A Mermaid s Kiss

by Joey W. Hill

  Vicious triumph had swollen the ranks around him, the shrieks of the Dark Ones building until they were deafening, until they were like a chant in a dark forest of evil pressing in against him. Where heat poured sweat off the skin, and the bowels turned to water.

  They'd been afraid when Anna held him, he knew. They feared her goodness and its power over him. But what they should fear was what was coming. He would go down with them, but that was all right. Anna would be safe. Luc would make sure of it.

  With a feral grin, he severed the arteries that connected the heart to his body, and dropped the pulsing organ into the skeletal hand of the tall Dark One.

  High above the ground, the sun turned its face away. The Earth hid beneath the gathering shadow of black clouds as the skies began to weep.

  Twenty-three

  And lend the eye a terrible aspect.

  --Henry V, SHAKESPEARE

  ANNA landed in the water with a splash, the last scream she'd made to dissuade Jonah barely out of her lips. No, no, no.

  The speed with which she'd moved through the air had been blinding. At another time it would have scared the life out of her. But as she slowed in the descent and had time to focus on the ocean to know where he was dropping her, she'd confirmed he'd taken her so far away there was nothing she could do to aid him further.

  Not alone at least.

  She spun in the water now, getting her bearings, airsick from the speed of her trip and now the rock of the ocean, her fear and stress combining to give the nausea weight. But she didn't have anything to throw up, not after being in the hands of the Dark Ones for nearly twenty-four terrifying hours.

  Her first fear, all those hours ago, had been for David. He'd gone down, fighting amid a horde of them, such that she'd lost sight of him after several of the winged Dark Ones caught her arms and legs, tearing at her clothes and flesh even as they ascended with her. She'd seen the flash of his face, a battle snarl on his features. Her name had been on his lips, calling out to her.

  When they got her to the cavern, they hadn't tried to invade her body as they had Maggie's, but they had fed on her fear, devising ways of tormenting her. Delighting in her humiliation, frightening her into nausea and vomiting and voiding her body, such that she was glad for the cleansing touch of the water now. She fought through the panic and disorientation that she knew would likely translate into a lifetime of nightmares once the shock wore off. But that didn't matter. She found her center, focused. Hoped the connection David had implied she had with Mina did exist.

  Mina. I need you. And David. If he was still alive, Goddess willing. Please. Help.

  She didn't even bother to transform, treading water and crying, hoping the emotional venting would steady her and make her coherent before they arrived, but she'd forgotten how quickly angels could move.

  Less than two minutes after she sent out her mental call, she received a response. At any other time she would have been mesmerized by the sight of over twenty angels winging through the sky to her, their wings a variety of colors and patterns, all with the unearthly beautiful features and bodies the seraphim seemed to share.

  Like Jonah. He'd known he was beautiful, was so casually arrogant about it, about using it to get her to do things. She wanted to smile about that, but all it brought was more tears.

  When the water boiled beneath her, Mina surfaced with the speed of an eruption. The source of her propulsion gave Anna a wave of relief as David let her go and exploded from the sea, his wings showering them both as he acknowledged the incoming squadron. His face was bruised and swollen, and he was favoring his left arm. She remembered it had been snapped during the fight. The skin stretched over his rib cage was a mass of black and blue welts, but he'd obviously had someone work on him, for he was flying, though nowhere near as easily as she'd seen him do the night he and Lucifer came to their rescue.

  "What happened, Anna?" he asked urgently, turning back to her now. His expression was far more intimidating than she'd yet seen it, and she didn't think it was just the effect of the many lacerations. Even Mina looked a little unsettled by him, or perhaps it was his quick ascent to the surface with her in tow.

  "His heart." Anna could barely get the words past the sobs, and she struggled to get hold of herself. Mina moved close enough to prop her up with one tentacle wrapped around her waist and another beneath the soles of her feet to stand upon. "He told me to call you. There are hundreds of them, maybe thousands . . ." She swallowed, made herself meet his eyes. "He told me to tell you . . . he'll be leading them, because they have his heart. Because of me. He was rescuing me."

  "Great Goddess," David murmured, and his eyes closed briefly. Then they opened and he nodded to Mina. "Hold on tight."

  There was no time for the two women to ask his meaning, for in the time it apparently took him to transmit the thought, the sea heaved, and a legion of dark-winged angels split from the depths like a forest of geysers exploding across the ocean.

  Lucifer was the spearhead, a dagger strapped across his chest, the wicked-looking reaper's scythe grasped in his hand. The handle of the weapon was wrapped in a red sash that rippled, snapping the water off itself with a sharp noise in the wind.

  "Where, Anna?"

  Anna had to shake off this amazing spectacle to focus on David again. "The Grand Canyon. We need to come. I need to come with you."

  She had to shout it, because before the first words were out of her mouth, he was already departing with the others. David paused, looking down at her from thirty feet, a distance that would make it easy to keep flying and ignore her request. Lucifer already had, taking to the skies with his dark battalion, joining the other angels and heading out like a migrating flock so thick they blotted out the sun.

  "Why?"

  "I have to be there."

  David's doubt on that score was obvious, but Anna turned desperate eyes to Mina. "Please, tell him. You said that first day that I was important. I'm still important, aren't I?"

  "No," Mina said flatly. "Your part is done."

  "Wait," Anna shouted. David completed a flip that apparently cost him, for pain jolted across his features before he controlled it and leveled a scowl at her.

  "What? Anna, I have to go. There's more at stake here."

  "I know that," she snapped. "Goddess, you think I don't? Mina is lying to protect me, because she doesn't realize how much is at stake." Anna turned a pleading gaze to them both, even as Mina's tentacles squeezed her uncharitably. "Mina, if Jonah defeats the angels, that will be the end of our world. You know that. You know more about this than any of us. I have to go to him. I'm the only one who might be able to get through to him, aren't I? Aren't I?"

  When Mina refused to answer, Anna snarled. Lifting her hand from the water, she slapped Mina across the face.

  Mina's head whipped around, eyes blazing with rage and shock.

  "Don't do this." Anna spoke low, fury and resolve in her tone like she knew Mina had never heard from her before. "Don't take choices away from me. I would never take one from you. Deny whatever else you wish between us, you will not deny that simple truth."

  Mina stared at her, then shifted her glance to David, who'd picked up enough of the undercurrent of what might be true that he was willing to sacrifice the extra few seconds. Anna had seen it in his face the day he came to their aid. She knew he loved Jonah as she did, and if anything could save him, and win the battle . . .

  "My vision said she is the only one who can save him, if he can be saved at all," Mina said at last. "But if she goes, I go."

  Now it was Anna's turn to look startled, not only by the bald admission of what Mina had only implied up to now but because she'd never known Mina to leave the ocean's embrace. But David was already speaking to two angels that hovered behind him, apparently part of his small command. They swooped down, one plucking Anna out of the water, quickly anchoring her to his waist so he could fly with wings spread and hold on to her.

  "Anna, meet Orion. He'll get you the
re." David dropped, came back under Mina and lifted her up as her tentacles dissolved and she took the easier-to-carry human form that could also do without the water. Though that didn't seem much of a factor at the moment, since it had begun to rain. Heavy, fat drops that Anna realized were salty and warm, splashing down with a touch of silver against the churning sea.

  "Tears of the Goddess," David said grimly. "Hang on."

  WEATHERMEN across the globe, checking on area forecasts, quickly realized an astounding phenomenon. It was raining . . . well, everywhere. A cloud cover had gathered over Earth, surrounding it like a thick shroud. Without a sure sense of why, a soul-deep despair closed over hearts and minds. Humans began migrating to the churches, seeking hope, going to their knees to pray to whatever god they felt might be listening . . .

  SHE'D known angels could travel fast, but experiencing it twice in such a short time was something entirely different. It was like a quick blink, coupled with an impression of great gravitational pull as Anna was rushed through the air beyond the speed of sound or senses. Then she was there, hovering over a battlefield the likes of which she was sure the world had never seen before.

  They were over a wide, isolated chasm in the Grand Canyon. On the opposite side, Jonah stood in solitary splendor on a spear of rock sculpted by the irresistible forces of nature. On the lip of the canyon's edge, about fifty yards behind him, the Dark Ones created a mass of darkness so far back it was obvious her count had been correct. There were thousands of them.

  Having just been their prisoner, the sight of so many ignited that same sense of fear and despair in her. However, apparently because of the presence of the angels, it didn't overwhelm her, drive her to her knees. But when she made herself look back toward Jonah, she faltered, despite herself.

  She'd been with him when he was gentle, laughing, even seen a more dangerous side of him, but yet she'd never truly feared him.

  The angel standing upon the tower of rock had a dark, expressionless countenance, his wings at half fold along his back. The silver and white feathers were stained crimson red, a wavering, sweeping pattern that kept shifting like clouds passing over the land in the desert. His dark hair fluttered over his bare shoulders, which were not tense, just set in calm battle readiness. One hand rested on the hilt of the sword where it was driven into the rock between his spread feet. The Dark Ones milling on the ledge were gaining in volume as the angels gathered on the opposite ledge. The din was overwhelming. It was obvious their confidence was great, and somewhere in that mass of evil, she knew Jonah's heart was being held. She looked hard, swept her gaze over the Dark Ones' army.

  There. She caught a glimpse, in the third row of the melee. A blue light, a container of translucent material spelled to hold the treasure, the one that would give them dominion over Jonah's actions. His body . . . even his soul.

  No, she couldn't believe that. He'd despaired, yes, but his despair didn't have the capacity to become true evil.

  "David." She caught his attention. With several of his command, he hovered just above her and Mina on the lower ledge where they'd been deposited. There was a shallow hollow at the back, against the canyon wall, which provided some shelter from the rain as well as an underground water source, trickling out of a crevice in that concave surface.

  The young angel's gaze narrowed as he followed the direction of her pointing finger. When he registered what he was seeing, he muttered an oath and pulled two daggers from his chest harness.

  "No." Lucifer came in to his left, sweeping through the ranks, but pausing at David's shoulder, brushing it with a wing. "No, David. He would cut you down before you reached it." A faint, humorless smile coursed over the dark angel's face. Anna noted that, like all the angels, he appeared unfazed by the rain, not even blinking from the drops rolling down his face. His voice carried over the rushing noise with reverberating command. "This is not your Goliath to face. You and your command are to stay on this ledge, defend it. As for you, no hand to hand unless unavoidable. Use your formidable archery skills only. You are in no condition to fight."

  "But--"

  Lucifer gave him a searing look and David subsided, though with a flicker of frustrated anger in his gaze. As Lucifer left him, ascending to take the front of the field again, a flash of lightning illuminated the reaper's blade. At the same moment, Anna saw Jonah shift, almost imperceptibly, but squaring off with his mirror image across the field.

  Oh, Goddess. It was suddenly so clear. Who else's strength could bring Jonah down?

  We do not move on him until I give the order. Lucifer's command resounded inside every mind, even Anna's and somehow Mina's, if the startled look on the witch's face was any indication. Jonah may still be fighting their hold. If we attack first, it will strengthen their command of him, because his instinct will be to defend against any show of aggression from us.

  His glance shifted down and remarkably, Anna found herself the focus of it. I repeat. No angel should act until Jonah makes his first move.

  She only had to imagine blue blood running down that wicked scythe to propel her into motion. She spun around to Mina, who was still squatting like a dour omen on the ledge where the angel had deposited her. "Mina, I need to get to Jonah."

  "Of course you do. Would you like me to defeat the army while we're at it, and let the angels go back to preening their feathers and admiring each other?"

  Anna flinched as the two angels of David's command within ear-shot glanced down to give the witch a less than friendly look, but Anna had more important things to do than to smooth ruffled feathers. Literally.

  Heavens, all the remarks she could tease Jonah with, if only she'd had a lifetime to do so, rather than one week.

  "Mina." She took the witch's arm. "I need to get close to him. Can you get me to that ledge and help me spin enough protection to keep the Dark Ones from affecting me or trying to interfere? We have to try and stop this before it starts. Jonah won't be able to live with himself if he's harmed his own men. He couldn't bear knowing he'd taken their lives."

  And knowing just a tenth of what she sensed was his full power, she knew that could be a lot of lives.

  "You're assuming he's going to survive," Mina said dryly. "Besides which, it doesn't matter. I can't get you there by spell alone."

  "No, not by spell alone." Anna gave her a steady, even look. Mina's face altered, her attention darting to David before coming back to Anna.

  "No."

  "Mina, please. You know I'm right. Fly, and I'll sing to protect you. As I sing, you can protect me. Drop me on the ledge and back off, holding the protection as long as you can."

  Mina closed her eyes. "You're determined to die, aren't you?"

  "No. I'm determined to give him back his heart." Anna dared, put gentle hands to either side of Mina's face, though outside the cowl of her cloak. "Mina, I trust you. We've only had each other, really, haven't we? And so I think of you as my friend, no matter what you think of me. Help me."

  When Mina trembled in a curious way, Anna's throat grew thick. "I don't want to die like the others," she said quietly. "My mother, her mother . . . Arianne herself. Without hope, with no point. I always knew I would die young . . . That much I couldn't stop. But I get to choose how." Her chin rose and her resolute gaze flickered to David, who'd dropped down to the ledge, curiosity and wariness in his expression. She shifted her attention back to Mina. "I got to love an angel, Mina. And I may die saving him, which means he can go on protecting all of you, so you can find your meaning, your hope. It doesn't get better than that."

  She glanced up. "Look around you. Do you think this is the way the world is supposed to look?"

  The tears of the Goddess had continued to fall, so heavy that flooding had already begun in the canyon. The color of the drops had changed, red and black as well as warm, salty and clear, streaking and staining the angels so they looked like wild Scottish warriors. Forks of lightning crossed the sky without pause now, interspersed with fierce thunder. The lightning
struck outcroppings of rock, sending them tumbling into the chasm, into the swollen river forming below. Still the Dark Ones bellowed, adding to the thunder with the stomping of their feet, the beating of their fists against the earth. The echoes could be felt in the chest, pounding at the base of the skull.

  Anna shifted her attention to the gathering of angels above. He had said he'd trained many of them personally. They were arranged behind Lucifer now, and while she saw nothing in their posture but battle readiness, she noticed how their eyes rested on their Prime Commander. If they felt any of the same emotion she was feeling in her heart, she knew each was praying he wouldn't have to see him cut down. More than Jonah's soul could be lost in this fight.

  "Mina," Anna pleaded. "Please."

  "I hate you for this," Mina said darkly. With a yank, she sent her robes tumbling to her feet.

  It was enough to catch David's attention, but his expression was only a momentary impression before Anna could tell that Mina shut them all out. Maybe so she wouldn't have to register any revulsion or disgust, or worse, macabre curiosity. It was always difficult to know what Mina was thinking. But now her body rippled, split and exploded in size. She made the transition rapid, perhaps due to time constraints and so that she couldn't change her mind. It also made Anna jump back with a curse, and startled the angels, which Anna was sure was a mild satisfaction to the prickly seawitch before the pain of the rapid transformation tore through Mina's body.

  What began as a woman's cry of pain ended as a dragon's roar as she completed the conversion and stood over Anna on the tiny ledge, her wings keeping her balance, her nostrils smoking, red and blue eyes glowing, silver and sapphire scales glittering like polished steel.

  "Holy Goddess . . ."

  As Anna ignored David's reaction and put her foot on Mina's knee, over a talon curving out from it that was long as an elephant's tusk, David apparently recalled himself enough to lunge forward, catch her arm.