Reapers

by Kim Richardson

And that’s when Kara knew. It was now or never.

  Kara opened her wings, and with every fiber of her angel being she pushed down as hard as she could.

  Like a kite caught in a gust of wind, Kara took flight. She was so surprised at her own strength that for a second she forgot to flap down again, and she started to drop. Pulling her wings toward her body like a great breaststroke, she soared through the air like a jet.

  She banked sharply and swerved as she flew past David who was running below her and hadn’t seen her yet. Her great wings beat like a well-oiled machine. She was a machine.

  She could see Peter and Jenny now. They were not moving. She banked and slowed. She tucked in her wings as she had watched the blue jays do it countless times from her bedroom window, and she started to drop.

  The reapers stood next to Peter and Jenny and examined the two injured angels as they prepared to devour their souls.

  Kara pinned her wings to her side and dove.

  David’s shouts were muffled by the sound of wind in her ears.

  She squinted against the force of the wind in her eyes and focused on her target.

  And then she crashed right into one of the two reapers.

  It wasn’t the graceful landing she had hoped to achieve, but the effect was instantaneous.

  The reapers dropped their weapons as they went sprawling on the ground.

  Kara stood beside her friends.

  The reapers whirled around, but they tensed at the sight of Kara’s wings. Even though she couldn’t see their faces behind their hoods, she could sense their hesitation and confusion. They did not hesitate for long.

  But Kara was ready, and before they could grab their scythes again she grabbed hold of both her friends. With one under each arm, she pushed off hard and beat the air with great big strokes. Even with the weight of her two friends her great wings were powerful, and she soared high into the air, away from the reapers’ grasps.

  Even though her friends were safely clutched to her chest, they still weren’t conscious and lay limp in her arms like ragdolls. She feared for them. The reapers hadn’t taken their souls, but they were not out of danger.

  Jenny’s essence poured out of her left shoulder socket like a tap of shining waters. Her M-suit was like tissue paper, and any minute now it would tear. Jenny’s soul would be lost without a body to contain it. She was losing too much of her essence, too quickly.

  Peter wasn’t in better shape. His M-suit was shredded, like he’d been in a meat grinder. It was amazing that the few tattered pieces that were left could keep it together. His angel essence trickled out of him in the wind.

  Their angel souls hung by a thread, and she had to get them back to Horizon soon before they succumbed. Kara wasn’t an angel killer yet, and in a desperate attempt to prove to herself that she wasn’t, she was determined to take her injured friends to safety.

  She banked sharply to the right, but her legs dangled below her awkwardly. She still hadn’t mastered flight, and it took every bit of her concentration to keep beating her wings so she wouldn’t plummet to earth. She just didn’t know what to do with her legs, so she locked her ankles together and tried to do a cool Superman pose. It wasn’t perfect, but it would do for now.

  The reapers appeared to have gone. The streets below her were silent and empty. There were no traces of the scurrying imps, but no signs of mortals either.

  The imps had possession of the key. Kara wasn’t sure exactly how or what that would mean to the legion, but she had a feeling she would find out soon enough.

  As she flew back in the direction from which she and David had come, she caught a glimpse of him below. He ran below her, and she could see a huge smile on his face as he leaped in the air and waved at her excitedly.

  “Shotgun! I’m next for a ride!”

  She heard him cheer. She smiled at him. Even if the legion had failed to keep the key safe, Kara still felt hopeful that this wasn’t the end, and that somehow they would still stop the archfiends—they had no choice.

  She felt hope because she hadn’t turned into a monster, not yet. She had used her wings for better, not worse, and she had saved her friends. The oracle had said there was always a chance to change the future. Even if it appeared ominous and grim, the future could be changed. She was going to change it.

  Kara smiled with determination as she flew over the maze of buildings and streets of London and headed for the River Thames.

  Chapter 21

  Battle of the Scythes

  “Look at her!”

  “She’s one of them!”

  Kara did her best to ignore the whispers and the stares from the guardian angels who watched from the chamber door as Raphael moved a magnifying glass over her wings, inspecting them inch by inch.

  “And you can fly?” said Raphael, half smiling, half anxious.

  “Yup.”

  Kara turned and glared at the guardians at the door. She opened her wings, showing off, and they disappeared down the corridor in fear.

  “You didn’t have to do that,” said Raphael. “That’s more like something David would do.”

  “I know,” said Kara with a smug smile. “But it was fun.”

  Raphael pocketed her magnifying instrument. “You know what they’re saying, don’t you? That you have the wings of the archfiends.”

  Kara looked away from Raphael and shrugged. “I know. But I’m not one of them.”

  She looked over at Ashley who sat in the same chair where Kara had last seen her. She just stared into space in painful silence.

  “Will Jenny and Peter be okay?” she asked finally. They had looked dead when she had handed them over.

  “Thanks to you, for getting them out of danger and back so quickly, your friends are recovering well in the Healing-Xpress.”

  Raphael took Kara’s hand and squeezed it reassuringly. “It’ll take time, but I believe they’ll make a full recovery.”

  Kara sighed in relief, and then she thought of something that bothered her.

  “Archangel Raphael,” she began, “I told Ariel that the imps had stolen the key from Peter, the infamous key that would unlock the so-called unbreakable prison that keeps the archfiends confined. But Ariel didn’t look as upset as I thought she would be. And judging by the look you’re giving me now…you’re not either.”

  “That’s because it doesn’t take just a key,” answered the archangel.

  “There are other elements in play. Their prison was built with a force field that keeps them contained. The key was only used to seal the final stages of their confinement.”

  “But they have it now,” interrupted Kara.

  Raphael raised a brow.

  “Yes, but they can’t open their prison with just the key. That would have been too easy. There are other elements in place that need to align perfectly for the key to release the energy field. It needs a rare astronomical event, when the mortal world is in shadow.”

  Raphael looked at Kara reassuringly.

  “The imps are cunning, but they are not clever. They will try and fail to open the prisons. Do not worry. We still have time to repair the mortal world and rid it of the reapers.”

  Kara wasn’t sure she understood. “Wow. I think I’m lost in translation. What’s a rare astronomical—?”

  “Kara!”

  David bounced into view. “The reapers are attacking a hospital with sick kids in Vancouver, BC. They’re killing kids, man, little kids. I hate these soul-sucking-leeches.”

  He looked at Kara.

  “Ariel and Gabe need every last working guardian to get on the way over there, and you and me are the only CDD guardians left. We’re not much, actually. Can you believe it? Besides Jenny and Peter, it’s just me and my favorite little fairy.”

  But Kara wasn’t looking at David anymore.

  “We’re not the only ones left.”

  She brushed past David and crossed the chamber until she stood next to Ashley.

  “Ashley, we need you,” sa
id Kara. “It’s time to get up.”

  Ashley picked her fingernails. “Leave me alone.”

  “Get up,” repeated Kara, her voice strong and commanding; she even surprised herself.

  Ashley looked at Kara.

  “What’s your problem? Are you deaf? I said leave me alone! Can’t you see that I’m worthless, that I suck as a guardian? You win. You’re the better guardian. You could save your team, and I couldn’t.”

  She laughed sarcastically. “And now you have wings. That’s just great. Just leave me alone.”

  Kara hadn’t realized that Ashley felt jealous. She’d always thought she hated her because she had been tainted.

  “Stop feeling sorry for yourself,” said Kara. She sounded like her mother.

  “They’re gone. It wasn’t your fault.”

  “It was,” said Ashley. “I’m an idiot.”

  “You’re right. You are an idiot,” said Kara, and she folded her arms over her chest. “Only an idiot would sit here and feel sorry for themselves instead of helping us fight back. Don’t let Sasha, Raymond, and Ling’s deaths be in vain. They wouldn’t want this. They would want you to fight back, to get payback. We need you Ashley. You need to get up.”

  For a moment Ashley said nothing, but then her eyes brightened with new determination.

  “I’ll meet you guys at the tanks,” she said suddenly, and then she left without saying another word.

  “That was the best thing you could have done for her,” said the archangel Raphael with a smile.

  Kara watched Ashley disappear down the corridor. She wasn’t sure how the three of them would get along, but it didn’t matter. What mattered were the reapers. They had to kill them.

  “You sure about this?” whispered David, looking a little apprehensive.

  “Yes. I guess she reminds me of Lilith. In some disturbing way, I miss her. I feel sometimes that I could have prevented her death. I guess I want to help Ashley in the way I couldn’t help Lilith.”

  “That’s so messed up.”

  “Oh, shut up,” said Kara as she headed toward the door. “Come on.”

  Kara, David, and Ashley ran down the gloomy hospital corridor beside the archangel Gabriel and ten strong guardian angels. The sound of children’s screams and cries was difficult to resist. Kara wanted to stop and save them all, but Gabriel was in charge. The deeper they ventured into the hospital, the louder the screams became. The children’s cries ripped her soul apart.

  Her anger toward the reapers brewed into a white-hot fury. Killing the souls of mortals was one thing, but killing the souls of sick kids was unbearable. Even the higher demons didn’t feed on the souls of sick and dying children. These reapers were much worse than any creature she had ever faced.

  Thinking about demons, Kara thought it strange that they hadn’t encountered any. More so, when she realized that ever since the reapers had shown up, there had been no assignments to hunt down demons. Odd. Very odd. Where were the demons?

  Originally, there had been fifty guardians, excluding Kara, David, and Ashley, but Gabriel had divided them into five groups of tens and sent them off to different locations in search of the reapers. Even with these numbers, Kara wasn’t convinced they could take down the reapers. Their weapons didn’t work on them. The only thing that she had seen work—or at least injure a reaper temporarily—was Mr. Patterson’s crystal ball. But when he had told her that it hadn’t worked before, and then suddenly it did, he was just as mystified as she was. She was determined to figure out why that had happened. And she had to figure it out soon if any of them wanted to survive their next reaper encounter.

  The archangel wore golden armor that shone in the dark hallways like a beacon. It shone with hope in these dark times. She wondered if it had any magical powers of protection against the reapers. She hoped it did.

  She wondered if her own wings could be armor as well. The weight of them was still noticeable on her back, but they pulled less now, and they felt lighter too. Her body had probably adjusted to the weight of the wings due to the change. The change was making her stronger. She forced that dismal thought from her mind.

  “What’s up with you?” said David quietly. “You’re so quiet.”

  “I’m thinking,” answered Kara, as her shoulder brushed against his.

  “Please share,” said David.

  He poked his head through an open door.

  Kara closed her eyes for a second, trying to collect her thoughts about something else that had been bothering her.

  “I don’t know. It’s something Raphael said about the key. I think they’re too confident about their archfiends’ prisons. Something’s off. I just can’t wrap my head around it.”

  David watched her silently, but didn’t offer anything.

  Gabriel raised his fist, and the group halted at the end of the corridor. He waited and listened.

  David and Kara shared a look.

  “Get ready,” said Gabriel. He pulled two golden swords from the double scabbard secured on his back. His muscles rippled in the light, and he looked like a giant golden samurai.

  “He’s so badass,” said David, with a look of envy on his face.

  Kara was about to hit him when the wall to their right exploded.

  They were all sent sprawling to the ground. Kara’s ears were ringing as she pushed herself up. The explosion had blown a hole in the hospital wall the size of a city bus. Gabriel was the only one standing, and he was in hand-to-hand combat with a reaper on the other side of the missing wall.

  Then an avalanche of imps scurried over the debris of the wall. They were all carrying what looked like homemade grenades.

  And then a battle between the imps and angels began.

  From the corner of her eye she saw Ashley leap to the left and avoid the scythe of the nearest reaper. She was a skilled guardian, and Kara would have been in awe of her skill if she weren’t already occupied trying to save her own skin.

  An imp slashed at her with its dagger, but she blocked it with her right wing and pushed her blade under its chin and up into its brain. The imp exploded into dust. She kicked it back, just as another jumped her. She swept her wing again and caught the imp across its chest, sending it to the ground. Then she stabbed her blade into its head and ended its miserable life.

  She spun around to see David behead the imp that had tried to sneak up behind her.

  He grinned at her. “You’re welcome.”

  He ran into a wall of imps, slashing and kicking them like it was his favorite sport.

  Kara shook her head.

  “This isn’t a game, David! Try to act like a normal guardian for a change.”

  “Define normal guardian? My score’s fifteen so far,” David yelled back.

  He impaled another imp with his blade. “Make that sixteen!”

  An imp yanked at Kara’s wings from behind. She spun around and beat her wings, and the imp went flying into the air.

  David skewered it on his soul blade. “Gotcha.”

  Kara marveled at her wings. She was able to use them like a second and much stronger pair of arms. She leaped in the air, turning like a top with her wings out, and slashed five imps at once.

  David whistled. “Nice.”

  Smirking with a new sense of agility, Kara made it her mission to kill as many imps as she could.

  But then her smile vanished.

  The lifeless bodies of ten small children lay dead at her feet. Their eyes were wide and black, and their mouths were open in silent screams. An imp danced happily around the dead children’s bodies as if he were participating in a ritual sacrifice. A sick gurgling laugh drummed in its throat.

  Kara was fueled with anger. She screamed. With her wings extended she pushed off hard and impaled the imp with her fist in its chest. She hit it with such force that her arm went right through to the other side. She pulled her fist out of its body, and the imp exploded into dust.

  Kara stared at her hand in shock. Yellow slime that reek
ed of death and rotten flesh dripped from her knuckles. Disgusted, she wiped the remains of the creature on her jeans. She had never killed a creature with just her bare hands before. Her elemental powers had always been the source of her added strength before, but this power was different. It was cold. She could feel it pulsating through her like a shot of adrenaline. She was much stronger than she had ever been. She tried to convince herself that she didn’t like this new feeling of power, but she couldn’t hide her smile as she swung her blade at an oncoming imp.

  Suddenly, the other four groups of angels appeared through a doorway down the opposite hall.

  “Woohoo!” said David, as he impaled two imps at once. “Reinforcements.”

  The forty new guardians came hurtling into the battle. Imps flew, daggers flew, and the sound of metal hitting flesh bounced off the walls.

  The imps were no match for this new onslaught of skilled guardians. David laughed as he played toss-the-imps with another guardian who easily sliced through them with his soul blade. As the imps began to disappear, Kara was filled with hope. They were winning.

  She turned when she caught a flash of gold out of the corner of her eye. Gabriel was on his knees, and the reaper was advancing on him.

  With a great beat of her wings, Kara flew through the opening of the fallen wall and skidded to a stop next to Gabriel.

  “Kara, get back,” Gabriel groaned.

  His body was covered in deep lacerations. He tried to get up, but fell back, his face sunken from exhaustion.

  “It’s no use! They’re too strong. We should never have come. Get back, I said!”

  Kara moved protectively in front of Gabriel. She extended her wings in the hope that the creature would mistake her for an archfiend, and that by some miracle it would obey her. It was a long shot. She took that chance and stood defiantly with soul blade at the ready.

  The smell of death and the sounds of the thousands of lost souls crying out in agony permeated the air around the reaper.

  “Kara, get out of here!” Gabriel cried, his voice hoarse and raw, like he was about to lose it completely.

  “You can scream all you like, but I’m not leaving you.”