because Michael was my bump and run.”
Con sat straight up. “Your what now?”
“You know. We ground the corn together. Made the beast with two backs.”
Con watched Anne’s face grow pale. He couldn’t help but take some pleasure from the exchange.
“Was that it, Annie? Was her name familiar from Michael’s speed dial?”
Anne glowered at him. “No. For one, I think she’s familiar because she’s the one Michael met in Texas to defeat the other Cherub, right?”
Boudica nodded. “Yes. Cutie named Sundance did the real work on that one though.”
“What do you see in that guy?’ asked Con.
Boudica’s brows knit. “Sundance?”
“No, Michael.”
She shrugged. “We were ships passing in the night who anchored long enough to clean out my portholes, if you know what I’m saying.”
“Yes, the innuendo was subtle but I think I caught it, thanks,” muttered Anne.
Boudica smirked at Con. “To be honest, Mikey’s a bit fussy for my tastes.”
“Aye, I can see that. I can tell you like a man’s man.” He flexed.
“Oh for the love of—” Anne rolled her eyes, reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.
“I think the second reason Boudica’s name is familiar is this.” She handed the paper to Con. He took it and read, before pointing at Boudica.
“Her? Ginger Sasquatch is my partner?”
Anne frowned. “She’s seen and helped defeat a Cherub. It makes sense that she would be your partner.”
Con glanced at Boudica and found her staring into his eyes. Directly into his eyes. The damn woman was built like a light post.
“Jaysus,” he muttered, crumpling the paper in his hand.
After offering her goodbyes, Anne wandered off to find Leo.
“You can thank me for that later,” said Boudica, watching her walk away.
Con looked at her. “You teased her about Michael on purpose?”
Boudica smiled and Con returned with his own grin.
Maybe the walking volcano wasn’t so bad after all.
Chapter Seven
“Tyannah!”
Tyannah struggled to open her eyes, recalling how Anne had told her she’d sleep less as a Sentinel. Anne said someday sleep might not be necessary at all, but for now, she liked the idea of sleeping at night. It made her feel like everything was normal, when in reality, things were very far from normal.
“Tyannah!”
Tyannah sat up and oriented herself. She was always shocked to wake up somewhere other than her childhood bedroom. She wondered how long before that ended.
She looked toward the window and jolted, nearly tumbling from bed. A face peered at her through the rain. She forgot on what floor Anne’s apartment was, but it was too high for someone to be standing outside her balcony-less window.
She rubbed her eyes. The person outside in the rain was now inside her room, wet and sad as a stray dog.
She recognized this particular dog.
It was Rathe, the Cherub who'd turned her from human to Sentinel. He looked older and more frightened than she remembered him.
Tyannah rolled off the bed away from him. “Stay away from me.”
Rathe held up his hands and shot a nervous glance toward her door. “No, no, don’t be afraid! I just want to talk. Don’t call for help or anything.”
He thinks Anne’s here. That’s good. She didn’t need him to know the only other person in the apartment was plain-old-human Jeffrey. Jeffrey was powerless unless making the best chocolate chip pancakes ever was a power, in which case, Jeffrey was the most powerful person in the universe.
“If you don’t get out of here I’m going to scream,” she said, clenching her fists. She couldn’t go back to working for the Cherubs. She wouldn’t.
Rathe grew even more pale. “No, please. I need to talk to you.”
“I don’t have anything to say to you. I should kill you where you stand and bring back another Angelus.”
Rathe scoffed. “Kill me? Haven’t I already proved you can’t kill me?”
“I was human the last time we fought. Plus now I don’t have to kill you alone.”
Rathe swallowed and stole another glance at her door. “Now, let’s both calm down.” Rathe took a step back and bumped against the window sill.
“Don’t make me syphon you.”
He twisted his mouth to the side. “You’d really syphon me? After everything we’ve been through?”
“Everything we’ve been through? You killed me and turned me into a Sentinel against my will. Did you even know you were supposed to wait until I was killed naturally?”
“Really? Who said that?”
“Leo. He’s an Arch Angelus and he knows what he’s talking about.”
Rathe scowled. “What does that mean, killed naturally? I should have waited until someone murdered you with an organic carrot? Or would that be killed organically—”
“You were supposed to wait until I died. Or was dying. I was gonna die and then you were supposed to show up and turn me into a Sentinel.”
“Oh! I was supposed to let that brother of yours beat you to death first? I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.”
Tyannah glared at him. “I dunno. Anne said if you hadn’t come around the Angeli would have changed me themselves. I was on a list of top recruits.”
Rathe mocked her in a high voice. “Anne said—Wait—” Rathe shot his gaze to the closed bedroom door. “Tell me. Is Anne nearby?”
“This is her apartment, idiot. What do you think?”
Rathe backed until half his body had melted into the outer wall.
She’d forgotten what a quivering bag of nerves her maker was. She almost felt sorry for him.
“I know you’re scared of her.”
“How would you know?”
She scoffed. “Um, you only told me about her nearly killing you about a thousand times.”
Rathe grunted.
Tyannah decided she did feel a little sorry for him. “Fine. Get out of the wall. You’re pathetic. Anne’s not here. She went to Angeli Headquarters with Con and the big guy.”
He took a step forward to clear the wall and cocked his head. “Who’s the big guy?”
“Leo.”
“Him again. Bigger than Michael?”
She nodded. “He’s terrifying.”
“Not to me. Angeli can’t hurt me. It’s big Sentinels that scare me. And the wily little redheaded ones—” His gaze darted to the door again.
Tyannah crossed her arms against her chest. “What do you want?”
“I want your help.”
“My help? Those days are over.”
“No. Not like before. This is something different. Something I think even Anne would approve of.”
“What?”
“I want you to kill a Cherub for me.”
“Really?”
“Really. She’s about yay high.” He held his palm four feet from the ground.
“She’s a little person?”
“Yes.”
“You want me to kill a dwarf?”
“What?”
“A little person. A dwarf.”
“No. No. I don’t think so. I don’t know what that is. She’s a little girl.”
“A kid? How old?”
“I think maybe nine. I’m not sure. I’ve found humans act weird when you ask them how young their daughters are so it was hard for me to research.”
Tyannah shook her head. “I dunno. I dunno if I could kill a kid.”
“The last time I saw this particular kid, she was using a man as a human puppet. She had meat hooks in his hands, working him with strings from a tree. Does that sound like your typical nine-year-old?”
“Kind of. Only they’re usually doing that with bugs or in video games.”
“Really? Hm.” Rathe paced back and forth, tapping his lips with his knuckle as if deep in thought. “If kids are evil, that explains a lot. She has no moral center. No urge to follow rules. She’s a little monster and frankly I’m terrified of her. If she makes a bastard like Mallory, it’ll be two against one and I could be in trouble, so I want to send her back and get a new partner.”
“The only way you can get a new partner is to kill an Angelus and I’m not going to help you do that.”
“I’m not asking you to do that part. I’ll worry about that. You just kill Alida.”
“Why don’t you make a new Sentinel and leave me alone?”
Rathe huffed. “It’s exhausting thinking about making a new Sentinel. I’d have to train her—you’re already experienced. Alida is new and she doesn’t listen to a thing I tell her. She’ll never see it coming. This should be easy for you.”
Tyannah considered Rathe’s offer. She loved the idea of telling Anne that while they were at Angeli Headquarters, she took out one of the remaining Cherubim. Syphoning Rathe wasn’t out of the question either, though it made her squeamish to think about it. She knew he’d have to die eventually, but she didn’t want to be the one to do it.
If she didn’t agree to help him, she might lose the best chance they had of finding Alida. Killing a Cherub would also prove to the Angeli that she was on their side, regardless of her origins.
She took a deep breath and made her decision. “Okay. I’ll help you.”
Rathe clapped his hands together. “Thank you! I knew you wouldn’t let me down.”
“Let me put a few things together and we’ll go. I have to leave a note for Jeffrey so he doesn’t worry.”
His eyes flashed with fear. “Who’s Jeffrey?”
“Calm down. He’s Anne’s assistant. He’s sort of babysitting me while she’s gone. He’s a normal human. He’s sweet.”
“Oh. You like him?”
“Yeah, he’s nice.” Tyannah stopped packing and looked up at him. “Why? Wait, are you jealous?”
“What? Me? No! I just meant is he a nice guy, you know.”
“He’s a nice guy, but I’m not his type.”
“Oh.” Rathe smiled. “So he’s crazy.”
Tyannah couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re crazy.”
Rathe blushed and Tyannah looked away from him. Her face felt hot, too.
Chapter Eight
Charles nodded to his butler, Davis, and climbed the stairs of his Washington, D.C. home. He moved slowly, aware that Davis observed his retreat. Charles was an Angelus. His joints didn’t ache the way his outward appearance implied they might, but his public image, no matter how seemingly inconsequential, mattered.
Some days he enjoyed his position as an elder statesmen in the Senate. He’d been involved in American politics, one way or another, since America had politics. The other Angeli called him DC Charles.
Other days, he longed for the day when his time serving would end and he could assume a more youthful countenance. Maybe he could lead a new movement. Wishful thinking gave him things to ponder as he slept.
He knew Angeli who couldn’t sleep, no matter how hard they tried. He was thankful that he could. When posing as a seventy-six-year-old senator, what else was there to do in the middle of the night?
Of course, these days, he had a lot to think about. He wanted to be more involved in the Cherubim issue and had volunteered for the Cherubim committee. Rumors swirled amongst the Angeli, but he knew the facts. Many of the lesser angels didn’t even believe Cherubim existed, but he’d been forbidden to enlighten them. He wasn’t sure keeping his brothers and sisters in the dark was the best course of action, but the Angeli were democratic and the vote had been cast to keep the situation as quiet as possible.
Oh to be in the scrum again! He missed battle. And to clash with a real Cherub! Giddiness shook his body just thinking of it. He nearly fell out of his slippers.
At least he was still above ground. His position in the United States government made it impossible for him to go into hiding with the other Angeli. He appreciated the logic: the Cherubim couldn’t kill what they couldn’t find. But he would go mad trapped at Angeli HQ.
Charles slipped into bed beside his human wife, Tess. It made his heart ache to imagine losing her, but he’d known how short their relationship would be when he fell in love. There was no arguing with love. Upon noticing Tess’s first gray hair, it had taken him a week to stop agonizing over the inevitable. If only he could be a snob—too elitist to couple with ordinary humans—or a life-long Lothario, like some of the other Angeli.
He stared at the moon shining through the sheer curtains, pondering the possibilities of his future, until his eyes closed.
Breathing.
Charles opened his eyes.
He heard breathing. A lot of breathing. Tess sometimes snored after the odd cocktail-laden event at one Embassy or another, but this wasn’t snoring. It was—
He turned his head to the left and saw them. One, standing in front, a shadow of a man. The word written on his arm glowed in the dark.
Nyx.
Behind him stood at least ten people, moonlight revealing expressionless faces and blank eyes. He would have thought them mannequins but for the breathing. It was unbearable.
Sentinels? Yes. The zombies felt like sentinels. But they had been created without care or attention, the bare-minimum amount of energy infused into their expired human bodies. Enough to animate, but he suspected not enough to stimulate their brains beyond a dog’s ability to follow commands.
Charles leapt to his feet and spread his electric blue wings like a shield to protect his wife, the room ablaze with his light.
“Charles?” he heard her mumble. A moment later she was screaming.
“Get down, beside the bed!” he screamed. He dared not remove his gaze from the demon before him.
The shadow creature was a Cherub. Of that he was certain.
Nyx’s expression, was impossible to read, so transparent was his form. He only mimicked the human shape in the most vague terms.
His intention seemed clear.
Charles knew the odds were impossible. Not only was he out of practice, but he wouldn’t be able to do anything more than wrestle with Nyx. They lived at the same frequency. While Nyx kept him busy, the zombie sentinel army standing behind him would fall upon him. They didn’t need skills in such a scenario.
“Charles?”
He heard his wife’s shaky voice behind him and lowered his wings. He addressed Nyx.
“Leave her.”
Nyx stood a foot taller than Charles’ current form. The Cherub’s face tilted down toward him, black pools where eyes should be, ink blots on an otherwise wraith-like form.
Nyx nodded.
“Acceptable.”
Charles absorbed his wings and closed his eyes.
Years dreaming of battle and here I stand, surrendering without a struggle.
“I love you, Tess.”
“What? Charles!”
Several Sentinels stepped forward and grabbed him, draining his energy.
Charles collapsed into a ball at the foot of the bed to hide the sight from his wife.
Chapter Nine
Con sat on a park bench in San Francisco, California, waiting for Boudica to arrive. She’d had to meet with the Angeli
to gather the latest intel on the missing Cherubim. He couldn’t bear another second at Angeli Headquarters and had gone to the surface to wait.
After twenty minutes, he spotted the redhead striding toward him.
“I have it,” said Boudica, holding out a piece of paper.
He shook his head, marveling at her size. She was as tall as he was, muscular and curvy at the same time. The fine features of her face distracted from the simple truth that she could crush a man’s skull with her bare hands.
“What’s that you have, dear? The location of the nearest horse you can eat for lunch today?”
Boudica’s lips pressed into a hard white line. “I’ve had just about enough of you. I’m not that large.”
“Nah. All lasses can palm bowling balls.”
She poked him in the center of his chest and he coughed. “Keep it up, you Irish bastard and I’ll show you how large I am.”
Con chuckled and willed his body to drift into invisibility.
“You’d have to catch me first, Big Red.”
She swung as if to grab him and he flew a few feet to the left. Con watched her gaze track him and looked down to be sure he was unseeable. Before he could return his attention to the angel, he felt a surge of electricity jolt his body. Unable to remain invisible, he solidified and collapsed on his rear.
He cradled his head in his hands. “What did you do to me?”
Boudica grinned and outstretched her hand. “I disrupted your energy.”
“How?”
“I’ve been around a little longer than you—”
Con grabbed Boudica’s hand and jerked her forward while flipping her feet out from under her. For good measure, he took a deep draught of her energy, and lifted her midsection up and over him so she landed on her back with a rush of breath. He scrambled to his feet.
Boudica disappeared and reappeared standing. “Oh you’re dead now, you filthy little leprechaun.”
Con crouched as if preparing to leap at her, and then became invisible. Springing forward, he flicked her nose and she roared with anger. He laughed and she tracked the sound, pouncing on him before he could run, her energy striking at his own until he had to solidify to fend off her attack. They rolled across the grass.