Angelstone: Dark Angel #2 (Urban Fantasy)

by Peach, Hanna

  Israel nodded. “It goes back around 150 years, but the records get sketchy prior to that.”

  “So there’s still the possibility that they haven’t found all the Black Stone. We’ll figure something else out.”

  * * *

  Back at Aradale, Alyx and Israel reported their findings to Tobias. Until the swallows returned with more news, there was nothing to do, so Tobias dismissed them both. Alyx felt an edge of guilt that she hadn’t been able to spend much time with Mini since they arrived, so she decided to check on her.

  Alyx walked into Mini’s room. “Mini?” The room was empty and the bed was unmade. Alyx looked on the front of the door where there was a small message board so that Ky or Jordan or anyone could leave a message if they had taken Mini somewhere. But there was no message.

  Alyx called out Mini’s name louder. She fell to her knees to check under the bed. Not there. She snatched open the cupboard door. Not there. Where was Mini? Where could she have gone? She wouldn’t have wondered out on her own, would she?

  “What’s wrong?” Israel stuck his head through the doorway.

  “Mini’s not in her room,” Alyx said slamming the cupboard door.

  “The window’s open. Have you checked outside?”

  “No.” Alyx looked towards the window. The light curtain was blowing in with a soft breeze. A horrible thought flashed through Alyx’s head. What if Mini had fallen out of the window?

  Alyx raced across the room and pushed the curtain aside. She stuck her head out and looked around, her heart in her throat. Her chest released a little when she didn’t see a body on the grass below. “Mini?”

  There was a guttural noise coming from above.

  Alyx cursed. “I think she’s on the roof.” She pushed out of the window and soared up to the roofline.

  Mini was squatting with her back to Alyx just on the other side of the peak of the sloping roof. Alyx breathed a sigh of relief. “There you are. You had me worried.”

  Mini turned towards Alyx.

  “Oh my God.” The sight of her twisted at Alyx’s stomach.

  Mini was holding a swallow in her hands, dead and floppy, neck ripped open and bleeding. There was sticky crimson across Mini’s fingers. The same crimson was smeared and dripping all over the lower half of her face and staining her pale yellow dress.

  Mini grunted and brought the swallow to her face, her lips pulling back, showing her teeth.

  Chapter 12

  Alyx had brought Mini inside and sent Israel out to fetch Tobias. Unfortunately, Tobias happened to be with Jordan and Lukas at the time, so they had both insisted on coming too.

  Now Tobias, Jordan, Israel and Lukas crowded Mini’s small room. Alyx held Mini in her lap on the bed. She had cleaned the blood off Mini’s face and hands and thrown the towel away, but the stains on her dress were still glaring evidence that something was seriously wrong.

  Being an Animale, Lukas had had the strongest reaction to what Mini had done. “She’s some kind of monster,” he cried.

  “She’s just a girl,” said Alyx. But was she? What would cause Mini to do such a thing?

  “Are you so sure? Are you willing to take that risk? To put us all in danger?”

  “She’s right here. She can hear you.”

  “She doesn’t understand anything.”

  Tobias raised his hands. “Please. Please. We can settle this if we get Dianne to look through her mind.”

  “Dianne?” Alyx asked.

  “She’s a MemorySong,” Tobias explained. “She’ll be able to tell us what this little girl is hiding.”

  * * *

  Back in Tobias’ office, Alyx sat next to Mini, holding her hand. The tension in the air was so palpable, it felt like it pressed against Alyx’s skin. Tobias, Israel, Jordan and Lukas were scattered around the room. Dianne was setting a large white screen up on one wall. Everyone was silent.

  “We’re ready,” Dianne said, causing the nervous buzz under Alyx’s skin to hum even louder. As Dianne approached, Mini started to shift and whimper in her chair.

  “It’s going to be okay, Mini,” said Alyx, even though she wasn’t sure it would be. “No one is here to hurt you.” Turning to Dianne, Alyx asked, “It won’t hurt her, will it?”

  Dianne shook her head. “She’ll feel some discomfort, but it won’t hurt. I promise you,” she added when Alyx frowned.

  “What’s the screen for?”

  “As you probably already understand, with MemorySong magic, only I can see her memories. But using this clever invention,” Dianne held up a round misty-glass lens, “a MemoryViewer, I can project her memories onto that screen for all of you to see. The MemoryViewer will also keep a record of the memory.”

  Alyx brushed Mini’s curls from her face and rubbed her arm in an attempt to calm her. Then Alyx gave up her seat to Dianne. Everyone else had gathered silently around the back of Mini’s chair.

  Dianne placed one hand on Mini’s forehead. Immediately the room became warmer and the air felt thick. Alyx watched Mini closely. She began to frown but she didn’t look like she was in pain.

  Dianne gasped, turning a shade paler.

  Alyx leaned forward. “What?”

  “She’s… my God… I didn’t think it was possible.”

  “What?”

  Dianne’s face seemed to drain of blood. “No. It is. I can see it clearly.” Dianne twisted in her chair to face the rest of the room. “This girl is part-demon.”

  Those words were like an electric shock that stunned the room into silence.

  “Part-demon… not Darkened, but actually part-demon?” asked Tobias.

  Dianne nodded.

  “Where the hell did Michael get a part-demon from?” said Lukas.

  “And why was he keeping her in the Hollows?” said Israel, quietly. Alyx felt her stomach drop in a sharp unease. She could think of one reason…

  Dianne twisted around again. She seemed to stare at Israel for a second, but Alyx could have been imagining it.

  “There are some things you should see.” Dianne held out the MemoryViewer towards the screen, her hand visibly shaking. An image flashed on the screen – an image as seen through Mini’s eyes.

  Mini was in her cell, in the Hollows. It was dark, but with her unnatural senses, she could see the dim shapes of the bars in front of her.

  There was a noise. Someone coming and bringing with them a glow of light. The ground crunched under her feet as Mini backed away from the bars. Alyx began to hear a muffled thudding from the screen. It took her a moment to realize it was Mini’s heart, beating loudly in a quickening pace.

  “Hello, Angelique.” The glow fell across the cold face of Elder Michael as he appeared at the bars of the cell with two guards.

  In her chair, in Tobias’s office, Mini was starting to whimper.

  On the screen, Angelique had run to the corner of her cell and covered her face with her fingers, allowing only slits of light between them. As if she was trying to hide.

  Michael snapped his fingers and a guard unlocked her door. He entered. Alyx felt her own heart start to join the drum of Angelique’s.

  “Leave us.” Michael commanded, and the guards left.

  Michael made his way slowly to her, repeating softly like a chant, “pretty girl, pretty, pretty.”

  When he reached her, she tried to run. To where? They were trapped in this cell together. It was just a desperate reaction of someone trying to delay being touched by him for even just an extra second.

  He grabbed her around her waist. She began to kick.

  “Where are you going Angelique? Pretty, pretty.”

  Angelique cried out. And the cry was echoed by Mini, being held in her chair by Dianne.

  “Jesus,” it came from Jordan. When Alyx glanced at him, he was ashen-faced. This picture would be all too familiar for him.

  Angelique was spun and pushed against her cell wall. The image of Elder Michael’s looming face jittered as Angelique’s little body shook with
terror. Then it went to black as Angelique squeezed her eyes shut. It didn’t stop the sound.

  “Stop it,” demanded Alyx.

  Angelique and Mini were both screaming.

  “Now,” Michael’s voice said roughly. “You will make me a child.”

  “I said stop it, Dianne. Now, damn you.” Alyx’s whole body burned and her vision began to fracture. Suddenly her hands were shoving Dianne from her chair and across the room. The MemoryViewer jolted from Dianne’s hands and cracked against the floor. The grunting coming from the screen stopped.

  Alyx grabbed Mini and wrapped her up in her arms. No one dared to stop her. Mini buried her head into Alyx’s neck. Mini’s sobbing made her whole body lurch, each cry tearing every ounce of breath from her lungs. The sound broke Alyx’s heart into pieces.

  Alyx turned her focus to Dianne, who was being helped up by Lukas. Her voice shook as she spoke, “You didn’t have to make her go through that again.”

  “We needed to know,” said Dianne, but even she sounded like she didn’t believe herself.

  “Not like that. It didn’t have to be like that.” Then Alyx’s voice dropped into a low feral growl, “Touch her again and I’ll kill you.”

  Alyx stormed from the room, little Mini broken in her arms.

  * * *

  Alyx held Mini tightly, rocking her back and forth, as she sat in the largest and softest armchair of the Aradale library. “It’s okay. No one’s going to hurt you anymore, I promise.”

  Thankfully, the library was deserted. Mini’s sobbing echoed off the bookshelves. Alyx remembered how Symon used to calm her down when she was upset as a youngling… with stories. Anything was worth a try.

  “There was a girl,” Alyx began,” a young girl, who grew up in a castle. She was always told that she had to stay inside and learn her needlework and her stitching, when all she really wanted was to be outside, climbing trees and playing games with the local farm boys.” Mini’s howling began to lose its force as Alyx continued with one of Symon’s stories that she remembered from her childhood.

  Eventually Mini’s cries stopped. Alyx started another story and another. And a long time later, Mini fell asleep. The light through the window had dimmed, signaling night. Alyx was too exhausted to move, so she stayed in her chair. She must have dozed off because she woke when she heard movement.

  It was Jordan, approaching slowly. He looked to be alone and weaponless… but still…

  “Don’t come any closer,” Alyx said, keeping her voice low so she wouldn’t wake the girl.

  Jordan lifted his hands. “Alyx, I just want to talk. I convinced the others that it would be better if I talked to you alone.”

  Alyx scowled. “I’m surprised it took you so long to find me.”

  “It didn’t. I just wanted to give you both a chance to calm down. I’ve been standing guard at the library entrance for most of the day.”

  Alyx lowered her lashes and shifted in her chair. “Thank you,” she said quietly.

  “Dianne said that she also found evidence of Samyara trying to influence Mini.”

  Alyx felt her face drain of blood. “Oh God.” How much more did this girl have to endure?

  “Thankfully, Samyara wasn’t able to influence her. He terrified her so much that she mentally shut down, which shut him out. But… it looks like he now knows about her. For all of these reasons… we have to make sure she’s… safe.”

  “What does that mean?” Alyx couldn’t help the suspicion that clouded her voice.

  “There are other bedrooms, with bars still on the window and a door lockable from the outside.”

  “You want to lock her up?” Mini shifted in her arms. Alyx pulled Mini tighter to her and lowered her voice. “That isn’t fair, Jordan.”

  “I know, Alyx, but what choice is there? We can’t afford to have a part-demon loose here in Aradale, and it’s for her safety, too. Imagine what would happen to her if she got out, got lost, or, God forbid, if Michael or Samyara got their hands on her. Dianne is already freaking out over the fact that Tobias let you take her from the room.”

  Alyx growled at the mention of Dianne.

  “Alyx, try to understand it from her perspective. She’s just trying to keep the other Seraphim in Aradale safe.”

  “I don’t believe what I’m hearing. I thought you were on my side.”

  “Alyx, I am. We are all on the same side here.” Jordan sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “What would you do instead? Can you watch her all day and all night with everything else that’s going on with Samyara and the Black Stone?”

  Damn him. She knew Jordan was right. She sighed. “Okay. I don’t like it. But okay.”

  With Mini still in her arms, Alyx followed Jordan to Mini’s new room. It was down on the lower floor of Aradale. Small and simple but, as Jordan said, bars on her window and lockable from the outside. Alyx slipped the girl into bed and promised her quietly that she would return in the morning. Then Jordan’s DreamWalker pushed Mini deeper into a restless sleep.

  * * *

  Alyx threw herself on her bed. She had pretended to Jordan that she was fine, just tired, so he would leave her alone. But her blood was still burning. Burning like a poison in her veins. When she got her hands on Michael, she would shred him into ribbons of flesh. Then she would burn each ribbon, one by one. If she could just get her hands on him… The thought rumbled through her like a thunderstorm. If she could just get her hands on him…

  Alyx touched the hidden bloodink at her side. One sliver of DreamWalker left. It would be enough to get her into the Plain.

  Alyx drew the last of the DreamWalker into herself and forced herself under.

  Chapter 13

  Alyx floated alone in the galaxy that was the DreamScape.

  “Where are you, Michael?” she yelled to the expanse. “I know you’ve been looking for me. You want me? Come get me.” She whirled around in the nothingness. “Come on. Come get me.”

  For the longest moment, there was nothing.

  Then... in the distance a star began moving towards her like a comet, glowing with a fierce light. Alyx grinned as the comet grew closer and closer. Then the DreamScape consumed her.

  * * *

  Alyx was in a forest, blackened after a fire. The air smelled like char and smoke, but underneath it there was the sourness of burned flesh. Naked branches pointed twisted black fingers towards the sky, and hanging from some of the branches were long, odd-shaped fruit. Ash fell from the sky in gray snowflakes, coating the ground under Alyx’s bare feet. She was standing in something moist.

  Alyx drew back a gasp that sounded like a choke. Horror froze her to the ground when she realized it wasn’t fruit hanging from the trees – it was bodies hanging upside down. Naked, backs slashed open to bone, angry rivers of dark red running down their arms and falling from their fingers. That was why the ground was moist. The ground was soaked in blood. Alyx was standing in their blood.

  “What a wonderful surprise,” Michael’s voice echoed around her.

  Alyx jumped at the sound. She spun around but she couldn’t see him. She tried to keep her voice strong and defiant. “Come out where I can see you, you coward.”

  “Oh, Alyx. So brave. You have hidden from me so well. But why have you revealed yourself now?” His question turned into a long hiss.

  Alyx looked down and saw a thick brown snake slithering its way across the bloody ground. Alyx flew at it, unsheathing her sword, but it disappeared into a hole in the ground before Alyx’s blade could catch its tail.

  “You’re going to pay for what you did to Angelique,” Alyx yelled down the hole after him.

  “I see.” Now the voice seemed to come from within the branches of a nearby tree. The trunk shuddered as if a creature were crawling around inside it. “You’ve discovered my pretty’s little secret, have you?”

  Alyx hacked at the tree trunk, trying to get at the creature inside. The trunk oozed with a sticky red sap that stank of rust. The tips of
the blackened branches exploded, the black pieces morphing into crows as they flew through the air. They circled and swooped down on Alyx, screeching as they tried to peck her with their sharp beaks. Alyx struck the closest one with her sword. The bird disintegrated into dust and ashes. The rest of the crows flew out of her reach, landing on the trees and twisting into wood, becoming part of the branches.

  There was a momentary silence, and a soft breeze blew the rank stench of death to Alyx’s nose. Then laughter echoed around her as pieces of ash rained down across her skin like deathly snowflakes.

  “Do you like my little garden, pretty?” His voice was in the wind. “They were all fools. They brought it on themselves, you know.”

  He sounded close. Alyx spun, but she couldn’t see him. She began to run towards the sound of the voice.

  “Where are you, Michael? Come out.” She weaved to avoid the dripping fingers and faces open with terror.

  “Do you recognize anyone? Oh, I suppose not. You weren’t even born when he defied me.” His voice hissed in the air like steam. “Oh, there he is. Say hello to Daddy.”

  Alyx’s heart leapt to her throat. Her father? Symon had always told her, “You look exactly like your mother but with your father’s eyes.” Before her, there was a seraph hanging upside down with the same jade green irises she had.

  “Bastard!” she cried. Alyx launched herself into the branches of the tree. With one furious strike, she severed the ropes stringing up the seraph’s body. He crumpled to the ground. Alyx dropped down to land beside her father. He was handsome with a diamond-cut jaw and golden hair. She wanted to cup his face, but she couldn’t bear to touch him.

  “I wish I had known you,” she whispered.

  Her father’s features twisted until they became Michael’s laughing face. Alyx fell back with a start. She swung her sword down and severed his head. But the head that rolled away wasn’t Michael’s anymore.